This Week in WCIW #24: What's new in June 2021?

Welcome to the May 31, 2021 edition of This Week in WCIW, 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, we have comprehensive (or at least as much as possible) Canadian listings for the major streaming services in June, and a few other notes.

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What's new in June 2021?

With that out of the way, it's time for our monthly summary of notable new programming coming to streaming services and TV channels in Canada. This is not intended as a complete list, but where practical we will provide links to fuller information. While we do mention a few reality and documentary shows and the like (particularly for channels without much else), our main focus is mainly on notable scripted programming.

Updated on May 31 to add CBC Gem and Prime Video programming.

Netflix

Netflix Canada posts its monthly listings on its Twitter account, and sends additional details to media outlets on its mailing list. Since we aren't on that list at present, we've cross-referenced against other posts as well as other sources. New programs are normally released at 3:00 a.m. ET (midnight PT) on the date indicated, unless otherwise noted.

Notable original series

• Sweet Tooth (fantasy drama series based on the comic book by Jeff Lemire, from executive producers including Robert Downey Jr.) – June 4
• Lupin (part 2 of season 1 of the French drama) – June 11
• Black Summer (season 2 of the Canadian-filmed action drama) – June 17
• Elite (season 4) – June 18 (preceded by Elite Short Stories – June 14)
• Sex/Life (Canadian-filmed dramedy starring Sarah Shahi and Mike Vogel) – June 25
• The A List (season 2 of the British teen thriller) – June 25

Notable exclusive-distribution "original" series

• Feel Good (season 2) – June 4
• Black Lightning (season 4 of the DC "Arrowverse" series) – June 29

Notable original (or exclusive-distribution "original") films

• Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal (two-part anime film and continuation of the 2014–16 rebooted animated series) – June 3
• Awake (science fiction film starring Gina Rodriguez and Jennifer Jason Leigh) – June 9
• Fatherhood (dramedy starring Kevin Hart, acquired from Sony Pictures) – June 18
• Good on Paper (romantic comedy written by and starring Iliza Shlesinger) – June 23
• America: The Motion Picture (animated comedy starring the voices of Channing Tatum and Simon Pegg) – June 30

Notable licensed programming

• The Mustang (2019, Focus – previously on Crave) – June 1
• Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019, Sony – previously on Crave) – June 16
• Booksmart (2019, Annapurna – previously on Prime) – June 19
• Long Shot (2019, Lionsgate/eOne – previously on Prime) – June 21
• Midsommar (2019, A24/Elevation – previously on Prime) – June 29

Disney+

Disney+ sends its Canadian monthly listings to media outlets on its mailing list, which (despite our efforts) does not currently include WCIW, so we have to rely on outside posts. New programs are normally released at 3:00 a.m. ET (midnight PT) on the date indicated, unless otherwise noted.

Notable premiere or new-release films

• Raya and the Last Dragon (2021 Disney animated film, becoming available without Premier Access) – June 4
• Us Again (2021 Disney animated short, attached theatrically to Raya) – June 4
• Luca (streaming-exclusive Pixar film) – June 18
• The New Mutants (2020 20th Century / X-Men franchise film) – June 25
• Wolfgang (documentary about Wolfgang Puck) – June 25

Notable Disney+ original series

• Loki (Marvel Cinematic Universe series starring Tom Hiddleston) – Wednesdays starting June 9
• Ongoing, new episodes weekly: Big Shot (Fridays through June 18), High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Fridays), Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Fridays)

Notable Star original series

• Love, Victor (season 2 of the Love, Simon spin-off series) – Fridays starting June 18
• Ongoing, new episodes weekly: M.O.D.O.K. (Fridays)

Notable library programming

• Dark Phoenix (2019 20th Century / X-Men film) – June 4
• Star Wars: Droids (1985–86 animated series) – June 4

Crave

Crave's full list of arrivals for June is posted on Bell Media's press site. New programs are normally released at midnight ET on the date indicated (equivalent to 9:00 p.m. PT on the previous date), though some (including HBO Max programs) may be released at 3:00 a.m. ET, and others (including mainline HBO programs) are released simultaneously with their linear premieres at the indicated times. Starz is dealt with in a separate section below.

