From TV Crime to the end of popular shows; it’s a sad and dARK week at #SetTheVCR.
Monday, July 15
History’s Greatest Mysteries: Salem Witch Trials (9:00 p.m. / History Channel)
A notorious tragedy leads to one of the darkest chapters in early American history; in 1692, fear rips through the small town of Salem, Massachusetts; accusations fly and many people are put to death.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK: SEASON 1 (MGM+ & CRAVE)
Emperor of Ocean Park is set in the worlds of politics, elite academia, and the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard. Oh and maybe there’s some murder?
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Series Premiere: The TV Guide description reads like the back of a John Grisham paperback (though it’s an adaptation of Stephen L. Carter’s bestselling thriller): “It follows Talcott Garland, an esteemed law professor whose quiet life is shattered when his father, Judge Oliver Garland (Forest Whitaker), dies of an apparent heart attack. The nature of the judges death is questioned by Tal’s sister, Mariah, a former journalist and inveterate conspiracy theorist, who believes that the judge, a failed Black nominee to the Supreme Court, met with foul play.” The cast even includes Keith Powers as “Lionel Nasty Nel Eldridge” as an ex-NBA star. Succession through a Black lens to check out the emperor’s new clothes.
Tuesday, July 16
Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer (Anytime / Hulu & Disney+ Canada)
A fascinating perspective on the woman whose crime-hunting innovations changed history. To stop serial killers, psychiatric nurse and professor Dr. Ann Burgess must first learn to think like one. With unprecedented access to the mastermind behind the development of modern serial-killer profiling, the series tells Burgess’ tenacious story and her compassion for victims, which puts her at the center of America’s most infamous true-crime cases. Remember Ed Kemper in Mindhunter? He’s in this!
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: HOMICIDE: LOS ANGELES (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)
From Law & Order Creator Dick Wolf, Wolf Entertainment and Alfred Street Industries comes Homicide, a docuseries that illuminates the stories of notorious murder cases as told by the people who know them best: the detectives and prosecutors who cracked them.
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Did you watch Homicide: New York also on Netflix? “Homicide: New York features five different stories, from the 1997 stabbing murder of a man in Central Park to the 2001 Carnegie Deli massacre –– in which five people were found shot in an apartment above the restaurant.” The gritty True Crime docuseries is back, this time shifting the scene to Los Angeles for five-parts. “From the years-long murder prosecution of record producer Phil Spector to the tragic death of young mother Teresa Boudreaux, which remained unsolved for more than 20 years, Homicide: Los Angeles delves into murders covering a span of four decades. The series retraces each case’s complicated path to justice while remembering each of the deceased through the eyes of their friends and families.” The Phil Spector stuff is kinda boring by now and heavily exploited. Still True Crime is hot and the Netflix algorithm knows this. I miss Mindhunter. Programming Note: The rebooted Unsolved Mysteries returns with a new batch of well…unsolved mysteries. Consisting of five-episodes, Volume 4 drops on Netflix on July 31st, 2024.
Wednesday, July 17
The Fortress: Limited Series (Anytime / Viaplay)
Limited Series Premiere: And now a Norwegian dystopian drama: In the year 2037, an enormous wall surrounds Norway, where its people enjoy privileged and sheltered lives in a self-sufficient Nordic paradise. (Next door Sweden has become a refugee camp hell.) But when a deadly pandemic breaks out, the inhabitants soon realise that the wall intended to protect, is instead holding them prisoner. The Fortress (Norwegian title Festning Norge) is eight parts. Did you watch Into the Night on Netflix? It’s a Belgian apocalyptic science-fiction thriller which I didn’t even know was a genre. Outstanding TV series, I hope the Fortress can address that gap.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE ARK: SEASON 2 (10 P.M. / SYFY)
In season two, after the brave crew of Ark One reaches their destination and finds it uninhabitable, they must survive long enough to locate a new home for themselves and all the ships that follow.
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Ark One is the Godspeed Little Doodle of the human race. The 12-episode sci-fi show (created by Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner) is set “100 years in the future when planetary colonization missions have begun as a necessity to help secure the survival of the human race.” Only years from reaching the target planet Ark One suffers catastrophic damage. This is a harrowing tale of human race survival. Too far from home and not close enough to safety. The Ark is adrift and only Noah can relate. The first season was uneven but when it was good, it was strong. With Snowpiercer pulling into the station (see Sunday, below) how about checking out The Ark to see if humans can yet again survive a massive and devastating setback. Will what’s looking like the last bit of humanity reach a new Earth or will they be doomed in space? Programming Note: You can watch Season 1 on Peacock. And Season 2 episodes will also stream on Peacock.
Thursday, July 18
Those About to Die: Season 1 (Anytime / Peacock & Prime Video-Canada)
Series Premiere: Those About to Die is an epic drama set in the corrupt world of spectacle-driven gladiatorial competition. It explores a side of ancient Rome never before told—the dirty business of entertaining the masses and giving the mob what they want most…blood and sport. The series introduces an ensemble of characters from all corners of the Roman Empire who collide at the explosive intersection of sports, politics, and dynasties. A long trailer until Gladiator II open on November 22nd?
