Family, fan, and estate protests were not enough to keep ABC News from airing their unauthorized documentary on the life of the King of Pop and, as ratings indicate, they also weren’t enough to keep viewers from tuning in.

Titled ‘The Last Days of Michael Jackson,’ the 2-hour special – which aired May 24th – took never-before-seen looks at the rise and fall of music’s biggest persona and also unearthed interview footage with ABC News stars Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer that had never previously hit the air.

Coming in as the third-most watched program of the night, tuck inside to see just how many people were glued to their TV to see the doc:

“Last Days of Michael Jackson” (ABC)

Viewership:  5.58 million

Among all non-sports or non-news programming (cable and broadcast included), ABC’s Jackson special trailed only CBS’s hit series ‘Young Sheldon’ and ‘Big Bang Theory’ in views.

Look below to see how it stacked against fellow broadcast programs:

[Source]

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