Studying Season 2 Of A Man On The Inside

Dave: [0:09] This is the Extra Extra Hot Grape Podcast, episode 383 for the November 22nd, 2025 weekend. I am Trousers at Ankle's urinal visit, David T. Cole, and I'm here with Clue Stu, Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah: [0:29] Your mom's the potato, wait. Dave: [0:31] And blazer-wearing Provost Tara Ariano. Tara: [0:34] Oh my god, am I wearing three blazers? Dave: [0:44] Welcome to Extra, Extra Hot Great, the podcast that puts one extra inside of Extra Hot Great. And here we are, a little pod business to start you off. If you're on the Discord, just know that the Winter Exchange will be drawing names on November 24th. So that's very soon. If you want to have your name in the hat, you do have to go there and click on the link and then sign up at I'manelf.com. I forgot what it is. Elfster, maybe? Sarah: [1:10] Elfster. I think that's right, yes. Dave: [1:11] Faster and then you'll be in the mix. And remember if things are a little tight, but you still want to be a part of it, you can go to that winter exchange for thread. And there's lots of people there volunteering to cover the cost of your gift. So all you need to do is get on there, DM one of those people, pick one at random, see if they have been tapped yet, and then arrange that. And then we would love to have you. It was a lot of fun last year. Thank you so much to Rizzi for Dave: [1:37] setting that up and being our admin on that one. And with that, to Tara. Tara: [1:42] Hello. We are here today to talk about A Man on the Inside Season 2. After successfully going undercover as a private investigator trainee and finding the culprit in a rash of thefts at a San Francisco senior's residence in Season 1, Charles Neuendijk is back on an exciting new case. Jack Berenger, Max Greenfield, the new president of Wheeler College, has had his laptop stolen, And if the blackmailer follows through on threats, they could lose Wheeler, a $400 million donation from loathsome billionaire Brad Vinnick, played by Gary Cole. Charles goes undercover as a visiting lecturer in the engineering department and finds a lot more than information. He meets and is immediately attracted to free-spirited music professor Mona Morgadoff, played by Mary Steenburgen. The show is adapted from a Chilean documentary of the same name by mega producer Michael Schur. That is, he did the adaptation, not the documentary. All eight episodes dropped on Netflix November 20th. We may talk about events from any of them. Let's do the Chen check-in. Sarah, should our listeners watch season two of Me on the Inside? Sarah: [2:46] Absolutely. Tara: [2:48] Dave. Yeah. Yes, for me as well. And I'm also going to add another one to watch with family. Dave: [2:56] Yeah. Tara: [2:56] It's fine for a mixed age group, I would say. Let's get into it. This season does for academia what the first did for elder care by taking a tough topic and making gentle comedy from it. Do you think it's missing opportunities to be a little edgier or for you, is it hitting the cozy mystery target dead on? Sarah. Dave: [3:15] Not everything needs to be a manifesto, Tara. Tara: [3:18] I'm just asking. Sarah: [3:21] I no i mean i do i have a couple of like theoretical issues with the show sure because it is a sure product sure and you know sometimes it that can be a little like you know manzoukas is like really manzoukas in this and sometimes it's like a little too gentle, but the performers are always exactly meat for this stew, and I just enjoy it. I enjoy spending time with these people. It's like only murders in the building if you're sort of finding quibbles with the amount of edge or that the mystery doesn't make any sense. It's like, I'm not sure this is a show for you if these points are problems for you. So yeah, the vibe was fine for me. Dave: [4:10] It did seem like Only murders in the building with a hot injection of Parks and Rec. Tara: [4:15] Mm-hmm. Sarah: [4:16] Mm-hmm. Absolutely. 100%. Tara: [4:18] Fun fact, J.J. Philbin, who writes on Only Murders, is a Mrs. Michael Schur. Dave: [4:24] That is a fun fact. Sarah: [4:25] Oh, thank you. That is, yes. Dave: [4:28] That's a Tara Arianne fun fact. Sarah: [4:34] Seal of approval. Tara: [4:35] She's also Regis Philbin's daughter. Moving on. Dave: [4:38] Probably the character- But it's not because I'm dead. Tara: [4:41] Probably the character with the most edge here is Julie, Charles' boss, played by Lila Rich Creek Estrada. Were you happy to see her world filled out a little more this season with the introduction of her mother, Vanessa, played by Constance Marie, and their difficult backstory? Or would you have traded that screen time for more mystery, Dave? Dave: [4:58] Question. Estrada of the Chips Estradas? Tara: [5:01] I don't know that. Dave: [5:01] Oh, okay. Tara: [5:02] I can find out. Dave: [5:03] Yeah. Tara: [5:03] Go on. Dave: [5:04] I want to know if we're dealing with a legacy here or not. Tara: [5:06] Mm-hmm. Dave: [5:06] Question was, did we like the mother introduction in season two? Tara: [5:09] Correct. Dave: [5:10] It took a little