#SetTheVCR: January 12-18, 2026

I won’t Tell You Lies…even The Night Manager believes these Bookish TV Recommendations earned an M grade. What does that mean? Why that’s it’s #SetTheVCR.

Monday, January 12

Tron: Ares (Anytime / Disney+)

Mankind encounters AI beings for the first time when a highly sophisticated programme, Ares, leaves the digital world for a dangerous mission in the real world. Eh, It Is What It Is.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: DEPECHE MODE: M (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)

M is a cinematic journey into the heart of Mexican culture’s relationship with death, framed by the iconic performances of Depeche Mode during their 2023 Memento Mori tour. Conceived and directed by award-winning Mexican filmmaker Fernando Frías, the film captures the band’s three sold-out shows in Mexico City, attended by over 200,000 fans, blending concert footage with interpretive interstitials and archival material. Depeche Mode: M celebrates the band’s global influence while delving into the profound connection between music, mortality, and Mexican tradition — a sacred meeting point where pain, memory, joy, and dance dissolve into one another, blurring into something profoundly and beautifully human.”
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Praise your Personal Jesus Depeche Mode: M is now streaming at a couch “hear” you. M captures the iconic band’s 2023 Memento Mori tour through Mexico’s soulful lens on death, dance and devotion. Synths meet spirit — where darkness becomes divine. Yo.

Tuesday, January 13

Star Search: Season 1 (Anytime / Netflix)

Bigger talent. Higher stakes. Your vote. Anthony Anderson hosts the iconic competition show for a new generation – live. The search is on.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: TELL ME LIES: SEASON 3 (ANYTIME / HULU & DISNEY+ CANADA)

Tell Me Lies Season 3 follows Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco as they’ve rekindled their tumultuous romance in time for spring semester at Baird College. While they promise things will be different this time, past indiscretions hinder their best intentions, and Lucy finds herself embroiled in a controversy she wants nothing to do with. Meanwhile, the disastrous repercussions from the previous year also force Lucy and Stephen’s friends to face their own destructive behaviors. As scandalous secrets fester around campus, vicious consequences threaten Lucy and everyone in her circle.
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Tell Me Lies…a TV show where college girls ignore neon bright red flags for good dick and even bigger drama is back in 2026. “Get out of here. Go on! I don’t believe it. You don’t say! Really? Get out of here! Go on. I don’t believe it. You don’t say? Get out of here. “l told you that bitch crazy!” You gotta throw in, “l told you that bitch crazy.” You know why? ‘Cause every woman’s got another woman at her job that she can’t stand. Women, y’all exaggerate everything. You turn it into some Dynasty shit, like: “She’s trying to destroy me!” What the fuck are you talking about?” In Bigger & Blacker, Chris Rock deftly sums it up this popular Hulu series. Trust me, I’ll never tell you lies.

Wednesday, January 14

Hijack: Season 2 (Anytime / Apple TV)

In the thrilling second season a Berlin underground train and its commuters are taken hostage, while, above ground, authorities scramble to save hundreds of lives. Sam Nelson is at the heart of the crisis on board, where one wrong decision could spell disaster. Hijack premieres on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, with the first episode, followed by one episode weekly until March 4.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE NIGHT MANAGER: SEASON 2 (ANYTIME / PRIME VIDEO)

Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) thought he’d buried his past. Now living as Alex Goodwin – a low-level MI6 officer running a quiet surveillance unit in London – his life is comfortingly uneventful. Then one night a chance sighting of an old Roper mercenary prompts a call to action and leads Pine to a violent encounter with a new player: Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos.
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I honestly don’t know if I watched The Night Manager. Season 1 was 2016, what the ridiculous!! I guess I can stop complaining about Stranger Things season gaps. (I can still complain about sloppy Stranger Things writing though, that Season 4 ending and Season 5 opening are horrible.) But Night Manager (at least Season 1) is British and spies and Cairo; I musta seen it? What’s the Building movie with Sienna Miller? Is that what I saw, then? I dunno anymore. I’ll work the Night Shift to catch up for The Night Manager.

