Extra Hot Great

We hope Bobby Krut agrees to come BACK to Extra Hot Great after putting him through the unrelenting barrage of anguish that is HBO's latest limited series, I Know This Much Is True. Sure, the acting is good; yeah, it's impressive that Mark Ruffalo plays twins; not one of us is planning to keep watching, because there's never a break or a moment of levity, and even Dave's ice-cream-fixins-bar metaphor made us sad. Our trip Around The Dial made us MAD, mostly -- Tara was disgusted with Regular Heroes, Sarah was disappointed in American Experience's Dubya-sode, and Dave was not a crackpot about The Good Fight's failure to understand electricity -- but at least Bobby brought in the Antenna TV Comfort Blanket roster to cheer us up. Jeff's Extra Credit saw us rewriting well-regarded series finales with How I Met Your Mother-style bungling, before we headed to the polls for Bobby's Canon submission, NewsRadio's "President" episode. Guy Fieri won (for once), Lori Loughlin lost (again), and the competition got feveris

Hollywood, the latest product of Ryan Murphy's Netflix deal, has hit the streaming service. What did we think about his ahistorical take on marginalized voices in the film industry? Kevin O'Keeffe joins us to discuss! Around The Dial clicks through Betty, Never Have I Ever, The Circle Brasil, and Masterpiece's new procedural Baptiste. Erica uses her Extra Credit to get us to pitch new Big Mouth transfer students and the Hormone Monsters they'll bring with them. Kevin pitches The O.C.'s "The Rainy Day Women" for induction into The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we kick off a new season of Game Time with a quiz that tests our knowledge of shows' 300th episodes. Jerk yourself a soda and join us! GUESTS

Captain America and Lady Mary did their best, but Allison and the rest of the panel still found legal procedural Defending Jacob guilty of crappy pacing in the second degree; aggravated TV tropes; and felony possession of moody blue gels with intent to distribute. Were the regulars able to get Al into a diversion program before she felt obliged to finish the season? We also went Around The Dial with Vida, Arde Madrid, and The Last Dance, before Dave trotted out a solution to the problems with Devs. Dan Cassino's Extra Credit tasked us with growing some goateed evil twins to spice up our favorite shows, and Elenore brought us back to a '90s kind of world with her Living Single Canon submission. Re-casting ("alleged") felons won, nudity lost (but also kind of won?), and we kicked up our heels with Tara's Tube Tunes 6 Game Time. Got a garage door to scrub? Pass the time with an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

In an absence of series premieres any of us could manage to get excited about, Dave came up with a new format: the ABCs of TV! With our beloved Joe Reid, we go around the horn, each naming an important TV person, show, feature, or just THING about TV that matches up with each letter of the alphabet. Then, it's on to a Game Time made for cuffing season. Did any of our letter picks line up with yours? Listen and find out! GUESTS

Dan Rogge bought a ticket for our latest episode on HBO's Run, a "comedy thriller" about college sweethearts trying to reunite. Does the pleasure of watching Merritt Wever and Archie Punjabi at work outweigh the credibility issues? Do phones in the Run-verse never need charging? And is Rich Sommer TV's worst husband? We super-sized Around The Dial with stops at The Baker And The Beauty, Bosch, The Good Fight, Sesame Street, Money Heist, The Valhalla Murders, Devs, and Picard. And we chased that with a Sean double: first, whether he's a crackpot for thinking streaming services should offer a single-storyline watching option; and then his Canon pitch for the virulently catchy America's Next Top Model episode, "Game." Amy Schumer won, Lori Loughlin lost, and the melody lingered on in a musical Game Time. Grab your show-branded airhorn; it's an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

Just a few short weeks after we tested our knowledge of Quibi titles in Game Time, Quibi is taking center stage: the platform has launched, and we have selected a total of eight of its 24 launch titles to discuss with returning guest Adam Sternbergh! For his Extra Credit topic, John C. challenges us to reimagine single-camera comedies as multi-cams. Adam makes the case for our inducting Cheer's series premiere, "God Blessed Texas," into the Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that's a little objectionable. Settle in for the long haul and join us! GUESTS

One half of the GFY brain trust, Heather Cocks, came back to discuss Amazon's Project Runway with a big-budget twist: Making The Cut. As much as we love Naomi Campbell's sugar-free approach to, well, life, the panel agreed that Making The Cut has some structural problems (too long; dumb Tim 'n' Heidi "friend dates"), and too tight a focus on NOT being a sewing competition. Will any of us keep watching? You'll find out before we decide whether Emily Is Not A Crackpot for wanting period shows to air period commercials. We'll go Around The Dial with Call The Midwife content warning, the return of One Day At A Time, Barry, homemade Lego Masters spinoffs, Top Chef, and a Better Call Saul sound drop; later, we'll feel relieved that the Sherlock episode we all THOUGHT Erica presented as a Canon contender is actually for the Nonac. Kate McKinnon won, celebrity quarantine-busters lost, and Game Time stretched those family ties (sha la la laaaaa). Tick tock: it's an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

