‘The Wiz Live’ Producers Talk Broadway Plans, Cast Involvement

The viewership number was also better than NBC’s live musical previous year “Peter Pan Live!” which brought in 9.2 million viewers. But the buzz wasn’t all good; the show also sparked a racial controversy online. This video was licensed from Grab Networks.

Thursday night’s live remake of the musical (and of the 1978 movie of the same name starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson) featured an all-star cast including Queen Latifah, Common, Ne-Yo, Mary J. Blige, and Uzo Aduba. “The Sound of Music Live!” had great numbers in kicking off this trend, but most of the reviews were tepid at best. With The Wiz Live having proven to be an across-the-board success after airing Thursday, Dec. 3, on the network, the show’s producers are now admitting that their 2014 effort didn’t quite soar. “We should think it through and figure out what the next choice should be in the progression of, ‘What do you follow The Wiz with so we can keep moving forward and not backward?'” According to TV Fanatic, the football over on CBS topped the night with 12.6 million viewers.

Both musicals were lower than NBC’s original “Sound of Music”, which aired in December 2013 and surprised everyone with a large 18.6 million viewers and a 4.6 rating among 18-49.

“Yes, as you might expect, there were some glitches: a stray camera, a balky effect, some moments of empty sound – and a missing in action Toto”, wrote Robert Bianco, USA Today’s TV critic.