From Bill Harris of QMI:

• Big Decision makes debut
  The Dragons’ Den spinoffs continue. What is this, Star Trek? The latest instalment is a four-episode series called The Big Decision, which features Dragons Arlene Dickinson and Jim Treliving. It debuts Monday, March 12 on CBC. Read more.

From Ashante Infantry of the Toronto Star:

• CBC debuts The Big Decision, a new business reality show
  CBC is expanding its business reality show brand with a new program focused on existing companies struggling to stay afloat. The Big Decision, which kicks off Monday (9 p.m. NT) finds Dragon’s Den alum Jim Treliving and Arlene Dickinson offering expert advice and, if the firms make the grade, a cash injection to guarantee solvency. Read more.

From Eric Volmers of the Ottawa Citizen:

• Arlene Dickinson’s Big Decision
  Arlene Dickinson admits she’s been asked the question before. After four seasons as the “nice” panellist with the trademark white streak in her hair on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, the Calgary businesswoman’s reality-TV profile is now firmly entrenched in the Canadian consciousness. So the cynical tend to assume there are major differences between the Arlene Dickinson shown on reality TV and the Arlene Dickinson in reality, whose staggeringly successful business career has reportedly given her a net worth of $80 million. Read more.

From a media release:

Million Dollar Neighbourhood Renewed for a Second Season on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network (Canada) 

• Series is looking for the Next Million Dollar Neighbourhood

Corus Entertainment’s OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network (Canada) is pleased to announce that Million Dollar Neighbourhood has been greenlit for a second season which is slated to air in 2013. The series, produced by Force Four Entertainment Inc. in association with OWN (Canada), follows 100 families in one community as they attempt to raise their collective net worth by $1 million in only 10 weeks.

 “Million Dollar Neighourhood has been a huge success for the network and is one of the highest rated series on OWN (Canada),” said Vibika Bianchi, Vice President, Original Programming, Lifestyle, Reality, Factual Entertainment, Corus Entertainment. “We’re delighted that Canadians have embraced the show and that it has inspired people to take action in their own communities.”  

Force Four Entertainment Inc. and OWN (Canada) are searching for the next adventurous community to take part in Season Two of Million Dollar Neighborhood. Communities who are interested in participating in the inspiring movement that’s sweeping the nation can click here for details on the application process. Applicants are also encouraged to champion their hometown on Facebook at Facebook.com/MillionDollarNeighbourhood.

Audiences won’t want to miss the dramatic final three episodes of Season One beginning this Sunday, as the families in Aldergrove, British Columbia learn once and for all whether they have reached their million dollar goal. Viewers can join the families on the final leg of their journey as they take on their biggest and most grueling tasks yet, complete with shocking twists – from a colossal renovating challenge in episode eight to the final challenge beginning in episode nine where the neighbourhood is shocked to learn they are on their own, without the help of experts Bruce Sellery and Dr. Joti Samra, forcing them to scramble to earn every last dollar they can. Will they prevail and become the Million Dollar Neighbourhood?  V

iewers will have to tune in to the finale on Sunday, March 25 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, where one lucky participant may walk away with a life changing prize of $100,000, if Aldergrove was successful at achieving the Million Dollar target. For more information about the series, please click here. Viewers will have an opportunity catch up on the entire first season of Million Dollar Neighbourhood when all 10 episodes air back-to-back on Good Friday (Friday, April 6), beginning at 9 a.m. ET/ 6 a.m.PT.

Marketplace, CBC – “Tripped Up!”
When you go on vacation, will that travel health insurance you bought really be there for you if you end up sick or hurt? In Tripped Up!, Friday, March 9 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC-TV, MARKETPLACE takes on convoluted medical questionnaires, travel agents (caught on camera) giving dangerous advice, and travellers left on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Watch what happens when Erica Johnson goes looking for answers from a multi-million-dollar industry that “regrets your claim is denied.”

The Fifth Estate, CBC – “Time Bomb”
It was touted as a miracle pill: a narcotic pain reliever that could change the lives of people suffering from chronic pain, but with little—so its maker claimed, and thousands of doctors believed—risk of addiction. Since OxyContin was introduced in 1996, Canada has recorded the second-highest number of prescription opioid painkiller addictions—and the world’s second-highest death rate from overdoses. Time Bomb airs Friday, March 9 at 9 p.m. (9:30 p.m.) on CBC News’s the fifth estate on CBC Television.