70: The Mad End Of Mad Men
Have a/some Coke and a smile as our esteemed colleague John Ramos returns to discuss whether Mad Men and Don Draper got a proper sendoff -- and Buntsy finally stops torturing Dave with the DB Cooper thing. (Probably.) We discuss Nashville, vintage ads, crappy Washingtons, and Under The Dome trolling Tara before Sarah proposes another Weiner-related finale, The Sopranos's "Made In America," for ...
1hr 16m May 18, 2015
1hr 16m
69: In For A Penny Dreadful
It's officially summer, and you know what that means: time to start a fire in the hearth, brew a pot of tea, and snuggle under a fur blanket for Showtime's Victorian supernatural drama, Penny Dreadful! Naturally, we were thrilled to welcome Matt Debenham, our resident Penny Dreadful correspondent, to join in the discussion. From there, we check in on the evolution of Mad Men's Don Draper into D...
1hr 35m May 14, 2015
1hr 35m
68: Do They Know What Time It Is?
Lauren, Andrew, and Shannon join us for our first listeners-only Game Time event! TOPICS Game Time: đź‘Ą The Name Game NOTES đź—’ Full episode notes can be found on the episode 068 page on ExtraHotGreat.com (https://extrahotgreat.com/ehg-068/)
55m May 05, 2015
55m
67: Orphan Black Marks
Our Orphan Black and Daredevil correspondent, Jeff Alexander, returns to talk boy clones, beatings, and Buntsy's boneheaded D.B. Cooper theory. Liv submitted her final Face Off report of the season, and we all learned something about corporate synergy. Then we went Around The Dial with the Justified finale (approved), the Daredevil renewal (approved), Catfish's obviously imminent end (should be...
1hr 11m Apr 22, 2015
1hr 11m
66: High Five For Game Of Thrones
As Game Of Thrones launches its fifth season, both Particleer Nick Rheinwald-Jones and Ravens correspondent Jeff Drake join us to talk about the premiere. Sarah then launches her new Mad Men D.B. Cooper-watch segment, and Liv checks in with her comments on Face Off's penultimate episode of the season. Sarah explains why she is NOT a crackpot for believing there need to be more dance-school teen...
2hr 1m Apr 13, 2015
2hr 1m
65: The Beginning Of The End Of Mad Men
With Sarah back from baseball nerd camp at last, esteemed contributor John Ramos returned to EHG to talk Mad Men, shapeless narrative, and Roger Sterling's savvy borrowing of Sam Elliott's mustache. After a Face Off report on creepy dollies from Liv, we iced The Slap, bowed before Game Of Thrones, hummed along with the recent crop of awesome music documentaries, and reproached reboots before th...
1hr 44m Apr 06, 2015
1hr 44m
64: Walking Dead And Loving It
As The Walking Dead wraps up its fifth season, regular Dead correspondent and designated pinch-hitter Jeff Alexander join us for a talk that ranges through the show, the comics, the spinoff, and which characters we could stand to see axed in Season 6! Liv gives the kid perspective on a kid-centered Face Off challenge. We go Around The Dial with stops at Going Clear, The Daily Show, Orphan Black...
1hr 49m Mar 30, 2015
1hr 49m
63: Scandalously Dancing With The Stars
Our esteemed colleague and ABC aficionado Kim Reed joins the gang for a discussion of Scandal, Dancing With The Stars's 20th season, and the extraneous bits of both. We premiered a new Phrase That Doesn't Pay, learned about Liv's superpower in the Face Off report, Catfished Nev Schulman's podcast, sank one at the buzzer with ESPN's Christian Laettner doc, and got public-service announcements ab...
2hr 5m Mar 23, 2015
2hr 5m
62: Singing Along With The Voice And American Idol
American Idol and The Voice correspondent Stephanie Cangro joins us to compare and contrast TV's current big two singing competition shows, and confirm for all of us that Harry Connick Jr. is, in fact, the best. Liv walks us through an intergalactic beauty pageant challenge on Face Off, before we go Around The Dial with stops at The Jinx, The Royals, The Last Man On Earth, and Syfy's forthcomin...
