TV, eh?

Hopefully Bill Brioux will post the Canadian ratings today (rumour is that it was #1 in Toronto), but for US ratings …

From Nellie Andreeva of Deadline Hollywood:

• RATINGS RAT RACE: Promising Start For ABC Drama ‘Rookie Blue’
  “In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king. After a slew of new dramas opening in the 1.3-1.5 rating range among adults 18-49 this summer, ABC’s Canadian import Rookie Blue last night emerged as the most promising new off-season scripted prospect with a 2.0 rating/6 share in 18-49 and a solid 7.3 million viewers overall for its premiere.” Read more.

Bill Gorman of TV By the Numbers:

• RATINGS RAT RACE: Promising Start For ABC Drama ‘Rookie Blue‘
  “The 2.0 adults 18-49 rating for the premiere of ABC’s Rookie Blue may not seem like much, but by the standards of this summer’s new scripted shows, it’s a blockbuster.” Read more.

From Jaime Weinman of Maclean’s magazine:

• The Perils of Hiatus
  “The shows have turned into kind of an interesting case history of what can help and hurt a new show in its quest to find viewers. CTV promoted these shows very heavily to begin with, and it paid off with high ratings for the first part of the season. Then the network had to decide whether to keep the shows on in May, putting them up against the very tough U.S. competition, or bring them back after the sweeps period. They chose the latter; they even delayed their return longer than originally intended so these shows wouldn’t be competing against widely-watched sports events. But as Bill Brioux noted, Hiccups and Dan finally came back a couple of weeks ago with a tremendous drop in viewership.” Read more.

From a media release:

Flash Fever: FLASHPOINT Stays Hot With Million-Plus Audience for Encore Summer Run

• FLASHPOINT #1 in Canada and the U.S.

North Americans can’t get enough FLASHPOINT! Three episodes into its Season 2 summer run, encore episodes of Canada’s most-watched original drama series are averaging 1.1 million viewers Friday nights at 9 p.m. ET on CTV. Last Friday’s episode was the most-watched primetime program in North America, with 1.08 million viewers in Canada and 6.95 million in the United States. In both countries, FLASHPOINT nearly doubled the audience of its lead-in, an encore episode of MEDIUM.

In Canada, FLASHPOINT was the #1 primetime program not only among total viewers, but among all key demos as well, with week-to-week growth in key adult demos. In the United States, FLASHPOINT has seen ratings growth since its season premiere three weeks ago, and grew throughout the hour in both A18-49 and A25-54.

In this Friday’s episode, “Custody” (Friday, June 25 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV and CBS), the SRU respond when a distraught man, Donald (Alan Van Sprang, THE TUDORS), takes a lawyer at gunpoint. The team discovers Donald has recently won custody of his two children but suspects his ex-wife Helen (Kathleen Robertson, THE BUSINESS) is plotting with her lawyer to steal them back. Investigation leads the team to discover Donald was right and it’s up to the team to perform a risky ‘rolling roadblock’ maneuver to stop Helen and bring the children home.

Source:
Canada: BBM Canada
U.S.: Nielsen

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Break No Boost for Hiccups, Dan For Mayor
  “Hiccups drew an overnight, estimated national audience of 297,000 at 8 p.m., with Dan For Mayor getting 309,000 at 8:30.” Read more.

From a CTV media release:

For the 2009-10 season, CTV had:

• the most-watched Canadian drama, FLASHPOINT (1.5 million viewers);
• the #1 new Canadian drama, THE BRIDGE (1 million viewers);
• the #1 new comedy programs (Canadian or American) of the year, HICCUPS (972,000) and DAN FOR MAYOR (913,000);

From a media release:

Episode 1 of CANADA’S WORST HANDYMAN 5 Wins the Night for Specialty with 500,000 Viewers

• Season premiere was the #1 program of the day across all Non-Sports English Specialty Television*

Last night, the season premiere of Discovery Channel’s CANADA’S WORST HANDYMAN 5 nailed down a ratings victory, drawing 500,000 P2+ viewers to the series featuring five inept handymen and handywomen in “reno rehab ” – the highest premiere in the series’ history. Episode 1 of Season 5, titled “The Frat Pack,” was the #1 show of the day across key demos – P2+, A25-54 and A18-49 – across all Non-Sports English Specialty Television (Canadian and U.S.).

This season, a new class of disastrous DIYers have moved into Reno Rehab, this time renovating a frat house in a southern Ontario university town. With reno ambitions that so exceed their abilities, these offenders have left monumental home improvement disasters in their wake. Over the course of seven episodes, CANADA’S WORST HANDYMAN 5 reveals how and where it all goes wrong when DIY enthusiasm and ineptitude collide. Guided by series host and writer Andrew Younghusband, this season’s “class” of reckless renovators are shown the error of their ways and offered the expert coaching and tools to help them improve. But will the tutorials offered at Reno Rehab earn any of them a passing grade?

CANADA’S WORST HANDYMAN continues Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Catch an encore presentation of the record-setting Episode 1 “The Frat Pack” on Fri., May 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and Sat., May 8 at 8 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT.

For even more of the CANADA’S WORST HANDYMAN 5 experience, visit worsthandyman.ca for exclusive interactive content, bonus material and full episodes.

