A banner at the corner of Eighth Avenue at Church Street advertises ABC?s new country music drama, part of a national campaign to promote the show. (photo: Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean)
Kristin Helm decided to get away from her Franklin home last week and take a vacation in New York City ? but no matter where she went in the Big Apple, she couldn?t escape ?Nashville.?
From billboards in Times Square to signs on buses and above subway entrances, Helm saw advertisements for the highly anticipated TV drama ? which will premiere on ABC on Wednesday night ? all over Manhattan.
?I think I?ve seen it as much as I?ve seen ads for ?The Good Wife? or ?Dexter? and some other already established shows,? she said. ?It doesn?t surprise me when I see it in Nashville, but when I saw it this much, in New York City, that surprised me more.?
Locals have been talking about the show ? set in Music City and centered on two fictitious country music rivals and a surrounding cast of music-industry figures, politicians and fledgling artists ? since it began shooting on location in Nashville in March. In the past few months, via a big promotional campaign from ABC, word has spread on a national scale, and much of the advance buzz has been encouraging.
TV critics across the board ? from Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide and the Huffington Post ? have pointed to ?Nashville? as one of the best and most commercially promising new shows of the fall season, citing its solid cast, intriguing plotlines and a top-notch Music City soundtrack. TV Guide?s Matt Roush wrote, ?If there?s a consensus most-likely-to-succeed show this fall ? or show we?d most like to succeed ? it?s ?Nashville.? ?
Quotes like that have been music to the ears of the show?s producers, including local resident Steve Buchanan, who said they?ve been ?absolutely thrilled? with attention from the critics as well as ABC?s promotional push.
?The overall advertising commitment that ABC is making is really extraordinary,? said Buchanan, who is senior vice president of media and entertainment at Ryman Hospitality Properties. ?I think it?s really great and prophetic that our show about Nashville is called ?Nashville? and can draw attention to this city in ways that it would never receive.?
Building a fan base
Success ? in the form of big viewer numbers ? is crucial out of the gate for network shows premiering in the fall. ?Nashville? is shooting its sixth episode in town, but there?s no guarantee that they?ll all make it to air. Last year, NBC?s ?The Playboy Club,? a buzzed-about new drama, was the first casualty of the fall season, canceled after airing just three episodes because of dismal ratings.
In preparation, ABC has aimed to build a loyal audience for ?Nashville? before it hits the air.
Actors Clare Bowen and Sam Palladio interact on a set painstakingly created to look like Bluebird Cafe. (photo: Katherine Bomboy-Thornton / ABC)
Screenings of the pilot episode were held earlier this year at the CMA Music Festival and Tennessee State Fair, and last week, it began streaming for free online via ABC.com and Hulu. Coupled with an extensive social media campaign ? complete with Twitter accounts for the show?s fictitious musicians ? ?Nashville? has started making fans out of viewers that live well outside of Music City.
Among them is Meredith Cesare, who was urged by a friend to watch the premiere episode online. The Erie, Pa., resident said she?s ?not a huge country fan? but still enjoyed the show.
?I was kind of worried throughout if they were going to take a ?Glee?-type thing, where people just broke into song. ... But I was really pleasantly surprised. I think the music fits in really well. The whole atmosphere of what Nashville has meant to music, I think that they did a really good job with that, and I?m excited to see where they take the characters.?
Kyle Sudges of Chicago, Ill., is a big fan of ?Glee? and music competition shows such as ?The Voice? and ?American Idol? (both of which now have country star judges, with Blake Shelton on ?Voice? and Keith Urban on ?AI?). Sudges hasn?t watched the ?Nashville? pilot yet, but he says he is looking forward to adding it to his viewing list.
?I think it?s kind of like ABC?s version of ?Glee,? ? he said. ?They?re trying to compete with all of the other singing shows that are out there, and I like how it?s just focusing on country music.?
Beyond country
?Nashville? producers have promised a broader musical palette than just country.
Locally connected music will be a driving force of the show and distributed commercially by Nashville-based label Big Machine. Starting on Tuesday, songs featured in episodes will hit the digital marketplace on a weekly basis via iTunes and ABC?s Music Lounge. The first is ?If I Didn?t Know Better,? a brand-new song co-written by John Paul White of roots-pop duo The Civil Wars.