1hr 48m Mar 16, 2015
1hr 48m
61: Burning Down The House Of Cards
Thanks for your patience, friends! We're back, and we're joined by our esteemed colleague Alex Zeidel for a discussion of House Of Cards's third season. Sarah's not a crackpot for thinking TV kids need to have a seat at the dinner table, Liv's talking scary makeup with Dave, and we're circling the dial with Togetherness, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, obscure Nimoy, and CSI: Dawson. After consideri...
1hr 37m Mar 09, 2015
1hr 37m
60: Empire Delivers Tough Cookies
Dean of the Blankenship Chair Mark Blankenship joins us to talk about the newest show he's covering for Previously.TV -- Fox's runaway hit hip-hop soap opera Empire! Liv returns to tell us all about the "Troll Bridge" episode of Face Off, and then we go around the dial to discuss The Americans, the new Emmy eligibility rules, another weird old TV ad, and the imminent return of Intervention. Mar...
1hr 36m Feb 23, 2015
1hr 36m
59: Top Chef Is Here For The Right Seasonings
Our esteemed colleague Jeff Drake helped the gang dish on the Boston season of Top Chef, before seeing if we felt a connection with the current Bachelor and his crop o' lipstick-sharing crazies. Then Tara backhanded The Slap (for its own good, of course!), Jeff visited Broad City and Transparent, and Sarah pitched PBS's endangered documentary programs before Dave taught us all a very important ...
1hr 15m Feb 16, 2015
1hr 15m
58: Riddle Of The Jinx
If HBO's going to bring us a true crime docuseries about notorious non-convicted alleged murderer Robert Durst, we're going to talk about it -- and we're going to get true crime expert Eve Batey to pause her Marathon Diary of The Wire and join us. A playing card-based Face Off challenges our six-year-old correspondent Liv. Around The Dial takes us through one of Dave's favourite old Canadian ad...
1hr 43m Feb 09, 2015
1hr 43m
57: Holmes Sweet Holmes On Elementary
Our esteemed colleague Allison Lowe Huff joined us to discuss a recent major arc on Elementary, and why the Sherlock Holmes-verse is so durable. After Liv reported on Face Off and the dietary preferences of lion sunflower creatures, we considered whether Dave would hate Syfy Greek-myth drama Olympus, mourned the once-great Sleepy Hollow, compared The Americans and Allegiance, and set sail with ...
1hr 57m Feb 02, 2015
1hr 57m
56: Boyds On The Side On Justified
Nick Rheinwald-Jones is our guest for a discussion of the just-kicked-off final season of Justified, just in time for Sarah to get on board. Niece Liv returns to cover Part 2 of the Face Off season premiere, before we move on to the most explosive Bunting vs. Bunting segment of Downton Abbey Series 5 to date. Around The Dial makes stops at The Nightly Show, Togetherness, Wolf Hall, Better Call ...
1hr 38m Jan 26, 2015
1hr 38m
55: Gleeking Out
Our esteemed colleague Adam Grosswirth returned to EHG to talk about Glee's final season, the two Ryan Murphys, and how the polarizing show will end. After we laughed at Kroll Show and failed to fall for The Fall, Dave showed off his Night Moves, and we wondered which live musical would hit the nets next. Liv took inspiration from Face Off, one Sarah Bunting cleared a manor house of Russians, a...
2hr 2m Jan 19, 2015
2hr 2m
54: The 72nd Oscars Jr. Awards
The 2015 televised entertainment award season kicks off with the People's Choice Awards, and...just kidding, we're talking Golden Globes with Joe Reid. We then revive "Will Dave Hate This?" in response to Amazon's announcement of its TV adaptation of Philip K. Dick's The Man In The High Castle, and examine the latest Downton Abbey through the lens of Sarah Bunting vs. Sarah D. Bunting. Around T...
