Extra Hot Great

Noted romcom fan Mindy Kaling has been tasked by Hulu to bring the world a series adaptation of the 1994 feature film Four Weddings And A Funeral, and noted romcom fan Linda Holmes is joining us to talk about whether this ever should have happened! Around The Dial has us discussing HBO's A Black Lady Sketch Show, the series finale of Jane The Virgin, and the end (we hope) of Big Little Lies. Linda makes the case for the induction of The Good Place's "Dance Dance Resolution" into the Canon; then after naming the week's Winner(s) and Loser, we move on to a Game Time that soars. Get out of the rain (or hadn't you noticed?) and join us! GUESTS

John couldn't make it last week for our Veronica Mars discussion, but he fired a baby's laser-beam eyes at Amazon's latest original, The Boys, which we all quite liked. Does Jack Quaid look more like his famous parents, or like a Bill Heder/Pacey Witter hybrid? How will the show diverge even further from its graphic-novel parent in Season 2? And does Butcher swear more than Buntsy? We went Around The Dial with Sherman's Showcase and South Side, John's belated take on Veronica Mars S4, Animal Kingdom, and Pennyworth before descending into a boring, disturbing sex fog with Dave's presentation of TNG's "Sub Rosa" for the Nonac. Nickelodeon slime won the space race, Diddy became a Loser, and Dan Cassino merged shows old and new for a Before & After Game Time. Don't get sent to Sandusky for missing this all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

Hulu dropped Veronica Mars a week sooner than anyone expected, but Kathryn VanArendonk was ready to leap into action and join us in a VERY SPOILER-FILLED discussion of Season 4! Around The Dial takes us to Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein on Netflix; a spoiler-free farewell to the imminently-ending Jane The Virgin; Last Chance U; and a potpourri of TV-adjacent remarks from Dave (including an update on the original book version of The Rook). Leanna cashes in her Extra Credit to get us to pick TV characters who deserve theme songs. Then Tara makes the case for One Day At A Time's "Strays" to be inducted into the Canon. Then we name the week's Winner and Loser, and kick off a new season of Game Time with Sitcom Keyword Search. Post up on the couch with Pony and listen in! GUESTS

TV-based F*ck, Marry, Kill is back, and so is famous original panelist Joe Reid, as we decide whether to bone, betroth, or bash in the heads of Mad Men items, Handmaid's deaths, episode types, trains, fonts, and unkillable robber barons of yesteryear. From Aquarius to Zoo and every Sophie's choice in between -- but this time we've added our own brainteasers for our fellow panelists. Cool off with an extra-hot Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

Showtime has turned Gabriel Sherman's Roger Ailes book into a seven-part miniseries, and Will Leitch has returned to talk about what it is, whom it's for, and how it compares to recent-history HBO docudramas like Game Change. Around The Dial takes us through Divorce, the triumph of the USWNT, The Handmaid's Tale, and The Rook. Will Leitch presents "Pt. 5" of (the masterpiece) O.J.: Made In America to the Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, an old favourite returns to Non-Regulation Game Time. Put on your shortest skirt, sit down behind a transparent desk, and join us! GUESTS

Try as we might, we couldn't get that "putt down the remote" joke to work, so we'll just say we're happy Daniel MacEachern is back on the pod, and we're even happier to be talking about Holey Moley, the "Wipeout meets mini-golf" summer offering from ABC that finally found a way to use Kenny G's talents properly. From hosts to holes to gimmicky guest get-ups, it's fun for the whole family -- really! Later, we go Around The Dial with Years And Years, Animal Kingdom, Bosch, Lethal Weapon, Collateral, and Dave's non-crackpot theory on TV knockout drugs, before contemplating a universally despised Golden Girls episode that closed out that otherwise-great show's second season. Michael Sheen (not in character from The Good Fight) was a winner, execs trying to step to Buntsy's girl Roma Torre were losers, and someone got a helping hand on this week's Game Time. This is our windmil-lieu: an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

Comedy writer/performers Ana Fabrega and Julio Torres have brought HBO a new sitcom about a "horror group" that creates practical horror effects for ridiculous reasons (Fred Armisen's hardly in it, we swear!), and Omar Gallaga has returned to discuss it with us! Around The Dial clicks through Younger, Comedy Central's new sketch show Alternatino With Arturo Castro, the upcoming Amazon series Undone, and the third seasons of Claws and Jessica Jones. For her Extra Credit topic, Corey asks us each to choose a title from the AFI's top 100 films and turn it into a TV series. Omar presents the Atlanta episode "Teddy Perkins" for the Canon. Once we've recovered (barely), it's on to the week's Winner and Loser and a Game Time with a lot of cipherin'. Put on your werewolf teeth and join us! GUESTS

