5 things that could go wrong with ‘Peter Pan Live’ (but hopefully won’t)

We’re drawing ever closer to NBC’s broadcast of “Peter Pan Live!”, which airs Thursday from 8 to 11 p.m. It’s NBC’s attempt to capitalize on the wild success of last year’s “Sound of Music Live,” but we can’t but feel like the actors in this are almost sacrificial lambs — NBC brass is well aware that much of the interest in the earlier show had to do with making fun of it. The stars are even trying to preempt criticism of it. Star Allison Williams told the Daily Caller she was well-aware that people were planning to hate-watch it:“It’s a whole way of watching something, and it’s not an audience that’s natural to a non-cynical performance. Peter Pan, you cannot watch cynically. If you do, you’re going to hate it, no question. It falls apart instantly.”

Let’s hope it doesn’t fall apart instantly, Allison. We’re hoping for that sweet spot of camp and nostalgia, but we may be alone in that. Here are a few things that could go wrong that we hope don’t.

1. Technical difficulties cause huge issues

Williams and a few child actors are about to spend three hours flying through the air on wires on a set built for a single performance. Hate-watching is one thing, but watching in fear for the wellbeing of the performers is another. Here’s hoping everyone flies straight on til morning, and not straight into a wall.

2. Child stars act unpredictably

There are a lot of kids in this, from the Darling family to the Lost Boys, all participating in complicated singing and dancing on live television. While the occasional flubbed line might be expected, nobody needs to see some poor kid totally lose it on television in front of millions of viewers. And props to this little trooper, who claims (about 47 seconds in) that he’s always dreamed of meeting Allison Williams and Christopher Walken. Really, kid? Big “Girls” fan?

3. The casting is just plain bad

Look, Carrie Underwood was probably always doomed to some mockery. Some singers are natural acting talents. Some…are not. And Underwood hadn’t done any acting before “Sound of Music Live!” So we hope NBC knew what they were doing this time. Williams isn’t known as a singer, and prior to “Girls,” her main acting credit on imdb is as Kate Middleton in a sitcom about Prince William and his wife called “Will & Kate: Before Happily Ever After.” But she sure seems excited about the whole thing, and we think that fully committing is probably the best option in this case. Crow your heart out, lady. And as for Christopher Walken? That guy was in “Gigli,” so we’re never really sure what to expect from him.

4. People on the Internet act like…people on the internet

The degree of salivating over the not-yet-dead corpse of this show is getting a little intense. Hate-watching is fair game, but we’re hoping people manage to keep it civil. Maybe don’t tweet at Allison Williams repeatedly telling her she sucks? That’s not actually funny.

5. It’s boring

The greatest crime of all: being too earnest to fully hate, but not good enough to be enjoyable. Given that NBC is theoretically aiming this at an audience of kids while being very aware of the social media-savvy adults watching to make fun of it, we’re concerned that it will come out tepid and dull. Generally, trying not to offend parents does not make for good entertainment. We’re hoping the show is campy but self-aware. And if The Wig falls off of Allison Williams during “I Gotta Crow”? Well, we’ll just say we won’t be heartbroken if that happens.