One week out from Christmas, we're bringing you a special all about the holidays. Will festive episodes of The Twilight Zone and Frasier take their place in our TV Hall of Fame? Will a famous failure of a Veronica Mars episode land in our Hall of Shame? Fa la la la la la la la listen and find out!

The Canon: 👞 The Twilight Zone S01.E12: What You Need

The Nonac: 📼 Veronica Mars S02.E10: One Angry Veronica

The Canon: 🤶🏻 Frasier S06.E10: Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz

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📷 Paramount / CBS / Warner Bros.

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It had been far too long since we played Mullendash, one of our favorite games, so we reached out to our network and gathered three people who write jokes for a living: standup comic Brandi Brown; comic and former Desus & Mero head writer Josh Gondelman; and former Last Week Tonight writer Jill Twiss. How good were they at writing bad punchlines that could pass for Jim Mullen's, thus fooling their fellow players? Listen and find out!

👤 Josh Gondelman

👤 Brandi Brown

👤 Jill Twiss

Lead Topic: 🧠 Mullendash

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🫠 The first Mullendash episode from 2023

📸 Brandi Brown on Instagram

🦋 Josh Gondelman on Bluesky

🦋 Jill Twiss on Bluesky

🦙 "What I Saw At The Minnesota State Fair's Llama-Alpaca Experience" by Brandi at Defector

🎡 "We Must Never Forget That Amy Klobuchar Is A Cowardly State Fair Centrist" by Brandi at Defector

🗳️ Jill's book Everyone Gets A Say

😌 Josh's newsletter That's Marvelous

🏟️ Tour dates and more at Josh's website

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Once again, 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 yearly EHG tradition!

👤 Alan Sepinwall

👤 Brandi Brown

👤 Caroline Lefloch

👤 Sarah Baker

👤 Alison Herman

👤 Adam Grosswirth

👤 Taylor Cole

👤 Omar Gallaga

👤 Krystal Farmer

👤 Dan Cassino

👤 David Wiebe

👤 Eve Batey

👤 Monty Ashley

👤 Andy Dehnart

👤 Alex Collins

👤 Daniel MacEachern

👤 Kari Race

👤 Nick Rheinwald-Jones

👤 Jessica Morgan

👤 Devindra Hardawar

👤 Stephanie Green

Lead Topic: 🧠 Guest Thought Experiments

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site

🤔 2023 Guest Thought Experiments

🧐 2022 Guest Thought Experiments

👕 Dave made Dave the shirt

One of the oldest and most venerated game show formats is Password, dating back to well before all your co-hosts were alive. On an entirely unrelated note, for this special episode, we're playing a game called Personal Authorization Code! We've invited our friends Sarah Baker, Robert Krut, Jeff Drake, and Wendy Molyneux to play; since all of them live on the west coast and had to record in the middle of the night, our beloved Joe Reid sat in for Sarah as Tara's partner. Who can do the most with the least...number of words? Listen and learn!

👤 Sarah Baker

👤 Jeff Drake

👤 Robert Krut

👤 Wendy Molyneux

👤 Joe Reid

Game Time: 🤐 Personal Authorization Code

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📸 Sarah Baker on Instagram

🦋 Jeff Drake on Bluesky

📸 Robert Krut on Instagram

📸 Wendy Molyneux on Instagram

🦋 Joe Reid on Bluesky

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Prestige series Dune: Prophecy travels more than ten thousand years into the past to see what put in motion the Dune-iverse events we already knew about. Guest Phil Maciak took the time-machine trip with us to discuss whether the series is only for fans of the existing IP; what the series might have focused on instead of administrative wrangling; and why the club always looks annoying regardless of timeline. We went Around The Dial with A Man On The Inside, Junior Taskmaster, Say Nothing, and a Day Of The Jackel update before Phil appealed to our hearts -- and guts -- with a Somebody Somewhere pitch. Friday Night Lights won, Jenny Mollen lost, and the melody lingered on with another round of Tube Tunes. Cue up your thinking machines and listen now!

👤 Philip Maciak

Lead Topic: 🪱 Dune: Prophecy

Around The Dial: 🚪 A Man On The Inside

Around The Dial: 💌 Junior Taskmaster

Around The Dial: 🇮🇪 Say Nothing

Around The Dial: 🔫 The Day Of The Jackal

The Canon: 🧻 Somebody Somewhere S02.E02: #2

Winner & Loser: 🏈 Friday Night Lights

Winner & Loser: ✈️ Jenny Mollen

Game Time: 🎶 Tube Tunes XV

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🦋 Phillip Maciak on Bluesky

🔥 EHG Humans Bluesky Starter List

🤐 Phil's Say Nothing review

🤫 ...which Sarah's review links to in her review

😻 Find cat TNR and rescue groups near you (in the U.S.)

🥋 Tara's Cobra Kai S06 review at Cracked

🧤 Donate to Street Forum's winter-gear fundraiser

💵 The National Network Of Abortion Funds

📷 Photo: HBO

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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. Stephanie pitches the 10th episode of Australia's Instant Hotel's first season for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we close up with a Game Time about TV shows that burned brightly, but too briefly (and...not always brightly). Put your feet up -- in or out of traction; that's up to you -- and join us!

