Pretend we made a witty "third and taking-too-long" pun, because that's what we -- and guest Kim "Best Thing" Reed -- thought about Glen Powell vehicle Chad Powers. It isn't bad, but between the first-drafty jokes and getting stuck between two tones, we're not sure you should watch all the way to the end zone. Okay, let's ditch the football puns to go Around The Dial with On Brand With Jimmy Fallon, Kim's recent-reality overview, and Sarah's High Maintenance rewatch; and let's see if the panel respected "Authority," Sarah's L&O: SVU Canon pitch. Nicole Beharie won, Mid-Century Modern lost, and we juggled a hot potato of HBO series "lifers" in Game Time. Pair your podcast app with your Cybertruck's sound system and join us!

👤 Kim Reed

Announcement: 📢 Club Drive Update

Lead Topic: 🏈 Chad Powers

Around The Dial: 📦 On Brand With Jimmy Fallon

Around The Dial: 🏃🏻‍♂️ Competitive Reality Roundup

Around The Dial: 🚬 High Maintenance

The Canon: 🐑 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S09.E17: Authority

Winner & Loser: 🩸 All The Sinners Bleed

Winner & Loser: 🛋️ Mid-Century Modern

Game Time: ↔️ Cap'n Connors's Oops! All HBO Survivors

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🛍️ Shop our merch store!

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

🍏 Kim Reed's "Most Awesome Thing" segment in EEHG 374

🏟️ Tara's Chad Powers review at Cracked

💀 Tara's interview with Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson

🌴 Again With This

🪦 Sarah's essay on the passing of Robin Williams

🏀 EHG 212 with the monkey/basketball

🛋️ EHG 556 on Mid-Century Modern

📷 Photo: Disney / Daniel Delgado Jr.

Reservation Dogs creator Sterlin Harjo has reunited with his S03 guest star Ethan Hawke for The Lowdown, a shaggy Tulsa neo-noir. Should you put it high on your list of priorities? We discuss. (Spoiler: yes.) Around The Dial takes us to Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian, The Great Pottery Throw Down, and Lynley. Tara pitches the Regular Show episode "Sleep Cycle" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we finish up with a Game Time on various TV actors' personal and professional histories. Give yourself some rudimentary first aid and join us!

👤 Patrick Monahan

Lead Topic: 📚 The Lowdown

Around The Dial: 🤣 Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian

Around The Dial: 🏺 The Great Pottery Throw Down

Around The Dial: 👮🏻‍♀️ Lynley

The Canon: 🦝 Regular Show S07.E11: Sleep Cycle

Winner & Loser: 🫆 Pete Earley and Gerald Shur

Winner & Loser: 🧑‍🦯 Love Is Blind

Game Time: 🙅🏽‍♀️ Never Have I Ever

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

🦋 Patrick Monahan on Bluesky

🥃 Tara's review of The Lowdown at Cracked

📰 “Why ‘Rez Dogs’ creator Sterlin Harjo made a love letter to Tulsa and its contradictions” at the Los Angeles Times

🤣 Tara's review of Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian at Cracked

👀 Alan Sepinwall's newsletter, What's Alan Watching?

⏳ The What A Time To Be Alive podcast

🏦 The Extra Hot Great Mutual Aid Vault

🛂 PBS Passport

📷 Photo: Shane Brown / FX

The Morning Show is back to bring us its version of 2024. Can any of us possibly be ready to go back there? Maybe not, but we don't have the strength to resist gorging on The Morning Show's baloney, either. Morning Show-ologist Christina Tucker returns to talk about it. Around The Dial clicks through Futurama S13, Rivals, and Celebrity Weakest Link, then takes a trip to the cinema for Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. Margaret pitches The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air episode "The Big Four-Oh" -- yes, the one where Aunt Viv slays a dance audition in a clip you've probably watched at least once if not 20 times -- for induction into the Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we close on a Game Time everyone should swipe right on. Get yourself the strongest coffee commercially available and join us!

