There’s a Super Bowl at the end of this week so until then here are some Super #SetTheVCR recommendations.
Monday, February 07
Angela Black (Anytime / ITV)
Trapped in a relationship she cannot escape, Angela is approached out of the blue by Ed, a private investigator, who spills her husband’s darkest secrets.
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Sammy Suggestion: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: RIVETED: THE HISTORY OF JEANS (9 P.M. / PBS)
Riveted: The History of Jeans reveals the fascinating and surprising story of this iconic American garment. At any given moment, half the people on the planet are wearing them.
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I know this is a surprising recommendation coming from me considering my movement is #DownWithPants. Still culturally symbolically jeans mean so much. I know so little about them. “From its roots in slavery to its connection to the Wild West, youth culture, the civil rights movement, rock and roll, hippies, high fashion and hip-hop, jeans are the canvas on which the history of American ideology and politics is writ large.” Huh. I wonder if this’ll acknowledge Rob Liefeld’s Levi’s commercial. Yo Youngblood remember that; from like 30 years ago?
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 08
Super Bowl Greatest Commercials: All Time Classics (8 p.m. / CBS)
The greatest commercials to ever come out of the Super Bowl.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THIS IS GOING TO HURT (ANYTIME / BBC ONE & AMC+)
Ben Whishaw stars in an adaptation of Adam Kay’s hit memoir, the series follows junior doctor Kay in his chaotic job in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
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You’ll recognize Ben Whishaw from the recent James Bond movies. Here he’s not as proficient. This Is Going To Hurt is a seven-part drama/comedy based on Adam Kay’s book of the same name. “It tells the unvarnished story of life on a hospital ward through the eyes of a junior doctor, charting the heart-lifting highs and the gut-wrenching lows.” This is a BBC-AMC co-production so today it appears on BBC; no American date yet…so that’s a bit of a Q-uandary.
Wednesday, February 09
Free Guy (Anytime / Crave)
A bank teller decides to become the hero of his own story after discovering he’s a background player in an open-world video game.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT: SEASON 1 (ANYTIME / DISNEY+)
THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT, a thrilling Star Wars adventure teased in a surprise end-credit sequence following the Season 2 finale of “The Mandalorian,” finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate.
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When The Mandalorian first appeared on Disney+ back in November 2019 I waited until my Christmas break to sit down with the full season. It was a great watch for me…doing nothing; watch an episode take a nap then watch another episode. Similarly writing this TV column means I’ve been distracted with other TV shows and movies. So I guess this is gonna become my Star Wars tradition: wait for the entire season of a TV show then sit down and work through it at my own pace. Today is The Book Of Boba Fett’s Season 1 finale. Unlike Mr. Green who has been watching weekly I haven’t a clue what is happening; the only character I know is Boba Fett. Some TV shows work great weekly; others are best when you can do it in chunks. Though I do wonder if that’ll affect a second season. Currently Lucasfilm has yet to officially announce whether The Book of Boba Fett will continue for a second season. I hope that isn’t my fault.
Thursday, February 10
Peacemaker: Season 1 (Anytime / HBO Max & Crave)
Chapter 7 is out today! Peacemaker explores the continuing story of the character that John Cena reprises in the aftermath of executive producer James Gunn’s 2021 film The Suicide Squad – a compellingly vainglorious man who believes in peace at any cost, no matter how many people he has to kill to get it!
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Sammy Suggestion: The Girl Before: Limited Series (Anytime / HBO Max & Crave)
Jane falls in love with an extraordinary minimalist house, but when she discovers that another damaged woman died in the same property three years earlier, she starts to wonder if her own story is just a rerun of the girl before.
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Another BBC co-production this one with BBC and HBO Max; yes also adapted from book. Here’s the description but the magic is in the last 7 words: “A traumatized woman falls in love with an extraordinary minimalist house, which remains under the spell of the architect who originally designed it, but not everything may be as it seems.” “Not everything may be as it seems” indeed! All 4 episodes will be added to the streamer so you can quickly find out what happened to…The Girl Before.
Friday, February 11
Antlers (Anytime / HBO Max)
In an isolated Oregon town, a middle-school teacher and her sheriff brother become embroiled with her enigmatic student, whose dark secrets lead to terrifying encounters with an ancestral creature.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: MALIGNANT (ANYTIME / CRAVE)
Paralyzed by fear from shocking visions, a woman’s torment worsens as she discovers her waking dreams are terrifying realities.
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I saw this horror movie in the cinema! I ain’t gonna tell you anything about it. You gotta see this for yourself…watch it and let me know what you think. Woah.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12
Just Call Out My Name (Anytime / HBO Max)
Just Call Out My Name is a documentary about the creative pairing of Carole King and James Taylor and focuses on the duo’s 2010 world tour, dubbed the “Troubadour Reunion Tour.”
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: KIMI (ANYTIME / HBO MAX & CRAVE)
An agoraphobic tech worker discovers recorded evidence of a violent crime but is met with resistance when she tries to report it. Seeking justice, she must now do the thing she fears the most: she must leave her apartment.
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Director Steven Soderberg and screenwriter David Koepp teamed up to bring us an original HBO Max movie: “an agoraphobic tech worker discovers evidence of a violent crime while reviewing a data stream, and is met with resistance and bureaucracy when she tries reporting it to her company. To get involved, she realizes she must face her greatest fear by venturing out of her apartment and into the city streets, which are filled with protestors after the city council passes a law restricting the movements of the homeless population.” Sounds like a solid sci-fi TV movie; I dunno that I’d put on pants and go see that at the movies for money but on HBO Max? That works. Kimi more movies like that HBO Max!
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13
Tall Girl 2 (Anytime / Netflix)
Landing the lead in the school musical is a dream come true for Jodi, until the pressure sends her confidence — and her relationship — into a tailspin.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: SUPER BOWL LVI (6:30PM / NBC)
Super Bowl LVI will be the upcoming championship game of the National Football League for the 2021 NFL season. It will be played between the National Football Conference champion Los Angeles Rams and the American Football Conference champion Cincinnati Bengals.
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Go NFL teams! Though really as a Canadian the Super Bowl is an excuse to eat chili and chicken wings. Maybe even laugh at a handful of witty commercials.
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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.
