Skip to footer

'A Few Good Men' will be adapted as live production by NBC

'Few' will be adapted by Aaron Sorkin for TV and is set to air in 2017. The 1992 Oscar-nominated movie was based on the Broadway play of the same name.

|
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Aaron Sorkin appears in the press room at the 2016 Golden Globe Awards.

A new live production is coming to NBC, but this one won’t have a lot of razzle-dazzle.

The network is planning to broadcast a live show of the play “A Few Good Men,” which was written by Aaron Sorking and was the basis for the acclaimed 1992 movie starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, and Jack Nicholson. 

The program debuted on Broadway in 1989 and actor Tom Hulce earned a nomination for the best actor in a play Tony Award for the production written by Sorkin.

Now Sorkin will be adapting the story for TV and producing the show along with Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who were executive producers for NBC’s previous live shows, including 2015’s “The Wiz Live!”

The program is set to air next year.

The past several months have for the most part been particularly good ones for the live TV production. Both “The Wiz Live!” on NBC and Fox’s “Grease: Live” were both well-received by critics and did well in the ratings. None have yet beaten NBC’s first recent foray into the genre, 2013’s “The Sound of Music Live!,” in the ratings, but “Grease” did even better in the ratings than “Wiz!,” so multiple networks have tried this and had it work. 

Will “Few” find the same success? 

There was certainly interest in the movie when it was released. “Few” became the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year, beating out other successes such as “Sister Act” and “A League of Their Own.” 

In addition, the positive ratings for “Wiz” and “Grease,” two of the newest live productions, show that interest hasn’t waned in live productions. 

However, Fox also recently aired a partially live production, “The Passion,” earlier this month. Ratings for “Passion” were far below that of “Grease.” Making a production (somewhat) live doesn’t guarantee success. 

If TV viewers still remember the movie fondly, “Few” could draw viewers curious to see how a new version will be adapted.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to 'A Few Good Men' will be adapted as live production by NBC
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2016/0331/A-Few-Good-Men-will-be-adapted-as-live-production-by-NBC
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe