CHML’s Scott Thompson wanted to know a whole bunch of things this week, including my thoughts of the Junos and William Shatner as host. Told him I didn’t see a second of it.
Seems many other Canadians felt the same way. The Sunday night music showcase drew around 1.6 million viewers on CTV Sunday in the overnights, well down from the 2.4 million who caught it last year.
The reason for the viewer drop? When Michael Buble is your big winner for a Christmas album–and then doesn’t show up to claim the trophy–you know it is an off-year in the Canadian music scene.
Scott also wanted to know what I thought about Ashton Kutcher playing Steve Jobs in an upcoming biopic. I think Charlie Sheen might be a better choice, if just to see a warlock app being demonstrated on an iPad.
Scott also wanted to know what the impact of budget cuts will be at CBC. The public network announced today that some 650 jobs will be cut, many in the coming weeks and months.
 |
| Levy and Short, together again paying homage to Hamilton |
We also talk a bit about Martin Short, the Canada’s Got Talent judge who had a comedy special on CBC last night. Maybe Short, who also voices the animated Cat in the Hat series and appears in SCTV and David Steinberg reruns on Comedy Gold, is overplayed here at the moment. The Tuesday night special, a kooky hour where he went back to his hometown of Hamilton, Ont., (Eugene Levy–channeling Short’s Ed Grimley–was the comedy highlight), drew 378,000 in the overnight estimates.
CBC got better results Tuesday night with the season finales of the Rick Mercer Report (1,099,000) and 22 Minutes (951,000). Monday, CBC ran the season finales of Mr. D (732,000) as well as the series finale of Little Mosque on the Prairie (669,000).
Tonight marks the season finales of two of CBC’s biggest draws: Dragons’ Den and Republic of Doyle. The St. John’s-based Doyle has had an incredible season, pulling a million-plus in the overnights every week except one and topping 1.3 million at least twice. Star/producer Allan Hawco will make sure the third season will end on another impossible to resolve cliffhanger. Just don’t mangle the GTO!
Scott didn’t ask about that. You can listen in here.
