Fall TV season kicks off with strong performances

And we’re off.

The first night of Canada’s fall TV season Monday handed each of the major broadcasters some good news, with House on Global Television at 8 p.m. winning the night with 2.7 million total viewers, and Global’s rookie series Hawaii 5-O at 10 p.m. connecting with an impressive 2.1 million viewers, according to BBM Canada PPM data.

But Global also saw one of its U.S. rookie series simulcasts, Lonestar, put on a death watch stateside by Fox after a poor debut.

That allowed CTV’s Dancing With The Stars dominate the 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. slot, with Global’s Lone Star at 9 p.m. disappointing with 824,000 total viewers after doing little out of the gates with the House lead-in.

And Citytv had the rookie series The Event at 9 p.m. pull in 1.08 million total viewers, marking the highest rated scripted series ever on Rogers-owned TV stations.

The NBC conspiracy thriller also took top spot in the all-important Toronto market as the most-watched show in the 25-54 demo, according to Citytv.

Also at 9 p.m. on the A Channels, a comedy hour saw Two And a Half Men pull in 1.33 total viewers, while the rookie series Mike & Molly grabbed 894,000 viewers.

At 10 p.m., CTV pulled in a series high 1.9 million total viewers for the third year bow of Castle, just behind the 2.1 million total viewer bow for Hawaii 5-O on Global.