

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

Feb 3, 2021 β’ 1h 9min
340: Running Down Firefly Lane
With our intended guest and Firefly Lane expert LaToya Ferguson forced to bow out (we'll re-book her again ASAP!), your co-hosts muddled through on Netflix's new middlebrow book adaptation to the best of our ability. Around The Dial takes us through the late Quibi sitcom Mapleworth Murders, Hulu's Canadian import Jann, HBO Max's Danish import The Investigation -- and Borgen, with which it shares approximately half its cast -- the just-announced Black Panther show coming to Disney+ from Ryan Coogler, and Syfy's Resident Alien. Tara presents the A.P. Bio episode "Teacher Jail" to The Canon. And because the Loser is VERY dark, we name the Loser THEN the Winner this week, rather than send you home on a downer. Freshen up your Aqua Net and join us!
TOPICS
Lead Topic: π Firefly Lane
Around The Dial: π Mapleworth Murders
Around The Dial: π©π»βπΎ Jann
Around The Dial: π΅οΈββοΈ The Investigation
Around The Dial: π©π° Borgen
Around The Dial: π Black Panther
Around The Dial: π½ Resident Alien
The Canon: π A.P. Bio S01.E02: Teacher Jail
Winner & Loser: π Whac-a-Mole
Winner & Loser: π Wipeout
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 340 page on ExtraHotGreat.com
π©π»βπΎ Tara's Jann review at Primetimer
π The Listen To Sassy podcast
π Collider's report on Ryan Coogler's Black Panther TV series
π΅οΈββοΈ Sarah's review of The Investigation at Primetimer

Jan 27, 2021 β’ 1h 36min
339: A Bridge & Tunnel Too Far
Our esteemed colleague, "Pot Ledom"-ologist, and Long Island native Dan Rogge returns to analyze Edward Burns's thoroughly mediocre Bridge & Tunnel, about the post-college lives and loves of six suspiciously hot high-school friends...none of whom can seem to master the accent. A huge music budget (and equally large commitment to the sex scenes) can't make up for stilted dialogue, anachronistic argot, and Burns's Lena Dunham-esque estrangement from the real-world problems of his characters. We went Around The Dial with Perfect Life, Walker, an America's Next Top Model book, Everwood, and 9-1-1 Lone Star before contemplating our ideal 2024 presidential tickets in an Extra Credit, and then Dan proposed burning down Riverdale's fourth-season musical episode "Wicked Little Town" in his Nonac presentation. Jane Lynch won, Seventeen lost, and none of us had perfect 2020 vision in a mash-up Game Time from Dan Cassino. Chuck that EZ-Pass tag out the window: it's an all-new Extra Hot Great.
GUESTS
π€ Dan Rogge
TOPICS
Lead Topic: π Bridge & Tunnel
Around The Dial: π Perfect Life
Around The Dial: π€ Walker
Around The Dial: π America's Next Top Model
Around The Dial: πͺ΅ Everwood
Around The Dial: π§βπ 9-1-1: Lone Star
Extra Credit: π€ Commander On Screen
The Nonac: 𦦠Riverdale S04.E17: Wicked Little Town
Winner & Loser: π The Weakest Link
Winner & Loser: π Seventeen Magazine
Game Time: π§ 2020 Double Vision
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 339 page on ExtraHotGreat.com
π«₯ Dan recommends Emily VanDerWerff on The Leftovers
π° Tara's Sassy piece in the New York Times Magazine
π The Listen To Sassy podcast
π§ The Quaid In Full podcast
π½ The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show podcast
πΈ Photo: Epix

