As I have often noted here, I am a Canadian. And Canadians are different from Americans. One place where this is apparent is in what we watch on TV. Oh, it's not Canadian shows that we watch on TV – for the most part Canadian shows don't penetrate onto the Top 20 list of most watched shows – but what interests us is quite different from what catches the hearts and minds of Americans. Following is a list of the Top 20 shows In the United States for the 2009-10 Television season, based on Total Average Viewers per Episode, with their position in Canada and the average number of viewers in Canada for the same show. (For American Idol and Dancing With The Stars I am assuming that the more highly watched shows are the Performance Shows and the lower rated versions are the Results Shows). For comparison a general rule of thumb is that the Canadian population is 10% of the US population, but that is a rough estimate.
Position | United States | Viewers | Canada | Canadian Viewers |
1 | American Idol | 24,714,000 | 4 | 2,789,000 |
2 | American Idol | 23,461,000 | 5 | 2,686,000 |
3 | Dancing With The Stars | 19,725,000 | 11 | 2,172,000 |
4 | Sunday Night Football | 18,782,000 | ||
5 | NCIS | 18,699,000 | 10 | 2,201,000 |
6 | Undercover Boss | 17,732,000 | ||
7 | The Mentalist | 16,828,000 | 9 | 2,279,000 |
8 | CSI | 15,820.000 | 15 | 2,084,000 |
9 | NCIS: Los Angeles | 15,667,000 | 20 | 1,768,000 |
10 | Dancing With The Stars | 15,298,000 | 14 | 2,092,000 |
11 | Two And A Half Men | 14,825,000 | 16 | 2,032,000 |
12 | Big Bang Theory | 14,224,000 | 12 | 2,169,000 |
13 | Desperate Housewives | 14,058,000 | 17 | 1,933,000 |
14 | Survivor Heroes vs Villains | 13,669,000 | 1 | 2,929,000 |
15 | Criminal Minds | 13,552,000 | 3 | 2,807,000 |
16 | Grey's Anatomy | 13,552,000 | 2 | 2,899,000 |
17 | Survivor Samoa | 13,450,000 | 1 | 2,929,000 |
18 | 60 Minutes | 13,269,000 | ||
19 | The Good Wife | 12,617,000 | ||
20 | CSI: Miami | 12,617,000 | 13 | 2,125,000 |
Rounding out the list of the most popular shows in Canada are:
Position | Show | Viewers |
6 | Amazing Race 15 & 16 | 2,529,000 |
7 | House | 2,493,000 |
8 | CSI: New York | 2,349,000 |
18 | Lie To Me | 1,811,000 |
19 | Hockey Night In Canada | 1,796,000 |
Of the most popular shows in Canada, only Hockey Night In Canada is a Canadian produced show. Undercover Boss and 60 Minutes don't air in Canada while Sunday Night Football is seen on TSN, one of the cable sports networks, meaning the The Good Wife is the only show not in the top 20 in Canada that is seen on a major network (Global) in this country. Also, in Canada both seasons of Survivor (Samoa and Heroes vs Villains) were lumped together as one.
I'm not entirely sure what to make of the differences. Three of the six top rated shows in Canada are reality-competition series as opposed to five of the top six in the United States (and yes, I am stretching the definition of reality-competition to include Football – it is a competition and it is reality) but we seem to like different reality-competition series than Americans. Of the top five shows in the United States only two are in the top five in Canada, and they do significantly (in Canadian terms) less well than two scripted shows that don't penetrate the top 10 in the United States. I could say that Canadians might like our shows to be a bit deeper intellectually – I think you could argue that shows like Criminal Minds, House, and Lie To Me are just a little bit deeper than some of the shows that are on the top 20 in the Unites States. That would fit our love of The Amazing Race which has placed in the top 10 in Canada since the show started but which has long struggled in the US market. But that's probably not the real explanation. After all, that doesn't explain Grey's Anatomy. So while I acknowledge that there is some sort of palpable difference between what Americans and Canadians watch, I'm sure why that difference exists.
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