Extra Hot Great: This Week In TV

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!TOPICSLead Topic: 🏘 Firefly Lane Around The Dial: 🍁 Mapleworth Murders Around The Dial: 👩🏻‍🌾 Jann Around The Dial: 🕵️‍♀️ The Investigation Around The Dial: 🇩🇰 Borgen Around The Dial: 🐆 Black Panther Around The Dial: 👽 Resident Alien The Canon: 🏆 A.P. Bio S01.E02: Teacher JailWinner & Loser: 👍 Whac-a-MoleWinner & Loser: 👎 Wipeout NOTES🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 340 page on ExtraHotGreat.com👩🏻‍🌾 Tara's Jann review at Primetimer💄 The Listen To Sassy podcast🐆 Collider's report on Ryan Coogler's Black Panther TV series🕵️‍♀️ Sarah's review of The Investigation at Primetimer

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👤 Dan RoggeTOPICSLead Topic: 🌉 Bridge & Tunnel Around The Dial: 🌈 Perfect Life Around The Dial: 🤠 Walker Around The Dial: 👠 America's Next Top Model Around The Dial: 🪵 Everwood Around The Dial: 🧑‍🚒 9-1-1: Lone Star Extra Credit: 🤑 Commander On ScreenThe Nonac: 🦦 Riverdale S04.E17: Wicked Little TownWinner & Loser: 👍 The Weakest Link Winner & Loser: 👎 Seventeen MagazineGame Time: 🧠 2020 Double VisionNOTES🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 339 page on ExtraHotGreat.com🫥 Dan recommends Emily VanDerWerff on The Leftovers📰 Tara's Sassy piece in the New York Times Magazine💄 The Listen To Sassy podcast🎧 The Quaid In Full podcast🗽 The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show podcast📸 Photo: Epix

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👤 Caroline FramkeTOPICSLead Topic: 📺 Wandavision Around The Dial: 🕊 The Good Lord Bird Around The Dial: ☎️ Call Your Mother Around The Dial: 🦇 Batwoman Around The Dial: ⚽️ The English Premier LeagueAround The Dial: 🤺 The Challenge Is This Worse Than Jazz?: 🎷 Mark McKinney's Voice As Glenn On SuperstoreThe Canon: 💎 Steven Universe S01.E13: So Many BirthdaysWinner & Loser: 👍 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Winner & Loser: 👎 At Home With Amy Sedaris Game Time: 🧠 Extension ChordsNOTES🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 338 page on ExtraHotGreat.com🐦 Caroline Framke on Twitter🧙‍♀️ Caroline's WandaVision review at Variety💰 David Chen's Patreon🕊 Doreen St. Felix's review of The Good Lord Bird at The New Yorker💄 The Listen To Sassy podcast🐦 ListenToSassy on Twitter📸 ListenToSassy on Instagram🦇 Caroline's Batwoman review✍️ Caroline's author page at Variety.com📰 The Best Evidence newsletter

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.TOPICSLead Topic: 🪶 Dickinson Around The Dial: 🎉 Everyone Is Doing Great Around The Dial: 🕺 The Masked Dancer Around The Dial: 🍻 Cheers Around The Dial: 🏢 Mr. Mayor Around The Dial: 🥷 Lupin Winner & Loser: 👍 Keegan-Michael KeyWinner & Loser: 👎 And Just Like That Game Time: 🧠 Tube Tunes VIINOTES🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 337 page on ExtraHotGreat.com🪶 Kathryn VanArendonk, with us in spirit with her Dickinson deep dive for Vulture🎉 Tara's Everyone Is Doing Great review for Primetimer🕺 Tara's Masked Dancer review, ditto🖐 Tara's Force Five podcast appearance🐯 Sarah on Tiger's identity crisis for Primetimer📷 Photo: Apple TV

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, 2020EEHG 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.TOPICSLead Topic: 🌌 The Big Bang Theory Lead Topic: 👴🏻 Matlock Lead Topic: 🌭 Shangri-La Plaza NOTES🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 336 page on ExtraHotGreat.com🌭 Shangri-La Plaza, the Star-Studded, All-Musical Sitcom Time Forgot' in Los Angeles magazine

