CBC’s Little Mosque on the Prairie ended its first season on a high note, nabbing more than 1.1 million viewers for its season finale entitled ‘Playing with Fire’ on March 7, despite airing opposite CTV reality juggernaut American Idol.

Though a far cry from its much-hyped season premiere, which exploded on Jan. 9 with nearly 2.2 million viewers, Mosque, about the goings-on in a Muslim community in fictional Mercy, SK, has become a rare recent CBC scripted series ratings success, averaging 1.2 million viewers over its eight-ep run.

‘We are delighted with the response from viewers who tune in weekly and write and e-mail us with their comments,’ said CBC programming boss Kirstine Layfield in a release.

The broadcaster has yet to officially greenlight a second season, though the Mosque producers recently hired writers Paul Mather and Rob Sheridan away from CTV’s Corner Gas. A CBC spokesperson would only disclose that ‘discussions are ongoing.’

Meanwhile, Corner Gas aired its highly anticipated season finale on Monday, with guest stars including Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The series was poised to deliver its 69th consecutive million-plus episode with the season-ender ‘Out of Gas,’ in which Brent (Brent Butt) closes his gas station and Lacey (Gabrielle Miller) moves back to Toronto.

CTV is set to make an announcement on Tuesday about the future of Gas, which has emerged as the country’s number one comedy series, Canadian or American, since its launch in January 2004.

Meanwhile, the Vancouver-shot sci-fi series Painkiller Jane, in which genetic mutants face off in battle against undercover agents, is now set to debut on the Global-owned CH channels on Saturday, April 21 at 10 p.m. The show stars Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3, BloodRayne).