‘The Wiz Live’ tops ‘Peter Pan’ with 11.5 million viewers

But the buzz wasn’t all good; the show also sparked a racial controversy online.

“The Wiz” accounted for 128 million Twitter impressions on Thursday night, a total more than both “Peter Pan Live!” and “The Sound of Music Live!” For additional video content, click the “video” tab at the top of this page. Numerous complaints on social media were about the telecast’s ad load – slightly ironic, given that one of the big reasons NBC airs these specials is for the ad sales opportunities. “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?'”

The CW: Pending adjustments, The Vampire Diaries opened the night with 1.3 million total viewers and a 0.5 demo rating, ticking up slightly in total viewers while steady in the demo.

The performances were confident, accomplished – but too often the show seemed to unfold in slow motion; even the dance numbers seemed tame and undernourished. It drew strong reviews, with the AP’s Mark Kennedy writing that the exuberant, inventive production “breathed new life into the notion of full-scale musicals on live TV”.

In metered-market households, the 7.9 rating, 13 share for “The Wiz Live!” represents the highest-rated Thursday for any network in the local markets, excluding sports, in more than a year, since September 25, 2014 (8.4 for ABC’s season premieres of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” and the series premiere of “How To Get Away With Murder”). There was much online discussion about “The Wiz” having an all-black cast from people who may have been unaware that the 1970s-era musical and movie had a black cast, too.

I am a musical theatre geek from back in the day so I was excited to see The Wiz Live! on NBC.