1hr 20m Jan 12, 2015
1hr 20m
53: Downton For The Count
Our esteemed colleague John Ramos is back to assess the stateside season premiere of Downton Abbey -- with all the Sarah Buntings that entails. We also sicced Wardrobe Cop on Rags To Riches, admired FXX's movie-advertising game, ran through the pleasures of The Flash, and worked up an appetite for The Great British Bake Off. John then gestated a Playing House Canon submission before Game Time f...
1hr 30m Jan 04, 2015
1hr 30m
52: 2014 In Review
The EHG team breaks its long silence for a quick look back at the TV year that was, with some highly partial superlatives including Best New Show, Most Tragic Renewal, and Pierce Of The Year. Join us for all the triumphant laurels and rotten tomatoes! TOPICS Lead Topic: 🍾 Year In Review NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 052 page on ExtraHotGreat.com (https://extrahotgre...
1hr Dec 29, 2014
1hr
51: Nonacs-travaganza!
It's time once again to consider nominees for the Nonac -- the opposite of the EHG Canon, where the worst-ever episodes of otherwise-good shows reside. After Dave clarified a point of Nonac law, we turned our attention to the "disgusting clothing" and ridiculous challenge in a ninth-season Project Runway; remembered how much we hated stupid Nick, Kalinda's stupid husband, on The Good Wife; fail...
49m Nov 16, 2014
49m
50: The A&E Afternoon-Programming Canon
Once upon a time, long ago (read: "the early aughts"), before the tyranny of Duck Dynasty, A&E really was about art and entertainment -- viz. their weekday-afternoon "rock block" of enjoyable classics. NewsRadio, Northern Exposure, and Law & Order: Mothership helped the gang while away many a dull PM at their desks. Today, we nominate favorites from each show for Canon consideration, and fondly...
1hr Nov 09, 2014
1hr
49: The Extra Hot Great Program Parole Board Special
Our very special all-Program Parole Board special looks around the TV landscape and makes recommendations on which currently-barely-available series deserve to be put online for streaming, put back into the syndication rotation, or straight-up rebooted. TOPICS Lead Topic: 👩🏽‍⚖️ Program Parole Board Special NOTES 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on the episode 049 page on ExtraHotGreat.com ...
37m Nov 02, 2014
37m
48: The Extra Hot Great TV Cop Special
For our very special TV Cop special, we hear from specially trained officers working cases involving special effects overreach, sexual ethics, booze, and much more! TOPICS Lead Topic: đźš” TV Cops NOTES đź—’ Full episode notes can be found on the episode 048 page on ExtraHotGreat.com (https://extrahotgreat.com/ehg-048/)
27m Oct 26, 2014
27m
47: The Trip Has Spoken On Survivor
Our esteemed colleague Trip Payne takes a break from hunting for the hidden immunity idol to join us for discussions of Survivor, TV's krappiest kids, a notable casting change, and a South Korean reality show. The hills were alive with the sound of a Will & Grace nomination for the Canon, and we also heard from Liv on Face Off and crowned our Winner and Loser before Game Time blindsided everyon...
1hr 19m Oct 21, 2014
1hr 19m
46: Dead And Circuses On American Horror Story
Joe Reid joins us to discuss the week in TV as Ryan Murphy premieres the fourth season of American Horror Story, murderous clown and all. Around The Dial takes us through Extreme Cheapskates, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., HBO's announcement of a standalone streaming service, and Sarah and Joe engaging in a postseason baseball commentator fantasy draft (and if you're friends with Joe Buck, don't let h...
1hr 27m Oct 15, 2014
1hr 27m
45: Homeland Wants Its Spy Mommy
Our esteemed colleague Jeff Drake came not to praise Homeland's season premiere, but to bury it -- but he and the gang found a lot to like. We went around the dial with animated shows, British-history-based streaming sleep aids, and a great ending to a great Bob's Burgers, before Liv accidentally NSFWed the Face Off report and Sarah reviewed Lena Dunham's new book. The Giudices got jail time, T...
