CBC TV's The National did not finish first in its time slot on Monday night. I'll let Globe and Mail television critic John Doyle tell you about one of the shows that got higher ratings.*

* (Ding, ding, Ding! My 6,666th posting!)

From the Oct. 29 Globe and Mail:

First the facts: Preliminary viewer numbers for the first, souped-up edition of The National on CBC on Monday night suggest the program drew 704,000 viewers at 10 p.m. As usually happens, the numbers went down at about 10:20, when people figured they'd got their news fix. About 573,000 were watching after that.

Context here – CTV National News at 11 p.m. drew 1.2 million viewers. Earlier in the day, Global National had 1.1 million at 5:30 p.m. CBC's numbers for The National would probably be challenged by CBC, of course. The darn thing is on CBC News Network (a.k.a. Newsworld) at 9 p.m. and, like most broadcasters, CBC likes to bundle the numbers together.

Well, whatever. The numbers for Monday at 10 p.m. on the main CBC network stand.

And here's a fascinating fact for you – Discovery Channel topped The National 's numbers at 10 p.m. on Monday by drawing 730,000 viewers to Canada's Worst Driver . Yes, you read correctly. A cable channel airing the fifth edition of Canada's Worst Driver had more viewers than the very heavily hyped new The National on CBC.

The following letter was published in the same paper:

We’re grateful your reporters have taken the time to weigh in on recent changes at CBC News, including CBC News Network and The National. We knew going in that many in our audiences would have an opinion and be happy to share it. In fact, we celebrate this extraordinary engagement as proof that Canadians have a strong connection with, and sense of ownership about, CBC News.

Change can be difficult. We don’t expect consensus on the colour of new graphics or whether Peter Mansbridge should be reissued a chair, but we are encouraged by the significant increase in viewership (double, in some cases) to many of the new programs. As we settle into our new forms, however, we can unequivocally say we remain committed to authoritative and trustworthy public service journalism.

Back to the numbers. The Lang & O'Leary Exchange on the CBC News Network (called “CNN eh?” by one wag who wrote to me) drew 72,000 at 4:30 p.m., which CBC says is more than double the time-period average.

Power & Politics (Evan Solomon towering over guests at 5 p.m.) drew 42,000, “about on par with the time period,” says CBC.

But the memorable number is 704,000 for The National at 10 p.m. on CBC-TV, a channel that every single Canadian can access, free. And cable channel Discovery getting 730,000 viewers for Canada's Worst Driver . Obviously, people like watching accidents, crashes and disasters unfold. Well, check out the new National , then.