#FIRSTLOOK: SHOWCASE ANNOUNCE UPCOMING PROGRAMMING SLATE FOR WINTER 2022/2023

Corus Entertainment’s top 10 specialty network*, Showcase has announced today its winter schedule of new buzzworthy, compelling dramas and returning seasons of fan favourite series, all available to stream live and on demand with STACKTV.

Kicking off Showcase’s winter slate is fish out of water drama series Irreverent premiering on Sunday, January 8 at 9 p.m. ET. Irreverent follows a criminal mediator from Chicago who is forced to flee his life, and everything he knows, and hide out in a small Australian reef community in Far North Queensland, posing as the new church Reverend. “Reverend Mackenzie Boyd” (not his real name) has made a mess so bad, he can never go home, but he’s going to need all his considerable street smarts to pull off posing as clergy – something he doesn’t know the first thing about. If he slips up, he’s dead, and after a lifetime of crime, doing good works isn’t something that comes naturally. But in this small beach town, with no phone or internet, he finds a community filled with people desperate for connection and crying out for a leader. What at first seems like a perfect hiding place from the Chicago mob quickly becomes Mack’s home. But as he reluctantly settles into his new life, the Chicago mob commences the hunt. The only way he’ll be able to stay off their radar will be to maintain the illusion that he is a Reverend. To do that though, Mack will have to appear to care. Trouble for Mack is, after all that pretending, it may just become a little bit real. Produced by Matchbox Pictures, which is a part of Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group, the series stars Colin Donnell, PJ Byrne, Kylie Bracknell, Briallen Clarke, Tegan Stimson, Ed Oxenbould, Wayne Blair, Russell Dykstra, Calen Tassone, and Jason Wilder.

Also joining the lineup is The Calling, a new drama from Emmy Award®-winning executive producer David E. Kelley, Academy Award®-winning director Barry Levinson, and co-composers Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro, which debuts on Monday, January 16 at 9 p.m. ET. The series tells the story of NYPD Detective Avraham Avraham (Jeff Wilbusch), whose belief in mankind is his superpower when it comes to uncovering the truth. Guided by a deep sense of spirituality and religious principles, Avraham is left to question his own humanity when a seemingly routine investigation turns upside down. The Calling also stars Juliana Canfield, Karen Robinson and Michael Mosley. The series is produced by Keshet Studios, the U.S. production arm of global content producers and distributor Keshet International, and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

The timely and provocative cyber thriller The Undeclared War, which was directed and co-written by seven-time BAFTA winner Peter Kosminksy and stars Academy Award® winner Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg, Adrian Lester, Alex Jennings, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, and Hannah Khalique-Brown, premieres Thursday, January 19 at 9 p.m. ET. Set in 2024, The Undeclared War tracks a leading team of analysts buried in the heart of GCHQ, secretly working to ward off a series of cyber-attacks on the UK in the run up to a general election. When a routine stress test of internet infrastructure goes awry, 21-year-old GCHQ intern Saara Parvin (Khalique-Brown) suddenly finds herself operating on the invisible frontier of high-stakes cyber warfare. In a thrilling cat and mouse game, Saara and the team at GCHQ must try to stay one step ahead and anticipate their opponents’ every hidden move. The clock is ticking as a battle with high stakes and unpredictable enemies takes place entirely online, with very real consequences.  But how do you win a war most of the public don’t know you’re fighting? The series is co-produced by Playground and Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Returning to the network, critically acclaimed drama series All American is back for Season 5 on Monday, January 2 at 10 p.m. ET, and finds Spencer and his friends thriving as young adults on the cusp of real adulthood. This season brings its fair share of sexy, messy love lives, hard lessons learned on and off the field, fun college drama, and parties galore. But even when life gets difficult for our crew, they will always find a way to rise from the ashes.

DC origin series Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler picks up again for Season 3 on Wednesday, January 11 at 9 p.m. ET. The new season of this psychological thriller begins after a five-year time jump: The civil war is over, and a cultural revolution has changed the world for better or worse – ushering in a new age of superheroes and supervillains.

Following the success of Season 1, last Spring’s #1 new specialty drama** Bel-Air will return for Season 2 in 2023. Produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Westbrook Studios, Bel-Air imagines the beloved ’90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air through a new, dramatic take on Will’s complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air. The second season of Bel-Air picks up with Will at a crossroads in his life as a new figure comes into his life who challenges what he’s learned in Bel-Air and competes for control of his influence. He juggles this while navigating his home life with the Banks family and trying to rebuild the trust that was broken at the end of last season. We’ll also see Hilary evolve as she becomes more of a boss in her influencer world and how that spills into her relationship with Jazz, as well as highlight the relatable struggles around Viv and Phil balancing marriage and family while trying to forge their own career paths and reconnect to the things that are important to them.