I had the opportunity to catch all three premiers of CBC's new Monday line-up last night, and my predictions based on the previews ended up being disproved. While I took Rick Mercer's Monday Report to be the obvious highlight of the three, it ended up coming in last. Unfortunately, Mercer hasn't diverged from his past at 22 Minutes . While I was a fan while he was a member of 22, his new show has simply taken the same formula, however Mercer is now the only anchor. The general feeling I was left with at the end was that he has assumed that his regular audience would enjoy his wit and political savvy for a full half-hour instead of the five or six minutes of air time he got on 22. He's obviously one of Canada's most successful comedians, but it seems as though he has become drunk on his own reputation. Instead of being something refreshing and new, Monday Report is in fact the Mercer Report, an extended, self-indulgent editorial from the mind of a comedian who has failed to live up to his potential. 3rd place. 4/10.

Newsroom was quite good while throwing some darker themes between the lines as well, however they've cast (Ranger Gord on Red Green), as the same character that he played in Mercer's previous show that went off the air last season. That's less of a bad thing for the show than it is for the actor himself as he seems to be falling into the trap of only being able to portray one type of character. Nonetheless, the show has a lot of good things going for it, especially for those interested in satirical representations of television news networks. Wait a minute - a newsroom based sitcom on the CBC? What a novel idea...2nd place, 7/10.

Maybe the network execs down at the CBC knew they had something hot on their hands, because they obviously saved the best for last in the form of the one-hour This is Wonderland. Maybe I'm somewhat biased because of my interest in the legal profession, but a comedy based on novice lawyer working within Toronto's criminal justice system is a great idea. Excellent writing, and apparently the set is a perfect replica of Toronto's old City Hall. The highlight is obviously Cara Pifko, the actress playing the main character - good actress, very attractive. I initially thought that this would be the least impressive of the three, but it came out on top, rivalling Night Court ,the classic courtroom comedy (alliteration unintentional) of the late 80s. 9.5/10.