The Brioux Report: Canada's Got Ratings

Canada's Got Talent judges Whatshisname, Measha Foursylables, Martin Short

A repeat of The Big Bang Theory still managed to top the Canadian ratings in a week that saw several premieres. City’s new, homegrown, star search showcase, Canada’s Got Talent, got off to a strong start Sunday. Less auspicious was the second season debut of King on Showcase Wednesday. New mid-season imports CGB and Awake had OK starts, but there still appears to be no game changer from south of the border.

The other story is on CBC, where Marketplace continues to stand out on Fridays with another 1.3 million-plus overnight, estimated viewers.

Here’s how all it all played out across Canada in prime time among adults 2+ the week of Feb. 27 to March 4 according to overnight estimates:

MONDAY

The Voice opened at 8 for CTV with 1,759,000 viewers. In its fourth week, Smash went up for the first time, from 748,000 to 814,000 overnight viewers.

Global’s House dropped behind The Voice, drawing 1,641,000 at 8 o’clock. Fear Factor followed with 426,000 leading into another robust turnout for Hawaii FIVE-0 (1,689,000).

Two and a Half Men was again the big draw over at CTV Two, where it was found by 1,233,000. Mike & Molly followed at 9:30 (1,040,000). Castle did 798,000. A repeat of The Mentalist at 8 drew 333,000.

City’s night opened with How I Met Your Mother at 8 (842,000) followed by 2 Broke Girls (864,000). Alcatraz reran to 457,000 viewers. Law & Order UK held steady at 148,000.

A repeat of Mr. D drew 584,000 CBC viewers, with Little Mosque at 455,000 and Redemption, Inc 543,000.

A Flames game scored 368,000 on TSN, where a day-long (and uneventful) “2012 Trade Centre” special swung just 259,000. Score pinned 326,000 with WWE Raw. The delayed Daytona 500 drew 340,000 on TSN2. Episode five of Canada’s Greatest Know-It-All drew 268,000 on Discovery. Midsomer Murders killed on TVO (263,000).

TUESDAY

Global didn’t miss Glee as a simulcast of NCIS soared to 2,257,000. NCIS: Los Angeles followed strong with 1,960,000 with Parenthood raising another 798,000 at 10.

A two hour American Idol sang to 1,678,000 at CTV. Unforgettable followed with 1,280,000.

The Rick Mercer Report stayed strong with 1,156,000 viewers as did 22 Minutes with 908,000. Arctic Air dipped to 723,000.

City recorded typical totals for Last Man Standing (396,000), Cougar Town (427,000), a repeat of New Girl (265,000) Parks & Recreation (165,000) and at 10 Body of Proof (532,000).

CTV Two slummed with an old Aliens movie (140,000) and another rerun of The Mentalist (188,000).

Leafs vs. Florida brought 728,000 to Sportsnet Ontario. Canucks drew 506,000 to Sportsnet Pacific. Discovery had another bonanza with an hour of Gold Rush Alaska (499,000).

WEDNESDAY                         

A two hour American Idol drew 1,811,000 viewers for their Top 12 girls. CSI followed with a hefty 2,186,000 CTV viewers.

Survivor One World was back on top Wednesday with 2,359,000 in its third week. Nothing else came close on Global including Are You There Chelsea? (348,000), The Office (236,000) and Kitchen Nightmares (450,000).

Criminal Minds (1,435,000) continues to boost CTV Two. Law & Order SVU followed at 10 (627,000). America’s Top Model was ignored by all but 58,000 at 8.

It’s been a remarkable season over at Republic of Doyle, where for the seventh consecutive week, the St. John’s-based PI drama cracked the million mark with 1,164,000 viewers. Dragon’s Den opened on CBC with a robust 1,705,000.

City went with The Middle (375,000), Suburgatory (386,000), Modern Family (883,000) and Happy Endings (473,000). Revenge drew 507,000 at 10.

Toronto vs. Chicago was a big draw (1,060,000) on TSN.

Back-to-back episodes of American Restoration drew 406,000 and 474,000 on History, where IRT: Deadliest Roads drove off with 389,000 and Boston Rob’s Around the World in 80 Ways did 194,000. Four Weddings Canada did 106,000 at 10 p.m. on Slice.

