Shakeup in TV-land
What happens when The Big Bang Theory takes a week off? It’s television ratings anarchy, that’s what. With no new episodes of the CBS comedy airing on March 2, Criminal Minds cozied into the No. 1 spot in Canada for the week.
The episode titled Alpha Male saw Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) struggling to adapt to life in prison. It was filmed at the defunct Sybil Brand Institute, an all-women Los Angeles County jail famous for housing cult member Susan Atkins and Whitewater controversy figure Susan McDougal.
So brilliant was Minds that it bested both Chicago P.D. and Chicago Justice — the latter airing its premiere episode, which was part of a Chicago franchise crossover onslaught that night.
It was also a good week for homegrown shows. The Season 4 premiere of CTV’s foodie showdown MasterChef Canada made the Top 5, CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries (with a storyline featuring horror writer H.P. Lovecraft) placed at No. 11 and CTV’s detective drama Cardinal wrapped up its first season at No. 22. Also of note, all three episodes of The Voice that week landed in the Top 10.
Across the country, Global News Hour was the mostwatched program in Vancouver, Calgary Flames hockey was tops in its hometown, Hockey Night in Canada won out in Edmonton, CTV Evening News drew the most viewers in Montreal, and Criminal Minds ruled in the Greater Toronto Area. Melissa Hank, Postmedia Here are the top programs in Canada for the week of Feb. 27-March 5, the most recent ratings available, courtesy of Numeris:
1. Criminal Minds, CTV 2. Chicago P.D., Global 3. Chicago Justice (Wed.), Global 4. MasterChef Canada, CTV 5. CTV Evening News, CTV 6. NCIS: Los Angeles, Global 7. The Voice (Mon.), CTV 8. The Voice (Thurs.), CTV 9. Chicago Fire, Global 10. The Voice Results (Tues.), CTV 11. Murdoch Mysteries, CBC 12. Chicago Med, Global 13. Taken, Global 14. The Big Bang Theory
(weeknights), CTV 15. Chicago Justice (Sun.), Global 16. Shades of Blue, Global 17. Saturday Night Live, Global 18. The Blacklist: Redemption,
Global 19. CTV National News, CTV 20. NCIS, Global