A biopic on the rise to fame of Quebec songstress Céline Dion netted respectable numbers for CBC, but fell short of the eyeballs that tuned in to the pubcaster for a similar take on pop/country star Shania Twain.

The two-hour MOW Céline grabbed 761,000 viewers at 8 p.m. on Sunday — not bad, considering the tough competition from CTV’s The Amazing Race with 1.8 million, and Desperate Housewives with two million viewers. (All numbers 2+.)

Shania: A Life in Eight Albums garnered nearly 1.2 million viewers when it aired in November 2005. Both TV movies were produced by Toronto’s Barna-Alper Productions.

Céline helped bump numbers for CBC News: Sunday Night, which hit nearly one million viewers at 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Ceeb saw strong premieres from the new seasons of reality Dragon’s Den and comedies Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Dragon’s Den premiered to nearly 700,000 viewers on Monday, Sept. 29, nearly doubling the 389,000 that tuned in to its debut last year. Action-drama The Border followed with 560,000 viewers, down from 710,000 for its season-one premiere.

Rick Mercer got Tuesday off to a strong start with 808,000 viewers, followed by 619,000 for This Hour Has 22 Minutes, which featured the encounter between comedienne Geri Hall and Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Halifax last month. The second season of the Henry VIII drama The Tudors followed with 651,000 viewers, down from the 957,000 that tuned in for its debut last year.

On Wednesday, comedies Little Mosque on the Prairie and Sophie premiered with 603,000 and 352,000 viewers, respectively. Mosque remained on par with last season, while Sophie‘s numbers are down by nearly half.

The 16th and final season of sketch comedy Air Farce grabbed 611,000 viewers on Friday, while CBC’s one-hour hockey special Anthem Challenge garnered 463,000 viewers on Saturday. The Ceeb will reveal the top two finalists in its search for a new Hockey Night in Canada theme on Thursday. Round two of voting opens then and continues to Oct. 10. The winner will be revealed on Oct. 11 during HNIC‘s first Saturday doubleheader of the season.