February 10, 2007
Nelly Furtado boosts 'CSI' ratings
By BILL HARRIS - Sun Media

Nelly Furtado ruled the ratings roost on Wednesday, while there was more encouraging news for Little Mosque On The Prairie, too.

Furtado, an award-winning Canadian singer, guest-starred in an episode of CSI: New York that attracted 3.44 million Canadian viewers to CTV (simulcast with CBS at 10 p.m.).

CSI: New York regularly is one of the top-rated shows in this country, but Wednesday’s program was the highest-rated episode in the history of the series in Canada.

Meanwhile, CBC’s Little Mosque On The Prairie (8 p.m. on Wednesday) posted a significant audience of 1.2 million.

That’s an important number on two fronts: First, it maintains Little Mosque’s streak of attracting a million-plus viewers through four new episodes; and second, it halts the downward trend that had seen the numbers go from 2.1 million for the debut, to 1.2 million, to 1.085 million.

In other words, the audience for Little Mosque has stabilized for the time being.


Little Mosque was going up against the return of Lost on CTV on Wednesday (8 p.m.). Lost pulled in 1.58 million viewers, but that number is deceivingly low, since it was not shown in simulcast with a U.S. network (Canadians had the option of watching Lost at 10 p.m., too, on ABC).

In CSI: New York, Furtado played a high-end shoplifter who was suspected of murder after a department-store security guard was gunned down.

Furtado will also host the Juno Awards in Saskatoon on April 1, with live coverage provided by CTV.