while to figure out why she was there. But when she was there, she fit a purpose. But I don't know if we needed to run up to the mystery of what exactly is happening with the mother and that she's actually an ex-con and a great pit pocket and all that stuff. Tara: [5:25] No relation to Eric Estrada. Sarah, same question. Sarah: [5:28] I thought it was fine. Sure, properties sometimes can tip just a little bit over the line in terms of like, you know, hugging and learning stuff. Not too far. Usually the balance is good, or it's a functional balance for me, and especially having seen the original documentary and seeing what he took from that and what he left, I think that he stays up on the tightrope. This writer's room definitely stays up on the tightrope most of the time. I also appreciate that there were things that like, I think in Only Murders, actually, or in a lot of other shows, they would have dragged it out more. But there wasn't like, I wouldn't say resolution, but like they kept shit moving. Like Danson and Steenburgen are smooching in the premiere. Spoiler, I guess. The con artist mom thing, like there is movement on it in the second episode. So like have you seen everything that you're going to see no because this is like a cozy, missed calm and they have to save some things and drag red herrings all around but that's part of the fun of watching it off of me on the couch is that you're like well i think he did it oh no i think he did it and then something else happens and then you change your mind we we keep a log Thank you. In the living room because we're totally normal people who are extremely fun at parties but okay. Dave: [6:56] Hang on stop so there's a log in the living room is it like when you go into the hospital it's like the clipboard at the end of the bed and you have to get up and pick it up and start writing stuff in it please tell me that's what it is. Sarah: [7:09] Kind of right amazing i mean it's a notebook that has like the cover is like an old pulp crime novel and uh it has you know lines and we like just write down because there was like a only murder season like three years ago where i was like i called it from jump and didn't write it down and was not believed and did not get a dollar end of the season which was an outrage rookie mistake yeah never again dave. Tara: [7:38] Without giving it away we did watch to the end were you satisfied by the resolution of the mystery or would you say the plot is kind of beside the point in a show like this i. Dave: [7:46] Don't think the plot is beside the point. It's not the most necessary thing, I say. This is a show that is less about the mystery and more about the characters along the way and how they interact. But the end wasn't very tidy, I thought. It had sort of a Lord of the Rings-ian number of little codas at the end, which I thought was a bit much. It kind of felt like because of that, their episode order was at least one too many. So stumbling a bit at the end, but I enjoyed getting there. Tara: [8:17] Yeah, I would agree with that. And for the listener, when you get there, you'll see what we mean. There's kind of a little speed bump and then the end to end. Sarah's already brought it up. The big casting news this season was that Mary Steenburgen would play a love interest for her real-life husband. The conventional wisdom is that real couples have no chemistry acting opposite each other because there's no tension. But did you feel that was the case here, Sarah? Sarah: [8:39] There are issues that I have in this sphere with Ted Danson, similar to those with Seth Rogen or someone who is reminiscent of my brother, an actor who's reminiscent of my brother, that I'm like, I'm not going to see any chemistry there. This particular role for Ted Danson, which is not true of anything else that he's really done recently, is extremely reminiscent of Dave Sr. In certain particulars. So it's like, I'm just not. The dad's like, I think they have good chemistry. I'm like, I can't hear you. So, I mean, I think it was fine. I did not think it was notably felt unfelt. So to say, they all really seem to be enjoying working together, which I like. Tara: [9:27] I like that, too. And to be clear, Dave Senior in this case is Sarah's father. No relation to Dave on the podcast. Her wig, though. Her wig, though. Sarah: [9:37] Oh, God. I liked the style of the wig, but there was just no variation. And they showed it from the back so many times in the first two episodes. And just the wave pattern was completely identical. You have some budget for this. Fluff it a little. Tara: [9:54] Yeah. Sarah: [9:55] I don't know. Tara: [9:55] I know you don't want to sit and get your hair done every day because your hair is curly. That's a problem. But, you know, get a lady a better wig. Anyway, Dave, what did you think of the two of them as a couple in the show? Dave: [10:05] I thought they were okay. Her character is like the least bound by reality of everybody in the cast. She is sort of that manic pixie girl all grown up and now she's a raisin. Tara: [10:17] Manic pixie raisin. Dave: [10:20] Manic