THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! Dominates the Night with NBC's Best 18-49 Thursday Average, Excluding Sports, Since the Night of the "ER" Finale

THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! (4.6/13 in 18-49 and 18.470 million viewers overall) dominated the night with NBC's best 18-49 Thursday average, excluding sports, since the night of the "ER" finale (5.2, April 2, 2009).

In total viewers, this is NBC's best Thursday average excluding sports since May 13, 2004 (FRASIER finale night, 22.597 million viewers).

· NBC won its fifth night in a row among ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox in 18-49 (12/1-5). It's the first time since June 2002 that NBC has won five nights in a row, excluding Olympics (since a six-night streak June 2-7, 2002; NBC's last in-season five-night streak was May 1-5, 2002).

· The top local market in metered market households came in Carrie Underwood's home state, with Oklahoma City giving the three-hour special a 20.7/28. NBC ranked #1 in primetime in all 56 metered markets.

· With an +84% advantage over 2nd place CBS in A18-49 and excluding sports, this is NBC's best Thursday night dominance opposite all original broadcast competition since 10/4/01 (+161% vs. 2nd place CBS).

· SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE led THE BIG BANG THEORY in the 8 p.m. half-hour (17.560 million vs. 15.261 million), marking the first time a show has topped BIG BANG in P2+ head-to-head in strict half-hour data since American Idol did it on 5/10/12 (13.711 million vs. 13.668 million).

THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! starred six-time Grammy Award winner Carrie Underwood as Maria and TRUE BLOOD star Stephen Moyer as Capt. Georg von Trapp. Moyer recently headlined in the stage version of the musical "Chicago" at the Hollywood Bowl.

Also co-starring were Tony Award winners Audra McDonald (Mother Abbess), Laura Benanti (Elsa Schrader) and Christian Borle (Max Dettweiler).

The young cast playing the von Trapp children were Ariane Rinehart (Liesl), Michael Nigro (Fredrich), Ella Watts-Gorman (Louisa), Joe West (Kurt), Sophia Caruso (Brigitta), Grace Rundhaug (Marta) and Peyton Ella as young Gretl.

Additional cast included Jessica Molaskey as Sister Berthe and Elena Shaddow as Sister Sophia. Cast as nuns are Georgia Stitt, Ashley Brown, Paula Leggett Chase, Linda Mugleston, Margot de La Barre, Laura Shoop, Sydney Morton, Wendi Bergamini, Cameron Adams, Rema Webb, Rayanne Gonzales, Andrea Jones-Sojola, Adrienne Danrich, Autumn Hurlbert, Catherine Brunell, Leah Horowitz, Gina Ferrall, Nikki Renee Daniels, Joy Hermalyn and Stowe Brown.

Tony nominee Kristine Nielsen played Frau Schmidt, with Sean Cullen as Franz, Michael Campayno as Rolf, CJ Wilson as Herr Zeller, Catherine Brunell as Frau Zeller, Michael Park (ex-Jack, AS THE WORLD TURNS) as Baron Elberfeld, Chase as Baroness Elberfeld, Brown as Ursula and John Bolger (ex-Gabe, ANOTHER WORLD) as Admiral Von Schrieber.

Also featured were Shannon Lewis, Samantha Zack, Megan Sikora, Matt Wall, Ward Billisen, Marty Lawson, Alex Michael Stoll, Bob Gaynor, Karl Warden, Brandon Henschal, David Hull, Charlie Williams and Jennie Ford.

The live holiday spectacular was based on the original 1959 Broadway production of "The Sound of Music," starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The iconic story centered on a young woman who leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the seven children of a naval officer widower.