Extra Hot Great

The talented EHG Assist team tasked the panel -- plus returning guest Jeff Drake! -- with talking about shows and episodes that shouldn't have worked, but somehow did. We began our theme episode with the late-'70s satire Soap. Do the problematic parts justify the hilarity around them? Is some of the bad acting and slow pacing an homage of sorts to daytime dramas? Should you (re-)watch, or just find a supercut of all the previouslies and next-ons? Later, we went Around The Dial with The Circle, Nailed It!, Pop-Up Video, and Battle Of The Network Stars, before a complete 180 in tone brought us to a Canon submission from 2020's Normal People. AppleTV+ both won AND lost, and then we all updated our quiz résumés for Game Time. Good morning, Bensons -- it's an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

When schedulers at the Food Network foiled our original plans for this episode, our returning guest Will Ellis rolled with the punches and joined us to talk about Netflix's bizarre new dating show, Sexy Beasts! Around The Dial takes us through the new season of Married At First Sight, The Real Housewives Of Potomac, Married To Medicine, and Search Party. Last week's guest Sean Pflueger returns...via an Extra Credit question about actors whose range we underestimated. Will presents the RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked episode "It Takes Two" for submission to The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we roar and scratch our way through a Non-Regulation Game Time. Get a beer (good luck drinking it around your bottle-nosed dolphin special effects makeup) and listen! GUESTS

AppleTV+'s newest musical series, Schmigadoon!, strands a couple of contemporary big-city doctors in a strange town lost in time, requiring them to find their true loves before they can cross the bridge home. Did we true-love it, or did we feel trapped? New guest Sean Pflueger joins us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through American Horror Stories, Never Have I Ever, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Love, Victor, and Dr. Death. Don (on behalf of the @EHGAssist crew) uses his Extra Credit segment to let us give a TV character a late-night cable access show. Tara explains why she's not a crackpot for thinking the Marvel shows on Disney+ are just very expensive advertainment. Sean pitches Schitt's Creek's "Open Mic" for induction into the Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time with perfect pitch. Ladle up a big bowl of corn puddin' and listen in! GUESTS

Nadia Chaudhury of Eater Austin joins us for the first time to talk about the second time around for Gossip Girl. Does the 2021 reboot know who it's for? Did the original benefit from the suspense surrounding Gossip Girl's identity? And will we keep watching even if Tavi Gevinson's acting doesn't improve? After Gordon Lightfoot Cole dropped in to make a request, we went Around The Dial with White Lotus, Monsters At Work, We Are Lady Parts, Heist, and This Is Pop before listener Lauren pitched an ICO (initial Canon offering) for a third-season Halt And Catch Fire episode. Kiefer won (the presidency), a Netflix show lost, and we cast about for answers in Game Time. Listen now! xoxo, EHG GUESTS

It's a holiday week: time for a good old-fashioned Forcening, in which each of your EHG regulars makes another one watch a TV episode or movie. This time, we're acknowledging July 4th by obliging one another to watch shows with "America" in the title, and Tara's first up, forcing Sarah to watch 2000's short-lived, extremely derivative, stupidly enjoyable Young Americans, a Dawson's Creek spin-off featuring references to Stephen King, Dead Poets Society, The Skulls, and kindling. ...Wait, that last thing was actually Kate Bosworth. Next, Sarah forced Dave to watch a third-season episode of cocaine fever-dream The Greatest American Hero -- a great theme song in search of half-decent CGI, a team of writers who would stay for the whole episode, and better costume strat. Finally, Dave made Tara take The American Bible Challenge, and we all learned that there's more than one Herod, it's hard to flip a fork, and Jeff Foxworthy might be America's Host. Praise God -- it's an all-new Extra Hot Great! TOPICS Lead Topic:

Disney Plus's latest series for teens and tweens is the very puzzle-y The Mysterious Benedict Society, based on a beloved novel, and Leigh-Ann Jackson is here to talk about how well it works! Around The Dial takes us through In Treatment, The Good Fight, Jiva!, Flack, the (sort of) final season of B-B-B-B-Bosch, CSI, and Derry Girls! Craig and Courtney argue for the Canon induction of the King Of The Hill episode "The Wedding Of Bobby Hill." Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we kick off a new Game Time season with a contest that may be something, or may be nothing. No need to pass any test: our latest podcast is right here for you to enjoy! GUESTS

The latest new series from AppleTV+ is Physical, starring Rose Byrne as an aerobics addict in 1981 San Diego; Jeb Lund joins us to discuss whether the first three episodes left us wanting more, or...wanting more of GLOW (R.I.P.). Around The Dial takes us through Cruel Summer, Holey Moley, Exterminate All The Brutes, American Barbecue Showdown, the I'll Be Gone In The Dark special, and Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell. Tara and Sarah share a Tiny Triumph (thanks, Slate!), and Shan takes to Extra Credit to have us gender-swap TV detectives. Jeb makes his case for the Rick & Morty episode "The Ricklantis Mixup" to be inducted into the Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Non-Regulation Game Time with a lot of pomp and circumstance. Pull on your leg warmers and join us! GUESTS

Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair is back to talk about the latest product off the Marvel industrial complex assembly line: Disney+'s Loki. We discussed everything from Religion 101 to DB Cooper to mid-century production design to canonical gender identity -- but should you make TIME (...sorry) for the show? Then we went Around The Dial with Younger, Starstruck, Bargain Block, Crime Scene Kitchen, The Housewife and the Hustler, and a weird movie on HBO Max, and then it got REALLY weird when we all sent in the clowns for David Ellis Dickerson's Extra Credit. Richard signed our yearbooks "I hope this overlooked-classic Simpsons episode stays sweet" in his Canon presentation; Farrow won and Toobin (and pooin') lost; and a role-playing Game Time had us all wondering if we'd (IMD)be crowning a season winner. Grab your timey-wimey remote: it's an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

Netflix joins Amazon in boldly dropping a soft sci-fi story about an extremely contagious disease outbreak mid-covid pandemic...but at least Sweet Tooth, unlike Utopia, also has as its lead character a very cute little deer boy? New guest Santiago Melli-Huber joins us to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us to the premiere of We Are Lady Parts on Peacock, the finale of Pose on FX; then to AMC's Kevin Can F**k Himself; to Sarah's summer TV preview pick Mike Tyson: The Knockout (and related 30 For 30 episodes about Mike Tyson that might work better); and to The Boy In The Plastic Bubble, which we recently screened, watch-along style, with our high-pledge Patreon supporters (stay tuned for more details on future hangouts!). GuyIsDelightful challenges us to create TV news-based scripted series that actually feature and are about real news shows. Santiago makes his case for the Nonac induction of RuPaul's Drag Race's Season 12 episode "World's Worst." Finally, we name the week's Winner and Loser, and wrap up wi

Writer and co-host of The Nod Brittany Luse joins us for a double shot of summer TV fare, starting with NBC's well-hosted but incorrectly constructed Small Fortune. We like the dioramas; we're not sure about the durability of the games (or future guests). Then we ducked under the yellow tape to look at FOX's Crime Scene Kitchen, which isn't as bad as Sarah expected, but also isn't as good as it could be. Will any of us keep watching either of these? Is Curtis Stone the Joel Kinnaman of celebrity chefs? And did we actually invoke Quibi...favorably? Next we went Around The Dial with the Friends reunion, Legendary, Married At First Sight, Love After Lockup (instead of Who Killed Little Grégory?, but watch 'em both!), and Bad Batch. Kimberly hoped her Derry Girls Canon submission would have the luck of the Irish before Firefly Lane won and Alec Baldwin lost (...twice), and then we transitioned between scenes with a few bars of Game Time. Pour yourself a cup of lemon chiffon pie -- it's an all-new Extra Hot Great!

With summer nearly upon us, we're dusting off a format we haven't done in a while, looking at the premieres that are coming in the weeks and months ahead and each choosing one title we're into; one we SHOULD be into but aren't; and one NO ONE should be into. Joining us for this very important work is longtime listener, first-time guest Stacy Lambe! After we all offer our summer picks (and un-picks), we consider Dave In Chicago's Extra Credit question and answer which TV side character deserves their own Kevin Can F--- Himself-type star vehicle. We also play a notable scene from the Netflix original movie Stowaway and discuss whether it's Worse Than Jazz. Next, we debate whether Daria's "Dye! Dye! My Darling" should be inducted into the Canon. Finally, we name the week's Winner and Loser, and close out with a Game Time you might want to enjoy with a sachet of jordan almonds. Grab yourself a popsicle and join us! GUESTS

EEHG 090: Dave Forces Everyone To Watch Thunder In Paradise S01.E13: Queen Of Hearts Once upon a time there were two ex-Navy SEALs living in Florida. Then a whip bull-cracking Terry Funk visited riding on the hood of a monster truck. Also, here's The Queen Of England! Don't forget about Hulk Hogan's Bumblezebra beach onesie! And here's comes Truckasaurus! We haven't even seen Thunder The Boat yet! (Nov 13, 2020) EEHG 106: Let's Watch David Copperfield Poof Lady Liberty! In a 1983 TV special that stayed with Buntsy for decades, pop magician David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear. He also harassed Morgan Fairchild and saddled "an old lady" with two kids, and we're going to talk about all of it -- including the ads we didn't get to see. (Feb 19, 2021) TOPICS Lead Topic:

Slate TV critic Willa Paskin is back to talk about Peacock's girl-group-comeback addition to the Tina Fey-verse, Girls5Eva. Did the panel's opinions on the show's quality harmonize? Is the bubblegum/TRL world of 20 years ago a familiar song? Does the thin writing of Busy Philipps's character hit a bum note? Has Sarah already started blaming that Wonder Woman piano for various clumsy incidents around her own home? You know the answer to that last one; you'll have to listen to learn the rest. We went Around The Dial with The Handmaid's Tale, The Big Shot With Bethenny Frankel, The Great Pottery Throw Down, and The Great British Sewing Bee before deciding whether Dave is NOT a crackpot for wanting to outlaw this-season-on montages. Later, we heard a dreamy Canon presentation for Bluey. Actors won, the Globes lost, and David T. Cole played us some variations on a ('90s TV) theme during a disconcerting Game Time. Park it on a memorial bench and enjoy an all-new Extra Hot Great! GUESTS

