NBC scored a nice win last night with the airing of Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert starring John Legend. The live event allowed NBC to win the night but American Idol held very steadily for ABC despite the holiday and competition from Superstar on NBC.
The two-hour-plus musical delivered a 1.7 rating among adults 18-49 and 9.36 million viewers. The 18-49 figure is slightly ahead of FOX’s production of The Passion on Easter in 2016, and the viewers are on par with NBC’s last musical, Hairspray Live.
On ABC, American Idol held up fairly well opposite Jesus Christ Superstar, slipping a tenth of a point in adults 18-49 to a 1.6 demo rating and 7.43 million viewers. Deception was steady vs. last week at a 0.8 demo rating and 4.15 million viewers.
On CBS, Instinct took a big hit in its third week. It drew a 0.6 demo rating and 6.66 million viewers, barely half of the 1.15 average for its first two episodes (which aired on nights where live sports bumped into primetime). NCIS: LA (0.8, 7.05 million viewers) and Madam Secretary (0.5, 5.71 million viewers) were each down two tenths.
On FOX, Family Guy held steady with last week’s 0.9 demo rating and 2.10 million viewers but The Simpsons (0.9, 2.01 million viewers), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.8, 1.77 million viewers) and The Last Man on Earth (0.6, 1.42 million viewers) all fell a tenth, and Bob’s Burgers (0.6, 1.49 million viewers) lost two tenths.
