CORUS ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES ITS 2023/2024 LINEUP OF STANDOUT SERIES DEBUTING ACROSS ITS SPECIALTY PORTFOLIO AND STREAMING PLATFORMS

CORUS ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES ITS 2023/2024 LINEUP OF STANDOUT SERIES DEBUTING ACROSS ITS SPECIALTY PORTFOLIO AND STREAMING PLATFORMS

Totally Buzzworthy Peacock Scripted Originals Featuring High-Profile Series Casts Premiere Across Corus’ Specialty Drama Networks Including Ted with Seth MacFarlane Reprising His Iconic Voice Role, Based on a True Story Starring Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina, Apples Never Fall Featuring Annette Bening, Sam Neill, Jake Lacy, and Alison Brie, and The Tattooist of Auschwitz Starring Harvey Keitel

Corus Boasts A Star-Studded Lineup of Unscripted and Lifestyle Series, Including Guy Fieri’s Best Bite in Town, Fixer Upper: The Hotel with Chip and Joanna Gaines, The Real Housewives of New York City, The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy, The Unbelievable with Dan Aykroyd (wt), Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss and Beyond Skinwalker Ranch

As the Exclusive Home for Hallmark Channel in Canada, W Network Continues to Deliver Year-Round Heartwarming Entertainment to Its Massive Fanbase Through Must-See Seasonal Programming Stunts

Corus’ Kids Networks Provide Best-in-Class Family Entertainment with New Series Tiny Toons Looniversity, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, and Jessica’s Big Little World

Corus’ Full 2023/2024 Offering Will Also be Available to Stream Live and On-Demand on STACKTV

Clockwise: Based on a True Story, The Real Housewives of New York City, Jessica’s Big Little World, Fixer Upper: The Hotel

Additional photography and complete series synopsis can be found here

For Immediate Release

TORONTO, June 7, 2023 – Today, Corus Entertainment announced its 2023/24 lineup of premium specialty programming featuring sought-after scripted series with the biggest stars, rich and riveting lifestyle content, buzzed-about reality titles, and best-in-class family-friendly entertainment. Debuting across Corus’ powerful portfolio of networks and streaming platforms, this newly acquired content complements the previously announced slate of new and returning Canadian original series for its specialty networks.

“Through our deep partnerships with the world’s biggest networks and brands, Corus continues to deliver exclusive premium content, the most anticipated new series, and proven returning hits to our audiences across our specialty networks and streaming platforms,” said Troy Reeb, Executive Vice President, Broadcast Networks, Corus Entertainment. “We’re thrilled to provide even more options to view our massive inventory of ever-growing blockbuster content, including on our flagship streaming platform STACKTV. Viewers will never miss a moment whether watching live TV or through the thousands of hours of on-demand shows across all genres, including lifestyle, reality, kids, drama, comedy and news.”

Corus Entertainment presents its 2023/24 slate of new and returning series across its specialty networks below. For more details on all specialty programming, please click here.

SCRIPTED DRAMA & ADULT COMEDY

Corus’ long-term partnership with NBCUniversal as the exclusive partner of Peacock Original programming in English Canada will deliver the strongest year of originals yet, with buzzworthy new and returning series packed with major star talent. Coming to Corus’ drama networks, W Network or Showcase, the following much-anticipated series will also be available to stream live and on-demand on STACKTV with full series and long-term stacking rights. More information and network details for these series will be announced as the broadcast season progresses.

A few of the highly anticipated series that are set to premiere across Corus’ specialty drama networks includes Ted, the live-action comedy series based on the blockbuster film franchise, with Seth MacFarlane set to reprise the voice of the iconic and lovable foul-mouthed teddy bear. In the series set in 1993, Ted the bear’s moment of fame has passed, leaving him living with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett, who lives in a working-class Boston home with his parents and cousin. Based on a True Story, a dark comedic thriller starring Emmy® Award nominee Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina, follows a realtor, a former tennis star and a plumber who seize a unique opportunity to capitalize on America’s obsession with true crime. Limited drama series Apples Never Fall, based on Liane Moriarty’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel, stars four-time Academy Award® nominee Annette Bening, Emmy® Award nominee Sam Neill, Emmy® and SAG® Award nominee Jake Lacy, and  SAG® Award winner and two-time Golden Globe® nominee Alison Brie, centres on the Delaneys, who from the outside appear to be an enviably contented family, but after their mother, Joy, disappears, her children are forced to re-examine their parents’ marriage and their family history with fresh eyes. Academy Award® nominee Harvey Keitel stars in The Tattooist of Auschwitz, an adaptation of the globally best-selling book, it is the remarkable true story of how two young prisoners fell in love and survived the unimaginable trauma of Auschwitz and its aftermath.

