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
Well, that was five hours I’ll never get back. The federal election coverage was like being dragged to an in-law wedding where dinner and booze are never served, the speeches are terrible and nobody wants to kiss the bride. CBC held their pundit-palooza in a dark, cavernous space with desks strewn like train cars across
CTV enjoyed a decade of dominance in the English Canada weekly ratings race with their CBS import The Big Bang Theory — the tentpole that always stood tallest. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to assume that, without the Chuck Lorre sitcom, that dominance was in peril. The evidence is in with the release Tuesday
Heading into the first week of October and the Monday-Tuesday overnight estimate ratings races are beginning to tighten. MONDAY SEPT. 30 CBC’s duo of Murdoch Mysteries (845,000) and Frankie Drake Mysteries (459) are deceptive. Murdoch swelled over the million mark and Frankie grew past the 800,000 mark once the Live+7 totals were factored in from
Final ratings across English Canada for the week of September 16 to 22 show the quiet before the full brunt of the new fall season launches. The most watched show of the week was The 71st Emmy Awards on CTV, drawing a Live+7 2+ average minute audience of 1,823,000 according to Numeris. That aired on
Fire up the tiki torch and pass the Doritos: Survivor beat The Masked Singer head-to-head in premiere week overnights in Canada. The 39th season, called Survivor: Island of the Idols and featuring past winners “Boston” Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine, drew an overnight, estimated 1,497,000 viewers over its 90-minute season premiere. Global followed that up
It’s just days into the new season, but early indications show Tuesday will continue to be a strong night for Global. The Corus network stuck with a solid schedule from the season before, with cops and docs keeping a mainly older-skewing audience entertained. The overnight estimate from this Tuesday of premiere week saw Global move