Ratings: Jesus Christ Superstar Bests Idol To Lord Over Easter Sunday

Jesus Christ Superstar Live ruled Easter Sunday.

NBC's rousing production delivered 9.4 million total viewers and a 1.7 rating, topping the night on both counts while placing fourth in audience and sixth in the demo among the past four-plus years of live musical events (as detailed below). TVLine readers gave the show an average grade of "B+."[pmc_inline_gallery]

Sound of Music (Dec. 2013): 18.6 mil/4.6

Grease (Jan. 2016): 12.2 mil/4.3

The Wiz (Dec. 2015): 11.5 mil/3.4

Peter Pan (Dec. 2014): 9.2 mil/2.4

Hairspray (Dec. 2016): 9.1 mil/2.3

The Passion (March 2016): 6.6 mil/1.6

A Christmas Story (Dec. 2017): 4.5 mil/1.5

Elsewhere....

ABC | American Idol (7.4 mil/1.6) dipped week-to-week to hit and match revival lows. Deception (4.2 mil/0.8) ticked up, doubling American Crime's year-ago rating.

CBS | Instinct (6.7 mil/0.6) lost half of last week's demo rating, NCIS: LA (7.1 mil/0.8) hit and equaled its lowest numbers since Nov. 19 and Madam Secretary (5.7 mil/0.5) drew its second-smallest audience ever while tying its demo low.

FOX | Bob's Burgers (1.5 mil/0.6) dropped 33 percent, The Simpsons (2 mil/0.9) and Family Guy (2.1 mil/0.9) were steady, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.8 mil/0.8) and Last Man on Earth (1.4 mil/0.6) each dipped a tenth.

Want scoop on any of the above shows? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line.