The Week the Women Went scored a higher debut for its second season on CBC despite being up against reality hit American Idol, which has lost some steam for its eighth season on CTV.
The reality series – in which the women of Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia leave their families behind to fend for themselves – clocked in at 819,000 viewers Wednesday at 8 pm, up from the 770,000 who tuned in last year. The series averaged a solid 775,000 for its first season on the pubcaster. (All numbers 2+)
Women Went held its own versus Idol, which scored two million viewers on Wednesday in the same timeslot. The eighth season of the Fox singing competition premiered with 2.4 million viewers on Jan. 13 – marking a sharp decline from its high-flying season seven debut last year, which generated 3.1 million viewers for CTV.
Still with CBC, numbers are also up for rookie comedy Being Erica, which grew its audience from 575,000 for the first ep to 632,000 for its third outing last week in the Monday 9 pm slot. Wild Roses was down 160,000 viewers from its first ep, though the Alberta-set drama was up against coverage of the Obama inauguration, which dominated much of Tuesday. The shows are ‘doing as expected’ says CBC spokesman Jeff Keay.
Meanwhile, the return of Global ratings darling House saw CBC comedy Little Mosque on the Prairie hold up under the strain, nabbing a comparable 717,000 viewers at 8 pm. Numbers for Mosque‘s follow-up Sophie were not available. House grabbed 2.3 million viewers in its new night. Fox moved the show to make room for Idol on Tuesdays.
House anchors a strong night for Global, and is followed by the reliable 24 which is averaging around 1.4 million viewers for its seventh season thus far – on par with its performance in the winter of 2007.
Global also debuted the crime drama Lie to Me last Wednesday, which averaged a so-so 600,000 viewers at 9 pm, with over half the audience in its primary demo of 18-49. The series stars Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs) as a deception expert who helps police break their toughest cases.
From Playback Daily
The ratings for Little Mosque has been updated to reflect the 2+ demographic, and not 18-49 as indicated in the previous version.