Thursday, January 15

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy: Season 1 (Anytime / Paramount+)

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself. Starfleet Academy premieres on Thursday, January 15, 2026, with the first two episodes, followed by one episode weekly until March 12.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: ADJOINING (ANYTIME / YOUTUBE)

A couple’s motel stay takes a chilling turn when they discover they’re being observed, leading to unexpected consequences.
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Some doors should stay closed. You know how you stay in some motels and they have that Adjoining door to the next room? And sometimes you never know who is in that room? Oh yes. If you don’t wanna think about the bedsheets in a motel room you definitely don’t wanna consider who is next door. Or if you are being watched. In Adjoining, Petey Beats finds terror in the thin walls and thick tension between hotel rooms. Adjoining smoothly blends horror elements with social media commentary; it makes it an ideal short for Blood in the Snow Film Festival an annual horror, genre and underground cinema film festival. One of Toronto’s best film festivals. This is a horror short that lingers long after checkout.

Friday, January 16

Ponies: Season 1 (Anytime / Peacock & 9:00 p.m. / Showcase)

Moscow, 1977. Two “Ponies” (“persons of no interest” in intelligence speak) work anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy. That is until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives. Bea (Emilia Clarke) is an over-educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants. Her cohort, Twila (Haley Lu Richardson), is a small-town girl who is as abrasive as she is fearless. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place. Ponies looks like they recycled The Americans with Mr. Mom. Not a fan of I have no spy skills but my ignorant bumbling nets results. You’d think Melissa McCarthy would be a part of this. This is a Binge Release: all eight episodes are now streaming.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE RIP (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)

Upon discovering millions in cash in a derelict stash house, trust among a team of Miami cops begins to fray. As outside forces learn about the size of the seizure, everything is called into question — including who they can rely on.
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“The Rip follows Damon and Affleck as Miami cop partners who find themselves in a sticky situation after their team finds $24 million stashed away in a safehouse. Required by law to count the money before leaving the scene, the cops and their team must survive the night — and each other.” According to Tudum: “The title for The Rip is simply Miami cop parlance for ‘taking the bad guy’s stuff,’ which is known as ‘ripping’ it,” writer-director Joe Carnahan says. “In the event of a seizure of cash or drugs or weapons, the confiscation itself is known as the ‘rip.’” Good Will Hunting, Dogma, The Last Duel and Air. So far out the Damon and Affleck super team up’s best production has been Air. Let’s see if they can Rip it…with this Netflix movie.

Saturday, January 17

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal: Season 3 (Anytime / HBO Max)

Saturday Morning Cartoons: At the dawn of evolution, a caveman and a dinosaur on the brink of extinction bond over unfortunate tragedies and become each other’s only hope of survival in a treacherous world. This is an adult animated action horror television anthology series…a genre I did not know existed.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: HOW TO LOSE A POPULARITY CONTEST (ANYTIME / TUBI)

A sharp, flirty high school rom-com about a charming underachiever and a type-A overachiever teaming up to win student body president – and maybe each other. Overachiever Ellie teams with slacker Nate to sabotage her ex in the class election, but unexpected sparks threaten her meticulously laid plans.
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Ah Tubi is kicking off 2026 with a teen movie! Sara Waisglass is the loser slash type-A overachiever and Chase Hudson (is that his porno stage name?!) is the charming underachiever slash slacker who only has eyes for…well you know how it all goes. It’s not John Hughes, not even close but that’ll do pig…that’ll do. If you grew up in the ‘80s you know how easy it is to lose a popularity contest.

Sunday, January 18

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1 (Anytime / HBO Max & Crave)

A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: BOOKISH: SEASON 1 (10:00 P.M. / PBS)

In post-war London, Gabriel Book, a literary enthusiast and bookseller, combines his day job with his favorite hobby — helping solve knotty murder cases. Although happily married to his best friend, Trottie, Book is a gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal. When a new assistant, Jack, arrives at the bookshop, it soon becomes clear his appointment wasn’t as random as it at first seems.
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Our friend Mark Gatiss has a new British TV show! Mark wrote a bunch of Doctor Who and wrote a bunch of Sherlock (he was in Sherlock, too). Dude plays a book shop owner, Gabriel Book, who helps police solve crimes in 1946 London. Oh, yes you already have my attention. But in this telling preview his “wife” shows up at the bookshop with news “they found something in suspicious circumstances.” Mark, sitting on a couch, sipping his tea reveals: “My favourite kind of circumstances.” Oh, yo. I’m 100% IN. Sold. That line got me. I’m a Bookish sort. Programming Note: The 6-part series was broadcast back in July on something called U&Alibi in the UK. It comes to North America in 2026 via PBS, yippie. And it’s already been renewed for a second season. More yippie.