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.