On Top 10 specialty network* Showcase, a new season of the #1 series on STACKTV**, Dr. Death returns for a second season starring Edgar Ramirez, Mandy Moore, Judy Reyes, Annika Boras, Jack Davenport, Sandra Andreis and Rita Volk featuring the “Miracle Man” storyline based on the most recent third season of the hit Wondery podcast. The reign of Bel-Air, the #1 scripted program on STACKTV***, continues as the modern-day reimagining of the iconic culture-defining ’90s sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, returns for Season 3. Also, returning for a third season is the Don Mancini-produced fan-favourite horror drama Chucky. Plus, new seasons of hit returning series including Killing It led by comedic legend Craig Robinson and action thriller The Lazarus Project return on Showcase. Over on Top 5 specialty channel* W Network, Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin and critically acclaimed music-infused comedy series, We Are Lady Parts returns for an encore second season and Five Bedrooms is back for Season 4.

Top 10 specialty network against M18-34*, Adult Swim, caters to its dedicated fanbase by delivering distinctive original animation. This fall, Rick and Morty fans can look forward to Rick and Morty: The Anime from director Takashi Sano based on the Emmy®-winning series. Also coming this fall, the Venture Bros. are back in an all-new movie picking up after the events from the shocking Season 7 finale in The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart.  

HALLMARK CHANNEL ON W NETWORK

Through Corus’ longstanding partnership with Hallmark Channel, W Network is the exclusive Canadian home to Hallmark Channel movies and seasonal stunts, garnering massive and engaged audiences that come to celebrate the special times of the year with heartwarming programming. As Canada’s holiday headquarters, the most anticipated annual seasonal stunt, Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas, continuously places W Network as the #1 entertainment specialty station among A25-54 and F25-54 during the programming event****.

Following its smash debut on W Network last winter, Hallmark Channel’s multigenerational family drama The Way Home starring Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh and Sadie Laflamme-Snow will return for Season 2.

UNSCRIPTED AND REALITY

From inspiring food stories to high-stakes culinary competitions, Top 10 specialty network* Food Network Canada is the experiential and social epicenter of food entertainment featuring iconic hosts and industry heavy-hitters. With mouth-watering new and returning shows this fall, Food Network Canada feeds fans more of what they love. Guy Fieri delivers Best Bite in Town, an all-new competition travelogue where Guy will appoint some of his chef friends to hit the road visiting different cities each week, competing to find the very best bite in town. Guy also offers up a new season of Top 10 specialty entertainment program******* Tournament of Champions – the sudden-death, bracket-style competition that keeps competitors on their toes and the audience on the edge of their seat. Inspired by his Peruvian and Italian roots and his love of international travel, Franco Noriega dishes up simple, colourful, crowd-pleasing plates for everyone to enjoy in Hot Dish with Franco. Food Network Canada’s must-see holiday programming returns with fan-favourite series including Christmas Cookie Challenge, Holiday Wars, Holiday Baking Championship, Beat Bobby Flay: Holiday Throwdown, and all-new competition series, The Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown (wt), a Christmas-themed sweets showdown featuring The Elf on the Shelf’s Scout Elves challenging some of the best sweets makers from across the country to create the most magical and unexpected holiday creations ever seen.

Top 5 specialty network* HGTV Canada celebrates the spirit of home through inspiring design, renovation and real estate shows. Moving in this fall is a new season of Top 10 specialty entertainment series****** Ugliest House in America with comedian Retta travelling across the country to tour properties nominated by their owners as the ugliest home around and surprising the worst of the worst with a jaw-dropping $150,000 renovation by designer Alison Victoria. Flip the Strip follows the stars of the sizzling Las Vegas stage show, Australia’s Thunder From Down Under, who will work with celebrated interior designer Kelly Stone to make clients’ home design dreams a reality. Plus, a new season of Why The Heck Did I Buy This House led by Season 24 Survivor winner Kim Wolfe returns to the network.

Magnolia Network Canada shares a collection of inspiring stories featuring some of the most talented makers, artisans, chefs, designers, and entrepreneurs across home and design, food and gardening, the arts, and more. This fall, network stewards Chip and Joanna Gaines take on their next project in Fixer Upper: The Hotel with the renovation and transformation of a historic landmark into a boutique hotel located in Waco, Texas. Design Down Under follows husband and wife duo, Richie Morris and Georgia Ezra, as they create one-of-a-kind, modern designs and bespoke spaces for their clients in Melbourne, Australia while juggling their thriving businesses and family of four.