A while back, we put out a call for six-word pitches to program a whole episode of this podcast, and our listener Heather was the victor with "Nice British People Doing Nice Things." As a result, she has slotted in (virtually) every show you will hear us talk about in this episode, for which we are joined by returning guest Alex Collins! First, we all tuck in on the pop history series Back In Time For Dinner. Then Around The Dial takes us to France for Escape To The Chateau, Newfoundland and Kenya for Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond The Lobby, Wales for Escape To The Country, and a British mail route for Postman Pat. As required by Heather, Tara presents the Corner Gas episode "Happy Campers" for induction into The Canon. Then after naming the Winner and Loser of the year 1992, we go knocking on Game Time's door. Make yourself a lovely cup of tea and join us! GUESTS

Jessica Liese is here to talk about a brand-new, brand-content competition reality show from Hulu -- Exposure, in which professional photographers compete in irrelevant-to-their-strengths "influencer" challenges while rookie hosts Cole Walliser and Cat Jimenez make terrible photo puns. The problem isn't so much the Samsung-fluffing; it's that the show isn't process-y enough, isn't transparent about how the challenges work, and isn't made by the same people who make Bake Off and could figure out how to turn an hour-long commercial for phone cameras into something informative with clear stakes. We were relieved to FOCUS (...sorry) on other topics in Around The Dial, including MAFS: Unmatchables, a ranking of MAFS: Mothership couples, Offspring, Top Chef, and 9-1-1: Lone Star. Listener Michaela pitched an un-Harmon-ious episode of Community for the Nonac before boats won, SNL lost, and we got bookish for Game Time. Take a break from dyeing your brows and hit play on an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

Dr. Orna Guralnik has returned to Showtime to work with a whole new crop of troubled partners in a new season of Couples Therapy, and Vulture's Kathryn VanArendonk -- one of the show's biggest boosters -- has returned to our podcast to yell about it! (Positively!) Around The Dial takes us through Younger, a new Mythic Quest special, PBS's Philly D.A., Why Did You Kill Me?, Sasquatch, and the midseason premiere of 9-1-1: Lone Star. Mlle. Caroline uses her Extra Credit topic to ask us about the 20-year-old (or older) shows we still like, and those we don't. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that challenges our knowledge of both anime and bullshit. Put on your artiest geometric necklace, put the dog in its bed, and join us! GUESTS

Doing The Most With Phoebe Robinson joined the ranks of "rich people hanging out with each other" shows last week, and Here For It author R. Eric Thomas joined US to talk about the 2 Dope Queens co-host's foray into TV, including clunky animations, guest chemistry, and whether the animals in the pilot were too well-behaved. Dave was Not A Crackpot about leaving internet-based "fun" to the experts before we went Around The Dial with Kung Fu, Home Economics, Cybill, The Great Pottery Throw Down, United States Of Al, and Pennyworth. Then we studied some layouts for a first-season Ugly Betty submission before declaring a Winner and Loser and mashing up character names in Game Time. Don't be an ass; listen to an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

Elliot Stabler has returned from his ignominious exile in...uh, a very nice-sounding job in Italy, and into an SVU spinoff that will find him Taking! His wife's murder! Personally! all over the Mob. Christina Tucker joins us to discuss this new vehicle and what a(n unpleasantly) surprising departure it actually is from the Law & Order model. Around The Dial takes us through Made For Love, Wipeout, Godzilla vs. Kong (on HBO Max! Watch it while you can! A lot!), and The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. Olivia makes the case for Doctor Who's "Silence In The Library" to be inducted into our Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a non-regulation Game Time that has us choosing some odd numbers. Get on the Wonder Wheel and crank us up! GUESTS

Reality-television expert Andy is back to talk about Pooch Perfect, and why you shouldn't sit, stay in front of the show, including awkward hosting by Rebel Wilson, consent issues with dyeing dogs, and a total lack of narrative tension. Matters improved with Around The Dial, as we discussed Genius: Aretha, Superstore, Race To The Center Of The Earth, Tough As Nails, The Bridge, and Housewives in the age of COVID before generating a suite of new Survivor themes for Josh's Extra Credit. After Andy tried to find Starz's The Chair a seat in The Canon, true crime won, CBS lost, and Dan Cassino forced us to answer casting calls during Game Time. Give yourself a treat: it's an all-new Extra Hot Great. GUESTS

Over New Year's, we treated our Patreon supporters to a very important thought experiment: if 27 Smurfs entered Thunderdome to compete in battles to the death, who would be the last Smurf standing? Now, we are turning our minds to the same question...but with Muppets from The Muppet Show. Naturally, we had to bring in an expert to consider the question, which is why Adam Grosswirth of the Muppeturgy podcast is here. Will Fozzie Bear emerge alive from combat with Lew Zealand and Sam the Eagle? Does Camilla the Chicken peck her way out of battle with Sweetums and Scooter? Listen as we plumb the depths of these philosophical questions and so many more! GUESTS