Launched smack in the middle of Christmas special mayhem, Jake and the Kid held its own in December with a 2.8 average viewing audience over all demographics for the Dec. 23 episode, just slightly behind the 3.4 average for the premiere Dec. 16.

Doug Hoover, national vp of programming and promotions for CanWest Global Communications, says the December ratings met his expectations and that audience for the program will only build over the winter. The show’s popularity with the older-skewing viewers – a 6.4 rating in the viewers 55+ category Dec. 23 – is no surprise considering they’re a core piece of the program’s target family audience, he adds.

According to A.C. Nielsen data for Dec. 23, Jake and the Kid ranked a 2.5 with viewers 2+, a 2.6 in the 18+ category, a 1.3 with viewers 18-49, and 1.1 in the 25-54 bracket.

Air Farce enters ’96 with a bang

CBC cashed in on the New Year’s Eve home-bound audience with 1995: Year of the Farce, the third annual New Year’s Eve special from the Royal Canadian Air Farce.

No slouch for the season to date, Royal Canadian Air Farce has been averaging about 1.5 million viewers 2+, but New Year’s Eve brought in a whopping 1.96 million viewers curious to see the likes of Preston Manning and Jean Charest tango with the troupe. A repeat of the program New Year’s Day drew another 842,000 eyeballs, according to A.C. Nielsen statistics.

Double Exposure, airing at 10 p.m., kept a good chunk of the 9-10 p.m. Year of the Air Farce audience with 1.53 million viewers, followed by three half-hours of Mr. Bean drawing 1.1 million, 1.4 million, and 1.1 million viewers respectively. AV