Nashville Season 3 Premiered Live?

On Wednesday season 3 of Nashville premiered. They tried something I haven’t seen before. They aired the musical performances in the Bluebird Café live for both East Coast and West Coast times. I think they did this to portray that the show is all about live and being real, no auto-tune. I also think they wanted to encourage viewers to watch it live.  The drama was averaging 7.9 million viewers last season with seven days of DVR viewing factored in which was up from 4.8 million who watch “Nashville” the night it airs.

To be honest I didn’t like it. Going from the artsy field shots to the studio live shots was very disorienting for me. It was very easy to tell which style it was by the camera movement and quality of each shot. It distracted me from the emotional storyline. I think that if you’re going to air something live, air the whole thing live. I know this wasn’t possible for Nashville but it is meant to be a pre-recorded show and so it should be consistent. If they want to portray genuine live music then they should air a live concert with all of the artists. They shouldn’t change the established style of the show.

I love the show but if this live aspect of the show continues, it will most likely be a deal breaker. I understand the artists can sing live but they don’t need to prove it during the actual episodes.