Whistler has ended its first run down the slopes, perhaps fittingly, at a low point. The soapy ski drama ended its first season with an average of 402,000 viewers – not bad, considering it was bounced around the CTV schedule near the end of its 13-ep run, but not great considering its sizable budget and marketing push.

The final two episodes aired back-to-back on Friday, Aug. 25 to 292,000 and 301,000 viewers, respectively, according to BBM, down by almost half from its 550,000 premiere in June.

Last month, CTV moved Whistler from Sundays to Mondays after Canadian Idol. It shifted again to Fridays, says programming boss Susanne Boyce, because otherwise it would have faced Global Television’s simulcast of Vanished, which premiered to a strong 1.2 million in the same slot on Aug. 22.

‘We were hoping to leave it [on Mondays] but could not,’ says Boyce. ‘You’re always playing for a competitive advantage, and you want to give your Canadian series the best chance to find viewers.’

But Boyce insists she is pleased with Whistler’s first run, so much so that CTV has picked it up for a second season, although no production dates have been confirmed yet.

Vanished – about the disappearance of a U.S. senator’s wife – followed the return of the popular Fox drama Prison Break on Global, which drew about 1.4 million viewers after being aggressively promoted in Toronto and Vancouver. The season premiere beat Idol in both markets.

Still with Global, the first season of its comedy The Jane Show handed the net an average viewership of 230,000 following its finale on Aug. 24. Jane struggled in its competitive Thursday night slot but saw a 41% jump in its audience when, in the show’s last three weeks, Global played reruns of it on Mondays.

‘We are extremely pleased with the build in The Jane Show’s ratings leading up to the finale,’ says Christine Shipton, VP of original programming. ‘In the past four weeks, the show has been averaging 336,000 viewers.’

Production on Jane’s second season is slated for fall, with a launch in early 2007.

Meanwhile, CBC is gearing up for September after a difficult summer of low ratings for homegrown shows. It will launch a number of big-ticket miniseries, including René Lévesque, airing in three parts beginning Sept. 7, two-parters Answered by Fire – set against the 1999 East Timor referendum – on Sept. 12 and drama Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis on Sept. 15. The 10-hour doc series Hockey: A People’s History begins on Sept. 17.