👤 Stephanie Green

Lead Topic: 🏥 St. Denis Medical

Around The Dial: 👰‍♀️ Married At First Sight

Around The Dial: 🩻 Anatomy Of Lies

Around The Dial: 💍 Sister Wives

Around The Dial: 🤔 Cruel Doubt

Around The Dial: 🐧 The Penguin

The Canon: 🏨 Instant Hotel S01.E10

Winner & Loser: 😱 Macaulay Culkin

Winner & Loser: 🐮 Taylor Sheridan

Game Time: 📉 One Season And No Movie

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🩺 Tara's comedies about doctors and hospitals, at Cracked

🍽️ Stephanie's essay "My Great Hunger" at The Cincinnati Review

🤔 Cruel Doubt on YouTube

📚 The major-case sale at Exhibit B. Books

🎁 Extra Hot Great gift subscriptions at Patreon

📷 Photo: Ron Batzdorff / NBC

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 brand not a candidate for your attention? We went Around The Dial with the new season of Abbott Elementary, the Criterion Closet series, and Mad Men before Ari wove together a Canon case for a sixth-season Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Tapestry." Prestige casting won, Amazon lost, and we voted early often for film-adaptation shows in Game Time. It's your patriotic duty to listen now!

👤 Tim Grierson

Lead Topic: 🏛️ The Brady Bunch In The White House

Around The Dial: 🏫 Abbott Elementary

Around The Dial: 📀 The Criterion Closet

Around The Dial: 🥃 Mad Men

I Am Not A Crackpot: 🤖 AI On Taskmaster

The Canon: 🔪 Star Trek: The Next Generation S06.E15: Tapestry

Winner & Loser: 🍯 Arlios Winners

Winner & Loser: 🦾 Prime Video

Game Time: 📺 Honey, I Shrunk The Screen

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📀 The Criterion Channel on YouTube

🙅‍♂️ Tim Grierson on X

🎬 Tim's profile of director Sean Baker for the LA Times

🌴 The Again With This Patreon

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📷 Photo: Paramount Television

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, The Summit, Four In A Bed, and Raiders Of The Lost Art. Andy pitches the Dating Around episode "Guru" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time with a lot of love to give. Put down that goop that lets you wash your face without water, and join us!

👤 Andy Dehnart

Announcement: 🎙️ Club Campaign New Perks

Lead Topic: 💸 Buy It Now

Around The Dial: 📍 Somebody Somewhere

Around The Dial: ⛰️ The Summit

Around The Dial: 🛏️ Four In A Bed

Around The Dial: 🖼️ Raiders Of The Lost Art

The Canon: 🥂 Dating Around S01.E02: Gurki

Winner & Loser: 🏢 Only Murders In The Building

Winner & Loser: 🍔 Adam Richman

Game Time: 😘 The Dating Game

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🦋 Andy Dehnart on Bluesky

🏷️ Tara's post on Buy It Now at Cracked

📍 Tara's Somebody Somewhere review at Cracked

🌫️ Reality Blurred

⛰️ Andy's review of The Summit at Reality Blurred

🛏️ Andy's Four In A Bed review at Reality Blurred

😴 Four In A Bed on Tubi

🎨 "Want To Learn Art History? Here Are 9 Absolutely Classic TV Series That Will Give You A Solid Education -- And Keep You On The Edge Of Your Seat" at Artnet

🗂️ Best Evidence at Reality Blurred

🥂 Andy's review of Dating Around at Reality Blurred

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 watch it, but maybe our discussion will help you decide. We went Around The Dial with What We Do In The Shadows, The Change, and Woman Of The Hour before trying to sneak an undercover 21 Jump Street episode into the Ca-- er, the Pamon. Slow Horses won, car chases lost, and we got bogged down in minutiae with rightwood's IMDb-forward Game Time. Take a break from that pentagram copy-edit and check it out!

👤 Pamela Ribon

Lead Topic: 🤘 Hysteria

Around The Dial: 🧛🏻‍♂️ What We Do In The Shadows

Around The Dial: 👛 The Change

Around The Dial: 🕕 Woman Of The Hour

The Pamon: 🔫 21 Jump Street S04.E23: How I Saved the Senator

Winner & Loser: 🐴 Slow Horses

Winner & Loser: 🚓 Live PD

Game Time: 😑 The IMDumB Game

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💄 Hear more Pam on Listen To Sassy

🧛🏻‍♀️ Tara's WWDITS sixth-season review for Cracked

🕛 Sarah's Woman Of The Hour review for Best Evidence

📷 Photo: Peacock

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 seeing it through for Kline's cardigan acting? Next, we went Around The Dial with Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, Happy's Place, Shrinking, and the Platonic (not) ideal of "this should have been a feature" docuserieses, before Tara nominated a third-season Harley Quinn episode for the Canon. An Office reboot won, Succession lost, and a new scoring wrinkle scared the hell out of us in Game Time. Throw your drawers out the train window and have a listen!

👤 Alan Sepinwall

Lead Topic: 📜 Disclaimer

Around The Dial: 💍 Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage

Around The Dial: 🙂 Happy's Place

Around The Dial: 🛋️ Shrinking

Around The Dial: 🦎 The Hunt For The Chameleon Killer

The Canon: 🃏 Harley Quinn S03.E03: The 83rd Annual Villy Awards

Winner & Loser: 👍 The new Office series

Winner & Loser: 👎 Jeremy Strong

Game Time: 🎃 Halloween Spooktacular

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✍🏻 Alan Sepinwall's review of Disclaimer* for Rolling Stone

⚖️ Alan's Better Call Saul book, Saul Goodman v. Jimmy McGill: The Complete Critical Companion to Better Call Saul

💊 Tara's Untitled: A Bad Teen Novel

👱🏻‍♂️ The Billy Crystal wig under scrutiny

🌃 Tara's piece on Saturday Night Not Ready For Primetime Players verisimilitude for Cracked

🦎 Sarah's The Hunt For The Chameleon Killer review at Best Evidence

📷 Photo: Apple

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