Five weeks into their six-week run, The Rez is faring better than Straight Up in the battle of the cbc mid-season Cancon replacement programs.

The Rez is running a season average to date of 657,000 viewers 2+ compared to Straight Up’s 454,000, according to A.C. Nielsen statistics.

Premiering Feb. 23 in the Friday 8 p.m. post-Air Farce slot, The Rez started strong with 721,000 viewers, holding at 720,000 March 1, and dipping to 609,000 and 517,000, March 8 and 15 respectively. The March 22 episode brought the average back up with 718,000 viewers 2+.

Straight Up, launched Feb. 19 behind This Hour Has 22 Minutes Mondays at 9:30 p.m., premiered with an admirable 617,000 viewers 2+, dipped huge the following week to 376,000 viewers, followed by a slight rise March 4 at 429,000, down to 388,000 March 11 and up again to 462,000 March 18.

Liberty Street and Side Effects were averaging 450,000 and 650,000 viewers respectively when they were canceled in February.

Homestyle’s cookin at CTV

One amongst the plethora of this year’s home-centric half-hours, ctv’s Homestyle has found its nook with the daytime viewing audience, reaching a 26-week average of 273,000 viewers 18+ for the ratings period ending March 4.

Limping in at 166,000 viewers on launch Sept. 11, Homestyle ratings reached 277,000 viewers 18+ by the end of November. The Christmas home-decorating frenzy cumulated in a 267,000 average viewing audience for December, a high eclipsed by January’s average viewing audience of 327,000 over the five weeks, almost double the September numbers.

February numbers toed the 300,000 line with Feb. 5 drawing 315,000, Feb. 12 at 294,000, Feb. 19 at 275,000, and Feb. 26, 360,000. March and a little sun brought it down to 312,000 on the 4th and 277,000 March 11, but ample proof on the whole that chunks of the daytime audience aren’t handcuffed to the soaps. Life Network has just purchased the entire Homestyle season from ctv.

Discovery coup

The Discovery Channel raked in ratings with March 17’s `Chillerthon,’ running an average minute audience of 102,000, 65% higher than its 1995 average primetime audience.

Discovery’s theme specials – this one a one-night block made up of the likes of When the Lights go Out, Tarantula!, Bats: Deities or Demons, Everyday Monster: The Housefly and Warthog – have been a ratings draw throughout its first year on air.

Alien Week, Jan. 8-14, reached a total of 1.47 million viewers overall, with each episode drawing an average viewing audience of 256,000, 147% over Discovery’s normal primetime audience. Similarly, Big Cats Weekend indexed 369,000 average viewers, 160% over the channel’s regular index, and Shark Weekend an average 423,000 viewers, 200% over the norm.

Bats ranked highest amongst the Chillerthon programs, bringing in an average minute audience of 147,000 viewers, followed by Tarantula! at 94,000 viewers, When the Lights Go Out at 91,000, and Warthog at 90,000.