Extra Hot Great

Did Alan Alda vehicle The Four Seasons need an eight-part dramedy reboot? The panel -- joined by Alyson Lewis of Cracked -- doesn't think so, although one of us enjoyed returning to a version of a property that aired constantly on HBO in the mid-eighties. But did the story need this many episodes, or this downbeat a tone? Do we enjoy this iteration of a Tina Fey character? And why is a certain actor almost certain to get killed in prestige programs like this? Later, we went Around The Dial with Taskmaster's 19th season, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Clubhouse, and Tara hoped Mary (and "That Woman") would make it into the Canon. Kali Reis won, Disney lost, and we synchronized our schedules for a timely Non-Regulation Game Time. Boot up your favorite second-screen farm game and have a listen! GUESTS

Heather wanted us to watch a 29-year-old Sam Elliott playing a cowboy in a Season 2 episode of The Streets Of San Francisco, and who were we to resist? We tell you whether the episode's worth ripping off your pearl snap shirt over. Our latest Ask EHG takes us through questions about, among others, our most out-of-character favorite shows and the strangest places we've ever run into someone we knew. Sarah pitches "Smizing" for the TV coinage Tiny Canon. Then, after sharing a new batch of Not Quite Top 11 lists, we close up by recasting famous original CSI. Find yourself a comfortable bunk and listen! TOPICS Forcening Pool:

Most weeks, we confront our guests with a Thought Experiment to compile for an end-of-year special. But this time, we're the ones in the hot seat. We asked our friends -- past podcast guests all -- to challenge us with TV-themed Would You Rather? They came through in a big way with hypothetical choices that really set us to some soul-searching. Listen to hear what decisions we're being forced to make! TOPICS Lead Topic:

Black Mirror is back with a seventh season packed with miso jam, thronglings, classic film, Christian counseling services, a whole artists' commune, and more; Brandi Brown joins us to discuss what goes down (sometimes...way down). Around The Dial takes us through Hacks, The Syd + TP Show, and Top Chef. Tara attempts to get yet another game night sitcom episode into The Canon with Will & Grace's "Alley Cats." Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we're trying to get closest to the pin with Return Of The Return Of The Steep Incline Climber. Put that nubbin on your temple and listen! GUESTS

The Ankler's awards editor, Katey Rich, thinks Hulu/FX's new dramedy Dying For Sex -- about dying, kink exploration, and friendship love stories -- might be in line for some awards love. Did the panel agree? Listen for our discussion, plus Holofcener vibes, useless men, and rooting for Dawson's alums. We went Around The Dial with The Amazing Race, St. Denis Medical, and Andy Kaufman doc Thank You Very Much, and Katey lured us onto the corporate jet of a third-season 30 Rock episode. Olivia Munn won, legendary TAR teams lost, and we found out which TV set elements are bigger than breadboxes in a special Katey Edition of Game Time. Invite Neighbor Guy over and listen now! GUESTS

Will & Grace co-creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick are back with a throwback multi-cam sitcom that isn't Gay Golden Girls, but isn't NOT Gay Golden Girls. Would we travel down the road and back again for more? Joe Reid joins us to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us through Last One Laughing UK, Shrinking, Adolescence, The Pitt, and Gone Girls. Joe pitches the Simpsons episode "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" for induction into the Nonac. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that's more hard work than usual. Put down the cottage cheese and listen! GUESTS

Muppeturgy's Adam Grosswirth returns to talk about Shondaland's latest show for Netflix, The Residence, which takes us behind the scenes at the White House via a murder mystery -- but could the stellar cast make up for a too-long runtime and not-funny-enough writing? Do we have an Only Murders In The West Wing copycat problem? And should you bother watching? We went Around The Dial with The Righteous Gemstones, Smash on Broadway, and B-B-B-B-Bosch: Legacy's swan-song season, and Adam hoped he could train the panel to vote a first-season Murder, She Wrote into the Canon. Project Runway won, Netflix lost, and it came down to the wire in a very (equalizer) challenging Game Time. Grab that Audubon off the windowsill and have a listen! GUESTS