Jan 20, 2021 β’ 1h 50min
338: Adjusting The Horizontal Hold For WandaVision
Marvel Studios has kicked off its slate of TV series with WandaVision, a sort-of spoof of classic sitcoms starring a couple of Avengers. What's actually going on? We don't know (though Dave has theories), but Caroline Framke is here to talk about the two-part premiere! Around The Dial takes us through The Good Lord Bird, Call Your Mother, Season 2's new Batwoman, the Premier League of football (or soccer, if you will), The Challenge, and Superstore -- specifically, the voice Mark McKinney is using to play Glenn, and whether it's worse than jazz. Suley presents the Steven Universe episode "So Many Birthdays" for The Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that takes it to the bridge. Grab your nearest nosy neighbour and listen!
GUESTS
π€ Caroline Framke
TOPICS
Lead Topic: πΊ Wandavision
Around The Dial: π The Good Lord Bird
Around The Dial: βοΈ Call Your Mother
Around The Dial: π¦ Batwoman
Around The Dial: β½οΈ The English Premier League
Around The Dial: π€Ί The Challenge
Is This Worse Than Jazz?: π· Mark McKinney's Voice As Glenn On Superstore
The Canon: π Steven Universe S01.E13: So Many Birthdays
Winner & Loser: π Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Winner & Loser: π At Home With Amy Sedaris
Game Time: π§ Extension Chords
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 338 page on ExtraHotGreat.com
π¦ Caroline Framke on Twitter
π§ββοΈ Caroline's WandaVision review at Variety
π° David Chen's Patreon
π Doreen St. Felix's review of The Good Lord Bird at The New Yorker
π The Listen To Sassy podcast
π¦ ListenToSassy on Twitter
πΈ ListenToSassy on Instagram
π¦ Caroline's Batwoman review
βοΈ Caroline's author page at Variety.com
π° The Best Evidence newsletter

Jan 13, 2021 β’ 1h 19min
337: Big Dickinson Energy
The regular panelists had to forge ahead without esteemed colleague Kathryn VanArendonk in our discussion of Dickinson's second season; that's the bad news. The good news is, we all like Apple TV's imagining of poet Emily Dickinson's life and loves with lots of swearing and twenty-first-century slang. How DOES the show balance the demands of historical fact with flights of fancy, and not take itself too seriously? And are Season 2's creepy [character spoiler redacted] the key to its success? Later, we went Around The Dial with The Masked Dancer, Everything Is Going Great, Cheers Season 5, Mr. Mayor's debut, and Lupin and other "Pringle mysteries." A new detective franchise won, an old HBO franchise lost, and we continued the episode's verse theme with the Tara-crafted Tube Tunes VII. Pass Nobody an earbud for an all-new Extra Hot Great.
TOPICS
Lead Topic: πͺΆ Dickinson
Around The Dial: π Everyone Is Doing Great
Around The Dial: πΊ The Masked Dancer
Around The Dial: π» Cheers
Around The Dial: π’ Mr. Mayor
Around The Dial: π₯· Lupin
Winner & Loser: π Keegan-Michael Key
Winner & Loser: π And Just Like That
Game Time: π§ Tube Tunes VII
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 337 page on ExtraHotGreat.com
πͺΆ Kathryn VanArendonk, with us in spirit with her Dickinson deep dive for Vulture
π Tara's Everyone Is Doing Great review for Primetimer
πΊ Tara's Masked Dancer review, ditto
π Tara's Force Five podcast appearance
π― Sarah on Tiger's identity crisis for Primetimer
π· Photo: Apple TV

Jan 6, 2021 β’ 50min
336: Matlock's Big Bang Plaza
We're off this week but we've glued together three episode forcening, uh, episodes from our Patreon supporter bonus podcast Extra Extra Hot Great.
EEHG 076: Listener Forcening: The Big Bang Theory
Patreon supporter Sharon Johnson had us watch The Big Bang Theory S07.E03: "The Scavenger Vortex," writing, "While I'm aware that it's not well thought of among the EHG family, BBT is one of my all-time favorite television shows," and this episode a fave among faves. Did this selection make us come around? Listen and find out! From Aug 21, 2020.
EEHG 083: Dave Forces Everyone To Watch Matlock
We watch the second season episode "Network" in which all the late-80s stars of NBC shine as talking heads on "Entertainment Today." ALF is among them. We have questions. From September 29, 2020
EEHG 085: Co-Host Forcening: Shangri-La Plaza
After Michael Darling eulogized the ill-fated pilot of Shangri-La Plaza in Los Angelesmagazine this August, Tara made a mental note to expose her co-hosts -- and our Patreon supporters! -- to the insanity he described. Finally, it is time for all of us to take that journey! From October 9, 2020.
TOPICS
Lead Topic: π The Big Bang Theory
Lead Topic: π΄π» Matlock
Lead Topic: π Shangri-La Plaza
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 336 page on ExtraHotGreat.com
π Shangri-La Plaza, the Star-Studded, All-Musical Sitcom Time Forgot' in Los Angeles magazine

