This week’s Streaming Friday is a doozy as it’s the second of two days of nerdgasmic long-awaited superhero content. Yesterday, we saw the anticipated release of the infamous (and well-reviewed) 4-hour Snyder cut and today it’s the latest Marvel series that comes up three gold bars in our Screen Scholars Staff Recommendations. Also, don’t tell John Oliver, but Roku has joined the original streaming content market.

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KATHERINE’S PICK:
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier [Disney+]
Marvel continues unabated. Fan-favorite Bucky Barnes comes to your screen at home in this post-Endgame series where the two heroes must work together (against all odds!) to defeat The Flag-Smashers. (Ugh, too soon.) I’m willing to edge back into a world I’d been pushed out of so I can enjoy Anthony Mackie, whose Falcon is taking the helm for Captain America, on TV.

BRAD’S PICK:
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier [Disney+]
It’s a given that this one won’t be as quirky as WandaVision, but that shouldn’t scare too many fans off. Action=packed with big screen worthy effects (check out that opening scene) this is the show a lot of Marvel fans have been waiting for. Oh and [no spoilers] Flagsmasher hits the MCU.

JASON’S PICK:
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier [Disney+]
While I’m no superhero superfan, I’ll enjoy a good Marvel yarn every once in awhile. This one excites me more as a fan of Anthony Mackie (and loved his brief cameo as same character in Ant Man), and the banter between him and Sebastian Stan as the Bucky Barnes Cap’n looks like a lot of fun.

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

• Netflix rarely goes for the traditional laugh track sitcom, so two in the first few months of 2021 feels kinda crazy. Country Comfort is a C&W music-infused Katharine McPhee vehicle. The American Idol runner-up stretches her thespian chops as a {reads from paper} country singer… ah! Well, at least its familiar ground.
• Alien TV, the animated antics of three little green men who comprise an intergalactic news crew trying to get a handle on Earthly habits returns for a second season. It’s from Australia and it’s on Netflix as well.
• Sticking on Netflix, the F1 racing crews are dealing with the impact of COVID-19 on the community with the third season of Formula 1: Drive To Survive.
• We’ll wrap up the Netflix section of our round-up with their lone import of the week, and this one is a huge one as its from the creators of the cult sensation Money Heist and has a similar vibe. Sky Rojo is a road thriller about three women who are on the run after leaving their pimp in a puddle of his own blood. This should keep fans sated until the return of the Professor and his crew.

• Roku! Roku! The Roku Channel’s first original show is a 24-esque adrenaline fueled thriller called Cypher surrounding FBI cryptoanalyst Will Scott (played by Martin Dingle Wall) as he rushes to solve puzzles before more people die.
• Lying somewhere between MTV Unplugged and NPR’s Tiny Desk series, but with a Latin twist, A Tiny Audience features artists like Paulino Rubio and Carlos Vives performing in an intimate setting.
• With her daughter Alana Thompson (better known as Honey Boo-Boo) turning 16 this year, the crazy tales of the Shannon family carry on with the second season of her mom June Shannon facing prison time in Mama June: Road To Redemption on WE (but is it too late for them).