What a night for TonyBennett!
His special, “One Last Time,” with Lady Gaga, was the highest rated network non sports show on Sunday night. The overnight total was 6.13 million and it will adjust higher by tomorrow with delayed viewing.
The audience skewed older with just 400,000 of those viewers in the 18-49 range. But the oldsters tuned in like crazy.
When the night began, Tony and Gaga’s album, “Love for Sale,” was number 3o on iTunes. This morning it’s in the top 10. On amazon, it’s the number 2 CD, held back only by Adele. Quite an accomplishment.
Tony and Gaga have 6 Grammy nominations. I’m guessing they win all 6 including Album of the Year. Contemporary pop had a mediocre year. “Love for Sale” is the class choice. And imagine if they have Tony make an appearance of some kind.
I went to the live show at Radio City back on August 3rd and was impressed with how the producers organized this hour long special. It was perfectly concise, and showed Tony was simply amazing as he performed solo and with Lady Gaga. Tony may have Alzheimer’s but as a performer he didn’t miss a beat. His voice soared. He is just remarkable.
Lady Gaga really deserves so much credit. She is now the rare once in a generation throwback to a music and movie star who can also host a TV special with ease. She is a Star with a capital S. And of course MGM ran ads for Gaga’s movie, “House of Gucci,” during the special to tie everything together.
Wait, there’s more: MTV will host a Bennett-Gaga Unplugged on December 16th. This is the show they taped before Radio City, no guests allowed. And then there’s a Paramount Plus documentary set for next year. This was the whole CBS-Viacom package, and no matter what it cost, it was worth it.
