Extra Hot Great: This Week In TV

The newest co-production from HBO and Sky finds a tech billionaire and a “Hollywood actress” battling over the end of their marriage, abetted by teams of high-priced lawyers; with Sarah out for the day, both Richard Lawson and Katey Rich return to discuss the fictional dissolution. Around The Dial takes us through The Great British Bake Off S17, Taskmaster S22, Kill Jackie, and Mile End Kicks. Katey pitches the S04 finale of The Traitors (US) for induction into The Canon. Then, after we name the week’s Winner and Loser, we close up with a Non-Regulation Game Time for which we really have to thank the Academy. No need for you to put down a retainer — just join us!

GUESTS
👤 Richard Lawson
👤 Katey Rich

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 💔 War
Around The Dial: 🎂 The Great British Bake Off
Around The Dial: 💌 Taskmaster
Around The Dial: 💀 Kill Jackie
Around The Dial: 🦵 Mile End Kicks
The Canon: 🗡️ The Traitors S04.E11: Leap Of Faith
Winner & Loser: 🦜 Lanterns
Winner & Loser: 🤖 Kelly Clarkson
Game Time: 🏆 Winner Winner TV Dinner

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NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🦋 Richard Lawson on Bluesky
🦋 Katey Rich on Bluesky
💔 Richard’s review of War (2026) at Premiere Party
🎊 The Premiere Party newsletter
🎞️ The Critical Darlings podcast on Apple
🍿 The Ankler
🎧 The Prestige Junkie podcast
🥊 The Fighting In The War Room podcast
📷 Justin Downing / Sky / HBO

CLUB-ONLY NOTES
🔥 EHG Club Perk Links & How-To
💬 Get On Our Community Discord

We were counting on The Hollywood Reporter’s chief television critic Dan Fienberg to help us diagnose the issues with the thirteenth season of American Horror Story, and luckily he came through in a discussion that covered excessive fan service, when the “ew” and the “…huh” don’t balance each other, and the sin of wasting John Waters. We went Around The Dial with the new A Different World, My Brilliant Career, and American Hostage before Seth served up a Canon pitch for Hannibal‘s second-season finale. Mary Poppins won, Brandi Glanville lost, and we didn’t wait ’til the middle of the night to step on a Lego-based Game Time. Grab a handful of swabs and have a listen!

GUESTS
👤 Daniel Fienberg

TOPICS
Announcement: 🔥 Club Stickers!
Lead Topic: 🇺🇸 American Horror Story
Around The Dial: 🌎 A Different World
Around The Dial: 🧟‍♀️ Women In Horror TV
Around The Dial: 👔 My Brilliant Career
Around The Dial: 😓 American Hostage
The Canon: 🍱 Hannibal S02.E13: Mizumono
Winner & Loser: ☂️ Mary Poppins
Winner & Loser: 💥 Brandi Glanville
Game Time: 🧱 Lego My Game Time

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🔥 Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads, community Discord and more!
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🛍️ Shop our merch store!

NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
📊 EHG Club Sticker Poll
📰 Subscribe to Dan's THR newsletter, Now See This
🦋 Dan Fienberg on Bluesky
🤩 And at The Hollywood Reporter...
🔫 ...including his review of American Hostage
🇺🇸 Sarah's review of American Hostage for Best Evidence
🔥 Extra Hot Great Club
🏦 Ask Sarah about the Mutual Aid Vault
🪓 Angie Han's Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story review at The Hollywood Reporter
🌴 Again With Again With This
📷 Photo: Eric Liebowitz / FX

CLUB-ONLY NOTES
🔥 EHG Club Perk Links & How-To
💬 Get On Our Community Discord

We’re thrilled Santiago Melli-Huber could return to discuss the inter-agency copaganda — and, to be fair, the realistic sibling interactions — of Line Of Fire, a puzzle-box-ish network procedural full of cop tropes, unrealistic travel times, and actors we had trouble reconciling with relatively likable characters. We went Around The Dial with Best Of The Best, Dropout content, and Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story before Sarah bellied up to the Canon with a pitch for Drunk History. The Savant won, Taylor Frankie Paul lost, and Game Time was so on-brand with its acting-through-the-generations concept that it took nearly a generation to complete. Pocket an origami swan and join us for an all-new Extra Hot Great!

