The 94th Grey Cup was less dramatic than last year’s thrilling overtime championship game, but CBC’s broadcast of the B.C. Lions-Montreal Alouettes matchup did score a few more viewers on Nov. 19.

According to the broadcaster, 3.2 million viewers took in the game, which saw the Lions hoist the trophy in Winnipeg after a 25-14 victory over the Als, a slight increase from 3.1 million in 2005. The audience peaked at 3.6 million at 9 p.m. ET for the telecast, which was shot in HD with 26 cameras – 18 more than for a regular season game.

While CBC fared well with its Grey Cup broadcast, the picture continues to look bleak for new dramas such as the FLQ crisis limited-run series October 1970, which saw its audience bottom out at a meager 58,000 viewers on Nov. 16, compared to 110,000 for the show’s premiere on Oct. 12.

‘We’re disappointed with the numbers for October 1970… the story is one of the more gripping chapters of our history,’ says CBC executive director of network programming Kirstine Layfield.

Meanwhile, the Ceeb’s medical drama Jozi-H aired to 192,000 viewers – better, but far from good – in its Friday 9 p.m. timeslot on Nov. 10, while comedy Rumours drew only 140,000 on Nov. 13, down slightly from 145,000 the previous week.

Facing stiff competition from that week’s number-one show – Global’s House, with a season-high 2.8 million viewers at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7 – the Chris Haddock crime drama series Intelligence saw its audience fall to 256,000 viewers Nov. 14, down from 360,000 viewers the week before.

Still with CBC, the two-part WWII mini Above and Beyond managed a ‘respectable’ 464,000 viewers on Sunday, Oct. 29, according to Layfield, despite airing opposite Desperate Housewives. The mini retained its audience for part two on Oct. 30.

Of all the new CBC programming, reality show Dragon’s Den showed the most promise after its audience jumped to 547,000 viewers on Nov. 8, up from 395,000 the week before. But the show saw its numbers drop back down to 379,000 on Nov. 15.

The pubcaster rolled out its four-part series Underdogs, about consumers fighting back against large corporations, to a soft 270,000 viewers on Nov. 16. The show, hosted by Wendy Mesley, is up against heavy-hitters Survivor: Cook Islands and Grey’s Anatomy in its Thursday 8 p.m. timeslot.

Over at CTV, season six of Degrassi: The Next Generation makes its 19-ep debut Nov. 28 at 8 p.m., airing two episodes back-to-back every Tuesday. The net will also rebroadcast the entire first season of its primetime soap Whistler beginning Saturday, Nov. 25 at 10 p.m.

Global rolled out the new U.S. drama Daybreak, starring Taye Diggs, on Nov. 15, but numbers weren’t available at press time. The show premiered to 10 million viewers in the U.S.