An estimated 11.5 million people tuned in to watch, according to Nielsen.
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The Wiz tweets’ 128.9 million total impressions beat out Peter Pan’s 68.7 million and Sound of Music’s 106.8 million. In fact, reviews for “The Wiz” have been largely favorable.
Black Twitter and Twitter in general was lit with commentary during the broadcast.
“These days, [it’s] a very solid prime-time showing”, said Jim Nail, an analyst with Forrester Research.
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. But it was rarely to be found in this third outing by executive producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan. The star-studded cast not only garnered the viewers, but also brought the nostalgia along with it. With Mary J. Blige as a deliciously nasty Evillene (the Wicked Witch of the West), Queen Latifah as The Wiz and Common as the Gatekeeper of Oz, here renamed Bouncer, campiness threatened, to be sure. “CBS” Thursday Night Football coverage won the night – and topped “The Wiz” in five of the six primetime half-hours (the exception being the first, in which the pre-game coverage trailed the opening half-hour of NBC’s musical). “So, it’s also significant in terms of the African-American culture”.
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Confused viewers outraged by the all-black cast of NBC’s “The Wiz Live!” can ease on down from their gripes – a handful of eagle-eyed social media users have spotted a white dancer in the mix.
