Hollywood , the latest product of Ryan Murphy's Netflix deal, has hit the streaming service. What did we think about his ahistorical take on marginalized voices in the film industry? Kevin O'Keeffe joins us to discuss! Around The Dial clicks through Betty , Never Have I Ever , The Circle Brasil , and Masterpiece 's new procedural Baptiste . Erica uses her Extra Credit to get us to pitch new Big Mouth transfer students and the Hormone Monsters they'll bring with them. Kevin pitches The O.C. 's "T...
May 06, 2020•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 301
Captain America and Lady Mary did their best, but Allison and the rest of the panel still found legal procedural Defending Jacob guilty of crappy pacing in the second degree; aggravated TV tropes; and felony possession of moody blue gels with intent to distribute. Were the regulars able to get Al into a diversion program before she felt obliged to finish the season? We also went Around The Dial with Vida , Arde Madrid , and The Last Dance , before Dave trotted out a solution to the problems with...
Apr 29, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 300
In an absence of series premieres any of us could manage to get excited about, Dave came up with a new format: the ABCs of TV! With our beloved Joe Reid, we go around the horn, each naming an important TV person, show, feature, or just THING about TV that matches up with each letter of the alphabet. Then, it's on to a Game Time made for cuffing season. Did any of our letter picks line up with yours? Listen and find out! GUESTS 👤 Joe Reid TOPICS Lead Topic: 🔤 The ABCs of TV Game Time: 🧠 The St...
Apr 22, 2020•2 hr 29 min•Ep. 299
Dan Rogge bought a ticket for our latest episode on HBO's Run , a "comedy thriller" about college sweethearts trying to reunite. Does the pleasure of watching Merritt Wever and Archie Punjabi at work outweigh the credibility issues? Do phones in the Run -verse never need charging? And is Rich Sommer TV's worst husband? We super-sized Around The Dial with stops at The Baker And The Beauty , Bosch , The Good Fight , Sesame Street , Money Heist , The Valhalla Murders , Devs , and Picard . And we ch...
Apr 15, 2020•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 298
Just a few short weeks after we tested our knowledge of Quibi titles in Game Time , Quibi is taking center stage: the platform has launched, and we have selected a total of eight of its 24 launch titles to discuss with returning guest Adam Sternbergh! For his Extra Credit topic, John C. challenges us to reimagine single-camera comedies as multi-cams. Adam makes the case for our inducting Cheer 's series premiere, "God Blessed Texas," into the Canon. Then after naming the week's Winner and Loser,...
Apr 08, 2020•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 297
One half of the GFY brain trust, Heather Cocks, came back to discuss Amazon's Project Runway with a big-budget twist: Making The Cut . As much as we love Naomi Campbell's sugar-free approach to, well, life, the panel agreed that Making The Cut has some structural problems (too long; dumb Tim 'n' Heidi "friend dates"), and too tight a focus on NOT being a sewing competition. Will any of us keep watching? You'll find out before we decide whether Emily Is Not A Crackpot for wanting period shows to ...
Apr 01, 2020•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 296
Some shows -- your 30 Rock s, your Simpsons es -- get pitched to the Canon all the time. So for this special all-Canon episode, we reached into our mailbag and chose user submissions for shows that had never been pitched before. Dan Cassino challenged us to battle with Foyle's War ; Caroline opened the door for The Haunting Of Hill House ; and Jeff put all his eggs in a Baskets . Then, befitting an episode that started in World War II, Dave shocked Sarah and Tara with a Teutonic non-regulation G...
Mar 25, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 295
Appointment Television's Margaret H. Willison put a marshmallow on a stick to talk about Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere , and whether THIS is the real "vanity-free performance" on Reese Witherspoon's recent résumé, plus Kerry Washington's interesting choices as Mia; the production's unwavering commitment to 1997-ness; and whether the male Dawson's Creek lead we'd have bought in the Bill role is actually Dawson himself. Tara refused to be labeled a crackpot for thinking Mike Schur's upcoming phil...
Mar 18, 2020•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 294
Apple TV+ has brought Amazing Stories , the less-nihilistic take on The Twilight Zone , back for all the '80s kids, though confusingly premiered this anthology series with only one episode. Mark Lisanti joins us to talk about the fishiness of this rollout strategy, and whether "The Cellar" was a compelling enough episode to get anyone back to watch more. Around The Dial takes us through For Life ; a roundup of the series premieres on FX (and FX on Hulu): Devs , Breeders , and Dave ; Jersey Shore...
Mar 11, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 293
AMC already had a perfectly good Charlie Kaufman-esque property, but the network went with Dispatches From Elsewhere over Lodge 49 -- and while it's kind of Sarah's dream to fall into an alternate-reality scavenger hunt, first-time guest Dave Chen felt like the show would be more fun to "play" than to watch. Is it too twee? Too slow? Too divorced from the reality of non-celebrities? Or do the excellent cast and the In Search Of… graphics make it all worthwhile? Then we went Around The Dial with ...