pixie raisin. Put it on a shirt. Gotta sell dozens. I thought they were fine together, but I never really believed them as two humans standing next to each other because her character was so much louder. And overdrawn than anybody else on the show. Tara: [10:39] Yeah, I agree. Everyone's kind of playing the characters you expect them to. We got Max Greenfield as a fussy bitch with an MBA. David Strothern as a Tweety English prof. Gary Cole as a conservative billionaire. Jason Manzoukas as Jason Manzoukas. But I do kind of love that they're all just having fun and not trying to reinvent themselves too much in this light entertainment. Who, Dave, I'll go to you first, This was your MVP among the new cast members in season two. Dave: [11:04] Right. So I think the key to all those people you just mentioned is it's very possible that they walked onto the set two seconds before somebody said action. They just looked at a cue card and said, your character is this. Tara: [11:17] Yep. Dave: [11:18] And this being you, kind of. I enjoyed Gary Cole's performance because he was just like a dick. Tara: [11:24] Such an asshole, yeah. Dave: [11:25] And just there was zero redemption. And he just got worse and worse as he went along. Tara: [11:30] Sure did. Dave: [11:30] I feel like the show needed that. You know, the show can't be too sugary and sweet all the time. It needs the, you know, the black coffee of it all when Gary Coleman, Gary Coleman, Gary Coleman comes in. Tara: [11:42] May he rest. Dave: [11:43] What are you talking about, man on the inside? But you guys know what I'm saying? Tara: [11:48] Yes. Sarah, who is your MVP? Yeah. Sarah: [11:51] I would like to say that Gary Cole's character's Elon Lumber's child bride fluencer, Dan thought that was hilarious. I was like, oh my, didn't we just do this in Only Murders this season? We get it. Gen Alpha doesn't care about anything and doesn't eat food. It's like, whatever. Say something else. for me, it was Max Greenfield just in the premiere and that blind delivery of botched calf implant in theory or whatever he says, but he just like cuts his eyes to one side and is like, allegedly. And I was like, oh my God, I love you and miss you always. Dave: [12:30] Yeah. As soon as he popped on the screen, I was like, did I mention him as the actor where he's always Schmidt no matter what else he's in when we had that question? But he's definitely, oh, Oh, Smith. Tara: [12:40] Yes. Dave: [12:41] There, Smith. Sarah: [12:41] I just cannot believe that this actor is now old enough to be playing a university president. Tara: [12:48] Yeah. Sarah: [12:49] I object. Dave: [12:49] He looked pretty good, though. Tara: [12:51] Yeah, he does. Sarah: [12:51] Yeah, no, he looks great, always. But... Dave: [12:54] There is a scene as my intro was Trousers at Ankle's urinal visit is something he does. It has no bearing on anything. It's just like a character trait, maybe something he came up with in the moment. But he just seems at a urinal completely immediately and very quickly drops trial to pee in the urinal. And it made me laugh out loud. Tara: [13:15] He is the subject of a public humiliation in a later episode as well. And his reaction is 100% pure Schmidt. It's really delightful. At the other end of the spectrum, I don't know why they bothered to cast Eugene Cordero and then give him nothing funny to do ever. Ditto Mary Elizabeth Ellis in most of her scenes. Dave: [13:34] And I don't- He's an extremely understanding man. That was his character. Tara: [13:38] Basically, yeah. She plays... She plays Charles's daughter, Emily, and Eugene Cordero is Joel, her husband. And I know why she has to be there, but all of their scenes and every time they have their kids, I'm like, I don't care about these awful children. I don't show them to me anymore. I don't want to see them. Yeah. Sarah: [13:57] I know that people liked the first season, but I don't think we necessarily have to keep everyone in the orbit. Like, you know, move on. Dave: [14:06] Well, they're gearing up for their big Infinity War moment in season five. Sarah: [14:09] I know. old Avengers assemble. Sure. Tara: [14:13] Final question is for Sarah. A, it's a two-parter. A, did you learn any tradecraft from season two so far? And B, is becoming Charles your new retirement plan? Sarah: [14:25] Who's to say I haven't? Dave: [14:27] Let me just add this. If you had Ted Danson's hair somehow in your retirement, you'd look pretty good. Sarah: [14:34] Yes, I was quite inspired by this retirement plan, which is like not really retired. But like, who gets to retire anymore? I don't think I learned any tradecraft, but I was pleased that they thought of me. Dave: [14:50] Ideas for a season three location? Tara: [14:52] Oh. Hmm. Sarah: [14:54] Ooh. Dave: [14:54] So you've done healthcare? Tara: [14:55] Yeah. Dave: [14:56] Education? Tara: [14:57] I mean, they're in San Francisco. Maybe there could be some kind of like, you know, old intern program, like in the movie The Intern at a tech company that he has to go and find out why, what's going on there. Dave: [15:07] Oh, it's so going to be a tech company. Sarah: [15:09] No, but I don't. I mean, he's like 60 years too old for that. Maybe it's something with national parks and then they can go to Alcatraz. Dave: [15:17] That would be pretty great. Tara: [15:18] That would be funny. Dave: [15:19] All right. Sarah, make it up. Sarah: [15:21] Okay, will do. Dave: [15:29] All right, everybody. It is time for everybody's favorite Ask Us Questions segment. It is Ask EHG with the world's number one theme song according to Billboard. The Billboard I rented outside of my house that says... All right, let's spin the wheel of judgment. Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, it's Sarah. Sarah will be our Ask, Ask, E-A-S-G judge today. Sarah, what do we got? Sarah: [16:05] We have a question from Bizarre Laura who asked us to, quote, name a really profound moment in an otherwise meager property. I think maybe Bizarre Laura meant mediocre property, but I kind of, you know, we encouraged people to go with meager because, you know, same. We had some good listener answers, including from Big Time Tomato, who said, depends on how we're defining meager. If we're using it in the sense of meager budget, lack of lavish sets. Joe Parra talks with you. Joe gently laying a pumpkin to rest and tossing his jack-o'-lantern into the river. And the episode takes you on a fall drive. L triple B suggested the dinosaurs series finale. C Kent had an Obi-Wan Kenobi episode, which I think really got to the heart of the project. Cause that was a pretty meager show. Sarah: [16:59] Vader's quote. I am not your failure. Obi-Wan. You didn't kill Anakin Skywalker. I did. Okay. Well, it's not the judge, but this didn't win anyway. What actually won is an with an E and, Wife Swap, Real Housewives edition. Angie Kay from Salt Lake City met the other family and her scene meeting the kids made me stop second screening and actually tear up. She asked each small child really warmly and kindly if she could hug them and let them come over to her. I don't know, it was a tiny thing, but it was a demonstration of boundaries and consent that you don't always see with little kids in life or on screen. You know what real housewives so seldom get a w around here so let's give them that one and let's give it also to ann with an e she's our winner today annie please dm dave on discord for your stickers i am told unreliable photo authority that they're actually fucking going out yeah they went. Dave: [17:56] Out so now. Sarah: [17:57] And with an e you have to wait 12 months for the next time Oh, sorry, Anne. Dave: [18:04] All right, let's get into your questions for us. First one is from Cranky Pants. Cranky Pants writes, you now have to live with three roommates a la Golden Girls. What three TV characters do you choose to live with and why? Tara, one, two, three. Tara: [18:19] It's going to be Rachel Green from Friends because she's a pushover, canonically. Janine Teague's from Abbott Elementary because she's very patient and undemanding. She's used to living with nothing. She will not want more from me. And Will Truman from Will & Grace, because he will clean up. Sarah. Sarah: [18:36] Rupert Giles from Buffy. Knows rare books. Is hot. Mac from Veronica Mars. Researcher and hacker. Mellow Vibe. Has lucrative side hustles and won't be late on rent. And Profachi from Law & Order. Always appears with a file you need exactly when you need it and is going to make a fresh pot of coffee. Tara: [18:54] Yep. Sarah: [18:54] Dave. Dave: [18:55] Number one, cue so I don't have to get groceries anymore. That's what I'm going to use them for. Number two, Mac from MacGyver, because he owns a bubble hockey table and bubble hockey is the best. And I want one in my house, but I can't afford $5,000 for a bubble hockey table. And number three, Littlest Hobo. Solves a lot of mysteries that happened inside of her little apartment. Milsnack, which TV studio lot would you like to employ you to shuttle their talents around in golf carts? You're in a golf cart, Sarah. Where? Sarah: [19:29] I think Milsnack probably meant, what, IRL studio, but I'm still picking UBN from the morning show. Because it will give me the opportunity to corner at speed and send various odious characters flying. Alex Levy. Dave. Dave: [19:45] My first thought was Warner Brothers so that we can reenact Pee Wee Herman going through the lot in his golf cart, Dragon, Godzilla, and all that. But I decided on Apple. I bet they make their own golf carts at Apple, and they're really great. And the wireless CarPlay is just the best. And it does a whole bunch of things you don't need it to. And the golf carts cost a million dollars apiece. Tara: [20:07] That's a good answer. Yeah, I picked Warner Brothers because it seems like the one that's got the most popping most of the time. Dave: [20:13] Evil dolphin what is the best TV treatment of an alien invasion question inspired by Apple TV's invasion which is definitely not it, I actually had some trouble with this one because I was like oh surely there's going to be something and I was looking at them I was like oh these are