👤 Christina Tucker

Lead Topic: ☀️ The Morning Show

Around The Dial: 🚀 Futurama

Around The Dial: 💷 Rivals

Around The Dial: 🔗 The Weakest Link

Around The Dial: 🏰 Downton Abbey

The Canon: 💃 The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air S02.E07: The Big Four-Oh

Winner & Loser: 👨🏻‍⚖️ Presumed Innocent

Winner & Loser: 👊 The guy who sucker-punched James McAvoy in Toronto

Game Time: 👩🏻‍🦳 Silver Vixens

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🛍️ Shop our merch store!

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

🦋 Christina Tucker on Bluesky

🚀 Tara's review of Futurama S13

🤦🏻‍♂️ Tara's essay on aka Charlie Sheen

📰 Christina's newsletter, Chaos! It's The New Cocaine!

💿 The hip-hop episode of Celebrity Weakest Link on YouTube

👑 1999: The Podcast on The Thomas Crown Affair, guest-starring Sarah

📷 Photo: Apple

Will Leitch, sportswriter and newspaper journalist, is back to talk about The Office-verse sitcom The Paper -- and whether you should bother with the season that just dropped in its entirety on Peacock. Has the world moved on from the TV mockumentary? Does this show understand what it is to love reporting? And does any of that matter if the show's not quite funny enough? Later, we went Around The Dial with Only Murders In The Building's fifth season, 30 Rock's YouTube channel, and Love Con Revenge before Will tried to find room in the Canon budget for Dept. Q's premiere episode. Going Dutch won, Selena Gomez lost, and we found out who skips the closing credits in Game Time. Take a break from lining that birdcage and have a listen!

👤 Will Leitch

Announcement: 🥴 Drunk Dave Cometh

Lead Topic: 📰 The Paper

Around The Dial: 🏢 Only Murders In The Building

Around The Dial: 🪨 30 Rock

Around The Dial: 🖤 Love Con Revenge

The Canon: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Dept. Q S01.E01: Episode 1

Winner & Loser: 🪖 Going Dutch

Winner & Loser: 🍪 Selena Gomez

Game Time: 🎶 Outré Outros

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🛍️ Shop our merch store!

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

📚 Keep up with all things Will Leitch

🧻 Tara's review of The Paper at Cracked

🏢 Tara's Only Murders S05 review

🪨 30 Rock's YouTube channel

👠 Step On Me Giganta

🖤 Sarah's review of Love Con Revenge at Best Evidence

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Our discussion of Dept. Q in EHG 565

🏝 The Lonely Island And Seth Meyers Podcast "Listener Q&A Episode 5"

📷 Photo: Aaron Epstein / Peacock

We are off this week but present you with this EHG Club unlock of EEHG 324: This Week In Historical TV: September 4-10, 1991.

Earlier this year, our Patreon supporters unlocked a new milestone, and with it a new annual BONUS bonus episode: This Week In Historical TV! Since we've gone with September 4-10, 1991 and chosen as our lead topic Cast A Deadly Spell, an HBO TV movie that combines classic hard-boiled detective fiction with the works of H.P. Lovecraft, we had to invite Dan Cassino, a fan of both, to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us through some highlights of our week in programming: the series premiere of Herman's Head; an all-timer Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode on Gamera vs. Guiron; Parker Lewis Can't Lose; and the Merlin Olsen-hosted Fantastic Facts. Tara pitches the S09 Cheers episode "Days Of Wine And Neuroses" for induction into The Canon. Then, after plucking a winner and loser out of the September 6, 1991 issue of Entertainment Weekly, it's on to a Game Time that has us asking many MORE than 19 Questions about the characters, places, and things of the 1991-92 TV season. Send your zombie henchman outside and join us!

