Lo!! Some sports make an appearance on #SetTheVCR. Do you remember sports? And in case you ain’t Sporty we lots of “Spicy-tv” for you. (Probably the only time the Spice Girls will be mentioned on #SetTheVCR.)
Sunday, April 19
The Simpsons (8 p.m. / Fox)
Sammy Suggestion: The Last Dance (9 p.m. & 10 p.m. / ESPN)
You know that iconic sound from every action movie when a shotgun is locked and loaded?
You know that John Wick grisly knife fight from John Wick 3?
You know how Optimus Prime says: “Autobots Roll Out?”
Pick whatever sound or scene or line from an action movie…any action movie. This is it; this is the big one. “Team Ruckus reporting for duty: SIR!”
The Last Dance 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls.
The full schedule (different air dates in Canada) can memorized here. Yo.
Monday, April 20
Sammy Suggestion: Dummy: Season 1 (Anytime / Quibi)
I’m not sure if Dummy refers to the “main character” in the show or the audience for watching this. “An aspiring writer befriends her boyfriend’s sex doll and the two take on the world together.” Anna Kendrick is Quibi’s latest high profile talent signing and she’s taking the sex doll on a road trip… apparently this was a “perfect pitch” she couldn’t ignore. Quibi is, of course, as we established last week the latest streaming service: the Under Armour to Netflix’s Nike. I don’t know if they can successfully take on Netflix but with all the high profile talent they signed they’re going out guns empty.
Tuesday, April 21
Middleditch & Schwartz: Season 1 (Anytime / Netflix)
Sammy Suggestion: Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince (9 p.m. / CBS)
The ironically entitled Let’s Go Crazy special is a kind recognition that we lost Prince in 2016. 2016 feels like a lifetime ago; we forget so much because so much pop culture has happened since then. NBA players retired, celebrities died and we forget, we move on, we focus on other scandals and Twitter hashtags. So in a way, I’m glad the Grammys are doing a salute to Prince to keep him alive a bit longer. This’ll be the usual performances from the usual performers: Alicia Keys, John Legend, Chris Martin and actually surprisingly Beck. That one could be interesting.
Wednesday, April 22
Sammy Suggestion: Jane Goodall Documentaries (See / Below)
Happy Earth Day! My nerd leanings tend to veer towards Planet of the Apes however today in honour of Earth Day let’s pretend the Apes are our friends (before they conquer all of us). And truthfully the only thing stopping us from being overrun by Planet of the Apes is Jane Goodall. Its dealer’s choice as she and her astonishing work and life are celebrated in two different documentaries. You got Jane Goodall: The Hope at Nat Geo Channel at 9 p.m. Or over on BBC America also at 9 p.m., you can check out She Walks with Apes narrated by Sandra Oh. Might be wise to check out both docs for actionable intel as we prepare for war with the Apes.
Thursday, April 23
Sammy Suggestion: 2020 NFL Draft (See / Below)
Sports! Granted this is only the NFL draft but it’s something…sporty. So enjoy it, speculate if it makes you feel better (which team will draft Tua Tagovailoa and how good will he be?), gamble on it…let’s see where this goes. The draft runs Thursday, April 23 – Saturday, April 25 though the first day is the big day. (Though famously Tom Brady was drafted 199th in Round 6. So this isn’t an exact science.)
Here is the TV schedule for the 2020 NFL Draft (all times EST):
Thursday, April 23, 8-11:30 p.m.
Round 1: ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Radio
Friday, April 24, 7-11:30 p.m.
Rounds 2-3: ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Radio
Saturday, April 25, 12-7 p.m.
Rounds 4-7: ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Radio
Friday, April 24
International Jazz Day From Australia (10 p.m. / PBS)
After Life: Season 2 (Anytime / Netflix)
Extraction (Anytime / Netflix)
Sammy Suggestion: Beastie Boys Story (Anytime / Apple TV)
“Now here’s a little story I’ve got to tell/About three bad brothers you know so well.” It started way back in history/With Ad-Rock, MCA, (and me) Mike D.” While we have mourned many pop culture coronavirus passings from Comic Con and SXSW being cancelled to blockbuster movies being shifted to alternative dates next year one of the cinematic events I grieved was the one we lost on April 2nd. Screenings were to be held for this Spike Jonze directed Beastie Boys documentary so we could Ch-Check It Out. It would have been Intergalactic to be in a large audience of Beastie Boys fans and to hear them cheer and feel that Body Movin energy when certain songs come on. Alas, those screenings were Sabotaged by coronavirus. So we get this documentary on Apple TV instead so it’s Time To Get Ill. (It’s a weird time in human history with the Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance looking back at the late 90s along with this Beastie Boys doc looking back and all of us in questioning the life that we had before the pandemic and what kind of life we want when we go back to normal. There’s something there I don’t know what it means. No matter what life is like after the pandemic never forget Your Right To Party.)
Saturday, April 25
Hustlers (9 p.m. / Showtime)
Sammy Suggestion: Bad Education (8 p.m. / HBO)
Bad Education focuses on the adults, not the kids this time. There’s a scandal brewing. And it seems Hugh Jackman is playing Wolverine during his headmaster days: “I’m the best at what I do, but what I do best isn’t very nice.”
