Without a TV Guide TV Recommendations can quickly go FUBAR quickly like checking into a Hell Motel. To avoid that Trainwreck #SetTheVCR is your TV Revival.
Monday, June 09
Virgins: Season 1 (9:00 p.m. / TLC)
Get to know four individuals, all in their 30s and 40s and looking to swipe their V-cards. Say hello to Deanne, Alex, Rhasha, and Sonali! Having never experienced sexual intercourse before, these four are ready to get out of their comfort zones and shake up their dating lives. They will navigate love, intimacy, and self-discovery in their 30s and 40s. From awkward first dates to exploring a bondage class and working with an intimacy partner, they’ll risk it all in order to seal the deal! Programming Note: This will be added to HBO Max on June 10.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN (ANYTIME / NETFLIX-US & HOOPLA)
The individual journeys of the four members of the band, as they move through the music scene of the 1960s, playing small clubs throughout Britain and performing some of the biggest hits of the era, until their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that changes their lives forever.
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“Zeppelin Rules!!” So says Otto on a classic Simpsons episode. 100% IN for Becoming Led Zeppelin: I can’t wait to hear the band Ramble On about Rock and Roll. This Last Dance needed to be on the record before they all take that Stairway To Heaven.
Tuesday, June 10
Call Her Alex (Anytime / Hulu & Disney+ Canada)
What does it take to become the most influential female podcaster of a generation? Following Alex Cooper as she prepares for her first tour, this compelling two-part documentary series traces Cooper’s evolution—from a self-conscious kid growing up in Pennsylvania to the voice behind Call Her Daddy, a podcast that redefined the conversation for women everywhere. Is this podcast…any good?
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: TRAINWRECK: THE ASTROWORLD TRAGEDY (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)
Featuring exclusive interviews with survivors, paramedics and festival staff, this documentary examines the 2021 Astroworld tragedy and its aftermath.
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The deadly 2021 Astroworld festival is sadly, this generation’s Woodstock ’99. You know the template by now. Warning signs were appearing and then quickly ignored. Security was poor, inadequate facilities, overcrowding etc. It’s a Woodstock ’99 cover song. On November 5, 2021 eight people were pronounced dead on the day of the crowd crush. Two more later died in hospital bringing the death total to 10. One of the dead was 9 years old. Hundreds were injured. The unfortunate aspect of Netflix’s Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy is…it wastes time on the grim stampede catastrophe. That’s…boring. Astroworld unleashed a tsunami of stupid with mostly digital natives (i.e. fools) accepting conspiracy theories as “facts.” One claimed the crush was a ritualistic sacrifice. Church of Satan is another cover song. We grew up with Satanic Panics all through the ’80s. So while this sucks for the dead and injured the true Astroworld tragedy is that we’re still doing the same thing decades later.
Wednesday, June 11
NBA Finals: Game 3 (8:00 p.m. / ABC)
The NBA Finals are where legends are made, and the season’s not over until a team is handed the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The NBA Finals began on Thursday, June 1 on ABC with the OKC Thunder having home court advantage. And the Pacers stunned the home crowd.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE ACCOUNTANT 2 (ANYTIME / PRIME VIDEO)
Christian Wolff is brought out of hiding by Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina after someone close to them is killed by unknown assassins. To solve the murder, Wolff must recruit the help of his estranged but highly lethal brother Brax.
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I didn’t enjoy Ben Affleck’s The Accountant. Since it’s 2016 release it’s a Hollywood depreciation. If you did, well…this sequel is an asset. I don’t think Affleck is good with a gun. He’s been a liability in Hypnotic and Triple Frontier. However, I did enjoy his Tom Brady commercial. That counts, as diversification right? Are we committed to making this a franchise…a long-term asset?! Tom Berenger’s The Substitute went 4 deep. Let’s see how many Accountants we end up with. For now your balance sheet offers The Accountant 2.
