

Extra Hot Great: This Week In TV
Extra Hot Great: This Week In TV
Join Tara Ariano, Sarah D. Bunting, David T. Cole and their valued guests each week for discussion of what's new on TV plus our hall of fame roundtable segment called The Canon, listen as we appoint Winners and Losers Of The Week and of course our ultra competitive TV trivia quiz: Game Time.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 27, 2025 • 1h 18min
577: Going Long On Long Story Short
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

Aug 20, 2025 • 1h 8min
576: Making Heads Or Tails Of The Twisted Tale Of Amanda Knox
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
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!
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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

Aug 13, 2025 • 1h 11min
575: Should You Plot A Course For Alien: Earth?
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
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
🦋 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

Aug 6, 2025 • 1h 8min
574: Gassing On About The King Of The Hill Revival
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
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
🗣️ 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

Jul 30, 2025 • 1h 17min
573: Is Hitmakers Out Of Tune?
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
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
💿 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

Jul 24, 2025 • 1h 35min
572: Bringing Honesty To Billy Joel: And So It Goes
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
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
🦋 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

Jul 16, 2025 • 1h 23min
571: Is Too Much Not Enough, Or Just Right?
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
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
📇 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

Jul 9, 2025 • 1h 23min
570: Bradying Down To The ER Draft
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
SUPPORT THE SHOW
🔥 Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads, community Discord and more!
🛍️ Shop our merch store!
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

Jul 2, 2025 • 1h 5min
569: Should You Sign On To With Love, Meghan?
We are off this week but present you with this EHG Club unlock of EEHG 343: Should You Sign On To With Love, Meghan?
It's clear the former Meghan Markle wants to do something significant with her British-royal influence; it's also clear her new Netflix homekeeping show, With Love, Meghan, isn't that. Stephanie Early Green is back to talk about why it's so dull, what might have helped, and how Martha Stewart succeeded where Meghan Sussex fails. Ask EHG wondered who would replace Noel Fielding on GBBO and which characters we'd want on our bar-trivia teams, and then Tara pitched a lyrical SNL sketch for the Tiny Canon. And after we listed our Not Quite Winners and Losers of the week, Sarah's Extra Credit polled the panel on important princesses of television. Throw on a $300 linen apron and join us!
GUESTS
👤 Stephanie Green
TOPICS
15s Of Fame: 🤬 The Good Swear
Lead Topic: 🕯️ With Love, Meghan
Ask EHG: 🎂 Replacing Noel Fielding
Tiny Canon: 🏀 Saturday Night Live S38.E18: Vince Vaughn
Winner & Loser: 🃏 Poker Face
Winner & Loser: 🏈 Tracy Morgan
Winner & Loser: 🍄 The Last Of Us
Winner & Loser: 🏢 Keegan-Michael Key
Winner & Loser: 💜 Prince's estate
Winner & Loser: ⛹️♂️ Running Point
Winner & Loser: 📉 The Recruit
Winner & Loser: 🎥 Arrested Development
Winner & Loser: 🥀 Bachelor co-EPs Michael Margolis and Keely Booth
Extra Credit: 🫅 Important TV Princesses
Mini: 👑 The Royal Them
SUPPORT THE SHOW
🔥 Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads, community Discord and more!
🛍️ Shop our merch store!
NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
💚 More from Stephanie Early Green at her website
📖 Vanity Fair's Harry 'n' Meghan cover story
🤨 “Meghan Markle Pioneers New Frontiers in Unrelatability” by Kathryn VanArendonk at Vulture
🗣️ “The Meghan Interview” at People
📷 Photo: Netflix

Jun 25, 2025 • 1h 18min
568: We Cover The Waterfront
Like a lot of family-owned businesses, Havenport, North Carolina's Buckley Fishery is having a rough go of it lately. If they can't make their nut and pay all their employees on fish alone, maybe...smuggling cocaine will make up the shortfall? What could go wrong?! Jessica Morgan returns to talk about the ways Kevin Williamson's new show crosses over with the one we know him for best (Dawson's Creek), and the ways it doesn't but that we WISH it would. Around The Dial takes us through Season 3 of The Gilded Age, The Valley, and Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy. Sarah pitches the Law & Order episode "Empire" -- aka "The Julia Roberts One" -- for induction into The Canon. Then, after identifying the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a game that's naming names -- lots of them. Grab a serving of fresh oysters and join us!
GUESTS
👤 Jessica Morgan
TOPICS
Announcement: 🏦 EHG Mutual Aid Vault
Lead Topic: 🌊 The Waterfront
Around The Dial: 👒 The Gilded Age
Around The Dial: 😎 The Valley
Around The Dial: 🏟️ Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy
The Canon: ⚖️ Law & Order S09.E20: Empire
Winner & Loser: ⭐️ Five-Star Weekend
Winner & Loser: 😱 Ryan Murphy
Game Time: 🪞 Same Name Game
SUPPORT THE SHOW
🔥 Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads, community Discord and more!
🛍️ Shop our merch store!
NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🦋 Jessica Morgan on Bluesky
🔥 Extra Hot Great Club
🏦 Contact Sarah about making a deposit to or withdrawal from the Extra Hot Great Mutual Aid Vault at bunting@tomatonation.com
🔫 "Kevin Williamson Reveals How His Dad's Sordid Past Inspired New Crime Drama 'The Waterfront': 'He Paid The Price'" at the New York Post
🤰🏻 "'Adults' Takes A Strong Stance On Abortion: Everyone Deserves Access, Including Jerks" at Cracked
🌴 Again With This's Membership Campaign
👗 Go Fug Yourself
🍹 The Drinks With Broads Newsletter
📚 Save On True-Crime Paperbacks at Exhibit B. Books
📷 Photo: Dana Hawley / Netflix