Canadian scripted series Transplant, Schitt’s Creek and Cardinal were all among the 30 most-watched TV shows in English Canada the week of April 6-12, 2020.
With much of the nation isolated at home and in front of their screens, viewership overall was high. All 31 shows on the list (there was a tie for 30th spot) surpassed the million viewer mark.
Among domestic series, the CTV medical drama Transplant made the Top-10, ranking ninth in total viewers age 2+ with an audience of 1,499,000.
The April 7 Schitt’s Creek series finale drew 1,221,000 total viewers, up from the 1,017,000 who saw it live in earlier, overnight estimates. That landed it in the 22nd spot on the April 6-12 Top 30.
Cardinal’s fourth and final season premiere April 6 drew a total English Canada audience of 1,037,000 CTV viewers, tying for 30th for the week with the Monday through Sunday average for the CTV Late local news. Cardinal picked up a lot of Live+7 viewers from the 662,000 who saw the episode on April 7.
Grey’s Anatomy was the most-watched show of the week according to Numeris, drawing 2,245,000 CTV viewers. The Good Doctor, which had been topping the weekly Top-30, is already done for the season. Finishing second overall was the first responder drama Station 19 (2,255,000 on CTV) followed by the only non-CTV show in the Top-10: the aptly-named Survivor (2,148,000 on Global). The rest of the Top-10: 4. The CTV Evening News (averaging 2,066,000 over five weeknights); 5. The Masked Singer (2,019,000); 6. The Rookie (1,981,000); 7. The CTV Evening News weekend edition (1,596,000), 8. Magnum, P.I. (1,570,000); 9. Transplant and 10. the seven night average for The CTV National News (1,446,000).
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Citytv just missed a Top-10 showing with their robust responder import Chicago Fire (1,420,000). NBC’s three “Chicago” dramas received a three season pickup in February. The Modern Family series finale on April 8 drew 1,291,000 total viewers on Global, good for 18th spot. CTV’s pickup of the new, Jimmy Kimmel version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire opened to 1,259,000 total CTV viewers.
That low-key Saturday Night Live at Home NBC import drew 1,189,000 at 11:35 on Global, nabbing the 23rd spot. Two specialty shows, History’s The Curse of Oak Island (1,161,000) and HGTV’s Island of Bryan (1,062,000), came in 24th and 29th.
Missing the Top-30 cut: Global National and CBCs The National.
2 Comments
Good news story for Canadian television.
Brings up 3 questions in my mind.
1) With Schitt’s over; and Cardinal short-run, can any other Canadian shows get a boost out of the current period?
2) In relation to the above, are there any scripted Canadian series in the can that were slated for fall that could be moved up?
3)Finally, I understand the U.S. networks are looking around, with production stalled out, for how to fill slots over the lat spring/early summer and possibly into early fall.
Can any Canadian shows get a major U.S. pick-up?
These are great questions James. Global has at least 10 episodes of Private Eyes ready to roll end of May/June I believe. The problem with Canadian shows filling US skeds is a) many already have US deals b) they are under the same studio restrictions US shows are currently under. Murdoch MYsteries, for example, would normally have gone back before the cameras a month ago but everything is shut down and Yannick is back riding bikes in Malibu. I’ll be looking into this and will have more specific answers soon.