Some shows -- your 30 Rocks, your Simpsonses -- get pitched to the Canon all the time. So for this special all-Canon episode, we reached into our mailbag and chose user submissions for shows that had never been pitched before. Dan Cassino challenged us to battle with Foyle's War; Caroline opened the door for The Haunting Of Hill House; and Jeff put all his eggs in a Baskets. Then, befitting an episode that started in World War II, Dave shocked Sarah and Tara with a Teutonic non-regulation Game Time. Hit up the buffet for some desserts and join us! TOPICS The Canon:

Appointment Television's Margaret H. Willison put a marshmallow on a stick to talk about Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere, and whether THIS is the real "vanity-free performance" on Reese Witherspoon's recent résumé, plus Kerry Washington's interesting choices as Mia; the production's unwavering commitment to 1997-ness; and whether the male Dawson's Creek lead we'd have bought in the Bill role is actually Dawson himself. Tara refused to be labeled a crackpot for thinking Mike Schur's upcoming philosoph...omedy? book is going to join its "humorous"-essay brethren in sucking, and then we went Around The Dial with Black Monday, The Bachelor, Work In Progress, Please Like Me, an Evil Lunch Bunch concept, Project Runway, and an Amazing Stories update. Margaret couldn't help but wonder if a second-season Sex & The City would make it into the Canon, and after Laura Benanti was a winner and most TV productions were quarantined losers, the Game Time question was Quibi Or Not Quibi?. This all-new Extra Hot Great's got

Apple TV+ has brought Amazing Stories, the less-nihilistic take on The Twilight Zone, back for all the '80s kids, though confusingly premiered this anthology series with only one episode. Mark Lisanti joins us to talk about the fishiness of this rollout strategy, and whether "The Cellar" was a compelling enough episode to get anyone back to watch more. Around The Dial takes us through For Life; a roundup of the series premieres on FX (and FX on Hulu): Devs, Breeders, and Dave; Jersey Shore: Family Vacation; and Season 3 of Babylon Berlin. Mark presents the "Hamm On Toast" episode of Toast Of London for induction into The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we all sit a spell for this week's Game Time. Make yourself a bathtub gin and tonic and join us! GUESTS

AMC already had a perfectly good Charlie Kaufman-esque property, but the network went with Dispatches From Elsewhere over Lodge 49 -- and while it's kind of Sarah's dream to fall into an alternate-reality scavenger hunt, first-time guest Dave Chen felt like the show would be more fun to "play" than to watch. Is it too twee? Too slow? Too divorced from the reality of non-celebrities? Or do the excellent cast and the In Search Of… graphics make it all worthwhile? Then we went Around The Dial with Love Is Blind, The Outsider, Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant, A French Village, and second-rate American TV in East Africa before Dave Cole declared transparent computer screens NOT the wave of the future. Dave Chen tried to give the Canon a bear hug by submitting the first-season finale of Succession for the Canon. Trebek won, disgracios lost (again), and IMDb throuples tested our wits during Game Time. Don't miss this dispatch from your podcast app; it's an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

As Better Call Saul returns for its fifth and almost final season, superfan Will Leitch joins us to check in on Jimmy, Kim, Nacho, Mike, and of course, good old black-and-white Gene. Dave explains why he is not a crackpot to feel infuriated by the current Chili's TV ad campaign. We ponder David Ellis Dickerson's Extra Credit question about which TV shows should go to an all-nude format. Will presents (heh) Party Down's "Steve Guttenberg's Birthday" for induction into The Canon. Then it's on to a Game Time that really sings. Fire up your complimentary burner phone and listen! GUESTS

To keep you in content while Dave and Tara go on vacation, we're forcening each other to watch TV episodes! Dave forcens Tara to watch what happens when a zombie virus ravages the Smurf village. Tara forcens Sarah to journey to Satellite Beach, FL as its high school re-mounts Annie Get Your Gun on Encore!. And Sarah forcens Dave to tag along with Josh in the series premiere of Netflix's Daybreak. How did each of us take it? Listen and find out! TOPICS Lead Topic:

