The Brioux Report: Big Bang wins another week

Canadians love shows about nerds who buy comic books

Last week in Canadian television saw its share of reruns and mid-season misfires. The Big Bang Theory was Canada’s most-watched show, with usual suspects Survivor, The Amazing Race and Hockey Night in Canada also crashing the Top-5. Canada’s Got Talent stayed strong at City, with Leaf games continuing to be major draw at both TSN and Sportsnet. CBC continues to get million-plus audiences for Republic of Doyle and Marketplace and even tricked a few people to tune in for The Genies.

Here’s how all it all played out across Canada in prime time among adults 2+ the week of March 5 to 11 according to overnight estimates:

MONDAY

The Voice opened at 8 for CTV with 1,657,000 viewers. Smash went up for the second week in a row, from 748,000 to 814,000 to 988,000 overnight viewers.

Global’s House repeated to 740,000 at 8 o’clock. A rerun of NCIS: Los Angeles drew 658,000 leading into a robust repeat of Hawaii FIVE-0 (1,278,000).

It was all reruns at CTV Two starting with The Mentalist at 8 (366,000) followed by Two and a Half Men (771,000), Mike & Molly (599,000) and Castle (428,000).

City ran back-to-back episodes of Alcatraz (810,000, 748,000) followed by reruns of How I Met Your Mother (273,000) and 2 Broke Girls (297,000).

A new Mr. D drew 629,000 CBC viewers, with Little Mosque at 479,000 and the finale of Redemption, Inc 672,000.

The Brier was the big attraction over at TSN, scoring 751,000 curling fans for the 8^th draw. Score pinned 382,000 with WWE Raw. Canada’s Greatest Know-It-All was way up at Discovery at 337,000. Midsomer Murders killed on TVO (281,000).

TUESDAY

On a night of broadcast repeats, Sportsnet soared with Hometeam Hockey, scoring 2,040,000 nationally. The big draw, as usual, was a Leafs game on Sportsnet Ontario (1,054,000) with the Canucks tapping in another 542,000 on Sportsnet Pacific.

Global managed to pull 1,463,000 in with a rerun of NCIS. NCIS: Los Angeles followed with 1,162,000. Wipeout did 405,000 at 10.

Whitney resurfaced on CTV and 1,018 found her. Hot in Cleveland drew 946,000. The River drained to 637,000. Unforgettable ended CTV’s night with 1,117,000.

The Rick Mercer Report repeated to 564,000 viewers. 22 Minutes followed with 506,000. Arctic Air dipped to 658,000.

City started low with a rerun of Last Man Standing (298,000) but bounced up with new episodes of Cougar Town (445,000) and New Girl (733,000). Raising Hope (275,000) and Body of Proof (489,000) followed.

CTV Two slummed with a Fast & Furious movie (310,000) and another rerun of The Mentalist (279,000).

TSN’s top Brier take was 549,000 at 7:30 p.m. Discovery had another bonanza with Gold Rush Alaska (541,000).

Colton Cumbie plots who to stab in the back next on Survivor One World

WEDNESDAY                         

Survivor One World leapt up to the top of the night with a crazy episode where the men won the elimination challenge and still decided to go to tribal council. A robust 2,444,000 tuned in. Are You There Chelsea? (405,000), I Hate My Teenage Daughter (267,000) and Kitchen Nightmares (364,000) followed on Global.

A two hour American Idol drew 1,891,000 CTV viewers. CSI followed with 1,579,000.

Criminal Minds (561,000) and The Mentalist (341,000) repeated at CTV Two (627,000). A new season of America’s Top Model opened at 8 to 70,000.

For the eighth consecutive week, Republic of Doyle topped the million mark overnight with 1,066,000 viewers. Dragon’s Den led the way on CBC with 1,391,000.

City stuck with reruns of The Middle (150,000), Suburgatory (159,000), Modern Family (443,000) and Happy Endings (429,000). Revenge For Real drew 266,000 at 10.

Even as they’re losing, the Leafs keep winning, on TV at least. Toronto vs. Pittsburgh was a big draw (1,084,000) on TSN.

Back-to-back episodes of American Restoration drew 302,000 and 379,000 on History, where IRT: Deadliest Roads drove off with 289,000. Four Weddings Canada did 122,000 at 10 p.m. on Slice.

