This spring, W Network, a Corus Entertainment top 10 specialty network*, is blooming with freshly picked new series featuring star-studded performances, humour and heart. This season, W Network ushers in new comedies such as Laid and Small Town, Big Story as well as Hallmark’s family drama The Chicken Sisters and Hallmark’s unscripted series Small Town Setup. All series are available to stream on STACKTV.
First to spring onto the schedule is Peacock’s twisted romantic comedy, Laid, starring Academy Award®-nominee Stephanie Hsu and Zosia Mamet. Premiering on Monday, March 24 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, a woman (Hsu) finds out her former lovers are dying in unusual ways and must go back through her sex timeline to confront her past in order to move forward. Laid is a dark rom-com where the answer to “why can’t I find love, is there something wrong with me?” is a resounding “Yes. There is. The problem is definitely you.”
Up next is the dramatic comedy Small Town, Big Story premiering Thursday, March 27 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Created and directed by Emmy® Award winner Chris O’Dowd (Moone Boy), the series stars Emmy® nominee Christina Hendricks (Good Girls, Mad Men) and BAFTA award-winner Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon, The World’s End), and looks at the untold chaos caused when a big budget Hollywood production rolls into a small, rural Irish town. Wendy Patterson (Hendricks) is a local girl who found success as a TV producer in Los Angeles, returns to her hometown in Ireland after over 20 years, having left under something of a cloud. Back in the chaotic microcosm of Drumbán, this time with a film crew in tow, Wendy is caught in between her past and her epic new production. Séamus Proctor (Considine) is the local doctor and pillar of the community. He has a neat and well-ordered life, or at least he thinks he does. Soon, he will find himself in the eye of a storm as a celluloid circus descends on the town, threatening to shine a spotlight on a secret he’s been harbouring for ages.
On Sunday, March 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, W Network serves up new Hallmark series, The Chicken Sisters, based on the New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club selection of the same name by KJ Dell’Antonia. Created for television and executive produced by Annie Mebane (Shrinking, Atypical, The Goldbergs), the eight-episode series is a family drama dipped in southern charm and served up with a saucy side of romance. The setting is the fictional town of Merinac, where a generations-old rift between dueling fried chicken restaurants – Mimi’s and Frannie’s – has left the founders’ families fractured and the locals taking sides. When the popular cooking competition show Ultimate Kitchen Clash comes to town, it could be the recipe for ending this feud once and for all. But things are fixing to heat up both inside and outside of the kitchen as the reality show spotlight causes sparks to fly as secrets are spilled and feathers get ruffled. The series boasts an impressive cast, including Schuyler Fisk (Sam & Kate), Genevieve Angelson (The Handmaid’s Tale), Lea Thompson (Back to the Future) and Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me!) as the women at the heart of the restaurant rivalry. James Kot (Virgin River), Rukiya Bernard (Yellowjackets), Ektor Rivera (Groundswell) and Jake Foy (Ride) round out the supporting cast. Emmy® Award-winning actress Margo Martindale (Justified) lends her voice as the nearly omniscient narrator, who serves up history and offers country fried context the way only the best town gossip can.
Following the premiere of The Chicken Sisters on March 30, Small Town Setup debuting at 9 p.m. ET/PT, explores the unique charm of small-town America and its welcoming community in this heartwarming unscripted, romantic comedy docu-style dating series, hosted by Ashley Williams. In each episode, viewers meet different hometown parents with a big problem – their successful adult child is living far away in a big city – and is still single. The couple gathers their neighbours and asks for help to find a match for them to go out with. Now, the entire community is on the hunt to find the best three daters for the “city single” to go on dates with, in the hope that they will fall in love, move back home and live happily ever after.
This spring will also see the Season 3 finale of the multi-generational family drama and top 5 specialty entertainment program** The Way Home on Sunday, March 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and the Season 2 finale of the dark comedic thriller Based on a True Story on Monday, March 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
W Network can be streamed via STACKTV, available on Amazon Prime Video Channels, Bell Fibe TV app, Fubo, Rogers Ignite TV and Ignite Streaming. The network is also available through all major TV distributors, including: Shaw, Shaw Direct, Rogers, Bell, Videotron, Telus, Cogeco, Eastlink and SaskTel.
*Source: Numeris PPM Data, Total Canada, FL’24 (Aug 26 – Dec29/24), SP’25 STD (Dec 30/24 – Feb 9/25) confirmed to Feb 2/25, A25-54, AMA(000), CDN SPEC COM ENG, M-Su 2a-2a
**Source: Numeris PPM Data, Total Canada, SP’24 (Jan 1 – May 26/24), 3+ airings, SP’25 STD (Dec 30/24 – Feb 9/25) 2+ airings, confirmed to Feb 2/25, CDN SPEC COM ENG excluding sports
