For some reason, CNN execs thought a new talk show hosted by an unknown Canadian would provide a much-needed bit of good publicity.

They were wrong.

“Canada’s boyfriend” George Stroumboulopoulos’s new show debuted Sunday night to some of the worst ratings of 2013:

The premiere of new CNN series Stroumboulopoulous on Sunday, June 9 at 10 p.m. ranked as the network’s second lowest rated telecast of the year in the time period. (The lowest was February 13, 2013.) Stroumboulopoulous garnered 78,000 Adults 25-54 viewers and 192,000 total viewers, down 62 per cent compared to the same day last week and down 56 per cent compared to the year-to-date average.

Ouch. Less than 200,000 viewers is pretty bad even for Canadian TV, never mind CNN.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the whole thing went wrong, but maybe booking Martin Short and Keanu Reeves as two of the first guests was a bad start.