We're thrilled to welcome Eve back to the guest chair...but were we as thrilled to welcome Big Little Lies back into our primetime lives? We talked about Meryl Streep's flawlessly passive-aggressive performance and loved Laura Dern because it's a day ending in Y. After Tara reported on a Kit-Kat-jingle-related Tiny Triumph, Sarah joined her to capsule-review the ATX Festival before we went around the dial with Pose, RuPaul's Drag Race, and Black Mirror. Dan Cassino tasked us with assembling our own personal A-Teams as an Extra Credit, and everyone from Villanelle to Pam Poovey got in on the act. Then we took a tour of Senegal with Françoise's lovely Canon presentation on behalf of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown. Kristen Bell is a winner, Linda Fairstein is a loser, and we all shared a bowl of alphabet soup in Game Time. Don't get stuck in a hallway marching band: it's an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

Shocking the world, the Deadwood movie no one dared believe would actually happen has actually happened, and our old friend Alan Sepinwall, Chief TV Critic of Rolling Stone, returns to discuss it. Around The Dial clicks through American Princess, The Handmaid's Tale, Netflix's sequel to Tales Of The City, Scott & Bailey, Good Omens, and Epix's Perpetual Grace, LTD. Alan takes a leap by submitting the Quantum Leap episode "The Leap Home, Part 1" to the Canon. Then after we name the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a very animated Game Time. Meet us in the thoroughfare and listen! GUESTS

Our (lack of?) enthusiasm for National Geographic's account of a late-'80s Ebola outbreak, The Hot Zone, is infectious -- and Kat Angus returns to the podcast to discuss the plague of wigs and clunky dialogue in the docuseries, plus exposition that made us itch and shows we'd rather watch instead. We went around the dial with Dynasty, What/If, Killing Eve, and Lonely Island's Bash Brothers special, and Tara hoped insurance would cover her Canon submission of a second-season GLOW episode. Chrissy Teigen won (as usual), Adam Levine lost, and a Game Time stuck in the middle of things. Gown up for an all-new Extra Hot (Zone) Great! GUESTS

Fleabag is back on Amazon for its second -- and last -- season, and Jeff Drake is back to talk about the big swings the show takes, Olivia Colman's perfect performance, and the show's unique realness about everything from faith to sisterhood to bad haircuts. We go Around The Dial with a My Dad Wrote A Porno update, plus Vida, She-Ra, and a Ron Artest/Metta World Peace documentary on Showtime, and contemplate a short but very sweet Canon submission concerning a Hilda episode about a giant. President Carteris won (we hope), BH90210 lost, and we juggled Steal Meals in a ballsy Game Time. Break the fourth wall with an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

Netflix tries to court the teens with The Society, in which a bunch of high schoolers return to their town to find it emptied of everyone who wasn't in their class; Emily Yoshida joins us to discuss whether Christopher "Party Of Five Keyser" still knows how to write for the youth. Around The Dial clicks through the comedy special My Dad Wrote A Porno, Klepper, Terrace House, Sneaky Pete, and The Good Fight (now we're up to Season 3!). Tara presents Season 1, Episode 4 of Rosehaven to The Canon, and then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we roll up our sleeves for a game about jobs. Take a break from inventorying all the food in town and join us! GUESTS

HBO has gone back to the 1980s for a miniseries take on the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster; to discuss whether the show is as big a catastrophe as the event, we've invited Adam Sternbergh to join us! Around The Dial clicks through Tuca & Bertie, Dead To Me, Money Heist, Atlanta, and Hulu's upcoming Catch-22. Sean and Tim use their Extra Credit to challenge us to rank the caregivers of Call The Midwife before Adam presents the first Barry episode to the Canon. After naming the week's Winner and Loser, we each try not to be the last holding the Hot Potato during Game Time. Put on your hazmat suit and listen in! GUESTS

