Extra Hot Great: This Week In TV

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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💬 Get On Our Community Discord

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

🔥 Get Extra Extra Hot Great in the EHG Club

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

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

✍🏻 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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💬 Get On Our Community Discord

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 us to 9-1-1: Lone Star, 9-1-1 (talk about running the gamut), and the second season of Interview With The Vampire. The otherwise absent Sarah makes her pitch for inducting the Frasier episode "The Ski Lodge" into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we close with a Non-Regulation Game Time that might not be entirely super, but is at least somewhat duper. Hide out in your trailer and listen!

👤 Devindra Hardawar

Lead Topic: 🦸🏽‍♀️ The Franchise

Around The Dial: 🧑‍🚒 9-1-1

Around The Dial: 🐮 9-1-1: Lone Star

Around The Dial: 🧛🏻‍♂️ Interview With The Vampire

The Canon: 🎿 Frasier S05.E14: The Ski Lodge

Winner & Loser: 👍 Rugrats

Winner & Loser: 👎 Peacemaker

Game Time: 🦹🏼‍♀️

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🦋 Devindra Hardawar on Bluesky

💪 Tara's review of The Franchise at Cracked

😦 Tara's Scare Tactics review at Cracked

⚰️ EEHG 297, about Interview With The Vampire S02

🎞️ The Filmcast's episode on Megalopolis

📷 Photo: Colin Hutton / HBO

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 30 episode "My American Son." Anne pitches the 30 Rock episode "Queen Of Jordan" for induction into the Nonac. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that's really taking its (game) time. Put on your life vest and join us!

👤 Jessica Morgan

Lead Topic: 🚢 Doctor Odyssey

Around The Dial: 🌃 The Real Housewives Of New York City

Around The Dial: 🧂 The Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City

Around The Dial: 🍊 The Real Housewives Of Orange County

Around The Dial: 🎾 30 For 30

The Nonac: 👸🏾 30 Rock S05.E17: Queen Of Jordan

Winner & Loser: 👍 Stranger Things

Winner & Loser: 👎 Lorraine Bracco

Game Time: 🐢 Slowly At First III: Tubey's Revenge

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🐦 Jessica Morgan / Go Fug Yourself on X

🙂‍↔️ Tara's review of Nobody Wants This at Cracked

✋ "Nobody Wants This Mean-Spirited Depiction Of Jewish Women In Nobody Wants This" by Esther Zuckerman at Time

👗 Go Fug Yourself

🍸 The Drinks With Broads newsletter on Substack

📚 Jessica's books on Bookshop

⚾️ Sarah's review of Charlie Hustle And The Matter Of Pete Rose at Best Evidence

📷 Photo: Disney / Tina Thorpe

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 who's the season MVP (spoiler: Cristin Milioti). Then we went Around The Dial with the new Matlock, Alex vs. America, and Ryan Murphy's take on the brothers Menendez before Richard battled at least five Cynthia Nixon performances to get a Law & Order: SVU episode into the Canon. Friends won, Cold Case lost ("....AAeeeEnNNNGhhHHHHH!"), and Erica introduced us to a hard-fought Game Time. Waddle on over to your podcast app and have a listen!

👤 Richard Lawson

Lead Topic: 🐧 The Penguin

Around The Dial: ⚖️ Matlock (2024)

Around The Dial: 👩‍🍳 Alex Vs America

Around The Dial: 👯‍♂️ Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

The Canon: 🔪 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S09.E01: Alternate

Winner & Loser: 👍 Friends

Winner & Loser: 👎 Cold Case

Game Time: 4️⃣ Four At A Time

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✍🏻 Richard Lawson at Vanity Fair

🐧 Richard's review of The Penguin

📍 Tara's Bashir Salahuddin interview at Cracked

🎙️ Tara's Natasha Rothwell interview

🔪 Sarah's review of Monsters at Best Evidence

👯‍♂️ And Richard's at VF

👩🏼‍💻 Sarah's Canon pitch for "Avatar"

📷 Photo: Macall Polay / HBO

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 new doc David Chase & The Sopranos, and The Sniffer. Mlle. Caroline takes another run at getting a Psych into The Canon with "Last Night Gus" (and we also salute JMak, a Patreon supporter who added it to our Forcening pool). Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we drive Metallicar right into a Non-Regulation Game Time. Unlike a church, you can face whatever direction you want as you listen!

Lead Topic: 🧠 High Potential

Around The Dial: 🤴 Tulsa King

Around The Dial: 🔫 Wise Guy: David Chase & The Sopranos

Around The Dial: 👃 The Sniffer

The Canon: 🍩 Psych S06.E02: Last Night Gus

Winner & Loser: 👍 Tim Robinson

Winner & Loser: 👎 Netflix's doc series Martha

Game Time: 👻 Is This Supernatural?

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🧠 Daniel Fienberg's High Potential review at The Hollywood Reporter

🍳 Tara's review of Frasier (2023) S02

🎶 Mark And Sarah Talk About Songs on Patreon

📷 Photo: Disney / Pamela Littky