Watching This Week #129

Welcome to the November 6, 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.

For a variety of reasons, we'll be keeping this week's newsletter relatively brief, but we do answer a recent question about the upcoming returns of some HBO programs, after this week's listings.

What's new this week – November 6–12

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: The Improv: 60 and Still Standing (comedy special – Tuesday); Escaping Twin Flames (true crime docuseries – Wednesday); Robbie Williams (music doc – Wednesday); Akuma Kun (anime series – Thursday); The Killer (psychological thriller film – Friday)
• Disney+: Daddies on Request (Mexican series, season 2 – Wednesday); Killer Vacation (LatAm series – Wednesday); The Santa Clauses (season 2 – Wednesdays); Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures (additional S1 episodes – Wednesday); Vigilante (Korean series – Wednesdays); Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Nat Geo doc – Friday)
• Crave: Stand Up & Shout: Songs from a Philly High School (HBO doc – Tuesday); You Were My First Boyfriend (HBO doc – Wednesday); Rap Sh!t (season 2 of the Max series – Thursdays); Into the Deep (2022 thriller film – Friday); Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (2022 biopic – Friday); Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022 animated film – Friday); Violent Night (2022 Christmas action film – Friday); Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (HBO doc – Saturday)
• Prime Video: BTS: Yet to Come (concert film – Thursday); 007: Road to a Million (James Bond-inspired reality series – Fridays)
• CBC Gem: I Hate People, People Hate Me (short-form series – Tuesday); BlackBerry (serialized version of 2023 film – Thursday); Coyote (2022 Canadian film – Friday); Irvine Welsh's Crime (season 2 – Friday)
• Paramount+ (also available as a channel on Prime Video and Apple TV): De La Calle (docuseries – Tuesday); Drunk History (2013–19 series – Tuesday); Accused (season 1 – Friday); Black Site (2022 action film – Friday); Bring on the Dancing Horses (Western series – Friday); The Curse (Showtime comedy series – Fridays); Hot Mess Holiday (2021 telefilm – Sunday)
• Apple TV+: The Buccaneers (drama series – Wednesdays); For All Mankind (season 4 – Fridays)
• BritBox (also available as a channel on Prime Video and Apple TV): Bad Education (British sitcom, full series to date including new season 4 – Tuesday); Unforgotten (season 5 – Wednesday)
• Showcase (also on StackTV): Killing It (season 2 of the Peacock series – Thursdays* [two episodes weekly])
• Starz (also available as an add-on/channel on Crave, Prime Video, and Apple TV): Godfather of Harlem (season 3 – Fridays); Sisu (2023 action film – Friday)

Programming news

• While it doesn't have the Hallmark Channel endorsement as does W Network, Super Channel's Heart & Home channel will again have its own lineup of over 100 new and returning Christmas films, nineteen of them new, starting November 24. Most, but not all, of Super Channel's new films this time around appear to be sourced from Hallmark's most direct U.S. competitor, Great American Family.

Other notes

• Starz Inc. has been slimming down its international operations ahead of its upcoming split from Lionsgate. This past Friday, alongside an announcement that it would be laying off 10% of its staff, Starz said it will be entirely exiting the UK and Australian markets (where it operated streaming services under the name Lionsgate+, due to trademark conflicts with Disney's Star brand), essentially meaning it will no longer operate its own services anywhere outside North America.
   
  The Canadian angle here: even though Starz in Canada is a licensed version owned by Bell Media, a couple of reports have indicated that Starz would nevertheless be "folding its Canadian business into its U.S. operations," though one went on to note that it mainly affects content licensing and marketing functions. Our reading is that those changes are unlikely to directly affect the existing Bell-operated Starz services in Canada, at least for now.

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.

Dag: Do you have any idea when the final season of My Brilliant Friend will premiere on Crave? It seems like it’s been forever since season 3 ended.

WCIW: HBO / Max announced an updated programming plan for 2024 and beyond this past week. Among other things, it said that it expected the final season of My Brilliant Friend to be ready to air in summer 2024 – which is as precise as they'll get at this point.

We have every expectation that Crave will air/stream the season in Canada simultaneously with HBO and Max in the U.S., as they have with past seasons.

(Other news from that event – season 2 of House of the Dragon will premiere in summer 2024 as well, and season 12 of Curb Your Enthusiasm will air in February. Tokyo Vice and Hacks will also return in the spring.)

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We'll see you again next week.