From an Electric State to a Beach party these TV Recommendations will make you a Better Man. It maybe Cold outside but #SetTheVCR is warm and just what you are Kraven.
Monday, March 10
American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden (Anytime / Netflix)
This three part docuseries from directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan gives an in-depth look at how the world mobilized to hunt down Osama Bin Laden after his orchestrations of the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the United States. Featuring interviews with key people within the US government who helped in the global chase, this series focuses on the decade-long mission to capture one of the world’s most notorious terrorists.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: COLD (ANYTIME / YOUTUBE)
Jane died last week but didn’t notice – and nobody will admit anything’s wrong.
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Cold is a body horror short that had its World Premiere at Blood in the Snow Film Festival as part of the 2023 Mournful Mediums Shorts Program. After making the festival rounds, it’s now surface on ye olde YouTube. A quick snapshot of Cold: “Jane likes things to be clean. Jane has just turned 40. Jane died sometime last week.” Indeed: Jane (Melanie Scrofano) is part of “The Walking Dead” who roam the Earth. I would think the hardest thing for a zombie is social mimicry to fit in. Though Jane as a woman living in this hectic society with all of its relentless pressures has had years of practice. Years of faking it and years of trying to fit in. Jane’s doctor (Peter Keleghan), her friends, her partner (Sean Baek), all tell her it’s normal – this “Change” happens to women of a certain age. A-hem. How do you help someone when you can’t talk about the thing they need help with? This is just a Costco sample of what’s going on in Cold. In this My Summer Lair episode I let Elizabeth Whitmere unpack Cold as she is the writer, director and producer of this memorable short. It comes out of her own Cold experiences as a woman and as an actor.
Tuesday, March 11
Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna (Anytime / Hulu)
Get that Rust Shooting money! In Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna, Halyna’s friend, director Rachel Mason, goes beyond the public narrative to reveal the untold human story of that terrible day and all that followed – from the vantage point of the people at the center of the tragedy. The film weaves together the accounts of those who were on the set of RUST that day and of those, like Mason, who not only lost a cherished friend and colleague but who are still navigating the trauma of the aftermath. Rust has been okay for clickbait, generating cash…it’s not Diddy money. How much Rust is on TikTok? Fools over there will blindly click on anything. This is a Hulu doc…we should be getting one, maybe 2 more docs max. Oh and a podcast docuseries. Clickbait doesn’t Rust.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: TOM PETTY: HEARTBREAKERS BEACH PARTY (ANYTIME / PARAMOUNT+)
Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party is a fun, candid, fast-paced and musically rich ride with America’s greatest rock & roll band, a time capsule of the dawn of the MTV era and a rare, shining glimpse into Tom Petty’s lasting creative genius.
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“Originally airing only once on MTV in February 1983, the tapes from Cameron Crowe’s directorial debut were finally found in 2024, nearly 40 years after it became folklore to fans, musicians and the entertainment industry at-large.” Huh. I didn’t know any of this. “Featuring nearly 20 minutes of never-before-seen bonus content, including new commentary from Crowe himself, alongside in-depth interviews, electrifying live performances and unprecedented intimate access to Petty and the band.” Okay then: Cameron Crowe, Tom Petty and the 80s…I’ll RSVP this Beach Party.
Wednesday, March 12
Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney (10 p.m. / Netflix)
John Mulaney is back with a live talk show. Most recently, he hosted the live, six-episode talk show John Mulaney’s Everybody’s in LA as part of this year’s Netflix is a Joke Fest.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: BETTER MAN (ANYTIME / PARAMOUNT+)
From boy band euphoria to solo stadium tours, the UK pop star has lived large, loud, and right on the edge. No mere music biopic could do his highs and lows justice. And so Michael Gracey hit on an audacious, dazzling approach. Gather round and witness the life of Robbie Williams unfold in a rather unorthodox way, to say the least.
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Better Man is a Robbie Williams biopic where he’s up to Monkey Business. Just in case you thought a Pharrell Lego biopic was strange. Peep this…
Thursday, March 13
The Wheel of Time: Season 3 (Anytime / Prime Video)
Season Three’s storylines are primarily based on the fourth book of Robert Jordan’s series, The Shadow Rising. It will take viewers to many new regions and cities across the fictional continent of the Westlands, including the vast deserts of the Aiel Waste, the intoxicating and dangerous port city of Tanchico, and the forbidden and fog-shrouded ancient city of Rhuidean, where Rand and Moiraine will both experience life-changing revelations. Meanwhile on the other side of the world, in Rand’s small hometown of Two Rivers, his lifelong friend Perrin Aybara will also embark on a personal journey, one which will change him forever.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: ADOLESCENCE: LIMITED SERIES (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)
Adolescence tells the story of how a family’s world is turned upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller is arrested for the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school.