The shot-in-Toronto cop drama King returned for a second season with 109,000 finding it on Showcase at 9.

                                                            

THURSDAY                                                           

Awake woke up 1.2 million on Global

A rerun of the Big Bang Theory still drew 2,791,000 to CTV. Whitney was back in the follow up slot and did 1,330,000. A repeat of Criminal Minds did 890,000 at 9. The Mentalist repeated to 1,174,000 at 10.

A two hour American Idol (1,444,000) was up week-to-week on CTV Two. A Criminal Minds repeat (337,000) followed.

The Exes opened meekly for Global at 8 (268,000) with Rob (756,000) much stronger at 8:30. A rerun of Bones did 503,000 at 9, followed by the premiere of the new drama Awake, which woke up 1,198,000 overnight viewers.

A special Thursday edition of Hockey Night in Canada drew 620,000 CBC viewers, less than what Sportsnet Pacific iced with a Canucks game (626,000)..

City stuck with 30 Rock (344,000), Parks & Recreation (345,000) and a repeat of Person of Interest (509,000). Another Murdoch Mysteries repeat ended City’s night with 221,000.

Undercover Boss Canada stayed strong on W, hiring another 459,000 at 9 p.m.

FRIDAY

Marketplace topped 1.3 million viewers for the second week in a row, drawing 1,351,000 with the hour-long “When the Repairman Knocks.” At 9 the fifth estate got 601,000 with “Fast Break.”

CTV did well again with Undercover Boss at 8 (1,287000). Things got Grimm at 9 (978,000) followed by another strong Blue Bloods (1,681,000).

Global went with a House rerun at 8 (321,000) then A Gifted Man (960,000). Ringer drew 336,000 at 10.

Who’d You Think You Are (586,000) began City’s night, but no new Fringe saw 9 p.m. go to a Tough Choices with Gord Martineau news special (83,000). Mantracker (129,000) aired at 10. Shark Tank (577,000) drew blood on CTV Two, followed by Nikita (129,000) and Dateline (188,000).

TSN drew 590,000 for a Chicago/Ottawa NHL tilt and another 486,000 for Dallas/Edmonton.

SpongeBob soaked up 254,000 on YTV. WWE Smackdown drew 260,000 on Score.

SATURDAY          

Hockey Night in Canada drew its biggest audience of the season as 2,518,000 tuned in to see new coach Randy Carlyle spark the Leafs to a win over Montreal. Another 1,174,000 stuck around for the later Canucks/Buffalo tilt.

Buried Saturday at 8 and airing six days after its NBC broadcast, a two hour Celebrity Apprentice dipped to 405,000 Global viewers.

Lindsay Lohan was a much bigger draw at 11:30 on Global with Saturday Night Live doubling its audience from the week before to 624,000 viewers. Merlin did 339,000 on Space.

Two of the Good Christian Bitches from GCB

SUNDAY            

Back at 8, The Amazing Race got CTV’s Sunday off to a fast start with 2,526,000 viewers. Once Upon a Time at 7 did 1,447,000; Desperate Housewives did 1,369,000 at 9. The new prime time soap GCB bowed to a so-so 1,266,000 at 10.

City got the big lift they were looking for Sunday with the premiere of Canada’s Got Talent to 1,463,000 overnight viewers. Not bad opposite Amazing Race. That Starsky & Hutch Ben Stiller movie followed with 195,000 viewers.

Global stuck with The Simpsons (838,000), Napoleon Dynamite (588,000), Family Guy (795,000), American Dad (624,000), The Good Wife (559,000) and The West Block (139,000).

All that ranting by Don Cherry Saturday night helped boost The Wrath of Grapes: part two of The Don Cherry Story, to 731,000 CBC viewers. Heartland drew its usual 909,000 at 7.

The big draw over at CTV Two was CSI Miami at 10 (859,000).

Some Brier Curling draws drew 581,000 and 540,000 on TSN. Canadian produced Mighty Planes soared to 242,000 on Discovery.

Follow @BillBriouxTV