Hulu’s new Australian import Last Days Of The Space Age tells the story of a Perth family in a time of major upheavals. Does it reach stratospheric heights? We discuss! Your latest round of questions has us digging in on the best shows to watch after a breakup, favorite scary movies, and the fourth we’d each add to our coven. The inaugural Canon Fodder segment sees Tara pitching the Simpsons “Treehouse Of Horror” installment “The Shinning” for the Halloween Segments Tiny Canon. Then, after naming the week’s Not Quite Winners And Losers, we welcome in our grandpas for the Extra Credit as Dave administers a challenging round of Would You Rathers to Sarah and Tara. Grab yourself some astronaut ice cream and listen!
Does Last Days Of The Space Age Put Shrimp On The Space Barbie?
We head to 1979 Perth for Hulu’s new Australian drama.
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Dave:
[0:03] This episode of extra extra hot great is brought to you by lsu's 15 seconds of fame i can't get tara yelling who fucked from again with this out of my head and think all ehgers should hear it to get a taste of what they're missing she.
Clip:
[0:19] Likes the way he sees her i like that we found out Who the fuck? F-act! F-act! My longest who fucked ever. Put it on YouTube.
Clip:
[0:52] seems like a good time to get a beer what about a tv please.
Dave:
[1:02] This is the extra extra hot great podcast episode 319 for the october 5th 2024 weekend, i am statement brick david t cole and i'm here with bloody long trip to mars sarah d bunting spice and bowen's department store clerk tara ariano we.
Tara:
[1:28] Don't want you anyway fancy pants, Welcome to Extra, Extra Hot Great for another weekend. Thank you so much for being here, especially everybody, new members and old, who helped us reach our latest Patreon milestone. Go!
Sarah:
[1:51] Yay!
Tara:
[1:53] Your pledges have unlocked the cannon fodder segment, and so in this very episode, you will be hearing the first of those, so stay tuned for that. But in the meantime, we're here to talk about last days of the space age in which it's 1979 and a lot of news sure is happening in the Western Australian city of Perth. Workers at the power plant have been on strike for months, which is particularly causing strife for Tony and Judy Bissette. Since he is in the union and she is working for management and also they're behind on all of their bills. Also, the Miss Universe pageant is coming to town and everyone's worried about being embarrassed by a blackout with so much international attention on the town. What does space or the age of it have to do with any of this? The Bessette's elder daughter, Tilly, really wants to be an astronaut to the exclusion of all other concerns, including the feelings of her friend, Jono, whom she seems to have conscripted into her plans against his will. All eight episodes dropped on Hulu Wednesday. We got screeners for the first four, but I know one guy who felt like they were all set after one, and that guy is me. But let's do the Chen check-in. Sarah, should our listeners watch Last Days of the Space Age?
Sarah:
[3:05] Uh, yes, but, whoa.
Tara:
[3:08] Dave.
Dave:
[3:11] What? Huh? Did somebody say cannon fodder thing?
Tara:
[3:16] I don't know.
Dave:
[3:17] This was pretty boring for this guy, so this guy is also this guy.
Tara:
[3:24] Yeah, so I'm all set. Let's get into it. This is a lot of history to be living through. Dave, I'll start with you. Why couldn't I care?
Dave:
[3:35] Well first of all australian astronauts i mean come on well i.
Tara:
[3:40] Mean the reason that i thought this might be interesting was because do you remember that movie that we watched.
Dave:
[3:44] The dish with sam neill and patrick warburton which.
Tara:
[3:47] I went to look it up to tell people to watch that instead even though it takes place much.
Dave:
[3:50] But that's the sort of lesser power story you get out of that this would be like canada making a movie about the triumph of the canada arm exactly on a space shuttle yes that is canada's biggest single contribution to the space program is an arm it's basically the senior citizen grabber tool in space and the dish is sort of that same kind of thing which is remember that one time the satellite passed over australia we had to call nasa to let them know or whatever that story was it was something very similar to that and we're like i guess yeah well we made a whole movie out of it and you're like really and they're like sure did mate and then we're like uh okay and then like the canada arms the same thing it is a cute movie but it was a movie but what i'm saying is the historical importance of it is a footnote to a footnote to a footnote absolutely and to try to wring drama out of that is uh a challenge so i feel like this series sort of occupies that same space yeah which is there are dreams you can have that you can fulfill and there are dreams you can have that you can't fulfill because you live in Australia or Canada or wherever. And when you start there, it's an uphill climb.
Tara:
[5:05] Yeah, that's true. Okay, Sarah, you were a marginal yes on this show. Explain yourself.
Dave:
[5:12] Quickly and space-ily.
Tara:
[5:14] What sort of grabbed you as a known space non-caror?
Dave:
[5:18] Let me answer for Sarah. It's the first space show that takes place on Earth.
Sarah:
[5:25] I like space show because it's deranged and dumb.
Tara:
[5:30] That's true, she does.
Sarah:
[5:31] One of my notes was like, I feel like this is the for all mankind or for all mate kind of Australia. I mean, the story is small, kind of, or not small, that sounds condescending, but it just seemed a little more like focused on the people and what it was like for them to live through this time.
Dave:
[5:51] It's local.
Sarah:
[5:53] Yeah. The thing is, it's trying to do too many of the local stories, like at least one of the kids don't care. And then sadly, it's the one who's super into space. Yeah, exactly. So it's like, oh, girl.
Tara:
[6:08] Get out of here.
Sarah:
[6:08] Nerd lawyer. Spencer's drawing a mustache on John Glenn. It was like, yeah, kind of. But here again, it's like, this is exactly what a Dickie sibling would do. So at least the show understands the rhythms of a family like this. And it was nice to see Radha Mitchell, formerly a next big thing, who never quite nailed the mid-Atlantic accent from the States, just getting to have her normal accent. Jesse Spencer is fine. Ditto. The thing about the show is it's trying to do a little too much. It's trying to have a couple too many tones. And when I got to the end of the first one, or sorry, the second one, like I was perfectly pleased to keep going, but I had to work on other things. But this is one of those shows that's like, when you're in it, you'll just keep rolling it. But if you stop, you won't go back to it. And I think either is fine.
Dave:
[7:06] This show reminded me of something from like the late 90s or the early Oz and the locality-ness of it as part of this. But it kind of felt like a dongless Full Monty set in Australia with a girl who happened to really love space. It has that sort of energy to it, except less buoyant because all the characters are like genuinely sad instead of just like Hollywood, Scotland sad. so if that sort of energy is like what you're in the mood for and sarah's totally right like if you like give it a moment and you stop and you have a pee that's it sorry last days of the space age yes you'll never remember you'll never remember to go back.
Sarah:
[7:51] It's it's not sticky it's true perfectly pleasing but not sticky.
Dave:
[7:56] Yeah and we're making a lot of hay out of australia's mighty space program but like this is not a great title for this show i mean it's just a whatever title this is the title of a novel that has something to do with a girl who loves space says living her life in the late 70s but like most of the first episode is about the follow from this ongoing strike yeah mom and dad driving down the highway and her brick just falls right into the window it was a great start, And then after that, it was just snooze-villes.
Tara:
[8:25] It's true.
Sarah:
[8:26] But the brick did not come from Skylab. So what are we doing here, people?
Tara:
[8:30] That's true.
Sarah:
[8:31] Yeah.
Tara:
[8:31] Yeah. Today's point that it felt like the late 90s, a similar observation I had is that it felt Canadian, which like, I mean, it's, you know, Australia and Canada have a lot in common, I guess, like lesser commonwealth powers. but it just was a similar sort of like when a canadian production tries to execute on an american scale using an american genre which like this is basically a you know a family soap with some historical tinge it's just you can't you can't get there with the amount of money that is available literally in your country and it's the same thing it felt the same here but on to the strike though i mean i feel like the way they even were portraying that was so simple minded like why are you judy working at the plant when your husband is on strike like why are you crossing the picket line bitch you are a strike breaking bitch sorry is a and b why are you complaining that like no one is thanking me for my efforts to end this like because you're breaking the strike you're letting the power plant continue operating through your efforts like this is strike 101 if they had a better understanding of this on the simpsons like i don't understand what she's not getting here.
Dave:
[9:44] Dental plan.
Tara:
[9:45] Yes. Lisa needs braces.
Dave:
[9:47] Dental plan.
Tara:
[9:50] Yeah. It was dumb.
Dave:
[9:52] We can end there.
Tara:
[9:54] Okay.
Dave:
[9:55] I'm good. I'm good with the last days of the space station discussion, guys.
Tara:
[9:58] Let's get to the cannon fire. Well, Sarah, did you have more that you wanted to say about it?
Sarah:
[10:00] Sure didn't. Moving on.
Tara:
[10:02] Great.
Dave:
[10:10] All right, guys. Let's shave those hands Shitty Australian TV out of our system You know Mate Alright time for Ask ESG, All right. I'm not even tired. I already feel like I haven't slept for three days and here we are.
Tara:
[10:41] Yeah.
