This past Oscars ceremony brought the worst moment for envelopes since George’s fiancée died from licking her wedding invitations on Seinfeld.
The last-minute best picture mix-up mistaking La La Land for Moonlight lingered in the news for days afterward. How could this happen? Who was responsible? Will Oscars envelopes rebuild their reputation, or fall down a stationery spiral of shame?
But ratings-wise, the ceremony itself wasn’t the draw it used to be, at least in the U.S. Dropping four per cent from 2016, numbers were at a nine-year low — 32.9 million tuned in, but it was still the top show of the week.
Here in Canada, the ceremony was also the No. 1 program of the week in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and the Greater Toronto Area, drawing 5.5 million viewers and up slightly from last year. (The Big Bang Theory was No. 2 in all those markets except for Vancouver, where the Oscars red carpet show edged in.)
Lower down the totem pole, The Blacklist’s spinoff The Blacklist: Redemption debuted in the No. 16 spot in Canada, besting its predecessor. South of the border, though, it brought a less-than-stellar 4.2 million viewers.
Here are the top programs in Canada for the week of Feb. 20-26, the most recent ratings available, courtesy of audience measurement organization Numeris:
1. Academy Awards, CTV
2. The Big Bang Theory (Thurs.), CTV
3. Academy Pre-show, CTV
4. NCIS, Global Total
5. Grey’s Anatomy, CTV
6. Bull, Global
7. NCIS: New Orleans, Global
8. Criminal Minds, CTV
9. Hawaii Five-0, Global
10. Hockey Night in Canada, CBC
11. CTV Evening News, CTV
12. This is Us, CTV
13. MacGyver, Global
14. Murdoch Mysteries, CBC
15. The Flash, CTV
16. The Blacklist: Redemption, Global
17. The Blacklist, Global
18. Chicago Fire, Global
19. Agents of SHIELD, CTV
20. Kevin Can Wait, Global
21. Powerless, CTV
22. CTV Evening News Weekend, CTV
23. CTV National News, CTV
24. Blue Bloods, CTV
25. Scorpion, City
26. The Big Bang Theory (weeknights), CTV
27. Chicago P.D., Global
28. Man With a Plan, Global
29. American Ninja Warrior, CTV
30. How to Get Away With Murder, CTV