The HISTORY® Channel, a Top 10 specialty network* and destination for exploring stories of human endeavour, achievement and progress through award-winning series, documentaries, and specials, adds new awe-inspiring series and returning fan-favourites to its lineup. The Unbelievable with Dan Aykroyd (wt) hosted by award-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Dan Aykroyd will reveal the ‘who?’, ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ surrounding some of human history’s most extraordinary and astonishing tales. Beyond Skinwalker Ranch, a companion series of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, explores other sites of unusual activity and “high strangeness” phenomena in an effort to discover if the activity documented on Skinwalker Ranch is not only real, but pervasive. Plus, top-performing series, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch and Alone return for highly-anticipated new seasons.

Telling compelling stories through smart, innovative, adventurous and thought-provoking programming, National Geographic welcomes Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, based on Eric Weiner’s New York Times bestselling book, The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World. In the new series from Peacock, Rainn Wilson will explore some of the happiest and least happy places on earth from Iceland to Bulgaria to Ghana, and in a profound, humorous, and experiential way that unpacks the science of happiness.

Slice has reality TV fans covered as the go-to spot for beloved franchises. Emmy®-nominated Below Deck Mediterranean makes a splash with Season 8 as the crew embarks on an exciting new charter season and Top 10 specialty entertainment program****** Below Deck Down Under sets sail for Season 2. Fans get ready to take a fresh bite out of the Big Apple with Season 14 of The Real Housewives of New York City as Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank and Brynn Whitfield take over the city that never sleeps by storm. Also, a fourth season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City returns, as the women navigate a society fueled by religion, beauty, wealth and perfection. Later this year, Slice debuts the fourth season of hit spinoff series The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip with the second installment of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Ex-Wives Club, which will take former housewives Vicki Gunvalson, Gretchen Rossi, Brandi Glanville, Camille Grammar Meyer, Alex McCord, Carolyn Manzo, Eva Marcille and Phaedra Parks on an unforgettable trip to Marrakech, Morocco. On a later date, the buzzed-about The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy from Peacock will be the fifth season of the series which reunites cultural icons Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Luann de Lesseps, Dorinda Medley, Sonja Morgan, Ramona Singer and Kristen Taekman as they jet off to beautiful Saint Barthélemy for an epic adventure of a lifetime.

KIDS 

Corus’ Kids Networks own four of the Top five English Kids specialty stations, accounting for nearly ninety per cent of all kids specialty viewing*****. Cartoon Network delivers laugh-out-loud comedy, unexpected surprises and edge-of-your-seat action through the best in animated series and hit blockbuster movies. Enrolling this fall, Tiny Toons Looniversity is an upcoming reboot of the Emmy^â Award-winning Tiny Toon Adventures that will follow Babs, Buster Bunny and the rest of the gang and their comedic ambitions all the way to ACME Looniversity, the esteemed institution of higher hijinks learning, where young dreamers become professional toons. Also arriving in time for fall, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake is a spin-off of Adventure Time which follows Finn and Jake’s gender-swapped versions of their characters, Fionna the Human and Cake the Cat, who embark on a multiverse-hopping adventure and journey of self-discovery. Animated movie Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part One, follows Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, Green Lantern, and Vixen who are surprised to find that not only have they materialized on a strange world called Remnant, but they’ve also been transformed into teenagers! Also seasonal feature film, Tom and Jerry in Snowman’s Land, centres on Jerry and his nephew, Tuffy, who make a snow mouse that miraculously comes to life. Tiny Toons Looniversity, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, and Tom and Jerry in Snowman’s Land will all be available to stream on TELETOON+.

This fall, Treehouse, a network devoted to children from breakfast to bedtime and offering a strong balance of educational, imaginative and entertaining programs in a safe place trusted by parents. In Jessica’s Big Little World, a spin-off of the Emmy®, GLAAD, and NAACP Image Award-nominated Cartoon Network original Craig of the Creek, the Creek’s favourite resilient little sister, Jessica, navigates her way through a world where everything seems much bigger than she is. With the help of her friends, imaginary and real, Jessica sets off to take on the world, even if she still does suck her thumb…sometimes.  Rounding out the schedule, iconic children’s entertainment group The Wiggles bring a fourth season of Ready, Steady, Wiggle! to the network. Season 4 will be the first to feature the new Yellow Wiggle, Tsehay, as well as introducing the full newly expanded cast of eight Wiggles, two for each colour. Hamsters of Hamsterdale and Jessica’s Big Little World will all be available to stream on TELETOON+.

Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD provide entertainment for the whole family with exclusive programming airing day and date with the U.S., including fan-favourite series Big City Greens coming back to the network with Season 4. Fans can also watch their favourite Disney Branded Television characters as they host a showcase to celebrate their Chibi Tiny Tales adventures in Chibiverse, Season 2! In addition, Disney Channel’s The Naughty Nine is a holiday heist original movie which follows fifth grader and troublemaker Andy, who pulls together a crack team of fellow “naughty listers” to execute an elaborate heist to get the presents he and the others feel they deserve. 

Sources:

*Numeris PPM Data, Total Canada, Fall’22 (Aug 29/22 – Jan 1/23), A25-54 unless otherwise noted, AMA(000), CDN SPEC COM ENG, M-Su 2a-2a
**Statement is based on Dr.Death vs. other programs on STACKTV during Sept 12, 2021 to Oct. 30, 2021 (Source: Amazon via Power BI Dashboard)
***Statement is based on Bel-Air vs. other programs on STACKTV during March 19, 2023 to May 13, 2023 (Source: Amazon via Power BI Dashboard)
****Numeris PPM Data, Total Canada, Hallmark Channel’s Countdown To Christmas (10/21/2022 to 1/1/2023), confirmed data, A25-54/F25-54, AMA(000), CDN SPEC COM ENG excluding sports, Mo-Su 2a-2a
*****Numeris PPM Data, Aug 29/22 – Apr 30/23, confirmed until Apr 23, Total Canada, K2-11, AMA(000), Kids Eng Specialty stations, M-Su 2a-2a//Share based on Corus Kids Eng % of Total Eng Kids Stations
******Numeris PPM Data, SM’22 (May 30 – Aug 28/22) 3+ airings, A25-54, AMA(000), Total Canada, CDN SPEC COM ENG excluding sports
*******Numeris PPM Data, SP’23 STD (Jan 2 – Apr 30/23) confirmed data, 3+ airings, A25-54, AMA(000), Total Canada, CDN SPEC COM ENG excluding sports

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About Corus Entertainment Inc.
Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B) is a leading media and content company that develops and delivers high quality brands and content across platforms for audiences around the world. Engaging audiences since 1999, the company’s portfolio of multimedia offerings encompass 33 specialty television services, 39 radio stations, 15 conventional television stations, digital and streaming services, animation software, technology and media services. Corus is an internationally-renowned content creator and distributor through Nelvana, a world class animation studio expert in all formats and Corus Studios, a globally recognized producer of hit scripted and unscripted content. The company also owns full-service social digital agency so.da, lifestyle entertainment company Kin Canada, leading 2D animation software supplier Toon Boom and children’s book publishing house, Kids Can Press. Corus’ roster of premium brands includes Global Television, W Network, HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, Magnolia Network Canada, The HISTORY® Channel, Showcase, Adult Swim, National Geographic, Disney Channel Canada, YTV, Global News, Globalnews.ca, Q107, Country 105, and CFOX, along with streaming platforms STACKTV, TELETOON+, the Global TV App and Curiouscast. Corus is the domestic advertising representative and an original content partner for Pluto TV, a Paramount Company, which is the leading free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service. For more information visit www.corusent.com.

About STACKTV
STACKTV is Corus Entertainment’s premium multi-channel television streaming service that offers thousands of hours of exclusive hit content from 13 of Canada’s top TV networks, all on one platform. All series, movies and specials that air on Global Television, Food Network Canada, HGTV Canada, W Network, The HISTORY® Channel, Adult Swim, Slice, Showcase, National Geographic, Lifetime, TELETOON, Treehouse and YTV are available to stream on STACKTV live and on demand with new content added daily. STACKTV is available via Amazon Prime Video Channels, Rogers Ignite TV and Ignite SmartStream. For more information, visit stacktv.ca.

For more information, please contact: 

Vanessa Obeng
Publicity Manager, Drama, Kids, Nelvana & STACKTV
Corus Entertainment
416.479.6618
vanessa.obeng@corusent.com

Julie MacFarlane
Publicity Manager, Lifestyle Content
Corus Entertainment
416.860.4876
julie.macfarlane@corusent.com