all shitty grade Z sippy shows and never watched them and they're not well regarded and then it came to me the best depiction of alien invasion was in front of me the whole time silence we are travelers from a certain nearby ring to planet whose name we'd, might as well get it over with. Stop. We have reached the limits of what rectal probing can teach us. This is our mission of conquest. Turn. Tara: [21:07] Well, relatedly, mine is going to be the Harlem Globetrotters invading from the Globetrotter homeworld in Futurama. Dave: [21:14] Yeah. Hello, lawsuit. Tara: [21:16] Hello, lawsuit. Sarah. Sarah: [21:17] V, both famous original and the remake. actually were really pretty chilling, I thought. Dave: [21:23] C. Kent, what's the funniest name you have personally come across in real life? My daughter has a preschool classmate whose father was Randy Butts. I actually hadn't read that. I just copied it in. All right. Randy Butts. Good stuff. Tara. Tara: [21:37] When i was a kid in regina hold for giggles uh every time we went to we drove along victoria to go and visit my aunt leslie and uncle glenn we passed a petro canada gas station and possibly still but at least at that time they would put the owner's name on it and the owner of that one at the corner that we turned was dick assman spelled exactly as you think d-i-c-k last name A-S-S-M-A-N, just like the license plate on Seinfeld. And this guy later became famous because someone sent in a picture of it to like Small Town News or something on The Late Show with David Letterman. And it turned into a whole thing. They eventually like they ran it through for several days, finally invited him on and the band sang Viacondios Dick Assman. And he died in 2016. We miss him. Dave: [22:26] We miss him. Sarah: [22:28] We do. Tara: [22:28] Dave. Dave: [22:29] All right. Well, you know what my answer is going to be. Tara: [22:31] I do. Dave: [22:32] Gather around, children. I'll tell you tales of being over 50. One is you get to go to the urologist. Urologist. And when I went to Austin Urology, was there for my appointment, I looked at all the posters they had of all the other doctors that worked at this urology clinic. One caught my eye why this is, and I am not making this up. You can Google this, one doctor, Richard Chop. That's right. the urologist as a doctor named Dick Chop. Sarah? Sarah: [23:06] I used to work as a records clerk. I came across plenty of unusual names, but my favorite was this one. I was in alumni records at Barnard. That's all women's college. So we did tend to get a lot of name change requests from alumni if they got married and took their spouse's names, blah, blah. But the one that sticks out to me is when we got a name change request for a husband. I don't remember the alumna's name at all. I only remember that he was changing his name from Carl Schmuck. I think he even put a little note on the card that was like, I trust I will not get a follow up call about this and um you know way to see your off ramp and grab it carl chop i i don't know what his name is now but i definitely remember that and it was a it was a legend in the office it was being passed over the cube the cube walls for like a week pretty good job all. Dave: [23:59] Right that was for you randy butts jovial gent what is your go-to flavor of jelly for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich Sarah. Sarah: [24:10] Raspberry Beaumont Preserves. Tara. Tara: [24:14] Yeah, I don't like jelly, and I don't like peanut butter and jelly, but if I were forced to for some reason, Raspberry Jam, and that's our brand as well. Dave. Dave: [24:24] Yeah. Diatho. Which shows should be rebooted, but the primary POV is changed? For example, that 70s show, but the parents are the primary, not the kids. My show was Hog's Pork Barrel. It is the Dukes of Hazzard, but it is about a local public servant just trying to promote local business and bring economic opportunity to an economically depressed area. Sarah: [24:46] The Patty Chronicles, featuring Patty Chase from My So-Called Life, and I would not be averse to a team-up with Patty and that Hallie Lowenthal person. Tara. Tara: [24:55] It's going to be the Venture Brothers from Helper's perspective. Helper is their robot, sort of Venture Brothers times Murderbot vibes. Dave: [25:04] That would be pretty good. Jovial Gent and Tara combined to give us this directive. Add Richard Kind to a show to make it better. Add Richard Kind to a show to make it worse. All right, Tara, you're one half of this question. You go first. Tara: [25:16] Oh, I only did better. Sorry. It just says better slash worse. So I figured you could choose. Dave: [25:21] All right. Tara: [25:21] He's going to be playing Matt Remick's estranged father who's trying to get back into his life in season two of the studio. You don't really know anything about Matt's life. So that would be something that could be fun. Sarah. Sarah: [25:34] Understanding that I liked Day of the Jackal just fine as it was. Adding Richie the K to a hitman thriller with his eyepatch from Only Murders is going to be hilarious. Possibly