The network on Wednesday unveiled newcomer Shanice Williams from New Jersey as its Dorothy for the December 3 live production of “The Wiz Live!”.
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With delayed and on-demand viewing becoming more the norm in TV households across the country, NBC’s “The Wiz” showed that live TV can still bring in a big audience. This was higher than NBC’s previous effort, “Peter Pan Live!”
NBC reached 11.1 million viewers for its live production of “The Wiz” on Thursday night. Note that with the major-market appeal of “The Wiz Live!”.
That said, both recent NBC musicals had to compete with CBS’ “Thursday Night Football”. Among adults ages 18 to 49, Wiz won a 3.3 rating, up from a 2.4 for Pan but below Music’s 4.6. The 19-year-old actress was introduced to the world with her role in the star-studded production. NBC was able to charge premium rates for ads and, according to Nielsen, it also got lots of Twitter love – approximately 1.6 million individual tweets were sent during the broadcast.
TiVo said the show’s top moment for people rewinding and watching again came when the Munchkins told Dorothy to “follow the yellow-brick road”.
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For many black households across the country, last night felt like the Super Bowl, as folks tuned in for the long-awaited premiere of NBC’s The Wiz Live!
