CBC has had its fall-launch liftoff, offering up a balanced mix of shows of generally strong quality. That much is not surprising. What is especially heartening to Ceeb folks is that a number of these shows are drawing solid ratings, with a couple of excellent tallies.

Last year saw the network stumble out of the gate with several scripted series that, for one reason or another, underperformed. Some of these had been inherited from the previous Ceeb regime, and there was criticism from producers that the pubcaster put insufficient promotional muscle behind the shows.

This season sees more emphasis on reality programming. Dragon’s Den, which initially seemed an oddity, debuted softly a year ago with 219,000 viewers, but quickly increased its viewership, going out with an average of 367,000. This season it premiered to 389,000, and continued the growth trend, bumping up to 461,000 for ep number two. Now, those wouldn’t be great numbers for a drama, but of course this type of programming costs far less to produce.

The very notion of our pubcaster doing reality programming rubbed some the wrong way when Dragon’s Den appeared, but here’s the deal: reality TV is legit, it’s not going anywhere, and why shouldn’t CBC put its own stamp on it? I was skeptical about this show at first, but now find myself yelling at the TV, instructing the would-be entrepreneurs to either sign with the Dragons or walk away from one of their lowball offers.

The net has especially high hopes for No Opportunity Wasted, brainchild of Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan, in which an unsuspecting Canuck is scooped up to embark on an adventure to conquer one of their fears. Its premiere did better than Dragon’s Den, netting 450,000, but the question is will it grow its audience like DD has?

Reality hits Amazing Race, Survivor and Big Brother get under our skin – whether we like it or not – because the characters grow on us from week to week. But here it’s different participants every episode, so the makers hope viewers will fall in love with the concept. Also, let’s face it – what makes the aforementioned programs so compelling is the competitive backbiting among contestants, which is not a part of NOW. And you have to wonder how many people tuned in expecting Keoghan to be the host.

This high-road approach to reality TV seems to have hurt Garth Drabinky’s Triple Sensation, yet another talent show contest – but one which aims to nurture its young contestants as opposed to humiliating the losers. The debut brought in only 264,000, despite an unexpected on-air plug from Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry. Likely its two-hour running time was too much of a commitment for semi-curious viewers.

Meanwhile, comedy continues to be the network’s strong suit. The season premiere of This Hour Has 22 Minutes brought in 774,000 viewers, the revamped Air Force Live was just shy of 700K, while Rick Mercer Report brought in nearly a mil for his episode featuring Conrad Black, and then an amazing 733,000 for a repeat just days later. Little Mosque on the Prairie admitted 750,000, a number that will hopefully grow, because the opener – the first with Corner Gas ringers Paul Mather and Rob Sheridan in the story department – was often LOL funny.

The early results for CBC’s adult dramas, meanwhile, are at both ends of the spectrum. At the happy end, The Tudors pulled in a whopping 957,000. The series, about the randy young adventures of Henry VIII, is good television, boasting excellent production values and a strong international cast of recognizable actors such as Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the lead and Sam Neill as Cardinal Wolsey, along with Canucks Henry Czerny and Kristen Holden-Ried. It makes a strong case for international partnering, being as it is an Ireland/Canada copro involving Peace Arch Entertainment.

Most disappointing, however, is the 221K audiences for the first pair of season-two eps of crime drama Intelligence. There was talk about the show being retooled after season one (when it averaged 304,000), but if you expected show creator Chris Haddock to go all CSI: Miami, think again. Sure, there’s been a little more action and a faster pace, but the show’s morality is still painted in the same subtle shades of grey, which might be both its strength with critics and its weakness with audiences.

In an interview with Playback (see story, opposite), Haddock says that, in terms of promotion, he’s ‘getting none.’ To this, Ceeb exec director of programming Kirstine Layfield says the network has put most of its resources toward this year’s new shows ‘because we want them to get off on a good foot.’ But Haddock is not one to just sit there and whine. His office has embarked on its own innovative marketing initiatives, such as sending out a mass e-mail inviting people to become friends on the show’s Facebook page. Apparently the show has made a friend of the Fox network, which has commissioned a pilot script for an Americanized version, with interest in a possible series next season.

Using its limited resources, the pubcaster has done some outside-of-the-box promotions touting its autumn offerings. For one, it produced an insert for The Globe and Mail and community papers, and revamped its website to de-emphasize news in favor of its entertainment and sports programming.

‘We’re just trying to do all kinds of things to increase awareness about the new kinds of shows we have out there,’ says Layfield. ‘We really believe that if the public knew, they’d be watching.’

And so far, it appears, to an impressive extent, they are.

* * *

Playback’s stalwart feature film expert Marcus Robinson is stepping away from his Big Screen column duties to focus on his burgeoning screenwriting career. Marcus has just finished an original feature screenplay called Low Life Kings for executive producer David Miller (Amal), which will star Hugh Dillon (Durham County). He has also been tapped for the adaptation of Denise Chong’s bestseller The Concubine’s Children for renowned Hong Kong director Ann Hui. The film is scheduled to shoot in both Canada and Asia sometime in 2008.

Marcus will continue to contribute to Playback on an occasional basis, but in the meanwhile, we wish him all the best on these exciting projects.