‘The Newsroom ain’t what it used to be.’ At least that’s what Globe and Mail critic John Doyle said about CBC’s third take on Ken Finkleman’s TV news satire and the Nielsen Media Research overnight ratings seem to agree. But it was just one of three new big-ticket shows the pubcaster premiered Jan. 12.

The evening started out somewhat strong at 8 p.m., with Rick Mercer’s Monday Report attracting just under 800,000 viewers, only slightly less than CBC comedy staples Royal Canadian Air Farce and The Red Green Show, which post audience numbers in the million range.

At 8:30 p.m., however, almost 300,000 viewers disappeared when The Newsroom greeted an audience of just over 500,000, notably low considering the original series averaged over one million viewers. Last season’s Newsroom MOW, Escape from the Newsroom, landed with a thud, drawing 290,000 viewers.

The audience picked up again at 9 p.m. for the first episode of CBC’s new dramatic series, This is Wonderland, a satirical examination of the Canadian legal system. It attracted 630,000 viewers, not bad considering that Da Vinci’s Inquest airs to an average 620,000 viewers and CTV’s The Eleventh Hour struggled to get more than 300,000 viewers in its first year.

At press time, no one from the CBC was available to comment.

-www.cbc.ca