Elvis Costello has found an audience for his musically minded talk show Spectacle and, despite a trying Friday timeslot, scored the best debut of a Canadian series on CTV since So You Think You Can Dance Canada in September.

The first episode of Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…, featuring guest Elton John, premiered with 861,000 viewers Friday at 10 p.m., helped by a new episode of Flashpoint with 1.3 million viewers at 9 p.m.

Spectacle won its timeslot and nabbed 40% more viewers than its predecessor, the Steven Bochco legal drama Raising the Bar. A re-airing of the series on Bravo! the following day garnered 59,000 viewers at 8 p.m.

The 13-part show is a Canada/U.K. copro by Tri-Fi Productions — a banner comprised of SpyBox Pictures, Prospero Pictures and Reinvention Entertainment — in Toronto and Rocket Pictures, the production shingle of Elton John and David Furnish. It was created and executive produced by Canadian music journalist Stephen Warden.

Costello will sit down with The Police in Friday’s episode of Spectacle, while future guests include Kris Kristofferson, Norah Jones, John Mellencamp, and Costello’s wife, Canadian crooner Diana Krall.