The Brioux Report: Big Bang easily tops Junos, Sun News gets lift from political boxing stunt show

The Big Bang Theory, was back and back on top of the ratings in Canadafor another week. Award shows and reruns also hit the schedules, as did the bizarre political boxing event Sun New Network brought live from OttawaSaturday night. There’s got to be a way to make this a weekly punch up, say, Quebecor execs vs. CBC suits?

Here’s how all it all played out across Canada in prime time among adults 2+ the week of March 26 to April 1 according to overnight estimates:

CTV, competing with itself and Dancing with the Stars on CTV Two, is not doing as well with The Voice as NBC is in the States. The Voice drew 1,403,000 over two hours on CTV. Castle followed with 1,994,000.

Meanwhile, CTV Two waltzed off with an impressive 1,372,000 with the second, two hour performance episode of Dancing with the Stars. NBC’s Smashwas smacked down to 420,000 at 10 p.m.

Global patched back-to-back Fear Factor (417,000, 520,000) into the House and NCIS:LA slots. A rerun of Hawaii FIVE-0 drew 866,000.

City’s Canada’s Got Talent was up to 479,000 overnight viewers for a results show at 7. Back-to-back Alcatraz sprung 741,000 and 795,000. Reruns of How I Met Your Mother (206,000) and 2 Broke Girls (204,000) were booted to the end of the night.

Mr. D aired to 517,000 at 8 p.m. followed by the second last Little Mosque on the Prairie, which drew 456,000 at 8:30. The Dragon’s Den spin-off The Big Decisionmanaged 538,000 at 10.

Vancouver/Los Angeles drew 824,000 NHL fans to TSN. Score pinned 399,000 with WWE Raw. Bering Sea Gold (412,000) was the big draw at Discovery. Midsomer Murders killed on TVO (350,000).

NCIS got Global off to a big start with 1,866,000 viewers. NCIS: Los Angelesdid even better with 1,876,000. Wipeoutfell to 343,000 at 10.

CTV moved stuff around again and plunked in Missing (1,401,000). The finales of Whitney and Hot in Cleveland drew 812,000 and 845,000 viewers. Unforgettable ended CTV’s night with 1,511,000.

The Rick Mercer Reportwas seen by 1,074,000 viewers. 22 Minutesfollowed with 834,000. Just Four Laughspulled 466,000.

City had a mix of new and reruns with back-to-back Last Man Standing (166,000 and 165,000), New Girl (501,000). Raising Hope (153,000) and Body of Proof (724,000) followed.

CTV Two was a factor with a repeat of Dancing with the Stars (822,000) followed by the DWTS results show (1,198,000). Their night ended with Fashion Star (311,000).

Toronto/Carolina drew 528,000 hockey fans to Sportsnet Ontario. Pawn Stars fetched 412,000 and 464,000 on History, where American Pickerspicked up 367,000.

Survivor One World stayed on top of the overnights with 2,447,000 viewers. Are You There Chelsea?(441,000 and 343,000) ran back-to-back episodes. Part 2 of Global’s new Titanic miniseries sunk to 488,000 viewers.

A two hour American Idol drew 1,984,000 CTV viewers. A new CSI followed with 1,694,000.

CTV Two led with America’s Top Model (104,000), took a big jump with a rerun of Criminal Minds(699,000) and tumbled back down with a repeat of Flashpoint (327,000). What really went missing was the other 2 million CTV viewers who caught this series’ opener.

For the only time this season, Republic of Doyle failed to crack the million-a-week-plus mark, drawing 930,000 in the overnight estimates. The reason? CBC’s best lead-in, Dragons’ Den, was on the shelf, replaced for the week by the world figure skating championships (690,000).

City had reruns of The Middle (224,000), Suburgatory (210,000), Modern Family (342,000) and Happy Endings (272,000). An umpteenth Murdoch Mysteries rerun was slotted in at 10 (204,000).

A Canucks game scored 619,000 on Sportsnet Pacific. Rangers/Jets drew 566,000 on TSN. Back-to-back episodes of American Restoration drew 363,000 and 460,000 on History. IRT: Deadliest Roads drove off with 520,000 and Swamp People did 418,000. King was up quite a bit on Showcase, to 140,000.

                                                                                 

More figure skating (Men’s shorts half off) replaced Marketplace and drew 777,000. CTV took advantage with Undercover Boss  at 8 (1,328,000) followed by Grimm at 9 (840,000) and Blue Bloods (1,699,000).

Global slotted in Kitchen Nightmares at 8 (532,000) followed by reruns of House (376,000) and Ringer (250,000).

CTV Two’s big draws were Nikita (210,000), CSI: NY (875,000) and Dateline (327,000).

City was back with Who Do You Think You Are (440,000) and Fringe (401,000) and the Mantracker (152,000).

TSN scored with a Canucks game (856,000) and an earlier Habs game (495,000). WWE Smackdown drew 248,000 on Score.

Leafs are out of it, again, and that’s reflected in the ratings. Their early game on Hockey Night in Canada scored a below average 1,668,000 with the later Calgary/Canucks tilt drawing 1,286,000.

Buried Saturday at 8 and airing six days after its NBC broadcast, a two hour Celebrity Apprentice was found by 291,000 Global viewers.

Saturday Night Live was at 328,000.

Even against such weak competition, the Trudeau/Brazeau “Thrilla on the Hilla” drew only 92,000 Sun News viewers in the overnights at 9. Maybe that was because Sun News dragged a six minute event out to three hours plus a pre-show. Still, that’s nearly 100% better than a rerun of Brian Lilley did one week before (listed at 1,000 viewers).

Once Upon a Time (1,409,000) was solid at 7 for CTV. Then came the two hour Junos broadcast, which did 1,576,000 in the overnights. That was down sharply from the 2.4 million who tuned in last year. Blame a lack of big name bands, plus no-shows from some of the nominees, rather than host William Shatner. GCB followed at 10 with 1,297,000.

Global opened with The Simpsons (873,000) followed by Bob’s Burgers (560,000), Family Guy (843,000) and American Dad (689,000). Two episodes of Napoleon Dynamite was a poor substitute for The Good Wife (263,000, 223,000). The West Block did 134,000.

CTV Two did just fine with the 47^th Annual Country Music Awards(799,000). But one has to ask: why is CTV/CTV Two leaching each other with competing music awards shows?

Spelling Night in Canadadrew 562,000 at 7 p.m. on CBC. Can I get some of those kids to spell check this column please? A two hour figure skating gala drew another 642,000 at 8.

Canada’s Got Talent hit a new low with a one hour filler episode (372,000). The Whole Nine Yards was City’s latest Sunday night movie bomb (164,000).

Canada/USA curling drew 661,000 on TSN. A Titanic aftermath special drew 443,000 on Discovery. Lost Girl ended its second season with a special, hour-long  pre-show (214,000) followed by the season finale (323,000). A NASCAR Sprint race drove off with 315,000 viewers on TSN2.  A Blue Jays pre-season game batted 226,000 on Sportsnet Ontario. Justified drew 215,000 on Showcase.