From a media release:
COMBAT HOSPITAL IS CANADA’S #1 ORIGINAL DRAMA OF THE YEAR
WITH 2 MILLION VIEWERS
- Series Premiere Won the Night Nationally
Global’s Combat Hospital pulled rank with 2 million viewers (2+, national) on Tuesday, establishing itself as Canada’s #1 original drama of the year. The series debut of the Shaw Media-commissioned series was the second highest-rated premiere of any Canadian drama in over a decade, next to Global’s Rookie Blue.
Winning the night nationally, the series premiere outperformed its closest competitors, America’s Got Talent (Citytv) and The Voice (CTV), each by 27%.
Combat Hospital is a hit with viewers and with TV critics as well. Early praise for the medical drama includes: “A compelling peek at a world we all should know more about†(Sun Media); “A fictional, eye-opening look at the real-world medical heroes working the front lines of Afghanistan” (Postmedia News); and “…solid television†(The Globe and Mail).
Viewers who missed last night’s premiere episode can catch up on GlobalTV.com or on their Global Video App, available from the App Store on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, or on demand through cable and satellite providers across the country.
Combat Hospital’s gripping debut is the first of two big premieres on Global this week. Smash hit Rookie Blue kicks off its second season tomorrow, Thursday, June 23 – 10pm ET/PT on Global and ABC. Combat Hospital returns with an all-new episode next Tuesday, June 28 – 10pm ET/PT.
Source: BBM Canada PPM Data – January 3, 2011 to June 21, 2011 based on confirmed and overnight data (2+, national).
Official ratings (Final results) for ABC:
5.32M viewers
2 million is a massive success here in Canada, but 5.2m is less impressive by US standards.
Yup, not a great result in the US, but that’s a great number in Canada. Now to see if it can sustain that …
if it can maintain 1.5-2 million people its going to put pressure on CBC. Their shows often don’t come close to the 1 million mark
i meant to to say CBC’s Canadian shows
It shouldn’t – there should be a distinction between a public and private broadcaster. In any case CBC gets more 1 million+ Canadian shows than Global does.
But in the end its nice to see Global putting out some good Canadian programming
Absolutely.
CBC wishes it has prime time dramas that get over a million viewers. If it isn’t Heartland or Hockey, CBC is routinely under a million across the board.
5.32 million is low for one of the Big Four US networks during the regular Sep-May season, but they have lower expectations for summer series.
Last year, Rookie Blue started out at the low 7 millions here in the US, slowly dropping down to the upper 5 millions, and was still considered a success.
The prognosis for Combat Hospital here in the US will depend on how large the drop-off is for episode 2 and forward. As always, it’s the second week that’s the tell.