GUESTS
👤 Santiago Melli-Huber

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🔫 Line Of Fire
Around The Dial: 🕺 Best Of The Best
Around The Dial: 👵🏻 Matlock (2024)
Around The Dial: 🍚 Game Changer
Around The Dial: 🪓 Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story
The Canon: 🥴 Drunk History S05.E07: Drunk Mystery
Winner & Loser: 🪦 The Savant
Winner & Loser: 🤦‍♀️ Taylor Frankie Paul
Game Time: 🍼 Return Of The TV Nepo Babies

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NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
📱 Ridiculous large iPhone text
🦋 Follow Santiago Melli-Huber on Bluesky
🎙️ Mari Cohn and Dolly Parton Tribute Night at The Edge
💄 The Listen To Sassy Club
🪓 Sarah's Monster: Lizzie review at Best Evidence
🏦 Make a withdrawal from (or deposit in!) the EHG Mutual Aid Vault
📷 Photo: Spencer Pazer / NBC

The great Josh Gondelman returns to discuss the not-so-great High Value Target: The Hunt For Saddam, a tiresome limited series on TNT starring Joel Kinnaman as a CIA analyst/non-credible nerd and Tom Berenger as his crusty veteran dad. We’re talking about who it’s for (crusty veteran dads, lbr), why you wouldn’t just read John Nixon’s book, and whether other series have unpacked this era’s baggage more efficiently. We went Around The Dial with Coin From Accounts, Reggie Dinkins, and OJ Unseen before Dave wondered if the first-thought ring recharging on Lanterns is Worse Than Jazz?, and we contemplated a meta game-changer episode of Game Game Changer for the Canon. Point Break won, Entourage lost, and we sharpened our No. 2 pencils for an analogy-forward Game Time from Seth. We’re not in Kansas anymore either — it’s an all-new EHG!

GUESTS
👤 Josh Gondelman

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🎯 High Value Target: The Hunt For Saddam
Around The Dial: 🦮 Colin From Accounts
Around The Dial: 🏈 The Fall And Rise Of Reggie Dinkins
Around The Dial: 🍊 OJ Unseen: Exploitation Of Evil
Is This Worse Than Jazz?: 💍 The Lantern From Lanterns
The Canon: 🏰 Game Changer S07.E11: Samalamadingdong
Winner & Loser: 🏄‍♂️ Point Break
Winner & Loser: 😡 Entourage creator Doug Ellin
Lead Topic: 🧠 All About The D

SUPPORT THE SHOW
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🎧 Subscribe to EHG on Apple Podcasts for bonus episodes and no ads!
🛍️ Shop our merch store!

NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🗓️ More from Josh Gondelman, including his tour schedule
📰 Josh's newsletter, That's Marvelous
🕵🏻‍♂️ "Not My Job: We Quiz A Retired CIA Analyst On Briefs (The Underwear)" from Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
🌴 Again With This Club
🍊 Sarah's review of OJ Unseen at Best Evidence
📷 Photo: TNT

CLUB-ONLY NOTES
🔥 EHG Club Perk Links & How-To
💬 Get On Our Community Discord

We are off this week for Labor Day but present an episode from inside the Club vault. AppleTV’s newest dramedy pairs The Heat screenwriter Katie Dippold with Matthew Rhys as the beleaguered mayor of a dying island town; we tell you whether you should book your stay at the creepy local inn. Ask EHG invites us to share, among other things, which current show desperately needs a zombie apocalypse and the words we find aesthetically pleasing. Sarah pitches Omar Little’s first rendition of “The Farmer In The Dell” from The Wire for the Tiny Whistling Canon. We name the week’s Not Quite Winners And Losers. Finally, we end on our picks for the Sky Mall gifts our favorite TV characters most need to receive. Settle in to your table at The Salty Whale and join us!

