A good look at Good Night, and Good Luck; George Clooney's timely revival of truth on trial

Time of India

4 hours ago

Amid mounting unrest over sweeping
ICE raids
in Los Angeles, with protests erupting in Westlake, Paramount, and downtown, some met with flashbangs, tear gas, and the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops,
CNN
offered a cultural counterpoint.
On Saturday, June 7, the network aired Good Night, and Good Luck live from Broadway, making television history as the first full
Broadway production
to be broadcast in real time on a major network.
Staged at New York's Winter Garden Theatre, the event featured
George Clooney
in a lead role and was introduced by CNN anchor Pamela Brown. It was followed by post-show analysis from Anderson Cooper.
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by Taboola
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Part
political theatre
, part media spectacle, the broadcast turned a historic play about journalistic integrity into a timely reflection of current events, unfolding against a backdrop of political tension and public protest.
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CNN's decision to televise the production aligns with its recent attempts to reframe prime-time programming, and many observers hailed the event as both a creative gamble and a bold political statement.
A politically timed revival
The play, co-written and headlined by Clooney, revisits legendary CBS newsman
Edward R. Murrow
's takedown of Senator Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s Red Scare. Premiering amid heightened debate around
press freedom
, media integrity, and authoritarian political trends in the U.S., the production clearly resonates with today's headlines.
Though subdued compared to David Strathairn's Oscar-nominated film portrayal, Clooney's performance conveyed Murrow's quiet steel.
The actor-director also helped shape the narrative to reflect today's fractured media landscape, integrating archival imagery, authentic cable graphics, and modern references, including Elon Musk and surveillance politics. Critics noted how this juxtaposition lent fresh urgency to a familiar historical tale.
From a technical standpoint, the production took daring creative liberties. It used screens to project close-ups of
Clooney
and other actors as they delivered lines, emulating a newsroom in tone and format.
Critics from the Los Angeles Times praised this innovation, calling the broadcast 'one of the most stirring offerings of the Broadway season', a rare crossover that made theater more accessible while still carrying artistic weight.
Still, some pointed out the irony: high ticket prices and a near-Hollywood cast drew criticism when the show first opened on Broadway, with some theatergoers claiming it priced out traditional audiences. Saturday's CNN airing, free to the public, helped counter that criticism and widened access.
Mixed reactions
This iconic performance sparked a wide range of reactions online. While many lauded the play's political relevance and Clooney's daring as a producer, others found the staging occasionally static and the symbolism heavy-handed.
One Reddit user commented, 'Seeing Broadway on CNN was surreal, but watching Murrow fight McCarthyism in 2025 felt more relevant than ever.'
Despite critiques, the project was a commercial hit. The production recently broke box office records by earning more than $4 million in a single week, boosted by five Tony nominations, including Best Leading Actor for Clooney.
A Broadcast that stood for something
Above all, Clooney's
Good Night and Good Luck
succeeded in its larger mission: reasserting journalism's role in safeguarding democracy. As Murrow famously warned in the play and the original film, 'This instrument can teach, it can illuminate... but it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends.'