Extra Hot Great: This Week In TV’explicit

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.[...]

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[...]

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,[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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![...]

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[...]

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[...]

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?[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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)[...]

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[...]

For this special episode, we're contemplating three TV episodes our listeners believe are among TV's very best. Mlle. Caroline has us watching the Poirot episode "Five Little Pigs," featuring way more future Game Of Thrones stars (and offspring of future Game Of Thrones stars) than any of us might expect. Then, Larra sends us to[...]

Dr. Dan Cassino is back to discuss Netflix's Sandman spinoff (of sorts), Dead Boy Detectives, a ghosty witchy horny procedural. We talked about its Gaiman (and Buffy) DNA, if it's better at being scary or horny, and which tools from the historical "magic on TV" kit it uses best. Later, we went Around The Dial[...]

As a TV host, Conan O'Brien has moved on from a nightly interview and variety show on TBS to a comedy travel show on Max; as the whole season drops, Will Hines joins us to discuss how well it fits into the genre, and what it was like doing sketches during Conan's run of Late[...]

It's yet another expensive-looking and ambitious limited series from Apple TV+ -- this time, Franklin, starring Michael "Gordon Gekko" Douglas as the flatulence-forward inventor of electricity. Is this limited series focused on the wrong thing? Is Franklin as a colonial weirdo better in smaller doses? And why isn't there more farting? Later, we went Around[...]

Tom Ripley, a Talented character we already saw on screen in his namesake movie in 1999, is back, now in a limited series on Netflix; Dan Rogge joins us to discuss how this version compares to Anthony Minghella's film, what we thought of its use of black and white, and how it works to age[...]

AMC's latest prestige drama, Parish, features Giancarlo Esposito as a retired wheelman trying to do former associate Skeet Ulrich a favor, and we're thrilled Omar Gallaga is parking it on the panel to talk about the show. Does the show do anything with 2010s crime-show cliches? Who has notes on car-chase credibility? And on a[...]

Doug Liman has taken Rowdy Herrington's glorious 1989 feature Road House and remade it for Prime Video with Jake Gyllenhaal as a Dalton for the 21st century; Taylor S. Cole joins us to discuss whether it's a hard slap in the face to our memories of the original. Around The Dial takes us through Girls5eva,[...]

Time was, the Extra Credit segment regularly appeared in the main episode. But with the expansion of the Patreon-exclusive Friday bonus episode, a lot of them snuck over there. We also just fell behind. So we're catching up: in this very special episode, we're addressing not one, not two, but NINE Extra Credit submissions with[...]

Guy Ritchie's 2019 movie has spun off a vaguely related drama series on Netflix; Will Leitch returns to discuss where it ranks in his filmography. Around The Dial takes us through Animal Control, The Curse, and As We Speak: Rap Music On Trial. Sarah makes the case for the Law & Order episode "Trophy" to[...]

The Good [X]-verse returns to network television with Elsbeth, a procedural starring Carrie Preston's capital-Q Quirky Elsbeth Tascioni -- and Adam Grosswirth returns to EHG to talk about how the show is trying to have it both ways with the character's historical anti-establishment attitude; whether these creators should have moved this set of shows' universe[...]

James Clavell's doorstop of a novel Shōgun was already adapted as a network miniseries when your three regular panelists were all kids. Now it's getting a cable and streaming take, and you know what that means: beheadings and boobs! Variety TV critic Alison Herman returns to join us in describing everything ELSE that's also going[...]

When we threw a Zoom game night over the holidays for our Patreon supporters (hop down to join them!), Dave decided one was too good to play once. So we invited three of our Patreon supporters who hadn't made it to play it again. Listen to hear Taylor, Lucy, and (Bezoar) Laura try to decipher[...]

This year, Super Bowl home CBS gambled its coveted post-game time slot on a brand-new action drama called Tracker; David J. Roth joins us for a conversation on, among other things, how it stacks up to the similarly-named Reacher. Around The Dial takes us through The Amazing Race, This Fool, Kings From Queens, and Griselda.[...]

Mr. And Mrs. Smith is back, in TV form, on Amazon Prime, and Sarah Baker is back, in fine form, to talk about it: whether it improves on the movie, how we feel about leads Donald Glover and Maya Erskine's chemistry, how many Brooklyn landmarks Sarah D. Bunting zoomed in on for confirmation, and what[...]

With Masters Of The Air, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have, once again, teamed up to tell a story of troops in the Second World War; Jeff Drake returns to discuss whether it soars, or never quite leaves the runway. Around The Dial takes us through a midseason Married At First Sight check-in; Season 1[...]

We are off this week due to a family emergency but we bring you a couple choice cuts from the EHG Club archive. EEHG 223: Tara Forces Dave To Watch Alice S06.E10: The Wild One Remember the 70s and 80s when our greatest collective fear was that bikers would just grab a waitress from a diner and[...]

Mon dieu: Dashiell Hammett's legendary P.I. Sam Spade is back on AMC -- and because he's now noiring it up in the south of France, legendary Gallic guest Mademoiselle Caroline is back to talk about it. Is the limited series too long, or not long enough? How well does star Clive Owen contend with the[...]

AppleTV+'s latest very polished drama, Criminal Record, is about race and corruption in London's Metropolitan police force; Brandi Brown takes a break from cozy mysteries to discuss whether this copperganda is worth watching. Around The Dial takes us through Grimsburg, Julia, The Gilded Age (including a Tiny Triumph from Brandi), Break Point, and The Bob[...]

Some of you might have made a New Year's resolution to watch less bad TV. Couldn't be us: we've decided to face bad TV head-on with this special all-Nonac episode. Sean pitches an infamous Survivor about sexual harassment among players. Erica dares us to watch a Monty Python's Flying Circus that breaks from both standard[...]

It's about to be a new year, so what better topic could there be for a Thunderdome than...the new? With that in mind, we've assembled a list of 27 TV people with "new," "neu," or "noo" in their names, and are subjecting them to mortal combat in rounds of three contestants at a time --[...]

We are off this week but we bring you three great presents in the form of three Extra Extra Hot Great episodes from the club vault. EEHG 212: Christmastalgia Sequels to The Santa Clause and A Christmas Story have come to TV this week, so we're sharing the holiday programming of yesteryear we want to[...]

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 episode! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🧠 Guest Thought Experiments SUPPORT THE SHOW 🔥 Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads,[...]

Do you know what time it is? It's Non-Regulation Game Time, courtesy of our friend Nick Rheinwald-Jones! Get out your No. 2 pencils, because Nick found a vacant high school gym, sat your co-hosts down, and administered The TV SATs. Whose scores will qualify them for consideration at prestigious Hillman College, and who's going to[...]

For years, you've heard us sing the D.B. Cooper song; now you're going to hear us talk about him. Just because no one knows what actually happened to Dan Cooper after he jumped out of that plane with a bag full of cash doesn't mean TV writers can't speculate about it in their entirely fictional[...]

The Crown is back with the first half (or so) of its final season; as it sends off Princess Diana, Heather Cocks joins us to discuss whether the season had to happen at all. Around The Dial takes us through The Real Housewives Of New York, Killing It, the second season of Julia, and the[...]

Our esteemed colleague Alan Sepinwall is back, mate(y)! An Australian spin-off of an already banal cop-show franchise is maybe not the best use of his time, but we talked about NCIS-franchise stock characters, unmemorable TV for aging parents, and what happens when English actors try to play ugly Americans. Later, we went Around The Dial[...]

AppleTV+'s new dramedy is a series adaptation of the famously unfinished Edith Wharton novel The Buccaneers; Margaret H. Willison joins us to discuss how it compares to the many other current and recently past entires into the thriving genre of corset TV. Around The Dial takes us through Married At First Sight, Beckham, and Get[...]

Showtime's new limited series, Fellow Travelers, takes us back to the 1950s AND the 1980s via Matt Bomer's closeted Don Draper-esque life and loves -- and the great Joe Reid is back in the guest chair to talk about whether the whole is less than the sum of a few very good parts; what Roy[...]

Bodies is the latest comic book to get a limited series adaptation at Netflix; Devindra Hardawar returns to discuss its many storylines, and timelines! Around The Dial takes us through Savior Complex; RoboDoc: The Creation Of RoboCop; and (speaking of multiple timelines) various different iterations of Alfred Hitchcock on TV. Erin presents the series premiere[...]

Appointment Television and Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham returns to talk about the return of Frasier, and whether it was necessary. Should the creators have taken a hint from the universe (and David Hyde Pierce)? Could the re-imagining of the beloved original have worked with a few conceptual tweaks? Would we advise you to watch it,[...]

The latest screen adaptation of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial was directed by the late William Friedkin and premiered on Paramount+ With Showtime, which means we can claim it as TV and we have; certified film critic Tim Grierson returns to discuss it! Around The Dial takes us through Our Flag Means Death S02, comedy specials[...]

Amazon Prime takes us back to the Vought cinematic universe with Gen V, a The Boys spinoff of sorts about up-and-coming college "supes" -- and we're glad Nick Rheinwald-Jones could join us to talk about whether it's a TV campus worth visiting, plus the pleasures of thorough world-building, CGI peens, and putting the grodiest deaths[...]

Love Is Blind is back with a whole new crop of singles willing to try their luck at finding love sight unseen; Tara's fellow Coelenologist Brittany Luse returns to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through American Horror Story, Still Up, and the AppleTV+ documentary feature Still. Theresa pitches the third episode of[...]

Al Lowe Huff drags in a portable smelter -- and Dave gets high off the fumes -- for The Gold, a six-part scripted story about the 1983 Brink's Mat robbery in the UK. We're talking about proportions of process-iness, the class struggle in South London, and how much BAFTA-bait monologuing is too much, before we[...]

AppleTV+'s latest sci-fi series is the "modern fairy tale" The Changeling; Dan Cassino returns to discuss what, if anything, we'd have liked to see change. Around The Dial takes us through BS High, Season 2 of Wheel Of Time, the original Japanese Iron Chef, and Murder, She Wrote. Eleanor pitches the Project Runway episode "A[...]

To mark another Labor Day, we're turning our attention to TV bosses -- specifically, putting them all in a geodesic dome in a radiation-ravaged Australian Outback, and determining which of them would survive mortal combat with one another. We can say for certain that the ultimate victor will surprise you...but they surprised us! Listen for[...]

Stephanie Green is back to talk about a too-long, badly structured true-crime series from AppleTV+, and the many opportunities Wanted: The Escape Of Carlos Ghosn wastes to tell a good story. Sarah thought it had nonfiction The Morning Show vibes, a characterization Tara resented; listen to our correct-length, non-backloaded conversation and see if you agree![...]

To celebrate the 10th (!!!) anniversary of EHG Mark II, we're flashing back to the week of August 17-23 in historical TV listings. Our time travel takes us back to 2003 for the fourth-season finale of The Amazing Race; to 2012, for a trip to the Hamptons with Royal Pains; and to the very day[...]

HBO's newest true crime docu-series, Telemarketers, a look at a New Jersey phone scam; Robert Krut returns to discuss it, and brings personal stories to share! Around The Dial takes us through Winning Time, Poker Face, and Painkiller. Bobby pitches the Atlanta episode "Woods" for induction into The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner[...]

Only Murders In The Building is back for a third season of death, mayhem, and...theatre? New guest David Wiebe joins us to discuss all the players new and old. Around The Dial takes us through Physical, Letterman Originals on YouTube, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, and Star Trek's Paramount+ branding. Julie pitches The Bear's Season 1[...]

Reservation Dogs is back on FX/Hulu this week, and Variety's Alison Herman is back on EHG to talk about the show's final season: realistic teenage-character arcs, spiritual cousins to Atlanta, and the meanings of "home." We went Around The Dial with This Fool, Minx's second season, and Hunted, aka "the darkest Amazing Race" (which we[...]

Ex-SNL head writer Anna Drezen teamed up with King Of The Hill co-creators Greg Daniels and Mike Judge on Praise Petey, the story of a New York girl boss taking over her late father's doomsday cult; we tell you whether it's...well, doomed. Around The Dial takes us through the re-re-revived Futurama, the spinoff XO, Kitty,[...]

Justified is back, and so is Kathryn VanArendonk to talk about it: vibes versus process, when you can't replace Walton Goggins, what great villains know about themselves, and whether (...sigh) Kentucky was a character in the original. Then we went Around The Dial with The Real Housewives Of Jenna Ly-- er, New York, Project Greenlight,[...]

The Horror Of Dolores Roach has evolved from a one-person Broadway play to a podcast to a Prime Video series; Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence.com joins us to discuss the story's final (?) form. Around The Dial takes us through Couples Therapy, My Adventures With Superman, and Last Call. Erica pitches the Star Trek: Lower[...]

For the first week of this July, we decided to honor the other national holiday: Canada Day! And what genre delivers the most CONCENTRATED dose of Canadian TV crappiness? Game shows! Therefore, Dave is forcening Sarah to watch Pitfall; Sarah's forcening Tara to watch Acting Crazy; and Tara's forcening Dave to watch Jackpot. We can't[...]

Sorry to Bother You creator Boots Riley is back with a delightful Marxist fairy-tale dramedy (...right? Let's just go with it) on Amazon Prime, and Dan D'Addario is back in the guest chair for the first time since EHG Mark 1 to talk about it: how much overt Marxism it gets away with given where[...]

Black Mirror has returned for Season 6 with five new episodes of (as usual) varying quality; Brandi Brown has also returned to discuss and rank them! Around The Dial takes us through The Righteous Gemstones; Ovation as a background cable channel; Season 2 of The Cleaner on BritBox; and an important line reading from a[...]

More than a quarter century after The Full Monty unexpectedly charmed movie audiences, the boys are back for a limited-series TV sequel -- and not everyone on the panel is as charmed by Round 2. Mo Ryan returns to the guest chair to talk about unmitigated in "dramedies," whether TFM: The TV Show started as[...]

Prime Video's newest international import is Deadloch, an Australian comedy that parodies the tropes of dark season-long murder mysteries from national treasures Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan. Actual Australian Anthony Farrell joins us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through The Ultimatum: Queer Love, Fear The Walking Dead, and 30 For 30.[...]

I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is back on Netflix for Season 3, and actor/comedian/media mogul Will Hines is also back to talk about the season's best sketches, unique sketch-show rhythms, and whether Robinson is still TV's best screamer. We went Around The Dial with Platonic, The Night Agent, and Primo, and then[...]

Way way back in the early aughties, we all adored Clone High, an animated satire of Dawson's Creek and its ilk that featured wall-to-wall gags and catchphrases your regular panelists -- and esteemed guest John -- still use to this day. Naturally, we welcomed news of a decades-later second season...but does the show still have[...]

The lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are nearly upon us, and there's only one thing on all our minds: what shows are we going to be watching? The New Republic's TV critic Phillip Maciak joins us for the first time as we all share our picks for the shows we're into; the shows we[...]

Not content to have bummed us all out with Extrapolations earlier this spring, AppleTV+ is back with yet another grim vision of our environmentally devastated future: Silo! Vanity Fair Chief Critic Richard Lawson returns to discuss it with us. Around The Dial takes us through the new third season of The Other Two, Alex Guarnaschelli's[...]

When we invited listeners to program this Forcening episode on the theme "Spring Fling," people went wild. Did these selections have us feeling as bright and cheerful as a field of wildflowers, or leave us screaming "MAYDAY"? Listen and find out! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🦴 Bones S02.E13: The Girl In The Gator Lead Topic: 🍷[...]

Prime Video has reimagined David Cronenberg's classic body horror film Dead Ringers as a series, starring two Rachels Weisz where two Jeremies Irons once were; Vulture's Roxana Hadadi returns to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through Love Is Blind, Seinfeld, and Top Chef World All Stars. We consider a Canon pitch on[...]

Esther Zuckerman returns to talk about the early going of the final season of Barry, including how we felt about Sally's parents, self-indulgent directing, entertainment-reporter scavenger hunts, and our panel's predictions for how the show ends. Later, we went Around The Dial with Single Drunk Female, Perry Mason, and Somebody Somewhere before putting our (bare)[...]

Netflix's latest sensational new series is Beef, in which a blood feud breaks out between Angelenos after a road rage incident; Will Leitch is back to dig in on it! Around The Dial takes us through Jury Duty, a new season of baseball, and the doc Reggie. P.A. believes they are not a crackpot for[...]

Monty returns to talk about Apple+'s rights-clearance/Cold-War espionage tale, Tetris, and how it stacks up against the actual game. Spoiler: most of the panel would have preferred playing to watching, but we did like some of the performances, and Sarah didn't mind a certain true-crime trifecta. Next, we went Around The Dial with Unstable, The[...]

It's time to reconnect with the Wiskayok Yellowjackets in a whole new season of Showtime's runaway hit drama, and Pamela Ribon is back -- with a sober Dave, for a change -- to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us on a real journey through Succession, Be Melodramatic, and Waco: American Apocalypse. Pam takes[...]

The Thunderdome is welcoming combatants again, and this time, they're all TV nerds! Will their big, juicy chess club brains serve them, or is it all down to pure brute strength? We tell you EXACTLY how such fights would DEFINITELY go down, as 27 TV nerds enter, leaving just one victorious (and alive) at the[...]

Dave had collected several different Game Times about the intersection of stage and TV stardom, so what could he do but save them for our most theatre-knowledgeable friends to play in this special episode? Mark Blankenship, Sean Pflueger, and Adam Grosswirth (that was his joke in the episode title) join us to test their memories[...]

We're thrilled to welcome first-time guest Kari Race to talk about Amazon's limited-series adaptation of Daisy Jones And The Six; we're less thrilled by the show, which is handsome to look at, but...knows that, and doesn't move fast enough. We also talk about bad wigs, resting dickface, "the Studio 60 rule," and the character whose[...]

If you've been waiting since Party Down's S02 finale in 2010 for your pink-bowtied friends to come back into your life: good news! S03 premiered on Starz last week, and Mark Lisanti has come back to discuss it with us. Around The Dial takes us through The Consultant, Harrison Ford's new TV career, a selection[...]

The Two Cents Plus Tax podcast's Krystal Farmer is back, and we picked her a good one this time -- to everyone's surprise! ABC's new Soderberghian con-fam rom-com isn't perfect, but it's cast really well, has good romantic andfamilial chemistry, and seems to think it's on premium cable, and for whatever reason, it works for[...]

Just because some stars of Love Is Blind, Too Hot To Handle, and Sexy Beasts (among others) failed to find love on their shows, does that mean they should give up entirely? Netflix said NO, and put a bunch of them together in Perfect Match; Christina Tucker bravely returns to discuss it with us. Around[...]

Primetimer's Mark Blankenship returns to his eponymous chair to talk about Dear Edward, an adaptation of a 2020 book that most of the panel found manipulative and stilted -- but others thought was moving and sweet. Does the show's success depend on what mood you're in when you sit down to watch? Why can't writers'[...]

Peacock's latest original series is a Rian Johnson-created Columbo-esque "case of the week" procedural starring a fugitive cocktail waitress/human lie detector played by Natasha Lyonne; Rolling Stone Chief TV Critic Alan Sepinwall returns to discuss it (and bring with him all his coverage from the magazine)! Around The Dial takes us through the start of[...]

Nine Extra Hot Great listeners who do know how to tell time, unlike some people, compete in a special all-Game Time episode! We test their knowledge of TV MacGuffins, TV vampires, and TV weddings; then the winner of each game progresses on to the finals, in which they show off how much they know about[...]

Chernobyl's Craig Mazin has teamed with Neil Druckman, creator of the video game The Last Of Us, to adapt said game as a post-apocalyptic drama series; Omar Gallaga is here to discuss the series premiere! Around The Dial takes us through MILF Manor (a real show, not a 30 Rock gag); Alice In Borderland, a[...]

Anne Rice source material is back on TV, and Best Evidence's Eve Batey is back to talk about Mayfair Witches, the latest Rice IP to hit the small screen. Listen and find out whether anyone on the panel is going to keep watching, how realistic an Alexandra D'Addario neurosurgeon is, why Interview With The Vampire[...]

It's a mini Television Without Pity reunion as the gang and former recappers Dan Rogge (DJB), John Ramos (Couch Baron), Kim Reed (Kim), and Joe Reid (Joe R) play Mullendash -- a game invented and played at the TWoP annual summits of yore. Take the game Balderdash and replace the cards with items from Jim[...]

To ring in 2023, Tara has crafted a very special non-regulation game time. Refill your champagne and find someone to kiss! Or just listen in the normal way.

EEHG 156: The 12 Shows Of Christmas We’ll all getting our asses ready for some serious not-moving-off-the-couch action over the holidays. So here are 12 shows from each of us that we think are worth your time. EEHG 158: What Made Your Christmas Crappy? If you’re a TV character approaching a holiday, one thing is[...]

Seriously. Do they? Because four people just didn't show up. The Listener Game Time Tournament is back! Kinda! Up to maybe 9 contestants may or may not do battle in all sorts of TV trivia concocted by some of our smartest, most devious and possibly French game makers. TOPICS Game Time: 🥖 En Français Game[...]

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 episode! GUESTS 👤 Andrew Cunningham 👤 Robert Krut 👤 Brandi Brown 👤 Dan Cassino 👤 Dan Rogge 👤 Daniel MacEachern 👤[...]

Netflix's new cooking show takes a leaf from Claire Saffitz's book and challenges its chefs to make their own homemade versions of commercially available snacks. Home Cook and Food Scientist (one of these titles accurately applies) Adam Grosswirth returns to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through S03 of Mythic Quest, Selena + Chef, and[...]

Book critic and The Maris Review host Maris Kreizman is here to discuss Hulu's glowingly reviewed adaption of Fleishman Is In Trouble, whether it works as TV given its structure as a book, and how. Is it better for people who didn't read the book? Is the pleasure in watching what Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan, and the former Seth Cohen[...]

Did Paramount+'s Tulsa King SLY-ly (sorry) work its way into our hearts? The Filmcast's Devindra Hardawar is back to talk about the Sylvester Stallone vehicle, good pacing, bad wigs, and making room for weirdly charming B-minus viewing in your viewing diet. Later, we had Tyson drive us Around The Dial, with stops for The Big Brunch, the ends of The[...]

The Crown is back for a new season, with a whole carriage load of new actors; Go Fug Yourself's Jessica Morgan returns to talk about whether its late 20th century setting has made it less compelling. Around The Dial takes us through Weird, Jersey Shore, Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty, and a current TV ad that's really boiling Dave's[...]

The White Lotus is back on HBO for a second season of subjecting rich jerks to various indignities (now in Italy); Joe Reid returns to discuss, among other things, which guests may deserve better than they're getting, and who that season premiere corpse might be. Around The Dial takes us through Love Is Blind, The Vow, and the[...]

Big thanks to Nick for stepping in last-minute for our winter-television preview: all the new or returning shows we're psyched for (like The White Lotus), all the shows we should be psyched for but aren't (like Welcome To Chippendales), and a bunch of shows nobody should be psyched for or even in the same room as (didn't we cancel Criss Angel[...]

Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan take an unsolved stalking case as the inspiration for their latest Netflix limited series; Dan Rogge returns to discuss whether anyone should be watching it OTHER than The Watcher. Around The Dial takes us through Freevee's High School, baseball on TV, and the latest episodes of The Vow. Sarah and[...]

Canadian journalist Danny MacEachern is back to take a look at the frustrating, but also maaaaybe promising, Alaska Daily, which spends a good half of its first episode giving us unnecessary backstory and throwing around phrases like "woke wussies" before finally getting into the real story. We discussed star Hilary Swank's wigs, why a network[...]

The Vampire Lestat is back in a new series adaptation of Interview With The Vampire at AMC, and You Must Remember This creator Karina Longworth is here to talk about all its pleasures -- which definitely extend past its bare butts, but very much include its bare butts. Around The Dial takes us through new[...]

The Star Wars universe has expanded yet again, and Never Not Funny's Matt Belknap joins us for the first time to talk about Andor, a Rogue One prequel of sorts that's much more meditative and "adult" than you'd expect from the franchise. Dave quizzes us on our favorite character from the new show, plus we[...]

Everything old continues to be new again as NBC brings its late '80s/early '90s time travel series Quantum Leap back for a new generation; Vulture TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk joins us to discuss whether we wish we could travel back to stop it from happening. Around The Dial takes us through Los Espookys, Reservation Dogs,[...]

Forty-two years after Paul Schrader's American Gigolo pioneered the sex-worker neo-noir micro-genre, Showtime's limited series of the same name is trying it again -- and returning guest Sarah Baker joins us to talk about tone problems; weird directing choices; pervasive misogyny that's even more tiresome than usual; MVP Rosie O'Donnell; and whether Jon Bernthal should[...]

It's the first week of September -- traditionally the time when students go back to school (and if your district is one of those cess pools that call kids back in early August: get yourself on the school board and FIX IT). So in recognition of the moment, we've chosen 27 TV educators to face[...]

After co-creating The Americans, where have Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg gone next? Back to FX...on Hulu, with the psychological thriller The Patient, and first-time guest Patrick Monahan is joining us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through Star Trek: Lower Decks, For All Mankind, Industry and Mike. Tara pitches the Regular[...]

Our resident (reluctant) GoT expert Jeff Drake is back to talk about HBO's ponderous, poorly wigged prequel to Game Of Thrones, House Of The Dragon -- who it's for, why it's so murkily lit, when it's going to get out of the administrative world-building weeds and get interesting, and which actors are making us long[...]

Beloved baseball movie in which there is no crying A League Of Their Own is the latest film to get a series reboot -- with a bunch of twists -- on Amazon Prime. We talked to Yahoo! Sports's Liz Roscher about the casting, the bifurcated stories, whether the baseball holds up, what happened to the[...]

Netflix is the latest platform to turn a Neil Gaiman property into a series with The Sandman. How does this one go? First-time guest Ilan Muskat is here to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through Season 3 of Harley Quinn; Season 2 of Girls5Eva; the TV movie Helter Skelter; and the ILM[...]

Sex & The City creator Darren Star has teamed up with Modern Family alumnus Jeffrey Richman to create Uncoupled, a NEW show about dating in New York, but from the perspective of a fortysomething gay man who's just been dumped HARD after 17 years. Should you make room for it on your schedule? Malcolm Venable[...]

Wretched real estate, Retta, and rocks indoors -- The Ugliest House In America is back, and so is Alison Herman, as we debate which of the houses "in paradise" is the most hideous, talk Sarah through money-pit PTSD, and wonder if we haven't finally found a show that actually belonged on Quibi. Then we went[...]

Did you know that the crime of secretly living in someone else's house happens so much it has A NAME? It's called "phrogging," and it's the subject of Lifetime's new true crime show, Phrogging: Hider In My House, which we're discussing with returning guest (and house-hider survivor) Robert Krut! Around The Dial takes us through[...]

We asked our Patreon supporters to suggest TV episodes we should be forced to watch, and boy, did they come through. From their many picks, we've gone with Breakout Kings's Season 2 premiere "An Unjust Death"; "Basic Lupine Urology," Community's take on Law & Order; and a Buck Rogers episode that features both frenetic youth[...]

EEHG 104: Spreading Around The Holiday Cheer Eric A writes: lots of shows have done Christmas episodes. Friends did some great Thanksgiving episodes, and Roseanne was known for its Halloween episodes. Pitch an episode for a lesser-known or covered holiday. What show should do the episode, and how does it teach (or subvert) the message[...]

Nadia Chaudhury is back to beef up our panel's discussion of The Bear, Hulu's tense, swear-packed story of a young chef's return to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop -- and how his fine-dining past collides with a blue-collar present. Is Jeremy Allen White giving us William Fichtner vibes as Carmy? Can Sarah get[...]

Fill a dish with hard candies for Dave Chen, who's back after a long absence to talk about the somewhat mysterious appeal of FX's aging-spy-vs.-spy drama, The Old Man. Does Sarah think it needs more process-y bits? Does the excellent acting by Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, and their younger versions make up for long nobody-talks-like-that[...]

Ms. Marvel, the latest MCU TV series to arrive on Disney+, takes viewers home to Jersey City with the titular character, but what did certified Kamala Khan expert Kate Sánchez think of the liberties the show takes with the source material? We discuss! Around The Dial takes us through the New Orleans season of The[...]

The Boys are back in town for a third season of extremely bloody mayhem, and Will Hines has returned to talk to us about it! Around The Dial takes us through The Real World (NOT Homecoming) New Orleans; The Expanse; and the Houston season of Top Chef. Skylar pitches "Part 8" of Twin Peaks's Showtime[...]

The latest live-action Disney Plus series to tell us what happened between Star Wars movies is Obi-Wan Kenobi, and first-time guest Simone Chavoor is here to discuss whether it's worth your time! Around The Dial takes us through Married At First Sight, Julia, Under The Banner Of Heaven, Magnum P.I. (the original), The Lincoln Lawyer,[...]

Some maniac got the idea to throw a bunch of British adults (and one Irish adult) into a fake American high school set and make them date each other in the manner of teen movie characters; some other maniacs decided to discuss this brand-new offering from Amazon Prime Video on this podcast, and we've brought[...]