1hr 19m Oct 06, 2014
1hr 19m
44: Wayney Days In Gotham
Fox gets into the comic book adaptation game with Gotham, and Previously.TV's resident Gotham watcher Nick Rheinwald-Jones is here to talk about it with us! Around The Dial rolls through The Flash, Chicago PD, The Good Wife, and How To Get Away With Murder. True professional Olivia Kwan updates us on the latest Face Off even though its "childhood fears" theme was so scary that her mom only let ...
1hr 13m Sep 29, 2014
1hr 13m
43: Madam Secretary's Diplomatic Immunity Is Revoked
Our esteemed colleague and EHG first-timer Allison Lowe Huff headed up the Madam Secretary discussion committee this week before Liv and Dave filed reports on Face Off and Billy Eichner, respectively. We also put a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode to a vote (...at Tenagra), tried to solve The Mysteries Of Laura, and fell for Gravity Falls before taking a trip through fictional small-town ...
1hr 26m Sep 22, 2014
1hr 26m
42: The Fall Guys
Our long, long three-week hiatus comes to an end with the return of John Ramos, and a discussion of new fall series -- the ones each of us are into; the ones we should be into but aren't; and the ones we feel no one should be into. After Olivia's latest Face Off report (warning: contains Beauty And The Beast and Frozen spoilers), we go around the dial to touch on Couples Therapy, The Chair, Iya...
1hr 34m Sep 15, 2014
1hr 34m
41: Making It Work (Yum!) With Project Runway
One half of the Fug Girls, Jessica Morgan, returns to the guest chair as we consider Project Runway and whether it's showing its age. We also talked about Utopia's not-that-crazy ideas, Rectify's Emmy chances in 2015, corporate fan-fic, and televised LARPing before assessing a five-makeover Clone High ep for the canon. Could the gang guess which portmanteaux names went with which couples in Gam...
1hr 22m Aug 18, 2014
1hr 22m
40: Getting Knicked
Alan Sepinwall joins us for his first-ever full episode of the podcast for a discussion of The Knick! After Face Off correspondent Olivia Kwan updates us on Episode 3, we go around the dial with Outlander, Dirk Gently, Amy Pascale's new Joss Whedon biography, and Extreme Guide To Parenting. Sarah shares a couple of recent Tiny Triumphs, Tara tells us why We Are All Domer for knowing anything at...
1hr 28m Aug 11, 2014
1hr 28m
39: The Bachelorette: Hear For The Right Reasons
Previously's Bachelor/ette expert, Stephanie Green, joins us -- even Sarah, with Time Warner Cable's capricious blessing! -- to discuss the latest Bachelorette finale, slut-shaming, and whether anyone's still watching it (or going on the show) unironically. After we went around the dial with Stephen 'DGAF' Colbert, Dave's take on Tara's Fringe rewatch, and The Leftovers book club, Olivia Kwan r...
1hr 23m Aug 04, 2014
1hr 23m
38: Making Up Is Hard To Do On Face Off
The return of SyFy's Face Off brings series expert/first-time guest Monty Ashley (plus six-year-old fan Olivia Kwan) to the podcast to talk locked molds, co-operation, and why taking one class with your son might not be adequate preparation for a prospective contestant on the show. Then Sarah's network craps out and we're forced to carry on without her to talk Ancient Aliens, the original Batma...
1hr 4m Jul 28, 2014
1hr 4m
37: The Most Bad-Ass Podcast You're Going To Hear All Week!
If we were going to be talking about the greatest TV bad-asses in a variety of sub-categories, it seemed obvious that we would need to bring bad-ass Omar Gallaga into the mix to join us and share his picks. We then move on to an Around The Dial segment that takes us through Restaurant Start-Up, Under The Dome, the World Cup, and The Strain. The pre-cancellation of Hieroglyph and Dave's timely d...
