Sammy Younan

#SetTheVCR: August 23-29, 2020

Sammy Younan

Girth Radio Presents…

Though I do not mention it; there are as always NBA Playoffs games unfolding every night. However, I wisely realized that if that’s all I wrote for each day I’d alienate my readers. That’s what the puns are for! Plus it turns out there is TV to watch on other channels.

Sunday, August 23

The Circus (8 p.m. / Showtime & Crave)

Sammy Suggestion: Birds of Prey (Anytime / Crave)

Birds of Prey And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quin debuted on Crave on Friday. As I wrote on August 15 when Birds was broadcast on HBO: For now you get a bird’s eye view of this movie. “After splitting with the Joker, Harley Quinn joins superheroes Black Canary, Huntress, and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord.” Just goes to show birds of a feather flock together!

Monday, August 24

Sammy Suggestion: The Binge (Anytime on Friday / Hulu)

A #SetTheVCR Heads Up: “In the not so distant future, all drinking and drugs have been made completely illegal by the government…except for one night a year.” It seems in the morning you’ll have a different kind of “Purge.” What’s great about The Binge is it stars Vince Vaughn as I guess a spiritual sequel to Old School. What’s not about The Binge is it’s not on until Friday on Hulu…maybe you could watch Old School in the meantime?

Tuesday, August 25

Sammy Suggestion: All Together Now (Anytime on Friday / Netflix)

A #SetTheVCR Heads Up: “A spunky teen doesn’t let homelessness stand in the way of her dreams in the new YA tale All Together Now. Why? Why am I suggesting this when I just recommended a movie called The Binge where all drugs and drinking are legal for 1 day of the year? Two of the best words in the English language: Carol Burnett! And as a sweet bonus two of the eh…ok that’s cool words in the English language: Fred Armisen. Though Friday for this teen movie sweetness.

Wednesday, August 26

Sammy Suggestion: Pennyworth: Season 1 (Anytime / Crave)

We’re in the final days of August and for all the changes we’ve had to our TV habits, there’s still such as thing as the Fall TV Season. Back when Pennyworth premiered on July 28, 2019, I suggested it as a #SetTheVCR recommendation. At the time I wrote: “Kind of cool but unsure still.” really should be Pennyworth’s tagline from this trailer.” Well, it turns out Batman’s butler really delivered; a second season was greenlit on October 27, 2019, and it should be coming later this year. (I think. Most movie/tv show dates are Tenet-ative until filming figures out to work around the virus.) Pennyworth the 10-episode series follows the British adventures of Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon) who formed a security company and works for billionaire Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge) who’s not yet Bruce’s father. If you haven’t had a chance to enjoy Alfred’s British-Bond ruckus today is a good day.

Thursday, August 27

Sammy Suggestion: Class Action Park (Anytime / HBO Max)

Class Action Park is the first feature documentary about the world’s most dangerous and insane amusement or theme park: Action Park, in Vernon, New Jersey. Imagine if you and your buddies had a safe space to do Jackass style stunts all day? As Chris Gethard quips in the trailer: “nobody should ever be the second person to die in a wave pool.” Always fun to see Chris Gethard: he’s good for amusement.

Friday, August 28

Sammy Suggestion: Cobra Kai: Seasons 1-2 (Anytime / Netflix)

Cobra Kai originally launched on YouTube Red (which is now YouTube Premium) and today it comes to Netflix shortly before Season 3 drops. Seasons one and two ran from 2018 to 2019. As you can infer from the title yes these are classic characters from The Karate Kid (released in 1984!). Johnny Lawrence the Cobra Kai punk has grown up and opened the Cobra Kai karate dojo. This quickly ignites his rivalry with Daniel LaRusso who is yes still Ralph Macchio. Netflix picked up the series since YouTube got out of the scripted series game; though Season 3 has been shot and even post-production was wrapped before March’s pandemic kicked off so we should be getting it sometime this year. For now here’s Seasons 1 and 2 if you wanna wax on, wax off this weekend.

Saturday, August 29

Sammy Suggestion: Bombshell (Anytime / Crave)

You know the names and probably most of the story. Charlize Theron is Megyn Kelly, Nicole Kidman is Gretchen Carlson, Margot Robbie is Kayla Pospisil and John Lithgow is Fox News chief Roger Ailes in director Jay Roach’s Bombshell. This feature focuses on Fox’s sexual culture…as you can tell from that list of stone cold “foxy” actresses. However, if you want to explore Fox’s political leanings then watch The Loudest Voice on Showtime. Russell Crowe plays Roger Ailes crazy like a fox as he builds Fox News into a media empire. Bombshell is on Crave today; it was on Epix last night.