On Sunday Dec. 17, Fox aired their second live show, “A Christmas Story.” In the past, Fox also put on a live production of “Grease.” Live productions of musicals on network television only started a few years ago, with the first show being “The Sound of Music” on NBC. However, it has now become a trend for television stations to have live musicals performed at least once a year. So, a question stirring audience’s minds is whether  “A Christmas Story: Live” was worth all of the excitement.

“A Christmas Story: Live” was adapted directly from the stage musical. The musical follows the same plot line as the classic holiday movie, but musical numbers were added in. The movie and musical follow a little boy, Ralphie, who desperately wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. Similar to the movie, Ralphie narrates his thoughts and emotions throughout the live production. Matthew Broderick played the role of the older Ralphie who narrates all of the character’s thoughts and feelings. Some audience members thought it was an interesting way to utilize the talent of Matthew Broderick, but many claimed that they felt his role was awkward, such as how he interacted in scenes when his character was in Ralphie’s head.

The three-hour production, according to many, was seen as boring and too long for most people, and many had not even known of the musical adaptation’s existence compared to other live productions. Throughout the live production, there was also some confusing moments as well. “A Christmas Story: Live” started out with Bebe Rexha singing in a commercial for Gap, which didn’t have any correlation to the show’s plotline. Later on, a commercial aired to promote the film “The Greatest Showman,” which featured the film’s cast performing a number from the movie live. It seemed out of place because it began right after a scene in show ended, and it took a minute or two to realize this wasn’t an actual part of the show. However, it was a beautiful performance!

Overall, “A Christmas Story: Live” wasn’t critiqued the best, but it is certainly a matter of personal opinion. However, it is a fact that this production did not receive as high of ratings as previous live shows, with it only reaching 4.5 million viewers, the lowest viewing out of any live stage production so far. “Grease,” on the contrary, reached 12. 2 million views in their showing in 2016. So, if want to save yourself from misery as the holiday season comes to a close, you might want to pass up on watching this live production.