Patreon supporters earn the right to "forcen" us to watch TV episodes of their choosing, and while we usually never know what we're going to get, this time we each made a selection from the list of submissions. Was Dave worshipful of The Chosen's "The Rock On Which It Is Built"? Did Tara want to take The Young Ones episode "Bambi" out back and shoot its mom? Did Sarah thrill to the artistry of Hustle's series premiere, "The Con Is On"? Listen, find out, and then (if you haven't already) join us on Patreon to tell us what we should watch next! TOPICS Forcening Pool:

We all love the series regulars on our favorite shows. But the magic of episodic television is that someone can pop into your life for just an hour, or 22 minutes, or maybe even just one scene, and make an impression that lasts a lifetime. Your co-hosts invited Jeff Drake to join us for a special episode in which we winnowed down our Sweet 16 of one-off TV characters to the one that, in this particular bracket, towers above them all. Listen to find out who the ONE one-off champion turned out to be! GUESTS

Obviously, we couldn't have anyone else come discuss Running Point but Krystal Farmer -- so thank God she agreed, and we went deep on everything from the charms of Kate Hudson to how much of a sport a sports-com should show, plus dumb pro-team fonts and believable sibling energy. Later, we went Around The Dial with Grosse Pointe Garden Society, Futurama on Hulu, and On Call, and Tara schooled us with her A.P. Bio Canon pitch. Éanna Hardwicke won, the Oscars' "In Memoriam" segment lost, and we celebrated the leading ladies of TV in Game Time. It's that that that time again: time to listen to an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

After Suits became a surprise streaming hit a couple of years back, of course NBCUniversal couldn't resist going back to the well, and that's how we got the spinoff Suits LA. Is it facing contempt charges? Kari Race returns to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us through The Baldwins, Ladies & Gentlemen...50 Years Of SNL Music, Dear Child, America Undercover and A Thousand Blows. Kari makes the case for inducting an episode of Kroll Show into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that could spell doom for some. Take your suit off -- or put another one on -- and listen! GUESTS

The White Lotus is finally back, and so is novelist and Variety columnist Dan D'Addario to talk about a new locale for familiar hateful-richies storylines. We also talked about who we think gets killed, the most and least successful guest storylines, David Lynch, and what happens when a pandemic lark breaks big for premium cable, before going Around The Dial with Cobra Kai, Yellowjackets, and Lorne Michaels. Dan couldn't help but wonder if his And Just Like That... Canon pitch would succeed; Queens won and Ray Romano lost (guess everybody DIDN'T love him back in the day); and a familiar Game Time had us flipping through the PICI-to-English dictionary. Before you pass out at the dinner table, have a listen! GUESTS

Family Feud is a game show that has delighted audiences for decades by challenging teams of related players to guess answers supplied by randomly selected survey subjects. Completely unrelatedly, our latest special episode, Kinfolk Kerfuffle, has contestants trying to match poll answers submitted by our Discord members. Dave presides as chosen family Tara, Sarah, Adam Grosswirth, and Kim Reed take on handpicked tribe Taylor Cole, Dan Cassino, Larra Morris, and Nick Rheinwald-Jones. It's time to play the Feud Kerfuffle! GUESTS

After NBC screwed up Charles Star's booking by dropping The Hunting Party series premiere weeks early, it's fitting (?) that he should, instead, join us for a Prime Video original movie about a scheduling snafu: the Nicholas Stoller-written and -directed You're Cordially Invited, starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon at war over a wedding venue. Did it leave us wanting to toss rice, or toss our cookies? Listen to find out. Around The Dial takes us to Clean Slate, The Hunting Party (Charles watched it so he might as well warn the community about it), Band Of Brothers, and just a whisper about the imminent third season of Reacher. Sarah pitches "Forks" from The Bear for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that tests our TV and movie knowledge SAT-style. Grab a slice of cake -- hope it's not too dry -- and listen! GUESTS

Sterling K. Brown takes the lead in Paradise, and in the investigation that drives Hulu's new paranoid thriller -- and Rolling Stone's lead TV critic, Alan Sepinwall, is back to discuss both. Do the layered flashbacks work better for this material than for Brown's previous Dan Fogelman project, This Is Us? Does the dumb world-building outweigh the watchable acting? After we talked about how this underground/domed world stacked up against others on TV, we went Around The Dial with Common Side Effects, Mythic Quest, and the latest documentary from the Ken Burns Industrial Complex before Alan carefully constructed a Canon pitch for a Better Call Saul episode. Jennifer Garner won, Don Lemon lost, and what hark through yonder earbud breaks but a Shakespearean Game Time. Pack a bag for Colorado and join us! GUESTS

