Fox's 'The Passion' Can't Reach Same Heights As 'Grease: Live'

Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ: FOXA)'s first attempt a live musical was a smashing success as "Grease: Live!" surprised the industry with strong numbers. The same, however, can't be said for follow-up event "The Passion."

The religious-based musical hosted by Tyler Perry and airing (semi) live from New Orleans pulled in a 18–49 demo rating of 1.6, which is well below the 4.3 number Danny, Sandy and friends earned back in January. Looking at it in terms of total viewers, the special snared 6.6 million viewers, while Grease did nearly double with 12.3 million.

What makes this more interesting is that the 1.6 demo rating is actually less than the 2.4 rating delivered by AMC Networks Inc (NASDAQ: AMCX) live "Walking Dead" after-show "Talking Dead." While the two were not direct competitors, it is rare to see a low budget show like "Talking Dead" top a highly produced and expensive spectacular of this nature.

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Does It Make Sense To Compare?

It also may be unfair to compare "Passion" and "Grease," as the two targeted vastly difference audiences. However, given the success in recent years of religious based films the expectation was "Passion" would potentially get a bigger bounce, particularly over free broadcast TV and on the weekend before Easter.

The gold-standard still remains NBC (Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA))'s flashy debut into the field with 2013's "The Sound Of Music," which had a 4.6 demo and had 18+ million viewers. NBC will return to the genre in the fall with "Hairspray," while Fox will roll the dice around that time with "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Image Credit: Public Domain