Regina: Slings & Arrows picked up the most hardware, but CBC emerged the biggest winner at the 22nd annual Gemini Awards gala, held Sunday, Oct. 28 in Regina.

Ratings for the pubcaster’s televised awards show were the highest in at least six years, with 447,000 (2+ AMA) tuning in, more than doubling last year’s 215,000 viewership when the show aired on a Saturday night on Global.

‘We are obviously thrilled,’ says CBC executive director of programming Kirstine Layfield. ‘We wanted this to be a fun show – unlike a Gemini Awards anyone has seen before. That was the goal. And after the show people were buzzing that this was the best Gemini Awards ever, so, beyond the numbers, I feel we were successful in rejuvenating the brand.’

Layfield gives credit to show host George Stroumboulopoulos of CBC news magazine The Hour for the ratings boost.

Not only does Stroumboulopoulos bring a young fan base, but he also exec produced the awards (along with Steve Sloan) and brought on board his team from The Hour to work on the show.

The 65-minute live-to-tape program had an edgier, more irreverent tone than in previous years. It also didn’t hurt that the broadcast was given a prime 8 p.m. timeslot.

‘Awards shows are so earnest,’ Stroumboulopoulos told the media after the show. ‘We didn’t want that.’

The broadcast opened with a filmed mockumentary in which Stroumboulopoulos gets his butt kicked by cast members of Corner Gas, Little Mosque on the Prairie and even Alex Trebek of Jeopardy! for calling Saskatchewan ‘flat,’ and later featured a taped skit suggesting a pair of puppets having sex.

‘Never once did we do a bit and somebody said, ‘You can’t do that,’ said Stroumboulopoulos after the show.

But the biggest surprise of the evening was accidental – when Degrassi: The Next Generation star Miriam McDonald dropped an F-bomb during a presenter skit gone awry.

‘It was supposed to be cut out,’ she said in the pressroom afterwards, explaining that she had been told that her swearing would be bleeped out, but for some reason it didn’t happen. ‘I felt awful…but these things happen. You have to laugh.’

This year’s Gemini show was also more star-studded than in previous years. Presenters and guests included Sarah Chalke (Scrubs), Jason Priestley (Side Order of Life), Corey Haim (The Two Coreys), Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), Howie Mandel (Deal or No Deal), James Tupper and Anne Heche (both from Men in Trees) and Saskatchewan Roughrider Matt Dominguez, all of whom walked the red carpet for an ET Canada half-hour pre-show that aired on Global. It was watched by 197,000, up 8% from last year’s red-carpet special, according to the net.

The show has traditionally been held in Toronto, but last year it took to the road, landing in Richmond, BC. This year marked the first Gemini show open to the public, which could buy tickets for $45. Of the 1,600 seats available in Regina’s Conexus Centre, approximately half were filled by non-industry attendees.

As for the award winners, the defunct Slings & Arrows was the favorite among Academy voters, receiving four awards. It was also the big winner at last year’s Geminis.

The series, which aired on The Movie Network and Movie Central in its first window and on Showcase in its second, won best drama and best writing in a dramatic series for a second year in a row, as well as actor and actress awards for the married couple of Paul Gross and Martha Burns (who also won last year).

Gross dedicated his award to the late William Hutt, who worked on the third and final season of Slings, pointing out that it was seeing the actor in a production of King Lear as a child that inspired him to go into the business.

His impassioned acceptance speech (which included an invitation to Hutt’s nephew Peter Hutt to join him on stage) was cut off by a musical cue. This sparked an outburst by Slings director Peter Wellington in the pressroom.

‘It was a little tasteless,’ Wellington said. ‘It’s one of those things that makes you say, ‘Oh yeah, Canada right – we screw it up again.”

Producer Niv Fichman of Rhombus Media told reporters that while Slings has finished its three-year run, there may be a spin-off in the works.

‘We are thinking about developing an offshoot with some of the characters. We are in talks about that,’ he said.

Homegrown Saskatchewan comedy Corner Gas was the other big winner of the night, picking up three prizes.

‘This is the award I have been hoping to win,’ said Corner Gas coproducer and star Brent Butt, after the CTV series, produced with Vérité Films of Regina, won best ensemble performance in a comedy.

‘These are the most talented group of people I could ever assemble and work with,’ Butt added. ‘They are really special.’

The hit sitcom also picked up the best comedy award for a third year in a row, as well as a writing nod for Mark Farrell.

The exuberant cast said that receiving these awards in the city where its series is based made the wins that much sweeter. They dedicated their prizes to the Regina crew that has worked on the show for five seasons.

‘Our crew is fantastic, and many of them are here celebrating with us this weekend, and that makes this extra special,’ said Corner Gas actress Nancy Robertson.

Other awards included best direction in a drama (Chris Haddock for CBC’s Intelligence), and best news anchor (CityNews at Six’s Toronto-based Gord Martineau). The Viewers’ Choice Award – for a Canadian on a U.S. show – went to Deal or No Deal’s Howie Mandel.

CBC’s Little Mosque on the Prairie (WestWind Pictures) took home the Canadian Heritage-sponsored Canada Award, recognizing excellence in TV programming that reflects racial and cultural diversity, while the Donald Brittain Award for best social/political documentary went to Barna-Alper Productions’ Fatherland, directed by Manfred Becker.

For the complete list of winners, visit www.geminiawards.ca/gemini22/main.cfm.