hilariously bad like lethally bad for everyone involved but let's just see what could go wrong everything and it'll be great Dave. Dave: [25:53] Add Richard Kind to the upcoming Starfleet Academy show where he is the Academy's head janitor who gets in everybody's business he's the guy that knows everything I actually have a clip from the recent trailer I. Tara: [26:08] Open the door give kids high fives one two three I open the door and I watch your live. Dave: [26:21] So good oh my god and then to make a show worse we're gonna add richard kind taking over for dana in the pit i got a clip of that from season two of the latest trailer whose. Tara: [26:34] Package is this something from overnight insulin emergency providers going once. Sarah: [26:40] Twice nope okay garbage time. Tara: [26:43] Right by. Dave: [26:44] Box wow all right mandrake what show would be improved by adding an annoying. Dave: [26:54] Neighbor who the protagonist hates sir i'm. Sarah: [26:57] Not totally sure how slow horses wants us to feel about river i think though i have not read them that the books make it clear that he also is a Pillick, who happens to be our POV character a lot of the time. And I completely understand where he is emotionally with his granddad. But all of that aside, I do think it's high time that Edie McClurg's Mrs. Poole from the Hogan family moved in next door to him at the memory care facility and started fucking with River in a sustained fashion would watch. Tara: [27:27] Well, it's a good thing Charles isn't as home much in A Man on the Inside, because Kimmy Gibbler just moved next door. Sarah: [27:34] Oh my god. Yes. Dave: [27:37] Elsbeth, what do you want for Christmas? I want gift certificates for those guys that come up and pick the dog poop up in your yard, but not really because I don't want them in my backyard. Tara? Tara: [27:48] Not to be a bummer, I'd love a job or failing that for editors to just offer me freelance work because I hate pitching and I'm really out of practice. It's been like two and a half years. Sarah? Sarah: [27:59] World peace, but failing that, which we will. Company store gift card. I need new towels. Tara: [28:06] Noted. Dave: [28:06] All right, here comes your question, dear listeners. It is AskEHG from Diatho. Diatho writes, if a modern streaming service decided to reboot Battle of the Network Stars, which current TV networks or platforms would field the most entertaining teams and what ridiculous physical or trivia challenges would best showcase today's TV star's strengths or humiliating weaknesses? So I guess the question is, just come up with your modern day Battle of the Network stars gist. Tara: [28:35] And get them in fast because we're recording our next episode three days earlier than usual. Dave: [28:40] So I'm scared that quick backwards music only means one thing. It's time for the tiny Nonak flipping the script of the canon presenting this week. It is Tara. Tara: [28:52] Yeah, I really went back and forth internally on whether this should be a canon for the bad sportsmanship department. This feels cleaner, even if we will probably never have any cannons for sportsmanship and it's going to be all known acts. Who cares? There are many factors that can affect a contestant's point tally on Taskmaster, failing to uncover hidden instructions or information in a task, lacking a specific skill required for a quick or easy completion. Tara: [29:21] Mouthing off to Greg in the studio and getting marked down out of spite. Then there's the team tasks. A player doesn't know until the first time they tape together what other person or persons their success in team tasks depends on. In Series 9, Ed Gamble lucks out with teammates Rose Mattafeo and Katie Wicks. Rose is as intensely competitive as Ed himself is, and Katie is pleasant and agreeable to the bossiness of the other two. But then we arrive at the live task in Episode 9, an episode called Don't Like Them, Go Bang. It isn't a spectacular episode for the famously competitive Ed overall, but because scores are pretty evenly distributed through each task, Ed is in second place going into the live studio task, clip one. Standing in a queue, draw the most accurate pictures. Alex will show. Tara: [30:28] Wins. So can I just check? Have I been put on a team with David Baddiel? While Ed has won three episodes already, David has not won any because he is usually distracted, confused, lazy, or generally inept. And everyone, probably including David himself, knows he stinks at this. Clip two. Can I just say we've done it alphabetically? Okay. The thinking is there's a team of three one drawing across two back. But to make it fair, you're with David. So here's round one. Joe Brand draws on Katie, who draws on Rose, who makes the picture. Ed draws on David, or at least that's what's supposed to happen. Clip three. Let's draw. What are you doing? No communication, please. No communication. Tara: [31:35] You still drawing? Stop the drawing, stop the drawing. What the hell the fuck have you done? No communication. Please wait, please wait. Please stay at the front, stay at