ABC Joins Live Music Programming Trend With 'For The Record Live' Specials

ABC's (Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS)) new head Channing Dungey already made her mark on her network's schedule a month ago with her "Black Thursday" cleansing and now she's looking towards the future.

As part of those trends, Dungey has given the greenlight to "For The Record Live," a series of specials from Dick Clark Productions. The program is described as "a genre-bending production turning the soundtracks of iconic director's films into thrilling immersive live entertainment event."

Essentially think of it as a musical tribute to some the top filmmakers around including Quentin Tarantino, John Hughes, Baz Luhrmann and Martin Scorsese. The troupe, which started off performing in Los Angeles area bars and will open a Las Vegas residency later this summer, fits well into the new type of "reality" programming the national broadcasters are targeting.

Live musical programming is quickly becoming a big ratings grabber and so far NBC and Fox have jumped on board with well-received musical adaptations, this is ABC's introduction to the space.

While no exact date for "Record" has been revealed just yet, Fox and NBC each have plans for more musicals in the fall. Fox will bow "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in October and NBC will put on "Hairspray" in December.