Oscars slip, but still lead ratings
This past Oscars ceremony brought the worst moment for envelopes since George’s fiancée died from licking her wedding invitations on Seinfeld.
The last-minute best picture mix-up mistaking La La Land for Moonlight lingered in the news for days afterward. How could this happen? Who was responsible? Will Oscars envelopes rebuild their reputation, or fall down a stationery spiral of shame?
But ratings-wise, the ceremony itself wasn’t the draw it used to be, at least in the U.S.
Dropping four per cent from 2016, numbers were at a nine-year low — 32.9 million tuned in, but it was still the top show of the week.
Here in Canada, the ceremony was also the No. 1 program of the week in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal and the Greater Toronto Area, drawing 5.5 million viewers and up slightly from last year. (The Big Bang Theory was No. 2 in all those markets except for Vancouver, where the Oscars red carpet show edged in.)
Lower down the totem pole, The Blacklist’s spinoff The Blacklist: Redemption debuted in the No. 16 spot in Canada, besting its predecessor. South of the border, though, it brought a less-thanstellar 4.2 million viewers.
Here are the top programs in Canada for the week of Feb. 20-26, the most recent ratings available, courtesy of audience measurement organization Numeris: 1. Academy Awards, CTV 2. The Big Bang Theory (Thurs.), CTV 3. Academy Pre-show, CTV 4. NCIS, Global Total 5. Grey’s Anatomy, CTV 6. Bull, Global 7. NCIS: New Orleans, Global 8. Criminal Minds, CTV 9. Hawaii Five-0, Global 10. Hockey Night in Canada, CBC 11. CTV Evening News, CTV 12. This is Us, CTV 13. MacGyver, Global 14. Murdoch Mysteries, CBC 15. The Flash, CTV 16. The Blacklist: Redemption, Global 17. The Blacklist, Global 18. Chicago Fire, Global 19. Agents of SHIELD, CTV 20. Kevin Can Wait, Global