the front. You were literally just drawing anything. Rose, show Greg what you've done. Just hold it up, cow. A dog? A cow or a dog. OK. And, David, please show them what you've done. David, you prick. Just a face. I'm. Tara: [32:18] Occur to me it wouldn't be a person. Did you hear that? He just said, It didn't occur to me that it wouldn't be a person. Going into the prize task, David is the points leader. Ed, as I said, is in second place. But now that he's paired with David, Ed is not winning this episode no matter what happens. If the gents team wins, David takes the episode. If it's the ladies, David's so far ahead of all of them, too, that he will probably win anyway. Someone as competitive as Ed will have definitely known this. So his rage at David ignoring instructions is probably partly because he doesn't want David to cause their team to do so badly that Greg gives them minimum points. But speaking as someone who is, surprise, as competitive as Ed, I feel like he's also angry because David's failure to take this task seriously offends him as a player of games, even though he knows the task is, on its face, like all tasks in Taskmaster, very silly. No one does great in the second round. Let's hear clip four. Ed, do you want to show, first of all, Greg, what you've drawn? Yeah, sorry, we cheated a bit. The communication really helped. Why did you do that? That's what you did on my back. Dave: [33:21] It's not what I did on your back. Thank you. Katie, please reveal. I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry. Wow. Tara: [33:30] At best, I would say it was a jellyfish. Well, they were supposed to draw a church. Ed's drawing at least has some angles, so their team takes the point. Then Ed has to draw on David's back again for the tie-breaking third round. And while we can't clip it for this audio podcast, this is the reaction to Ed's silent seething when he is shown the last thing he's supposed to be drawing. Clip five. No communication from now on, please. It's three eggplants. They lose. But since Greg awards the men team three points, David wins the episode and Ed comes in at a respectable second equal, as they put it in the UK. But David is a terrible teammate to Ed, and I feel that is inarguable once we've seen him hold Ed's finger to stop him drawing on his back in round one. And Ed is not a good or particularly supportive teammate to David either and sets that tone before the task is even started. Ed is being a very funny dick, but his sportsmanship could never be tiny canonized. But let's still celebrate it by inducting it into the sportsmanship tiny nonac. Dave: [34:38] Thank you, Tara. Sarah, I feel it's always a roll of the dice when you bring a taskmaster thing to Sarah's, but let's see what she thought. Sarah: [34:46] I was interested to hear the argument for it being a sportsmanship nonac versus a bad sportsmanship canon. I accede to the wisdom that you went with the former. Ed is definitely being a pill immediately. I think that what you were going for basically is that feeling where you're like at a party and playing celebrity and that guy is being that guy. But then he's being that guy for like legitimate reasons. It's like, I understand that David is not what you want as a competitor. But I also was like, is Ed playing it up like for the rules or is this really how he feels about it? And it's evident, at least to me, pretty early on that he is extremely serious and like kind of close to crying from fury. Yeah and so this was like both very relatable and extremely off-putting which i think is what you want i think this is the axis along which i am supposed to judge this um certainly do not want to watch this uh segment of taskmaster again um which i think is means that it is a tiny no-knack slam dunkaroo but dave is better versed in the show than i so let's hear what he thinks. Dave: [36:12] I think that Ed Gamble was very aware that he was being very unreasonable for something that was quite inconsequential. So I believe that gave himself permission to be that much louder about it. David Bedell was a terrible contestant. Tara: [36:27] One of the worst of all time. Dave: [36:29] All season long. So I think maybe he came by the accumulation of his rage, honestly. But if you want to look back at actual real poor sports and Taskmaster history, who's the guy I'm thinking of? Tara: [36:42] Ian Sterling. Dave: [36:43] Ian Sterling, like actually chilled the whole set with the way he was acting in one of the episodes. Tara: [36:48] And when they cut back to him in the studio, he was like, I'm really sorry. Like, this is you have shown me something about myself and I do not care for it. Dave: [36:57] So I think that one was the real one. I think Ed Gamble was both annoyed, but also being an entertainer at the same time. But the part where he is just nonplussed by David Bedell's actions, like seriously, as soon as they get up to the podium he starts drawing like there's nothing he doesn't understand why he's there yeah so that is when you have that sort of person like you know you say you're at celebrity and the first