Watching This Week #126

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate. Welcome to the October 9, 2023, edition of Watching This Week, the weekly newsletter from Where Can I Watch – covering the latest news on where TV shows and movies will be available in Canada.

This week: some deals from Amazon and CBC Gem; we recap news including Disney+'s upcoming terms changes; and answers to a few recent mailbag questions. That's after this week's listings.

What's new this week – October 9–15

Compiled from our monthly listings and/or any subsequent updates we've come across. We strive for accuracy but schedules may change without notice. Some series/seasons may have weekly rollouts; we won't list new episodes every week (though we may note significant episodes such as series finales). *An asterisk denotes programming added in past weeks that we've learned about (or has been rescheduled) since our last newsletter.

• Netflix: Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul (doc – Wednesday); The Fall of the House of Usher (horror series – Thursday); Good Night World (anime series – Thursday); Lego Ninjago: Dragons Rising (part 2 – Thursday); Camp Courage (doc short – Sunday)
• Disney+: The Conversations Project (unscripted series – Wednesday); Demons and Saviors (true crime docuseries – Wednesdays); 4Ever (animated miniseries – Wednesday); Nothing (Argentinian series – Wednesday); Ghost of the Mountains (2017 doc – Friday); Goosebumps (book series adaptation reboot – Fridays); Bob's Burgers (S14 [on delay from Citytv] – Sundays)
• Crave: SmartLess: On the Road (Max docuseries – Thursday, Oct. 5*); No Accident (HBO doc – Tuesday); Doom Patrol (S4 part 2 – Thursdays [also on CTV Sci-Fi]); Bria Mack Gets a Life (original comedy series – Fridays); The Drop (2022 dark comedy film – Friday); Spoiler Alert (2022 comedy-drama film – Friday); Staying Inn: Hotel Julie (S1 [already on CTV Life] – Friday); Stellar (2022 Canadian film – Friday)
• Prime Video: Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe (doc – Tuesday); Awareness (sci-fi action film – Wednesday); Mud, Sweat, and Tears: Premiership Rugby (docuseries – Thursday); The Burial (drama film – Friday); Dark Harvest (2023 horror film – Friday); Everybody Loves Diamonds (Italian series – Friday)
• CBC Gem and/or CBC TV: Chuck and the First Peoples Kitchen (food series – Friday); Come True (2020 horror film – Friday); How to Fail as a Popstar (short-form series – Friday); Marketplace (season 51 – Fridays)
• Paramount+ (also available as a channel on Prime Video and Apple TV): Detroiters (2017–18 series – Tuesday); Laguna Beach (2004–06 series – Tuesday); Frasier (sitcom revival – Thursdays); Selling Super Houses (British reality series – Friday)
• Apple TV+: Lessons in Chemistry (period drama series – Fridays)
• BritBox (also available as a channel on Prime Video and Apple TV): Lost in Austen (2008 fantasy series – Tuesday); Code Blue Murder (S2 – Thursday); The Night Manager (2016 series – Thursday)
• Global (also on StackTV): Raid the Cage (game show – Fridays); Crime Beat (season 5 – Fridays)
• PBS (streamable via PBS Passport for station members, or the PBS Masterpiece channel on Prime Video): Annika (S2 – Sundays)
• Adult Swim (also on StackTV): Archer (series S14 finale – Wednesday); Rick and Morty (S7 – Sundays)
• CTV Sci-Fi: Reginald the Vampire (S1 [previously on Prime Video Canada] – Wednesdays)
• AMC (available on AMC+ on Prime Video and Apple TV):
• Starz (also available as an add-on/channel on Crave, Prime Video, and Apple TV): Shining Vale (S2 – Fridays)

This week in deals

As a reminder, we may get an affiliate commission for products you buy and services you sign up for through links in this newsletter, which helps support our site maintenance, at no additional cost to you. Prices are in Canadian dollars before applicable sales taxes, and may change in the future.

• If you shop at Amazon.ca, you may already be aware that this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, October 10–11, will be Prime Big Deal Days, the retailer's second exclusive sales event of the year for Amazon Prime subscribers. We don't know what exactly will be on sale yet, but these events usually bring plenty of sales on Amazon-brand products and other electronics. If you choose to shop, please use this link to support WCIW with your purchases, at no extra cost to you.
  
• CBC Gem Premium has an ongoing promo for $1 per month for 3 months for returning and, presumably, new customers (the regular price for that tier is $4.99 per month). You must use promo code GEM3 during the checkout process. The promo is valid for a limited number of subscribers through December 7 at noon Eastern time.

News and notes

• Since we've had people ask about it in the past, we just want to reiterate (as noted above) that this past Thursday, Crave added the Max docuseries SmartLess: On the Road, based on the podcast featuring Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes, a little over four months after its U.S. release.
  
• Much as Netflix and Disney+ have already done, Paramount+ will be expanding its range of Korean series distributed in countries like the U.S. and Canada, through its partnership with CJ ENM. Specific series named as coming soon include Dongjae, The Good or The Bastard; Dreaming of Cinde Fxxxing Rella; and Pyramid Game.
  
• Disney+ is updating its subscriber agreement in Canada to, among other things, explicitly bar users from sharing accounts outside of their households, unless permitted under their service tier, with the possibility of service being "limit[ed] or terminate[d]" in case of violation. It's not yet clear how, or how strictly, Disney+ intends to enforce this rule.
  
• Late last month, the CRTC issued its first decisions regarding implementation of the new Online Streaming Act, also known as Bill C-11. The decisions, among other things, require streaming services, social media services, and "services that provide podcasts" to register with the CRTC by late November; that last bit about podcast providers in particular seems to be generating some debate.

Mailbag

Here's some of the reader questions we've received recently by email (hello@wherecaniwatch.ca). We welcome questions of general interest, and publish a few of them (and our answers) from time to time; messages may be edited for brevity and clarity.

Gail: Is there any update about the new season of [Paramount+'s] Evil, which was supposed to air in August this year?

WCIW: There were reports that production of the fourth season of Evil ended early in May due to the writers’ strike. Beyond that, we haven’t heard anything about when it’ll be released.

In principle, other post-production activities for the series could have gone on as usual, assuming it didn't involve any new writing or reshoots. But even if the producers or Paramount+ were originally targeting an August release, a number of services have delayed scheduled releases of finished productions in light of this year's strikes, in order to keep the releases of new programs on a somewhat consistent cadence until post-strike productions are ready.

Jim: Will Battlestar Galactica ever come to a Canadian streaming service?

WCIW: We’re sure it has been available on streaming services in Canada in the past – we know Prime Video had it for a period of time ending in early 2022 – but we’re aware it isn’t available anywhere (except of course for digital purchase).

Really it’s just a matter of a service that wants it making a deal with the rightholders – NBCUniversal – for the price they want for it. Perhaps the fact no service has it right now indicates NBCU is asking too much, or that other services have data indicating that having the streaming rights won’t make a difference in attracting customers.

Catherine: I signed up for Disney+ so I could watch The Bear, but I can't find it. Is there an issue accessing it in Canada?

WCIW: You should indeed be able to access The Bear on Disney+ in Canada. However, The Bear is rated TV-MA, the most mature rating on the American TV content ratings scale, equivalent to 18+ in Canadian TV ratings.

If you can’t access The Bear – or other mature programming – on Disney+, and you're not using some sort of network proxying tool that goes through another country, the most likely reason is that you’ve setup (perhaps inadvertently) your Disney+ profile with a too-low maximum content rating. This Disney+ support article may be of assistance.

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We'll see you again next week.