The Brioux Report: Canada bowled over by the Super Bowl

It used to be that the Super Bowl was a much bigger deal, proportionally, in the U.S. than in Canada but the gap is narrowing. CTV`s broadcast of the big game, combined with the total for viewers who tuned in on French language sports network RDS, topped 8.15 million viewers, a record and by far the biggest viewing audience of the year in Canada.

Here’s how all it all played out across Canada in prime time among adults 2+ the week of Jan. 30 to Feb. 5 according to overnight estimates:

MONDAY

The doctor was in for Global as House hit 2,050,000. A repeat of NCIS (943,000) followed as did a repeat of Hawaii FIVE-0 (1,027,000).

A Two and a Half Men repeat (774,000) followed by a repeat of Big Bang Theory (1,085,000) led into a new episode of Two and a Half Men on CTV at 9 (1,506,000). Mike & Molly weighed in at (1,296,000). Castle (1,191,000) crowned CTV’s night.

Week 3 of the new J.J. Abrams drama Alcatraz held 824,000 captive on City. How I Met Your Mother (542,000) and 2 Broke Girls (599,000) opened City's night, with Law & Order: UK (320,000) airing at 10.

Gerry Dee’s new CBC school sitcom Mr. D went up slightly to 892,000 viewers in its fourth outing. Little Mosque was also up to 505,000. Kevin O’Leary’s new prison reality show Redemption Inc. slipped for the fourth week in a row to 504,000.

Another old movie on CTV Two, another weak result (106,000).

The premiere on Discovery of Canada’s Greatest Know-It-All drew 462,000 viewers. History saw 325,000 tune in for Vietnam in HD. Score pinned 378,000 with WWE Raw. Midsomer Murders killed on TVO (273,000). Pretty Little Liars at MuchMusic drew 167,000.

TUESDAY

The Michael Jackson episode of Glee danced off with 1,836,000 viewers. NCIS: Los Angeles did 990,000 and Parenthood followed with 290,000.

TSN had a big night of hockey, with Toronto/Pittsburgh drawing 1,224,000 viewers at 7 p.m. and Chicago/Vancouver scoring 955,000 at 10.

The Rick Mercer Report continues to build with 1,177,000 viewers. 22 Minutes remained strong at 8:30 with 952,000. Arctic Air cruised to 891,000 viewers.

Whitney (853,000) continues to get weaker by the week. Hot in Cleveland played to 940,000 at 8:30 on CTV. Grimm at 9 (372,000) led into Unforgettable at 10 (1,087,000).

City aired back-to-back Last Man Standing (183,000, 216,000) followed by a new New Girl (597,000) and Raising Hope (334,000). Back-to-back reruns of Rules of Engagement went 176,000, 198,000. CTV Two’s top show was The Mentalist (215,000).

Discovery had another bonanza with Gold Rush Alaska (593,000). American Pickers found 360,000 on History. Canada’s Handyman Challenge did 287,000 on HGTV. The forth episode of The L.A. Complex was steady at 44,000 on MuchMusic.

WEDNESDAY                         

Back on CTV, American Idol drew an overnight, estimated 2,189,000 viewers. Criminal Minds followed at 9 (1,440,000), then CSI at 10 (1,413,000).

Dragons’ Den stayed strong with 1,432,000 viewers. Republic of Doyle did 1,156,000 — oh yeah!

When the Leafs are winning, everybody wins, including TSN, which saw 1,418,000 tune in for Wednesday’s tilt with the Penguins.

Global’s Bomb Girls, just renewed for a second season, rose to 932,000. Are You There Chelsea (379,000) and The Office (238,000) followed at 9. Kitchen Nightmares cooked up 429,000 at 10.

CTV Two had nothing over 100,000 until Law & Order: SVU (459,000).

City stuck with The Middle (248,000), Suburgatory (248,000), Modern Family (694,000), Happy Endings (466,000) and Revenge (217,000).

Back-to-back episodes of American Restoration drew 491,000 and 566,000 on History, where IRT: Deadliest Roads pulled 439,000 and Boston Rob’s Around the World in 80 Ways did 231,000.

                                                                                 

THURSDAY                                                           

Big Bang Theory stayed big with 3,754,000 CTV viewers. Up All Night drove nearly 3 million away, drawing 844,000 at 8:30. Grey’s Anatomy was back and did 1,963,000. The Mentalist finished the night with 1,818,000.

American Idol (1,551,000) was up week-to-week on CTV Two. A movie drew 190,000 at 9.

The Exes is a non-starter for Global at 8 (198,000), but Rob (942,000) continues to surprise, beating Up All Night. The Finder at 9 drew 1,064,000. Global’s law drama The Firm did 841,000 at 10.

The Canucks drew 591,000 on Sportsnet Pacific. An Oilers game scored 501,000 on TSN.

Nature of Things (556,000) and Doc Zone (292,000) kept CBC in the prime-time race.

City stuck with 30 Rock (223,000), Parks & Recreation (409,000), Person of Interest (769,000) and Private Practice (540,000).

W Network busted through at 9 p.m. with 485,000 catching the premiere of Undercover Boss Canada.

FRIDAY

New episodes bolstered CTV’s Friday with CSI: New York (1,405,000), Grimm (967,000) and Blue Bloods (1,710,000).

Marketplace jumped back up over the million mark with “Lousy Labels: Health Hype” (1,062,000). Mercer 2.0 did 695,000 on CBC, followed by the fifth estate, which floated way up to 1,317,000 overnight, estimated viewers with the timely “Wreck of the Costa Concordia.”

A Gifted Man (778,000), King (275,000) and Ringer (309,000) worked the Friday shift at Global.

City launched a new season of Who Do You Think You Are (413,000) followed by Fringe at 9 (349,000) and Mantracker (117,000). Shark Tank (610,000) was back on CTV Two, followed by Nikita (215,000).

A Flames game drew 381,000 Calgary fans on TSN. WWE Smackdown drew 268,000 on Score.

SATURDAY          

Hockey Night in Canada’s 7 p.m. game saw Toronto battle Ottawa (2,103,000). The late game featuring Detroit and Edmonton scored 944,000. The early afternoon Montreal/Washington tilt drew 517,000.

Saturday Night Live was up to 439,000 at 11:30 p.m. on Global. Merlin did 269,000 on Space.

SUNDAY            

The Super Bowl set records on both sides of the border. The game was seen by an overnight, estimated 7,280,000 on CTV, well up from the 6,537,000 in the overnights the year before. Combined with the RDS audience, 8.15 million Canadians watched the Super Bowl, up from the 7.3 million who watched in 2011 and 6.9 million in 2010. NBC drew more than 111.3 million viewers, the largest TV audience ever for anything in the United States.

CTV also scored with the pre-show (4,630,000) and post-show (4,289,000). The season premiere of The Voice drew another 2,395,000 starting at 10:20 p.m.

CTV’s Super Sunday drained viewers away from virtually every other channel. CBC ran Heartland (329,000) and Part 2 of that Don Cherry movie (377,000). Global ran the two-part miniseries Alice (266,000, 297,000). City’s big draw was America’s Funniest Home Videos (495,000). CTV Two went with Undercover Boss (415,000), The Mentalist (293,000), CSI: Miami (632,000) and W5 (146,000).