EEHG 143: Dave Forces Everyone To Watch The Nero Episode Of Ancient Rome Don't you DAAAAAAAAAARE miss this episode. EEHG 160: Titulus Deest Memento Quaeso Titulum Creare Antequam Conveniant 2071 years ago today, January 7th, the Senate of Rome decreed that Caesar would be declared a public enemy unless he disbanded his army. In 'celebration'[...]

We're joined on the bridge this week by ATV Podcast's Andrew Cunningham, to talk about the latest addition to the Star Trek family, Paramount+'s Strange New Worlds: the benefits of procedural narrative, the Shatnerian properties of Anson Mount, and horny Spock. Then we transported ourselves Around The Dial with I Love That For You, Our[...]

Mother's Day 2022 is nearly upon us, and if you haven't made a brunch reservation by this point, you're probably screwed. However, we have made something for you that you can pass on to Mom that's much better than an omelet and a macaroni collage: it's the TV Mom Thunderdome! We have selected 27 TV[...]

The fact-based cop drama We Own This City brings co-creator David Simon back to Baltimore and to HBO; it also brings Santiago Melli-Huber back to the podcast to discuss this take on Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force scandal. Around The Dial takes us through even more true crime with WeCrashed, Captive Audience, and Gaslit, plus[...]

Our longtime Better Call Saul correspondent Will Leitch returns along with BCS to discuss the first episodes of the show's final season. Which moments made us think, "Ah yes, our show is back"? How have we revised our predictions on what happens to Kim Wexler? When and where will we see Walter White and Jesse[...]

Sometimes American remakes of British comedies are big hits, like The Office! And sometimes they're not, like Taskmaster. Where does The CW's take on Would I Lie To You? land? Panel show aficionado Dan Cassino returns to discuss it. Around The Dial takes us through Minx, The Ultimatum, Beforeigners, Julia, and Atlanta. Dave S. uses[...]

Roxana Hadadi is back to talk about the latest minor Marvel superhero, Moon Knight, and whether an inconsistent premiere outweighs the charisma of Oscar Isaac in the lead role. Will TV's usual difficulty portraying gods apply to this series? Should Ethan Hawke's cult-leader subplot have gotten cut entirely? And is Dave a crackpot for thinking[...]

Hulu apparently felt that the Michelle Carter "texting suicide" case hadn't been sufficiently covered by a Lifetime movie and a multi-hour documentary, so now its latest scripted true crime series, The Girl From Plainville, is taking its turn; Stephanie Early Green returns to discuss it. Around The Dial takes us through Music Box: Listening To[...]

Do you know what time it is? It's Game Time -- except THIS time, all our Valued Guests were drawn from among our Patreon supporters, and they're playing in a mini-tournament with your co-hosts as their lifelines. Listen to find out who defeats all their opponents and emerges victorious! TOPICS Game Time: 🌭 Order Up[...]

Brittany Luse took a break from co-hosting FCN and HBO Docs Club to talk about FOX's newest silly-competition reality show, Domino Masters -- and we all found lots of reasons you should probably just watch "topples" on YouTube instead, including weak chemistry, weaker jokes, frustrating lack of camera coverage, and drama that doesn't come from[...]

With Sarah unexpectedly out for the week, it's a slimmed-down installment of the podcast (no Canon or Game Time) -- but fortunately Eve Batey is here to bring her expertise in both San Francisco and true crime to join our discussion on The Dropout! Around The Dial takes us through Our Flag Means Death, The[...]

After almost 12 years, the original Law & Order has been revived at NBC for its 21st season, and superfan Mark Blankenship has returned to The Blankenship Chair to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through Super Pumped, Love Is Blind, Reacher, Bug Out, and Worst Roommate Ever. Ilan cashes in an Extra[...]

Two Cents Plus Tax co-host Krystal Farmer came by to talk about The Endgame, an overstuffed and underwhelming procedural that tries to do too much and is assembled from the spare parts of too many early-aughts shows. Why do networks still make shows like this? Do we need The Endgame if we still (seriously!) have[...]

We love it when our listeners submit Canon pitches so much that we're considering not one but THREE in this special episode. Will Karen's pitch on The Odd Couple rack up the requisite odd couple of votes? Will Doug Dale's advocacy for Work Of Art: The Next Great Artist move and challenge us? Will we[...]

With so much TV either taken up by the Olympics or getting out of their way, we took our own stab at counter-programming: for our last episode before Valentine's Day, we're each forcening each other to watch a TV episode with "love" somewhere in its title. Dave assigns Sarah "The Secret War" from Love, Death[...]

Waiting for Impact and Truu Stowray host Dave Holmes stopped by for the first time to talk about Pam & Tommy, Hulu's prestige miniseries about Pamela Anderson, Tommy Lee, their whirlwind romance, and the sex tape seen 'round the world. Is the story of Seth Rogen's stiffed (...heh) contractor the real heart of the tale,[...]

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has crossed the ponds -- and crossed to a new network -- to launch his new period drama The Gilded Age; Mark Lisanti returns to discuss whether it will please members of the Felloweship of fans. Around The Dial takes us through American Auto, Abbott Elementary, Ozark, Season 2 of[...]

For this special episode, we have selected 27 very memorable TV mustaches to do battle in our Thunderdome. Listen to find out which of them vanquishes all its opponents! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🥸 TV Moustache Thunderdome NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 390 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

Resident Amazing Race expert Jessica returns to the guest chair to talk about the legendary reality show's unique thirty-third season: how it handled an 18-month interruption, whether we expect more from its production than we do from other shows, the true-crime connection that's somehow charming, and whom we expect to win. We went Around The[...]

So...the original plan was to watch the 1979 miniseries Backstairs At The White House -- even though, at nine hours, it's longer than some actual series are these days. Then Dave and Tara got less than half an hour into it and pulled the plug. Dan -- who did watch it -- tells us what[...]

EEHG 097: Extra Hic Great We challenged our listeners to get us to 1000 Patreon supporters by December 15, and they went above and beyond. Your reward? This drunk episode. Author, screenwriter, and sake enthusiast Pamela Ribon joins us as we discuss Bridgerton, the first Shonda Rhimes show to hit Netflix. Which of us found[...]

Being The Ricardos, Aaron Sorkin's latest project as a big-screen writer-director is...also very much a small-screen project, so we are claiming it. Look, it's about TV (specifically, the stars and making of I Love Lucy) and it's kind of on TV (members can stream it for free on Amazon Prime Video), so IT COUNTS. Anyway:[...]

Novelists and Go Fug Yourself editors Heather and Jessica are back to talk about the Sex & The City...update? reboot? whatever you call it, you can also call it And Just Like That. And you can ALSO call it "tone-deaf," "cringey," and "a clumsy character assassination," as the legendary HBO sit-rom-com returns with a bunch[...]

HBO's latest British miniseries import is Landscapers, telling the story about Christopher and Susan Edwards and their, er, unorthodox gardening habits; we tell you whether we thought it was, heh, fertile ground for drama. Around The Dial takes us through Annie Live!, Money Heist, Baptiste, and Hawkeye. Elenore pitches the Drunk History episode "Civil Rights"[...]

It's the return of the EHG Thunderdome! This time we're sending 27 HBO characters of our choosing into the Thunderdome to see who is the last character standing. Will it be the horse from Luck? WILL IT?! TOPICS Lead Topic: ⛈ Selective HBO Character Thunderdome NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the[...]

Sarah and Tara are busy eating turkey so Dave assembled a crew of Wheel Of Time experts to try to explain what the hell he just watched. Join Dan Cassino, Sean Pflueger and Jim Durr as they discuss Amazon's adaption of the epic series then stick around for a spicy game time! GUESTS 👤 Dan[...]

Returning guest Dave Roth got on the couch with us for The Shrink Next Door, the Apple TV adaptation of the Wondery podcast of the same name. We discussed the pacing, whether the show needed more jokes and less attention to production-design details, and the very obviously not New York light on the outdoor sets.[...]

The latest high school-based '80s sitcom to get a revival is HBO Max's 2021 take on Head Of The Class, so Daniel MacEachern -- a fan of the original in its day -- has joined us to talk about whether it's a pass or fail! Around The Dial takes us through Season 2 of Frayed,[...]

Your co-hosts weren't feeling that psyched about any of this week's TV premieres -- sorry, Judy Justice on IMDbTV -- so we invited our Patreon supporters to pitch and then vote on TV episodes for us to discuss under the rubric Fall Forcenings. Thus we are going in on L.A. Law's "Good To The Last[...]

Netflix's new animated series Inside Job posits a world in which basically every conspiracy theory you've ever seen on Facebook is real; John Ramos returns to discuss whether it's worth exposing the NSA to it via the recording device that's always running in your phone! Around The Dial takes us through the third seasons of[...]

EEHG 004: That's Just Wrong Our patron Eric Akawie challenges us to name shows that got Wrong Spinoffs, and to correct history by proposing spinoffs that would have been Right! EEHG 081: The Lowest Of Decks Sarah asked: What about creating Star Trek: Lower Decks-style shows for other series? Which low-powered employees from an existing[...]

We knew Cyd, like Tara and Dave, had just done a rewatch of the original-flavor C.S.I., so we were really glad she could join us to break down CBS's new reboot of its network-changing old favorite (which...only went off the air like six years ago?). We talked about whether we'll keep watching for "The New[...]

The SCU (Sopranos Cinematic Universe) expands with the release, in theaters and on HBO Max, of the prequel film The Many Saints Of Newark, and Rolling Stone Senior TV Critic/certified Sopranologist Alan Sepinwall is here to discuss it with us! Around The Dial takes us through The Problem With Jon Stewart, Our Kind Of People,[...]

We're so grateful Nick Rheinwald-Jones jumped through a green Jurassic vagina with us to watch La Brea, NBC's latest attempt at a sci-fi dystopia -- but this one involves a sinkhole in "Los Angeles," were-dogs, and Jon Seda. Should you watch the pilot just for the dumb crappy fun of it all? Or is it[...]

Nearly two years after its first-season premiere, The Morning Show is back on AppleTV+, and its #1 fan Christina Tucker has returned to talk about all the delightful madness! Around The Dial takes us through The Premise, Doogie Kamealoha, M.D., and the new seasons of Sex Education and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Amelia[...]

FX on Hulu's take on comics series Y: The Last Man has finally made it to air -- and Taylor Cole has finally made it over from The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show to talk about it with us! How is the show different from the comics? Can Diane Lane's hair still be a[...]

Since the third season of American Crime Story revolves around Bill Clinton's late-'90s impeachment scandal, we could think of no better guest to join us in discussing it than Dan Rogge, noted co-writer of the mid-'00s theatrical production Monica! The Musical. And we got him! Around The Dial takes us through A.P. Bio, Money Heist,[...]

EEHG 102: Sarah Forces Everyone To Watch Alfred Hitchcock Presents S03.E01: The Glass Eye Join us for the third-season premiere of Sarah's go-to mid-century anthology series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, featuring Captain Kirk, Jessica Tandy, ventriloquism Deadheads, spinster-ist propaganda, and a hall-of-fame crappy TV kid. EEHG 122: Dave Forces Everyone To Watch The Failed 1990 Pilot[...]

University of California (NOT California University...you'll see) faculty member Bobby Krut returns to talk about Sandra Oh's new English-department half-hour dramedy on Netflix, The Chair. We discussed the almost-perfect pacing and casting, underrating Amanda Peet at your peril, whether Holland Taylor should get a spinoff, and more. Then we went Around The Dial with Nine[...]

With your co-host panel still smarting over the death of Netflix's wrestling dramedy GLOW, Starz has dared to bring its own scripted wrestling project to the screen in the form of Michael Waldron's Heels; Joe Reid -- a fan of both wrestling AND TV -- joins us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes[...]

Kamille Washington of the Unfriendly Black Hotties podcast is back to discuss Mr. Corman, a (possibly too) slow-building show about a musician turned grade-school teacher/anxiety sufferer and his angst. Did star/producer/crafty coordinator Joseph Gordon-Levitt take on too many jobs -- and not enough fresh story? Why couldn't the show be about Arturo Castro's character? And[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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![...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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 &[...]

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[...]

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[...]

We're thrilled the third time was the charm for our guest Alison Herman, as we all dug into the pro-cooking kids' show from the Obama-tainment industrial complex, Waffles + Mochi. We talked about "variety" shows for children, whether Mrs. Obama is as stiff as Mochi is adorable, and supplemental tomato facts before going Around The[...]

As part of the relaunch of CBS All Access as Paramount Plus, the original Season 1 cast of The Real World has reunited in their old Soho loft for a limited series, so we got back together with our former Real World recapper Kim Reed to discuss the series premiere! Also on the Paramount Plus[...]

Brandon is back to talk about last weekend's Brutal Bridesmaids and its strange lack of bloodshed, plus ugly bridal fashion, an emergency male-stripper substitution, and realistic wedding-party cliques. We went Around The Dial with Close Enough, Punky Brewster's reboot, Search Party, Murder Among The Mormons, and Dave's 911 Lone Star report before re-imagining legendary episodes[...]

After illness prevented her from making her earlier booking, LaToya Ferguson has returned to talk about another show she feels passionate about: The CW's Superman & Lois! Is she all in on this latest iteration of the Man of Steel and his family? Listen and find out! Around The Dial takes us through It's A[...]

Austin HQ had a water pipe burst on record day so we celebrate with two EEHG about other bad things in your house. EEHG 094: Dave Forces Everyone To Watch The 1974 Made For TV Movie Bad Ronald Bad Ronald lives in a hidden room in the house you just bought. What a weirdo! EEHG[...]

Fametracker's own Adam Sternbergh (oh, also the New York Times's but whatever)(hee) is back to discuss The Equalizer, the perfectly acceptable re-imagining of the '80s classic. Whom on the panel did the new verzh win over with casting coups, origami tradecraft, and similarities to Leverage and Blindspot? Who called it the three-camera sitcom of cop[...]

With our intended guest and Firefly Lane expert LaToya Ferguson forced to bow out (we'll re-book her again ASAP!), your co-hosts muddled through on Netflix's new middlebrow book adaptation to the best of our ability. Around The Dial takes us through the late Quibi sitcom Mapleworth Murders, Hulu's Canadian import Jann, HBO Max's Danish import[...]

Our esteemed colleague, "Pot Ledom"-ologist, and Long Island native Dan Rogge returns to analyze Edward Burns's thoroughly mediocre Bridge & Tunnel, about the post-college lives and loves of six suspiciously hot high-school friends...none of whom can seem to master the accent. A huge music budget (and equally large commitment to the sex scenes) can't make[...]