Mar 04, 2020•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 292
As Better Call Saul returns for its fifth and almost final season, superfan Will Leitch joins us to check in on Jimmy, Kim, Nacho, Mike, and of course, good old black-and-white Gene. Dave explains why he is not a crackpot to feel infuriated by the current Chili's TV ad campaign. We ponder David Ellis Dickerson's Extra Credit question about which TV shows should go to an all-nude format. Will presents (heh) Party Down 's "Steve Guttenberg's Birthday" for induction into The Canon. Then it's on to ...
Feb 26, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 291
To keep you in content while Dave and Tara go on vacation, we're forcening each other to watch TV episodes! Dave forcens Tara to watch what happens when a zombie virus ravages the Smurf village. Tara forcens Sarah to journey to Satellite Beach, FL as its high school re-mounts Annie Get Your Gun on Encore!. And Sarah forcens Dave to tag along with Josh in the series premiere of Netflix's Daybreak . How did each of us take it? Listen and find out! TOPICS Lead Topic: 💙 The Smurfs S01.E27: The Purp...
Feb 19, 2020•37 min•Ep. 290
Will Arnett has followed his ex-wife Amy Poehler into the field of highly meta reality show hosting with his gig on Fox's Lego Masters , and American dad (and therefore Lego Master) Jim Durr has returned to discuss the season kickoff! Around The Dial takes us through The CW's Katy Keene ; Free Solo on Disney+; a roundup of titles on CBS All Access: Picard, Star Trek: The Animated Series , and Interrogation ; and Dave's latest favorite local ad. Dave is also in the hot (ejector) seat in presentin...
Feb 11, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 289
Even though Eve and Sarah D. spend most weekdays thinking about the true crime that's worth your time for their newsletter, they still didn't know much about the Mobbed-up McDonald's Monopoly-game fraud case that's at the center of HBO's McMillions . Will this docuseries join the scam-umentary pantheon alongside The Dropout and The Imposter ? Is Doug Mathews the write-in presidential candidate we need now? And why aren't off-camera docu directors ever mic'd properly? After we considered those qu...
Feb 05, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 288
CBS All Access has chased Star Trek: Discovery with Picard , picking up with everyone's favourite retired Starfleet admiral as he...well, to be honest, he's probably not going to be spending much time tending to his French vineyard. What is he getting up to? Maureen Ryan joins us to talk about it! Around The Dial takes us through The Goop Lab , Shrill , The Expanse , Veronica Mars , and Flack . We discuss whether Doctor Who 's "Heaven Sent" should be inducted into The Canon, and then it's on to ...
Jan 29, 2020•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 287
Apple TV+'s Little America premiered last week, and Rolling Stone 's chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall returned to talk about the heartwarming, but not treacly, anthology series about "the lives of immigrants in the United States." We talked about the casting, our favorite episodes, and why it reminded Sarah of High Maintenance before going Around The Dial with Avenue 5 , 9-1-1: Lone Star , Sex Education , and Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens . Alan tried to get a second-season episode of The American...
Jan 22, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 286
When we decided to cover Freeform's remake of Fox's iconic teen soap Party Of Five , there was one obvious choice of guest: Meredith Smith, recent submitter of a Canon presentation on the original series. After discussing Freeform's devastating take on five new lovable orphans, Around The Dial takes us through Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist , Grand Designs , and Cheer . Meredith goes back into the Canon fray with the Murder, She Wrote episode "If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly." Then after nam...
Jan 15, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 285
The BBC rolled out Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's Dracula on New Year's Day; we Yanks endured it over the weekend, and Nick and the panel agree that this grimly joyless take on a careworn narrative needs SOMETHING. A modern-day setting, maybe? Mini bottle eps on every famous personage the Count has eaten? But it just seems like the creators didn't really want to be there...and as a result, we didn't either. Going Around The Dial is more fun, with looks at Dare Me , You , Magic For Humans , Spin...
Jan 08, 2020•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 284
Happy New Year! We're off for the holidays so we've released two of our Patreon episodes from Extra Extra Hot Great! See you next week for a new episode. EEHG 023: The Post-Buffy The Vampire Slayer Power Rankings In the years since BtVS seemed to dominate the cultural conversation -- and our TWoP forums -- some of the main cast have gone on to bigger and better things; others have gone on…Dr. Phil, with disastrous results. In today's Extra Extra Hot Great, we're ranking the top ten cast members ...
Jan 01, 2020•58 min•Ep. 283
Merry Christmas! We're off for the holidays so we've released two of our Patreon episodes from Extra Extra Hot Great! EEHG 014: Podcast Like It’s 1999 We're hopping in our time machines to imagine what an EHG main episode might look like…in 1999. It's all sequels and prequels in scripted content these days and hey, we're no different, so: What's the main topic on the podcast in a 1999 episode? What is everyone talking about for Around The Dial? What would we put up for the Canon, and who's Winni...
