Vancouver: When was the last time the Toronto press referred to the Gemini Awards as a ‘historic and dazzling ceremony?’ Surely not in recent memory, but those were exactly the superlatives running across the front page of local paper The Province following the Nov. 4 event in Richmond, BC, marking the first time the TV industry’s ultimate party was held outside of Hogtown.

That decision by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the event’s organizers, succeeded in galvanizing the B.C. industry, press and public, with broadcaster Global Television noting a 420% bump in ratings in the 18-to-49 demographic in the Vancouver area. The excitement did not translate across the country, however, with only 203,000 Canadians overall tuning in to the Saturday night show – a historically low viewership on par with last year’s.

The show itself, set at the River Rock Casino Resort, was business as usual, although it was particularly efficient this year, with the televised component clocking in at one hour, following a half-hour red-carpet warm-up hosted by Global’s ET Canada.

Slings & Arrows came out the big winner on the gala night, taking home prizes for dramatic series, actor for Mark McKinney and actress for Martha Burns. Including the hardware given out at the Geminis’ industry awards in Toronto last month, the show, which satirizes the goings-on at a Shakespearean theater company, took six prizes in total.

Slings, produced by Rhombus Media and airing originally on The Movie Network and Movie Central, has completed production on its three-season run, which was apparently always the plan. It was a bit of a slow starter with the public, but received excellent reviews both at home and in the U.S., where it airs on Sundance Channel.

‘Perhaps the press pays less attention to shows on the movie networks and specialty channels, but I think it’s starting to get attention here,’ said Daniel Iron backstage, after accepting the award with fellow producer Sari Friedland.

The CTV MOW One Dead Indian, retelling the 1995 killing of native protester Dudley George, was another multiple winner, taking the trophies for best direction for Tim Southam and writing for Andrew Wreggitt and Hugh Graham.

Human Trafficking, which aired on CHUM and Lifetime, won for best dramatic miniseries. The $15-million project about the international underground sex trade is produced by director Christian Duguay and Michael Prupas and Irene Litinsky of Muse Entertainment, and stars Donald Sutherland and Mira Sorvino.

MOW queen Wendy Crewson continued her reign, claiming her fifth Gemini for her performance in CTV’s The Man Who Lost Himself, in which she portrays Lorraine Evanshen, wife of CFL Hall of Famer Terry Evanshen, who struggled to recover his memory after a car crash.

CTV also picked up hardware for Corner Gas, named best comedy series for the second straight year. It was the only award for the sitcom phenom, as best ensemble performance in a comedy went to CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Only cast members Mark Critch and Shaun Majumder were on hand to accept the prize, and they forgot to mention colleagues Cathy Jones and Gavin Crawford.

‘If you’re writing about this, could you tell them we think they’re great?’ Majumder pleaded with reporters backstage.

Majumder created a commotion on the red carpet earlier when he filmed a bit with Evangeline Lilly, Alberta-born star of the ABC hit drama Lost, who was on hand as a presenter. The comedian inadvertently ripped the actress’ dress, and she had to be ushered away for emergency repairs.

Global’s Vancouver-based anchor Kevin Newman got the nod for best news anchor for the second year in a row, although that’s with an asterisk, as CTV’s three-time winner Lloyd Robertson was not in the running since his network chose not to submit to the awards.

‘They do good work – it would have been nice to see them here,’ Newman said diplomatically backstage. The newsman also applauded the award show’s relocation to his home turf.

‘It’s good for the peeps and the folks to be able to see Canadian television lives here and there is good work going on, and to catch a little bit of a buzz that been centered in Toronto,’ he said.

The night’s final prize, the Viewers’ Choice Award, was presented by Lilly to Marilyn Denis, host of Citytv talk show CityLine, marking Denis’ second straight win.

The Geminis’ three industry nights will be broadcast Nov. 16-18 in Toronto on Rogers Television. A full list of winners is available at the awards’ website.

www.geminiawards.ca