White said seeing his song performed on screen by two of the show?s characters is ?completely surreal.?
?It?s always surprising when people dig what you do and want to use it as a part of their work,? he said. ?It?s the most flattering thing in the world.?
But several Nashville-area residents worry that the show won?t be so flattering toward their hometown or will paint an incomplete picture. Locals had similar criticisms for two Nashville-made movies that also dealt with the country music industry: Robert Altman?s critically hailed 1975 film ?Nashville? and the 2010 box office dud ?Country Strong.?
Local filmmaker Blake Burress is planning to tune in for ?Nashville,? but he said he fears that it won?t do the city complete justice.
?I have a feeling they?re going to use a lot of clich?s and not do anything to really expose Nashville as more of a varied melting pot and culturally rich place,? he said. ?Instead, it?s going to make us all look like a bunch of rednecks and make all of the music producer types look really slick, and possibly evil. That?s a bummer. I hate to see that happen when there?s so much stuff going on here.?
?Nashville? will need more than one episode to add finer detail to its world, but that hasn?t stopped critics and viewers from swiftly summing up many of the show?s lead characters.
Familiar sights abound in ?Nashville.? Draped on the Musica statue is Hayden Panettiere, who plays reigning hot young star Juliette Barnes. (photo: Katherine Bomboy-Thornton / ABC)
Rayna Jaymes (played by Connie Britton from ?Friday Night Lights?) has been likened to longstanding superstars Faith Hill and Reba McEntire, while co-star Hayden Panettiere has spent the past few months brushing off comparisons between her character and Taylor Swift. The show also will introduce a national audience to a new Music City stereotype: Avery Barkley (played by Jonathan Jackson), described on the official website as ?a dead sexy East Nashville hipster.?
Locals might find more assurance from the show?s set designers, who weren?t painting in broad strokes when the show built its very own Bluebird Cafe. Nearly every inch of the Nashville songwriters? haven has been replicated on a nearby soundstage, from its famous blue awning to its tablecloths.
As the show has committed to shooting on location, locals will recognize lots of real-deal locations on Wednesday?s episode, too, including the Grand Ole Opry House, Capitol Grille and the Shelby Street Bridge, and the show also has filmed in lesser-known locales such as East Nashville venue the 5 Spot. Rayna James wears a Loveless Cafe T-Shirt in one scene and suggests heading to Tootsie?s for a drink in another.
Julie Summers of Hendersonville is excited for ?Nashville,? mostly to see more of Jackson, who she?s followed since his ?General Hospital? days, but she also is looking forward to seeing familiar spots on the show.
?I?ve lived here my whole life. To actually see it on the screen, and places that I?ve actually been to, I think that?ll be cool,? she said. ?I hope they make it seem like a nice place, and people will want to come here.?
The show?s cast did its part during an appearance in July at a panel for the Television Critics Association, where cast members sang the praises of Music City and gushed about experiences at the Opry and other local landmarks.
Buchanan and many of the show?s other creative forces ? including screenwriter and former Nashvillian Callie Khouri (?Thelma & Louise,? ?Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood?) ? have expressed that they?re invested in depicting the city in a fair light.
?It?s the coming together of a pretty extraordinary team around a great subject: The city of Nashville,? Buchanan said.
Critics weigh in
?Despite the omnipresence of country music within the plot, one doesn?t need to be a fan to fall in love with this winning and intriguing drama, which blends music, romantic intrigue, and politics, along with an insightful examination of how popular entertainment devalues aging women. ... A must watch.?
? Jace Lacob,
The Daily Beast
? ?Nashville? is probably the best drama anyone?s made about the town and its songbirds, and I'm lookin? at you, Robert Altman.?
? Ken Tucker,
Entertainment Weekly
?If there?s a consensus most-likely-to-succeed show this fall ? or show we?d most like to succeed ? it?s ?Nashville.??
? Matt Roush,
TV Guide
"?Nashville? is an unapologetic soap, but also a smart one, and one that offers a good taste of Nashville as both a community and the center of country music.?
? Alan Sepinwall,
HitFix.com
WHEN TO WATCH: ?Nashville? will premiere at 9 p.m. Wednesday on ABC.
Source: http://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2012/10/07/nashville-brings-drama-of-music-biz-to-television/
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