With Saturday Night Live about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its series premiere, Peacock has assembled four documentary specials about how the show is made. Do any of them really advance our knowledge about this comedy institution? Omar Gallaga returns to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us through Severance, A.P. Bio, Playing For Peanuts, and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Omar pitches the Shōgun episode "Crimson Sky" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time about who stayed standing from series premiere to finale. Finish that bowl of Colon Blow and join us! GUESTS

Various legal proceedings aside, The Pitt is ABSOLUTELY not ER...but if you liked ER, Fug Girl Heather Cocks agrees with the panel that you'll like Max's new and extremely gnarly medical drama. It has all the ingredients that make a doctor show (versus a soap with doctors in it) compelling: solid casting; elegant world-building via medical students; and just enough jargon. We're going Around The Dial with Switching Gears, The Breakthrough, and comfort TV scripted and non- in the form of The Traitors and The Summer I Turned Pretty. We're also interrogating The West Wing's ill-advised 9/11 response episode, "Isaac And Ishmael," to see if it belongs in the EHG Nonac. Sanrio won, the Chrisleys lost, and Dan Cassino brings us below the line with a crazy-credits Game Time. Roll your gurney up to a speaker and listen! GUESTS

Amy is a hard-charging doctor who's alienated almost everyone in her life. Then amnesia following a car accident erases the last eight years of her life from her memory. Can she start over and fix what she broke during that lost time?! Sarah Baker is here to discuss whether Fox's new drama Doc imprinted on her memory at all. Around The Dial takes us through Going Dutch, The Circle, Somebody Somewhere, and Everwood. Mlle. Caroline pitches the Ghosts (UK) episode "The Thomas Thorne Affair" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time about VERY useless keywords. Tighten up that head bandage and join us! GUESTS

We are off this week for EHG Prime but present you with this EHG Club unlock of EEHG 313: Taking A Journey In The World Of David The Gnome. It's time again for us to submit to the wishes of listeners like you, which is how we've ended up watching the series finale of The World Of David The Gnome. What was clearly conceived as a sweet story about gnomes and animals living harmoniously together in nature takes a WILD turn for its very last episode, so: thanks for exposing us all to that, Matt! Then it's on to your answers to our last Ask Ask EHG question, and our answers to your latest Ask EHG questions about Bryan Fuller's career, whether we are brat, and more. Some Not Quite Winners and Losers get their time in the sun and shade. Then we welcome in the grandpas for cartoon crossovers. Hop onto the fox that transports you around the forest and join us! TOPICS 15s Of Fame:

We are off this week for EHG Prime but present you with this EHG Club unlock of EEHG 296: Showing Proper Deference To Star Maidens. We're in the doldrums of mid-May. None of the week's TV premieres lit us with a fire of passion. What better time for Dave to make us all watch Star Maidens, a mid-70s British sci-fi show about a CRAZY planet where women are in charge and men are their bitter servants. What could go wrong? For Ask EHG, we solicited your DUMBEST questions, and you came through with queries about, among others, how our pets would get in trouble if they went to school and which of the three of us would win in an EHG Thunderdome. We bring you some all-new Not Quite Top 11 Lists in lieu of the week's Winner and Loser. Then we close up with Anthobuzz's Extra Credit submission on updating a Rodman's World Tour poker segment for the decade of our choice. Get in the Hypnomat and join us! TOPICS Lead Topic:

One week out from Christmas, we're bringing you a special all about the holidays. Will festive episodes of The Twilight Zone and Frasier take their place in our TV Hall of Fame? Will a famous failure of a Veronica Mars episode land in our Hall of Shame? Fa la la la la la la la listen and find out! TOPICS The Canon:

It had been far too long since we played Mullendash, one of our favorite games, so we reached out to our network and gathered three people who write jokes for a living: standup comic Brandi Brown; comic and former Desus & Mero head writer Josh Gondelman; and former Last Week Tonight writer Jill Twiss. How good were they at writing bad punchlines that could pass for Jim Mullen's, thus fooling their fellow players? Listen and find out! GUESTS

Once again, we made some of our Valued Guests stick around after their tapings and muse about TV in our version of a What If? Find out where their imaginations took them in this very special yearly EHG tradition! GUESTS