Original programming

• Ongoing, new episodes weekly: Dark Side of the Ring (Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET through June 24)

Showtime original programming

• The Kings (four part docuseries about boxers Roberto Duran, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard) – Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET starting June 6
• Ongoing, new episodes weekly: The Chi (Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET), Black Monday (Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ET), Flatbush Misdemeanors (Sundays at 10:30 p.m. ET), Ziwe (Sundays at 11:00 p.m. ET through June 13), Desus & Mero (resuming June 20; Sundays and Thursdays at 11:00 p.m. ET)

Other notable licensed programming in base tier

• Gossip Girl (the complete 2007–12 series, via Warner Bros.) – June 11
• The Dark Side of Football (Vice TV docuseries about football in America) – June 18
• Domina (2021 Sky Studios limited series about ancient Rome starring Kasia Smutniak and Isabella Rossellini) – June 18
• The Rookie (season 3, previously aired on CTV) – June 18
• Deutschland 89 (sequel series to Deutschland 83 and 86, via Fremantle) – June 25
• Bosch (season 7 – final season) – June 26 (also available on Prime Video June 25)
• Ongoing, new episodes weekly: The Handmaid's Tale (Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET through June 16); RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under (Saturdays)

Note: We previously noted Crave's listings indicating that Sky Studios series Intergalactic would be released on Crave on June 4. This was removed from Crave's listings without explanation sometime between May 23 and May 30.

New release movies (in Movies + HBO tier)

• Jump, Darling (2020 Canadian drama starring Cloris Leachman, via LevelFilm) – June 2
• Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite! (2020 direct-to-video family film starring the voices of Melissa Rauch, Max Greenfield, and George Lopez, via Warner Bros.) – June 4
• Night of the Kings (2020 Ivorian / Canadian / French / Senegalese drama starring Bakary Koné, via Axia Films) – June 4
• Supernova (2020 British film starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, via Mongrel) – June 4
• Boys vs. Girls (2020 Canadian film with ensemble cast including Colin Mochrie and Kevin McDonald, via Mongrel) – June 9
• The Croods: A New Age (2020 DreamWorks Animation film starring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds, via Universal) – June 11
• Kajillionaire (2020 crime dramedy written and directed by Miranda July, starring Evan Rachel Wood and Gina Rodriguez, via Universal) – June 11
• The Little Things (2021 crime thriller starring Denzel Washington and Rami Malek, via Warner Bros.) – June 18
• The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021 biographical film directed by Lee Daniels, starring Andra Day, via eOne) – June 18
• Another Round (Danish: Druk) (2020 Danish dramedy starring Mads Mikkelsen, via Mongrel) – June 25
• The Witches (2020 fantasy film starring Anne Hathaway and Octavia Spencer, via Warner Bros.) – June 25
• The Holy Game (2021 Canadian documentary about a Vatican soccer tournament) – June 28

Notable library movies (in Movies + HBO tier)

• Videodrome (1983 David Cronenberg film) – June 11
• The Devil Wears Prada (2006) – June 25
• Rio (2011) and Rio 2 (2014) – June 25

HBO original programming (in Movies + HBO tier)

• Betty (season 2 of the comedy series about an all-girl skateboarding crew) – Fridays at 11:00 p.m. ET starting June 11
• Revolution Rent (documentary about a production of the musical Rent in Cuba) – Tuesday, June 15 at 9:00 p.m. ET
• The Legend of the Underground (documentary about LGBTQ rights in Nigeria) – Tuesday, June 29 at 9:00 p.m. ET
• Ongoing, new episodes weekly: In Treatment (Sundays and Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET – two episodes each night – Crave's listings indicate that "episodes 15-24" will be released on demand on June 14);
• Weekly topical programming (new episodes air "live" on the HBO linear channel and are posted on-demand the next day): Pause with Sam Jay (Fridays at 9:00 p.m. ET through June 25); Real Time with Bill Maher (Fridays at 10:00 p.m. ET); Axios (Sundays at 6:00 p.m. ET through June 20); Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Sundays at 11:00 p.m. ET)

HBO Max original programming (in Movies + HBO tier)

• Genera+ion (season 1 continued) – episodes 9-11 released on Thursday, June 17, episodes 12-13 released on Thursday, June 24
• Veneno (Spanish limited series about trans personality La Veneno) – released in full on Thursday, June 24
• Ongoing, new episodes weekly: Legendary and Hacks (both series have two new episodes each Thursday through June 10)

Starz

Starz Canada arrivals are including in the Crave listings, but we list them separately here since it's also possible to subscribe to Starz separately from Crave, including through Amazon and Apple.

