TV, eh?

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Shattered fails to break
  “The first new show of the 2010-11 network season opened to a BBOE (Below Brampton Overnight Estimate) 428,000 viewers Canada wide.” Read more.

Bill Harris of QMI Agency breaks down the fall premiere dates, including Canadian shows:

• Fall TV getting weird
  “Our official fall TV preview section will appear in a few weeks, as the majority of shows are set to debut or return toward the end of September. But a significant number of programs will burst out of the gate before that, some even before Labour Day.” Read more.

From a media release:

CBC TELEVISION CELEBRATES CANADIAN STARS, ICONS & HOMEGROWN HITS AT FALL 2010 SEASON PREVIEW

• Battle of the Blades is Back!
• Debbie Travis Comes to CBC Prime Time!
• Men With Brooms Brings Fresh Laughs for Fall! (pictured)

Kirstine Stewart, General Manager of CBC Television, previewed the network’s Fall 2010 schedule that features the highly anticipated new season of BATTLE OF THE BLADES, the debut of a brand-new format for ALL FOR ONE WITH DEBBIE TRAVIS on prime time television, a new half-hour comedy based on the popular Canadian movie MEN WITH BROOMS, and the return of several established CBC hits.

PAUL GROSS, DEBBIE TRAVIS, ERIN KARPLUK, RICK MERCER, PETER MANSBRIDGE, GEORGE STROUMBOULOPOULOS, DAVID SUZUKI, KURT BROWNING, DON CHERRY and RON MacLEAN, along with many other CBC celebrities, participated in the announcement for the Fall schedule that also includes THE RON JAMES SHOW, BEING ERICA, THE TUDORS, RICK MERCER REPORT, HEARTLAND, THE FIFTH ESTATE, DRAGONS’ DEN, the 50th season of THE NATURE OF THINGS, and CBC’s winning daytime lineup that includes STEVEN and CHRIS, BEST RECIPES EVER and KIDS’CBC.

(more…)

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• 22 Minutes Down to 13 Amid CBC Cuts for Fall
  “The most dramatic cut could come at the expense of the network’s longest-running entertainment series, 22 Minutes. The Halifax-based comedy may be down to a half-season, with just 13 episodes ordered, down from 18 last season and 20 the season before that.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Ice Pilots Soar, CSI: NY Kills, Glee Grows
  “Ice Pilots NWT took off Wednesday night, soaring to 459,000 History Television viewers according to BBM Canada overnight estimates.” Read more.

Henry moves swiftly to annul his loveless marriage to Anne of Cleves, and beds a new mistress, the nubile Katherine Howard. Cromwell’s fall from favour is sudden and dramatic.

From Alex Strachan at Canwest:

• The Tudors’s Jonathan Rhys Meyers tells it like it is, not the way the historians would like it to be.
  “What, you thought The Tudors was meant to be real? Pshaw, as the Bard might have put it. In a sit-down with reporters earlier this year in Universal City – a long way from the misty glens of Ireland, where The Tudors is filmed – Meyers said he well understands that his depiction of King Henry VIII in The Tudors is of a dashing ladies’ man with a svelte, trim figure and a healthy, active libido. Why, Entertainment Weekly critic Ken Tucker even poked fun at his ‘porno mustache.’” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Wednesday Winners: CSI: New York, Dragons
  “The other big news–as predicted here last week–was CBC’s Dragon’s Den smashing through the 2 million barrier with 2,075,000 viewers. If this was a stock, you’d be rich by now if you bought into it just last year when it was pulling closer to 700,000.” Read more.

War looms with France and Spain aligning against England with backing from Rome, so Henry agrees to a politically fortuitous marriage with Anne of Cleves (Joss Stone), a plain and unsophisticated German aristocrat he has never met.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Dragons on Fire as Series Tops 1.8 million
  “The CBC venture capital series Dragon’s Den (featuring Robert Herjavec, right) drew 1,820,000 Wednesday night, with about half that in the valued 25-54-year-old range.” Read more.

Matchmaking begins in earnest. Cromwell schemes to secure the Reformation by marrying Henry to a Protestant wife – but the king’s marital reputation precedes him across Europe. The condition of Henry’s wounded leg turns life-threatening.

Directed By: Jeremy Podeswa
Written By: Michael Hirst

From Bill Harris of Sun Media:

• Joss Stone looks the part
  “Anne of Cleves makes her first appearance in this week’s episode — kinda, sorta. She is seen in a heavy veil, and by the time next week’s episode rolls around, the suspense leading up to the actual sight of her face is thick indeed, both for the audience and for Henry VIII, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers.” Read more.

Henry remains in seclusion while mourning the queen’s death, an opportunity that enemies of the crown seize to murder several friends of the court. Cromwell is disturbed when Henry allows his new church similarities to Catholicism.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• CBC Dragon’s Roar
  “Money talks and it’s shouting this season on Dragon’s Den. The red hot venture capital reality series drew 1,717,000 viewers Wednesday night.” Read more.

From Cassandra Szklarski of the Canadian Press:

• ‘The Tudors’ leads Gemini winners
  “CBC-TV’s sexy period drama “The Tudors” is heading into next month’s televised Gemini Awards gala with four trophies, while CTV’s slick cop series “Flashpoint” boasts three.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Dragon’s Roar, Criminal Minds Triumph
  “The venture capital series, featuring prickly dragon Kevin O`Leary, drew 1,678,000 viewers Wednesday night according to BBM Canada overnight estimates.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux of TV Feeds My Family:

• Border Back Tonight; Dragons’ Hit 1.5 mil
  “The Border returns tonight at 9 p.m. on CBC, the last of the CBC series launches for now. The action hour is entering a third season, a critical time for most shows. It`s been around long enough for editors to say, ‘What else ya got?’ when guys like me are pitching features, not long enough to have reached that magic 100 episode mark and the promise of syndication riches.” Read more.

Series III – Eps 2 – The rebellion now known as the “Pilgrimage of Grace” begins in earnest, with Henry dispatching Brandon to supress the uprising. Bedridden due to the recurrence of his jousting injury, Henry takes a new mistress: Lady Ursula Misseldon.

From Alex Strachan of Canwest News Service:

• Viewers Glee-ful over new TV season
  “CBC has enjoyed relative success with its returning hits Dragon’s Den (a series-record 1.3 million viewers) and Rick Mercer Report (also 1.3 million). The Tudors, Being Erica and This Hour Has 22 Minutes are averaging 800,000 viewers.” Read more.

From a media release:

DRAGONS’ DEN SEASON DEBUT FUELS A RATINGS WILD FIRE FOR GREAT CANADIAN ENTERTAINMENT ON CBC TELEVISION

The biggest season in Dragons’ Den history scored a massive hit for CBC Television last night, capping off the start of CBC’s fall entertainment lineup. Over 1.32 million viewers tuned in for the full debut episode of the fourth season, watching aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to the Dragons.

CBC Television is off to one of its best seasons ever with strong ratings across the board. Rick Mercer Report bungeed to 1.295 million viewers on Tuesday at 8 p.m. followed by 22 Minutes with 774,000 and Being Erica with 793,000. On Wednesday, The Tudors reigned with 835,000 viewers. Last week saw the debut of The Ron James Show drawing 803,000.