GUESTS

TOPICS

SUPPORT THE SHOW

EPISODE NOTES

We haven't heard much from creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg since BoJack Horseman ended in early 2020, but he's back with a new animated family dramedy, Long Story Short, which has already been picked up for a second season. Are we excited to lengthen our time with it? New guest Eli Yudin joins us to talk about it. Around The Dial clicks through Peacemaker S02, Zach Galifianakis: Live At The Purple Onion, and Smoke. Mlle. Caroline pitches the Andor episode "Who Are You?" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we close up with a particularly fraternal Game Time. Grab some kugel and join us!

👤 Eli Yudin

Announcement: 🤏 Patreon Update

Lead Topic: 🕍 Long Story Short

Around The Dial: 🕊️ Peacemaker

Around The Dial: 🧅 Zach Galifianakis: Live At The Purple Onion

Around The Dial: 🚒 Smoke

The Canon: ⁉️ Andor S02.E08: Who Are You?

Winner & Loser: 🌃 Saturday Night Live

Winner & Loser: 📜 Lifetime's non-scripted team

Game Time: 👯‍♂️ All In The Family

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🛍️ Shop our merch store!

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

👨🏻‍💻 Eli Yudin's website

🗣️ Tara's Paul Reiser interview at Cracked

✌️ Tara's Peacemaker S02 review at Cracked

🎤 Eli's standup special Humble Offering on YouTube

📚 "The Dog-Eared Days Of Summer" sale at Exhibit B. Books

📷 Photo: Netflix

Amanda Knox's arrest for murder in Italy became a sensational true crime story...so of course it is now the subject of a scripted true crime series. Did we find it sensational? Eve Batey joins us to discuss it. Around The Dial lands on North Of North, The Yogurt Shop Murders, Back To The Frontier, and The Fixer. Tara pitches the Friends episode "The One With Russ" for induction into The Nonac. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that knows: triples is best. Put down your old cell phone and your platter of pasta and join us!

👤 Eve Batey

Lead Topic: 🍝 The Twisted Tale Of Amanda Knox

Around The Dial: 🧭 North Of North

Around The Dial: 🍦 The Yogurt Shop Murders

Around The Dial: 🪵 Back To The Frontier

Around The Dial: 🛠️ The Fixer

The Nonac: 🍷 Friends S02.E10: The One With Russ

Winner & Loser: 📞 Wendell Pierce

Winner & Loser: 🚨 MS Now

Game Time: 3️⃣ Three For All

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

🦋 Eve Batey on Bluesky

❄️ North Of North Outfits at Victoria Jacket

💩 "And Just Like That Goes Out With A 'Bah'" at Cracked

🍦 "The Yogurt Shop Murders Unpacks 'The Craziest Crime In Texas'" at Vanity Fair

📰 The Pleat

⚒️ "The Fixer: Marcus Lemonis's New Show Is Very Similar To The Profit" at Reality Blurred

🔎 Best Evidence

👯‍♂️ "Friends: Why Russ Is Played By 'Snaro' (When It's Really David Schwimmer)" at ScreenRant

😉 "'Diner Wink' Full Sketch - I Think You Should Leave Season 2" [origin of "triples is best"] on YouTube

📷 Photo: Hulu

The Alien-verse has landed on TV with Noah Hawley's re-imagining (or pre-imagining) of the xenomorphic worlds of the film series -- and Andrew Cunningham has landed back in the guest chair to talk about telepathic blackmail, when hearing is scarier than seeing, and acting choices that don't make sense. Is this essential viewing, or should you jump in a shuttle and bail? Later, we went Around The Dial with War Of The Worlds 2025, The Gilded Age, It's Always Sunny, and American Prince: JFK Jr. before the panel stared into the abyss of Sarah's Sopranos Canon pitch. The Yellowstone-verse won, the Sussexes lost, and we kicked off a new Game Time season with a real facehugger. Skip that cryo-nap and listen to an all-new Extra Hot Great instead!

👤 Andrew Cunningham

Lead Topic: 👽 Alien: Earth

Around The Dial: 🌎 War Of The Worlds

Around The Dial: 🚂 The Gilded Age

Around The Dial: 😎 It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Around The Dial: 🤴 American Prince: JFK Jr.