Marvel Studios has kicked off its slate of TV series with WandaVision, a sort-of spoof of classic sitcoms starring a couple of Avengers. What's actually going on? We don't know (though Dave has theories), but Caroline Framke is here to talk about the two-part premiere! Around The Dial takes us through The Good Lord Bird,[...]

The regular panelists had to forge ahead without esteemed colleague Kathryn VanArendonk in our discussion of Dickinson's second season; that's the bad news. The good news is, we all like Apple TV's imagining of poet Emily Dickinson's life and loves with lots of swearing and twenty-first-century slang. How DOES the show balance the demands of[...]

We're off this week but we've glued together three episode forcening, uh, episodes from our Patreon supporter bonus podcast Extra Extra Hot Great. EEHG 076: Listener Forcening: The Big Bang Theory Patreon supporter Sharon Johnson had us watch The Big Bang Theory S07.E03: "The Scavenger Vortex," writing, "While I'm aware that it's not well thought[...]

To help get you through our holiday break, Tara wrote a special festive version of her fan-favorite (...is it?) Non-Regulation Game Time: it's Wrapping Paper Tube Tunes! Some original holiday songs from TV shows; some covers; all comfort and joy. Please enjoy this gift from us to you, and don't try to return it. TOPICS[...]

Stephen King's 1978 novel has already been turned into a miniseries once, but it's time for this generation to get its own, apparently? So CBS All Access has made one, and Roxana Hadadi is joining us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through The Flight Attendant, Celebrity IOU, TKTK, The Wilds, and[...]

First-time guest Kamille joins us for a conversation about Tiny Pretty Things, Netflix's new Center Stage-with-teens ballet thriller (?), and while she watched the whole thing, neither she nor the fulltime panel thinks it's good. But aside from the wretched VO, suspect acting, unwelcome parallels to 13 Reasons Why and decided un-Frenchness of cartoon villain[...]

Hulu and Canada's kids' broadcaster YTV have brought the world a new adaptation of the nearly-100-year-old boy detectives Frank and Joe Hardy, and we've enlisted Adam Grosswirth to join us in discussing it! A super-sized Around The Dial takes us through Selena: The Series, Nurses, Jingle Jangle, Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square, the original[...]

The panel is contemplating three user submissions for the Canon this week, starting with the extremely highly rated, extreeeeemely looooong series finale of MASH. Lindy makes a fascinating parallel between [waves hands vaguely] All This and the world MASH portrayed, but is the episode's status as a historical reference enough to earn it a medal[...]

After 15 seasons on two networks, Supernatural has finally hunted its last monster, and our French friend Caroline Lefloch is joining us to bury the series finale in an unmarked, shallow grave. Around The Dial takes us through I Hate Suzie, Peacock's sequel to Saved By The Bell, Agatha Christie's Poirot, and new looks at[...]

It might not be Olivia Colman's highest-profile streaming series this week, but Apple TV+'s Becoming You, which explores how the first 2000 days of our lives shape our futures, is perfectly on-brand: expensive, gorgeously shot, and not quiiiiite essential. Omar returns to the guest chair to talk about the series' limited concept of diversity; whether[...]

Perhaps you feel the 2020 holiday season should start a little earlier than may be strictly traditional? So does Netflix, as it brings us all Dash & Lily, in which a pair of adorable teens who've never met use a red notebook to challenge each other to dares all over New York City. Internet Boyfriend[...]

EHG's Dave and Game Time veteran Dan Cassino along with host Taylor Cole welcome Tara, Sarah and Mark Blankenship for a special crossover episode with The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show! Tara, Sarah and Mark battle it out in TV trivia modelled after a typical Extra Hot Great episode! We'll open with a new[...]

What if Big Little Lies, but in New York City and with no point? That's kind of how Emily and the regulars all felt about The Undoing, the latest Nicole Kidman-David E. Kelley collaboration for HBO; we admired the workmanship, while not really understanding what sets it apart from BLL (besides the quality of the[...]

Netflix's new import is a miniseries set in Franco-era Spain and revolving around a just-returned college grad and his Mexican ballerino friend. How does Lázaro's arrival tear the community apart (with lust)? Will Ellis joins us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through Social Distance, The Conners, Selling Sunset, Australia's Next Top[...]

Disney+ and NatGeo decided to remake beloved '80s Mercury-astronauts epic (and earlier Tom Wolfe book) The Right Stuff as a series...and Adam Moussa decided to talk about it with us, a choice he may regret, because the four of us struggled to care. We struggled even to tell various astronauts apart, even, when we weren't[...]

Showtime's latest docuseries is a deep (maybe too deep) dive on L.A. comedy club The Comedy Store, and first-time guest Brandi Brown -- herself a comic -- is joining us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through Emily In Paris, Polar Bear's Café, and Paramount's doc I Am Richard Pryor. CoreyAH challenges[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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"[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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,[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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:[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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,[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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!.[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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,[...]

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[...]

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 --[...]

Merry Christmas! We're off for the holidays so we've released two of our Patreon episodes from Extra Extra Hot Great! EEHG 014: Podcast Like It’s 1999 We're hopping in our time machines to imagine what an EHG main episode might look like…in 1999. It's all sequels and prequels in scripted content these days and hey,[...]

It's the most wonderful time of the year...if your very favourite thing is oppressively jolly holiday programming! We asked you, our listeners, to help us choose which piece of brand-new 2019 holiday content we would cover this year, and you delivered unto us the Lifetime original movie Mistletoe & Menorahs. Joining us to discuss it[...]

How did Netflix think it would get away with a stinker like V Wars in the age of peak TV? We ponder that question with returning guest Monty, and we investigate the ingredients in a C-minus Syfy show (which this basically is) and wonder whether the show has, well, enough vampires (spoiler: nope). We go[...]

In this episode, we dig in on some of the Canons submitted by you, our beloved listeners! First, we consider Doug Dale's case for Are You The One?'s eighth-season premiere, "Come One, Come All"; Meredith confronts us with the Party Of Five episode "The Intervention"; then Tara pitches Mom's "Spaghetti Sauce And A Dumpster Fire."[...]

At Extra Hot Great, holiday time means non-regulation episodes -- like a supersized round of Would You Rather? with Blankenship Chair creator Mark Blankenship. The four of us confront identity-crisis-causing brainteasers from each other and you listeners, including terrible live musicals, an eternity with Noah Benson, chyron font battles, Friends-giving episodes, Ken Burns's Raisins, secret[...]

The Crown has returned for Season 3 with new actors in all the key roles, and who better to talk about it than semi-professional royal watchers Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of Go Fug Yourself? Around The Dial takes us through Dollface, All Rise, Evil, and Harlots. Sarah makes the case for American Crime Story[...]

Disney+ finally launched earlier this week, so we thought we'd talk The Mandalorian with Adam Grosswirth. How does the show fit into the Star Wars universe -- and should it bother? Is it hiding Pedro Pascal's light under a mask bushel? And was a certain very cute puppet perhaps pandering to longtime franchise fans? Later,[...]

Apple TV+ is first to market in this month's battle of the brand-new streaming services, and Slate's TV critic Willa Paskin is joining us to talk about it -- starting with its fanciest new series, The Morning Show, but also touching on See, For All Mankind, and Dickinson. Sarah stars in an abbreviated Around The[...]

Mrs. Fletcher gives Kathryn Hahn a star turn as a divorced empty-nester trying to find herself (sexily!), and we're thrilled that star critic Maureen Ryan could return to discuss it with us -- whether we liked it, where it should have ended, and when we can expect this "limited series" to turn into another past-its-sell-by[...]

HBO has imported Sky Atlantic's miniseries Catherine The Great -- starring seasoned queen portrayer Helen Mirren -- and first-time guest Karen Geier is Russian (sorry) to join us for a discussion all about it! Around The Dial takes us through Living With Yourself, Modern Love, The Politician, Buzz, Survivor, the latest in Ken Burns, and[...]

We're so glad our esteemed colleague and Breaking Bad 101 author Alan Sepinwall could join us to talk about El Camino, the Breaking Bad sequel on Netflix that starts just minutes after the finale ended. Did we think it was necessary and/or satisfying? Were the fan-service elements welcome, or distracting? And which other characters should[...]

PBS's Masterpiece has premiered the British miniseries Press, a tale of warring London newspapers, and we've brought a former newspaper reporter, Daniel MacEachern, back to the podcast to talk about it! Around The Dial clicks through Evil, Big Mouth, and Cash Cab, before we each pitch our own Fosse/Verdon-style limited series based on a real[...]

We couldn't decide which headline show to cover for EHG 270, so we set our shot clocks to eight minutes each for three: Survivor's 39th (!) season, with an idolatrous twist; new sitcom Sunnyside, starring Kal Penn as a disgraced city councilman; and semi-charming, SUPER-piloty PI/PTSD drama Stumptown. Will any of us keep watching any[...]

Downton Abbey has been adapted from television series to feature film, and professional movie analysts Joe Reid and Chris Feil of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast are joining us to talk about it! Around The Dial clicks through a trio of CBS sitcom pilots, Unbelievable, 30 For 30's "Rodman: For Better Or Worse," and[...]

Reviewers love Undone, Amazon's half-hour rotoscoped drama about time travel and mental illness -- did the panel agree? Should the show be animated, or live-action? Does it need a second season? And is this the San Antonio Kevin recognizes from his youth? We went around the dial with prestige fare like Married At First Sight,[...]

It's the show Lance Bass never wanted you to see: A Very Brady Renovation, in which a collection of HGTV stars join forces with the surviving cast of The Brady Bunch to make the real-life Studio City home that served as the Brady house in b-roll look exactly like the Brady Bunch set inside. Who[...]

We're not able to record this week so we're treating y'all to a sneak peak at Extra Extra Hot Great, our patrons-only bonus podcast. EEHG 008: Making More Live Remakes, Live (On Tape) The Jimmy Kimmel-spearheaded, ABC-aired restagings of one classic episode each of All In The Family and The Jeffersons, live in front of[...]

On Becoming A God In Central Florida premiered on Showtime recently, and Floridian Jeb Lund returned to the podcast to discuss its geographic and period accuracy, whether it celebrates or mocks the poor, and all the process-y parts of a pyramid scheme (fine: "multi-level marketing"). We went Around The Dial with 13 Reasons Why, Why[...]

HBO's new Danny McBride/Jody Hill sitcom, The Righteous Gemstones, takes aim at megachurch evangelists, but will it make you throw up your hands in praise? Adam Sternbergh returns to discuss it. Around The Dial makes stops at Lodge 49, The Boys, Years And Years, and QB1: Beyond The Lights, before we roll into a Canon[...]

GLOW returned to Netflix for its third season last weekend, and Adam Grosswirth returned to EHG to discuss the action's move to Vegas, the realism of a long run, whether a more serious tone worked, and where a possible Season 4 can go from here. We went Around The Dial with The Family, Wu Assassins,[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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.[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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.[...]

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'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 👤 Kari Race 👤 Chris Billig 👤 Sarah S. Coward TOPICS[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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[...]

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?[...]

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[...]

Project Runway returns to Bravo for its 17th season (the spread-eagle), and Fug Girls Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks return to the podcast to talk about new judges, new mentor Christian Siriano, a new challenge "twist" we all dislike, and the same old reliable show structure. We make some shot-in-the-dark guesses about the season's eventual[...]

Ricky Gervais has brought us another sitcom and dared us to reject both it and him; Will Leitch has returned to accept the challenge. Around The Dial clicks through Good Girls, Creative Galaxy, and Call The Midwife, before Dave and Tara take on a Taskmaster task for Extra Credit. Will presents Nathan For You's "Finding[...]

Does Whiskey Cavalier seem familiar? And is it because ABC is trying to clone Castle again, some more? That's returning guest Kathryn VanArendonk's theory, and the regulars are inclined to agree -- but we also agree that, although the new spy drama isn't prestige TV and doesn't make sense all the time, it's also pretty[...]

IFC's parody series Documentary Now! is back for its third season with six new spoofs of noteworthy docs, starting with Wild Wild Country (here reimagined as Batsh*t Valley). Is it still as note-perfect as its first two seasons have been? Molly Lambert makes her Extra Hot Great début to join us and discuss! Around The[...]

Amazon's import from ITV, White Dragon, is about a life and marriage that isn't what it seemed...and unfortunately, that's a meta comment on the show, because it seemed good, but was not. Allison Lowe Huff returns to discuss the show's first dumb, then too-Bond protagonist; the actors we didn't see enough of; and the Lost-ish[...]

Just in time for Groundhog Day, Netflix has released Russian Doll, in which Natasha Lyonne's Nadia keeps dying and being resurrected into the bathroom at her birthday party. Joining us to discuss is first-time guest/New York Times TV critic James Poniewozik! Around The Dial checks in with Speechless, Corporate, The Challenge (speaking of immortal), and[...]

Comedy Central's new..."sibcom"?, The Other Two, follows the (usually falling) fortunes of Cary and Brooke when their 13-year-old brother becomes an overnight internet sensation, and enduring internet sensation Joe Reid is back to talk about the little things the show gets right, how to talk about Survivor superfans, and why lonely and funny can co-exist.[...]

Showtime has tried something new with a sitcom project: hired a creator who's actually good at making funny shows! So we're seeing how well this strategy is working with a discussion of David "Happy Endings" Caspe's new '80s Wall Street sitcom Black Monday -- as well as HBO's third season of High Maintenance (now in[...]

Yet another reboot of a '90s WB "classic" has hit the earth in Roswell, a "reimagining" of Roswell -- and we were very lucky that the TWoP recapper of that "fine" original, Dan Blau Rogge, could join us to wonder who the new version is for, why the consistent element among the two series had[...]

A new year has dawned, and with it two buzzy new reality shows: MTV's Vanderpump Rules-alike Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club, and Fox's Korean import, The Masked Singer. To join us in discussing any complicated feelings we may have had about them, we've invited Kat Angus and Jocelyn Geddie, co-hosts of the podcast I Hate It[...]

Happy new year! It may comfort you to know that we did not resolve to be less ridiculous in 2019, which is how we have brought you another very special all-FMK episode -- this time, also implicating Nick Rheinwald-Jones. How did your FMK submissions shake out? Find out now! GUESTS 👤 Nick Rheinwald-Jones TOPICS Lead[...]

'Tis the season to be...janky? Not for us -- we got a top-of-the-line guest, Kevin P. O'Keeffe, to join us -- but janky is Nailed It!'s specialty, and we're here for their melty, slapped-up brand of holiday cheer, including the joy Jacques brings to the world, '80s-movie slow claps, and those hilarious reveals. But we're[...]