It's a good thing today's Canon pitch is for The Other Two, because returning guest John Ramos is a super-fan -- but before we got around to that, we had to punch our tickets for The Red Line, CBS's weighty series on how three Chicago families intersect in the aftermath of a police shooting. Is it trying too hard for significance? Is the writing writing checks some of the acting can't cash? And do we wish Regina Taylor had a more central role? After debate club, we went Around The Dial with I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, High Maintenance, and MTV's Jersey Shore/Bachelor hybrid Double Shot At Love, then High Castled some alternate-timeline/dystopian show pitches in an Extra Credit from C.G. before hearing that The Other Two Canon submission. Shannen Doherty won, Game Of Thrones took a bunch of losses, and we jammed with the return of One Letter Off Game Time. Throw a tiny needlepoint pillow on a concrete lounger and settle in for an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

It's an all-Game Time episode to make up for last week's missing competition. Testing their TV knowledge are Kari Race, Chris Billig and Sarah S. Coward. We played TV themes, they tried to figure out what show they were from. Sounds easy, right? GUESTS

HBO has imported Gentleman Jack, a BBC dramedy based on the journals of 19th-century lesbian landowner Anne Lister, and we've invited Mark Blankenship to join us in getting way up under its skirts! Around The Dial takes us through the débuts of The New Negroes and Ramy; Losers; Fleabag; and The Good Fight. Jacqueline brings us an Extra Credit question about our teen BFFs. Mark presents the Designing Women episode "The Beauty Contest" to The Canon then we name the week's Winner and Loser. Loosen your corset and listen in! GUESTS

Game Of Thrones is finally back, and so are Kim and Jim, partly because Tara and Sarah have no real idea what's going on on the show but also because we treasure their insights on everything from Lady Mormont, to whether Jon and Dany have chemistry (no), to whether ANYONE in any kingdom is wearing a hat (no, and Jim has questions about that). After discussing important matters like dragon kibble, we went Around The Dial with CBS reality shows, The Magicians, Bosch, and Bless This Mess, and Dave sneak-previewed part of our Patreon-only discussion of incorrect spin-offs. Charles put us in the box with Pembleton with a Homicide: Life On The Street submission for the Canon, and while casting agents for streaming services were winners, Lori Loughlin and Massimo Targetini were losers...aaaaagain. Did Tara's non-regulation Game Time fill our hearts with song? Does Euron look like Pacey Witter? And why is Tyrion's one-liner game (as it were) going downhill? All those answers and more in an all-new Extra Hot Great. GU

FX is returning to the Feud space with Fosse/Verdon, a deep dive on a pair of contentious performing geniuses; Broadway savant Adam Grosswirth joins us to opine on whether it should have opened and closed the same night. Around The Dial spins through the Season 2 premiere of Killing Eve; the series finale of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; Brit crime drama Unforgotten; and Cinemax's new period immigration/tong drama Warrior. In the absence of a Canon segment (...it's a long story), we speed through the week's Winner and Loser and move on to a special double shot of Game Time. Grab a Seconal and listen! GUESTS

Will Hines joins the panel for the latest imagining of The Twilight Zone from Jordan Peele -- an idea whose time may have come and (thanks to Black Mirror) gone. Will the show find its footing once the proof-of-concept episodes are done? And is this enough to get folks to pay for CBS All Access? Later, we went Around The Dial with HBO's peek comedies Veep and Barry, Aeon Flux-y guilty pleasure Love, Death & Robots, ER, and Deadwind before Dave The Poker Pro challenged us to find the next deep-dive Again With This podcast topic. We considered a precious (geddit?) Steven Universe episode for The Canon before declaring SVU a long-running winner and Tori Spelling an Insta loser...and then Phil Collins sang us into a very friendly Game Time. There's something on the wing! (It's an all-new Extra Hot Great.) GUESTS

FX has adapted the 2014 vampire mockumentary film What We Do In The Shadows as a TV series: does it have the same bite as the original? Nick Rheinwald-Jones returns to discuss! Around The Dial spins through The Village; Playing House alumni Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair's live UCB improv show; Season 3 of The Good Fight; and commonwealth news spoofs This Time With Alan Partridge and Get Krack!n. Tara celebrates a Taskmaster-related Tiny Triumph before pitching the Frasier episode "The Matchmaker" for induction into The Canon. We crown the week's Winner and Loser, and then close up with a Game Time that challenges us all on our spelling ability. Close all your blackout curtains and listen in! GUESTS