Lifetime’s Aaliyah biopic certainly did the job - it got people talking. The network certainly isn’t shooting for critical success or Emmys, all it really wants are viewers and that’s exactly what Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B got.
Early Nielsen numbers for the two-hour made-for-TV movie show that it drew 3.2 million viewers Saturday night. When it comes to the key 18-49 demographic, Princess of R&B had 1.7 million viewers, notes Deadline.
That is significantly better than Lifetime’s last original movie, the Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story, which only had 1.6 million total viewers. However, it was still being Petals on the Wind, which drew 3.4 million viewers in May. Princess of R&B was also dwarfed by Flowers in the Attic, which drew 6.1 million viewers in January.
Princess of R&B got devoted fans of Aaliyah’s short career talking on Twitter. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the film drew 997,000 tweets during its duration.
Many of these social media reactions weren’t exactly embracing the movie. Indeed, Timbaland, who worked with Aaliyah before her death, trashed the movie in expletive-filled rants on Instagram.
image of 'Aaliyah' star Alexandra Shipp courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com
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