Last night's big premiere of Smash was a boon for NBC and musical lovers, pulling in 11.5 million viewers and a 3.9 ratings in the all-important 18-49 demo. This is big for NBC. Actually, it's big for network TV. Yay! NBC is saved! Theater is saved!

According to ratings reports, Smash's debut was the third highest-rated premiere of the 2011/2012 TV season, behind only Once Upon a Time and the special preview of the upcoming Touch that Fox ran last month. So, bravo, Smash! Now comes the agonizing wait to see if it can maintain a decent portion of those numbers in the following weeks.

One potentially troubling indicator that it might not be able to do that is that the show lost 20 percent of its audience from the first half-hour to the second. That could mean that some folks, coming in hot from lead-in The Voice, got bored halfway through and sought other entertainment, which isn't good. Oh, and speaking of The Voice? That flawed endeavor is doing aces so far this season, last night amassing 17.7 million viewers and a 6.6 rating. That, for the record, is higher than American Idol's ratings last week. So, that's quite a thing! Champagne is surely popping at NBC right now. A hit! Finally a hit! And maybe two hits? Time will tell.

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Richard Lawson