The CW combines broadcast-network programming through local affiliates with a separate US website and app catalogue. A local on-air schedule and an available streaming episode are related, but they are not the same listing.
Local stations carry the broadcast
The CW's own broadcast-support guidance uses a station finder to identify the local affiliate's channel information and call letters. It directs questions about local replacements, broadcast-caption problems and programming outside the network block to the station or television provider.
This is a useful distinction when another event appears instead of an expected show. The first check is the specific affiliate and current local schedule, rather than assuming that every CW-branded viewing route has changed. Keep the station call letters with a broadcast query.
The app catalogue follows US airing and rights
The CW's current missing-show guidance says many newer broadcast series have current-season episodes available online from the morning after their US airing. It also explains that some series originating elsewhere do not appear until after their CW broadcast in the United States.
For selected shows, including its example All American, it describes a rolling selection of the five most recently aired episodes. Repeats can temporarily bring an episode back, and those repeats can occur out of order. Read the episode numbers and dates shown instead of treating the visible list as a complete permanent season.
A historical CW credit is not a current catalogue entry
The same help page says a missing title may be unavailable because The CW does not presently hold streaming rights. Former CW programmes on another platform can be governed by that platform or rights holder. A show being remembered as a CW series does not settle where it can be selected now.
Use the current website or app search for a replay and the schedule for an upcoming broadcast. This keeps a programme-rights question separate from the local-station question. It also avoids treating a missing title as proof that the app has failed.
Choose your starting point
If you want tonight's local broadcast, find the affiliate. If you want an episode already aired in the US, check its current catalogue entry. If you want an older series, verify that a present playable listing exists before making plans around it. These three checks use different evidence while staying within the broadcaster's official routes.