Starz original series

• Blindspotting (dramedy starring Jasmine Cephas Jones and Rafael Casal) – Sundays starting June 13
• Ongoing, new episodes weekly: Step Up: High Water (Fridays), Run the World (Sundays), The Girlfriend Experience (Sundays through June 20)

New release movies

• Fatale (2020 thriller starring Hillary Swank) – June 18; will likely also be available on Crave + Movies + HBO within the next few months

Notable library programming

• The Twilight Saga (all five films) – June 4
• Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, and Little Fockers – June 18
• First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part Ⅱ, and Rambo Ⅲ – June 18

CBC Gem

Updated on May 31. Full June listings for CBC Gem are now available on the CBC's press site.

Notable first-run (or recent) licensed series

• Anne+ (Dutch coming-of-age drama; also available on Topic) – June 1
• Call the Midwife (season 7 of the British historical drama series; see also BritBox listings) – June 4
• DNA (Danish / French drama series) – June 4
• This Close (season 2 of the Super Deluxe comedy series starring Shoshannah Stern and Joshua Feldman; Canadian premiere) – June 4
• Bump (Australian dramedy starring Claudia Karvan) – June 18

Notable first-run (or recent) movies, documentaries and specials

• One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk (2019 Canadian drama film) – available now, as of May 31 – one of several new documentaries in the new National Indigenous History Month collection
• Deep in Vogue (2020 documentary about voguing in England) – available now, as of May 31 – one of several new documentaries in the new Pride collection
• Japan with Sue Perkins (two-part 2019 BBC documentary hosted by the former Great British Bake-Off co-host) – June 25

Prime Video

Updated on May 31. June listings had been sent to some media outlets, but not WCIW, on May 31, so we are relying on others' posts for now.

Notable original programming

• Dom (Brazilian drama series) – June 4
• When Eagles Dare: Crystal Palace F.C. (sports docuseries) – June 4
• Flack (season 2 of the British comedy starring Anna Paquin) – June 11
• Bosch (season 7 – final season) – June 25 (also available on Crave on June 26)

New release movies

• Boss Level (2021 sci-fi film starring Frank Grillo, via VVS) – June 4
• Jungleland (2020 drama starring Charlie Hunnam) – June 10
• Monster Hunter (2021 action film starring Milla Jovovich, via Sony) – June 17
• Breaking News in Yuba County (2021 dramedy starring Allison Janney, via VVS) – June 24

Notable library movies and series

• Men in Black Ⅰ–Ⅲ – June 1
• Charmed (seasons 1-2 (or 3?) – we assume this is the 2018 reboot series, seasons previously aired on W Network) – June 3

Notable new programming on other channels and services

• Showcase: We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4 UK series distributed by NBCU, available in the U.S. on Peacock) – Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET (two episodes per week) starting June 9; Frayed (ABC Australia / Sky UK series distributed by NBCU, available in the U.S. on HBO Max) – Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET starting June 9
• W Network: Girls5Eva (Peacock comedy series) – Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET (two episodes per week) starting June 3
• FXX: Dave (season 2) – Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET starting June 16
• AMC: Kevin Can F**k Himself [sic] (dark comedy starring Annie Murphy) – Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET starting June 20
• CTV: numerous summer game shows and reality series including Lego Masters and Mental Samurai (June 1), The Celebrity Dating Game (June 14), and Making It (June 24)
• Hollywood Suite: Equal (HBO Max docuseries) – Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET starting June 7
• BritBox: The Syndicate: Double or Nothing (drama series) – Tuesdays starting June 1; Murder, Mystery and My Family (season 4) / Case Closed? (season 2) – June 8; Intruder (Channel 5 miniseries) – June 15; Inside No. 9 (dark comedy anthology, season 6) – June 22; Call the Midwife (seasons 1-9) –June 25
• Super Channel: My Misdiagnosis (Canadian medical mystery docuseries) – Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET starting June 2 on SC Fuse, all episodes available on demand immediately
• T+E: Web of Darkness (sci-fi / horror anthology series) – Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET starting June 8
• Smithsonian Channel: Searching for Secrets (city history travel series) – Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET starting June 6

