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 a second take, or any direction. Then we staged an Around The Dial with stops at Love In The Time Of Corona, vintage Amazing Race, and Below Deck Med before Doug made an animated Canon case for Avatar: The Last Airbender's Empire Strikes Back episode. Dan Mallory won, Drunk History lost, and you won't believe who got re-cast at the pilot stage during Game Time. Don't change those locks: it's an all-new Extra Hot Great.

GUESTS

👤 Brandon

TOPICS

Lead Topic: 🏠 Ruthless Realtor

Around The Dial: 😷 Love In The Time Of Corona

Around The Dial: 🌎 The Amazing Race

Around The Dial: ⚓️ Below Deck Mediterranean

The Canon: 🌬 Avatar: The Last Airbender

Winner & Loser: 👍 Dan Mallory, subject of a limited series from Janicza Bravo, in which he'll be portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal

Winner & Loser: 👎 Drunk History

Winner & Loser: 👎 Tosh.0

Winner & Loser: 👎 The Other Two

Winner & Loser: 👎 South Side

Winner & Loser: 👎 The Society

Winner & Loser: 👎 I Am Not Okay With This

Game Time: 🧠 Ch-ch-ch-changes

NOTES

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 317 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

🐦 Brandon on Twitter

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 Tara's Singletown review at Primetimer

🎧 The Discourse podcast

🤝 Sarah's review of The Vow at Primetimer

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, Little Voice, and The Great Heist before Rebecca's Extra Credit tasked us with casting reality-competition shows with our favorite TV characters. Sarah then filed a Canon motion on behalf of a latter-season Law & Order Mothership episode. The British Empire won, the DC Universe lost, and we mashed up actor names and fictional reboots in Game Time. Grab a wooden bat and an illustrated map: it's an all-new Extra Hot Great.

GUESTS

👤 Malcolm Venable

TOPICS

Lead Topic: 🛣 Lovecraft Country

Around The Dial: ⚽️ Ted Lasso

Around The Dial: 🎙 Little Voice

Around The Dial: 💸 The Great Heist

Extra Credit: 🤑 Be Our Host

The Canon: ⚖️ Law & Order S15.E13: Ain't No Love

Winner & Loser: 👍 The Crown Jonathan Pryce, Elizabeth Debicki

Winner & Loser: 👎 DC Universe

Game Time: 🧠 Name Above The Title

NOTES

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 316 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

🐦 Malcolm Venable on Twitter

👓 "How Lovecraft Country Reappropriates H.P. Lovecraft's Notoriously Racist Creations" at Slate

🦴 The Bones Zone podcast

📖 Malcolm at TVGuide.com

🎧 The Mark And Sarah Talk About Songs podcast

🏆 The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show podcast

🎶 "2 Are Charged In Killing Of Jam Master Jay, Hip-Hop Pioneer" at NYTimes.com

📖 Rap On Trial at TheNewPress.com

🚨 "A History of Violence: Why I Loved Cop Shows, and Why They Must Change" by Alan Sepinwall at RollingStone.com

👮‍♂️ "Cops Are Always the Main Characters" by Kathryn VanArendonk at Vulture

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 Star Trek: Lower Decks. For his Extra Credit, Taylor Cole -- inspired by The Great -- asks us to create our own heightened, quasi-comedic bio-series about a world leader of yesteryear. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's back to school for Game Time. Pop an extra-strong mint and join us!

TOPICS

Lead Topic: 🔪 Hitmen

Around The Dial: 🥒 An American Pickle

Around The Dial: 🏈 Hard Knocks

Around The Dial: 🚀 Star Trek: Lower Decks

Extra Credit: 🤑 World Leader Pretend

Winner & Loser: 👍 C.S.I.: Vegas

Winner & Loser: 👎 Taskmaster

Winner & Loser: 👎 Succession

Game Time: 🧠 It's All Academic: Second Semester

NOTES

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 315 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

🧢 Defector

🏈 Joe Reid on Hard Knocks at Primetimer

🏝 Sarah on Surviving Jeffrey Epstein at Primetimer

⛈ Sarah on Storm Over Brooklyn at Primetimer

🚀 Tara's Star Trek: Lower Decks review at Primetimer

🤔 The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show podcast

Production Note: Uploaded new version to restore 15 seconds of missing Tara audio at 13:10.

Production Note 2: Reports of weirdness limited to certain apps (Pocket Casts being one). Sent out a fresh mp3 to hopefully clear the cobwebs. Sorry if you got some random screeching.

