NBC and Peacock’s presentation of this year’s Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks sparked a flurry of complaints from viewers who took issue with several deviations from the annual special’s tried-and-true formula.
Produced by Grammy and Emmy winner Jason Howland and co-hosted by Zuri Hall (of NBCU’s Access Hollywood and American Ninja Warrior) and singer Mickey Guyton, Thursday night’s telecast was scheduled to feature performances by Guyton herself as well as Bell Biv DeVoe, Lainey Wilson, Luis Fonsi, Mark Ambor, Shaboozey, Alex Newell, Amber Mark, Brandy Clark, Tanner Adell, and The War And Treaty.
“Each [performer] will reimagine and remix iconic American tunes across a variety of genres and decades, interweaving patriotic anthems with contemporary hits,” read the pre-show press release.
Patriotic anthems, however, were in limited supply. Instead, you got…. “Poison”? And once the world-famous fireworks display got popping, the telecast this year focused far more than ever before on the singers.
One X user noted “very few or obstructed fireworks scenes on @Macys @nbc 4th of July special. Waaay too much performers and waaaaaay too little fireworks.” As such, they likened it to “Macy’s singers and music special with some fireworks in the background.“
“This was my least favorite fireworks performance from Macy’s!” posted another X user. “Basically no patriotic music and most of the shots were of the singers and not the fireworks!… Not a fan of this one.”
“Hey @NBC, why did we need to watch the singers vs the Macys fireworks??!!” asked someone on Threads. Added another Threads user, “Worst fireworks music ever for macys this year. Bunch of people no one knows singing songs that have nothing to do with the fourth. Not showing enough fireworks.”
The Macy’s fireworks display’s grand finale, meanwhile, was arguably less grand than ever. Coming out of a commercial break that clumsily cleaved the fireworks display in two, the grand finale was effectively doused by the rolling of closing credits over the action.
“Over the years, @Macys made me watch incredible performances alongside the fireworks,” but this year, “my mind was not blown bc … the finale had credits transposed over it 😡,” remarked one X user. “MACY’s. TOO MUCH. Separate the performances! Instrumentals with fireworks!
Added another, “This was the most disgraceful telecast for the Macy’s fireworks. NBC horrific job. Did we really need live singers on stage during the show? Worst was rolling credits during the recorded finale, cause they went to commercial. Brutal.”
TVLine has reached out to NBC for comment.
Source: TVLine
