What is the No. 1 show among adults 18-49 in Toronto the past two summers? So You Think You Can Dance on CTV? Summer surprise Flashpoint? Did CBC’s Olympic Prime coverage take the gold medal this summer?
The No. 1 show the past two summers in Toronto wasn’t on CTV, Global or CBC–it was Hell’s Kitchen, the chef Gordon Ramsey cooking and yelling reality series which airs on now Rogers-owned City-TV.
Hell’s Kitchen even outdrew CBC’s Stanley Cup finals (No. 2) in Toronto last spring. It outdrew reruns of House and new episodes of Big Brother on Global. It creamed Canadian Idol, whose results show did not even make the Toronto top 20 this summer. (The Idol audition show average limped in at No. 14.)
Last summer, Hell’s Kitchen ranked first ahead of the Stanley Cup finals (2), House (3) and three episodes of Big Brother (4-6). Two episodes of So You Think You Can Dance followed. (All data EMA ratings from BBM Neilsen Media Research, 18-49, last weekend in May through the second week of August).
Torontonians also seem to split their viewing pretty evenly between CTV and Global in the summer. While Global has no summer shows in the Top 5, they have nine out of the next 15, including House (7), Big Brother (8 and t10) and surprisingly resilient Sunday Fox comedies Family Guy (9) and The Simpsons (11). Summer pickup Wipeout earned a tie for 17th spot. Global also got strong rerun play from Bones (t15) and cartoon comedies King of the Hill (t17) and American Dad (21).
CTV, on the other hand, only got a summer bounce from one of their strong rest-of-season performers–CSI: NY (t13). CSI: Miami, on the list last summer, has slipped off the Top 20 radar. With two airings of So You Think You Can Dance (both tied for third spot) and just renewed for a second season Flashpoint (No. 5) they did grab five of the Top 20 spots, plus one A Channel pickup (America’s Got Talent at 17).
City has three, Hell’s Kitchen plus a double pump of The Bachelorette (t10 and 15). CBC has three, including this summer’s Olympic Prime coverage (No. 6), although that only counted the first four nights of The Games. CBC’s Olympic numbers went up in the second week when Canada won all those medals.
Still, it is doubtful even CBC’s full Olympic coverage will topple Hell’s Kitchen from its gold medal run this summer in Toronto. The conclusion? Hogtown loves Brit chefs who yell at people on TV. Guess it makes us feel better about dining out so often.
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