That First-New-Show-Of-The-Season curse seems to have Shattered in its grip. The Global drama, starring Callum Keith Rennie (right) as a cop with a multiple personality disorder, fell to an overnight, estimated 375,000 viewers across Canada Wednesday night, down from a weak opening of 428,000 Sept. 1.
This is against rerun competition. The series is off Global’s schedule next Wednesday, bumped for the two-hour finale of Big Brother. It should get a boost the week after following a fresh episode of big draw NCIS.
David Bianculli writes about the “Kickoff Curse” over at TV Worth Watching. The veteran critic has kept track over the years, and says only six kickoff shows have survived into a second season in the past 35 years. Melrose Place, Nashville, the well named Vanished, North Shore and Whoopi have been among the recent flops, with only early starter Prison Break breaking though in the last decade. Read all of Bianculli’s report here.
On the hot seat this season in the States is Hellcats, first out of the gate on The CW on Wednesday. The cheerleader drama opened to nearly three million U.S. viewers and actually built on its lead-in, America’s Top Model (down sharply from the season before). If it’s to break the curse, Hellcats will have to really shake those pom-poms in two weeks when the full brunt of the network competition swarms the field.
In other Canadian numbers this week, Dragon’s Den continues to draw even in reruns, pulling an overnight, estimated 1,176,000 Wednesday night on CBC. So You Think You Can Dance Canada did just over a million Monday and 1,141,000 for the results show Tuesday. CTV continues to score with that Betty White pickup Hot in Cleveland, which pull 1,653,000 Tuesday.
