The controversial life and times of media mogul Conrad Black were on full display in the two-hour CTV MOW Shades of Black, which drew an average 864,000 viewers on Dec. 4, peaking at 925,000. Pretty good, especially considering the Screen Door project, made with its U.K. partner Box TV, was up against the fall finale of Global’s Heroes in its second hour. The U.S. superhero drama nabbed 1.4 million viewers in its Monday 9 p.m. timeslot, finishing with a solid 1.3 million season average.

Meanwhile, the season six premiere of Degrassi: The Next Generation on Tuesday, Nov. 28 failed to generate an audience on par with previous seasons. Despite a sizable marketing push by CTV, back-to-back episodes drew a soft 535,000 and 418,000 (2+, nationwide) viewers in their 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. timeslots – up against CBC’s popular comedy lineup of Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. In comparison, 764,000 viewers tuned in to last year’s Degrassi premiere in September.

Some viewers opted to watch Degrassi’s first episode online on Nov. 21, as it was streamed on CTV’s broadband network one week prior to its televised premiere. Subsequent Degrassi eps are available online the day after they air. According to CTV, Canadians punched up a combined 65,000 streams for the first two eps up until Dec. 11. In comparison, 120,000 streams of episodes one and two of The O.C. were ordered within 10 days of their availability on CTV’s site.

Over at CBC, reality show Dragon’s Den ended its five- episode run Nov. 22 with a so-so 381,000 viewers tuning in for its final episode. The show recorded a season average of 367,000 viewers. There’s no word on a second season.

After a slow start, CBC’s four-part series Underdogs, with host Wendy Mesley pursuing big companies that have done consumers wrong, saw its audience climb to 317,000 Dec. 7 for the final episode, up from 270,000 for the show’s premiere, with a season average of 305,000.

In the new year, the Ceeb rolls out director Jerry Ciccoritti’s two-part mini Dragon Boys, about Asian-Canadian organized gangs, on Jan. 7 and 8 at 8 p.m., while the comedy Little Mosque on the Prairie, about a Muslim family living in small-town Saskatchewan, is set to debut Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 8:30 p.m.

On Global, 2007 will see the debut of the second seasons of the primetime soap Falcon Beach on Friday, Jan. 5 at 8 p.m. and comedy The Jane Show, which has no set airdate.

Meanwhile, CTV’s U.S. drama The Nine is on the chopping block after ABC benched six episodes, with no airdate set in 2007. The Stanley Tucci medical drama 3 lbs., which aired on CHUM, became the final victim of the fall season on Nov. 30, cancelled by CBS after only three episodes.