
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.
Latest episodes

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
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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

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
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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

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

Jun 18, 2025 • 1h 16min
567: Telling The Truth About We Were Liars
And that truth is: none of us thinks you should bother, including returning guest Will Leitch, who agrees that We Were Liars moves too slowly; shows AND tells too fart-sniffily; wastes the talents of an impressive cast, including Mamie Gummer and David Morse; and is based on a property whose author sounds fake. We went Around The Dial with the very real The Chicken Sisters, Untold, and The Mortician before Tara's Canon pitch reunited us with Party Down's third-season premiere. General Hospital won, Doctor Odyssey (maybe??) lost, and Dan Cassino got us all a volume discount on long-running shows in Game Time. Cannonball verrrrrry sloooowwwly into our all-new episode now!
GUESTS
👤 Will Leitch
TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🤥 We Were Liars
Around The Dial: 🐔 The Chicken Sisters
Around The Dial: 🏟️ Untold
Around The Dial: 🪦 The Mortician
Around The Dial: 👺 The Devil's Plan
The Canon: 🎉 Party Down S03.E01: Kyle Bradway Is Nitromancer
Winner & Loser: 🏥 General Hospital
Winner & Loser: 🚢 Doctor Odyssey
Game Time: 📺 Intermittent FASTing
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
🎶 Will Leitch on the Rick Astley/popularity conundrum
🏙️ Will at NYMag
📰 Will at WaPo
📚 Buy Will's books
🎉 EHG 448 on the return of Party Down
😝 Tara runs down the best non-Daily Show comedic performances by TDS cast on Cracked
💀 Sarah reviews The Mortician
📖 Exhibit B.'s paperback sale
📷 Photo: Amazon Content Services LLC

Jun 11, 2025 • 1h 30min
566: Burning Through The 2025 Summer TV Preview
Summer is upon us, but what are we going to watch? Robert Krut joins us to help make our traditional lists of what we're into; what we should be into but aren't; what NO ONE should be into; and what's fine for others but not for us. Dave pitches the South Side episode "Treat Yourself" for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we close out with a Game Time that's pure poetry. Find a spot directly in front of a fan and join us!
GUESTS
👤 Robert Krut
TOPICS
Announcement: 🏦 EHG Mutual Aid Vault
Lead Topic: 🏖️ 2025 Summer TV Preview
The Canon: 🦝 South Side S02.E01: Treat Yourself
Winner & Loser: 👨🍳 Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Winner & Loser: 🩰 Étoile
Game Time: ☘️ There Once Was A Man From TV
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
🪶 Robert Krut's website
🌴 The Again With This Club campaign
✊ CHIRLA / Coalition For Humane Immigrant Rights
🙊 Sarah's review of Ask Not at Best Evidence
🏦 How to reach Sarah for Mutual Aid Vault withdrawals
🥮 EEHG 323, including Dave's "Treat Yourself" pitch for the Anger Tiny Canon
🎙️ Tara's interview with Bashir Salahuddin at Cracked

Jun 4, 2025 • 1h 15min
565: Taking The Down Elevator To Dept. Q
David T.'s beautiful son Taylor S. Cole is back to discuss Dept. Q, a Scottish take on a Nordic-noir book series that has the good sense not to mess with star Matthew Goode's face. Chemistry in trope-y scenes, why Scandi crime stories often have a submarine, whether the mystery needed so many episodes to solve -- we're talking about all of that AND recommending actually Nordic Nordic-noir TV if you liked Dept. Q. Then we're going Around The Dial with Mountainhead, The Rehearsal, and The Last Of Us S01 before seeing whether Taylor can do his entire The Studio Canon pitch before we lose the light. True-crime actors won, late night lost some more, and three was the magic number for one of us in Game Time. Throw on a nubbly sweater and join us!
GUESTS
👤 Taylor Cole
TOPICS
Announcement: 📈 Club Campaign
Announcement: 🎧 Incoming Apple Podcast Changes
Lead Topic: 🛗 Dept. Q
Around The Dial: 🏔️ Mountainhead
Around The Dial: 👨✈️ The Rehearsal
Around The Dial: 🍄 The Last Of Us
The Canon: 🎥 The Studio S01.E02: The Oner
Winner & Loser: 🪙 Anthony Boyle and Julia Garner
Winner & Loser: 🌙 Late-night prestige
Game Time: 3️⃣
SUPPORT THE SHOW
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🛍️ Shop our merch store!
NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🎞️ Hear more Taylor S. Cole at the G&T Podcast
🐝 Taylor's also headed to the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast
🪞 And the Demi Myself and I podcast
🐸 AND the Muppeturgy podcast
⛰️ Tara's Mountainhead review and ATX Festival coverage at Cracked
😻 Support Bookstore Cats
🔥 The Extra Hot Great Patreon
📷 Photo: Netflix

