MVP

American Idol (CTV, Tuesday & Wednesday 8pm) continues to be at the top of the top ten most watched programs chart in Canada. Although we slightly smaller audiences compared to last week, the giant of reality shows is still gathering large amounts over viewers in front of the TV. Once again, no Canadian shows can be spotted in the top-ten chart other than CTV Evening News (CTV, Weekdays 6pm). However, Rick Mercer Report (CBC, Tuesday 8pm) was the 13th most watched show in Canada, when a very impressive 1,275,000 viewers tuned in despite the tough competition against American Idol. Corner Gas (CTV, Mondays 8pm) followed close with an estimated 10,000 viewers less.

Only six of the most watched television programs in Canada broke through the one-million-viewer barrier during the slowest week of the Winter break. Among them, CTV Evening News (CTV, Weekdays 6pm) continues to consistently appear among the top-ten popular shows. Even CTV's weekend evening newscast made it to the chart in the last week of December, a situation that is rather unusual for the program. Given the lower than normal viewership, programs such as the game show Deal or No Deal (Global, Tuesday 8pm) and Global's newscast News Hour (Global, Monday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday 6pm) also made an unusual appearance in the top-rated shows chart. Hockey Night in Canada (CBC, Saturdays 7pm) appealed to an impressive 1,083,000 viewers during the broadcast of the first game, followed by a respectable 709,000 during the second. In the same note, although rather different, say, style, MVP's numbers are out... unfortunately. The sexy, and heavily promoted hockey wives drama performed well below expectations in its premiere last Friday, and only 349,000 viewers tuned in.

BBM / Nielsen is yet to issue the weekly report for the week of December 24-30. Regardless, taking into consideration the fact that CBC's mid-season premieres will probably not make it to the weekly top-ten television ratings chart, it is worth mentioning them today. In an attempt to bring new life to its screen, the public broadcaster introduced four new fictions to its prime-time schedule throughout this week. Fortunately for the Canadian television industry, all of them had a relatively successful beginning, as far as mass appeal is concerned. But, were they successful in terms of storytelling and originality? We watched them and the results are in.

The Border (Mondays, 9pm)