"Peter Pan Live!" Falls Short on Ratings Compared to "The Sound of Music"

The live television production of the beloved Broadway musical Peter Pan didn't exactly fly high in terms of ratings.

According to the Daily Mail, Peter Pan Live! only reached nine million viewers, which is half of the audience who tuned in to last year's production of the The Sound of Music. The Nielsen Company reported that this year's production, which starred Allison Williams as Peter Pan and Christopher Walken as Captain Hook, reached 9.1 million viewers while The Sound of Music, starring Carrie Underwood as Maria, pulled in 18.6 million viewers.

Despite the drastic decline in viewership, the rating still gives NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt happy thoughts: "We're very pleased with the Peter Pan ratings and it was a great night for NBC."

"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. 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," he said according to Entertainment Weekly.

The three-hour production, which had fewer viewers than a repeat of a Big Bang Theory episode, was not without its fair share of mishaps. William, known for playing Marnie in the hit show Girls, almost crashed into a wall and gave the production a wobbly start. The charismatic Captain Hook, played by Walken, seemed to be lip synching some of the songs.

Peter Pan Live! generated some mixed reviews online, reported the Daily Mail.

Some viewers expressed their approval on Twitter. One viewer, @joey_aulisio, wrote: 'Allison Williams killed it. Walken killed it. That wooden gator killed it. Tiger Lily - call me. THAT DOG! Great job everyone.'

Another, @ryansatin, wrote: 'If you're not watching Walken as Hook, you are missing out on a truly special moment in TV history.'   

There were also some who found something to complain about. A Twitter user, @KittyKateMD, wrote: 'Although Allison Williams is singing beautiful, but her English accent is horrible! #PeterPanLive'.

NBC might have to come up with a stronger title that could pull in more viewers as a follow up to this year's production.