The Canon: 👠 The Sopranos S02.E07: D-Girl

Winner & Loser: 🐮 Y: Marshals

Winner & Loser: 👑 Harry and Meghan

Game Time: 🫦 They Mostly Come At Night

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

🦋 Andrew Cunningham on Bluesky

📚 Andrew's book pod with Craig Getting, Overdue

👨🏻‍💻 Andrew at Ars Technica

🌍 Tara's War Of The Worlds review at Cracked

👵🏻 "Oldies but goodies" on sale at Exhibit B. Books

📷 Photo: Patrick Brown / FX

Fifteen years after its series finale on Fox, King Of The Hill is back with its fourteenth season, now at on Hulu. Is it worth yelling from the mountains about? We discuss. Around The Dial stops at The Yogurt Shop Murders and S21 of Project Runway. Tara pitches the Close Enough episode "Secret Horse" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we close with a Non-Regulation Game Time that's on the level. Grab a can of Alamo and join us!

Lead Topic: 🤠 King Of The Hill

Around The Dial: 🍦 The Yogurt Shop Murders

Around The Dial: 👗 Project Runway

The Canon: 🐴 Close Enough S02.E16: Secret Horse

Winner & Loser: 🕵 The Tennessee high school forensic club that solves cold cases

Winner & Loser: 📝 Temuera Morrison

Game Time: ⚖️ Oops! All Equalizer Challenge Zones

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🛍️ Shop our merch store!

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

🗣️ Brian VanHooker's interview with King Of The Hill writer Norm Hiscock at Cracked

🍺 Tara's review of King Of The Hill S14 at Cracked

📅 Tara's ranking of the King Of The Hill's season premiere's most self-consciously 2025 jokes, at Cracked

🦤 Nicholas Quah's review of King Of The Hill S14 at Vulture

🍦 "The Yogurt Shop Murders Unpacks 'The Craziest Crime In Texas'" by Eve Batey at Vanity Fair

🔍 "HBO's Smart New Docuseries Takes On The Yogurt Shop Murders -- And True Crime Itself" by Sam Adams at Slate

📽️ "9 Clips To Remind You Why Kristen Johnston Is One Of The Greatest Living Comedic Actors" at Cracked

🧑‍🏫 Classroom Essentials Lists at Donors Choose

🎠 Secret Horse

Critic and podcaster Mark Blankenship returns to The Blankenship Chair to discuss Hitmakers, a reality show about songwriters that needs less contrived drama and more process -- but did appeal to a couple of our panelists as eye candy. Should you give it a try, or wait until one of its pop creations comes on in an elevator? We went Around The Dial with Happy Gilmore 2, Million Dollar Secret, The Challenge 41, and The Gilded Age spoilers before tapping our toes to a Canon pitch for Buffy's musical episode. A nepo Beatty won, Resident Alien lost, and Non-Regulation Game Time struck a chord with another round of Tube Tunes. We don't want to call it "fire," but it IS an all-new episode of Extra Hot Great!

👤 Mark Blankenship

Announcement: ❤️‍🔥 EHG Club Update

Lead Topic: 🤩 Hitmakers

Around The Dial: 🏒 Happy Gilmore 2

Around The Dial: 🤑 Million Dollar Secret

Around The Dial: 🏂 The Challenge

Around The Dial: 🐎 The Gilded Age

The Canon: 👩🏻‍🎤 Buffy The Vampire Slayer S06.E07: Once More With Feeling

Winner & Loser: 🪓 Ella Beatty

Winner & Loser: 👽 Resident Alien

Game Time: 🎶 Tube Tunes XVI

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

💿 Mark Blankenship's Lost Songs Project

⛳️ The one Happy Gilmore 2 joke that made Tara laugh

👍 Tara's appreciation of Christopher McDonald

😳 A ranking of all the HG2 non-sports cameos

🔪 The latest true-crime reviews at Best Evidence

📷 Photo: Netflix