One of the oldest and most venerated game show formats is Password, dating back to well before all your co-hosts were alive. On an entirely unrelated note, for this special episode, we're playing a game called Personal Authorization Code! We've invited our friends Sarah Baker, Robert Krut, Jeff Drake, and Wendy Molyneux to play; since all of them live on the west coast and had to record in the middle of the night, our beloved Joe Reid sat in for Sarah as Tara's partner. Who can do the most with the least...number of words? Listen and learn! GUESTS

Prestige series Dune: Prophecy travels more than ten thousand years into the past to see what put in motion the Dune-iverse events we already knew about. Guest Phil Maciak took the time-machine trip with us to discuss whether the series is only for fans of the existing IP; what the series might have focused on instead of administrative wrangling; and why the club always looks annoying regardless of timeline. We went Around The Dial with A Man On The Inside, Junior Taskmaster, Say Nothing, and a Day Of The Jackel update before Phil appealed to our hearts -- and guts -- with a Somebody Somewhere pitch. Friday Night Lights won, Jenny Mollen lost, and the melody lingered on with another round of Tube Tunes. Cue up your thinking machines and listen now! GUESTS

Superstore creator Justin Spitzer has teamed up with Eric Ledgin for a new sitcom set at an Oregon hospital. Is it goofier than the subject matter demands? Stephanie Early Green returns to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us through Married At First Sight, Anatomy Of Lies, Sister Wives, Cruel Doubt, and The Penguin. Stephanie pitches the 10th episode of Australia's Instant Hotel's first season for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we close up with a Game Time about TV shows that burned brightly, but too briefly (and...not always brightly). Put your feet up -- in or out of traction; that's up to you -- and join us! GUESTS

We thought a far-out distraction from current events was the way to go this week -- so we went to a fictional White House with accidental president Mike Brady, via 2002 TV movie The Brady Bunch In The White House. Should you take the tour -- or is this second-generation photocopy of an already-mediocre nostalgia brand not a candidate for your attention? We went Around The Dial with the new season of Abbott Elementary, the Criterion Closet series, and Mad Men before Ari wove together a Canon case for a sixth-season Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Tapestry." Prestige casting won, Amazon lost, and we voted early often for film-adaptation shows in Game Time. It's your patriotic duty to listen now! GUESTS

Prime Video's new unscripted show invites product creators to pitch supposed experts from the business world for the chance to get their wares featured in the Buy It Now store; reality TV expert Andy Dehnart returns to discuss what is essentially "Shark Tank, But Crappier." Around The Dial takes us through Somebody Somewhere's final season, The Summit, Four In A Bed, and Raiders Of The Lost Art. Andy pitches the Dating Around episode "Guru" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time with a lot of love to give. Put down that goop that lets you wash your face without water, and join us! GUESTS

Author, filmmaker, and Listen To Sassy co-host Pam Ribon is back to help us figure out what Hysteria! is trying to do: satirize the satanic panic and witch hunts of a bygone era? invoke Stranger Things and the Church Lady? We're not even sure what genre we should call it, never mind whether you should watch it, but maybe our discussion will help you decide. We went Around The Dial with What We Do In The Shadows, The Change, and Woman Of The Hour before trying to sneak an undercover 21 Jump Street episode into the Ca-- er, the Pamon. Slow Horses won, car chases lost, and we got bogged down in minutiae with rightwood's IMDb-forward Game Time. Take a break from that pentagram copy-edit and check it out! GUESTS

Rolling Stone's chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall is back to talk about Apple TV's latest prestige limited series -- starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, directed and written by Alfonso Cuarón, and maaaaybe a little too fond of its own shot compositions. Is the hinted-at conclusion worth sticking around for -- or are we mostly seeing it through for Kline's cardigan acting? Next, we went Around The Dial with Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, Happy's Place, Shrinking, and the Platonic (not) ideal of "this should have been a feature" docuserieses, before Tara nominated a third-season Harley Quinn episode for the Canon. An Office reboot won, Succession lost, and a new scoring wrinkle scared the hell out of us in Game Time. Throw your drawers out the train window and have a listen! GUESTS