Here's hoping you rested your ears over Thanksgiving, because they're getting battered by Season 2 of Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Sherman-Palladino superfan Nick Rheinwald-Jones is returning to discuss whether it killed or bombed. Around The Dial clicks through the Comedy Central sketch special Goatface, Magic For Humans, The Comedy Lineup, and a whole[...]

It's just the three of us for our EHG "holiday episode" -- a meditation on the theme of Christmas creep. And yeah, they DO start playing carols in the mall on, like, November 2 these days...but that's not exactly the definition "creep" that became central to our discussion as we contemplated a Hill Street Blues[...]

Resident upstate...er, resident Kim Reed is back to talk about Ben Stiller-directed drama/thriller/Shawshank aspirant Escape At Dannemora. We discuss everything from accents to wardrobe to pacing to whether trying to recreate '70s thrillers is a worthwhile goal. Should Sarah keep watching past Episode 4? Keep listening and find out. After that, we debate whether Dave[...]

Netflix's Narcos has moved to a new time period and a new location with the spinoff Narcos: Mexico, and Maggie Serota has joined us to talk about what's changed as our attention turns from Colombian cartels to ones closer to a certain famous border. Around The Dial clicks through Showtime's Shut Up And Dribble, A&E's[...]

As Amazon brings the scripted podcast Homecoming to TV in an adaptation starring Julia Roberts -- apparently she's done some films? -- we welcome Mark Lisanti to talk about its music, its colour scheme, and how engrossing we found its conspiracy thriller storyline. Around The Dial takes us to two comedies by and for fortysomething[...]

Netflix's political potboiler returned last weekend -- without its former linchpin in the Frank Underwood role. WE returned with first-time guest Kathryn VanArendonk to talk about whether this is the one Netflix-original season that actually felt too short; which is more egregious, Doug's beard or Claire's pregnancy pad; and what the franchise might have gained[...]

With Hallowe'en upon us, we decided to take a look at this season's two witch remakes: The CW's Charmed, and Netflix's Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. Eve Batey joins us to discuss whether they put a spell on us, or if we wished we could burn them at the stake. Around The Dial stops at The[...]

The Conners debuted last week, sans its controversial founder -- and Sarah Baker made HER EHG debut to talk about everything from how the show handled "Roseanne"'s death to the healing properties of Goodman and Metcalf to whether we'll keep watching without a possible train-wreck as motivation. We went Around The Dial with The Cool[...]

Big Mouth has returned to Netflix for a second season of monstrous puberty (and puberty monsters), and Joe Reid is joining us to talk about the various sweaty humiliations that come with it! Around The Dial takes us to America To Me, Maniac, Chuck, and Dave's forcened sampling of Dreamland. Joe proposes the induction of[...]

When the most exciting thing about a new show is the moment David T. Cole rechristens it Men Of A Certain Beige, you know you've got problems...but returning guest Jeb Lund soldiered bravely through our grumpy discussion of ABC's attempt to throw This Is Us, Desperate Housewives, and thirtysomething in a blender. We went around[...]

After the successes of its Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver remakes, CBS has turned west -- way west -- to bring Thomas Magnum to a new generation. Did it work? We invited Stephen J. Skelton and Todd Robert Anderson, co-hosts of the Film Pigs podcast and die-hard fans of the original, to dissect 2018's Magnum P.I.[...]

BoJack Horseman dropped another season last weekend -- along with practically every other streaming show, but this simultaneously hilarious, dirty, and dark animated dramedy is the one we chose to discuss, along with the correct amount of Todd; background hilarity; and spot-on guest casting. We went Around The Dial with Forever, The First, Deutschland 83[...]

Jim Carrey and Michel Gondry have re-teamed, for the first time since Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, on Kidding, the story of a children's TV host dealing with grief; Rolling Stone's Chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall returns to talk about it (and not as if he's talking to a bunch of four-year-olds). Around The[...]

Tom Clancy's foxy CIA nerd is back in John Krasinski form for Amazon's new series, and first-time guests and ATX Festival poohbahs Cait and Emily joined us to talk about its problematic politics, whether the TV-scape needs another Homeland, why Krasinski chose THIS project, and Timothy Hutton's new corporate-douche casting lane. We went Around The[...]

Matt Groening and a passel of ex-Futurama writers have brought Netflix a new animated sitcom set in a fantastical world with elves and personal demons and the like, but did we find Disenchantment enchanting? Omar Gallaga returns to join our discussion! Around The Dial clicks on Netflix's new teen romcom feature film To All The[...]

Better Call Saul came back for its fourth season a few weeks ago, and Will Leitch came back to discuss what's transpired so far: the deliberate pace, the subplots we don't care as much about (sorry, Nacho), the forecast for Mesa Verde's plans for market domination, and what we think becomes of Kim...and of course[...]

AMC's newest drama is Lodge 49, the story of a dirtbag ex-surfer mysteriously drawn to a Long Beach fraternal order; does it deserve its Better Call Saul lead-in? Surf fiction fan Adam Sternbergh returns to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through Insecure, Babylon Berlin, and HBO's Ben Bradlee doc Newspaperman. Adam makes[...]

What's not to love about a crafting competition show hosted by Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman? Wellll, Linda Holmes and the regulars could think of a few things, but our nitpicks stem almost entirely from liking the show and wanting it to be its best, punniest self. We talk host bits, judging inconsistencies, the comparison[...]

Hulu's latest original series, Castle Rock, is inspired by the works of Stephen King -- but is the resulting series Stephen Kingdom Hearts? Deadspin editor, Dave And Jeb Aren't Mean co-host, and spouse of a Maine native David Roth makes his début to talk about it! Around The Dial spins to Seven Year Switch, Bosch,[...]

Rebooting a show hosted by original Spock with the new Spock may have seemed...logical, but the summer-weight EHG panel didn't think much of the new In Search Of, which is perhaps a casualty of the internet, and definitely suffers from not committing to its crackpot premises. At least we got to make an American Movie[...]

Even in 2018, the summer TV season isn't all prestigious limited series and Emmy contenders: there's still misbegotten syndication-quality sci-fantasy stuff like The CW's overseas-Syfy import The Outpost! We stretched the bounds of Monty Ashley's patience by inviting him to join us and discuss it. Around The Dial clicks through the second seasons of Nailed[...]

The second season of Detroiters started last week, and new guest Josh Gondelman joins us to talk about why it's so great, and why it should be better known: the crack timing, the considered use of Tim Meadows in his lower "gear," and the things it gets right about longtime friendships. We're going Around The Dial with[...]

While some prestigious shows do find berths on summer schedules, it's also still a dumping ground for C-list reality shows -- and for you, we welcomed back Jeff Drake...and made him join us in suffering through five premieres from the past week. In what ways does Travel Channel's Caribbean Pirate Treasure fail to live up[...]

Season 2 of Claws is underway on TNT, and Jeb Lund returns to talk about everything from yummy visuals to tonal whiplash to Franka Potente's Rrrrrrussian accent. We're also going Around The Dial with an ATX Festival round-up, David Cassidy: The Last Session, and Sharp Objects; and into The Box with Jeb's Homicide: Life On[...]

It's time already for another Bachelor washout to take her turn as a chooser of men on a new season of The Bachelorette, and Diablo Cody, the Oscar-winning screenwriter who also happens to be a citizen of Bachelor Nation, is joining us to discuss the start of the season. Around The Dial flips through AMC's[...]

Our esteemed colleague and Star Trek fantasy-draft star Mo Ryan returns to the podcast to talk about Liz Garbus's four-part New York Times documentary, The Fourth Estate, and the various frustrations we all had with both the documentary itself; its sometimes navel-gazey and tone-deaf subject; and all the things we wished the series had covered[...]

As Netflix gives us another installment of 13 Reasons Why (and we get why they wouldn't call it 13 More Reasons Why, but...come on), our dear friend Joe Reid returns to dig into the sophomore season that has dramatically divided TV critics. Around The Dial rolls through The Middle, Dancing With The Stars, Brooklyn Nine-Nine,[...]

We hope Nick Rheinwald-Jones won't hold it against us that we invited him back to discuss Patrick Melrose, the Cinnamon Toastencrunch vanity proje-- er, "Benedict Cumberbatch-starring miniseries based on the St. Aubyn novel series." Because y'all, we haaaaated it, and we've got the extended remix of fart noises to prove it. It won't take a[...]

Will Leitch is a renowned sports journalist, so did we have him on to talk about 30 For 30 or something similarly thoughtful and incisive about the world of athletics? No, he's joining us to talk about the very special all-athletes season of Dancing With The Stars! Around The Dial rolls through Good Girls, Gotham,[...]

As HBO's obsession-inducing dystopia returns for a second season, Eve Batey also returns to discuss reflections on capitalism; college-dorm philosophizing; why wigs are still shite in the future; and whether Ed Harris is using a stunt double. Eve claimed not to be a crackpot for calling for a Simpsons cancellation -- with a surprising hatchet[...]

Netflix having successfully adapted House Of Cards (*********) and remade One Day At A Time, it's reached back into the archives of classic TV to bring us an all-new take on Lost In Space -- and new guest Jeb Lund is here to talk about all the Robinsons' extraterrestrial meanderings. Around The Dial stops at[...]

Buzzfeed's Doree Shafrir joins the panel this week for the latest filmed take on E.M. Forster's Howards End, and while we liked some things -- the casting; the memories of Witches Of East End occasioned by Julia Ormond -- not everything about the new iteration worked for us. We went Around The Dial with New[...]

The Americans is wrapping up its spy mission in the U.S., and You're The Worst creator Stephen Falk has crammed his viewing of the previous two seasons to prepare for our discussion of the Season 6 premiere! Around The Dial takes us through Alex, Inc.; an update on Here And Now; HBO's latest doc The[...]

Silicon Valley returns for its fifth season on HBO, and a Who Weekly podcast host returns to the panel -- this time, Jezebel's Bobby Finger, and we're all wondering how much battery the show has left. How many times can it repeat the same cycles? How much longer can it really expect to keep Kumail[...]

NBC having lined up the showrunner from Friday Night Lights, a producer of Hamilton, and the former Ted Mosby for a weekly drama series about a high school putting on a musical, it was made very clear to us that we had better not think of having any guest on to talk about it other[...]

S2 of Netflix Marvel anti-heroine joint Jessica Jones was a long time coming -- and unfortunately it took a long time to get going. Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton joins the panel to discuss the absence of Kilgrave malice, whether thirteen episodes is five too many, and the evident female gaze of the season's directorial corps. Around[...]

It's time once again for Gordon Ramsay to take a break from screaming at adults and spend a few weeks gently critiquing kids: that's right, MasterChef Junior is back for Season 6. To talk about the premiere, we welcome first-time guest Lindsey Weber of the Who Weekly podcast to talk about the half-sized hash slingers.[...]

After a literal car wreck of a second season, UnREAL is finally pulling back the curtain again on fictional dating show The Suitor -- and grown-ish writer Kara Brown pulled up a guesting chair for the first time to help us unpack the show's issues, starting with its, well, need to address capital-I Issues. Also[...]

Netflix has a new period drama, set in the '90s, called Everything Sucks. Where does it fall on the spectrum of Stranger Things to Freaks And Geeks? We've asked true '90s kid Stephanie Green to join us and break it down. Around The Dial takes us to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Bachelor, and Chris Rock's new[...]

It's an EHG reunion! Too bad it's for Here & Now, Alan Ball's new HBO show, and while Tara and Sarah couldn't make it past the pilot, Joe had some additional insights on the existential crises (and Jim Carrey-an supernatural twists) of a Portland blended family that even the show itself doesn't seem to like.[...]

As NBC leads us into the Olympics with a sneak peek of its new sitcom A.P. Bio, we call on Monty Ashley (get it) to discuss whether it should have been held back. Around The Dial takes us to 2 Dope Queens, Dragula, Intervention, Altered Carbon, and The Cloverfield Paradox. Monty makes the bold case[...]

Season 2 of the updated One Day At A Time dropped last weekend, and we talked with Kim Reed about the fine balance between sitcommy and touching; how the two finales stacked up; and whether we'd keep watching if Rita Moreno leaves the show. We went around the dial with I Love Dick, The End[...]

High Maintenance is back on HBO, and John Ramos is also back to talk about the adventures of The Guy in marijuana-delivery-land; whether the show's too New York-y to be relatable, or warm-hearted enough to have broad appeal; and what exactly happened to that one lady's cat. We also went around the dial with new[...]

As we count down to the official premiere of Starz's previously sneak-peeked new J.K. Simmons vehicle Counterpart, Eve Batey and Tim Ehhalt join us to discuss all the twists, turns, and...twins? Around The Dial takes us to new series Alone Together and Dr. Pimple Popper; limited series Wormwood; and returning fan favorites The Magicians and[...]

A new year means new sitcoms, and Spotted Dick/seasoned business traveler Adam Grosswirth is joining us to discuss one in particular: Fox's budget-airline-com L.A. To Vegas! We debate whether Dave Will Hate Ridley Scott's new TV project The Terror, before Around The Dial takes us to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, 9-1-1, The X-Files, and The[...]

Happy new year! And...unhappy near-future narratives, as Nick returns to discuss the fourth season of Black Mirror. We all ranked the episodes from our least to most favorite, and discussed what worked (Star Trek neckbeard vengeance; "San Junipero" with a twist) and what didn't (chases; barely altered procedurals). After we went Around The Dial with[...]

What's under the Extra Hot Great tree today in this winter-holiday all-Canon episode? First up is Supernatural's fifth-season "Changing Channels," a TV trope send-up with a couple of Buntnip elements the submitter hopes will guarantee a vote from Sarah, followed by a very courageous anime submission in the form of Gurren Lagann S01.E08. And once[...]

Heading into Christmas, we decided to do our most positive episode ever: offering up our "Best"s in categories selected by listeners like you! What's the best show to watch when you're sick? What's the best fake website from a TV show? What's the best thing about living in The Good Place? We answer these questions[...]

We couldn't decide which was the week's most important TV premiere -- the second season of Netflix's QEII drama The Crown, or Syfy's dark Chris Meloni comedy Happy! -- so we decided to cover both! Joining us from Go Fug Yourself are our official purveyors of Epic Old School Recaps of The Crown, Heather Cocks[...]

Jim Durr joined us for the first time (on this pod, anyway) to talk about Knightfall, the new medieval drama on History, and while all its trebuchets, extreme helmet cams, and campy popes can't quite_make us care whether they ever track down that crusty old Grail. We went Around The Dial with _GBBO, Netflix's weird[...]