Dave:
[10:41] All right, everybody. It is Ask ESG, which means we first must dispense with the Ask ESG judgment from last week. I will be your judge. The question comes from Tara. She asked, what are you doing to make Halloween the greatest day? Sarah D. Bunting, what are you doing to make Halloween the greatest day?
Sarah:
[11:01] I am not doing anything about it until October 17th so that it is actually special and not a multi-month fucking onslaught of orange and black decor, which I already endured in university, just for the record. All other answers are wrong and will be punished.
Dave:
[11:19] What university did you go to?
Sarah:
[11:21] One with a tiger as the mascot.
Tara:
[11:25] She went to Frosted Flakes University.
Dave:
[11:28] That's right. It's graded. well i went to costco a couple weeks ago hot tip if you like topo chico they sell topo chico in a case you know the glass bottles but their glass bottles are 500 milliliters not the 355 ones you get everywhere else so even though you get 18 of them and they're cheaper they're actually a lot more in each bottle Hot scoop. All right. While I was there, though, I bought two boxes of full-size chocolate bars from the Hershey's Corporation. So finally, I will fulfill the wish of eight-year-old self. When I grow up, I'm going to give out full chocolate bars. Because only people that lived in mansions back in the Niagara Peninsula gave out full chocolate. You heard about it. You heard about some of the friends. I was in so-and-so neighborhood, and there was this one house there. It looked like the White House. And they were giving out full-size chocolate bars. year. Yeah, right. Prove it. Well, I already ate it. No, you didn't. But this year, it shall be us. All right, Tara, what are you doing?
Tara:
[12:33] Oh, you remember that episode of Seinfeld where George is mad that his girlfriend took credit for the big salad just because she handed it out? That's going to be me handing out the big chocolate bars pretending I was the one who bought them when I had nothing to do with it.
Dave:
[12:45] That's a great bargain. You deal with the public and I will buy what you give out.
Tara:
[12:50] That's right.
Dave:
[12:50] I think that's win-win. All right, let's get to your answers. Boy, I am fully acknowledging that I'm sort of a holiday curmudgeon. Like, I just don't like the get out there and see people of it all, forced cheer or whatever. Not my bag. But boy, you people are a bunch of sourpusses. It took a long time before we got to an answer that would qualify something I could actually give a prize out for this. A lot of people just hiding out with the lights off, watching TV in the back room away from the front door. Fine.
Sarah:
[13:24] Yep.
Dave:
[13:24] All right. Or watching the Brooklyn Nine-Nine Halloween heist series. That's their little tradition. Get it. Dr. Calhoun is going to review a couple zombie movies each week in October on his YouTube channel at Calhoun Reviews, don't you know? BJX, of course, is doing various Rocky horror-related things. then the thread devolved into people loving or hating almond joy and mounds for like a day and then there's like no answers Darren's going to Mexico for the day of the dead that's Pretty cool.
Tara:
[13:53] That is cool.
Sarah:
[13:54] That's rad.
Dave:
[13:55] But our winner is Kit. Kit writes, Halloween is my family's Christmas. It is our biggest holiday of the year by an order of magnitude, and we go all out with the decorations. We have bodies. We have blacklights. We have my sister-in-law dressed as a butcher with a pig face serving up raw human meatballs.
Dave:
[14:14] We have a haunted-ass doll army waiting to devour your souls. It is the best night of the year. Let me tell you, there's nothing that beats the feeling of scaring the crap out of a grown adult and sending them bolting back down the driveway. And it's even better if that grown adult is wearing an inflatable T-Rex costume. So for that answer, Kit, you have earned yourself a delicious Ask EHG cake sticker. Hop on Discord. DM me your postal address. I will add that to the way too long list of people that I owe a sticker to. Apologies. It got away from me. I'm going to do it this weekend. So if you went in the past couple months, you're still getting your sticker. Don't worry about it. Let's get to your questions for us this week. The first one is from Planty Plant Plant, which is my new favorite username. Planty Plant Plant asks, in promos for Dr. Odyssey, I was struck by how much Joshua Jackson reminded me of George Clooney. Maybe it's the nicely graying hair paired with the killer smile or the calm, caring doctoring that is reminiscent of ER's Doug Ross. We need them to co-star in a show as brothers. What is the show? Asked Plenty Plant Plant. Tara, Clooney, Jackson, together as brothers, pitch me a show.
Tara:
[15:28] Okay, well, we talked about, speaking of Canadian productions that kind of sucked, a few years ago, the attempt that came to Hulu of a new Hardy Boys show. But here I want to see them as grown-up Hardy Boys. Now, independently wealthy through methods doesn't matter, and solving low-stakes problems for their folksy friends and neighbors. Sarah.
Sarah:
[15:49] I called mine Silver Bullets and worked from there. It's two middle-aged but still foxy brothers, one a small-town police chief, the other a village idiot late-life YouTuber with a ghost-hunting podcast empire. They have to work together to solve a series of grisly murders that may be the very werewolves neither of them really believes in. Or do they? Or are they one? Enjoy a running gag about crypto and cryptids, everybody. That's Silver Bullets coming to a network near you.
Dave:
[16:17] Wow. That is really good. And also we all sort of tagged them into some sort of detecting mode because I didn't have a fully fledged idea, but I had like a picture in my mind and then this is how it appeared in words. So I have this much. It is the 1800s somewhere out West, like as cities are truly coming to Rome. So maybe in San Francisco, they are brothers who opened the first West Coast ice cream parlor. You know, they got their striped shirts. They got their suspenders.
Tara:
[16:45] Hell yeah.
Dave:
[16:46] They both have handlebar mustaches.
Tara:
[16:48] Naturally.
Sarah:
[16:48] Fuck yeah.
Dave:
[16:49] But they're also private detectives. So ice cream by day, detecting at night. I think they work for that Emperor Norton guy who was out there at the time. You know, he declared himself Emperor of the United States. And the city's like, sure, why not? And they actually went with it. They work for him in some capacity. He is their Robin Masters.
Tara:
[17:08] Uh-huh.
Dave:
[17:09] Yeah.
Sarah:
[17:10] Is it called Cold Case?
Tara:
[17:13] Ah!
Sarah:
[17:14] Ah! I'm fucked!
Clip:
[17:21] Oh, I just thought of something. Oh, yeah.
Dave:
[17:24] The brothers are whatever their first names are, but their last name is Tillamook. And that's how we came up with the Tillamook.
Sarah:
[17:31] Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Dave:
[17:31] Yeah, they moved up the coast eventually.
Tara:
[17:33] I was thinking maybe they have nicknames that for like whatever reason, they're like Rum Raisin or One is Butter and the other's Pecan.
Dave:
[17:40] No, that's the episode titles, like Rocky Road, Tin Roof.
Tara:
[17:43] That kind of stuff.
Sarah:
[17:43] Oh, Rocky Road.
Tara:
[17:44] Yes, I love it. Rocky Road. That's the season finale.
Sarah:
[17:47] Sunday, AE, Funday.
Dave:
[17:49] Uh-huh.
Tara:
[17:50] Mm-hmm.
Dave:
[17:50] Yep. Nora has our next one. It is going to be a surprise for Tara and Sarah here. I redacted it. Fuck, marry, kill. The entire Bluth family from Arrested Development.
Tara:
[18:05] Okay.
Dave:
[18:06] The entire Boyle family from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The entire FAC family from The Bear.
Tara:
[18:13] Oh. Okay.
Dave:
[18:15] Bluths, Boyles, and FACs. Fuck, marry, kill. Sarah, why don't you go first?
Sarah:
[18:22] Oh god i mean i'm gonna i'm gonna marry the facts because i i know that family and a lot of my cousins are like that family so i can handle that family long term so that leaves fuck and kill and uh i mean the entire bluth family is a lot but i'm still gonna fuck them and kill the boils, even though, I mean, Fold Hold alone almost got the boils into marriage, territory, but it's not enough. So that's my answer.
Tara:
[18:59] I mean, I immediately, as soon as you said boils, like I'm killing the boils. There's no question. They smell like sourdough. No, thank you.
Dave:
[19:07] If everybody kills them, you never get to Tang Town.
Tara:
[19:09] No, I'm prepared to live with that.
Sarah:
[19:13] Yeah, I can live with that.
Tara:
[19:15] But I'm going to go the opposite way with the remaining two. I'm going to, I'm just going to fuck the facts because I think, um, you know, they would be enthusiastic, but not necessarily fun to hang out with in the long term. And I'm going to marry the Bluths and just see how that goes.
Sarah:
[19:33] I mean, there is a lot of money in the banana stand.
Tara:
[19:35] Well, in the banana stand there is. Yes.
Dave:
[19:37] Okay. Portland Orc the First has our next question. Which TV show would you binge to soothe yourself in the aftermath of a terrible, shattering breakup? No particular reason for asking. May I suggest to you Toast of London, a show that will make you forget about whatever you're watching because it is so absurdly dumb. And also a lot of details in the backgrounds of things, stupid names on walls, whatever, to keep your mind from wandering.
