George Clooney, the Hollywood legend, made history by starring in a play that became the first Broadway performance ever to be aired live on TV. Despite this milestone, the show did not achieve impressive viewership numbers.
It’s emerged that more viewers tuned into cable news programs across the week than the stage show.
According to ratings, the production of Good Night and Good Luck was watched by two million viewers over the age of two when it was broadcast live at 4 pm ET on Saturday.
The production, adapted from Clooney’s 2005 flick, aired the night before the Tony Awards.
More than 200,000 people between the ages of 25 and 54 watched the show, according to The Wrap.
It only ranked behind ESPN and ESPN 2, and 67,000 people were still watching by the time of the final monologue.
The production is the third-highest rating live show on CNN’s Max platform this year, and was the number one program on cable TV on Saturday.
The show, focused on the battle between broadcaster Edward Murrow and Republican politician Joseph McCarthy, racked up 7.34 million views globally.
However, it was observed that several Fox News programs like The Five, Jesse Watters Primetime, Gutfeld!, Hannity, Special Report, and The Ingraham Angle had higher viewership numbers compared to the live Broadway production during that week.
More than 3 million people tuned into The Five according to ratings from June 6 as per US Television Database data.
Over four million people tuned into the show, according to figures from May 12.
Jesse Watters’ Primetime has consistently had ratings of over three million.
On Inauguration Day, more than six million people tuned into the show.
Good Night and Good Luck was nominated for five Tony Awards and smashed box office records.
But, it’s the first Broadway show that Clooney has starred in.
He admitted that starring on Broadway was “nerve wracking,” as reported by ABC News.
Clooney starred as Murrow, while actress Iliana Glazer played the famous producer and writer Shirley Wershba.
The play is set in the politics of 1950s America and Clooney took to the stage – just months after calling for Joe Biden to leave the 2024 presidential race.
Who stars in the Broadway production Good Night and Good Luck?
- George Clooney plays Edward R. Murrow
- Ilana Glazer appears as Shirley Wershba
- Glenn Fleshler stars as Fred W. Friendly
- Clark Gregg plays as Don Hollenbeck
- Carter Hudson stars as Joseph Wershba
- Paul Gross appears as William S. Paley
- Christopher Denham stars as John Aaron
- Fran Kranz plays Palmer Williams
- Mac Brandt stars as Colonel Anderson
- Will Dagger appears as Don Hewitt
- Georgia Heers plays Ella / Jazz Singer
Clooney sent shockwaves through the Democratic establishment after penning a bombshell essay that was published in the New York Times.
In the blistering op-ed, he warned that Biden wouldn’t win that year’s election if he was still in the race.
“I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him,” he wrote.
“But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.”
Clooney called for Biden to abandon his presidential campaign after June’s disastrous debate with Donald Trump.
Rumors have swirled that Biden’s decline was covered up in the years leading up to him dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
Biden and Clooney were good friends, but an extract from the book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, claimed the then-president failed to recognize the A-lister.
‘DIMINISHED’ BIDEN
Clooney and Biden saw each other in June 2024 and the book claimed that the president appeared “severely diminished.”
“He was taking tiny steps, and an aide seemed to be guiding him by the arm,” a line from the extract seen by The New Yorker said.
“Clooney was shaken to his core. The President hadn’t recognized him, a man he had known for years.”
Clooney, who starred in Ocean’s Eleven, and Ocean’s Twelve, has been vocal following Donald Trump’s victory and was criticized after blasting the administration during an appearance on Stephen Colbert’s late night chat show.
Trump supporters called on the actor to stay out of politics.
Clooney has won two Academy Awards – one in an acting capacity and one in the field of production.
He was nominated for two Academy Awards in 2006 for Good Night, and Good Luck
He first cast a ballot in a US presidential election when he voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980.
