For the third week in a row we track how things are unfolding in Canada, ratings-wise and also content-wise, on Saturday nights.
The third episode of Season 52 on Saturday Night Live, simulcast with NBC at 11:29 p.m. on CTV, continues on pace with how the series drew in previous years on Global. Host Shane Gillis drew sharp criticism – including from Dan Levy in a viral social media post as well as from former cast members of the sketch series – for misogynous comments made in his opening monologue. The remarks seemed particularly tone deaf in the wake of the controversy surrounding the “Cornell 7,” US Ivy League frat members accused of a 2024 gang rape.
In Canada, Saturday Night Live was seen this past weekend by an overnight, estimated 695,000 viewers on CTV, 196,000 of those in the 18-49-year-old demo.
The stand up comedian also dropped an F-bomb heard in Eastern Canada and edited out elsewhere. Will the notoriety dent the series going forward? SNL generally thrives on sparking occasional outrage, but three unfunny shows in a row may also be of concern to NBC. Lame sketches, such as another stone cold opener with Colin Jost as Pete Hegseth, seemed underwritten and unmemorable.
There is no new episode of Saturday Night Live scheduled for this coming weekend. The series returns Oct. 31, Halloween night, with Inde Navarette as host.
Switching to sports, and not that they were seeing any ad revenue from any of it, but CBC continues to get hammered into the boards ratings-wise minus their decade-long piggybacking of Roger’s Hockey Night in Canada.
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At 7 p.m. ET, CBC’s coverage of the Men’s Canada Super 60 cricket tournament drew a 2+ total of 46,000 overnight, estimated viewers. A Saturday CBC movie at 9 p.m., “Deaner ‘89,” drew 24,000 estimated viewers. The 2024 Canadian metalhead comedy, somewhat spun off from the FUBAR series, stars Paul Spence, Star Slade (Burden of Truth), Will Sasso and Mary Walsh.
Sportsnet had a ton of NHL hockey Saturday night. The main primetime tilts, split regionally between Toronto and Colorado and Detroit and Montreal, drew an overnight, estimated 1,216,000 on SportsnetNational +Com. The Late Prime Saturday Night Hockey game between Anahein and Calgary faced off before 347,000. In early afternoon games, Philly-Boston did 101,000 at 1 p.m.; Vancouver at New Jersey did 287,000 at 3:30-ish. An Edmonton-San Jose match on Sportsnet West drew an estimated 271,000 for a 2:10 p.m. start, with more watching on Sportsnet One (405,000).
Minus the CBC window, the NHL hockey numbers are down from the former combined, CBC/Sportsnet arrangement. Tha is to be expected, however, as not all CBC viewers also subscribe to Sportsnet. A better barometer would be finding out how many subscribers Sportsnet has gained since the start of the NHL season.
In the meantime, TSN scored with their Saturday night CFL broadcast. The 7 p.m. start between Calgary and Winnipeg drew an overnight, estimated 612.000.