May 28, 2025 • 1h 22min
564: Getting In The Big Top With Pee-wee As Himself
Matt Wolf (The Stroll) got unprecedented access to Paul Reubens, generally better known as his alter ego, Pee-wee Herman; Will Hines joins us to talk about what resulted from their 40 hours of interviews. Around The Dial takes us through Big Mouth's eighth and final season; The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox, and Magic & Bird: A Courtship Of Rivals. Sean makes his pitch for the "Long, Long Time" episode of The Last Of Us to be inducted into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that really knows the score. Put on your reddest bow tie and join us!
GUESTS
👤 Will Hines
TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🚲 Pee-wee As Himself
Around The Dial: 👄 Big Mouth
Around The Dial: ⚾️ The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox
Around The Dial: 🏀 Magic & Bird: A Courtship Of Rivals
The Canon: 🍄 The Last Of Us S01.E03: Long, Long Time
Winner & Loser: 📣 Taran Killam
Winner & Loser: 🤬 Charles Barkley
Game Time: 🎶 Stay Tuned
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
📸 Will Hines on Instagram
🫦 Tara's review of Big Mouth S08 at Cracked
🗣️ Tara's interview with Big Mouth co-creators Jennifer Flackett, Andrew Goldberg, and Mark Levin, at Cracked
🪲 The Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About The Beatles podcast
👤 Will Hines's website
🔎 Best Evidence
📷 Photo: Dennis Keeley/HBO

May 21, 2025 • 1h 24min
563: Checking The Perimeter With Murderbot
Vulture's Kathryn VanArendonk is back to talk about Apple TV+'s Murderbot, and whether the books do a better job of exploring questions of gender and essential humanity without Alexander Skarsgard's Ken-doll crotch confusing matters. Should YOU give it a watch? We went Around The Dial with Overcompensating, Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives, and Leverage: Redemption's third season before Anne offered another variation on the Utahn theme with a Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City Canon Presentation. Kelli Giddish won, Tom Hardy lost, and we all tried to survive the process of Venn-diagramming premiere and finale casting in Game Time. Hack into your governor modules and join us!
GUESTS
👤 Kathryn VanArendonk
TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🤖 Murderbot
Around The Dial: 🏋️♀️ Overcompensating
Around The Dial: ⏳ Kids Right Now Shows
Around The Dial: 🎭 The Rehearsal
Around The Dial: 🤫 The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives
Around The Dial: 🥷 Leverage: Redemption
The Canon: 🧂 The Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City S04.E16: Mysteries, Revealed?
Winner & Loser: ⚖️ Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Winner & Loser: 🦴 Tom Hardy
Game Time: 🛟 Survivor Round II
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
🦤 Kathryn VanArendonk at Vulture
🦋 Kathryn on Bluesky
🌮 The ATX Festival
🤖 Kathryn's Murderbot review at Vulture
🏋️♀️ Tara's Overcompensating review at Cracked
🏦 Contact Buntsy about the EHG Mutual Aid Vault
📷 Photo: Apple
CLUB-ONLY NOTES
🔥 EHG Club Perk Links & How-To
💬 Get On Our Community Discord

May 14, 2025 • 1h 37min
562: Should You Ante Up For Season 2 Of Poker Face?
After more than two years, Rian Johnson's Poker Face -- aka "What if Columbo, but a lady named Charlie who's a human lie detector" -- is back for its second season on Peacock. Does it still deliver a pleasing throwback mystery vibe? David J. Roth returns to discuss. Around The Dial takes us through the second season of Conan O'Brien Must Go and Netflix's special Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize For American Humor; Killing It; and Untold: Shooting Guards. Mike presents the episode "A Mercy" from The Terror for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we kick off a new season of Game Time with a very long drive between fictional TV cities in America -- hey, kind of like Charlie! Gas up and join us!
GUESTS
👤 David J. Roth
TOPICS
Announcement: 🍹 Club Campaign Update
Lead Topic: 🃏 Poker Face
Around The Dial: ✈️ Conan O'Brien Must Go
Around The Dial: 🤣 Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize For American Humor
Around The Dial: 🐊 Killing It
Around The Dial: 🏀 Untold: Shooting Guards
The Canon: ⚓️ The Terror S01.E06: A Mercy
Winner & Loser: 🥊 Mike "The Miz" Mizanin
Winner & Loser: 🏈 Tom Brady
Game Time: 🚘 The Great American Fictional TV Road Trip
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
🦋 David J. Roth on Bluesky
♠️ Tara's review of Poker Face S02
🤩 "John Mulaney Is One Of The Best TV Comedy Guest Stars Ever" by Tara at Cracked
📍 Tara's review of Conan O'Brien Must Go S02 at Cracked
🤗 Tara's review of Friendship at Cracked
🏆 Dave Roth's write-up on Killing It in "The Best Things We Saw In 2024" at Defector
💥 The Distraction podcast
🎄 The It's Christmastown! podcast
🔫 Sarah's review of Whack Job at Best Evidence
🗺️ The Road Trip Game Time Map
📷 Photo: Peacock