Three British talents from the worlds of TV comedy (Jon Brown, Armando Iannucci) and film (Sam Mendes) have come together for The Franchise, a look behind the scenes at the making of a fictional superhero movie. Does it shoot up, up, and away into the stratosphere? Devindra Hardawar returns to discuss. Around The Dial takes us to 9-1-1: Lone Star, 9-1-1 (talk about running the gamut), and the second season of Interview With The Vampire. The otherwise absent Sarah makes her pitch for inducting the Frasier episode "The Ski Lodge" into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we close with a Non-Regulation Game Time that might not be entirely super, but is at least somewhat duper. Hide out in your trailer and listen! GUESTS

ABC's new cruise-ship medical procedural features Dawson's Creek's former Pacey Witter as a hotshot surgeon who sets sail in search of work-life balance; Jessica Morgan returns to discuss whether everything's shipshape. Around The Dial takes us through the Real Housewives of New York, Salt Lake City, AND Orange County before ending on the 30 for 30 episode "My American Son." Anne pitches the 30 Rock episode "Queen Of Jordan" for induction into the Nonac. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that's really taking its (game) time. Put on your life vest and join us! GUESTS

None of us necessarily expected to recommend a comics-IP property featuring Colin Farrell under pounds of prosthetic make-up -- but we all liked it, including returning guest Richard Lawson. We talked about how it surprised us, the small feature-film stories it seemed to contain, whether it should have let the real Farrell shine through, and who's the season MVP (spoiler: Cristin Milioti). Then we went Around The Dial with the new Matlock, Alex vs. America, and Ryan Murphy's take on the brothers Menendez before Richard battled at least five Cynthia Nixon performances to get a Law & Order: SVU episode into the Canon. Friends won, Cold Case lost ("....AAeeeEnNNNGhhHHHHH!"), and Erica introduced us to a hard-fought Game Time. Waddle on over to your podcast app and have a listen! GUESTS

An ex-Lost writer brings a French crime show to America with Kaitlin Olson as the extraordinarily intelligent cleaner who becomes the LAPD's newest consultant; we tell you whether it's the rare network show that deserves an hour of your life each week. Around The Dial takes us through the second-season premiere of Tulsa King, HBO's new doc David Chase & The Sopranos, and The Sniffer. Mlle. Caroline takes another run at getting a Psych into The Canon with "Last Night Gus" (and we also salute JMak, a Patreon supporter who added it to our Forcening pool). Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we drive Metallicar right into a Non-Regulation Game Time. Unlike a church, you can face whatever direction you want as you listen! TOPICS Lead Topic:

Writer and critic Sonia Saraiya is back to bid summer adieu with a discussion of Netflix's The Perfect Couple, a six-part murder mystery among the rich and unbearable that's aiming for Revenge and Succession vibes -- but does it work? The panel has mixed feelings...except about the beautiful locations, and the star wattage of Meghann Fahy. After we rinsed off the sand, we went Around The Dial with Adam Sandler's latest special, the first season of BoJack Horseman, and The Challenge, and Julie hoped a great first date would lead to something Canon-ical with her pitch for Looking. Lee Daniels won, Bosch: Legacy (and Sarah's years-long runner) lost, and we tried to figure out who the IMDb considered most likely to succeed in Game Time. Take a break from chipping balls into the bay and have a listen! GUESTS

We are off this week due to holiday travel but present you with this EHG Club unlock. EEHG 294: Discussing A Scorching Burn Notice Susanna invited us to check out the Burn Notice episode "Bad Breaks," and we were thrilled! Find out why that was the episode Susanna picked and exactly what two BN veterans and one new arrival thought about it. Ask EHG has us pondering our hypothetical Family Feud garb, the avatars we use on our various streaming platforms, and more. Then we each name our Not Quite Winners And Losers Of The Week, and close things up with another round of Now You Know Your ABCTVs. Put down your yogurt and join us! TOPICS Lead Topic:

As August continues letting us down in the TV premiere department, we take a look back -- waaaaaaaaay back, to 1974, when Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis slapped his name on a TV movie version of Dracula written by Richard "I Am Legend" Matheson and starring Jack "One-Armed Pushups" Palance. Since we've previously subjected Nick Rheinwald-Jones to other Dracula adaptations, it falls to him to return and discuss it with us. Around The Dial spins around to Emily In Paris, Mastermind, the comedy specials of James Acaster, We Are Lady Parts, and Everwood. Nick makes his pitch for the S03 finale of The Bear to be inducted into The Canon. Finally, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we end on a Game Time that comes to us in triplicate. Wash your neck and join us! GUESTS