Daniel MacEachern visits from the Two Spotted Dicks podcast to join Dave and Tara for a special winter-themed all-TV forcening episode of the Extra Hot Great podcast! Whose picks are cool and who would have preferred being left on an ice floe? Listen and find out! GUESTS 👤 Daniel MacEachern TOPICS Lead Topic: ⚡️ The[...]

Kevin O'Keeffe and Kim Reed join us as we head into America's favourite eating holiday by gorging on more than two dozen FMK matchups! It's gonna rock you! GUESTS 👤 Kevin O'Keeffe 👤 Kim Reed TOPICS Lead Topic: 🔪 F/M/K NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 179 page on ExtraHotGreat.com[...]

Two ex-contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race see their web series graduate to a half-hour weekly comedy show on Viceland, so Mark Blankenship is here to help us spill the tea on The Trixie & Katya Show! Around The Dial spins to the series finale of The Mindy Project, Season 2 of The Girlfriend Experience, ABC's[...]

Frankie Shaw's new Showtime sitcom about a single mom in South Boston shows some promise, but did it make most of the panel -- including guest Stephanie Early Green -- too uncomfortable too continue? We discussed that, cute TV toddlers, and protagonists who don't learn before going around the dial with Rosehaven, 90 Day Fiance,[...]

As yet another Margaret Atwood novel gets a TV adaptation, Allison Lowe Huff and Extra Hot Game Time impresario Rob Hartmann join us to talk about Alias Grace, Netflix/CBC's period prison drama. Tara and Allison discuss whether Mike Rinder has become The Pierce of Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath, or if Remini and her[...]

Our esteemed colleague Jeff Drake is back -- and so is our esteemedest producer, David T. Cole -- to discuss Too Funny To Fail, Hulu's documentary on the much-anticipated The Dana Carvey Show and its ignominious end. After a Robin Williams-ectomy was proposed, Dave got the blues in his I Am Not A Crackpot segment,[...]

With Dave still in the field, we've invited Monty Ashley back for a very special episode. Will the "Michael's Gambit" episode of The Good Place and "Parker Gail's Location Is Everything" from Documentary Now! make it into The Canon? And will My So-Called Life's "The Substitute" be inducted into The Nonac, The Canon's evil twin?[...]

In our first-ever EHG without David T. Cole, Tara and Sarah recruited Fug Girls Heather and Jessica to help them dissect the Dynasty reboot. Do the kids today care about these iconic characters? Should the show have gone to a streaming or premium-cable network? And should any show be trying to make big business interesting?[...]

As The Good Place's second season jumps off from its game-changing freshman finale, Kristen Bell expert John Ramos of the Go Pirates podcast on Veronica Mars returns to talk about how Good it actually is! Around The Dial stops at Broad City, Broad City, Halt And Catch Fire, American Beauty Star, and Star Trek Discovery.[...]

We're glad Omar Gallaga returned to Extra Hot Great; we just wish we hadn't inflicted Seth MacFarlane's limp and self-indulgent The Orville on him (and ourselves). Fortunately, things perked up a bit when we went around the dial with Outlander, The Good Place, Ken Burns's latest opus on PBS, and vintage ads by Star Trek.[...]

Narcos reboots for a third season (minus Murphy, not that anyone's complaining), and first-time guest Melissa Locker joins us to discuss all the addictive action! We ask Will Dave Hate This? about ITV's new gladiator-cosplay competition Bromans. Around The Dial stops at American Horror Story, Will Vs. The Future, The Tick, Project Runway, Leah Remini:[...]

Monty returns during the deadest week on the TV schedule, and Tara proposed a TV forcening that had us all pick episodes from the week's deadest night -- Friday -- for each other to watch. We caught up with House Hunters, searched for Bering Sea Gold, survived A Murder In The Family, and tasted Epic[...]

Netflix's long-awaited Marvel team-up The Defenders arrives...but given how long it was awaited, why isn't it better? Our Two Spotted Dicks pal Adam Grosswirth joins us to discuss. Around The Dial stops at the Claws finale, Episodes, So You Think You Can Dance, and Project Runway, ahead of Dave's musical question: are Netflix's trailer preview[...]

Tara and Dave returned from a brief vacay to the carnage of a Fuck/Marry/Kill round of Wagnerian length and scope. Robot cars, starship captains, streaming (ew) services, Debra Messing characters, Golden Girls, Dean Norris, Briscoe vs. Frisco...people, it was terrifying. And exhilarating! And we can't unknow any of it, and if you listen, neither will[...]

Netflix drops a sequel to its Wet Hot American Summer TV series, and Adam Sternbergh makes his long-awaited return to discuss whether it's as refreshing as an Otter Pop or disappointing as a melted S'More. Around The Dial brings us to USA's new limited whydunit The Sinner, Ozark, and Intervention. Adam boldly proposes the Three's[...]

It's a double-date episode (aw) (barf) as Sarah D. Bunting's husband, Dan Brady, joins the panel to discuss the Lowe family's foray into the supernatural. TOPICS Lead Topic: 👻 The Lowe Files Around The Dial: 🌴 Insecure Around The Dial: 📰 News Around The Dial: 📈 The Profit Around The Dial: 🤑 Retro Ad Corner[...]

Stephanie Green returns, and immediately regrets it when she finds out what Dave is going to make her watch. TOPICS Lead Topic: 😎 Summer TV Forcenings Around The Dial: 🎶 Nashville Around The Dial: 💻 The Bold Type Around The Dial: 💼 Detroiters Around The Dial: 🏈 Last Chance U Around The Dial: 🤑 Retro[...]

TV: The Book co-author and Law & Order Fantasy Draft winner Alan Sepinwall is back to talk about Season 7 of Game Of Thrones. Should the show be moving faster, plotwise? Who's going to end up "winning" when all is said and done? Which characters are human memes? And is Ed Sheeran a big baby[...]

FX fills Fargo's time slot with Snowfall, John Singleton's drama series about the birth of crack, and Nick Rheinwald-Jones joins us to talk about it because he lives in Los Angeles and definitely NOT because he is a crackhead. Sarah explains why she's not a crackpot for thinking cable networks should just leave swear words[...]

Kim Reed joins us for a look at the new season, plus a Cheers Canon and a Dave-hate double dip! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🏡 Playing House Will Dave Hate This?: 🧛‍♂️ Dracula (2020) Will Dave Hate This?: 🦸‍♂️ Watchmen Around The Dial: 💄 RuPaul's Drag Race Around The Dial: 🤾‍♂️ The Challenge Around The Dial:[...]

ABC adds The Gong Show to its lineup of rebooted game and variety shows, and Jeff Drake joins us as we get out our scorecards to rate the results. Around The Dial clicks to Better Call Saul, Fargo, and 30 For 30, and includes an update on The Previouslies, our upcoming TV awards. Jeff makes[...]

Eve returns to the guest chair to discuss whether TNT can finally Claws its way into the prestige-TV discussion with a dramedy about a nail salon's dirty bidness. We went around the dial with OITNB, The Handmaid's Tale, stupid Bravo tricks, and iZombie before muttering "the horror, the horror" at a Simpsons Canon presentation. Alison[...]

As I'm Dying Up Here, the series adaptation of a non-fiction book, premieres on Showtime, Omar Gallaga returns to talk about its portrayal of the L.A. comedy scene in the '70s (and precisely how awful its opening credits sequence actually is). Around the dial stops at The Leftovers, Fear The Walking Dead, Amazon's documentary Long[...]

First-time guest Roger Cormier joins the panel to talk about House Of Cards's fifth season, and whether real-life crazer news cycles have made the Underwoods' nutty machinations suffer by comparison. We discussed whether Dave will hate History's upcoming UFO drama Blue Book, then went around the dial with Drag Race, The Americans, Animal Kingdom, and[...]

John Ramos joins us to talk about the third season! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🕳 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Around The Dial: 💃 Dirty Dancing (2017) Around The Dial: 🚨 Angie Tribeca Around The Dial: 🇬🇧 Three Girls Around The Dial: 🏔 Twin Peaks: The Return The Canon: 🤯 Fringe Winner & Loser: 👍 Saturday Night Live[...]

New guest and certified Canadian Alex Collins sits with the panel for a discussion of Netflix's "gritty" take on Canadian kiddie-lit classic Anne Of Green Gables, and how it fares compared with the Megan Follows classic of yesteryear. We went around the dial with The Mick, a documentary about anxiety, a daytime courtroom show (spoiler:[...]

With Netflix launching the series sequel to the 2014 film Dear White People, we welcome back Kim Reed to talk about how well the adaptation works. Around The Dial stops at the latest Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Pop's reruns of ER, and Season 3 of Bosch. Kim makes the case for Felicity's "Final Answer" to be inducted[...]

Tammy Everts joins us to discuss Hulu's adaptation of Margaret Atwood's all-too-relevant dystopian story, plus Oprah and a Nonac! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🧣 The Handmaid's Tale Around The Dial: 🧬 The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Around The Dial: 📔 13 Reasons Why The Nonac: 🪦 Six Feet Under Winner & Loser: 👍 The X-Files[...]

As Better Call Saul returns for its third season, Jeff Drake joins us to discuss the slow-burning premiere (with a few peeks ahead at its showier second episode, shhhh). Around The Dial clicks through the series finale of Switched At Birth, Amazon's under-the-radar spy show Patriot, and American Experience's three-part series, "The Great War." Jeff[...]

Our esteemed colleague John returns for an overview of spring TV: the shows we can't wait to see or be reunited with; the shows we SHOULD be psyched about, but aren't; and the shows noooooobody should go anywhere near. We went around the dial with 13 Reasons Why, Tara's favorite show Legion, teen clam enthusiasts,[...]

RuPaul's Drag Race has packed up all its wigs to move from LogoTV to VH1, and we welcome back our resident expert, Mark Blankenship, to talk about the Season 9 premiere! Around The Dial spins to HBO's documentary Rock And A Hard Place; the 29th season of The Amazing Race; Campus PD'_s and _ER's triumphant[...]

Our esteemed colleague Chris is back to talk about Iron Fist, a show only he among the panel managed to get more than a couple episodes into -- and what exactly the show's problem is, from bad fights to worse accents. We went around the dial with Catfish, Love, Happy Endings, and a violent vintage[...]

As VH1 and Ice Cube breathe new life into an old game show format with Hip Hop Squares, Allison Lowe Huff returns to discuss whether circle got the square this time around. Around The Dial stops at Feud, Amazon's Ronja The Robber's Daughter, Samurai Jack, and another classic TV promo Dave unearthed from the depths[...]

But maybe not Paige? Nick Rheinwald-Jones returns to talk tradecraft, Mad Men, and comedy on TV. TOPICS Lead Topic: 🇺🇸 The Americans Around The Dial: 🤫 The Arrangement Around The Dial: 🛋 Crashing (HBO) Around The Dial: 🤣 Mike Birbiglia: Thank God For Jokes Around The Dial: 📜 American Experience Around The Dial: ⏳ Time[...]

Eve is back to talk about Big Little Lies, from Kidman's wig to good child actors to what we're hoping happens in the finale. Then Eve shared a Tiny Jane The Virgin triumph before we went around the dial with Homeland, The Good Fight, and First Time Flippers. We trundled "Into The Woods" with a[...]

AMC's return to the zombie apocalypse after a midseason hiatus has us bringing Omar back to talk Negan, King Ezekiel, and zombie dismemberment! The Blotter Presents a look at two Texas true crime stories before stops Around The Dial at Humans, Legion, Imposters, and a vintage ad that might choke you up. Omar makes a[...]

jk, it's 'only' Season 29 -- but will this round of innovations breathe new life into MTV's old warhorse? Kim Reed has thoughts! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🤾‍♂️ The Challenge The Blotter Presents: 🔪 Solitary: Inside Red Onion I Am Not A Crackpot: 📺 TV Should Do More Positive Propaganda Around The Dial: 💼 Detroiters Around[...]

Leah Kwan joins us to talk about The CW's new Archie Comics adaptation! TOPICS Lead Topic: 📚 Riverdale The Blotter Presents: 🔪 The Investigator The Blotter Presents: 👀 Expedition Unknown Around The Dial: 🏙 30 Rock Around The Dial: 🐴 My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Around The Dial: ❄️ Timber Creek Lodge Around The[...]

Monty Ashley on The Amazing Fugitive, home movies, podcasts, and more! TOPICS Lead Topic: 👀 Hunted The Blotter Presents: 😱 Beware The Slenderman The Blotter Presents: 🔪 The Witness Around The Dial: 🕶 Throwing Shade Around The Dial: 💄 Face Off Around The Dial: 🚨 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Around The Dial: 🤑[...]

Nick Rheinwald-Jones returns to talk about what may be 'The Final Problem' for real. TOPICS Lead Topic: 🔎 Sherlock The Blotter Presents: 🏈 Is O.J. Innocent? The Missing Evidence The Blotter Presents: 😱 Beware The Slenderman Around The Dial: 🌃 Late Night With Seth MeyersSaturday Night Live Around The Dial: 🤣 Netflix comedy specials; FX[...]

It's a new year for EHG, and a new journey for The Bachelor. Jeff Drake returns to talk about the special madness of Corinne, plus we pick our winners and wonder whether watching UnREAL has enhanced our experience of the original. The Blotter Presents caught us up with the Menendezes and OJ, and we debated[...]

Chris Huff returns for a discussion of The Man In The High Castle -- what works (set design; Smith); what doesn't (Juliana; Joe); and whether we'll finish out the season. The Blotter Presents tipped us to Unsolved Mysteries streaming online, plus the '16 crime shows to marathon over the holidays, before we went around the[...]

TV's most famous cooking competition returns for a new season set in Charleston, South Carolina, so we've brought back our official Top Chef correspondent to talk about the rookies vs. veterans format; the problematic setting; and also, oh right, the food. Dave explains why he is not a crackpot for thinking that TV home buying[...]

Allison Lowe Huff is back to talk about This Is Us, the lovably imperfect tearjerker that's occupying the Friday Night Lights lane in our hearts. We bid farewell to The Killing Season, wondered how Noel Crane fit into a true-crime classic, and celebrated a Tiny Twitter Triumph involving poo before going around the dial with[...]

In anticipation of America's favourite bird-based holiday, we're serving up an all-Canon edition of the podcast, with the focus on episodes taking place around Thanksgiving! Dave presents "Homecoming" (The Incredible Hulk); Sarah presents "The Wheel" (Mad Men); and for the Nonac, Tara offers "Freefall" (ER). Then there's a quick stop to name the week's Winner[...]

Eve Batey returns for a comprehensive look at crime TV past and present: Brooklyn 99, The Jinx, foreign-language series, trashy ID shows and even COPS. We went Around The Dial with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rectify, American Horror Story, and an apology for covering a certain business-reality program. Rosie was the winner, SVU was the loser, Tara[...]