What’s going on with King? Drawing in the 200,000-300,000 range last season, it managed just 94,000 in the overnights for its second outing of the year. The show is, creatively, stronger than ever. Not enough promotion? New night and time needed?

                                                                                 

THURSDAY                                                           

CTV got twice the Big Bang for its buck with a new episode of The Big Bang Theory at 8 (3,648,000) followed by a repeat at 8:30 (2,687,000). Add in the 1,529,000 that watched the syndicated repeat at 7:30 and you get close to eight million viewers! CTV`s big night continued with back-to-back airings of The Mentalist (1,357,000, 1,877,000).

American Idol (1,269,000) slipped a bit week-to-week on CTV Two. Two episodes of Up All Night (208,000, 293,000) followed. The new drama GCB got tested on CTV Two, and did a mere 379,000.

The Exes opened meekly for Global at 8 (170,000). No new Rob, so The Office (237,000) sat in. The Finder followed with 1,054,000.  Awake was a snooze in its second week, dropping from 1,198,000 to 510,000 overnight viewers.

The Genie Awards, well-placed in the Nature of Things timeslot, managed to pull 378,000 at 8 p.m. on CBC. Doc Zone got the exact same (estimated) audience at 9.

City stuck with 30 Rock (261,000), Parks & Recreation (254,000) and Person of Interest (665,000). Another Murdoch Mysteries repeat ended City’s night with 129,000.

The Brier swept to 675,000 on TSN for Draw 17. A Canucks game scored 564,000 on Sportsnet Pacific.

Undercover Boss Canada stayed strong on W, hiring another 513,000 at 9 p.m.

FRIDAY

Marketplace topped a million for the sixth time this season with 1,029,000 tuning in to see “Tripped Up.” Mercer 2.0 did 547,000 with the fifth estate pulling 776,000 with “Time Bomb.”

CTV did well again with Undercover Boss at 8 (1,297,000). Things got Grimm at 9 (996,000) followed by another strong Blue Bloods (1,721,000).

Global took 235,000 Behind the Scene at ET Canada. The Office slid at 8:30 (134,000) followed by Harry’s Law (709,000).Ringer drew 282,000 at 10.

Who’d You Think You Are (384,000) began City’s night, but no new Fringe saw 9 p.m. go to another Murdoch Mysteries repeat (175,000). Mantracker found 148,000 at 10.

Shark Tank drew 514,000 on CTV Two, followed by Nikita (85,000) and Dateline (349,000).

TSN drew 684,000 with a Brier playoff match. SpongeBob soaked up 348,000 on YTV. WWE Smackdown drew 236,000 on Score.

SATURDAY          

Hockey Night in Canada had another big night, with 2,223,000 catching the first game with Leafs/Philly in the mix, and another 1,131,000 sticking around for Montreal and Vancouver at 10:05.

The Brier semi-final drew 768,000 on TSN.

Buried Saturday at 8 and airing six days after its NBC broadcast, a two hour Celebrity Apprentice dipped to 365,000 Global viewers. Global has also surrendered The Firm (393,000) to Saturdays.

Saturday Night Live dropped down to 340,000 viewers for a repeat. Merlin did 253,000 on Space.

SUNDAY            

The Amazing Race got CTV’s Sunday off to a fast start with 2,442,000 viewers. Once Upon a Time at 7 did 1,512,000; Desperate Housewives did 1,446,000 at 9. The new prime time soap GCB dropped from 1,266,000 to 1,098,000 in its second week.

City continues to soar Sundays with Canada’s Got Talent, which drew 953,000 and 1,124,000 overnight viewers back-to-back. A Lethal Weapon movie tumbled City’s cross Canada take down to 35,000.

Global opened with The Simpsons (987,000) followed by the second season premiere of Bob’s Burgers (520,000). Family Guy (825,000), American Dad (681,000), The Good Wife (698,000) and The West Block (98,000) did the usual.

The Wrath of Grapes: part two of The Don Cherry Story, improved slightly week-to-week with 762,000 viewers. Heartland galloped off with 842,000 at 7.

The big draw over at CTV Two was CSI Miami at 10 (858,000).

The Brier final scored 1,136,000 at 8 p.m. on TSN. A Toronto/Washington game drew 555,000 on Sportsnet Ontario. Lost Girl was found by 185,000 at 9 on Showcase.

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