The USA Network is apparently making original shows...that should be streaming shows, like The Anonymous, which throws The Traitors, Big Brother, and a number of other alliance-based reality shows into a blender. Kari Race is back to discuss whether it's a concoction worth drinking, given all the AI dad jokes, dead air, and inappropriate cliffhangers in the first three episodes. Then we went Around The Dial with Taskmaster NZ, Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, and Homicide: LOTS. Mr. Throwback won (a timeslot), Teresa Giudice lost (again), and Tube Tunes got stuck in our heads again during Non-Regulation Game Time. Take a break from screaming at a pizza slice and have a listen! GUESTS

Florida transplant Al Lowe Huff is back to talk about Bad Monkey, the Apple TV adaptation of Carl Hiassen's Sunshine State-noir book, and the ways it lets Vince Vaughn's...Vince Vaughn-ing find the apex of its expression. We also discussed the show's great casting, realtor shade, meta voice-overs, and unwelcome references to True Detective before we went Around The Dial with Couples Therapy, My Life Is Murder, and the fifth season of Justified. Hallie had one more thing for us to consider in a Nonac pitch for a 1990s zombie Columbo, before The Gilded Age won and a Red Sock lost. Finally, we wedged in a sequel to a Trivial Pursuit-based Game Time, so load up your battered vintage cooler with an armload of popsicles and join us! GUESTS

Autumn is nearly upon us again, but all we care about is TV. That's why we've invited back Alexandra Collins and Daniel MacEachern to look at the calendar of forthcoming premieres and make our picks in the categories of Shows We're Into; Shows We Should Be Into But Aren't; the all-new "Happy For You" category for shows we don't care about but don't begrudge others enjoying; and Shows No One Should Be Into. Tara pitches the 9-1-1-: Lone Star episode "Everyone And Their Brother" for induction into the Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that's gonna get itself, gonna get itself, gonna get itself connected. Wrap a scarf or five around your neck and join us! GUESTS

The Decameron has come to Netflix in the form of a limited series from Teenage Bounty Hunters creator Kathleen Jordan. How has the centuries-old material change in the adaptation? Kathryn VanArendonk returns to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us to Futurama's latest season, My Lady Jane, and Shōgun. Kathryn makes the case for inducting the Bluey episode "Camping" into the Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that's "sticks of TNT"! Put down the onion you're using to dissipate pestilence miasma and listen! GUESTS

Monty Ashley returned not just to EHG but to the distant past, as the panel contemplated Peacock's ancient-Succession drama, Those About To Die. The CGI is pretty ancient too, but did any of the storylines make us want to keep watching? Did Sarah D. "Horse Girl" Bunting care about the stables subplot? And how much chariot-racing is too much? Then we neck-acted our way Around The Dial with Cobra Kai, The Boys, and the soothing Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories before clambering into a Dumpster for Monty's The Chris Gethard Show Canon submission. And finally, it was time to swear at-- er, IN a TV-president Game Time from Dan Cassino. Oscar-winners, grenades, and avant-garde casting choices around RFK Sr. in this all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

Terror At London Bridge is a 1985 TV movie in which David Hasselhoff plays Don, a detective arrived in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, just in time for Jack The Ripper to come back to life and start killing people there, and since July 17 is his birthday, there's no better time to talk about it! Sadly, a last-minute scheduling change forced Sarah to excuse herself, but our guest Eve Batey is here to speak on behalf of everyone who can, like Don, truthfully say that true crime is one of their passions. Around The Dial takes us to a detailed discussion of Prime Video's Sausage Party: Foodtopia and the final season of Evil. Our friend Dan Cassino makes the case for X-Men '97's "Remember It" to be inducted into the Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner(s) and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that doesn't have much to say for itself. Grab your cape and scalpel-- Actually, don't do that; just listen! GUESTS

