Will ‘The Wiz Live!’ match ‘The Sound of Music’ or ‘Peter Pan’ in the ratings?

Tonight is a big, albeit unorthodox, night for NBC. After all, the network is airing their third live musical in just as many years, and it is none other than “The Wiz.”

Will this prove itself to be a worthwhile investment? At the moment, we’re not entirely sure. Part of the reason for the success of the original “Sound of Music Live!” presentation is that it was one of the most beloved and well-known musicals of all time. Not only that, but you had someone in Carrie Underwood in the lead role who was a superstar trying something a little different. There was curiosity of her role, and then to go along with that, there was also curiosity over the new format, and then there was also curiosity over the star. The ratings dipped for the second musical “Peter Pan,” which was a popular property but not as well-known a musical. Not only that, but Allison Williams does not have the star power of Underwood.

So for “The Wiz,” they are in somewhat of a similar place. You’ve got an adaptation of “The Wizard of Oz” that while popular with some, doesn’t have a “Sound of Music” audience behind it. Also, the cast (which could can see in the photo above) is not famous enough to draw tens of millions of viewers. They will probably be watching more so for the property than for any individual person, and the star Shanice Williams is a newcomer to many.

With all of this said, we are intensely curious to see how the show fares in the ratings, and this is something that we are going to focus so much more on when we get to writing about it tomorrow. Stay tuned!

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