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: COBRA KAI: SEASON 6 – PART 1 (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)
With Cobra Kai eliminated from the Valley, our senseis and students must decide whether and how they will compete in the Sekai Taikai, the world championships of karate.
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Netflix has karate chopped Cobra Kai‘s sixth and final season into three parts: Part 1 debuts on July 18, 2024, Part 2 on November 28, 2024 and Part 3 in 2025. “Our strength is we teach both styles equally. Don’t jeopardize that balance, man,” Daniel LaRusso say to Johnny Lawrence in the trailer. Peace has come to the warring dojos but that doesn’t neutralize the external threats. The final season consists of 15 episodes and picks up with Cobra Kai having been eliminated from the Valley. Our senseis and students must decide whether and how they will compete in the Sekai Taikai, the world championships of karate. There’s honour to finishing what started on YouTube Red in May 2018 strong.
Friday, Month July 19
Lady In The Lake: Limited Series (Anytime / Apple TV+)
Series Premiere: When the disappearance of a young girl grips the city of Baltimore on Thanksgiving 1966, the lives of two women converge on a fatal collision course. Maddie Schwartz (Natalie Portman) is a Jewish housewife seeking to shed a secret past and reinvent herself as an investigative journalist, and Cleo Johnson is a mother navigating the political underbelly of Black Baltimore while struggling to provide for her family. Premieres with the first two episodes followed by new episodes every Friday through August 23, 2024.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: FIND ME FALLING (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)
After a failed comeback album, a rock star escapes to a cliffside home on a dreamy Mediterranean island, only to find his new life complicated by unwanted visitors — and an old flame.
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I like Harry Connick Jr. The singer…the actor, eh not so much. This Netflix movie is a Hallmark special…all that’s missing is the corny pun title (Inn Love by Christmas) and the significant sexy season (Christmas is always a good call. Nobody gets horny during Halloween?!). Harry plays a washed up rock star and rather than be a loser in America he sets up shop in the idyllic Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Of course you know what happens next…an old flame sparks new emotions and the heat is on. While this is all cheezy I’m recommending it as Harry Connick Jr. the singer has written two songs for this movie. That works for me…I can Fall Inn Love with his new music.
Saturday, July 20
Hit-Monkey: Season 2 (Anytime / Hulu)
Saturday Morning Cartoons: A Japanese snow monkey, aided by the ghost of an American assassin, goes on a killing-spree, and becomes the famous “killer of killers.” In New York City, Monkey finds a path to escape his life of killing, while Bryce attempts to repair the damage to those he wronged in life. But what will it cost them to undo the past?
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: IF (ANYTIME / PARAMOUNT+)
After discovering she can see everyone’s imaginary friends, a girl embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten imaginary friends with their kids.
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Did you watch Ted on Peacock? Once again there is a thin line between comedy and horror. If coulda been a horror movie. (Indeed Imaginary released earlier this year was the horror version of If.) While nobody could imagine Opie would become an incredible film director; I ain’t ready to sign off on John Krasinski’s trajectory just yet. If is children’s Fight Club; kinda like Children’s Tylenol. Though the physics of this world are not sound as a pound. At first the goal was to Tinder-match the leftover imaginary friends to new kids…but that doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t a kid just make up a new imaginary friend? That’s the whole point of being a kid. Why would a kid inherit somebody else’s imaginary friend?! That’s weird. Still way better than Monsters Inc. Or most Pixar movies. A chill movie with the standard Hollywood heart.
Sunday, July 21
How I Caught My Killer: Season 2 (Anytime / Hulu)
How I Caught My Killer is a True Crime docuseries that highlights the real-life stories behind unique homicide cases. It features in-depth interviews, authentic archival material, and cinematic recreations, all packaged together to give the genre a fresh spin. Lotta murder in this week’s #SetTheVCR. Streamers are killing it, I guess?
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: SNOWPIERCER: SEASON 4 (9 P.M. / AMC & AMC+)
The action-packed finale of Season 3 left a split with Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly) leading the Eternal Engine and those passengers who chose to stay aboard Snowpiercer for relative safety, and Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) leading the others on Big Alice choosing to adventure to the unknown, outside world of New Eden.
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TNT’s Snowpiercer adaptation (Vanilla Ice’s favourite show: Too Cold!) returns for a fourth and final season. Set more than seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland, Snowpiercer centers on the remnants of humanity who inhabit a perpetually moving train, with 1001 cars, that circles the globe. Your class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival naturally play out in this sci-fi thriller. Is Snowpiercer’s end the beginning of the human race? Programming Note: Canadians get it early: Friday, July 16th at 9 p.m. on Crave. Which makes marketing sense since it’s a TV show about the snow and the cold.
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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.