Tara:
[20:06] That's funny because I just looked that up this week because there's so stupid. I saw a screening of Saturday Night, the Saturday Night Live movie this week, and the NBC censor is named Joan Carbuncle. You know, that was not anyone's name. Like, this fucking toast of London-ass name for this character, who, by the way, is played by Jane Curtin's sister. Like, yikes. But anyway, I digress. My answer to Portland Orc, the first question, sorry, Betty, is you need to watch something that has very little romantic content and lots of friendship. So I'm going to say Girls 5eva or Glow. And if Glow is too emotional, I get it. It does go places. So I'm going to agree with Dave and say, pick something extremely dumb. But my pick is Frisky Jango. Never a wrong time to watch, especially season one. Sarah.
Sarah:
[20:58] My condolences, first of all. Second of all, Midsummer Murders is my pick for this. There are literally thousands upon thousands of episodes. And when you come to that point where you're mentally or like actually crafting a bingo card for bizarre manner of death, local club riven by tragedy, which British B-lister you've seen 17 places or episodes before, etc., you will know that your heart is on the mend and you're ready to rejoin the world.
Dave:
[21:26] Oh, yeah. I like those next questions from Dr. Calhoun. There's a story that Sylvester Stallone had a party and Guy Fierre was invited, but only if he would come cook for the party. If you're rich and or famous, which celebrity would you get to do things for you? All right, Tara, you're rich, you're famous. You can invite somebody over to do something for you. What are you doing?
Tara:
[21:48] Yeah, for sure. I mean, if I am rich and famous, this isn't something I would actually probably need because I would have house employees to stay on top of this shit for me. But assuming that the rich and famous version of me is somewhere between an actual celebrity and my own self, I'm going to go with Marie Kondo because I have been putting off doing a deep clean of my closet for literal years. I had it on my long term to do list and I just kept not doing it and rewriting the list so many times that I finally was like, I guess I'll do this someday, maybe. So that's that's mine. Come and go through my clothes for me, please. Thank you, Dave.
Dave:
[22:26] I would get Bob Odenkirk to follow me around and yell at people for me.
Clip:
[22:31] You suck and you're wasting my time. You want your mouth. God damn it.
Dave:
[22:36] But also sometimes I would make him yell nice things like this is a good coffee.
Tara:
[22:42] What are you cooking? It smells great.
Dave:
[22:45] Yes. All right, Sarah, you're rich. You're famous. You're forcing somebody to do something for you because you're rich and famous. What's it going to be?
Sarah:
[22:52] I'm sort of with Tara in that this wouldn't really work because I probably wouldn't need this because I would have just cleaners, but I'm definitely getting baking show presenter Alison Hammond to come sit next to me during tiresome chores or tasks. She's got such encouraging energy and she would offer to help clean under the radiators, which is on my long list to do this weekend. But she would be helping just by being there and having 48,000 teeth in her smile. So, yeah, next time I have to take those little caps off the hinge of the toilet seat and clean in there, Allison Hammond, call me.
Dave:
[23:33] And I'll come over and Bob Odecker will be like, you're a delight! God damn it!
Sarah:
[23:39] Whatever works. Yep. God damn it.
Dave:
[23:42] All right, Seth, that's our next question. Also a really good question. General Mills is releasing an unholy cereal that's a mix of Reese's Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Lucky Charms. What three cereals would you willingly mix together for a snack? All right. So once again, those cereals were Reese's Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Lucky Charms. I could kind of see the puffs and the crunch going together, but then you add Lucky Charms and that's Barftown. All right. But the question is, what are you mixing together that would actually work? So Sarah, three cereals together in one bowl. What do you got?
Sarah:
[24:20] I'm going to go with Cracklin Oat Bran, Honey Bunches of Oats Original, and Yogurt Burst Cheerios. Like the boxes that are like all...
Tara:
[24:28] Which they don't make anymore.
Sarah:
[24:29] Are you sure?
Tara:
[24:31] The last time I looked, maybe they just stopped carrying them in HEB, but I don't think they make them anymore.
Dave:
[24:35] They're gone. They're gone.
Sarah:
[24:36] I don't think... Well, or Amazon is selling old stock.
Tara:
[24:40] Oh.
Dave:
[24:41] Better check the date in those. I think they stopped years ago.
Sarah:
[24:45] Oh, yeah. Well...
Tara:
[24:46] I hope I'm wrong.
Sarah:
[24:46] I'm not a serial guy, really. So...
Dave:
[24:48] Is this why Sarah's always sick from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.?
Sarah:
[24:54] No, no, it isn't. And they should really bring those back. Do you know they now have those like veggie under the radar vegetable Cheerios that are like, it's fruit flavor, but it's like, you know, veggie portions, which is how you make your child get enough fiber, I guess, now. Anyway, those are my votes.
Dave:
[25:15] So are you talking about yogurt burst Cheerios? Is that the one?
Tara:
[25:18] Yeah, that's what she said.
Sarah:
[25:19] Yeah.
Dave:
[25:20] It was discontinued in 2019.
Sarah:
[25:24] Wow. Hey, Amazon might want to check that shit with your glorious AI.
Dave:
[25:30] Yeah. I don't know what you're eating, but okay.
Sarah:
[25:33] I'm not eating it. She's not. We're not re-litigating what I put on cereal.
Tara:
[25:37] No, we're not.
Sarah:
[25:38] I hope.
Tara:
[25:39] We can't have that conversation again.
Sarah:
[25:40] Moving on, Tara.
Dave:
[25:42] See, eating all that yogurt cereal is making Sarah testy.
Tara:
[25:45] Listen, Dave is going to get mad at me for not answering this question, but he also knows that this is the the answer of my true heart, which is I would not do this. People who mix cereals are without honor. As I have Dave has heard me say many times, you don't know better than the cereal people. And in this case, I know the cereal people are doing this themselves, but I don't.
Sarah:
[26:08] Cereal people discontinued yogurt first Cheerios and are apparently trying to kill me in the Garden of Dave's mind.
Dave:
[26:16] I like you guys on a Zoom call with like General Mills, you know, he's like the head of the thing and like Mr. Post and we have to salute Kellogg. Yeah, exactly.
Tara:
[26:26] You don't know how close you are to exactly what unfrosted was like. So stop right there.
Dave:
[26:33] Granola.
Tara:
[26:34] Yeah.
Dave:
[26:35] Shreddies From Canada Which is sort of like A better version of Chex Chex, yeah And Rice Krispies, You've got texture.
Sarah:
[26:43] It's like you paint the top of your mouth.
Dave:
[26:46] I didn't put Captain Crunch in there for that reason. I wanted to try to preserve something up the roof of my mouth.
Tara:
[26:53] Yeah, I mean, I think what both of you have done, you know, my feelings are clear and I won't get back into it. But like you've picked both of you some good neutral cereals that are not too strong. This is the problem. Like Dave said, Barftown with Lucky Charms. That's already almost like two cereals mixed together already. But like crackling O'Bran, pretty neutral. Shreddy's essentially just texture and wheat. Like there's nothing to them really. So as much as I'm standing on my principles, I like both of your selections.
Dave:
[27:23] So my original idea was not that I would eat it, but that it would go well together would be to combine frankenberry, blueberry, and Count Chocula. Well, not the chocolate, but whatever. But they're the three big monster cereals.
Tara:
[27:36] Yeah.
Dave:
[27:37] Put those together in a bowl as one cereal. I'm like, that would be delightfully disgusting. They did it. It was called Monster Mash.
Tara:
[27:45] Brilliant.
Dave:
[27:45] And it was an actual product that you could buy. And then I got into a rabbit hole because there's other ones you don't hear about. There's Fruit Brute, part of that line, right?
Tara:
[27:54] Right.
Dave:
[27:54] It was like gone for a long time. And then Tarantino put it in Pulp Fiction. And everybody's like, oh, yeah, Fruit Brute. And they brought it back. And there's Yummy Mummy, which I don't know what it is. That might be banana flavored or something.
Tara:
[28:05] I think it's just like Fruit Loops, I thought.
Dave:
[28:06] Oh, okay. And then there's a new one they put out recently called Carmella Creeper, which is supposed to be like caramel apple flavored. So I guess like Apple Jacks, but with a little caramel on top.
Tara:
[28:18] Sure.
Dave:
[28:18] And she is supposed to be the bride of Frankenstein, except now she's also a zombie DJ.
Tara:
[28:25] Oh, sure.
Dave:
[28:26] So, so poochy. all right let's move on lynn with an e when i saw michael beach was in the perfect couple i referred to him in a text on my mom as genie boulay's boulay's aids husband okay i don't know what that means she knew exactly what i meant good for you i knew what it meant too is there any actor you refer to as a role to recall quickly i took myself out of this one because I could barely remember people's names that I meet every day. So, Sarah, you got something for you?
Sarah:
[29:00] Jared Harris is and will always be Lane Price, except since the first season of The Crown, he's been His Majesty Lane Price.