TOPICS
Announcement: 📢 Ask & Answer Ask EHG Without Discord
Lead Topic: 🧙‍♀️ Widow's Bay
Ask EHG: 🇨🇦 Canadian Gladiators
Tiny Canon: 😗 The Wire S01.E05: The Pager
Winner & Loser: 👶 Nick Offerman
Winner & Loser: ✍️ Friends writers
Winner & Loser: 🩳 Michael Beach
Winner & Loser: 🐻‍❄️ Lost producers
Winner & Loser: 👦🏻 Adolescence
Winner & Loser: 😤 Aimee Lou Wood
Extra Credit: ✈️ SkyMalled
Mini: 😚 Whistling (Oct 2011)

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NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🎺 "What's Jazz Doing In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms?" on YouTube
😙 "Omar Comin'" on YouTube
🙊 "Lost Actor Harold Perrineau Says Former Co-Star Still Won't Talk To Him" at IGN [subscription required]
✈️ SkyMall
📷 Photo: Apple

Labor Day is nearly here, and with it the unofficial start of fall. With dozens of new shows premiering or returning, which are we actually planning to watch…and planning even harder to avoid? Eve Batey returns so that we can all share our picks and P.U.s. Eve presents the Widow’s Bay episode “Your Baggage” for induction into The Canon. Then, after we name the week’s Winner and Loser, we close with a Ted-y bear of a Non-Regulation Game Time. Take a break from burning your dead leaves to listen!

GUESTS
👤 Eve Batey

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🍂 Fall TV Preview
The Canon: ⛽️ Widow's Bay S01.E08: Your Baggage
Winner & Loser: ⚖️ Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Winner & Loser: 📡 CNN
Game Time: 🔪 Ted Like Me

SUPPORT THE SHOW
🔥 Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads, community Discord and more!
🎧 Subscribe to EHG on Apple Podcasts for bonus episodes and no ads!
🛍️ Shop our merch store!

NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🦋 Eve Batey on Bluesky
‼️ “The Cozy-Looking Sweaters In ‘Reds,’ Ranked” at Defector
📰 The Vanity Fair Daily newsletter
🌁 Eve’s piece on Under Story at the San Francisco Chronicle [subscription required]
👶 Sarah’s review of Baby Doe at Best Evidence [subscription required]
🖼️ “CNN Apologizes For Mistakenly Airing Photo Of Dolly Parton Impersonator In Report On Late Singer” at Variety

Five-part Swedish serial-killer cop show Blood Sacrifice just hit Netflix, and Sarah Baker is back to talk about scratching the Scandi-noir itch, mapping overseas procedurals onto B-B-B-B-Bosch, and what uniquely Swedish crimes a second season could incorporate. We went Around The Dial with My Brilliant Career, Big Brother, This Is A Gardening Show, and a Djokovic djokumentary on Prime Video before Tara very truthfully pitched Would I Lie To You? for another Canon spot. Line Of Fire won; Lost, um, you know; and we had to dive deep into our NCISknowledge for Game Time. Throw a couple cans of sparkling wine in the Volvo and join us!

GUESTS
👤 Sarah Baker

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🩸 Blood Sacrifice
Around The Dial: 👷🏻‍♀️ My Brilliant Career
Around The Dial: 👁️ Big Brother
Around The Dial: 👨‍🌾 This Is A Gardening Show
Around The Dial: 🎾 Novak Djokovic: The Wolf In Winter
The Canon: 🤥 Would I Lie To You S19.E05
Winner & Loser: 🔫 Line Of Fire
Winner & Loser: 🐻‍❄️ Lost
Game Time: ⚓️ Navally

SUPPORT THE SHOW
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🎧 Subscribe to EHG on Apple Podcasts for bonus episodes and no ads!
🛍️ Shop our merch store!

NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🍔 Listen to Sarah Baker on Bob's Burgers
💝 And keep an eye out for Loves Company
🏦 Contact Sarah about the EHG Mutual Aid Vault
📷 Photo: Netflix / Jörgen Johansson

HBO’s getting in the superhero game with Lanterns, a take on a DC Comics superhero with theories about aliens, and lore expert Kate Sánchez returns to walk us through why John Stewart is an interesting apprentice, what she’d do with glowing-ring powers, and whether we buy Coach Taylor in this role. We went Around The Dial with The Dink, Hard Knocks, and the return of The Challenge, and our esteemed colleague John Ramos hoped we’d represent an episode of Heartstoppers for the Canon. Only Murders casting won, Dylan Walsh lost, and we waded into the Simpsons–One Piece plot Venn in Game Time. While away that flight to Nebraska with an all-new Extra Hot Great!

