The NBA Returns, Krusty is Pennywise and The Lazarus Project is resurrected in Canada. Welcome back to #SetTheVCR.
Monday, October 17
TSN Original: Broken Arrow (Anytime / TSN.CA)
Chronicles Jamal Murray’s long journey back to an NBA court after tearing his ACL with the dawn of a new NBA season.
~~
SAMMY SUGGESTION: SIGNIFICANT OTHER (ANYTIME / PARAMOUNT+)
Follows a young couple who take a remote backpacking trip through the Pacific Northwest and face sinister events leading them to realize that everything about the place is not as it seems.
~~~
Significant Other is listed as sci-fi horror. That’s always a fascinating genre. Because we got a forest (nothing good ever happens in forests in horror movies…), a couple who are fighting and…something significantly sinister “out there” to qualify as sci-fi horror. Hiking in the Pacific Northwest woods…nobody can hear you scream. Programming Note: A Friend of the Family a Peacock Limited Series debuts tonight on Showcase at 9 p.m. It first aired in America on October 6.
Tuesday, October 18
Searching for Shohei: An Interview Special (Following The Network’s MLB Postseason Coverage / FS1 & Fox Sports App)
A 60-minute special on international baseball phenom and Los Angeles Angels pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (produced by Religion of Sports!).
~~
SAMMY SUGGESTION: INSIDE THE NBA: OPENING SEASON DOUBLEHEADER (7 P.M. / TNT)
Welcome a new NBA Season. Who’ll be crowned The Champ? And who’ll be capped as The Chumps?
~~~
The 2022–23 NBA season is the 77th season of the National Basketball Association. Wow. The regular season begins tonight and ends on April 9, 2023. (They’ll tell you the start of the NBA Season is October 18. That’s a lie. The NBA Season officially starts on April 15, 2023 with the start of NBA Playoffs. Doing well during the regular season is like getting an A at school; it don’t make you good or smart.) Happily, Inside The NBA kicks off the season with a doubleheader: Sixers and Celtics at 7:30 p.m.; Lakers and Warriors at 10 p.m. (that’s a ring ceremony.) Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin.
Wednesday, October 19
Unsolved Mysteries: Volume 3 (Anytime / Netflix)
The infamous series returns with a three-week event (this week, October 25 and November 1) featuring more unexplained deaths, baffling disappearances and bizarre paranormal activity.
~~
SAMMY SUGGESTION: YEAR ONE: A POLITICAL ODYSSEY (ANYTIME / HBO MAX & CRAVE)
Assuming office only two weeks after the January 6th attack on the Capitol, Biden’s presidency entered the maelstrom of an ongoing global pandemic, renewed conflicts with Russia and China, and America’s international standing in decline.
~~~
Did you see John Maggio’s A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks? That was a 2021 HBO documentary recommended in this space. His latest doc Year One follows the Biden administration’s first year as bookended by Inauguration Day 2021 and the State of the Union speech of March 2022. (Think of it as Batman: Year One only replace Bruce Wayne with Joe Biden.) It’s a strange political contradiction, isn’t it? We just had Showtime’s Lincoln Project; I eagerly recommend The Circus every Sunday night…now this documentary. Yet the aphorism persists: “Anyone who loves politics or sausages should never watch either being made.” I dunno how to circle that square…no different than recognizing Batman: Year One. Can Bruce Wayne as a billionaire do more good or can Batman do more good? How much good can a President do in Year One?
Thursday, October 20
11.22.63: Limited Series (Anytime / Prime Video Canada)
A high school teacher travels back in time to prevent John F. Kennedy’s assassination. One of the better Stephen King adaptations has randomly surfaced on Prime Video Canada.
~~
SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE LAZARUS PROJECT: SEASON 1 (9 P.M. / SHOWCASE)
Fresh from airing in the UK…the Project touches down in Canada tonight. The Project is a top secret organization dedicated to preventing mass extinction events and with the ability to make time go backwards.