Tara:
[29:07] Cara? Nice. Yeah, more often the way this plays out in our house is I will ask Dave, do you know where you know that person from? And he'll be like, kind of? Is it blah? And then I'll be like, no, it's blah from blah. And he'll be like, oh, shit. In fact, in The Perfect Couple, he's like, where do I know this detective from? And I'm like, that's Paula from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a show he watched every episode of.
Dave:
[29:29] Yeah, but if it's not in a comedy context, my brain doesn't connect those two things.
Tara:
[29:34] I understand.
Dave:
[29:35] And the synapse doesn't fire, and I don't know. But here's the deal. You say that, but then, like, when I want to use you as my personal IMDB because we're watching something, and I think, who is that from, or whatever, you sometimes kind of get mad at me, like, I should just look it up on my phone, instead of asking you in two seconds, spend 20 seconds getting on my phone and looking it up. When you are the human IMDB, I'm keeping your skills sharp by asking you these questions. and you resent me for it.
Tara:
[30:00] Well, sometimes I know and sometimes I don't. And then you're like, especially if I say I don't know where I know them from. And you also have your computer open because we're watching something to take notes for the podcast.
Dave:
[30:12] Yeah.
Tara:
[30:12] I'll be like, look it up yourself. Who are you? The husband of that person on our Discord who refuses to use IMDb ever? Shout out to that person. Anyway, so since Dave, the person that I spend the most time with, you know, would not know what Jeannie Boulay's AIDS husband means if I were to do something like that. I'll say, if I had something to recommend to my sister, a reasonable pop culture person that either of them was in, I would probably say Lorelai or Rory Gilmore because there's no way she knows either of their real names. She might know Lauren Graham. Zero chance she knows who Alexis Bledel is if I'd set her by first and last name.
Sarah:
[30:48] Which is correct of the universe.
Tara:
[30:51] Absolutely. Yeah, she was good in Handmaid's Tale, but let's be real, no one needs to know her government name.
Sarah:
[30:56] Mm-mm.
Dave:
[30:57] Rindsey has our next question. If your other two hosts are part of your coven, who is your fourth?
Sarah:
[31:04] I like to say Colvin. I am very interested to see what my fellow Covenians say about this. But my fourth would be Dan Glaurogi.
Tara:
[31:17] Dave?
Dave:
[31:18] Mine, I sent a picture of this yesterday. Mine is probably the giant one-eyed erection monster from Garth Marenghi's Dark Place. Because? You're watching Dark Place and it's like a crazy show to start with. And it's like a show within a show, but it's also a documentary about the show within a show. It's got like a lot of like onion peely bits about it. But then when you get to episode three, which is called Skipper, the eye child, you are treated to a very quick scene where you see Skipper, the eye child's father, question mark, having sex with some patient in the hospital. And he is basically looks like a giant egg shaped creature, except he's hairy. He has one giant eyeball that's like 60 percent of his body. and he has an erection that's like five feet long coming out of his body going to this guy in the bed and they're caught and then there's this whole thing that comes out of that. I think that he would be good as the fourth member because he brings a lot of chaotic energy that I feel I lack and I feel like he... I can imagine chaotic energy.
Sarah:
[32:24] You feel. No, no, no.
Dave:
[32:25] I know. As soon as I heard it come out of my mouth, I got to qualify this. I'm good at.
Sarah:
[32:30] Yeah, you do.
Dave:
[32:33] I'm good at summoning ideas for chaos and imagining things that would bring chaotic energy. I am hesitant to act on it. Whereas I think the one-eyed giant erection monster would not hesitate if he survived the episode. which he didn't but you know we're dealing with magic so we can bring him back and in some some manner all right tara please follow the giant one-eyed erection monster from.
Tara:
[33:00] I mean i'm sorry that i have to because it's someone that we know in reality but my answer is pam ribbon uh because she lives in la and she may answer pam she may already have all of the necessary ingredients for any given spell in her home at this time we know she has a milker so she.
Sarah:
[33:19] Also activates dave chaos.
Tara:
[33:21] Extremely effectively in my opinion.
Dave:
[33:25] Alright, so if I had to pick a real person, not a TV character, I'm going to go with Dan Casino, because I feel like if we're in trouble, like, you know, like, you're watching Agatha all along, and they're on the witch's road, and they're in some sort of trouble, because you know, like, each stop is a new challenge they have to overcome. I just think Dan's, like, very clinical take, and very niche interests, I don't think would come in handy, like, I don't think a lot of, like, curses involve facts about U.S. presidents or polling data, but I feel like he can talk enough about those two things to distract the things that are trying to kill us so the rest of the group can figure out a way to get around it. He's basically the bait. okay okay yep and with an e what's your favorite scary movie jaws tara yeah.
Tara:
[34:13] I guess that's mine too but i didn't really think of it as a horror movie but you're right it is.
Dave:
[34:17] Well that's why i don't like horror films i don't like horror films and i don't like gross outs and i don't like uh chucky or anything like that so yeah like jaws is a horror movie it's just like no.
Tara:
[34:28] You're right it is jaws is jaws and i'll say the other one that we now routine it's part of our holiday programming. Jaws, we always watch on July 4th.
Dave:
[34:39] Is it David the Gnome?
Tara:
[34:41] No, it's The Thing, which we watch at Christmas time usually now.
Dave:
[34:44] That's right. I do love The Thing. I don't know. That one feels like it could be a thriller horror rather than a horror thriller, if you know what I mean.
Tara:
[34:50] Like I could make a case for that. Yes, but I think you're forgetting, you know, the creatures because they're pretty fucking horrifying.
Dave:
[34:56] Yes, they are very gross. But I also saw that when I was a kid and that might have been like, just like it got in my brain before the door got shut on horror.
Tara:
[35:03] Films yeah yeah yeah two of the creepiest ones i've seen recently ish are barbarian and the lodge and if you want to watch the lodge i would say wait until like after thanksgiving because it's set at christmas time and i watched it alone in a dark house and it was creepy as fuck it's really good well i won't say more sarah well.
Sarah:
[35:24] Favorite and definitely the best are not the same thing. So just keep in mind. Mine is The Changeling, not the Angelina Jolie one, the late 70s, early 80s. George C. Scott won.
Dave:
[35:38] Oh, my groin.
Tara:
[35:39] That's my mom's favorite too.
Sarah:
[35:41] It's, I mean, part of it is like how we as a family got into it. But to this day, and I'm sure this is just a like Pavlov thing, anyone whispering the name Joseph or like a single piano key being played. Anyone in our family just like all the little hairs. Not my dad who was like yeah, good flick, went to sleep. Nobody else slept a wink for a week.
Dave:
[36:07] One last question for us. It comes from Shane. Are there any suggestions to a show you've made in review that you certainly creators have listened to? So you're like, man, the creators are like, yes, I'm absolutely going to make that change, internet stranger.
Tara:
[36:22] Tara. Tara. I wish Dawson would have ended up sad and alone much sooner on Dawson's Creek. But no, I can't think of any instances. Dave.
Dave:
[36:32] Yeah, I mean, probably not. I mean, you had to also consider the timeline doesn't really ever work by the time you've made your beautiful suggestion to fix everything. The show's already on hiatus or between seasons or something like that. They're not in the writer's room or canceled or whatever. Like, I think the question probably came from the television pity questions last week where Like, did the recaps or the forums ever, like, change the direction of something? Like, we know people that were making the TV shows were on the site and reading the content. I don't really think they took storyline suggestions from Peanut Gallery.
Tara:
[37:08] No.
Dave:
[37:08] But they definitely were aware of what people thought. So I think, like...
Sarah:
[37:13] Oh, for sure.
Dave:
[37:13] If you were, like, did anybody ever introduce a character that had red hair on top, but, like, really furry boots? Because that's what you're into. know but did they perhaps sideline some sort of like discussion some sort of like plot point or annoying character maybe because everybody it became obvious hated that i would say probably that happened but we have no way of knowing also you know that's just like getting feedback as opposed to like getting a direct line to the creators yeah.
Tara:
[37:44] Apparently that comes up in adam's book about adams and that comes up in alan's book about the oc.
Dave:
[37:49] That they were just aware they were aware of like vibes yeah yeah yeah vibes perfect way to put it okay sarah.
Sarah:
[37:55] Yeah except for like veronica mars there is a line of dialogue i still have it on the soundboard from the go pirates podcast, They had her refer to a John Ramos. John Ramos, our recapper, was in a scene as a background actor.
Dave:
[38:12] Oh, yeah?
Sarah:
[38:12] They had people wearing Clark wear shit. They named someone bunting at some point. But actual, we hate this character, get rid? Not really. I mean, we on Previously.TV complained about Kalinda's husband on The Good Wife, but the whole internet was complaining about him. And actually, they probably shouldn't have gotten rid of him and listen to the Internet because then they never listening to the Internet.