Dec 25, 2019•38 min•Ep. 282
It's the most wonderful time of the year...if your very favourite thing is oppressively jolly holiday programming! We asked you, our listeners, to help us choose which piece of brand-new 2019 holiday content we would cover this year, and you delivered unto us the Lifetime original movie Mistletoe & Menorahs . Joining us to discuss it in a wild departure from their usual gig discussing the films of the Hallmark network are David J. Roth and Jeb Lund! Around The Dial clicks through FX's new ad...
Dec 18, 2019•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 281
How did Netflix think it would get away with a stinker like V Wars in the age of peak TV? We ponder that question with returning guest Monty, and we investigate the ingredients in a C-minus Syfy show (which this basically is) and wonder whether the show has, well, enough vampires (spoiler: nope). We go Around The Dial with Servant , Mad About You 2019, Making It , Ex On The Beach , and Toast Of London before rebooting dark characters in sunny-genred shows for an Extra Credit. Monty went over the...
Dec 11, 2019•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 280
In this episode, we dig in on some of the Canons submitted by you, our beloved listeners! First, we consider Doug Dale's case for Are You The One? 's eighth-season premiere, "Come One, Come All"; Meredith confronts us with the Party Of Five episode "The Intervention"; then Tara pitches Mom 's "Spaghetti Sauce And A Dumpster Fire." Which -- if any! -- make it into our TV Hall Of Fame? Join us and find out! TOPICS The Canon: 🏆 Are You The One S08.E01: Come One, Come All The Canon: 🏆 Party Of Fiv...
Dec 04, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 279
At Extra Hot Great, holiday time means non-regulation episodes -- like a supersized round of Would You Rather? with Blankenship Chair creator Mark Blankenship. The four of us confront identity-crisis-causing brainteasers from each other and you listeners, including terrible live musicals, an eternity with Noah Benson, chyron font battles, Friends -giving episodes, Ken Burns's Raisins , secret Scientologists, Alec Baldwin, theme songs at the dentist, early Law & Order face-offs, and who's goi...
Nov 27, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 278
The Crown has returned for Season 3 with new actors in all the key roles, and who better to talk about it than semi-professional royal watchers Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of Go Fug Yourself? Around The Dial takes us through Dollface , All Rise , Evil , and Harlots . Sarah makes the case for American Crime Story S02.E04, titled "House By The Lake," to The Canon. Then it's on to the week's Winner and Loser. Get all your mates from the polo team over to the house and join us! GUESTS 👤 Heathe...
Nov 20, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 277
Disney+ finally launched earlier this week, so we thought we'd talk The Mandalorian with Adam Grosswirth. How does the show fit into the Star Wars universe -- and should it bother? Is it hiding Pedro Pascal's light under a mask bushel? And was a certain very cute puppet perhaps pandering to longtime franchise fans? Later, we went Around The Dial with High School Musical: The Musical: The Series , Encore , Back To Life , a POV on Bill Nye, and two Dark shows, and Adam hoped his and Eleanor's join...
Nov 13, 2019•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 276
Apple TV+ is first to market in this month's battle of the brand-new streaming services, and Slate's TV critic Willa Paskin is joining us to talk about it -- starting with its fanciest new series, The Morning Show , but also touching on See , For All Mankind , and Dickinson . Sarah stars in an abbreviated Around The Dial to talk about the season finale of The Great British Bake Off . Then it's on to a discussion of whether American Vandal S01.E05, "Premature Theories," should be inducted into Th...
Nov 06, 2019•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 275
Mrs. Fletcher gives Kathryn Hahn a star turn as a divorced empty-nester trying to find herself (sexily!), and we're thrilled that star critic Maureen Ryan could return to discuss it with us -- whether we liked it, where it should have ended, and when we can expect this "limited series" to turn into another past-its-sell-by regular series. We went Around The Dial with BoJack Horseman , Lucifer , Netflix cancellation shenanigans, Teen Mom: Young & Pregnant , and Silicon Valley , and then Tara ...
Oct 30, 2019•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 274
HBO has imported Sky Atlantic's miniseries Catherine The Great -- starring seasoned queen portrayer Helen Mirren -- and first-time guest Karen Geier is Russian (sorry) to join us for a discussion all about it! Around The Dial takes us through Living With Yourself , Modern Love , The Politician , Buzz , Survivor , the latest in Ken Burns, and HBO's highly anticipated take on Watchmen ! Karen presents the "Interlude" episode of The Righteous Gemstones for induction into The Canon. Then it's on to ...
Oct 23, 2019•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 273
We're so glad our esteemed colleague and Breaking Bad 101 author Alan Sepinwall could join us to talk about El Camino , the Breaking Bad sequel on Netflix that starts just minutes after the finale ended. Did we think it was necessary and/or satisfying? Were the fan-service elements welcome, or distracting? And which other characters should get their own post- BB films? Later, we went Around The Dial with Dynasty , Riverdale 's Luke Perry tribute episode, Lodge 49 , Private Lives Of The Windsors ...
Oct 16, 2019•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 272