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Limited Series Premiere: I watched the trailer trying to understand. I still don’t understand this. The plot…I get that. A 13-year-old kid is arrested for the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school. That’s a standard British TV show plot. And I expect the dark drama to ripple out and taint others in the kid’s orbit. Also very British. All that, I get it. However, murder is not the marketing hook. Each of the four episodes is filmed in one continuous shot. That means the drama unfolds in real-time. That’s strange. And that’s what I don’t get. So I’m curious; we saw lots of this stylish storytelling in Children Of Men with long (impressive) one takes. But how does that production serve this story? Isn’t that…distracting from the drama? Clearly, I’m an easily distracted Adolescence. Programming Note: Adolescence stars Stephen Graham. Also on Netflix and also from the UK is Bodies another limited series filled with murder. Only in the first episode when the police find a naked, shot corpse in Longharvest Lane…that corpse is not from this time period. Oh, yo…now we got murder and time travel? Time to make some tea. Indeed. “This event happens in the same location in four years – 1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053 – and leads to four investigations by Metropolitan Police detectives that eventually become interlinked, with far-reaching consequences.” Super fun sci-fi series. Check that out, it just came out in 2023.
Friday, March 14
Dope Thief: Season 1 (Premiere Apple TV+)
Series Premiere: Based on Dennis Tafoya’s book of the same name, the series follows longtime Philly friends and delinquents who pose as DEA agents to rob an unknown house in the countryside, only to have their small-time grift become a life-and-death enterprise, as they unwittingly reveal and unravel the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern Seaboard.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE ELECTRIC STATE (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)
Set in a retro-futuristic past, this blockbuster adventure from filmmakers Anthony and Joe Russo follows Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), an orphaned teenager who traverses the American West in search of her younger brother. Joining her on the journey is a sweet but mysterious robot and an eccentric drifter (Chris Pratt).
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Whatsherface from Stranger Things and Whatshisface from Guardians of the Galaxy go on a spring road trip. The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag is a 2018 dystopian science fiction graphic novel and it is stunning. Highly Recommended Reading. Go slow. Linger on every page. The graphic novel’s premise is: “A teen girl and her robot embark on a cross-country mission to the west coast of the United States in search of her long-lost brother.” It’s set in an alternate technologically ravaged 1990s following a catastrophic war between humans and robots . (Exploring an alternate universe is my jam.) From what has been released so far: The Russo Bros. seem to have done a solid job capturing many of the breathtaking visuals. Millie Bobby Brown is a concern, not sure she has the emotional depths to pull this off. There’s a lingering intimacy to The Electric State…as a graphic novel. It’s the feeling of a large wide shot to show the isolation and loneliness of a movie character, you know? It’s a big world with big robots and that can make the characters feel small. And by intimacy it’s closer to the novel I Am Legend, rather than the Will Smith Blockbuster. Netflix has said the plot is: “The Electric State tells the story of Michelle (Brown), a young woman with a sweet but mysterious robot. The pair reluctantly team up with eccentric drifter Keats (Pratt), and set out on a cross-country road trip to find Michelle’s younger brother. Along the way, they have to navigate an electrified, retro-futuristic US landscape.” That…doesn’t sound as compelling. We’ll see what they crank out.
Saturday, March 15
Moana 2 (Anytime / Disney+)
Saturday Morning Cartoons: After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced. It Is What It Is.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: BILL BURR: DROP DEAD YEARS (ANYTIME / HULU)
In what might be his most personal and introspective hour yet, Bill offers hilarious takes on everything from male sadness to dating advice.
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March is National Loud Mouth Month. We kicked off this month with Andrew Schulz: Life on Netflix. And now we get Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years on Hulu. (You can be a jive sucker and sit through Iliza Shlesinger: A Different Animal on Prime Video but why would you do that?) Burr’s special is part of Hulu’s Laughing Now stand up comedy push: 12 comedy specials in 2025 adding one new comic per month. I’ve njoyed Roy Wood Jr.’s Lonely Flowers as part of that program. As for this special…well it’s Bill Burr. His witty rage is comforting by now.
Sunday, March 16
Selection Sunday: The 2025 March Madness (6 p.m. / CBS)
Selection Sunday is when college basketball fans learn which men’s (and women’s) NCAA Division I teams earn the right to compete for a national title in the highly-coveted March Madness tournament. The announcement comes two days before the start of the men’s tournament (and three days before the women’s). The First Four games will be held at the University of Dayton’s arena in Dayton, Ohio on March 18-19. It Starts Now.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: KRAVEN THE HUNTER (ANYTIME / CRAVE & NETFLIX-US)
Kraven Kravinoff’s complex relationship with his ruthless gangster father, Nikolai, starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
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So, basically Kraven: The Hunter is The Punisher with Parkour only set in Russia? Track Records Speak Louder Than Potential. So even if this Kraven movie is better (looks like it) than the other Sony Spider-Man-less abominations it’s still not a notable achievement. If Kraven is the conclusion to this Sony-Spider-Man era then it appears the first Venom is the best of the lot. Which isn’t saying much. Pretty low bar. (Least the Venoms made decent box office bank, I guess.) If you wanna sit through this Crap Carnival it’s now streaming in North America if you’re Kraven to see this movie. (May God have mercy on your soul.) Think it’ll be worse than MadameWeb? Will suck like Morbius? I haven’t done Venom 2. Not sure about Venom’s Last Dance. I’m curious how bad Kraven is…I will give that a solid 10 minutes. I lasted about 15 minutes with Morbius. And about 7 minutes with Madame Web. Sony committed to the suck. I don’t get how or why that was the business plan but they never focused on quality.
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
