CTV’s four-hour miniseries Would Be Kings took a backseat to other homegrown fare this week, including the CBC drama The Border, as it posted so-so numbers for its broadcast premiere.

The Hamilton, ON-shot Kings, about the effects of police corruption on the lives of two cops and cousins, managed 397,000 viewers (2+) on Sunday, climbing to 494,000 the next night in the 9 p.m. timeslot. The second half aired partly opposite The Border, which grew its numbers to 760,000 on Monday, up from 659,000 the previous week. Global aired the movie Batman Begins to 913,000 viewers.

Kings, from the makers of The Eleventh Hour, fared slightly better than recent CBC minis including Dragon Boys, with an average 400,000, and St. Urbain’s Horseman, with 281,000.

The mini earned positive reviews, with The Globe and Mail calling it ‘smartly entertaining,’ while the Montreal Gazette says it’s a ‘gripping drama.’ Kings stars Currie Graham (Desperate Housewives), Ben Bass (The Eleventh Hour) and Natasha Henstridge (The Whole Nine Yards).

On Friday, the third airing of the MOW Doomstown, about gun violence in Toronto, garnered 534,000 viewers for CTV, more than half the audience of its premiere (730,000) back in the summer of 2006.

Back at CBC, the second episode of its reality series The Week the Women Went fetched a solid 858,000 viewers in the Monday 8 p.m. timeslot, up from 770,000 for its debut ep.

Coming up, CTV will air a slew of homegrown MOWs in the coming weeks, including Mayerthorpe, The Terrorist Next Door, She Drives Me Crazy and Elijah.