Dec 30, 2020 β’ 30min
335: Wrapping Paper Tube Tunes
To help get you through our holiday break, Tara wrote a special festive version of her fan-favorite (...is it?) Non-Regulation Game Time: it's Wrapping Paper Tube Tunes! Some original holiday songs from TV shows; some covers; all comfort and joy. Please enjoy this gift from us to you, and don't try to return it.
TOPICS
Game Time: π Wrapping Paper Tube Tunes
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 335 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

Dec 23, 2020 β’ 1h 42min
334: Finding Out If Enthusiasm For The Stand Is Infectious
Stephen King's 1978 novel has already been turned into a miniseries once, but it's time for this generation to get its own, apparently? So CBS All Access has made one, and Roxana Hadadi is joining us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through The Flight Attendant, Celebrity IOU, TKTK, The Wilds, and Season 2 of The Mandalorian. Mlle. Caroline presents the Parks & Recreation episode "Recall Vote" for induction to The Canon; then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, it's on to a Game Time that defies categorization. Make yourself a nice cup of Thera-Flu and join us!
GUESTS
π€ Roxana Hadadi
TOPICS
Lead Topic: π¦ The Stand
Around The Dial: βοΈ The Flight Attendant
Around The Dial: πΈ Celebrity IOU
Around The Dial: π Bridgerton
Around The Dial: πΊ Letterkenny
Around The Dial: π The Wilds
Around The Dial: πΈ The Mandalorian
The Canon: π³ Parks And Recreation S06.E07: Recall Vote
Winner & Loser: π Dopesick
Winner & Loser: π The Rookie
Game Time: π§ Netflix Rathole
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 334 page on ExtraHotGreat.com
π¦ Roxana Hadadi on Twitter
π¦ Roxana's review of The Stand at Variety
π 1994 Harold Lauder
π₯ RogerEbert.com Best TV of 2020 coverage
π The A.V. Club Best Films of 2020 coverage
πΊ A goofy piece about the hotness of the Letterkenny cast, sort of jumping off me mentioning the show during the recording, over at Pajiba
π΄ A Very Special 90210 Book
π Madonna A to Z
πΈ Film Crit Hulk on the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian
π₯Έ The Mandalorian animation vs. deepfake

Dec 16, 2020 β’ 1h 18min
333: Is Tiny Pretty Things On Point?
First-time guest Kamille joins us for a conversation about Tiny Pretty Things, Netflix's new Center Stage-with-teens ballet thriller (?), and while she watched the whole thing, neither she nor the fulltime panel thinks it's good. But aside from the wretched VO, suspect acting, unwelcome parallels to 13 Reasons Why and decided un-Frenchness of cartoon villain Lauren Holly, is TPT a good time-waster? Not to worry: we found you some definite time-wasters when we went Around The Dial with The Wilds and 12 Dates Of Christmas, panned Deliciousness, and helped you cut down that HBO-documentary backlog with a watch-skip index of recent prestige true crime. We couldn't help but wonder if Sex & The City's fourth-season premiere was the Canon's soulmate. Boots Riley and Jharrel Jerome won (for now), Ellen and Ellen lost (again), and Suley wassailed us with a TV/Christmas song Game Time. Don't let the dorm mother catch you listening to an all-new Extra Hot Great!
GUESTS
π€ Kamille Washington
TOPICS
Lead Topic: π©° Tiny Pretty Things
Around The Dial: π The Wilds
Around The Dial: π Deliciousness
Around The Dial: π 12 Dates Of Christmas
Around The Dial: πͺ HBO true-crime documentaries
The Canon: π Sex And The City
Winner & Loser: π Amazon orders a series from Boots Riley
Winner & Loser: π The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Game Time: π§ The Caroling Burnett Show
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 333 page on ExtraHotGreat.com
π¦ Kamille Washington on Twitter
π¬π§ Tara's post on Pennyworth at Decider
π Sarah and Tara on the People Still Read Books podcast
π Sarah and Tara discussion Northpole on the Dave And Jeb Aren't Mean podcast
π§ The Unfriendly Black Hotties podcast
πΈ Mark And Sarah Talk About Songs on Patreon

