February 28, 2008 - An Embarrassment of Riches on Live TV

Tonight at 9 ET (check local listings), the PBS series Great Performances presents a milestone in live television: a concert, broadcast from North Korea, of Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic performing live from Pyongyang.

Eager as I am to hear the music - Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, Wagner's Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and Gershwin's An American in Paris, not to mention the national anthems of North Korea and the U.S. - I'm much more excited to witness the audience's reaction to it.

We've come a long way from the time when Asian cultures could insulate themselves by building a Great Wall. Satellites know no boundaries, and the diplomacy involved in staging this concert is itself an impressive feat of global proportions.

And let's hear it, once again, for live TV. This month alone we've had one of the best Super Bowls ever, the return of the Oscars, a fake Hillary Clinton complaining about debate mechanics on Saturday Night Live and the real Hillary, days later, doing the same thing in a real debate on MSNBC.

What's not to love?