On the eve of the election, Omar Gallaga returns to talk about Saturday Night Live's political comedy, Benedict Cumberbatch's hosting début, and each panelist's personal SNL superlatives! The Blotter Presents a brief (and dismissive) look at Lifetime's scripted movie Who Killed JonBenét?. Around The Dial stops at Ancient Aliens, Planet Earth II, The Crown, and[...]

Our esteemed colleague Danny MacEachern is back on Extra Hot Great for a dystopian good time with the newest season of Black Mirror, from obsessive "like"-checking to robot bees and everything in between. Buntsy updated us on future true-crime programming before we went Around The Dial with Jane The Virgin, Halloween on TV, Bull, superheroes,[...]

Get ready for the knock-down, drag-out, final face-off of all our Season 1 Listener Game Time champions, as they battle to be the ultimate champion! TOPICS Game Time: 🧠 Is This Anything? Supertroll Edition NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 132 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

Our esteemed colleague Nick Rheinwald-Jones returns to talk Luke Cage, from the acting to the soundtrack to whether the 13-episode season felt like (or should have been) two shorter seasons. After a debate about whether David T. Cole will hate the distaff Magnum, PI and a Blotter review of Netflicumentary Amanda Knox, we went Around[...]

It's the pumpkin-spice latte of autumnal programming overviews! ...Unless you hate those. Eve Batey's back to look at the best, worst, and meh-est of new and returning shows. TOPICS Lead Topic: 🍂 Fall 2016 Preview The Blotter Presents: 🔪 JonBenet Ramsey JonBenet Ramsey Tiny Triumph: 🍑 Narcos Pedro Pascal RTs Tara's piece on him The[...]

With the best of RuPaul's girls returning for another chance at the crown on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, Mark Blankenship returns to the podcast to talk about the twists, turns, and tucks! The Blotter Presents a true crime twofer: Sarah's assessment of the latest in JonBenét Ramsey investigations, and a survey of coverage on[...]

TWW Marathon Diarist Sarah Hope comes to Extra Hot Great for a West Wing floor fight: our favorite characters and relationships from Aaron Sorkin's turn-of-the-millennium political drama, the Sorkiniest moments, and the stuff that hasn't aged well (paging, um, all those pagers in the premiere). The Blotter Presents watched Marg Helgenberger chow the scenery in[...]

As Halt And Catch Fire boots up for its third season, Philip Michaels joins us to talk about all the best bits (and bytes) of the first two episodes. The Blotter Presents Sarah's review of MTV's new true crime docuseries Unlocking The Truth, and then we go Around The Dial with stops at Key &[...]

Our esteemed colleague Monty Ashley is back to talk about our favorite cartoons for adults in all sorts of categories -- cartoons no kid should ever see (hey, Ren), series that work just as well for adults as for kids (lookin' at you, SpongeBob), the most beautifully drawn (and scored) shows, and much more. The[...]

For a very special all-'Is This Worse Than Jazz?' installment of the podcast, Dave, Sarah, and Tara invite discussion of their own possibly worse than jazz TV phenomena, and dig into questions submitted by listeners like you, grading them on an appropriately jazzy scale: Rusty Gate The Question Is Zoot Smooth Poison Atonal Omens Of[...]

Trek Week continues on Previously.TV with an all-new Extra Hot Great featuring Maureen "Mo" Ryan and the Star Trek Fantasy Draft! David Snyder kindly shepherded this EHG enterprise (geddit?!) through the lesser science officers, 90210 Borg Queens, and Count Bakula picks the draft entailed. Who will emerge victorious with the very best Trek team*? Stay[...]

As Elliot and the rest of the gang gear up for another season of hacking shenanigans on Mr. Robot, John Ramos returns to the podcast to talk about what went right, and what went otherwise. Around The Dial spins to the series premiere of HBO's Vice Principals, TNT's Animal Kingdom, last week's Emmy nominations, the[...]

Criminal Justice remake The Night Of bowed on HBO this week, and Al Lowe Huff is back to discuss the show, the original, and the importance of casting. The History Channel wondered if DB Cooper's case is Closed? before Tara Flipped Out, Allison joined the Odd Squad, Joe was Shown A Hero, and Sarah went[...]

Remember how much you loved Cameron Crowe circa Almost Famous? Showtime must hope you do, because it's airing his new dramedy series about roadies on a rock tour; designated Rock Cop Jeff Drake joins us to talk about where it went right, and wrong. Around The Dial stops at The Jim Gaffigan Show, Game Of[...]

Orange Is The New Black Season 4 dropped over the weekend, and Monty joined the panel to talk pacing, mental illness, casting churn, and dark turns. We went around the dial with The Girlfriend Experience, a Skin Wars spinoff ("skin-off"?), Samantha Bee, OJ, and series that should know when to end before they start. After[...]

Just when you thought you were O.J.ed out after American Crime Story, ESPN presents O.J.: Made In America, and we bring true crime aficionada Stephanie Green back to talk about the first episode! Around The Dial spins through Veep, The Real Housewives Of Orange County, the Tony Awards, Cop Rock, and another very culturally sensitive[...]

UnREAL is back for Season 2, and so is our esteemed colleague John Ramos, who joins the panel for a discussion of Hollywood truisms, miscasting, and whether the show is using Craig Bierko correctly. We went around the dial with Angie Tribeca, The Challenge, RHONYC, comics we had TV hopes for (now dashed), and the[...]

Eve Batey returns, but will it be to worship AMC's new drama Preacher, or to condemn it to Hell? TOPICS Lead Topic: 🙏 Preacher The Blotter Presents: 🔪 Missing: Dial Around The Dial: 👶 Call The Midwife Around The Dial: 🎶 Empire Around The Dial: 🩺 Grey's Anatomy Around The Dial: 🚨 60 Days In[...]

As the "regular season" wraps up -- is that even a thing anymore? -- the gang plus Kim looks ahead to the new crop of shows, old favorites, and what we can't wait to watch...or boot off the season-pass list. Catfish, The Americans, Survivor, Scandal, and the now-weekly plug for Happy Valley took us Around[...]

Mark Blankenship brings his charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent to a discussion of Ru's latest girls. TOPICS Lead Topic: 💄 RuPaul's Drag Race Around The Dial: 💼 The Good Wife Around The Dial: 🏨 The Night Manager Around The Dial: 🛩 The Amazing Race Around The Dial: 🤾‍♂️ The Challenge The Canon: 👯‍♀️ Broad City[...]

As Game Of Thrones returns from hiatus, and moves beyond the books, the gang plus Jeff and Nick talked about Jon Snow, Crone Castle, and what's next for the Starks. We went around the dial with Better Call Saul, Valleys Silicon and Happy, Houdini & Doyle, Project Runway All-Stars, and the National Enquirer before putting[...]

TOPICS Lead Topic: 🕳 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt None: 💄 Face Off The Blotter Presents: 🔪 Game TIME TO DIE Around The Dial: ⚖️ Confirmation Around The Dial: 🧟‍♀️ iZombie Around The Dial: 👨‍❤️‍👨 The Outs Around The Dial: 🚔 60 Days In The Canon: 🍷 Brothers & Sisters Winner & Loser: 👍 Girlfriends' Guide To[...]

Sarah D. Bunting is back from baseballing, and Stephanie Cangro is back to discuss the final season of American Idol, the Idol farewell, and what it all meant to us as a culture. Liv and a sugar high told us about Face Off and My Little Pony, and we went around the dial with Togetherness,[...]

New guest Daniel MacEachern and returning champion Omar Gallaga join us to talk about an apocalyptic cliffhanger! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🧟‍♀️ The Walking Dead None: 💄 Face Off Around The Dial: 👶 Call The Midwife Around The Dial: 🥃 Horace And Pete Around The Dial: 🇺🇸 Scandal Around The Dial: 🎸 Vinyl The Canon: 📹[...]

After David T. Cole died, then came back to life as befitting the Easter weekend, Jeff Alexander sat down with the gang to discuss the second season of Daredevil, Joe's issues with Jon Bernthal, why a character based IN NEW YORK CITY can't just be Irish already, and whether any of us will be back[...]

Tradecraft enthusiast Nick Rheinwald-Jones creeps back onto the podcast under cover of night to talk about the Season 4 premiere of The Americans. We break with tradition to let Dave interview Liv about the latest episode of Face Off, and ponder whether the jazz at the jazz club in House Of Cards is worse than[...]

House Of Cards dropped its fourth filibuster last Friday, and our esteemed colleague Kim Reed joined the gang to discuss how Frank Underwood and Scandal's Fitz stack up, plus constitutional procedure, hateful heroes, and a listener's possibly crackpot theory that all sitcoms should end after three seasons. We went around the dial with the end[...]

Max defender and periodically ashamed Michigander Stephanie Green returns to talk about the ménage à trois that was the Season 5 premiere of Catfish and whether there's even a point to it anymore (...if ever). Liv takes us through the stages of the latest Gauntlet challenge in her Face Off report; Sarah takes us through[...]

The first round of the Extra Hot Great Listener Game Time concludes with the Son Of The Game That Rhymes from Rob Hartmann. Who's the last one to advance to the Hallowed Hall Of Champions round? Find out! TOPICS Game Time: 🧠 Son Of The Game That Rhymes NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be[...]

Better Call Saul returns for its second season, and Jeff Drake is back to talk about that, plus how much he hates Vinyl and which S2 Fargo should go into the Canon. Liv learned about parasites on Face Off, Sarah talked about American Crime Story's foundation book, and we went around the dial with SNL,[...]

Game experts and EHG contributors Trip Payne, David Ellis Dickerson and Rob Hartmann join Dave and Tara for a TV show theme quiz. Oh, the clips are only one and three seconds long. So there's that. TOPICS Game Time: 🧠 A Little Taste NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 104[...]

The old TWoP bullpen is reunited as Pop Culture Happy Hour's own Linda Holmes joins us for a discussion of American Crime Story, Ryan Murphy's dramatization of (this season) the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Where will your panelists fall on the matter of John Travolta and his Robert Shapiro eyebrows?! After Liv's latest report on[...]

As The X-Files gets back on the case, so does our esteemed colleague Eve Batey -- does the show improve after the premiere? What's with the cast not aging? And who greenlighted those super-gross SFX? After Liv (and Ellie) took us through Face Off, The Blotter recommended American Experience's crimey new season, and we went[...]

Our designated Legends Of Tomorrow correspondent John Ramos joins us to bend the very laws of time itself and discuss the series premiere of The CW's Legends Of Tomorrow DAYS before it actually premieres! Also returning? Liv Kwan, our seven-year-old Face Off reporter, with a report on the season premiere. Around The Dial stops at[...]

Downton Abbey is back for one last spin around the foxhunting course...or something, and Nick's back to discuss the wedding, ageless Daisy, and what will become of Thomas and Lady f'ing Edith. We celebrated a Tiny Triumph, welcomed Smooth Joey Apollo to talk Golden Globes, joined The Hunt For John Wilkes Booth, and went around[...]

It's a new year, which means it's time for a new Bachelor, and we've brought our Bachelor correspondent Stephanie Green back to the podcast to discuss the Season 20 premiere (AND TWINNNNNNNS!). We also update you on the most popular team of the Law & Order draft, and return to the topic of Netflix's Making[...]

Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall kindly subjected himself to our very first Extra Hot Great franchise draft as we all picked from our favorite detectives, ADAs, MEs, and baddies to form Law & Order-verse superteams. Who emerged victorious? That's up to you, and you'll have to listen to know what we mean! After Sarah recommended Netflix's inconveniently[...]

Empire has taken its final bow (before coming back in like a Lyon next March), so we've invited Empire correspondents Eve Batey and Mark Blankenship back to tell us what they thought of the season to date. For The Blotter Presents..., Sarah tells us about Investigation Discovery's Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals. Joe shares a[...]

Let's get this Joe on the road: with Reid off for the week, we asked esteemed colleagues John and Nick to join us for a discussion of Netflix's Jessica Jones, whether it works as a Veronica McNulty PI show of its own, and who Wil Traval reminds us of. The Blotter Presents scratched your Panettiere[...]

Tim Gunn gets another chance at shoring up his fan base with Project Runway: Junior, the shrunk-down version of the fashion competition, and Stephanie Cangro returns to talk about it! Around The Dial stops at Peep Show, London Spy, The Man In The High Castle, How To Get Away With Murder, MasterChef Junior, Into The[...]

Our esteemed colleague Monty Ashley covers most of the comic-book shows on Previously.TV, and he's back to talk about superhero TV from Arrow to, er, Zagents of SHIELD. We wrapped Project Project Greenlight, recommended Maura Murray materials in The Blotter Presents, and went around the dial with ballet, buried treasure, Survivor's eternal allure, Aussie TV[...]

With Ash Vs. Evil Dead premiering on Starz and iZombie well into a strong second season on The CW, we felt it was time to bring back horror/comedy/horror-comedy fan (and iZombie correspondent) Eve Batey for a discussion of both. Liv delivers her final Face Off report on Season 9, and all of us share our[...]

Does CBS's new Supergirl soar or splat? Jeff Alexander, who'll be covering the show for Previously.TV all season, returns to the podcast to join us in a discussion about the pilot. Liv gives us her thoughts on the season's penultimate Face Off before the rest of us chew over the season's penultimate Project Greenlight. (TOO[...]

That's right, listeners: Joe "Awardsy" Reid is back in the permanent Extra Hot Great rotation, as the gang (of four!) checks into American Horror Story: Hotel. When will the show lose most of us this season? What's with that kid looking like Noah Syndergaard? And are we gaga for Gaga? Then we ordered up some[...]

As The Good Wife returns for its seventh season, we welcome Adam Grosswirth to talk about how well the season premiere washes away the bad taste left by Season 6. Liv gives us her report on a freak show-focused episode of Face Off, and The Blotter Presents tells you about Showtime's Warren Jeffs documentary Prophet's[...]

Fall premiere season is upon us, and since we know you rely on us to advise you as to what to watch and what you can skip (you do, right?), we've invited Jeff Drake to join us for a discussion of the season: what we're into; what we probably should be into but aren't, or[...]

Now that we've put our champagne flutes in the dishwasher and peeled off our Spanx, we're ready to look back on the 2015 Emmy awards telecast, from how much funnier Andy Samberg was than the stiffs in the room to the feelings we experienced watching Jon Hamm literally climb on stage to accept his statuette[...]

The Good Wife Marathon Diarist Kim is back to discuss the un-Moored return of Project Greenlight, and whether a fourth season a decade in the making is off to a first-rate start. Tara shared a You're The Worst Tiny Triumph that is kind of the best before Liv weighed in on two weeks of Face[...]

