Dragons’ Den wraps up its highest rated season yet! Canadian fan favourites Heartland, Rick Mercer Report and Marketplace among season finales this week!
It’s a week of finales as nine CBC-TV fan favourites wrap up between Sunday, March 27 and Friday, April 1.
“This has been a breakthrough year for CBC-TV programming,” said Kirstine Stewart, CBC’s executive vice-president of English Services. “We’ve committed ourselves to providing more Canadian shows that reflect and inspire our audiences, and that’s what we’ve delivered in 2010-2011. And the best news yet is that there’s much more to come.”
Season finales this week include:
Sunday, March 27 -Season 4 of the country’s favourite family drama Heartland (7 p.m./7:30 NT) rides into the sunset, as Amy (Amber Marshall) and Ty (Graham Wardle) work through their issues as they struggle to deal with a pair of Clydesdales - and an emergency that puts the whole team to the test. Averaging a weekly audience of over 950,000 viewers* and boasting an active online presence that features over 50,000 fans, Canadians are proving they can’t get enough of Heartland.
Monday, March 28 - The mayhem over the most anticipated wedding of the year (sorry William and Kate) continues on the season finale of Little Mosque on the Prairie (8 p.m./8:30 NT), as news breaks that Amaar (Zaib Shaikh) and Rayyan (Sitara Hewitt) might leave town after their marriage. Will the wedding go ahead? Will they build a new life in Mercy - or trade the big sky of the prairie for the bright lights of the city? Find out on “Amaar’s Well that Ends Well.”
Also on March 28, the modern-day family foibles of 18 to Life (8:30 p.m./9 NT) wrap up in “House of Cards,” in which Tom (Michael Seater) and Jessie (Stacey Farber) exchange anniversary gifts they can’t afford while their parents give them a gift that only their parents could enjoy.
Tuesday, March 29 - On InSecurity (8:30 p.m./9 NT), Alex (Natalie Lisinska) is celebrating her birthday, but the party is put on hold when an airborne toxin is released - triggering a biohazard lockdown that seals the team in the office. Will the team come up with an antidote before this becomes Alex’s last birthday?
Also on March 29, with an average weekly audience of 1.1 million viewers*, is the season finale of ratings winner the Rick Mercer Report (8 p.m./8:30 NT). Mercer checks out the abundant moose population in Gros Morne National Park, Nfld., assisting scientists and staff conservationists with the annual census and check-up. Then he’s off to the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, and Espanola High School in Ontario, to acknowledge the top fund-raisers in the annual Spread the Net Student Challenge.
Wednesday, March 30 - Dragons’ Den (8 p.m. /8:30 NT), Canada’s high-rated entertainment show, caps off its most popular season ever - with more than 1.7 million weekly viewers* - as the Dragons duke it out for their last chance to invest in some of the best new businesses in the country. They’ll have their chequebooks in hand as they go head to head over a range of ventures from kitchenware and tiny technology to an ethical shopping mall.
Thursday, March 31 - Doc Zone
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) - Marketing the Monarchy
The pending nuptials are expected to flood the economy with more than one billion dollars of merchandise—a sales bonanza not seen since the wedding of Charles and Diana. It’s not just the Brits—monarchy fans all over the globe are opening their wallets for a piece of history…from $10 plates to $5,000 paperweights. Marketing the Monarchy takes viewers through the fascinating world of retailing the royals. Savvy marketers, discriminating collectors, and a big dose of palace intrigue will put “the wedding of the century” in a whole new light.
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) - Chasing the Royals
Chasing the Royals chronicles the frenzied, comical and often nasty relationship between the royals and the “rat pack” chasing them. With another royal wedding in the offing, the palace and the paparazzi are once again ready to do battle. Chasing the Royals follows some of the best reporters and photographers in action: what lengths will they go to in order to get the stories and photos Buckingham Palace doesn’t want you to see?
Friday, April 1 - In the cap-off to a hugely successful season, Marketplace (8 p.m./8:30 NT) turns the tables on viewers in “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” an hour-long special season finale on April Fool’s Day. For the first time ever, the Marketplace team turns the tables on viewers and runs the scams instead of exposing them. And instead of grilling the bad guys, we confront the victims with one simple question: “Why do you fall for it?”
Also on April 1, the fifth estate (9 p.m./9:30 NT) concludes its season with “A Question of Innocence.” An engrossing examination of how evidence can be used to both convict and acquit, Linden MacIntyre takes a closer look at the case of Ludmila Mieczkowski, who maintains she was wrongly convicted of murdering her husband Ted. Her fate is now in the hands of two young aspiring lawyers who have never seen a brutal crime up-close before.
* All numbers based on confirmed PPM Data.