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.TOPICSGame Time: 🎁 Wrapping Paper Tube TunesNOTES🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 335 page on ExtraHotGreat.com

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 👤 Roxana Hadadi TOPICS Lead Topic: 🦠 The Stand Around The Dial: ✈️ The Flight Attendant Around The Dial: 💸 Celebrity IOU Around The Dial: 👒 Bridgerton Around The Dial: 🍺 Letterkenny Around The Dial: 🐆 The Wilds Around The Dial: 🐸 The Mandalorian The Canon: 🌳 Parks And Recreation S06.E07: Recall Vote Winner & Loser: 👍 Dopesick Winner & Loser: 👎 The Rookie Game Time: 🧠 Netflix Rathole NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 334 page on ExtraHotGreat.com 🐦 Roxana Hadadi on Twitter 🦠 Roxana's review of The Stand at Variety 📚 1994 Harold Lauder 🥇 RogerEbert.com Best TV of 2020 coverage 🎗 The A.V. Club Best Films of 2020 coverage 🍺 A goofy piece about the hotness of the Letterkenny cast, sort of jumping off me mentioning the show during the recording, over at Pajiba 🌴 A Very Special 90210 Book 🎙 Madonna A to Z 🐸 Film Crit Hulk on the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian 🥸 The Mandalorian animation vs. deepfake

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👤 Kamille WashingtonTOPICSLead Topic: 🩰 Tiny Pretty Things Around The Dial: 🏝 The Wilds Around The Dial: 🍕 Deliciousness Around The Dial: 💕 12 Dates Of Christmas Around The Dial: 🔪 HBO true-crime documentariesThe Canon: 🏙 Sex And The City Winner & Loser: 👍 Amazon orders a series from Boots RileyWinner & Loser: 👎 The Ellen DeGeneres Show Game Time: 🧠 The Caroling Burnett ShowNOTES🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 333 page on ExtraHotGreat.com🐦 Kamille Washington on Twitter🇬🇧 Tara's post on Pennyworth at Decider📚 Sarah and Tara on the People Still Read Books podcast🎄 Sarah and Tara discussion Northpole on the Dave And Jeb Aren't Mean podcast🎧 The Unfriendly Black Hotties podcast💸 Mark And Sarah Talk About Songs on Patreon

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👤 Adam GrosswirthTOPICSLead Topic: 🔍 The Hardy Boys Around The Dial: 🎶 Selena: The Series Around The Dial: 🏥 Nurses Around The Dial: 🔔 Jingle Jangle Around The Dial: 🎄 Christmas On The Square Around The Dial: 🔎 The Hardy Boys (1977) Around The Dial: 🇬🇧 Gangs Of London Extra Credit: 🤑 Once More With FeelsThe Canon: 🏹 Slings & Arrows S02.E04: Fair Is Foul And Foul Is FairWinner & Loser: 👍 Vantage Point, getting a series adaptation at NBCWinner & Loser: 👎 CBS Sunday Morning David SedarisGame Time: 🧠 Signature LookNOTES🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 332 page on ExtraHotGreat.com🐦 Adam Grosswirth on Twitter🥴 The drunk episode of Overwhelming Positivity, "Two Hundred Headless Snowman In Review"🎶 "The Latine Delegation Has Decided Netflix's Selena: The Series Is Not Good" at Jezebel👗 Tara's review of Stylish With Jenna Lyons at Primetimer🛩 Tara on Kaley Cuoco in The Flight Attendant at Decider👩‍🦰 Tara on the end of The Undoing at Dave Chen's Patreon🎄 Wesley Morris;s review of Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square in The New York Times🎧 Adam on Caroline And The Podcast🔪 The 12 Days Of Best Evidence

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!TOPICSThe Canon: 🩺 M*A*S*H The Canon: ✏️ Strangers With Candy The Canon: 💻 The IT Crowd NOTES🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 331 page on ExtraHotGreat.com