Other programming news

• Bell Media has acquired Canadian broadcast rights to Leverage: Redemption, a spin-off of the 2008–12 TNT drama series Leverage, from producers Electric Entertainment which originally aired on Super Channel in Canada (it currently appears that seasons 1 and 2, and those two seasons only, are available for subscriber streaming on Prime Video in Canada; all five are available for purchase on Apple TV and the like).
  
  The spin-off series debuts in the U.S. on Amazon's ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV on July 9. It's not yet clear when Bell will air the series in Canada, or for that matter whether it will air on Crave, CTV Drama, or another of its services.
  
• Hollywood Suite has picked up Canadian linear and on-demand rights to Line of Duty, which will evidently co-exist with the streaming rights already held in North America by BritBox. Season 6, which is currently being released weekly on BritBox, will also air on Hollywood Suite starting in October.
   
  Super Channel previously held premiere rights to Line of Duty in Canada, and perhaps adding to the confusion, based on its website, it will continue to have non-exclusive rights to the first five seasons until December 2022 (though this could always change). The series was commissioned by the BBC but is produced by World Productions, with international distribution initially handled by the now-defunct Kew Global Media, and now by World's new parent company ITV Studios.
   
• My Misdiagnosis, noted above in June programming, is just one of four unscripted series that Super Channel recently announced it had acquired from Winnipeg's Farpoint Films. The others – Disaster Déjà Vu, The Day My Job Tried to Kill Me, and Heartland Homicide – will premiere later in 2021 and into 2022.
   
• Corus has announced it has commissioned or renewed 35 Canadian series for its specialty channels, and has also ordered a third season of Departure and a second season of Family Law even before the previous seasons have aired (apparently both pencilled in for this fall on Global).
   
• Monday edit: We also meant to mention that Roku has secured pay-1 rights, in both the U.S. and Canada, to 2021 films distributed by Saban Films, which will stream about 90 days after theatrical release on the ad-supported Roku Channel service. The Roku Channel launched in Canada only within the past year or so, and unlike the U.S. version (which also has web and mobile app access) in Canada it appears to be currently exclusive to Roku-powered streaming devices and smart TVs.

Other notes

• As you may have heard, Amazon has struck a deal to buy MGM Holdings, parent of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists. This likely means that Prime Video will eventually get first-window streaming rights to MGM films (currently held in Canada by Crave), not to mention library streaming rights to MGM-controlled franchises like James Bond, Rocky, Legally Blonde and the like.
  
  In the long run, it seems like it'll be a big deal. However, it'll take time to reach full effect, and some of the effects that have been speculated have been (slightly) overstated. A few important things to keep in mind in the meanwhile: One, the deal still has to work through regulatory approvals, which will take time (even though, to our eyes, it seems unlikely it'd be blocked). Two, if and when it goes through, existing contracts will stay in force for a period of time (so, for example, the James Bond film library will not immediately disappear from Crave once the merger is complete, unless that lines up with when the existing contract expires anyway).
  
  Three, Amazon is only getting the rights to films that were produced by MGM after May 1986, as well as most of the United Artists catalogue. Following Ted Turner's short-lived stint as MGM owner in 1986, rights to MGM's pre-1986 films – like The Wizard of Oz or Singin' in the Rain – were retained by Turner Entertainment, which later became part of WarnerMedia. To be clear, this means that WarnerMedia (and soon, WarnerDiscovery or whatever it's named) owns the rights to these films, and their associated IP, in perpetuity. So if there ever ends up being a gritty TV series reboot of, say, 2001: A Space Odyssey, it'd come from Warner, not Amazon.

Recent updates on WCIW

Besides posting our first What's Next newsletter for paid subscribers, the only major update this past week was to our page about Friends to reflect the release of Friends: The Reunion on Crave.

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