Dave:
[38:37] That's the thing we always said is that the things that people complain about the Venn diagram almost always overlaps with what makes good TV. Just because you hate a character doesn't mean that they shouldn't be on the show, because once you excise all the people that are causing problems, you know, I no longer have drama. Like, I always bring it up, but like Richard Hatch, I'm sure is a shitty person in real life, not the actor, the survivor guy. But he fucking made that first season of Survivor. Would Survivor be as big of a show if they didn't have Richard Hatch in the first season? Probably not.
Tara:
[39:09] Right.
Dave:
[39:09] Because he made that show. Did everybody hate him? Yep. Did he make great TV? Sure did.
Tara:
[39:14] Yep.
Dave:
[39:15] Okay. Elsuse has your Ask Ask ESG question to answer, dear listeners. Fantasy Cast, the upcoming Extra Hot Great miniseries. Hosts, guests, surprise cameos. Remember, we have to read these. Please be gentle.
Sarah:
[39:31] Yeah, really.
Dave:
[39:32] Go to the Discord. Go to the Ask Ask ESG channel. Put your answer there. Whoever is judged next week's got to pick a winner. So make it count.
Sarah:
[39:46] This episode of Extra Extra Hot Great is brought to you by Siobhan's 15 Seconds of Fame. Americans, consider writing to voters to capital G, get out the vote for the upcoming election. You can sign up to write postcards at Activate America and to write letters at Vote Forward. That Vote Forward URL is V-O-T-E-F-W-D dot org slash campaigns, and it'll be in our show notes. Thanks, Siobhan.
Dave:
[40:18] What the heck what's that music doing in the extra extra hot great show well folks it is time for the new segment it's cannon fodder tar ariano you are doing the very first cannon fodder presentation so please explain what we're talking about today okay.
Tara:
[40:35] Well with all due respect to my esteemed colleague sarah complaining earlier about the ha the halloween season, stretching too far in both directions and not being special anymore, I decided to do a Halloween segment. Sorry, Sarah. It's going to be that next week, too. In this case, we're looking at one segment from The Simpsons Season 6, Episode 6, Treehouse of Horror 5, specifically the very first one called The Shinning. I'm going to get into it starting now. For years, The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror was a beloved Halloween tradition. Season six is, I feel, squarely in the show's imperial period. The shinning is one of the most memorable ones the show ever did. Here's why. Number one, it is a spoof of undeniably solid material. However, Stephen King nerds might feel about how faithful or not Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining is. It is generally recognized as a horror film classic and the parody hits all the major story beats while acknowledging some issues with the plot. Clip one.
Clip:
[41:41] Yes, by cutting off cable TV and the beer supply, I can ensure an honest winter's work out of those lowlights. Sir, did you ever stop to think that maybe it was doing this that caused the previous caretakers to go insane and murder their families? Perhaps. Tell you what, we come back and everyone's slaughtered? I owe you a Coke.
Tara:
[42:00] Just to prove I'm not a totally uncritical Simpsons fangirl, one knock on this segment is they already used an I owe you a Coke gag in the season three segment, if I only had a brain. Obviously, I know there's no continuity between treehouse segments, but still write a new joke. I digress. The Shining was a huge deal in the era of the monoculture and so was The Simpsons a decade and a half later, which is a huge part of what made these special episodes fun in their heyday. Number two, the story is very well edited. The Shining movie features lots of legitimately iconic horror moments that are still cultural touchstones today. The creepy twins, the psychosexual apparitions that probably fucked up a whole generation of kids who watched it too young, maybe just me, the decades-old Overlook Hotel New Year's Eve picture with Jack Torrance in attendance. I feel like if this spoof had come along in a later season, producers would not have been able to help themselves from throwing in as many references as time would allow. Instead, we only get a reasonable few, such as clip two.
Clip:
[43:08] Hmm, that's odd. Usually the blood gets off at the second floor.
Tara:
[43:14] Later, when Homer has gone instantly insane from lack of TV and beer, we get this, clip three.
Clip:
[43:21] What he's typed will be a window into his madness. Feeling fine. Wow, that's a relief.
Tara:
[43:37] No TV and no beer make Homer go crazy on all of the walls dozens of times. Later still, after the estate's many ghosts have freed Homer from the pantry where he was perfectly happy eating snacks and not killing anyone, clip four.
Clip:
[43:54] Here's Jenny! Don't! David Lennerman! Hi, David. I'm Grandpa. Don't! I'm Mike Wallace, I'm Marley Safer, and I'm Ed Bradley. I'll listen to Andy Rooney tonight on 60 Minutes! Ah!
Tara:
[44:11] Number three it brought us maybe the most perfect encapsulation of our relationship to the medium, or maybe not us so much as just me. Nevertheless, clip five.
Clip:
[44:24] Bad luck! Television! Teacher! Mother! Secret lover.
Tara:
[44:30] So, sit in the snow with Tara. Let us all bask in television's warm, glowing, warming glow. Specifically, the warm, glowing, warming glow of The Shinning. A true Treehouse of Horror classic.
Dave:
[44:43] Thank you, Tara. Sarah D. Bunting here on our first Cannon Fodder For Halloween segments, please start us off famous Halloween curmudgeon.
Sarah:
[44:51] Yeah. Gladly. Also, Simpsons under Scholar. But yeah, this is a very, very good, very good choice, especially for the first one, because it does contain the encapsulation of our relationship with TV. But I think, Tara, your strongest argument was how well edited it is, not in terms of like the actual cuts, but how much they didn't put in from the shinning that they hang a light on. They're trying not to get sued.
Sarah:
[45:22] And then they move smartly on from that joke. The pacing is very good, much better than in the latter 20 seasons or whatever we're counting as the end of the Silver Age. but there were so many good quotes in here such good performances that aren't as cliched as they were later and it really understands that it has its role in the monoculture as we understood it when the the shining came out so the delivery of mo's response to give me a beer no not unless you kill your family so like i watched it like five times i don't know why this struck me as so funny but just like ghost mo folding his arms being like it's yeah it's it's very good it's smart assured and the simpsons like after a certain point i think started feeling obligated to do these characters a certain way versus actually like loving them and the opportunities that these characters gave them to send up shit like this and but going back to this golden age was really fun. So great presentation. And yeah, guess my vote, Dave.
Dave:
[46:33] The other thing about this episode, you know, we're saying like it's not a holistic retelling of The Shining. It is picking us battles and it's better for it. There was like a cultural change sometime around like the scary movie parodies where it stopped being like this. It started being more like we're just straight referencing something. We're taking other characters and putting them in scenes one to one. And that is supposed to be the joke rather than doing something with it. like playing up the stupidity of the original or a plot hole or whatever you have. And it hasn't changed a ton since then. That seems to be sort of like, you know, the Marvel referencing of it all. Like it's a reference for its own sake, but it's not actually adding anything to the story you're telling now. And this is from before that, where we're actually, you know, taking a formula that was anything from super stupid, like in the Zucker, Abrams Zucker films to something like the Simpsons, which is a little more nuanced, but just as dumb. And it really is sort of sad where parody is these days for a lot of stuff. There are a lot of jokes that Tara didn't have time to get into. The revulsion to have to go through five Denver Christmas specials.
Sarah:
[47:45] Yeah, love that one.
Dave:
[47:47] When Willie and Bart are discovering they both have this special power called the shitting. And he's like, well, if you ever get into trouble, just use your shitting, except between four and five. That's Willie's time. there's like a caveat to mortal danger is fantastic. I really love for some reason this time, Lisa, just asking Marge, Mom, is dad going to kill us? And there's like this small pregnant pause. Well, we'll just have to wait and see. Just a defeatist attitude on day one of being at the hotel. Feeling fine, still great. I do remember making a t-shirt of that exact page for Clarkwear at some point. Other things that really stuck with me on this rewatch was the fact that when Homer is happier being in the pantry, eating snacks, then killing his family like bartender Moe wants. Moe then organizes a ghoul intervention. So we're talking about The Shining, but there's also like for the Simpsons tree house-ness of it all, a ghoul intervention in which like basically all the universal classic monsters come in and drag Homer away. A vampire, a mummy, a werewolf, like all this crazy stuff. Makes no sense, but I loved it. Speaks to the strength of this segment that the other two segments of this collection are Time and Punishment, which is the magic toaster that changes the future, and Nightmare Cafeteria, which is the children would be turning into food in the school cafeteria.
Tara:
[49:16] Yep.
Dave:
[49:17] You might say, we're eating Uder now, that one. So both of those have an axe murder in them as well.
Tara:
[49:24] Of Willie.
Dave:
[49:25] Of Willie, yeah. Willie dies in each one from an axe in the back. Yep. And that one is here. And when he dies in this one, the groaner joke that Mar says, oh, that rug was scotch-garded. It's like oh god it was so bad I don't think that dawned on me The first time I watched it That didn't.
Tara:
[49:42] Dawn on me until the second.
Dave:
[49:44] Okay well there you go Teach your mother secret lover, All-time great. That was also a shirt we did for Television of Pity directly. It was a Tubi with those words around Tubi. Big seller. Picking Hal Linden and Tyne Daly as the hosts of the Tony Awards, I think it was.
