Peter Pan Live! Ratings: Did the Musical Sink or Soar?

NBC's live musical event was down sharply compared to The Sound of Music

By Chris Harnick Dec 05, 2014 4:26 PMTags
Peter Pan LiveVirginia Sherwood/NBC

The ratings are in! Did Peter Pan Live! take flight to new ratings heights?

Not as high as Sound of Music, but 9.1 million viewers tuned in to see Allison Williams do battle with Christopher Walken's Captain Hook. In the coveted 18-49 demographic, the special musical event had a 2.3 rating. That's down more than 50 percent compared to The Sound of Music Live! telecast last year, but up considerably from NBC's normal Thursday average.

"We're very pleased with the Peter Pan ratings and it was a great night for NBC," Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, said in a statement. "We won every hour, which hasn't happened on Thursday with entertainment programming since a year ago.  I'm proud to be part of a company that takes chances and creates big events, and that's exactly what we're going to continue to do."

The 2013 Sound of Music musical telecast starring Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer had 18.6 million live viewers and a 4.6 rating.

"We didn't expect to reach the same rating as The Sound of Music since that was the first live movie event of its kind in over 50 years," Greenblatt said. "But the high wire act of Peter Pan was a joy for everyone involved and I take my hat off to Allison Williams, Christopher Walken, the entire company, and our incredible directors and producers for three months of the hardest work I've ever seen. I love these live events and we're already working on putting the next one together."

Over on the other networks, CBS kicked its night off with a rerun of The Big Bang Theory that tied Peter Pan Live! in the demo and beat it in total viewers with 10.7 million. Mom was new with 10.6 million viewers and a 2.5 rating, as was Two and a Half Men (10.4 million viewers and a 2.5 rating), The McCarthys (8.3 million viewers and a 2.0 rating) and Elementary (8.6 million viewers and a 1.8 rating).  ABC aired The Taste with 3.3 million viewers and a 0.9 rating and a How to Get Away With Murder rerun. Fox had new episodes of Gracepoint (3.6 million viewers and a 0.9 rating) and Bones (6 million viewers and a 1.5 rating).

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)