Extra Hot Great

We're thrilled Devindra could step over from Engadget and Slashfilm to talk to us about Utopia, Gillian Flynn's reimagining of a belovedly culty UK original. Sarah was less thrilled by the show itself, which she's probably bailing on after only two episodes, but the rest of the panel had good things to say about the story, the acting (especially John Cusack), and how fundamentally weird it is that Amazon chose to release Utopia anyway during All Of This. After a trip Around The Dial with Enola Holmes, Julie And The Phantoms, The Legend Of Korra, 30 For 30's new Oscar Pistorius deep-dive, and Dave's long-awaited Cobra Kai review, we took the correct train to Coney Island for Whitney's Canon presentation on the Mr. Robot pilot. Christine Baranski won, tight pants lost, and Game Time put a song in our hearts. Put down those raisins and cue up an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

Fox's newest soap opera places Kim Cattrall at the head of a televangelist family that -- and you're never going to believe this -- are not as polished and pious as they appear on TV. First-time guest Meredith Haggerty joins us to discuss whether this is a good use of La Cattrall's many talents! Around The Dial takes us through Sing On!, Just Shoot Me!, and Netflix's videogame docs-series High Score. Lauren presents the "Co-op" episode of Documentary Now! for induction into the Canon; then after naming the week's Winner(s) and Loser(s), it's on to a Game Time that could buy and sell you. We hope you'll find it in your heart and in your spirit to join us! GUESTS

Reality-TV vet Andy Dehnart has seen a LOT of unscripted crap in his decades in the field, so we're glad he brought his expertise to our discussion of this unprecedented time in the genre's history: the home-shot, socially-distanced versions/spin-offs of some of our old "favorites," plus some new DIY unscripted stuff tailored to pandemic "set" safety. We talked about the challenges facing reality competitions in the Zoom-show era, then drilled down on a few specific shows like Dr. Pimple Popper: Before The Pop, Ghosted: Love Gone Missing, Design At Your Door, and Amy Schumer Learns To Cook. What works for these shows and what doesn't? What innovations -- or filler-busters -- should they keep when quarantine's over? Later, we went Around The Dial with Challenger: The Final Flight, Get Organized With The Home Edit, 16 And Recovering, and The Great Pottery Throw Down, and Tara shared a Tiny Tessitoriumph. We petitioned a reality-competition court to overthrow legendary injustices in the day's Extra Credit, and A

Netflix's latest space drama takes a mother, played by Hilary Swank, to Mars, to try to balance work and family; Inkoo Kang of THR joins us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through The Boys, 90 Day Fiancé, and For All Mankind. We ponder whether The X-Files's "Humbug" should burrow into The Canon; then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that reads us all for filth. Put on your space suit and join us! GUESTS

We're off this week but we've glued together three listener-suggested topics from our Patreon supporter bonus podcast Extra Extra Hot Great. EEHG 055: Series Starter Kits Nicole tasked us: Each of you pick a show and then give your 5 most essential or favorite episodes from that show and discuss why they are in your top five. EEHG 059: The Can'tnon Seth White figured since this feed is a little looser than EHG Prime, that we should talk about our favourite episodes of a show that, for some reason, would never make it into The Canon and why they have that connection. EEHG 064: Three With Mustard With theaters temporarily shuttered, diction and pronunciation in television is more important than ever. Make a short list of the greatest word pronunciations  in TV history, and which characters felt the need to add that extra "bit of mustard" to their speech. TOPICS Lead Topic:

Podcaster and Lifetime-movie-ologist Brandon is going deep on not just Ruthless Realtor (we would give you a plot summary, but it's...that, with a dash of Bad Ronald) but the evolution of Lifetime movies and the cultural anxieties they reflect; whether we'd ghost a weirdo who brought us a brisket; and why nobody seems to get a second take, or any direction. Then we staged an Around The Dial with stops at Love In The Time Of Corona, vintage Amazing Race, and Below Deck Med before Doug made an animated Canon case for Avatar: The Last Airbender's Empire Strikes Back episode. Dan Mallory won, Drunk History lost, and you won't believe who got re-cast at the pilot stage during Game Time. Don't change those locks: it's an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

TV Guide senior editor Malcolm Venable is here to talk about Lovecraft Country, HBO's series imagining of Matt Ruff's novel -- and why everything from the show's look and feel to the acting to Jonathan Majors's believable charisma drew us in. Then we drove our woody wagon Around The Dial with stops at Ted Lasso, Little Voice, and The Great Heist before Rebecca's Extra Credit tasked us with casting reality-competition shows with our favorite TV characters. Sarah then filed a Canon motion on behalf of a latter-season Law & Order Mothership episode. The British Empire won, the DC Universe lost, and we mashed up actor names and fictional reboots in Game Time. Grab a wooden bat and an illustrated map: it's an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

