This Week in WCIW #67

Welcome to the May 16, 2022, 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.

In this edition, where (and when) to stream The Lost City and British series Trigger Point, plus news about some programs on the broadcast networks that won't be returning in the fall.

Programming news

• The American broadcast networks announced a number of decisions over the past couple of weeks about new series to order, and current series to renew or cancel, for the upcoming fall season, with schedule announcements expected this coming week. Those decisions, in turn will impact the programming decisions that Canadian broadcast networks, and some other channels, will make in the subsequent few weeks.
  
  We won't duplicate the work of other sites that already provide full listings of all the renewed and cancelled shows, but to summarize, among the "on-the-bubble" American series that were cancelled and will not return next season include: ABC's Queens (aired in Canada on CTV); CBS' B Positive (CTV), Good Sam (Global), Magnum P.I. (CTV), and United States of Al (Global); Fox's Pivoting (CTV); NBC's The Endgame, Kenan, and Mr. Mayor (all on Citytv); and numerous CW series including Charmed (W Network), Legacies (Showcase), Legends of Tomorrow (CTV Sci-Fi), and Naomi (Showcase).
   
• Paramount Pictures' The Lost City with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, which was released in theatres on March 25, became available to stream on Paramount+ this past Tuesday, May 10, in multiple countries including Canada.
   
  Between this and other recent films like Scream, it seems that most Paramount films going forward will have only about 45 days of exclusivity before streaming on Paramount+ in Canada, though it appears there will be occasional exceptions with longer windows, such as for the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick.
   
• CBC has acquired Canadian rights to British crime thriller series Trigger Point, which debuted on ITV in the UK earlier this year but is distributed by All3Media. No Canadian airdate has yet been announced, but the announcement suggests it will air on CBC TV, not just Gem. It will be available on Peacock in the U.S. starting on July 8.
  
  Correction: We somehow overlooked that Trigger Point was in fact already announced as being part of CBC Gem's May programming lineup (we even mentioned it in our own May listings). The full season became available to Gem Premium subscribers on May 13, with a slower rollout for free users.
   
• Hollywood Suite continues its move into international series with six-part German true-crime dramatization Faking Hitler, about the 1980s forgery of World War Ⅱ diaries. The series, in German with English subtitles, will be available in full on demand on June 1, also airing on linear TV Thursday nights starting June 9.
   
• Very soon after sending out last week's newsletter, we got word that FX's Under the Banner of Heaven would debut on Disney+ Canada on June 8. It came out quickly enough that we decided it was worth updating the web version of the newsletter, but if you didn't come across that, now you know.

Mailbag

Here's some of the reader questions we've received recently by email (hello@wherecaniwatch.ca) or Twitter (@wherewatchtv). 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.

Sylvain: Why This Is Us (seasons 1 to 3) and Abbott Elementary still not available on Disney+ Canada; you said they were supposed to be released on Wednesday, May 11th? And why isn't King of the Hill available considering that almost all of Fox's past and present cartoon series are there?

Answer: We haven't come across answers for either question, and unfortunately we haven't had luck in the past connecting with whichever PR team is responsible for Disney+ in Canada.

However, plans do change from time to time, and that may have been what happened with the first two shows. Perhaps there was a contractual issue that came up, perhaps Disney has decided it'll be better to release them at a later date, or perhaps there was an error including them in the Canadian listings in the first place.

As for King of the Hill, while again there could be some contractual issue, that does seem less likely considering the series is owned by Disney through 20th TV, and is streaming in the U.S. on Hulu. Perhaps they're waiting to get rights to the Quebec dub (which transposes the setting from Texas to small-town Quebec) for the benefit of French-language viewers. If not that, it would probably just be up to them to decide the right time to release it – as we've seen in recent months, older series from the ABC / 20th catalogues are continuing to trickle out monthly on Disney+, so it may be intentional.

Update: We've been reminded by a reader (thanks James!) that past seasons of This is Us remain on Netflix in Canada; the most recent season is still available on-demand via CTV. Similarly, the first season of Abbott Elementary is available for now on the Global app and StackTV, but as a Disney-distributed series we are expecting past seasons to become available on Disney+ sooner or later. [Updated again: Season 1 of Abbott Elementary is now available on Disney+ in Canada, while still remaining available on the Global app / StackTV, though the latter includes a notice that it will be leaving on May 27.]

Sylvain's full question did mention that King of the Hill is currently airing as well on Corus' Adult Swim Canada, but there are no on-demand episodes on the Global app or StackTV.

Recent updates on WCIW

The only significant update on the site this week was a new post about the aforementioned Under the Banner of Heaven.

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