Will Arnett has followed his ex-wife Amy Poehler into the field of highly meta reality show hosting with his gig on Fox's Lego Masters, and American dad (and therefore Lego Master) Jim Durr has returned to discuss the season kickoff! Around The Dial takes us through The CW's Katy Keene; Free Solo on Disney+; a roundup of titles on CBS All Access: Picard, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Interrogation; and Dave's latest favorite local ad. Dave is also in the hot (ejector) seat in presenting The Prisoner's "Many Happy Returns" for induction into The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a pun safari in this week's Non-Regulation Game Time. Careful where you step as you join us for the latest episode! GUESTS

Even though Eve and Sarah D. spend most weekdays thinking about the true crime that's worth your time for their newsletter, they still didn't know much about the Mobbed-up McDonald's Monopoly-game fraud case that's at the center of HBO's McMillions. Will this docuseries join the scam-umentary pantheon alongside The Dropout and The Imposter? Is Doug Mathews the write-in presidential candidate we need now? And why aren't off-camera docu directors ever mic'd properly? After we considered those questions, we went Around The Dial with BoJack Horseman, The Outsider and other HBO Sunday-night offerings, the end of The Good Place, and Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet. Eve screened an episode of Home Movies for the Canon; then Tim Robinson won and Terry Crews lost, before we filled in the blanks -- in pen! -- in a history-making Game Time. Grab a light meter and go undercover for an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

CBS All Access has chased Star Trek: Discovery with Picard, picking up with everyone's favourite retired Starfleet admiral as he...well, to be honest, he's probably not going to be spending much time tending to his French vineyard. What is he getting up to? Maureen Ryan joins us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through The Goop Lab, Shrill, The Expanse, Veronica Mars, and Flack. We discuss whether Doctor Who's "Heaven Sent" should be inducted into The Canon, and then it's on to a Game Time that will leave you starry-eyed. Cozy up with a beloved pit bull and listen! GUESTS

Apple TV+'s Little America premiered last week, and Rolling Stone's chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall returned to talk about the heartwarming, but not treacly, anthology series about "the lives of immigrants in the United States." We talked about the casting, our favorite episodes, and why it reminded Sarah of High Maintenance before going Around The Dial with Avenue 5, 9-1-1: Lone Star, Sex Education, and Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens. Alan tried to get a second-season episode of The Americans' passport stamped at the border of the Canon; then Peacock won (CHUNG CHUNG) and a bunch of dead shows lost before we all got sick with a slash-fiction-based Game Time. Admire the sprinkler system on an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

When we decided to cover Freeform's remake of Fox's iconic teen soap Party Of Five, there was one obvious choice of guest: Meredith Smith, recent submitter of a Canon presentation on the original series. After discussing Freeform's devastating take on five new lovable orphans, Around The Dial takes us through Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, Grand Designs, and Cheer. Meredith goes back into the Canon fray with the Murder, She Wrote episode "If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly." Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time to sink your teeth into. Gather all your siblings and listen! GUESTS

The BBC rolled out Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's Dracula on New Year's Day; we Yanks endured it over the weekend, and Nick and the panel agree that this grimly joyless take on a careworn narrative needs SOMETHING. A modern-day setting, maybe? Mini bottle eps on every famous personage the Count has eaten? But it just seems like the creators didn't really want to be there...and as a result, we didn't either. Going Around The Dial is more fun, with looks at Dare Me, You, Magic For Humans, Spinning Out, and Dave's tips for pepping up a Frasier rewatch. Then Nick returns us to the cemetery with his Nonac presentation on Buffy's fifth-season premiere. Killing Eve won, Witcher what-about-ers lost, and Steal Meals were flyin' in a very meta Game Time. Stake your claim to 2020's first all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

Happy New Year! We're off for the holidays so we've released two of our Patreon episodes from Extra Extra Hot Great! See you next week for a new episode. EEHG 023: The Post-Buffy The Vampire Slayer Power Rankings In the years since BtVS seemed to dominate the cultural conversation -- and our TWoP forums -- some of the main cast have gone on to bigger and better things; others have gone on…Dr. Phil, with disastrous results. In today's Extra Extra Hot Great, we're ranking the top ten cast members listed on the IMDb, plus Joss Whedon, to see who's chosen and who's cancelled based on what they've done since the show ended in 2003. EEHG 028: Measure Twice, Cut Once In an era when there is, by any reasonable assessment, rather a lot of TV, we tend always to be grateful when a new show doesn't give us more than we would care to handle -- when episodes aren't too long; when a season doesn't feel like it's been overstuffed. The reason we appreciate that is because there are so many shows that we like, bu