It was a bittersweet final bow for a cancelled drama, redemption for an underwatched miniseries, and a night as notable for its star power as its no-shows, as the 2005 Gemini Awards were handed out at the event's Nov. 19 closing-night gala in Toronto.

Axed journalism drama The Eleventh Hour went out on top with voters from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, winning for best drama series for the second time. It earned four more awards, including nods for direction for David Wellington and writing for co-creator Semi Chellas and Tassie Cameron. The show struggled to find an audience throughout its three-year run, and broadcaster CTV finally pulled the plug this year.

"We didn't know how to whore ourselves enough to draw the numbers," producer Peter Simpson told a sparsely filled pressroom afterwards. "Quality is a great thing to do, but you want some recognition for your work."

CBC's Sex Traffic, meanwhile, took home four awards, including the trophy for best dramatic miniseries. A U.K./Canada copro involving Halifax's Big Motion Pictures, the gritty drama about a pair of European women sold into a bleak world of sexual slavery received critical acclaim and eight BAFTAs, but attracted only a modest 500,000 viewers for each of its two eps that aired on CBC last year. Some questioned the network's wisdom in programming the brutal drama over the family-oriented Thanksgiving weekend.

One show that has never had a problem drawing a crowd is Corner Gas, which picked up prizes for best comedy series and website. These were the only nominations for the runaway success, compared to five last year. Curiously, Tara Spencer-Nairn was the only cast member on hand to accept the best comedy award along with show producers Paul Mather and Mark Farrell. Creator and star Brent Butt was said to be off marrying costar Nancy Robertson, although the timing was curious.

Also smelling of boycott was a no-show by the Trailer Park Boys, who have traditionally been on hand to amuse Gemini attendees. The Boys were surprisingly not even nominated for best comedy series, which they won last year. However, their show was up for ensemble cast, which turned out to be its only win among three nominations.

Supporting players Lucy Decoutere, Cory Bowles and Garry James accepted the award, later explaining that the others were either off dealing with newborns or trapped in L.A. A TPB motion picture, produced by Ivan Reitman, is in the can and should be on screens in 2006.

"It's not how many awards you win, it's the quality of the award," said James about the ensemble prize.

The 20th edition of the Geminis marked the first one broadcast by Global Television, a surprising choice given the net's spotty track record of Canadian production. Despite Global's promotional efforts, the gala was watched by only slightly more than 200,000, putting it at the lower end of the range achieved by CBC in its recent Gemini airings. Scheduling didn't help - the event faced off against CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, which scored nearly 1.6 million viewers that night.