Extra Hot Great: This Week In TV

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!

GUESTS
👤 Will Leitch

TOPICS
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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NOTES
🗒 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

• Dan Cassino

TOPICS

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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!

GUESTS
👤 Eli Yudin

TOPICS
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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NOTES
🗒 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!

GUESTS
👤 Eve Batey

TOPICS
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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NOTES
🗒 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!

GUESTS
👤 Andrew Cunningham

TOPICS
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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NOTES
🗒 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!

TOPICS
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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NOTES
🗒 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!

GUESTS
👤 Mark Blankenship

TOPICS
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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NOTES
🗒 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

Well, we all have a face that we hide away forever, and we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone -- even Billy Joel, who has decided to take his out for Billy Joel: And So It Goes, a two-part HBO docu-series about his life and work. Should he have kept it to himself (it's his life)? Daniel Blau Rogge returns to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us through S02 of Digman!, The Comeback, and Billionaire Boys' Club. Dan presents the Hacks episode "The Roast Of Deborah Vance" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to Game Time, in which we're listening…to celebrity Frasier callers. Say Goodbye To Hollywood and hello to a new episode!

GUESTS
👤 Dan Blau Rogge

TOPICS
Announcement: 🍎 EHG Apple Podcast Subscription
Lead Topic: 🎹 Billy Joel: And So It Goes
Around The Dial: 🪏 Digman!
Around The Dial: 🥊 The Comeback
Around The Dial: 💰 Billionaire Boys' Club
The Canon: 🎤 Hacks S03.E03: The Roast Of Deborah Vance
Winner & Loser: 👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏻 High-Concept Dating Shows
Winner & Loser: 🙂 Happy Face
Game Time: 📻 Notable Residents of Seattle

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NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🦋 Daniel Blau Rogge on Bluesky
🪏 Tara's Digman! S02 review at Cracked
🛍️ EHG 336, including our discussion of Shangri-La Plaza
🪨 Dan on the Glass Houses ranking episode of Mark And Sarah Talk About Songs
💁🏻‍♂️ Listen To Sassy 141, featuring Dan
🤦🏻‍♂️ Listen To Sassy 142, also featuring Dan
👨🏻‍💻 Dan's website
🍪 Adopt A (PBS) Station
📷 Photo: Courtesy of Art Maillett / Sony Music Archives / HBO

Lena Dunham is back with Netflix romcom Too Much -- and so is Maris Kreizman, to discuss Dunham's return to the discourse, whether we can separate the creator from the show, and what the panelists who didn't care for it still think it did really well. We went Around The Dial with American Horror Stories's third season, Veronica Mars's FIRST season, and Ballard, and Tara hoped we'd come to praise AND bury "the Giamatti episode" of Black Mirror for the Canon. Richard Gadd won, Today's Craig Melvin lost (while letting Rick Springfield also win), and getting "home free" proved a challenge in a tagline-based Game Time. Throw a nightie on your favorite pet and join us!

GUESTS
👤 Maris Kreizman

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 💂🏻 Too Much
Around The Dial: 😱 American Horror Stories
Around The Dial: 🕵🏻‍♀️ Veronica Mars
Around The Dial: 🅱️ Ballard
The Canon: 🪞 Black Mirror S07.E05: Eulogy
Winner & Loser: 🦌 Richard Gadd
Winner & Loser: 🥱 Craig Melvin
Game Time: 👉 Tag, You're It

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NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
📇 Maris Kreizman's website
🧨 An excerpt from Maris's new book, I Want To Burn This Place Down, at Rolling Stone
🦋 Maris on Bluesky
🪞 Extra Hot Great 558 on Black Mirror S07
🇬🇧 Tara's review of Too Much
👐 Kerr County Flood Relief Fund
✍🏻 ProPublica's local reporting network
📷 Photo: Ana Blumenkron / Netflix

In the grand tradition of our drafts for Law & Order and the Star Trek franchise, we're using this special episode to draft teams of staff, patients, loved ones, and inanimate shows from ER -- and who better to join us than Laura Hampton, a PA known to us from our Discord as an ER superfan who recently completed a full rewatch of the entire series? No one, which is why she's here picking a team AND organized the draft with the correct number of each category of character for us to choose from. Now we're going to need YOU to vote for which team reigns supreme! Laura also presents Doug saving Ben from a flooding storm drain in "Hell And High Water" for induction into the Hero category of the Tiny Canon. Finally, we close with an on-theme game about body parts in the names of TV shows and actors. Get listening, STAT!

GUESTS
👤 Laura Hampton

TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🏥 ER Draft
Tiny Canon: 🌊 ER S02.E07: Hell and High Water
Game Time: 🫁 The Body Keeps The Score

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NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🩻 Final ER draft picks from Laura, Tara and Sarah
📊 Poll: Best ER Lineup
📊 Poll: Hospital You'd Most Want To Be A Patient At
💵 Donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds
💉 Your Local Epidemiologist on Substack
📚 LibraryFinder