~~~
We got shoot-outs, car chases, a top-secret organization, punch-ups, sniper attacks, time loops and on-foot pursuits. And we got Season 2. The Project was renewed on August 4, 2022 following its successful broadcast on Sky TV on June 16, 2022. So, there’s no pressure; the Brits did the heavy lifting and enough of em watched to get us to Season 2. Whew for us; still terrible for George. George is an app developer who is mysteriously reliving the last six months of his life. What the? And then he is recruited into The Lazarus Project, a secret organization that uses time travel to prevent extinction-level threats. Oh yes! What could go wrong right? This is my new Counterpart (remember that most excellent TV show with J. K. Simmons?). Programming Note: on October 12, 2022, it was confirmed The Lazarus Project has been picked up by TNT for an American broadcast in early 2023.
Friday, October 21
Matriarch (Anytime / Hulu & Disney+ Canada)
Afflicted with a mysterious disease after surviving an overdose, a woman returns to her childhood home to confront her personal demons but instead discovers a real one.
~~
SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE PERIPHERAL: SEASON 1 (ANYTIME / PRIME VIDEO)
The Peripheral centers on Flynne Fisher a woman trying to hold together the pieces of her broken family in a forgotten corner of tomorrow’s America.
~~~
Yes; based on the 2014 science-fiction novel by William Gibson. (The Peripheral was followed by a sequel and a prequel Agency…where technology from The Peripheral is used to explore an alternative 2017 where Hillary Clinton won the 2016 Presidential Election. How much of that will end up in this series I cannot say.) The 8 episode season starts when: “Flynne Fisher dons a headset and finds herself in futuristic London—a sleek and mysterious world, alluringly different from her own hardscrabble existence. But this isn’t like any game she’s ever played before: Flynne begins to realize it isn’t virtual reality…it’s real. Someone in London, seventy years in the future, has found a way to open a door to Flynne’s world…” Oh Snap! Are you going to “see” the Peripheral?
Saturday, October 22
Criss Angel’s Magic With the Stars: Season 1 (8 p.m. / The CW)
In each episode two celebrities train with professional magicians and compete to create a show-stopping series of magic performances.
~~
SAMMY SUGGESTION: RAYMOND & RAY (ANYTIME / APPLE TV+)
Half brothers Raymond and Ray reunite when their estranged father dies – and discover that his final wish was for them to dig his grave. Together, they process who they’ve become as men, both because of their father and in spite of him.
~~~
Brothers from another mother; struggle with having the same father. Only now they view his death…and especially his funeral as a way to put the past behind them and reinvent themselves. According to the media release: “there’s anger, there’s pain, there’s folly, there might be love, and there’s definitely grave-digging.” Ah yes what else could you want from a Saturday night at the movies. Well, there’s also Ethan Hawke who plays Ray so that’s another reason to tune in. Everybody Loves Raymond…and Ray.
Sunday, October 23
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Anytime / Crave)
In this action-packed comedy, Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage, channeling his iconic characters as he’s caught between a superfan (Pedro Pascal) and a CIA agent (Tiffany Haddish).
~~
SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE SIMPSONS: SEASON 34 (8 P.M. / FOX)
The satiric adventures of a working-class family in the misfit city of Springfield.
~~~
A full-length Treehouse of Horror episode: Not It. The children of Kingfield (get it?) are terrorized by a version of the series’ familiar Krusty the Clown, named Krusto. (Krusto feeds off laughter.) The Simpsons’ take on the Losers Club, which tries to destroy Krusto, consists of younger, misfit versions of Homer, Marge, Carl, Moe and Comic Book Guy. So making a tea for this!! Then the following week: Treehouse of Horror XXXIII airs on October 30. What a freshtastic Halloween tradition.
–28-
Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
Stress free pop culture tastefully harvested for your divine delight. Once a week a carefully curated edition of My Pal Sammy goes directly to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter so we can have some fun…being cool with IT!
