Canadian viewers who watched the premiere of Star Trek: Picard on CTV Sci-fi last Thursday sent the premiere ratings into orbit. Overnight estimates show the series drew 1,128,000 viewers coast to coast in Canada.That made it the third most-watched broadcast network or specialty channel offering of the night. The total doesn’t even include viewers who
Paging Doctor television! Is there a surge in Canadian-made medical shows? I argue yes in a feature I wrote appearing in today’s Toronto Star. Fact is, after years of ratings dominance by No. 1 hit The Big Bang Theory, The Good Doctor, as seen on CTV, is now the No. 1 series in Canada. Other
CBC’s week-long mid-season roll out of new and returning shows seemed to run into a wall of clutter Wednesday, at least in overnight estimates. Third year series Burden of Truth returned at 8 p.m. to 265,000 overnight, estimated viewers. At 9 p.m. on CBC, the premiere of the cross border spy drama Fortunate Son was
Despite plenty of advance hype about this being Schitt’s Creek‘s sixth and final season, the CBC comedy returned to 450,000 overnight, estimated viewers Tuesday night. Another CBC sitcom getting plenty of acclaim and attention from south of the border of late, Kim’s Convenience, returned for a fourth season to 517,000. Both shows traditionally do very
Global’s new medical drama Nurses premiered to an estimated 923,000 overnight viewers Monday night as mid-season launched into a busy week in broadcast television. The Mississauga-based series held its own opposite the two-hour launch of the ABC import America’s Got Talent: The Champions on CTV. Accommodating these and other mid-season replacements meant shifting some shows
Sometimes, it is funny what seems to matter most in Canada — at least politically. On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) strayed beyond the scope of its authority under the Broadcasting Act when it took action to ensure the U.S. Super Bowls ads could be
Here’s the great irony of Canadian TV: I was in Montreal earlier this week on the set of Transplant, a medical drama set to premiere early next year on CTV. It’s about a Syrian refugee played by Hamza Haq (The Indian Detective) returning to his medical training roots as a resident in the emergency ward
Last Sunday afternoon I checked to see if there was a late NFL football game on Fox. Instead, commentators were making a big deal out of bowling. I thought I was back in 1968. Chubby, middle-aged guys named “Chip” and “The Hammer” (names are approx; don’t make me look them up) were being touted as