• by Wayne Friedman , December 4, 2015

“The Wiz Live!” averaged a Nielsen 11.5 million overall viewers and a strong 3.2 rating among all 18-49 viewers -- higher than NBC’s previous effort, “Peter Pan Live!” (running in late November 2014), which yielded weaker results at 9.2 million viewers and a 2.4 rating among 18-49 viewers.

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

Both recent NBC musicals had to compete with CBS’ “Thursday Night Football," which fared a bit better overall than “The Wiz” -- a Nielsen 3.5/11 share and 12.9 million overall viewers versus a 3.4/11 and 11.5 million viewers for the musical.

Better news for NBC was that it dominated the night among women 18-49 viewers -- for a 14 share versus a 8 share that CBS’s “Thursday Night Football” posted for the demo.

On the flip side, CBS earned better results for men 18-49 viewers, a 14 share versus a 7 share for “The Wiz” among those male viewers.

For the night, CBS and NBC were in a virtual tie among 18-49 viewers -- at a 3.3/11 for CBS versus a 3.4/11 for NBC. ABC was far behind with a 0.9/3, followed by Fox with a 0.6/2 and CW at a 0.5/2.