Amid news that ratings for Thursday’s “Peter Pan Live!” special fell dramatically short of those posted by 2013’s “The Sound of Music Live,” NBC is keeping an upbeat demeanor.
“We’re very pleased with the Peter Pan ratings and it was a great night for NBC,” says NBC’s Robert Greenblatt. “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.”
NBC touts that the show’s 5.9 overnight household rating, which trails that of “TSOM” by 46%, was the networks highest Thursday rating for non-sports programming since last year’s musical.
And insofar as NBC was not expecting the broadcast to perform on par with “The Sound of Music,” it can focus on that positive.
“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,” adds Greenblatt. “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.”