Well, colour us happy. The Blacklist and its main character Red Reddington were white-hot in the Canadian TV ratings a few weeks ago — and justifiably so. After eight weeks off the air, the series aired back-to-back episodes Dembe Zuma and Requiem on April 20, landing both among the top 20 ratings-grabbers that week.
The first instalment saw Red (James Spader) and the Task Force get a lead on Zuma’s (Hisham Tawfiq) location after he kidnapped Aram (Amir Arison), while the second told Mr. Kaplan’s (Susan Blommaert) story through flashbacks and set her up as a formidable foe.
“She’s so inside Reddington’s world,” Blacklist creator Jon Bokenkamp told TVGuide.com. “She literally knows where the bodies are buried. She knows him incredibly intimately, and has a great motivation in terms of why she believes he needs to be stopped.”
Also in the national ratings list, hockey programs cleaned up like a rogue Zamboni — four spots were dedicated to the sport, including the top one. And in local markets, hockey fans in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and the Greater Toronto Area cheered their home teams to the top of their respective ratings lists. Meanwhile in Vancouver, NCIS won out.
Here are the top programs in Canada for the week of April 17-23, the most recent ratings available at press time, courtesy of audience measurement organization Numeris:
1. NHL Playoffs Round 1 (Mon.-Sat.), CBC
2. NCIS, Global
3. Survivor, Global
4. Designated Survivor, CTV
5. Bull, Global
6. NCIS: New Orleans, Global
7. NCIS: Los Angeles, Global
8. The Big Bang Theory (Thurs.), CTV
9. CTV Evening News, CTV
10. The Amazing Race, CTV
11. The Blacklist (Thurs. 9-10 p.m. ET), Global
12. NHL Playoffs Round 1 (Mon. & Wed.), CBC
13. NHL Playoffs Round 1 (weeknights), Sportsnet National
14. The Blacklist (Thurs. 10-11 p.m. ET), Global
15. The Voice Results, CTV
16. Big Brother Canada (Wed.), Global
17. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., CTV
18. CTV National News, CTV
19. The Voice, CTV
20. Hockey Night in Canada Pre-Playoff, CBC
21. Chicago Justice, Global
22. CTV Evening News Weekend, CTV
23. Scorpion, City
24. Big Brother Canada (Mon.), Global
25. Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, CTV
26. Big Brother Canada (Thurs.), Global
27. Blue Bloods, CTV
28. Shades of Blue, Global
29. Saving Hope, CTV
30. Kevin Can Wait, Global