Has PICCI been kind to Kim, Lea, Ian, and Michele? Listen to our latest special all-listener Game Time and find out! TOPICS Game Time: 🧌 Don’t Feed The Trolls NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 086 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

Now that Playing House's second season is well underway, we've invited Nick Rheinwald-Jones, one of its staunchest fans, to join us for a discussion of how things are going so far. Tara shares a Playing House-based Tiny Triumph, after which it's time for Liv to report on the latest Face Off, and for Tara to[...]

Omar's back to talk about AMC's Walking Dead prequel, Fear The Walking Dead. Does it need more process and less teen angst? What's with the stupid driving? And will we keep watching? Dave explained a few EHG facts before Liv learned subtlety on the Face Off report and Tara made us Domer, and we went[...]

As Humans (heard of 'em) wraps its first season, John Ramos joins us to talk about the titular humans and their synth friends...and foes! Liv tells us all about a wedding-themed episode of Face Off, and Tara takes us through the latest idiocy making us all Domer on Under The Dome. Around The Dial stops[...]

Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan joined the gang this week to take a closer look at Project Runway as it returns for a fourteenth season. Liv trolled us in her Face Off report, Tara recharged the amethysts Under The Dome with rage, and we went around the dial with Jon Stewart, Cait Jenner, Becoming Us,[...]

Since summer TV is no longer dumber TV, we've invited Mark Blankenship back to the Blankenship Chair to join us for a discussion of our most winning series picks! Niece Liv -- now seven years old -- returns to bring us the scoop on Face Off's Season 9 premiere, and then Tara tells us the[...]

Our esteemed colleague Kim helped the gang poke holes in Catfish this week, as we wondered whether Max has gotten better...or everything else around him on the show has gotten worse. We got psyched about the revivals of Wet Hot American Summer and America's Best Dance Crew, took a buggy down memory lane with Little[...]

The vampire zombies of The Strain are back on FX, and Omar Gallaga, our resident expert, is back to tell us all about the early days of the second season. From there, we go on to check on the latest events making us Domer, and flip Around The Dial with stops at In Search Of...,[...]

Eve Batey makes it a threequel when she returns to discuss -- and diagnose -- Scream with the rest of the gang. We met the newest EHG-themed shirts, despaired of Under The Dome, and recommended Bosch, UnREAL, and British reality-show sleep aids, and Dave was hopeful about Daredevil's second season. Tara and Melanie explained (at[...]

Dear Mr. President, There are too many ways TV can confuse us or let us down. Please eliminate three. We are NOT crackpots! Dave, Sarah, Tara, and special guest Nick Rheinwald-Jones share their own crackpot TV theories or opinions, and discuss submissions from listeners just like you. Join us for a completely sane, non-fruitcakey outing![...]

Our esteemed colleague Nick willingly trapped himself Under The Dome as CBS's summer "hit" returns for another season of crappy acting, bad CGI, and inexplicable character beats. After Sarah ripped off a rant about jeans and we compared jazz unfavorable with a certain True Detective's anti-bullying regime, we went around the dial with Key &[...]

Point your GPS to Central California and meet your EHG regulars and frequent guest Jeff Drake for a discussion of True Detective's divisive Season 2 premiere! From there, we zoom on to an Around The Dial that stops at A Deadly Adoption, Poldark, The Crimson Field, Catastrophe, which HBO documentaries you should smarten up your[...]

Our esteemed colleague Joe K. Reid (note: not his middle initial) returned to discuss Hannibal's third season and whether the show's serving cannibalistic realness so far. Then we cleansed our palates with a quintessentially inessential TNT summer drama, an Orphan Black clone ranking, and early returns on Orange Is The New Black, and Joe made[...]

With iZombie's season finale bearing down on us like a cannibalistic gym rat, we invited our iZombie correspondent Eve Batey to join us to talk about the season. Around The Dial takes us through Hoarders Live!, Serial Thriller, Tara's report on the ATX Festival, and some more outstanding local ads. After Tara shares a recent[...]

Our esteemed colleague Stephanie Green is back to help us mull the current season of The Bachelorette, including the "shocking" twist that began the season, the "explosive" "revelations" we can expect in coming weeks, and why Kaitlyn can't stop sucking her teeth. We also pondered Lifetime's new behind-the-scenes scripted/fictional Bachelor series, UnREAL, before going Around[...]

Now that the field of RuPaul's Drag Race contestants has been whittled down to just about the size of Violet Chachki's waist, it's time for us to bring back our resident Drag Race expert Mark Blankenship for a discussion of the season to date, and the outcome we want and/or predict will occur. Around The[...]

Have a/some Coke and a smile as our esteemed colleague John Ramos returns to discuss whether Mad Men and Don Draper got a proper sendoff -- and Buntsy finally stops torturing Dave with the DB Cooper thing. (Probably.) We discuss Nashville, vintage ads, crappy Washingtons, and Under The Dome trolling Tara before Sarah proposes another[...]

It's officially summer, and you know what that means: time to start a fire in the hearth, brew a pot of tea, and snuggle under a fur blanket for Showtime's Victorian supernatural drama, Penny Dreadful! Naturally, we were thrilled to welcome Matt Debenham, our resident Penny Dreadful correspondent, to join in the discussion. From there,[...]

Lauren, Andrew, and Shannon join us for our first listeners-only Game Time event! TOPICS Game Time: 👥 The Name Game NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 068 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

Our Orphan Black and Daredevil correspondent, Jeff Alexander, returns to talk boy clones, beatings, and Buntsy's boneheaded D.B. Cooper theory. Liv submitted her final Face Off report of the season, and we all learned something about corporate synergy. Then we went Around The Dial with the Justified finale (approved), the Daredevil renewal (approved), Catfish's obviously[...]

As Game Of Thrones launches its fifth season, both Particleer Nick Rheinwald-Jones and Ravens correspondent Jeff Drake join us to talk about the premiere. Sarah then launches her new Mad Men D.B. Cooper-watch segment, and Liv checks in with her comments on Face Off's penultimate episode of the season. Sarah explains why she is NOT[...]

With Sarah back from baseball nerd camp at last, esteemed contributor John Ramos returned to EHG to talk Mad Men, shapeless narrative, and Roger Sterling's savvy borrowing of Sam Elliott's mustache. After a Face Off report on creepy dollies from Liv, we iced The Slap, bowed before Game Of Thrones, hummed along with the recent[...]

As The Walking Dead wraps up its fifth season, regular Dead correspondent and designated pinch-hitter Jeff Alexander join us for a talk that ranges through the show, the comics, the spinoff, and which characters we could stand to see axed in Season 6! Liv gives the kid perspective on a kid-centered Face Off challenge. We[...]

Our esteemed colleague and ABC aficionado Kim Reed joins the gang for a discussion of Scandal, Dancing With The Stars's 20th season, and the extraneous bits of both. We premiered a new Phrase That Doesn't Pay, learned about Liv's superpower in the Face Off report, Catfished Nev Schulman's podcast, sank one at the buzzer with[...]

American Idol and The Voice correspondent Stephanie Cangro joins us to compare and contrast TV's current big two singing competition shows, and confirm for all of us that Harry Connick Jr. is, in fact, the best. Liv walks us through an intergalactic beauty pageant challenge on Face Off, before we go Around The Dial with[...]

Thanks for your patience, friends! We're back, and we're joined by our esteemed colleague Alex Zeidel for a discussion of House Of Cards's third season. Sarah's not a crackpot for thinking TV kids need to have a seat at the dinner table, Liv's talking scary makeup with Dave, and we're circling the dial with Togetherness,[...]

Dean of the Blankenship Chair Mark Blankenship joins us to talk about the newest show he's covering for Previously.TV -- Fox's runaway hit hip-hop soap opera Empire! Liv returns to tell us all about the "Troll Bridge" episode of Face Off, and then we go around the dial to discuss The Americans, the new Emmy[...]

Our esteemed colleague Jeff Drake helped the gang dish on the Boston season of Top Chef, before seeing if we felt a connection with the current Bachelor and his crop o' lipstick-sharing crazies. Then Tara backhanded The Slap (for its own good, of course!), Jeff visited Broad City and Transparent, and Sarah pitched PBS's endangered[...]

If HBO's going to bring us a true crime docuseries about notorious non-convicted alleged murderer Robert Durst, we're going to talk about it -- and we're going to get true crime expert Eve Batey to pause her Marathon Diary of The Wire and join us. A playing card-based Face Off challenges our six-year-old correspondent Liv.[...]

Our esteemed colleague Allison Lowe Huff joined us to discuss a recent major arc on Elementary, and why the Sherlock Holmes-verse is so durable. After Liv reported on Face Off and the dietary preferences of lion sunflower creatures, we considered whether Dave would hate Syfy Greek-myth drama Olympus, mourned the once-great Sleepy Hollow, compared The[...]

Nick Rheinwald-Jones is our guest for a discussion of the just-kicked-off final season of Justified, just in time for Sarah to get on board. Niece Liv returns to cover Part 2 of the Face Off season premiere, before we move on to the most explosive Bunting vs. Bunting segment of Downton Abbey Series 5 to[...]

Our esteemed colleague Adam Grosswirth returned to EHG to talk about Glee's final season, the two Ryan Murphys, and how the polarizing show will end. After we laughed at Kroll Show and failed to fall for The Fall, Dave showed off his Night Moves, and we wondered which live musical would hit the nets next.[...]

The 2015 televised entertainment award season kicks off with the People's Choice Awards, and...just kidding, we're talking Golden Globes with Joe Reid. We then revive "Will Dave Hate This?" in response to Amazon's announcement of its TV adaptation of Philip K. Dick's The Man In The High Castle, and examine the latest Downton Abbey through[...]

Our esteemed colleague John Ramos is back to assess the stateside season premiere of Downton Abbey -- with all the Sarah Buntings that entails. We also sicced Wardrobe Cop on Rags To Riches, admired FXX's movie-advertising game, ran through the pleasures of The Flash, and worked up an appetite for The Great British Bake Off.[...]

The EHG team breaks its long silence for a quick look back at the TV year that was, with some highly partial superlatives including Best New Show, Most Tragic Renewal, and Pierce Of The Year. Join us for all the triumphant laurels and rotten tomatoes! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🍾 Year In Review NOTES 🗒 Full[...]

It's time once again to consider nominees for the Nonac -- the opposite of the EHG Canon, where the worst-ever episodes of otherwise-good shows reside. After Dave clarified a point of Nonac law, we turned our attention to the "disgusting clothing" and ridiculous challenge in a ninth-season Project Runway; remembered how much we hated stupid[...]

Once upon a time, long ago (read: "the early aughts"), before the tyranny of Duck Dynasty, A&E really was about art and entertainment -- viz. their weekday-afternoon "rock block" of enjoyable classics. NewsRadio, Northern Exposure, and Law & Order: Mothership helped the gang while away many a dull PM at their desks. Today, we nominate[...]

Our very special all-Program Parole Board special looks around the TV landscape and makes recommendations on which currently-barely-available series deserve to be put online for streaming, put back into the syndication rotation, or straight-up rebooted. TOPICS Lead Topic: 👩🏽‍⚖️ Program Parole Board Special NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 049[...]

For our very special TV Cop special, we hear from specially trained officers working cases involving special effects overreach, sexual ethics, booze, and much more! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🚔 TV Cops NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 048 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

Our esteemed colleague Trip Payne takes a break from hunting for the hidden immunity idol to join us for discussions of Survivor, TV's krappiest kids, a notable casting change, and a South Korean reality show. The hills were alive with the sound of a Will & Grace nomination for the Canon, and we also heard[...]

Joe Reid joins us to discuss the week in TV as Ryan Murphy premieres the fourth season of American Horror Story, murderous clown and all. Around The Dial takes us through Extreme Cheapskates, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., HBO's announcement of a standalone streaming service, and Sarah and Joe engaging in a postseason baseball commentator fantasy draft[...]

Our esteemed colleague Jeff Drake came not to praise Homeland's season premiere, but to bury it -- but he and the gang found a lot to like. We went around the dial with animated shows, British-history-based streaming sleep aids, and a great ending to a great Bob's Burgers, before Liv accidentally NSFWed the Face Off[...]

Fox gets into the comic book adaptation game with Gotham, and Previously.TV's resident Gotham watcher Nick Rheinwald-Jones is here to talk about it with us! Around The Dial rolls through The Flash, Chicago PD, The Good Wife, and How To Get Away With Murder. True professional Olivia Kwan updates us on the latest Face Off[...]

Our esteemed colleague and EHG first-timer Allison Lowe Huff headed up the Madam Secretary discussion committee this week before Liv and Dave filed reports on Face Off and Billy Eichner, respectively. We also put a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode to a vote (...at Tenagra), tried to solve The Mysteries Of Laura, and fell[...]

Our long, long three-week hiatus comes to an end with the return of John Ramos, and a discussion of new fall series -- the ones each of us are into; the ones we should be into but aren't; and the ones we feel no one should be into. After Olivia's latest Face Off report (warning:[...]

One half of the Fug Girls, Jessica Morgan, returns to the guest chair as we consider Project Runway and whether it's showing its age. We also talked about Utopia's not-that-crazy ideas, Rectify's Emmy chances in 2015, corporate fan-fic, and televised LARPing before assessing a five-makeover Clone High ep for the canon. Could the gang guess[...]

Alan Sepinwall joins us for his first-ever full episode of the podcast for a discussion of The Knick! After Face Off correspondent Olivia Kwan updates us on Episode 3, we go around the dial with Outlander, Dirk Gently, Amy Pascale's new Joss Whedon biography, and Extreme Guide To Parenting. Sarah shares a couple of recent[...]

Previously's Bachelor/ette expert, Stephanie Green, joins us -- even Sarah, with Time Warner Cable's capricious blessing! -- to discuss the latest Bachelorette finale, slut-shaming, and whether anyone's still watching it (or going on the show) unironically. After we went around the dial with Stephen 'DGAF' Colbert, Dave's take on Tara's Fringe rewatch, and The Leftovers[...]

The return of SyFy's Face Off brings series expert/first-time guest Monty Ashley (plus six-year-old fan Olivia Kwan) to the podcast to talk locked molds, co-operation, and why taking one class with your son might not be adequate preparation for a prospective contestant on the show. Then Sarah's network craps out and we're forced to carry[...]

If we were going to be talking about the greatest TV bad-asses in a variety of sub-categories, it seemed obvious that we would need to bring bad-ass Omar Gallaga into the mix to join us and share his picks. We then move on to an Around The Dial segment that takes us through Restaurant Start-Up,[...]