Tara:
[50:00] Yes.
Dave:
[50:01] It's like one of those things, again, I would love to be in the writer's room where they were trying to find the perfect pair of that type of celebrity that would host the Tony Awards. And that's who they came up with. Barney Miller and Cagney or Lacey.
Sarah:
[50:15] Lacey.
Dave:
[50:16] Great. But my favorite part of the rewatch this time was when Homer finally does sort of snap after Marge says, go crazy to the question of all the what's on the walls. Don't mind if I do. And then he does all these crazy motions. But there's one he does right at the end where he has his hands and he just like puts them up like almost like Egyptian hieroglyphics. And he goes.
Tara:
[50:38] Yeah, that's three stooges. Yeah.
Dave:
[50:40] V-U-U-T, V-U-U-T is what I have on my nose and it made me laugh. But yeah, the arm motions there really cracked me up, that whole thing. And that's the first time they really played with, in a Chuck Jones sort of way, Homer's individual animation cells to that degree. Like this, this is the first time I really remember them going balls out. Or this one and the one where he has a heart attack. Yeah, where he sort of like has individual frames of his heart attack. Really funny, dense, but not too lavish to what is parodying, firing in all cylinders, that scotch-guarded joke, really dumb, but it kind of is just there. Great pick. And I am curious what our next Halloween segment argument is going to be next week, but we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, let's put this to the vote. So this is Canon Father. So we're voting whether the shinning should be in the canon for Halloween segments. Sarah D. Bunting, what say you?
Sarah:
[51:42] I say yay.
Dave:
[51:43] Me too. So.
Tara:
[51:44] Woo!
Dave:
[51:49] That means it is successful. Halloween segments canon, The Shinning, which was from Simpsons, Season 6, Episode 6, Treehouse of Horror 5. You're hereby inducted into the Halloween segment canon.
Clip:
[52:04] Americans love a winner. Yep. And will not tolerate a loser. Nope.
Dave:
[52:09] It is time to discover who is not quite the winner and loser of the week. I have our first not quite winner. It is 9-1-1. is probably getting another spin-off ABC. We lose Lone Star and we're gaining perhaps one in Las Vegas is what they're saying this one might be set at. Which sort of comes around full circle because watching Dr. Odyssey and 9-1-1 it does give you CSI vibes at times with the stupidity around the science of it all. And if Las Vegas is in fact where they're going to go, I would not be angry about that.
Tara:
[52:42] No, that's perfect.
Dave:
[52:43] Yeah, lots of guest star opportunities, lots of stupid people from wherever in the world you want them to be from doing stupid things in Las Vegas as people are want to do.
Sarah:
[52:52] Breaking their dicks.
Tara:
[52:54] CSI would have comedic elements for sure. Like there are definitely episodes that are intended to be funnier than others, but like 9-1-1 is a lighter show generally overall. So I think they can, the idea that they could get goofier with it is good for the franchise. And for me as a viewer.
Dave:
[53:09] And I guess Lone Star ended mostly because Rob Lodis got sick of it apparently. Which surprises me, but it seems like an easy gig, but maybe.
Tara:
[53:18] I'm sure it's not as easy as the floor.
Dave:
[53:21] That is true. All right. Not quite loser of the week. Steven Universe and regular show among the latest Cartoon Network casualties that are being axed from Max basically for tax slash not paying everybody they're due for royalty purposes. So if you like those shows, I hope you have the DVDs. Yeah, the gun says laughs. Once upon a time, the promise of these were going to be that everything everywhere whenever you want it. And now it is even more of a shifting target than it was two years ago, which is It's crazy to think about, you know, when Netflix would have friends for three months and then would move to Hulu and then disappear and pop up here like whack-a-mole. Like that was bad enough. And now we're just getting shows that are owned wholly by the play set streaming them, but they ax them so they don't have to pay the creators and the talent for the streams that they're getting, which is crazy. Sarah D. Bunting, who is your not quite winner?
Sarah:
[54:16] Yet again, I'm talking about MGM Plus, a real streaming service that exists. it has renewed Billy the Kid for a third and final season. Did you know there was even a first season? I knew this because it's technically true crime. But anyway, they are seeing it through a third season of Billy the Kid.
Dave:
[54:35] The real winner is the potential for a Billy the Kid Robin Hood crossover on MGM+.
Tara:
[54:40] Oh, right. Also true crime Robin Hood? I don't know.
Dave:
[54:45] Hey, Billy the Kid, I think we should give this gold from the train to poor people. No way, Robin Hood, says Billy the Kid. There, writes itself.
Sarah:
[54:55] Why is it Goofus and Gallant now.
Dave:
[54:57] Though?
Sarah:
[54:59] Does MGM own the rights to that IP? I would watch a version of that in which Goofus got, or Gallant got killed every week. And Goofus was like, see? Smarter, not harder. Anyway, the real not-quite-loser of the week for me is the ghoulish true crime fans who have turned the menendez murder house into a prime spot for selfies like i know this happens i know true crime tourism is a thing there are books there are podcasts there are um walking tours that you can download but guys like i'm actually a little surprised that that house is still even there after everything yeah or that they didn't change the address or like find a reason to change the address, which they did for the Manson-Tate murders. So gross.
Dave:
[55:49] What you have to do in order to diffuse the whole thing is you, as a concerted citizen, go to this house and you throw a pizza on the roof and you confuse people coming there for the Menendez of it all. And they're like, oh, is this the Breaking Bad house? I guess we got the wrong address. Let's get out of here.
Tara:
[56:07] Problem solved.
Sarah:
[56:09] Yeah.
Tara:
[56:09] Good boy.
Dave:
[56:10] Tara, who is your not quite winner of the week? And then you say, oh, man, I'm so hungry. I could really kill a pizza right now. Tara Arianna, who is your not quite winner of the week?
Tara:
[56:18] My Not Quite Winner of the Week is, this was already rumored and now it's happening. I guess it's, I'll say it's the character of Neely from Reacher because she's getting a spinoff at Prime Video. This is the character from season two. She's also in the books, of course, but she, in season two of the show, she was played by Maria Sten. And, I mean, great news for her. I have no qualms with the actress. Happy when people get a check, especially since, you know, I assume she's Canadian because most of the secondary characters on the show are. But her character was kind of a snooze. Like, I would rather just do more Reacher. There's seven billion books. Like, give us more of Reacher Maine. I don't need to see more of this character who's, like, self-consciously super into cereal and has a whole wardrobe of, like, cereal mascots.
Dave:
[57:05] That's right.
Tara:
[57:06] That was like her thing.
Dave:
[57:07] Oh, yeah.
Tara:
[57:08] So corny.
Dave:
[57:10] I wonder what three cereals she would combine.
Tara:
[57:12] I'm sure there is an answer, canonically.
Dave:
[57:15] Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes.
Tara:
[57:21] Exactly. Anyway, good luck to them. I guess I'll watch it probably. Not quite loser of the week is The Acolyte, which it just came out this week. it was 230 million dollars over budget and at a certain point when you can be 230 million dollars over your budget can you not say there is no budget because what the actual yeah like oh my god where'd that money go right i.
Dave:
[57:51] Mean the show looked cheap for star wars.
Tara:
[57:54] Yes like.
Dave:
[57:54] It had this weird quality to it and i can't quite put my finger on it but it was.
Tara:
[57:58] Sort of like the.
Dave:
[57:59] Soap opera effect when you watch television. We're like, something's off. The uncanny valley is present here with the way it's being presented. Wow. That's a lot of money. No wonder it's not coming back. Yeah.
Tara:
[58:09] I mean, Manny Jacinto cheekbone sharpening, that's like 50 million max. So I don't know what the rest of this got wasted on.
Dave:
[58:16] That's the one bad bit of news of this because he was great and his character was intriguing. The rest of it, fuck it. Could care less. Put it in the trash. But I would like to see him come back in some capacity. And I don't know if this just has a stink on it now that they don't want to touch anything from it. Sort of like how Solo bombed at the box office and totally changed the way they basically did all those stories moving forward.
Tara:
[58:41] Yeah. Sorry to make you feel so wistful, Dave.
Dave:
[58:51] Welcome back, everybody, especially you grandpas and grandpas that got some news for you. We hit our milestone in which we had just added cannon fodder to the rest of the show that you are not yet getting. So we're talking this week about Halloween segment cannon fodder in which Tara presented a segment of Treehouse of Terror for that particular cannon vertical. Get that and boy, about an hour of content before extra credit here. and extra credit is here. So it is time to talk about that. By the way, Grandpa's ExtraHotGreat.com slash club to join today. Let's talk Would You Rather. We're playing Would You Rather today. I have four bespoke Would You Rathers for Sarah D. Bunting. I have four bespoke Would You Rathers for Tara Arellano.
Tara:
[59:39] Oh my.
Dave:
[59:39] Shall we just get into it?
Tara:
[59:41] Yes.
Sarah:
[59:41] Yeah.