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 Zoom reunion, and a brief re-plug for Taskmaster now that it's come over to The CW. Francoise uses her Extra Credit to ask us about TV series that revolve around the wrong protagonist, and who would have been the right one. Tara presents the Feudepisode "And The Winner Is... (The Oscars Of 1963)" for induction into the Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we kick off a new Game Time season with a game that takes us deep into the history of various stars' TV careers. Pour yourself a glass of Moet (how you pronounce it is no concern of ours) and listen!

SHOW TOPICS

• Frayed
• ATD: Immigration Nation
• ATD: Coroner
• ATD: Desert Hearts
• ATD: The Happy Endings reunion
• ATD: Taskmaster
• Extra Credit: Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are On TV
• The Canon: Feud S01.E05: "And The Winner Is... (The Oscars Of 1963)"
• Winner and Loser of the Week
• Game Time: Humble Beginnings

SHOW NOTES

• Christina Tucker on Twitter
• Christina's podcast, Unfriendly Black Hotties
• The Google Images tab for Coroner co-star Éric Bruneau
• Tara's review of Frayed at Primetimer
• The Happy Endings reunion
• Mark And Sarah QUIZ About Songs
• The Deadline report on Harry Shearer with the VERY bad photo of him
• Photo: Lisa Tomasetti

DISCUSSION

• Talk about this episode on its dedicated page on ExtraHotGreat.com
• Tweet at us @ExtraHotPodcast on Twitter
• We are @ExtraHotGreat on Instagram

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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 Zoom reunion, and a brief re-plug for Taskmaster now that it's come over to The CW. Francoise uses her Extra Credit to ask us about TV series that revolve around the wrong protagonist, and who would have been the right one. Tara presents the Feud episode "And The Winner Is… (The Oscars Of 1963)" for induction into the Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we kick off a new Game Time season with a game that takes us deep into the history of various stars' TV careers. Pour yourself a glass of Moet (how you pronounce it is no concern of ours) and listen!

GUESTS

👤 Christina Tucker

TOPICS

Lead Topic: 🇦🇺 Frayed

Around The Dial: 🛂 Immigration Nation

Around The Dial: 💀 Coroner

Around The Dial: 💞 Desert Hearts

Around The Dial: 😄 Happy Endings The reunion

Around The Dial: 💌 Taskmaster

Extra Credit: 🤑 Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are On TV

The Canon: 🤬 Feud S01.E05: And The Winner Is... (The Oscars Of 1963)

Winner & Loser: 👍 The Bachelorette Tayshia Adams, Clare Crawley

Winner & Loser: 👎 The Simpsons Harry Shearer

Game Time: 🧠 Humble Beginnings

NOTES

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 314 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

🐦 Christina Tucker on Twitter

🎧 Christina's podcast, Unfriendly Black Hotties

😍 The Google Images tab for Coroner co-star Éric Bruneau

🇦🇺 Tara's review of Frayed at Primetimer

😄 The Happy Endings reunion

🎶 Mark And Sarah QUIZ About Songs

🎙 The Deadline report on Harry Shearer with the VERY bad photo of him

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 show has, and whether they are right. Around The Dial takes us through Married At First Sight; Hannibal; Twin Peaks: The Return; and Last Chance U. Joshua presents Watchmen's "This Extraordinary Being" for induction into The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner(s) and Loser, it's on to a Non-Regulation Game Time seething with personal animosity. Limber up all your ecstatic dance muscles and join us!

GUESTS

👤 Joshua Rivera

TOPICS

Lead Topic: 🙏 Lost Resort

Around The Dial: 💍 Married At First Sight

Around The Dial: 🍽 Hannibal

Around The Dial: 🏔 Twin Peaks: The Return

Around The Dial: 🏈 Last Chance U

The Canon: 🦸‍♀️ Watchmen

Winner & Loser: 👍 Netflix

Winner & Loser: 👎 The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Game Time: 🧠 Enemies: A Hate Story

NOTES

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 313 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

🐦 Joshua Rivera on Twitter

🎶 Tara's review of Maxxx at Primetimer

💻 Joshua at The Verge

🔪 The Best Evidence newsletter

🎧 Citations Needed Episode 115: How The Pentagon & CIA Sponsor American Mythmaking

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 timeline for solving the mystery isn't possible on a network show? Is it the annoying host? We gathered around our own figurative campfire to go Around The Dial with P-Valley, The Dog House UK, Cursed, Junior Bake Off, Doom Patrol, and Harley Quinn before Kate schooled us on anime and TV's most melodramatic guitar string in her Given Canon submission. Crime documentaries won, hockey commentary lost, and we went through the ringer with character's who've done the same in a season-defining Game Time. Finish up those lanyards and join us for an all-new Extra Hot Great.

