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| He’s got a right to sing the blues |
Reruns, presidential speeches, All Star games and dull award shows were all part of an in-between week, the usual lull before the February sweeps. In the mix, American Idol showed surprising resiliency in Season 10. Here’s how the shows performed Jan. 24 to 30 in Canada, among 2+ audience numbers, according to overnight estimates:
MONDAY
Mondays continue to slip away for CBC, with Little Mosque (415,000), 18 to Life (245,000) and Village on a Diet (466,000) all at or near season lows. Jeopardy! (1,236,000), generally dismissed as skewing old, beat them all in 25-54-year-olds.
Charlie Sheen’s misadventures have not hurt his CBS comedy series north of the border. Two and a Half Men scored 1,736,000 at 9 on CTV and did even better this week. Hot in Cleveland (1,623,000), S#*! My Dad Says (1,381,000), Mike & Molly (1,343,000) and Castle (1,848,000) all had a typically robust Monday night.
Global’s House led all shows, however, with 1,929,000 viewers. Lie to Me followed on Global (1,485,000) with a Hawaii FIVE-O repeat surfing to 886,000.
TUESDAY
The Rick Mercer Report had a huge week, attracting 1,548,000 viewers. This boosted InSecurity to 523,000, with Pillars of the Earth standing at 10 at 563,000 CBC viewers.
Flashpoint was the high point for CTV Tuesday, drawing an overnight, estimated 1,584,000 viewers at 10. Law & Order SVU (1,184,000) and a rerun of No Ordinary Family (720,000) had off nights.
Global’s 8 p.m. movie (“Casino Royale”) did just 714,000.
A factor was U.S. president Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, which played havoc with the private network’s simulcast numbers. A Toronto/Tampa Bay game on TSN drew 828,000 starting at 7:30.
WEDNESDAY
American Idol rose in Week Two to 3,103,000 overnight, estimated viewers. The two hour talent show was followed on CTV by relocated Blue Bloods (1,662,000).
CBC had an up and down night, with Dragon’s Den the up (1,587,000) and Republic of Doyle recording a season low (776,000).
/A stole 1,222,000 away to watch relocated Criminal Minds. Global scored well at 10 with the new drama Off The Map (1,020,000) but took the rest of the night off with back to back Raising Hopes (303,000 and 241,000) and a rerun of Glee (333,000).
THURSDAY
A repeat of The Big Bang Theory at 8 still drew 2,315,000 to CTV. Still, that was about a million less than a new episode might have fetched, helping /A pull 1,632,000 over to their hidden half of American Idol.
The rest of CTV’s night ran from S#*! (1,880,000) to CSI (1,374,000) to The Mentalist (1,615,000).
Global went Wipeout (805,000), Bones (1,749,000), The Office (414,000), Outsourced (548,000). CBC went with a two hour Nature of Things (575,000).
FRIDAY
Lookit Marketplace: 1,022,000. That was followed on CBC by a repeat of Mercer (691,000, giving Mercer 2.2 million viewers for the week) and a fifth estate (665,000).
CTV had a quieter than usual Friday led off by The Defenders (688,000) then CSI N.Y. (1,345,000) and finally a repeat of Blue Bloods (984,000).
Global went from Kitchen Nightmares (761,000) to Haven (256,000) to 90210 (380,000).
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SATURDAY
The NHL All Stars Skills Competition drew close to 2.5 million hockey fans Saturday night on CBC. Saturday Night Live on Global did 460,000.
SUNDAY
Sunday afternoon’s NHL All Star Game pulled 2,389,000 viewers on CBC, way up over the last non-contact skate two years ago (there was no All Star Game last year due to the Olympics). CBC says this was because the pick ’em format was super cool; I say it was because Portable People Meters are ratings ‘roids when it comes to live sports broadcasting.
Otherwise Global got a lift on a quiet Sunday from the sober (compared to the Globes) Screen Actors Guild Awards, which did 1,234,000. Nothing says party in Hollywood like a room full of Teamsters.
