The buzzed-about midseason finale of Glee hit 1.6 million viewers last week, but it wasn’t enough to knock time-slot competitor and ratings juggernaut Criminal Minds from the top spot.

CTV’s procedural drama grabbed 2.2 million viewers Wednesday at 9 p.m., winning its time slot and the night for the episode ‘The Slave of Duty,’ in which main character Agent Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) contemplates his future with the BAU. (All numbers 2+ unless otherwise indicated, and based on PPM data).

Global’s rookie musical hit – on hiatus until April – nabbed 840,000 viewers in the key 18-to-49 demo, and beat out Criminal Minds in that demo in urban centres Toronto and Vancouver, though the CBS crime drama prevailed overall.

The story is the same stateside, where Criminal Minds averaged 14.3 million American viewers, versus the Fox comedy with eight million, according to Variety. Glee provided a strong lead-in for the annual special Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People, which delivered 1.2 million viewers on Global.

Also hot on the finale front was CTV reality show The Amazing Race, which scored over three million viewers for its season ender on Dec. 6. The 15th outing of the series averaged 2.6 million viewers – up 36% over last season.

Meanwhile, the broadcaster drew 350,000 viewers for a sneak peek of the new season of Spectacle: Elvis Costello with… on Friday at 10 p.m. The episode featured special guests Bono and The Edge. The rest of the musically minded talk show’s sophomore season will roll out midseason.

From Playback Daily