GUESTS

👤 Kate Sánchez

TOPICS

Lead Topic: 🔪 Killer Camp

Around The Dial: 👙 P-Valley

Around The Dial: 🐶 The Dog House UK

Around The Dial: ⚔️ Cursed

Around The Dial: 🧁 Junior Bake Off

Around The Dial: 🤖 Doom Patrol

Around The Dial: 🏏 Harley Quinn

The Canon: 🎶 Given

Winner & Loser: 👍 30 For 30 The '86 Mets

Winner & Loser: 👍 Godfather Of Harlem

Winner & Loser: 👎 Jeremy Roenick

Winner & Loser: 👎 Kermit's weird new voice

Game Time: 🧠 Adverse Conditions

NOTES

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 312 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

🐦 Kate Sánchez on Twitter

💻 "'This Was Abuse': The Fall Of A CBS Showrunner" at VanityFair.com

⚔️ Kate's review of Cursed at ButWhyTho.com

🎧 The Blotter Presents podcast

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 1985 CBC miniseries adaptation of Anne Of Green Gables, Cheers, Close Enough, and the HAHA Awards. Listener Jenni pitches The Good Wife's "Hitting The Fan" for induction into the Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that might earn us tenure. Reapply your sunscreen and join us!

GUESTS

👤 Alanna Bennett

TOPICS

Lead Topic: 🌵 Palm Springs

Around The Dial: 🎙 Little Voice

Around The Dial: 👩‍🦰 Anne Of Green Gables

Around The Dial: 🍻 Cheers

Around The Dial: 👨‍👩‍👧 Close Enough

Around The Dial: 🤣 The HAHA Awards

The Canon: ⚖️ The Good Wife

Winner & Loser: 👍 The Weakest Link Jane Lynch

Winner & Loser: 👎 Quibi

Game Time: 🧠 It's All Academic

NOTES

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 311 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

🐦 Alanna Bennett on Twitter

🎙 Tara's Little Voice review at Collider

🏳️‍🌈 Pilot Viruet on queer joy at TVGuide.com

🏪 Vogue.com's report on The People's Bodega

📸 The People's Bodega NYC on Instagram

💰 The People's Bodega NYC on PayPal

🛸 The CW's Roswell, New Mexico

🎧 Quaid In Full

👨‍👩‍👧 Close Enough scene

🤔 The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show

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 start time one should arrive at a party -- and we also discussed the underwhelming interior-design narratives of so-called rich people. Next up was Buntsy's foray into Dan's "what if Shakespeare, but a laugh-tracked sitcom" mission for her, Upstart Crow's episode on the writing of Hamlet and the (convenient?) murder of Christopher Marlowe. Was her admiration for the propmaster's novelty-Tudor-London-keychain work enough to win her over, or is the show for those Columbia professors who always got to the art-house movie late and spent the whole time laughing performatively at the jokes? Lastly, Richard told Tara to dive into Outer Banks and its punchable-face-of-voice-over protagonist. Is a shipwreck mystery the right plot for a teen show? And does that matter if all the "teens" look 28? Grab a butter knife and cut into an all-new Extra Hot Great.

TOPICS

Lead Topic: 🤬 The Real Housewives Of Potomac S04.E06: Sex, Lies, and Butter Knives

Lead Topic: 🪶 Upstart Crow S03.E02: Wild Laughter In The Throat Of Death

Lead Topic: 🛥 Outer Banks S01.E01: Pilot

NOTES

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 310 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

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: City Of Angels, Unsolved Mysteries, and Outcry. Dave Lost Wages uses his Extra Credit to have us add a family member to a stale TV family. Mark presents the Dinosaurs series finale, "Changing Nature," for induction to The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's a Game Time that really Sporcles. Climb into your aerial harness and join us!

GUESTS

👤 Mark Blankenship

TOPICS

Lead Topic: 🏆 Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga

Around The Dial: 🔍 Search Party

Around The Dial: 🏚 Hot Mess House

Around The Dial: 🌴 Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels

Around The Dial: 🕵️‍♂️ Unsolved Mysteries

Around The Dial: 🏈 Outcry

Extra Credit: 🤑 Welcome Cousin Oliver

The Canon: 🦎 Dinosaurs

Winner & Loser: 👍 Last Chance U Colin Kaepernick

Winner & Loser: 👎 Council Of Dads

Game Time: 🧠 Nobody Knows You

NOTES

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 309 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

🐦 Mark Blankenship on Twitter

🎶 Francesco Gabbani, "Occidentali's Karma"

🦅 Conchita Wurst, "Rise Like A Phoenix"

🪀 Netta, "Toy"

🙏 Lordi, "Hard Rock Hallelujah"

🧹 Cas Aarssen's Clutterbug test

💍 Stephanie Green's story "Fourteen Meals" in The New Ohio Review

⚡️ The Flashpaper

🕵️‍♂️ Sarah on the Unsolved Mysteries revival at Primetimer