Thursday, June 12
Deep Cover (Anytime / Prime Video)
Deep Cover is a fast-paced action comedy starring Bryce Dallas Howard as Kat, an improv comedy teacher beginning to question if she’s missed her shot at success. When an undercover cop (Sean Bean) offers her the role of a lifetime, she recruits two of her students (Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed) to infiltrate London’s gangland by impersonating dangerous criminals. It Is What It Is.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: REVIVAL: SEASON 1 (10 P.M. / SYFY)
On one miraculous day in rural Wisconsin, the recently deceased suddenly rise from their graves. But this is no zombie story as the “revived” appear and act just like they once were. When local officer and single mother Dana Cypress is unexpectedly thrown into the center of a brutal murder mystery of her own, she’s left to make sense of the chaos amidst a town gripped by fear and confusion where everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect.
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Series Premiere: Last Friday Syfy broadcast the first episode of Resident Alien’s fourth season. A TV series that is an adaptation of Dark Horse comics. Today Syfy’s latest series is another comic book adaptation. I did not read Revival, a 47 issue horror comics series by writer Tim Seeley and artist Mike Norton. Here’s the premise: the series opens with Revival Day where everyone who died two weeks before the event is suddenly brought back to life. This isn’t zombies. Their personalities are intact and their bodies are now endowed with strange new abilities like an instant-healing factor and super-strength. How do you integrate the ah…walking dead back into normal society? With a premise like that there will always be questions. Will Revival find new life with viewers during its 10 episode season? Programming Note: Episodes will be available to stream on Peacock one week after they air on USA and SYFY. And I know I posted the American TV details however in Canada you can watch Resident Alien on CTV Sci- Fi channel on June 12 at 10 p.m. It’ll stream on Crave the following day.
Friday, June 13
NBA Finals: Game 4 (8 pm ABC)
The NBA Finals are where legends are made, and the season’s not over until a team is handed the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The NBA Finals began on Thursday, June 2 on ABC with Golden State having home court advantage.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: ECHO VALLEY (ANYTIME / APPLE TV+)
Saturday, June 14
SAMMY SUGGESTION: FUBAR: SEASON 2 (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)
Eager to return to action, Luke, Emma and the crew get more than they bargained for when a mysterious terrorist threatens to unleash worldwide chaos.
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Bruce Willis has retired. Sylvester Stallone is doing TV shows (plural) so is Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford. Man and now…to that sad list add Arnold doing TV. We all got old. Fubar is Arnold…whatever. I guess there comes a time when the knees hurt too much running to the choppa. Still glad all these ’80s action stars are all “sticking around” though. “After Luke Brunner (Arnold Schwarzenegger)’s last mission in saving another operative, who just so happened to be his daughter, he’s back and face to face with new villains. This one is an old flame from Luke’s past who threatens to destroy the world… if she doesn’t destroy his life first.” Watch this if you must: clearly Arnold said to Netflix I’ll Be Back for Season 2. Are you back for the Last Action Hero?
Sunday, June 15
Warfare (Anytime / Prime Video-Canada)
Written and directed by Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland, Warfare embeds audiences with a platoon of American Navy SEALs in the home of an Iraqi family, overwatching the movement of US forces through insurgent territory. A visceral, boots-on-the-ground story of modern warfare, told like never before: in real time and based on the memory of the people who lived it.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: HELL MOTEL: LIMITED SERIES (ANYTIME / HOLLYWOOD SUITE)
Hell Motel sees a group of 10 true crime obsessives invited to the opening weekend of the newly renovated Cold River Motel, the site of a 30-year-old unsolved satanic mass murder. History repeats itself when the guests become stranded and start getting knocked off one by one.
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Limited Series Premiere: I can’t wait to “check in” to this horror series from the same people (Aaron Martin and Ian Carpenter) that created Slasher. We got Eric McCormack and Paula Brancati trapped and waiting to perish. Who do you think is gonna eat it first in this Shudder Original Series? Should we run a deadpool? Programming Note: Hell Motel streams on Shudder on June 17.
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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.