1hr 39m Jul 07, 2014
1hr 39m
36: Mentally Challenged
Our esteemed colleague and Challenge poobah Lilit Marcus joined the regulars this week for a spirited discussion of the artist formerly known as The Real World/Road Rules Challenge: is it money? fame? Bolivian marching powder? We went Around The Dial with Canadian foodvertising, British crime shows, and Drunk History before considering the show's first Doctor Who ep for the Canon. After declari...
1hr 5m Jun 30, 2014
1hr 5m
35: Fargo's Got Such Super Ladies
Learned correspondent Jeff Alexander returns to discuss what worked and what didn't in the season finales of Fargo and Orphan Black. Around The Dial takes us through The Haunting Of..., Doctor Who, Big Brother, Enlisted, Tyrant, and Dominion. Jeff makes the case for The Walking Dead's "Seed" to be inducted into The Canon, and then after naming the week's Winner and Loser, we dig into a thrillin...
1hr 28m Jun 23, 2014
1hr 28m
34: Never Poop In Westeros Or The Ultimate Game Of Thrones
Our esteemed colleagues Jeff Drake and Nick Rheinwald-Jones join the gang to talk Game Of Thrones, including the fate of The Hound, why Stannis sucks, whether we can compare the show to The Sopranos, and the wisdom of locking the door before visiting, er, the throne. We went around the dial with Playing House, Orange Is The New Black, and Last Week Tonight; Dave recommended the wonderfully bad ...
1hr 46m Jun 16, 2014
1hr 46m
33: Summer TV Weather Report
The great Joe Reid returns to his old stomping grounds for a roundup of the shows we'll be watching this summer, as we each pick one respectable series and one piece of beloved garbage. A super-sized Around The Dial features talk of game nights, possible movie news, and the shows that have disappointed Sarah and Tara most this week. Joe presents the "Valerie Relaxes In Palm Springs" episode of ...
1hr 54m Jun 09, 2014
1hr 54m
32: Gone Catfish-ing
It's about finding love on this week's EHG, as we're joined by @midnight writer and Frasier superfan Matt Mira to try to answer burning questions about Catfish: how much of it is fake? what exactly did Carmen do to make her cousin fall in love with her 'Tony' over the phone? why...is Max? We went around the dial with 'pitiless tear-extraction machine' Call The Midwife, the revamped American Ido...
1hr 26m May 19, 2014
1hr 26m
31: 24 Goes BOOP BEEP! BOOP BEEP!
Official 24 correspondent Jeff Alexander joins us all the way from Minneapolis to discuss the first two episodes of the new mini-series. Around The Dial brings discussion of The Good Wife, NBC’s Rosemary’s Baby miniseries, and the cancelled shows we’ll miss the most, including the one about an undead entrepreneur. We consider the induction of Parks & Recreation’s "Sister City" to The Canon, and...
1hr 20m May 11, 2014
1hr 20m
30: Back To Louie
Sports On Earth's Will Leitch takes another run at what we like to call 'The Leitch' -- successfully pitching a Canon entry AND winning a Game Time in a single guest shot -- as we discuss the return of Louie. We went around the dial, singing 'Sunrise, Sunset' to some shows (Sirens, Almost Human) and saying 'Hello, Charlie!' to another (Charlie's Angels), and Sarah celebrated Project Tiny Triump...
1hr 10m May 05, 2014
1hr 10m
29: Orphan Black's Clone Club Colloquy
The great Jesse Murray returns for the first time in this podcast run to talk about the first season of Orphan Black, and what we’ve seen thus far of Season 2. Then he joins us to go Around The Dial with discussion of Playing House, Season 1 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Penny Dreadful, and RuPaul's Drag Race. Tara addresses the Tiny Triumph (or is it?!) of Late Night With Seth Meyers g...