Dave:
[59:42] Let's start with Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah D. Bunting, Would You Rather have to preface every question you ever ask with, is this because I'm a lesbian? or just as you are drifting off to sleep at night the barely audible theme of unsolved mysteries starts to play somewhere outside but it's hard to pin down where.
Sarah:
[1:00:05] Um okay first of all i'd like you to take a screenshot hell yeah.
Dave:
[1:00:10] Oh yeah hello mr stack this.
Sarah:
[1:00:13] Notoriously visual medium um means that you can't tell but i I am wearing a Robert Stack, perhaps it's you, t-shirt under my sweatshirt today. Ah, gosh. So I have to preface every question about anything with, is this because I'm a lesbian?
Dave:
[1:00:29] So right there, you would have to say, is this because I'm a lesbian? But do I have to preface every question I ever asked with, is this because I'm a lesbian?
Sarah:
[1:00:38] And then exhausted from doing that all day, I'm finally drifting off to sleep. And the faint tones of...
Dave:
[1:00:48] But in that sort of way that you're like, is that outside the wall of my bedroom or is that coming from the attic? I just can't quite place where it's coming from.
Sarah:
[1:00:57] Am I being gaslighted by my husband? I mean, I already sort of have some problems drifting off to sleep and it's because I read too much like scary weird crap. So I'm going to go with the Unsolved Mysteries one.
Dave:
[1:01:14] I thought you were going to say I already sort of have that theme playing in my head at all times, which I'm going to say that's really sad, but I get it.
Sarah:
[1:01:20] Update. I do.
Dave:
[1:01:22] Alright. So, Unsolved Mysteries theme at night. Don't know where it's coming from for you. Alright, Tara.
Tara:
[1:01:29] Yeah.
Dave:
[1:01:29] Would you rather have Brandon Walsh as a character on the new Frasier or have Frasier be a character on Beverly Hills 90210? It is 90s Brandon. Frasier will sing the 90210 theme every week with lyrics that he farts out at the top of his head. Those are your conditions.
Sarah:
[1:01:48] Wait, he literally farts? I know it's on my question. I'm just asking.
Dave:
[1:01:52] Farts out as in, you know, scramble eggs.
Sarah:
[1:01:54] Just farts out.
Dave:
[1:01:55] Scrambles, eggs, them out.
Sarah:
[1:01:57] Figurative poots. Got it.
Tara:
[1:02:01] I mean, the lazy answer is Brandon on New Frasier because I don't watch it. I only have to watch this show. I have to review it. So once a year, it's not like I'm keeping up with it.
Dave:
[1:02:11] You'll have to watch it here, Tara.
Tara:
[1:02:13] What?
Dave:
[1:02:13] That's a condition I just put on you. You'll have to watch it.
Tara:
[1:02:16] Okay. Well, my answer is still going to be Frazier on old 90210. I can imagine a situation where he's like a Mr. Pitt type figure that Kelly goes to work for in the post-college years of like her many strange jobs where she goes from the clinic clinic to remember when she was a publicist for a hot second, like made no sense. So I can see him being that sort of a figure on 90210. like the the remote adult who just kind of ruins everyone's lives without being aware of it and um i would find that satisfying because all of those shitheads deserve their lives ruined especially at that late point in the run good answer that's my answer thank you.
Dave:
[1:03:02] Sarah debunting would you rather be in the middle of a sam elliott mads mickelson sandwich but they both ate sketchy clam chowder and have the 80% chance of making VOM. Or, have 30 for 30 narration redone by Carrot Top and you can never get the old versions again. So, once again, would you rather be in the middle of an Elliot and Mickelson sandwich, but they might make some VOM or 30 by 30 narration is now done by Carrot Top and that's the only way you can get it.
Sarah:
[1:03:41] You know that scene in Dumb and Dumber where he's like, so what are my chances? One in a hundred, one in a thousand? She's like, more than one in a million. And he's like, so you're saying there's a chance? The Elik Olsen sandwich? Yes. I'll take 20%. I'll take those odds.
Tara:
[1:04:03] Oh, yeah. You gotta.
Dave:
[1:04:05] Yeah.
Tara:
[1:04:05] It's less than half. It's less than a third.
Sarah:
[1:04:07] Yeah. Plus that soup strainer might protect us, might protect us all. So, well, blame Dave for that. Dave brought us all there and now we got to live there.
Tara:
[1:04:21] You got to partly blame me too. Cause Dave was like, who's another crush of Sarah's? So I, those were, he knew Sam Elliott. Mads was my contribution.
Dave:
[1:04:30] Oh my God. The soup strainer aspect. It was disgusting. And I never thought of it.
Sarah:
[1:04:34] Played.
Dave:
[1:04:35] You barf on me, but it'll be more liquid than chunks So maybe that's okay Okay.
Sarah:
[1:04:40] You know what? Are we writing barf fanfic?
Tara:
[1:04:44] Great.
Dave:
[1:04:46] Tara. Yes.
Tara:
[1:04:52] Present.
Sarah:
[1:04:53] Tara, would you rather... I hate it.
Dave:
[1:04:56] Would you rather go on the witch's road with the ladies of the latest season of Love is Blind that you watched?
Tara:
[1:05:03] Mm-hmm.
Dave:
[1:05:03] Or go on the road with a 70s rock tribute band comprised of all the Robert Downey Jr. characters from The Sympathizer?
Tara:
[1:05:12] Oh, wow. Oh, my God.
Dave:
[1:05:18] Explain the Sympathizer bit for people listening, because I don't think a lot of people watch that show.
Tara:
[1:05:21] Yeah, probably not. So The Sympathizer is based on a novel and several of the most noxious U.S. imperial figures, including a CIA operative, a compromised university professor, a terrible, arrogant Hollywood director, others are all played by Robert Downey Jr. in various kinds of makeup. It's a really good show if you haven't seen it. But all of them are terrible. And so immediately I was like, okay, not that. I don't want to go on the road with him. And then I remembered, oh God, the people I love is blind are so stupid.
Dave:
[1:05:58] What is the most recent season that you have watched?
Tara:
[1:06:01] Washington just dropped that season seven, but I haven't even finished the first episode yet. So I can't speak to any of them. And the season six, season six. But I, the, the thing about all of those shows is that as soon as the season is over, like, and this is true of a lot of competitive reality shows, Like, as soon as it's done, all of them fall out of my head, including people that I...
Sarah:
[1:06:25] Yeah, there's no retention.
Dave:
[1:06:26] You last days of the space age.
Tara:
[1:06:30] Exactly. Did you almost call it last days of the space race? Because I think I wrote that wrong, like, 16 times. I, just because I can't remember, I truly, like, have memory hold all of their most... horrible qualities i'm gonna say love is blind even though i would probably murder all of them truly if i had to spend any time with them one-on-one on the other hand if i'm on a quest and they're like slowing me down i really would have no compunction telling, durindra or whatever their fucking names were i don't even remember like shut the fuck up like stop talking to me all of your opinions are wrong i hate you go back 17 yards i never want to hear voice again. So that part might be kind of fun.
Dave:
[1:07:16] Okay.
Tara:
[1:07:17] Just being able to like truly bitch them out, having no care of whether, you know, uh, they thought I was a nice person.
Dave:
[1:07:24] You could get even better than that because I think the witch's road is a high casualty situation judging by the episode so far all along.
Tara:
[1:07:33] So that's true. I might not have to kill them. The road would do it for me. So win, win.
Dave:
[1:07:37] All right. Back to Sarah D Bunting. Would you rather HBO reboot the Sopranos with Mark Wahlberg as Tony Soprano, or only eat Wahlburgers for lunch and dinner for eight years and five months, the span of the run of the original Sopranos.
Tara:
[1:07:55] Question on Sarah's behalf, although she was probably about to ask this, are veggie Wahlburgers...
Dave:
[1:08:01] Yes, we will make allowances for your diet.
Tara:
[1:08:04] Great.
Sarah:
[1:08:04] Thank you.
Dave:
[1:08:05] But you only get the standard burger. You don't get to like extra this or know that. So you're getting a lettuce, tomato, onion, sort of, you know.
Sarah:
[1:08:12] Gotcha.
Dave:
[1:08:12] Standard veggie burger.
Sarah:
[1:08:14] All right. So I'm sorry. And that's only at lunch or every meal?
Dave:
[1:08:18] Lunch and dinner for the next eight years and five months, the span of the Sopranos.
Sarah:
[1:08:25] Oh, yeah, no. Reboot it.
Dave:
[1:08:27] Reboot it. All right. So we got Wahlberg as Tony Soprano. Sarah D. Bundy wants that. That's how much she doesn't want to eat Wahlburgers for the next eight years.
Sarah:
[1:08:37] Everybody wants some.
Dave:
[1:08:38] Has anybody actually eaten at Wahlburgers? Is that something you can do, Sarah D.
Tara:
[1:08:41] Bundy? I bet they're good.
Sarah:
[1:08:43] Maybe. I feel like I've seen them in Manhattan. I don't think there's one out here.
Dave:
[1:08:48] Did they make them at a real wall?