We are off this week but bring you a recent episode from our Club spinoff podcast Extra Extra Hot Great. From EEHG 292: Should You Shield Yourself From Fallout? Even big Walt Goggins fans might not enjoy a series that takes his nose and overuses midcentury needle drops -- but most of the panel thinks you should stick with Fallout, the new post-nuclear-bomb dystopia from Prime based on a videogame. It's different from Silo in good ways, and wit plus world-building plus thoughtful casting goes a long way. Your Ask EHG questions led us to contemplate a live-action Muppet Show, a Sports Night reboot, Warriors gangs, and crossover pairs of TV friends; we named our Not Quite Winners and Losers; and the calendar's cruelest month saw US cruelly pitting characters named April against each other in a micro-Thunderdome. Radiation poisoning and Garthe Knight...just another day in the vault at Extra Extra Hot Great! TOPICS Lead Topic: ☢️ Fallout Ask EHG:

Another Canada Day is on the books, but before you pack away your miniature Canadian flags, there's one more celebration we all need to get through: Canadian Thunderdome! We've each chosen 9 Canadian people or characters from TV, and we're tossing them into the Thunderdome to see which of these traditionally mild-mannered, polite figures has what it takes to win multiple fights to the death! Grab a few butter tarts and join us! TOPICS Lead Topic:

The Orphan Black franchise returns to TV with Orphan Black: Echoes, and our own Joe Reid returns to talk about the sequel starring Krysten Ritter, Reed Diamond, and a whole assload of strawberry Jell-O. Is the new iteration a pale (pink) imitation of the original? Might it benefit from streaming the whole thing at once? And do its connections to the parent show only point up its weaknesses? Later, we went Around The Dial with (often justly) forgotten sitcoms of the '90s plus The Morning Show and a minor-league 30 For 30, before Hannah schemed to win the lion's share of a place in the Canon for a first-season The Traitors (US). Trebek won, arranged marriage lost, and we pulled some strings to play a nepo-forward Game Time. Get comfy on a living-room soundstage and listen! GUESTS

The Boys has returned for its fourth (and, as we just learned last week, penultimate) season; Andrew Cunningham joins us to discuss whether it's hammering too hard with its takes on current events and political personages. Around The Dial takes us through RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, the series finale of Star Trek: Discovery, The Simpsons, Brats, and Hotel Cocaine. Sarah pitches the ER episode "Love's Labor Lost" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that takes us around the world in a day. Find us on Voughtify and listen! GUESTS

We're thrilled comedian Josh Gondelman could come back to talk about Fantasmas, the latest show from Los Espookys's Julio Torres, which is as hard to describe as it was for us to resist. We talked about everything from fully realized re-imaginings of Alf, to comedy that doesn't have to prove it's smarter than you, to begging the universe to let Torres make American Vandal Seasons 3 through 85. Maybe the show's not for everyone, but it's okay with that, which is part of its charm. Later, we went Around The Dial with 9-1-1, Rachel Feinstein's stand-up special Big Guy, and Sarah and Dan's Justified marathon, and Josh hoped his Killing It Canon presentation would pay off (before 9 PM, of course. Timothy Olyphant won a second time, The Morning Show found a way to lose twice, and Dave was a poet who DID know it in a rhyming edition of Game Time. Put that clear-crayon project aside and have a listen. GUESTS

FX/Hulu has taken the scandal surrounding L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling after his assistant, V. Stiviano, recorded him being racist out loud (a recording that then leaked to TMZ) and turned it into a scripted true-life drama; former L.A. resident and current basketball (not Clippers) fan David Wiebe returns to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us through some early critique of Taskmaster Australia S02, and some soul-searching about what makes Below Deck Mediterranean so addictive. Tara makes the case for the Seinfeld episode "The Strongbox" to be inducted into the Nonac. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Non-Regulation Game Time we all hoped we'd never have to endure. Sarah has had to sit this one out, but there's still plenty of hot action to get you to join us courtside! GUESTS

Grab a fruity cocktail; we're back to let you know which new and returning summer shows you should stay inside for (plus a few you can skip), plus a very special "We're Happy For You" list from Dave. Later, we take a dip at Rutherford Falls with a listener Canon submission; declare a Winner (casting) and Loser (cancellation) for the week, and time-machine it back to 2001 for a 19 Questions Game Time. Take the plunge and listen now! TOPICS Lead Topic:

We reached out once again to our Patreon supporters, asking whomst among them had the nerve and pop culture knowledge to participate in a Listener Game Time special. Brian, Lea, and Philip were chosen from our respondents, and face each other in Meredith's game My God, It's Full Of Guest Stars, and Mike's submission, TV CVs. Who vanquishes their foes? Listen and find out! TOPICS Game Time: