Sammy Younan
Girth Radio Presents…
The NBA Playoffs…begin…in August?! What a strange weird world we live in. Hopefully, Saturday’s DC FanDome will have details on this Bizzaro Universe.
Sunday, August 16
Lovecraft Country (9 p.m. / HBO)
Sammy Suggestion: The Circus: Season 5 (Part 2) (8 p.m. / Showtime & Crave)
Showtime’s Circus returns though in what form and what shape I am not sure. Before the pandemic, The Circus was a neat and clean 30 minute summary of American politics with insightful interviews often shot at fantastic restaurants. The docuseries’ hosts would often travel to political rallies and events…so how do you do this during coronavirus? How do you travel the country and have political rallies or events? And while it’s safe to conduct restaurant interviews what is open? As if that is not enough the show is documenting and exploring the pivotal question: who’s going to win in November Trump or Biden?
Monday, August 17
Sammy Suggestion: The NBA Playoffs Day One (Starting at 1:30 p.m. / ESPN)
The 2020 NBA Playoffs begin! It’s still a strange experience to watch the NBA Restart and yet here we are. There are no fans, no time zones, no travel: games can go into double OT and the players’ beds are right around the corner. There’s no home court! So there’s no excuses of any kind.
Round 1; Day 1 kicks off with 4 games all on ESPN:
No. 3 Denver Nuggets vs. No. 6 Utah Jazz, 1:30 p.m.
No. 2 Toronto Raptors vs. No. 7 Brooklyn Nets, 4 p.m
No. 3 Boston Celtics vs. No. 6 Philadelphia 76ers, 6:30 p.m
No. 2 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 7 Dallas Mavericks, 9 p.m.
Tuesday, August 18
Sammy Suggestion: The NBA Playoffs Day Two (Starting at 1:30 p.m. / TNT)
The NBA Playoffs shift to the Emmy award-winning TNT Team. TNT is among the best NBA game packagers and I wish they could broadcast more games. So good. So fun. Even if the games are blowouts the TNT Team will be entertaining and deeply sarcastic. That’s all I ask!
Round 1; Day 2 kicks off with 4 games all on TNT:
No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 8 Orlando Magic, 1:30 p.m.
No. 5 Miami Heat vs. No. 4 Indiana Pacers, 4 p.m
No. 5 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. No. 4 Houston Rockets, 6:30 p.m.
No. 1 Los Angeles Lakers vs. No. 8 Portland Trail Blazers, 9 p.m.
Wednesday, August 19
Sammy Suggestion: High Score (Anytime / Netflix)
Space Invaders! Final Fantasy! Street Fighter II! Mortal Kombat! Sonic the Hedgehog! Oh and Pac-Man. With High Score Netflix is transformed into a digital arcade and loitering is highly encouraged. This docuseries shares the legends and the myths while profiling the creators and players who got to write their initials in the now multi-billion dollar industry. If you want to know how we got from burying ET game cartridges to this integral industry this is that story. (If this interests you look out for a doc called Insert Coin a documentary about Midway Games currently playing at virtual film festivals and the soon to be released Console Wars about the Sega Nintendo beef.)
Thursday, August 20
Random Acts of Violence (Anytime / Shudder)
Sammy Suggestion: John Was Trying to Contact Aliens (Anytime / Netflix)
John Was Trying to Contact Aliens tells the story of one amateur astronomer’s three-decade search for signs of intelligent life in the universe. I mean…with a description like that I’m all SETI.
Friday, August 21
Chemical Hearts (Anytime / Amazon Prime)
Sammy Suggestion: Hoops (Anytime / Netflix)
Since we’re enjoying the NBA Playoffs let’s keep rolling with basketball goodness in Hoops. The voice of Peter B. Parker Jake Johnson is a high school basketball coach in a rare animation offering from Netflix. Coach Ben Hopkins has dreams of the big leagues. The only problem is…his team stinks. But I mean that can’t be the coaching? Right? Right. Think Bobby Knight but in an animation sitcom.
Saturday, August 22
Sammy Suggestion: DC FanDome (1 p.m. / DCFanDome.com)
Today is DC FanDome! The festivities begin at 1 p.m. EST. Welcome to DC FanDome a free virtual fan comic con type experience. Covering comics (remember those?!), WB games, and of course TV and Film panels filled with actors, creators, and directors. Because a large chunk of this is so movie centric (Wonder Woman! The Flash! The Batman! The Suicide Squad! Black Adam!) this feels like a full-court press. MCU is on pause (literally) so truly this is the best window for DC Films to strike. Will this work? What does success look like for DC Films (and no not in comparison to Marvel Movies.). Here’s the full schedule. What are you excited about?
