The bullets keep coming but The Eleventh Hour keeps dodging. Despite some ratings dips and awkward scheduling by the network, the newsy drama has been greenlit for a third season on CTV, proving yet again that reports of its death had been greatly exaggerated.

The series – which weathered a shaky first season, a funding crisis and a sexing up for season two – was in a tight spot this year, having only one or two episodes to prove itself in the ratings before net heads had to file their applications for drama funding with the Canadian Television Fund. Season two started strong on Feb. 15, drawing 741,000 (2+) viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, but the numbers then sank to just above the half-million mark – still solid, but not a shoo-in for a renewal.

Yet CTV called for another 13 Eleventh Hours in its drama order for ’04/05, along with new runs of Corner Gas, Degrassi: The Next Generation and Sue Thomas F.B.Eye. CTV has also ordered eight MOWs and a new teen series.

Broadcasters had until March 3 to file their applications for English-language drama with the CTF. Decisions are expected in May.

CBC put in its paperwork for a host of MOWs, three new series, and returning runs of This is Wonderland, The Newsroom, Da Vinci’s Inquest and its comedies The Red Green Show and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

An American in Canada, however, has been dropped, having failed to draw significant numbers to its Friday 9 p.m. slot. Rick Mercer’s Monday Report was not included in the order because it does not put in for CTF, but there is ‘absolutely no reason’ the hit show won’t be renewed, according to network spokesperson Ruth-Ellen Soles.

CBC also wants another six half-hours of The Newsroom, despite its weak numbers. The Ken Finkleman comedy has hovered below the 500,000 mark despite a very strong lead-in (aproximately 700,000) from Rick Mercer.

The Ceeb also wants Northern Town, a 6 x 30 dramedy set in the Yukon from Foundry Films, and the same of What It’s Like Being Alone, a stop-motion animation series by Brad Peyton, the Canadian Film Centre wunderkind who turned heads in 2002 with his short Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl.

Juste Pour Rire TV of Montreal also got an order for a pilot and five half-hours of The Tournament, about peewee hockey players and their insufferable parents, from Howard Busgang, Marty Putz and Wendy Hopkins.

Global Television says none of its new shows will need CTF, and has not filed any applications. Later this year, the net will air a two-hour pilot for the teen drama Falcon Beach – the apparent replacement for Blue Murder, which took CTF cash in ’03/04 – but the net has not ordered a first season.

CTV’s senior VP of dramatic programming Bill Mustos says the net found some good news hidden in The Eleventh Hour’s ratings. The show was number one in its timeslot with 25-54s in the key Toronto-Hamilton market, for one, beating The Practice and other established shows, and minute-by-minute analysis also shows that viewers now stay with each ep longer, watching for almost the entire hour instead of dropping out during the opening tease.

Grabbier openings were among the changes made for this season, and appear to have paid off, although the numbers in Calgary and Vancouver are still weak. ‘What we have is a show that’s performing well in Toronto and now we have something to build on. It’s encouraging news,’ says Mustos.

‘There’s no question this is one of the best-written, best-executed TV dramas in Canada right now.’

The show picked up three Gemini awards in late 2003, including best drama.

CTV plans to boost the budget for season three, and to cut back-end costs to put a greater share of the cash on screen, he says. Each ep of Eleventh currently costs about $1 million.

The net is trumpeting ’04/05 as its biggest production order ever, although almost half of its titles are leftovers from last year – MOWs that have lingered in development since missing the CTF train in ’03/04. ‘We continued to work on them, chipping away,’ says Mustos. ‘We’re very confident this slate of MOWs will hold up.’

CTV also wants 13 half-hours of Instant Star, a new teen drama from Epitome Pictures, makers of Degrassi: The Next Generation (see Film & Television, p. 20) and has put in for eight MOWs. *

-www.ctv.ca

-www.cbc.ca