TV, eh?

Rick goes to the Toronto Bike Show and visits the Spread the Net Student Challenge winners at Simon Fraser University and the University of Ottawa.

Tonight Rick finds out first hand how the Toronto Marine Unit makes harbour ice rescues and later goes to an Outdoor Adventure Show where he does some white-water rafting, rock climbing, and learns to scuba dive.

Rick is in The Pas for the annual Northern Manitoba Trapper’s Festival where he tries out events from moose-calling to flour-packing, and then he has lunch with NDP leader Jack Layton at his eco-friendly Toronto home.

From the WGC:

• Finalists Announced: The Writers Guild of Canada congratulates the 2010 Finalists

From BBM Canada:

• Top Programs – Total Canada
  #13 Dragons’ Den (1.529 million)
  #25 Flashpoint (1.046 million)
  #29 Heartland (1.028 million)
  #30 Rick Mercer Report (1.009 million)

Rick visits Calgary’s hotbed of Olympic training with Olympic medalist Kyle Shewfelt to find out how the cutting-edge ‘Own the Podium’ science program is preparing our athletes to win a record number of medals in Vancouver.

From BBM Canada:

• Top Programs – Total Canada
  #15 Dragons’ Den (1.645 million)
  #25 Rick Mercer Report (1.098 million)
  #28 Test the Nation (1.048 million)

Tonight Rick goes west to check out bobsled action–he’s in Rossland, BC for Canada’s longest-running winter carnival and partakes in the homemade bobsled race down the frozen main street. Then he is in Calgary where our Olympic Women’s Bobsled team, headed by Kailie Humphries, shows him how it’s really done.

20:00
Tonight Rick is at the National Figure Skating Championship in London, ON. He tries synchronized skating and national Olympic-bound champs Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir give him an ice dance lesson. Later he’s off to Alberta’s Elk Island National Park for the annual bison round-up.

From BBM Canada:

• Top programs – Total Canada
  #14 Dragons’ Den (1.718 million)
  #30 Rick Mercer Report (1.070 million)

Tonight Rick is in Jasper National Park learning all about how the avalanche control and rescue team works and even experiences first-hand how ace rescue dog Starksy performs his duties. Later he goes on a date to the West Edmonton Mall with leader of the upstart Wild Rose Alliance party, Danielle Smith.

From Bill Brioux of TV Feeds My Family:

• Kids are Allright Opposite American Idol
  “Despite the big guns on the private networks, CBC had a very strong night … Rick Mercer Report (1,070,000) and Kids in the Hall (1,054,000) in the million+ club. 22 Minutes was also above average for the season, clocking 785,000.” Read more.

Rick is in Vancouver taking a pre-Olympic look at how the airport functions—he checks out baggage-handling, security, emergency services, and even helps getting birds off the runway. He also goes ice sailing on the Bay of Quinte in Trenton, Ontario.

From Jerome Lessard of mi agency:

• Wild ride for Rick Mercer
  “Last season The Rick Mercer Report on CBC started with a splash when Mercer swam blind with Canada’s Paralympic team in Bejing. That launched a typical year of Rick Mercer crisscrossing the country on a quest to meet politicians, entertainers, athletes, and sample some wild, daring or simply outlandish activities.” Read more.

From BBM Canada:

• Top programs – Total Canada
  #5 Dragons’ Den (1.937 million)
  #21 Rick Mercer Report (1.137 million)
  #26 Heartland (1.034 million)

From BBM Canada:

• Top programs – Total Canada
  #18 Dragons’ Den (1.624 million)
  #28 Rick Mercer Report (1.126 million)

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Mercer Still Rolling, TSN Riding High

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

• The best of the best of Canadian TV
  “Being Erica (CBC, 9 p.m.) is very interesting tonight. Erica faces serious challenges. That book she has been working on is published and the consensus is that it stinks. There is an amusing scene in which Erica (Erin Karpluk, giving it her all, as ever) goes to confront the top literary critic in Toronna about his negative review.” Read more.

Tonight Rick is in Montreal to train and compete with the women of the Montreal Roller Derby; he follows with a trip to Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy, for a lesson in lobster fishing.