CBC scored impressive numbers for fresh and returning fall series last week, but it was the new reality Battle of the Blades that eclipsed all debuts with an eye-popping 1.9 million viewers for its premiere on Sunday.

The number is the second-highest for a CBC series premiere since Little Mosque on the Prairie netted two million viewers back in 2007. Audiences for the 90-minute episode of Blades at 8 p.m. peaked at 2.4 million. (All numbers 2+.)

The show pairs former NHL players such as Tie Domi and Claude Lemieux with prominent female figure skaters as they perform routines for judges. Each week, one team is eliminated on a results show that airs Mondays at 8 p.m. The show had a solid lead-in from family drama Heartland, which premiered to a series-high one million viewers at 7 p.m.

Blades had tough competition from another reality, CTV’s The Amazing Race, which nabbed 2.6 million viewers at 8 p.m., followed by Desperate Housewives with two million.

Other Ceeb series bowed last month. Time-travelling comedy Being Erica was first out of the fall gates on Sept. 22, to a soft debut of 495,000 viewers. The hour-long’s second season debut faced the premieres of Global spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles (1.7 million) and CTV’s The Mentalist (1.4 million), also airing at 9 p.m.

Erica bounced back with its second episode, at 793,000.

As usual, Tuesday comedies fared well for CBC as The Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes returned with 1.3 million and 774,000 viewers, respectively, on Sept. 29. Both series are up from last year, likely helped by BBM’s new audience measurement system, the Portable People Meter.

Numbers are also significantly up for Dragons’ Den, which debuted with 1.3 million viewers on Sept. 30 at 8 p.m., versus 700,000 for its premiere last year. Historical drama The Tudors followed with 835,000, up from 651,000.

Newbie The Ron James Show debuted with 803,000 viewers on Friday, Sept. 25, though numbers slipped to 709,000 for episode two.

Meanwhile, the aging Little Mosque continues its downward spiral, managing only 504,000 viewers for its fourth season premiere on Sept. 28 at 8:30 p.m. Despite PPMs, the numbers are down from last year’s debut of 603,000. It remains to be seen if the results show for Blades, which began airing Monday, will boost Mosque‘s numbers for episode two.