thing they start doing is like just dancing to the music in the room you're like are you doing a celebrity i don't know just dancing it was like that level of frustration he's like the person is not operating on the same level so i so i i enjoyed it and i think it was all for the cameras, but also very real. So if you were uncomfortable, Sarah, I think you'd come by it, honestly. All right. So this is for the sportsmanship nonac. Do you say nonac-worthy or not, Sarah? Sarah: [37:52] I think they were both being pretty bad sports and also the task was not explained super clearly for the record. So, uh, yeah, that's a yes for me for the nonac. Dave: [38:02] All right. Me too. So at simmering rage from Taskmaster, you're hereby inducted into the extra hot, great, tiny sportsmanship nonac. Sarah: [38:15] Americans love a winner and. Dave: [38:17] Will not tolerate a loser. Nope. It is time to figure out who are our not-quite-winners and losers of the week. I will go first with our not-quite-winner. It's Star Trek. It's getting a new movie from John Francis Daly and Jonathan Goldstein. They brought us the Dungeons & Dragons movie, which was like, everybody's like, it's not terrible. I'm like, yay! Tara: [38:38] It was really funny, I thought. Dave: [38:39] It was fun, but I'm just saying that was like the immediate reaction. It's like, it's not a super minus F movie. Tara: [38:45] We did it. Dave: [38:45] They have done well with properties that were a little you know been on the shelf for a little while and so it could be good i think it's way too early to actually pass judgment any of this except it's not a reboot of kirk ae company it's supposed to be like all new all new star trek i bet the ship still looks like the enterprise though yeah loser not quite of the week it's me hater of the number of celeb travel shows that are out there multiplying like randy butts tribbles, so the next newest one is daniel day kim he's going to be doing another cnn travel story and it's all about korea good for him buddy but there's so many of you now too many. Tara: [39:28] Yeah, guess what? It's not the newest one. There was one announced in the time between when you picked this and when we taped. Awkwafina's got one, too. Dave: [39:36] Oh, boy. I feel like that's something you do just before you retire. It's like the last thing you do. Tara: [39:44] I think put them all under the umbrella of recession indicator. Sarah: [39:48] Very good. Dave: [39:49] Sarah, not quite winner. Sarah: [39:51] My not quite winner is Last Week Tonight, which has launched an auction to benefit public broadcasting. It's really sad that this has to happen, but I am glad that it is happening, and I am really not surprised that it is John Oliver who's making it happen. My not-quite-loser is the Emmys, which have been bumped to Monday by football next year. So I guess we know what is important in the culture. I bet we also have AI presenters, too. I'm not a crackpot. Dave: [40:23] Well, they get to talk to the Forks. The Forks. The Fox robot football guy. You probably know some AIs. What's that guy's name? It's like Cletus or something like that? Tara: [40:33] Yeah, Cletus. With an A. Dave: [40:34] I don't know why I love that guy so much. A little scam. Tara: [40:37] Because you don't actually watch football. Sarah: [40:40] No, nor should you. Tara: [40:42] All right. My not quite winner of the week is The Secret Diary of Adrian Mull, aged 13 and three quarters. It is getting a new TV adaptation at BBC. This is a book series where it starts with the character at the exact age you think and has had so many sequels that it's the last one is Adrian Mull, The Prostrate Years. Like they've continued to revisit the character. The first one was published in 1982. I remember reading them starting when I was a YA reader. They're really funny. He is a very unreliable, pompous little asshole of a narrator. Very Max Fisher vibes, but British and even more helpless and a loser. So I'm very excited to see what they do with the series. And I hope they do keep coming back to it and aging him up as they go. My not quite loser of the week. Sorry I may have jinxed her, Mentioning her in the main episode this week Between the time that we recorded that And when it came out Whitney Levitt got voted out of Dancing with the Stars Sorry girl Now you can quit Secret Lives of Mormon Wives though. Dave: [41:53] Hello, grandpas. Glad you can join us. You missed about, I don't know, 45 minutes of show before this. If you want to up that pledge, you'll get the whole thing, and we would appreciate it as well. Tara: [42:05] Sarah, you have an update on your prize from the sweaty TV president's game in Extra Extra Hot Grape 381. Sarah: [42:12] I absolutely do. This prize is really twofold because I forgot that I even won that game. So knowing that I was getting a prize was a prize. And then the actual prize was a sweat shirt that says on the front, introverted, but willing to talk about the JFK assassination. And it is extremely cozy. And I think that my husband is going to steal it. And I'm okay with that. Tara: [42:38] