Despite criticism over costuming, casting, and the controversy surrounding the portrayal (or lack thereof) of group member DJ Spinderella, female Rap pioneers Salt-N-Pepa‘s Lifetime biopic soldiered on to small screens Saturday (January 23).
The Mario Van Peebles-directed endeavor – executive produced by Queen Latifah as well as the group’s members Cheryl ‘Salt’ James and Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton – chronicled the duo’s rise in the male-dominated Hip Hop world and even spotlighted a number of personal struggles the ladies endured along the way.
Their lives played out alongside a soundtrack of their greatest hits (i.e. ‘Push It,’ ‘Whatta Man,’ ‘Shoop,’ etc.), look inside to see just how many people tuned in for the action.
Viewership = 2.68 million
The 2.68 million viewers who tuned in to see the ‘Salt-N-Pepa’ story and its subsequent special at its original broadcast time were enough to land it in first place among Saturday night’s scripted programs.
Only slightly paling in comparison to the audiences Lifetime’s drawn to its diva-inspired biographical films over the years (see: Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Toni Braxton, The Clark Sisters, etc.), the rap biopic set social media alight and also secured 483,000 more viewers at its time of rerun – bringing its total viewership to 3.16 million for the weekend of its premiere.
Hallmark’s Nazneen Contractor-led original film, ‘A Winter Getaway,’ came in a close second with the 2.3 million viewers it secured.
See the ratings chart below:
Cable TV Ratings
(January 23, 2021)