Can Neil Revive The Variety Show?
Plenty of talented people have tried to revive the variety-show format on American television — to little avail. (Maya Rudolph made the attempt earlier this year.) The format of comedy sketches and singing and dancing is just too old-fashioned for most people, now used to seeing singing and dancing on TV only in a competition format replete with herky-jerky editing. In spite of the dim odds, Neil Patrick Harris (pictured) has just been tapped to host an American version of the Brit-TV show “Saturday Night Takeaway.” The show will be filmed in front of a live studio audience, as the UK version is, emceed by Harris, who recently confirmed he will be hosting the 2015 Academy Awards. NBC’s version will feature the original’s mix of comedy sketches, celebrity guests, pranks, musical numbers, competitions, games and hidden cameras. Most of this sounds like an attempt to compete with Graham Norton, whose weekly chat/variety show in Britain is the only one of the genre I watch with any regularity. Harris is super-talented and appealing, so I wish him luck. No word on the premiere date — all we know is that it won’t be on a Saturday.
