Sammy Younan
Girth Radio Presents…
From a comedy special to a horror special behold TV’s wide range of emotions all ready to connect to your feelings. You feeling what I’m feeling?
Sunday, November 15
The Simpsons: Season 32 (8 p.m. / Fox)
Fargo: Season 4 (9 p.m. / FX)
Moonbase 8 (11 p.m. / Showtime)
Sammy Suggestion: The Reagans (8 p.m. / Showtime)
The beginning of the end for America: once it elected Ronald Regan. Really and tragically since Ronald, every president since has been evil and oppressive; 2020 doesn’t seem to be a reverse. So this is a fantastic opportunity to understand how we got here; to put a deeply conservative Presidency into a digestible context. This 4 part series is directed by Where’s My Roy Cohn? director Matt Tyrnauer. Cue the Land of Confusion: There’s too many men/ too many people/Making too many problems/And not much love to go round: Can’t you see this is a land of confusion?
Monday, November 16
Sammy Suggestion: What Do Foreign Correspondents Think of the U.S.? (Anytime / YouTube – See Below👇🏽)
One of the strangest aspects of the recent American election and the discussions leading up to the Big Event is that so many people were choosing to consume the same American media. Like we live in a world where you can literally google anything…access podcasts and articles from anywhere in the world: google will even translate for you! (We did this before with downloading music and later movie piracy: you can see how much of the debate was insular and framed only by “local” social media and American media. Hence the aggressive scolding and borderline bullying passing off as shame prompting because downloading was classified in moral terms: it’s a sin to download. Morality over music and movies was an American aspect: they didn’t write articles like that in France or China or anywhere else.) So wisely this short but insightful New Yorker documentary asks: What Do Foreign Correspondents Think of the U.S.? Here’s the whole thing:
Tuesday, November 17
Lego Star Wars Holiday Special (Anytime / Disney Plus)
Big Sky (10 p.m. / ABC)
Sammy Suggestion: Kevin Hart: Zero Fucks Given (Anytime / Netflix)
Kevin Hart’s latest comedy special was filmed this past September so it should be current. He posted on IG: “This is the rawest that I have ever been….Real Raw stand up comedy….I can’t wait for yall to see this shit!!!!!” I’ve been worried about stand up comedy. Bands can do music performances over zoom; it’s decent, not amazing but it works. Bands can even record in a large room if they spread out far enough and just keep writing and releasing music. But comedy needs everybody in the room: the way the material is continually refined, the sarcastic experiments, those off-the-cuff moments. You can’t write a handful of jokes in your bedroom and assume they’re funny: sometimes/often they’re not. (Anybody whose read my Facebook statuses over the past year can attest to that.) Comedy is the one art form/medium I worry about until we get back to normal or a new normal or some sort of normal. Thankfully this is normal for Kevin Hart: Zero Fucks is Hart’s sixth comedy special on Netflix.
Wednesday, November 18
No Man’s Land: Season 1 (Anytime / Hulu)
Sammy Suggestion: Crazy, Not Insane (9 p.m. / HBO)
The AP Stylebook (an English grammar style and usage guide) recently recommended: “Do not use derogatory terms, such as insane, crazy/crazed, nuts or deranged, unless they are part of a quotation that is essential to the story. Avoid using mental health terms to describe unrelated issues. Don’t say that an awards show, for example, was schizophrenic.” Fair enough however the murderers in this HBO documentary are not a “schizophrenic awards show.” Crazy, Not Insane follows Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis’ research; she’s a psychiatrist who studies the psychology of murders. A fascinating wrinkle to the current true crime trend unfolding across podcasts and many documentaries. You’d be crazy to miss the one! (All apologies to the AP Stylebook I’m not sure if it covers sarcasm and cheap puns.)
Thursday, November 19
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion (Anytime / HBO Max)
Sammy Suggestion: Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist (Anytime / Shudder)
Alexandre Philippe’s latest documentary has arrived on Shudder! Following his previous movie docs 78/52 (on Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho) and Memory: The Origins of Alien (on well: Alien) he now focuses on William Friedkin’s The Exorcist! (Check because I believe Crave still has Memory if you wanna see it. Highly recommended.) Released in 1973 William Friedkin’s The Exorcist has disturbed audiences for decades while dramatically reducing pea soup orders in restaurants (that era’s horror movies are bone-chilling, say from Rosemary’s Baby in 1968 to Halloween in 1978 before the slasher saga of the 80s.). Following a template from his previous work, Philippe’s Leap of Faith is a spiritual cinematic essay on The Exorcist while recognizing William Friedkin’s faith and filmmaking process exploring “what possessed” him to make this bold horror movie. (Before I conclude: a special nod to the Winchesters who wrap it up tonight after 15 seasons. That’s an impressive accomplishment: most Star Treks go 7 seasons deep. Supernatural is recognizing a force beyond scientific understanding so I believe the show’s title to be apt: I don’t understand how they pulled off 15 seasons. And I certainly do not believe we’ll be getting another 15 season run anytime soon so take a moment tonight to drop by…say goodbye to Sam and Dean and their amazing friends before you ah…Carry On…to Shudder.)
Friday, November 20
Animaniacs: Season 1 (Anytime / Hulu)
Sammy Suggestion: Voices of Fire: Season 1 (Anytime / Netflix)
That this fire comes from executive producer Pharrell Williams is chiefly why I’ll testify! I’m not a fan of Masked Singer, American Idol that whole genre of TV. The singing and musical competition for this Netflix show seems to be who can uplift the most. The mission if you choose to accept it is to “build a choir to change the world.” I’d make a skeptical sarcastic comment but sometimes you just gotta have faith…and I believe also Netflix so ah you can watch this.
Saturday, November 21
Between the World and Me (8 p.m. / HBO)
Sammy Suggestion: Dolittle (Anytime / Crave)
Turns out Robert Downey Jr.’s post-MCU lifestyle is all about to Do-Little as possible. Which based on the box office returns this movie did “Dolittle.” I’m done belittling this movie…gather the kids around the TV if you got em.
