ABC's "The Little Mermaid Live!" didn't flounder in Tuesday's primetime Nielsen ratings in comparison to the other live (and semi-live) TV musicals that came before it. And yes, that includes the most-recent and lowest-rated event, Fox's "Rent."
Last night's broadcast -- which cut between the 1989 animated film and live performances by the cast, including "Moana" star Auli'i Cravalho as Ariel and Queen Latifah as Ursula -- came in at No. 4 on the list of modern-day, live TV musicals ranked by their ratings among the key adults 18-49 demo. What makes that impressive slot even more impressive for "Little Mermaid" is that it was ABC's first foray into the genre since its rebirth, with all the other specials having aired on Fox or NBC.
Scroll through our gallery to see how each of broadcast TV's modern-day, live musical productions rank by Nielsen numbers. Lowest-rated is first, highest-rated is last.
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Rank: 10
Musical: "Rent"
Date: January 27, 2019
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 1.4
Total viewers: 3.415 million
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Rank: 9
Musical: "A Christmas Story: Live"
Date: Dec. 17, 2017
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 1.5
Total viewers: 4.481 million
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Rank: 8
Musical: "The Passion"
Date: March 20, 2016
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 1.6
Total viewers: 6.648 million
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Rank: 7
Musical: "Jesus Christ Superstar Live!"
Date: April 1, 2018
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 1.7
Total viewers: 9.607 million
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Rank: 6
Musical: "Hairspray Live!"
Date: Dec. 7, 2016
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 2.3
Total viewers: 9.045 million
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Rank: 5
Musical: "Peter Pan Live!"
Date: Dec. 4, 2014
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 2.4
Total viewers: 9.211 million
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Rank: 4
Musical: "The Little Mermaid Live!"
Date: Nov. 5, 2019
Network: ABC
18-49 rating: 2.6
Total viewers: 8.978 million
Also Read: ‘The Little Mermaid Live’ Ratings Blows Fox’s ‘Rent’ Numbers Out of the Sea
Rank: 3
Musical: "The Wiz Live!"
Date: Dec. 3, 2015
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 3.4
Total viewers: 11.498 million
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Rank: 2
Musical: "Grease: Live"
Date: Jan. 1, 2016
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 4.3
Total viewers: 12.206 million
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Rank: 1
Musical: "Sound of Music Live!"
Date: Dec. 5, 2013
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 4.6
Total viewers: 18.624 million
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There is currently no upcoming live TV musical set at any of the broadcast networks, after rock opera "Hair" was scrapped by NBC last February.