1hr 25m Apr 28, 2014
1hr 25m
28: It's A Mad Mad Mad Men World
As Tara takes a vacay, John Ramos joins the rest of the crew to discuss Mad Men's return for the first half of its final season. Has it lost its sense of humor? And how would we like to see it end? We also discussed a few shows we're late to the party on -- Parks & Recreation, The Clone Wars -- and one whose party we should have left weeks ago. After considering That Mitchell & Webb Look for th...
1hr 33m Apr 21, 2014
1hr 33m
27: Game Of Thrones And Chicken
HBO’s monster hit sci-fantasy series Game Of Thrones, which means we tapped our two Thronesters — Rankler Jeff Drake and Particleer Nick Rheinwald-Jones — to discuss it. We also go Around The Dial to touch on David Letterman’s retirement from The Late Show; the Season 3 premiere of Veep; the series premiere of Turn; the promised crossover of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Agents Of S.H...
1hr 32m Apr 07, 2014
1hr 32m
26: Talking The Walking Dead
As The Walking Dead trudges its last walker of the fourth season across our screens, first-time guest/Walking Dead Particleer Omar Gallaga joins us to discuss it, all the way from Austin for our first tri-city podcast! Around The Dial finds us discussing Call The Midwife, Lindsay, How I Met Your Mother, and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge. Omar offers up South Park’s "Terrance And Phillip ...
1hr 12m Mar 31, 2014
1hr 12m
25: Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, And Trip On Drag Race
Honored guest Trip "Willa Fortune" Payne joined Regina Dentata, Juana B. Arthur, and Salacious Bum to tell the T about Drag Race: what we like (Snatch Game), whom we hate (Santino), which queens we think will win (it's a surprise) (…not really). We celebrated The Good Wife's big twist and bemoaned Scandal's "Quuck" pairing; Sarah drew parallels between Olivia Benson and Carol Hathaway; and Dave...
1hr 14m Mar 24, 2014
1hr 14m
24: We Used To Be Friends With Veronica Mars
With a Time Warner Cable outage preventing Sarah from joining us, we have to soldier on with our two guests, John Ramos and Nick Rheinwald-Jones, for a discussion about the new, Kickstarter-supported Veronica Mars movie, given that John was TWoP’s Mars recapper the whole way through, and Nick is fan enough to have actually contributed his own cash money to the Kickstarter campaign! We move on t...
1hr 35m Mar 17, 2014
1hr 35m
23: Aggressive Scruffle With Hannibal And Bates Motel
Back from a power-surge hiatus, the EHG gang welcomes our esteemed colleague Nick Rheinwald-Jones to talk Hannibal, Bates Motel, and horror in primetime. We debated whether to welcome a first-season Gilmore Girls to the Canon family, considered the grand unifying theory of Mad Men and D.B. Cooper, and celebrated non-carnal soulmates Rust and Marty before heading to the continent for Game Time (...
1hr 31m Mar 10, 2014
1hr 31m
22: How Amazing Is The Amazing Race?
Previously.TV’s Official Amazing Race commentator John Ramos returns to discuss the premiere of the show’s latest all-star season, although, as usual, your star mileage may vary. (Also your your all mileage.) We go around the dial to discuss Downton Abbey, American Idol, Heroes Reborn, and Looking, and share a couple of our Tiny Triumphs. Dave submits S01.E02 of Look Around You to The Canon (an...
1hr 29m Feb 24, 2014
1hr 29m
21: Full House Of Cards Or Good Meechums
Dave Bunting Jr. rejoins us for a discussion of House Of Cards's second season -- and his sister's headlong dash through 26 eps in four days. We determined whether Dave C. would hate upcoming BBC Robin Hood project Nottingham, went around the dial with Archer and music-biz TV, considered a NewsRadio for the Canon, and died laughing during a killer Game Time. Did the EHG shareholders take a crun...
1hr 42m Feb 17, 2014
1hr 42m