From BBM Canada:

• Top programs -Total Canada
  #29 Flashpoint (963,000)

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Hockey Hammers Hiccups, Dan for Mayor
  “Monday’s BBM Canada overnight estimates saw both Hiccups and Dan dip well below the half-million mark nationally, a first for new episodes of each. The Total BBM tally, which includes PVR viewing, will be higher, but still—these are shows that opened to close to 2 million viewers each in overnights.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• 22 Minutes Down to 13 Amid CBC Cuts for Fall
  “The most dramatic cut could come at the expense of the network’s longest-running entertainment series, 22 Minutes. The Halifax-based comedy may be down to a half-season, with just 13 episodes ordered, down from 18 last season and 20 the season before that.” Read more.

From a media release:

SPACE Recruits More Sci-fi Devotees as Nearly Half a Million Viewers Get on Board for STARGATE UNIVERSE

• STARGATE UNIVERSE Season 1.5 premiere wins its timeslot
• Record breaking audience stay tuned for SPACE’s flagship genre entertainment news show, InnerSPACE

The explosive mid-season premiere of STARGATE UNIVERSE (SGU) Season 1.5 rocketed onto SPACE last Friday, pulling in an audience of 422,000 total viewers on April 2. SGU was the #1 non-sports specialty program in the country from 10 -11p.m. More than 700,000 viewers tuned into some or all of the premiere, proving that SPACE is the destination for the most anticipated sci-fi programming. The premiere is available now on demand at www.spacecast.com.

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From a media release:

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY GETS FIRST STAR RATINGS ON CBC TELEVISION

From journeyman minor league hockey player to broadcasting legend, KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY, the two-part biopic scored a massive hit for CBC Television. More than 1.38 million viewers tuned in for the series debut episode on Sunday, March 28 and an additional 1.27 million watched last night’s finale of this unlikely Canadian love story. Viewership peaked at 1.83 million.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY is the brainchild of Cherry’s son Tim Cherry, who is the writer and executive producer. Directed by Jeff Woolnough, produced by Shawn Watson and executive produced by Laszlo Barna, Wayne Thompson and Jamie Brown. It is an E1 Entertainment, 5 for Fighting and Frantic Films production in association with CBC Television.

From BBM Canada:

• Top programs – Total Canada
  #17 Dragons’ Den (1.824 million)

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Dragons’ Den Roars to a 2 Mil Season Finale
  “St. Patrick’s Day also brought the luck o’ the Irish to Republic of Doyle, which followed DD with an estimated 908,000 viewers Wednesday night–opposite American Idol.” Read more.

From a media release:

Series Premiere of THE BRIDGE Wins Time Slot and Locks Up One Million Viewers on CTV

The series premiere of the new CTV original series THE BRIDGE debuted #1 in its 9 p.m. timeslot in Canada Friday night on CTV, with one million viewers. THE BRIDGE becomes the most-watched series premiere for a Canadian drama this season, based on preliminary overnight data.* The audience peaked at 1.25 million viewers, with nearly 3.5 million Canadians tuning in to some part of the two-hour premiere. In Toronto, THE BRIDGE was the #1 series of the day with Viewers 2+ and Adults 25-54.

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From a media release:

CTV’s HICCUPS and DAN FOR MAYOR Debut with 1.9 Million Viewers Each

• Two new homegrown comedies win timeslots against HOUSE and THE BACHELOR
• Inaugural CTV.ca live online chats a great success with almost 700 comments submitted
• HICCUPS and DAN FOR MAYOR latest to join CTV’s online line-up at CTV.ca

CTV’s newest homegrown comedies, HICCUPS and DAN FOR MAYOR, premiered to 1.9 million viewers each last night, becoming the most-watched premieres of any scripted Canadian series this season. The two new series won the 8 – 9 p.m. ET timeslot against both HOUSE (Global/FOX, 1.3 million) and the season finale of THE BACHELOR (City/ABC, 1.3 million, 8-9 p.m.). Head-to-head, HICCUPS delivered 240% more viewers than 18 TO LIFE (CBC; 558,000) at 8 p.m. ET, while DAN FOR MAYOR delivered 374% more viewers than LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE (CBC; 404,000) at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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From BBM Canada:

• Top Programs – Total Canada
  #13 Dragons’ Den (1.529 million)
  #25 Flashpoint (1.046 million)
  #29 Heartland (1.028 million)
  #30 Rick Mercer Report (1.009 million)

From BBM Canada:

• Top Programs – Total Canada
  #22 Dragons’ Den (1.526 million)

From BBM Canada:

• Top Programs – Total Canada
  #15 Dragons’ Den (1.645 million)
  #25 Rick Mercer Report (1.098 million)
  #28 Test the Nation (1.048 million)

From BBM Canada:

• Top programs – Total Canada
  #14 Dragons’ Den (1.718 million)
  #30 Rick Mercer Report (1.070 million)

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Strong CTV Slate Swarms Republic of Doyle
  “Republic of Doyle arrested an overnight, estimated 685,000 viewers Wednesday night, down from 715,000 the week before and 969,000 for its premiere.” Read more.