Tara:
[1:08:50] I thought there was one at one of the airports, but I might be mixing that with Shake Shack. I mean, the thing about a burger is like, it's hard to fuck them up. Like even a bad burger is pretty good.
Dave:
[1:08:59] Yeah. But like two burgers a day for eight years. That's a tough call.
Tara:
[1:09:02] Yeah. I could never do that. Cough, cough.
Sarah:
[1:09:05] Yeah. No, that's not gonna. And if I can't do any substitutions. Yeah. That's not gonna work.
Dave:
[1:09:09] Okay. Quick answer from Sarah on that one.
Tara:
[1:09:12] Yeah. Notice I didn't get the burger question because he knows burger. Tara. Yeah.
Dave:
[1:09:17] Would you rather have someone explain to you why Avenue 5 was funny until you truly believed it? or have an inner ear condition that makes all on-screen British actors sound like Hugh Laurie on House for five years.
Tara:
[1:09:32] Oh, Jesus. Oh, my God. That's so easy. The first one. Debate me about Avenue 5, especially if at the end of it, I'd be like, all right. If it's convincing, then I'd be convinced. Who cares? Whereas the other, like, oh, that really would make me feel like I was having a stroke. It would bother me so much. And I know this is like my own problem and that a lot of people think his American accent is good. I disagree. I won't say they're wrong. I do think they're wrong, but I, I, you know, I understand there's different strokes or different folks and, and, but, but that's always something I can hear and it would make me feel insane. So definitely. Sure. Convince me about Avenue five. What difference does it make to me? That's fine.
Dave:
[1:10:19] Last one for you, Sarah D. Bunting. Would you rather live 300 years as a gnome, but have to trek halfway across the world to turn into a tree at the end, or live for 300 years, but you can only say Narm, and eventually people start thinking that's your name and you become Narm.
Tara:
[1:10:39] Sarah the Narm!
Sarah:
[1:10:44] I mean, I don't know.
Dave:
[1:10:47] Now, keep in mind, as the gnome, remember, you live in the forest and you protect the forest and you, you know, you're basically a very short park ranger. That's your life. And then in the other scenario, you are Narm. Right.
Sarah:
[1:11:03] I am Narm. Okay, but I live 300 years saying only Narm, but then at the end, do I also turn into a tree or do I just go back to being able to speak?
Dave:
[1:11:13] You finally die Narmally. you finally say narm for the last time is because you are numb arm are narming yeah um.
Sarah:
[1:11:23] Yeah the not narm one.
Dave:
[1:11:25] So you want to be a gnome you're going to be very short now you're going to live in a tree trunk and you're going to protect the forest and ride on the backs of foxes and you will turn into a tree at the end okay that's.
Sarah:
[1:11:37] The dream yep.
Dave:
[1:11:38] Why don't you want to say narm all the time and only say normal all the time. What's wrong with that? Answer normally.
Tara:
[1:11:46] No.
Dave:
[1:11:52] You've made your point You made your point Tara here is your last would you rather, Sarah D. Bundy you can only say Narm for the rest of the podcast, Sarah's.
Tara:
[1:12:12] Like well I.
Dave:
[1:12:13] Guess I don't have to think of a quip for my outro Here we go, Would you rather have the theme, Tara Would you rather have the theme to Family Feud Play every time you enter a room With other people in it Or have the theme to the Mindy Project Play every time you enter a room with other people in it But you get $10, I mean.
Tara:
[1:12:37] How often am I Really, how often am I ever entering a room With other people in it?
Dave:
[1:12:43] Well, I just pretend you came to the room right now Do.
Tara:
[1:12:45] You count as other people or.
Dave:
[1:12:47] Are you considered?
Tara:
[1:12:47] Okay.
Dave:
[1:12:48] Yeah. As long as there's somebody else in the room, whether it be me at our house or going to a public space and to a Wahlburgers or whatever. Sure.
Tara:
[1:12:56] Yeah, no, no.
Dave:
[1:12:58] As you enter, like your walk-on music.
Tara:
[1:13:00] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do the dogs count? You said other people.
Dave:
[1:13:04] I'm going to say just people.
Tara:
[1:13:05] Okay. Yeah, Mindy Project. What am I, stupid? Like, it's annoying, but 10 bucks is 10 bucks.
Sarah:
[1:13:11] No, no, no, no.
Tara:
[1:13:13] I'm on.
Dave:
[1:13:14] Wait, no, please. All right. That means you got $10, Tara.
Tara:
[1:13:24] Yeah, no, totally. I mean, I was thinking...
Dave:
[1:13:26] But everybody hates you now.
Tara:
[1:13:28] Well, I still got $10. I don't need friendship if I've got $10. I mean, I remembered on my way to my haircut on Wednesday that I had to stop at the ATM to get like cash for the tip. And I was so annoyed. Like if I could just like pop in and out of your office five times, and get cash? That's a very easy answer for me, for sure.
Dave:
[1:13:48] Okay.
Tara:
[1:13:49] Yeah.
Dave:
[1:13:49] It's a money-making opportunity.
Tara:
[1:13:51] That's right.
Dave:
[1:13:53] Well, guys, that is it for another episode of Extra, Extra Hot Great. We counted down the seconds till we could stop talking about... Before answering your burning ask-EHG questions like, who's in your coven and what breakfast abomination are you mixing in your cauldron? In your milky cauldron is what I should have said. Damn it. We celebrated those who weren't quite the best and worse. So we can wrap it all up with bespoke TV conundrums for Sarah and Tara. Next up on ESG Prime, we're talking about the franchise. Remember.
Clip:
[1:14:30] We're listening.
Dave:
[1:14:33] I am David T. Cole. And on behalf of Tara Ariano.
Tara:
[1:14:37] I owe you a Coke.
Dave:
[1:14:38] And Narm.
Sarah:
[1:14:42] Narm.
Dave:
[1:14:45] Thanks for listening, everyone. And we'll see you next time right here on Extra Extra Hot Great.
Clip:
[1:14:58] You stay here till you're no longer insane. Hmm. Chili will be good tonight.
Clip:
[1:15:07] This is Extra Hot Great Minis. Today's topic is Aussie Rules Television. Hello again, everyone. Today's extra credit topic comes from Jacob.
Clip:
[1:15:20] Who says that as an Australian, he often finds it interesting how his country is portrayed in US, UK, and or Canadian TV. And he was wondering if we could talk about our favorite Aussie references in television, whether it's characters, actors, portrayals of the country, remakes of Australian shows, etc. I have a feeling I know which reference is going to come up a bunch of times, And since that is not mine, I will begin. Mine is Yvonne Strahovski from Chuck and, not 16-under, Dexter. Wasn't she on there? Yep. Her accent almost never slips, which I admire. She's gorgeous but relatable. And she would probably never do it, but I would really love to see her on procedural, on an American procedural like SVU. Wasn't she on 24 in this last season too? Yes, she was. So maybe she would. Yeah, maybe she would. Tara. Well, I have two. I won't say the one I think everyone else is going to say unless nobody else says it by the end. So my backup one is all of the anti-Australia sentiment in Flight of the Conchords. Just a running gag because the character, the leads are from New Zealand. So there was a lot of... The Australian embassy jerks. Yes, a lot of fun to be made of the differences between the two nations, which are apparently extremely large and not subtle as us dumb Americans slash Canadians might think.
Clip:
[1:16:39] Well, this is probably going to be the most offensive one, but I think it's also the funniest. The Australia sketch from Monty Python, which I just rewatched this morning to remind myself, they're all just sitting around in your stereotypical outback wear, and then it turns out that they're all members of the Australian University Philosophy Department.
Clip:
[1:17:03] They're all named Bruce, and then the one English guy comes in and his name is Michael Baldwin, and they say, can we call you Bruce? It might get confusing. and uh that is that is just good stuff well i guess i'm gonna have to do it guys yep do it it's just a little kick in the bum, a whole episode from the simpsons about australia uh lost a love in that episode so much just a little kick in the bum i'll ask the prime minister he's over there i know all those words i know all those words yes that phrase makes no sense to me i just watched it like two days ago and for some reason the part that i actually like laughed out loud at was the two um nothing to do with australia but the two embassy guys folding up the flag and then eating it, this is so nonsensical yeah but uh i also want to put in a quick word for the energizer guy from i think his name was rocco yeah that sounds right maybe rocky but i think it was rocco he's still So he was the oy guy. Jocko, I think. Jocko, yeah, that's it. He was sort of like Outback's men with like a touch of Road Warrior in him. Yeah, he would just say oy a lot and he would make batteries run really great, I guess.
Tara:
[1:18:19] This episode of Extra Extra Hot Great is brought to you by Jim's 15 Seconds of Fame. October is infant safe sleep month, a time to protect our most vulnerable. Every day around 10 babies lose their lives to sleep-related causes. You can make a difference. Share the ABCs of Safe Sleep, Baby Sleep Best, alone, on their back, and in their own crib. Together, we can say yes to safe sleep and safe lives.