GUESTS
👤 Kate Sánchez

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 💍 Lanterns
Around The Dial: 🏓 The Dink
Around The Dial: 🏈 Hard Knocks
Around The Dial: 🤾🏻‍♂️ The Challenge
The Canon: 💗 Heartstopper S02.E08: Perfect
Winner & Loser: 🏢 Only Murders In The Building
Winner & Loser: 🏒 Dylan Walsh
Game Time: 🏴‍☠️ One Piece Did It

SUPPORT THE SHOW
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NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🤨 Kate Sánchez's online community, But Why Tho
🦋 Kate on Bluesky
💪 Tara explains why you should be watching Reacher S04, at GQ
🤳 More on Reacher S04 from us in EEHG 424
📚 The virtual concierge at Exhibit B. Books, Sarah's true-crime bookshop
📷 Photo: HBO

In Anna Pigeon, the USA Network’s new Canadian import, the titular character is a cop whose beat is Glacier National Park. Did it make us want to abandon our TVs for the great outdoors? Famed National Parks Omar Gallaga returns to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us through The Last House, S02 of X-Men ’97, and Game Day Murders. Omar presents the Primal episode “Plague Of Madness” for induction into the Canon. Then, after we name the week’s Winner and Loser, we get out our credit cards for a Game Time that dares us to shop (TV) ’til we drop. Put on your sunscreen and bug spray and listen!

GUESTS
👤 Omar Gallaga

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🐦 Anna Pigeon
Around The Dial: 🏘️ The Last House
Around The Dial: 🎆 X-Men '97
Around The Dial: 🏟️ Game Day Murders
The Canon: 🦕 Primal S01.E07: Plague Of Madness
Winner & Loser: 🕳️ Stars of The Pitt
Winner & Loser: 🦶 Ego Nwodim
Game Time: 💸 Shop The Show

NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🦋 Omar on Bluesky
🫥 The Cold Vanish by John Billman on Bookshop
🧗‍♂️ “No Return” (about “alpine divorce”) at The New Yorker
💄 The Listen To Sassy Club
🦸🏻‍♂️ “A Wunderkind Showrunner Was Put In Charge Of Marvel’s X-Men ’97. Then Something Went Terribly Wrong” at Vanity Fair
👨🏽‍💻 Omar at CNET
🏸 Sarah’s review of Game Day Murders at Best Evidence
🧼 Info on and tickets for The Bathroom Attendant
📷 Photo: Michelle Faye / USA

CLUB-ONLY NOTES
🔥 EHG Club Perk Links & How-To
💬 Get On Our Community Discord

Extra Extra Hot Great music-on-TV correspondent Kari Race is back to discuss Sterling Point, in which Manhattan rich kids head to a wifi-free island in Canada to uncover secrets, draw love triangles, and make out with their friends’ moms. The panel was divided on whether it was charming and sweet, or unrealistic and annoying; see if we think it’ll make you smile, or just feel old. We went Around The Dial with Unacceptable, Heartstopper: Forever, and the BBC’s Jared Leto investigation, and Dave asserted that a seventh-season X-Filesepisode was ass. Task won, Wonder Man lost, and Game Time turned X-Files guest-star deaths into blind items. Grab a handful of illegally stored acorns and join us.

GUESTS
👤 Kari Race

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 👉 Sterling Point
Around The Dial: 🫨 Unacceptable
Around The Dial: 💕 Heartstopper
Around The Dial: 😬 Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret
The Nonac: 🔫 The X-Files S07.E13: First Person Shooter
Winner & Loser: 👮🏻‍♂️ Task
Winner & Loser: 🤷‍♂️ Wonder Man
Game Time: 👽 The Ex-Files

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NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🎧 Kari Race's Hey Remember the 80s podcast
🛬 Tara's "Why Can't TV Finales Stick a Landing" piece at GQ
😬 Sarah's review of JL:HDS at Best Evidence
✉️ Mo Ryan's "Jared Leto And Hollywood's Open Secrets" essay at NYT
🧯 Mo Ryan's Burn It Down at Exhibit B. Books
📰 Last week's guest Tim Grierson's profile of Wonder Man star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II for the L.A. Times
📷 Photo: Prime Video