Dec 9, 2020 β’ 1h 37min
332: Investigating The Hardy Boys
Hulu and Canada's kids' broadcaster YTV have brought the world a new adaptation of the nearly-100-year-old boy detectives Frank and Joe Hardy, and we've enlisted Adam Grosswirth to join us in discussing it! A super-sized Around The Dial takes us through Selena: The Series, Nurses, Jingle Jangle, Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square, the original '70s version of The Hardy Boys, and Gangs Of London. After Joe M. uses his Extra Credit topic to have us write a character-revealing power ballad into an otherwise un-musical show, Adam makes his pitch for the "Fair Is Foul And Foul Is Fair" episode of Slings & Arrows to be inducted into The Canon. We crown the week's Winner and Loser, and close out with a Game Time perfectly tailored (heh heh) to our interests. Get your flashlight and your VERY loud walkie-talkie and listen in!
GUESTS
π€ Adam Grosswirth
TOPICS
Lead Topic: π The Hardy Boys
Around The Dial: πΆ Selena: The Series
Around The Dial: π₯ Nurses
Around The Dial: π Jingle Jangle
Around The Dial: π Christmas On The Square
Around The Dial: π The Hardy Boys (1977)
Around The Dial: π¬π§ Gangs Of London
Extra Credit: π€ Once More With Feels
The Canon: πΉ Slings & Arrows S02.E04: Fair Is Foul And Foul Is Fair
Winner & Loser: π Vantage Point, getting a series adaptation at NBC
Winner & Loser: π CBS Sunday Morning David Sedaris
Game Time: π§ Signature Look
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 332 page on ExtraHotGreat.com
π¦ Adam Grosswirth on Twitter
π₯΄ The drunk episode of Overwhelming Positivity, "Two Hundred Headless Snowman In Review"
πΆ "The Latine Delegation Has Decided Netflix's Selena: The Series Is Not Good" at Jezebel
π Tara's review of Stylish With Jenna Lyons at Primetimer
π© Tara on Kaley Cuoco in The Flight Attendant at Decider
π©βπ¦° Tara on the end of The Undoing at Dave Chen's Patreon
π Wesley Morris;s review of Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square in The New York Times
π§ Adam on Caroline And The Podcast
πͺ The 12 Days Of Best Evidence

Dec 2, 2020 β’ 1h 1min
331: War Is Hell: An All-Canon Episode
The panel is contemplating three user submissions for the Canon this week, starting with the extremely highly rated, extreeeeemely looooong series finale of MASH. Lindy makes a fascinating parallel between [waves hands vaguely] All This and the world MASH portrayed, but is the episode's status as a historical reference enough to earn it a medal of honor? Next, we're sampling a first-season Strangers With Candy episode submitted by Tim (and the second in which a chicken figures heavily). Does Amy Sedaris's satirical take on The Best Little Girl In The World -- and a solid comedic turn from one Ellen Pompeo -- have what we'd call a debater's body? Finally, Mlle. Caroline files a support ticket for The IT Crowd, which pits Matt Berry and a great PSA parody against suboptimal pacing and an intrusive laugh track. Try turning it off and then back on again: it's an all-Canon Extra Hot Great!
TOPICS
The Canon: π©Ί M*A*S*H
The Canon: βοΈ Strangers With Candy
The Canon: π» The IT Crowd
NOTES
π Full episode notes can be found on the episode 331 page on ExtraHotGreat.com