From Jim Henshaw at the Legion of Decency:

• The Winning Skid
  “But for some reason, our Canadian nets have ignored the overwhelming creative drift toward changing the paradigms and trotted out a selection of knock-offs of shows everybody’s seen and done before — in some cases, long before — and like those eager kids who put on a show in somebody’s barn over the summer, they seem quite proud of themselves for doing little more than not forgetting their lines or bumping into the furniture.” Read more.

From Global:

The Guard roars ashore… Global Television’s new Canadian Original drama series, The Guard made its national debut last night with 813,000 viewers 2+, and 464,000 viewers in the key demo Adults 18-49, outshining the robust competition of homegrown premieres in past weeks.

“This is an exciting time for Canadian drama, and our support of Original programming remains steadfast,” said Christine Shipton, SVP, Drama and Factual Content, Canwest Broadcasting. “The Guard is a reflection of the excellence found within our production community, and we’re so proud to be a part of it.”

The Guard edged out all other recent Canadian premieres including:

The Border – 710,000 (+14%)

Jpod – 472,000 (+72%)

Sophie – 630,000 (+29%)

MVP – 349,000 (+133%)

(All data BBM Nielsen Media Research based on total viewers Adults 18-49 unless otherwise indicated.)