CBC got its mid-season off to a strong start on Monday with The Border — while its strike-addled competition aired a dance show and a movie and exec producer Peter Raymont joined a picket line in New York.

The drama, tracking the exploits of the Immigration and Customs Security Unit, drew a solid 710,000 viewers to its 9 p.m. slot, taking over for Intelligence. In comparison, the Chris Haddock crime drama averaged only 263,000 over its second, most recent run.

‘We’re thrilled so many Canadians turned out for this new hour-long drama…drama is a hard genre to crack in Canada, so it’s gratifying people enjoyed it,’ CBC programming boss Kirstine Layfield tells Playback Daily.

The Border, from White Pine Pictures, aired in part opposite the two-hour premiere of CTV’s reality series Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, which drew an average 1.2 million viewers. Global ran the feature Kingdom of Heaven, since its sci-fi series Heroes is on hiatus and freshman show Journeyman was cancelled last month by NBC. The network will be back on the field when Prison Break returns next week.

Raymont was in New York on Tuesday for a screening of his latest feature documentary, A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman, which is long-listed for an Oscar. Earlier in the day, he and playwright Dorfman joined the WGA picket line outside of NBC’s headquarters at Rockefeller Center.

This week is busy for CBC, which is facing less than the usual competition from the private networks because of the WGA strike. The Ceeb is also rolling out — and looks to have put considerable promotional pushes behind — its dark office comedy jPod on Tuesdays, the Quebec comedy redux Sophie on Wednesdays, and the hockey-wife soaper MVP on Fridays.

Critics have been mixed on The Border. The Globe and Mail‘s John Doyle called it ‘a nice idea, but not a knockout,’ while Bill Harris of Sun Media said the series fell flat after a ‘gripping opening sequence.’ The Border stars James McGowan (Warriors of Terra), Graham Abbey (Heartland) and CSI: Miami‘s Sophia Milos.

CTV saw two of its U.S. shows return on Monday when The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report returned to their posts on the network’s late-night schedule and on Comedy Network. Both series are making do without writers, however, and, as expected, returned with episodes made up of clips, some ad-libbing by the hosts, and interviews with non-Hollywood guests.

With files from Sean Davidson