"Good Night and Good Luck" on CNN

After breaking all sorts of Broadway records, George Clooney made the outstanding deal to have CNN broadcast his second to last performance.

According to Yahoo News!, 7.34 million people from around the globe tuned into to watch it. The vast majority (5.64 million) watched the CNN production in the United States. Yes, the Super Bowl had 127 million viewers, but amongst my friends, this still felt unifying. Many watched it, or recorded it to watch later, or wished they had watched it and wondered how they could watch it later.

We went over to Ron and Noemi's house for the experience of watching it with others, and because their TV is larger than our laptops. The quality of the production was riveting. 

Part of me wishes I had seen it on Broadway so I could have decided where to look, but with ticket prices averaging $347 (I had heard closer to $1,000 each, but Ken Davenport's weekly chart shows the only play with a higher ticket average last week was Othello starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal at $499! This was a great way to see a Broadway show for free. 

For historic reference

I have seen what is called "pro shots" -- when a show is filmed in an empty theater using many different camera angles. This was different because it was broadcast on CNN (and CNN.com) internationally as it was happening at the Winter Garden Theater. Afterwards one of the actors said he thinks he flubbed a line. You don't get that in a pro shot!

I read somewhere they used 20 cameras to film the show. They have have watched several other performances to map out what they wanted to highlight at what moment. A friend said she heard they had many miles of cables throughout the theater and that she felt it was a small miracle no one was hurt tripping over any of them.

The show is timely. It is a not so subtle reminder that in the 1950s newsman Edward R. Murrow was considered a trusted source of the news. His going up against "the junior senator from Wisconsin," Sen. Joseph McCarthy as the senator was spreading fears of communism in our nation was historic. George Clooney turned this era into the 2005 hit film of the same name. At that time he played producer Fred Friendly. This time, Clooney took on the lead role of Murrow. They pointed out what he was doing despite the resistance they were receiving from their sponsors.

It was an era of less news outlets. When everyone watched Murrow and Walter Cronkite. An era long before the internet was even imagined where anyone with a cell phone can create a source of news.