Before they were the original co-hosts of The Great British Bake Off, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins were comedy partners, and their new project Hitmen, imported from Sky to Peacock, returns them to their roots. Did it slay us? We'll talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through An American Pickle, Hard Knocks, and Star Trek: Lower Decks. For his Extra Credit, Taylor Cole -- inspired by The Great -- asks us to create our own heightened, quasi-comedic bio-series about a world leader of yesteryear. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's back to school for Game Time. Pop an extra-strong mint and join us! TOPICS Lead Topic:

The latest British Commonwealth addition to HBOMax's library is the BAFTA-nominated Frayed, and Christina Tucker joins us to discuss whether its riches-to-rags protagonist is as compelling as the world its star-creator, Sarah Kendall, has built around her. Around The Dial takes us through Immigration Nation, Coroner, Desert Hearts (now streaming on Showtime!), the Happy Endings Zoom reunion, and a brief re-plug for Taskmaster now that it's come over to The CW. Francoise uses her Extra Credit to ask us about TV series that revolve around the wrong protagonist, and who would have been the right one. Tara presents the Feud episode "And The Winner Is… (The Oscars Of 1963)" for induction into the Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we kick off a new Game Time season with a game that takes us deep into the history of various stars' TV careers. Pour yourself a glass of Moet (how you pronounce it is no concern of ours) and listen! GUESTS

Apparently TBS is not just for "very funny" shows anymore, as we learned from the premiere of Lost Resort, a new series with the bones of a reality show and the shredded guts of untreated trauma. The Verge's TV and film critic Joshua Rivera joins us to discuss what entertainment value its producers think the show has, and whether they are right. Around The Dial takes us through Married At First Sight; Hannibal; Twin Peaks: The Return; and Last Chance U. Joshua presents Watchmen's "This Extraordinary Being" for induction into The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner(s) and Loser, it's on to a Non-Regulation Game Time seething with personal animosity. Limber up all your ecstatic dance muscles and join us! GUESTS

The But Why Tho? podcast's Kate Sánchez is here to help the panel figure out why Killer Camp -- the CW's horror-trope competitive-reality show -- and others like it don't quite work. Is it because horror-movie tropes and American-summer-camp tropes clash (especially as embodied by a bunch of British nationals)? Is it that an organic timeline for solving the mystery isn't possible on a network show? Is it the annoying host? We gathered around our own figurative campfire to go Around The Dial with P-Valley, The Dog House UK, Cursed, Junior Bake Off, Doom Patrol, and Harley Quinn before Kate schooled us on anime and TV's most melodramatic guitar string in her Given Canon submission. Crime documentaries won, hockey commentary lost, and we went through the ringer with character's who've done the same in a season-defining Game Time. Finish up those lanyards and join us for an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

When is a movie fair game as a topic on a TV topic? When it premieres on a streaming service, of course! First-time guest Alanna Bennett takes a break from writing Roswell, New Mexico to join us to talk about the latest Lonely Island Classic. Around The Dial takes us through Little Voice, the original 1985 CBC miniseries adaptation of Anne Of Green Gables, Cheers, Close Enough, and the HAHA Awards. Listener Jenni pitches The Good Wife's "Hitting The Fan" for induction into the Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that might earn us tenure. Reapply your sunscreen and join us! GUESTS

Esteemed recent guests Stephanie Green, Dan Cassino, and Richard Lawson each picked out an episode for your three panelists to watch for Episode 310's Forcening. First into the breach was David T. Cole, ordered by Stephanie to watch a fourth-season Real Housewives Of Potomac episode involving purse-smacking, (alleged) sausage-sucking, and how long after the stated start time one should arrive at a party -- and we also discussed the underwhelming interior-design narratives of so-called rich people. Next up was Buntsy's foray into Dan's "what if Shakespeare, but a laugh-tracked sitcom" mission for her, Upstart Crow's episode on the writing of Hamlet and the (convenient?) murder of Christopher Marlowe. Was her admiration for the propmaster's novelty-Tudor-London-keychain work enough to win her over, or is the show for those Columbia professors who always got to the art-house movie late and spent the whole time laughing performatively at the jokes? Lastly, Richard told Tara to dive into Outer Banks and its puncha

Rachel McAdams and Will Ferrell play enthusiastic but perhaps slightly self-deluded aspiring Icelandic pop stars in Netflix's new film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga, so who better than Eurovision devotee Mark Blankenship to join us to talk about it? Around The Dial takes us to Search Party, Hot Mess House, Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels, Unsolved Mysteries, and Outcry. Dave Lost Wages uses his Extra Credit to have us add a family member to a stale TV family. Mark presents the Dinosaurs series finale, "Changing Nature," for induction to The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's a Game Time that really Sporcles. Climb into your aerial harness and join us! GUESTS

Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson returns to the pod for the first time since Mark 1 to talk about an equally old-timey take on a beloved character: HBO's dark take on Perry Mason before he became the gold standard of TV defense attorneys. Is this imagining of his life before Raymond Burr canonical? Did we need to see that level of post-violence gore? And does EVERY cell of this show's being hate the LAPD? (Not that we're complaining about that.) Then we went Around The Dial with Sherman's Showcase, Legendary, Taste The Nation, and Lenox Hill, and Richard announced Tara's upcoming Forcening before humming a few bars of "La Vie En Ro" in his Sopranos Canon presentation. Jharrel Jerome won, Chris D'Elia lost, and the players got very animated during a Dan Cassino Game Time. Pass the time during a home marcel wave with this all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

Production Note: Dave did a bad copy-paste in his notes and credited the wrong Dave in Game Time. Dave is a bad Dave. Dave LARSON is not a bad Dave, he is a good Dave and the author of Viva Lost Wages! Apparently unsatisfied by dominating the world of scripted film, Ryan Reynolds has branched out into alternative TV programming by creating a new ABC game show called Don't, hosted by Adam Scott. Will "Don't" also be our advice on whether you should watch it? Frequent Game Time writer Dan Cassino joins us to discuss! Around The Dial clicks through Netflix's latest dopey game show, Floor Is Lava; Top Chef All-Stars L.A.; and an I Am Not A Crackpot rant from Sarah regarding plotlines about bad and learning drivers. John Horner uses his Extra Credit to have us imagine TV characters from unusual careers trying to interview for jobs in the straight world. Dan presents the Father Brown episode "The Passing Bell" for induction into The Nonac. We name the week's Winner and Loser, and then we take a gamble on the la

Stephanie Early Green returns to talk about Trackers, the 2019 South African "thriller" that Cinemax has imported. Unfortunately, the only place it led the EHG panel was Dullsville, despite big game, gun battles, and the apparent love child of Christian Bale and Randall Batinkoff...but we did talk about the "COVID programming trough" that's rapidly approaching for all TV fans. Later, we went Around The Dial with Love Life, Married At First Sight Australia, Please Like Me, 13 Reasons Why's final season, and Disney Gallery Colon The Mandalorian; then we wondered what themed episode titles would look like for series that don't already have them in David Ellis Dickerson's Extra Credit. Did Crazy Ex-Girlfriend sing successfully for its Canon supper? Who's smashing the Iron Throne on HBOMax, and what police (shows) got defunded? And who was attuned to Sad Hulk's rewrites of legendary TV theme songs during Game Time? Stare into the middle distance as you listen to an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

The announcement that Donald Trump was creating a new branch of the military called the Space Force was swiftly followed by the announcement that Greg Daniels and Steve Carell, the creator and star of The Office, would re-team on Space Force, a sitcom about said branch. Should that have occurred? Now that the first season has dropped on Netflix, John Ramos has returned to discuss the matter. Around The Dial takes us through AMC's ITV import Quiz, Season 2 of Ramy on Hulu, Netflix's docuseries Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, and the new Starz drama Hightown. Tara wastes no time in pitching the three-week-old What We Do In The Shadows episode "On The Run" to The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's the sequel to a Game Time that sings. Put on your moon-print fatigues and join us! GUESTS

We're welcoming Vanity Fair TV critic Sonia Soraiya to the guest chair to talk about the shorter, neater, Julia-Roberts-less-but-still-better second season of Amazon's Homecoming -- from sensible episode lengths to overacting extras to how TV has conditioned us to react to mystery shows. We went Around The Dial with Mrs. America, Run, Nadiya's Time To Eat, and a rare successful Zoom episode from Mystic Quest, before listener John rolled a 20-sided die on getting Community's D&D episode into the Canon. Vampires won, Skeet Ulrich lost, and one was the winningest number in a Pointless-inspired Game Time. Slap on a fake tattoo before you forget, and join us for an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

Fox is welcoming summer with a very silly American Gladiators take on tag -- yes, the playground game -- so who better than Daniel MacEachern, veteran of our Holey Moley episode last year, to join us to discuss it? Around The Dial clicks through Snowpiercer, Katy Keene, Call The Midwife (CW: there are clips and you will cry), The Last Dance, Killing Eve, and a preview of Holey Moley's Season 2 premiere. Mary uses her Extra Credit to ask us which TV role permanently ruined an actor for us. We consider the induction of Big Mouth's "I Survived Jessi's Bat Mitzvah" into The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that lives to serve. Race up a wall if you have to, but listen! GUESTS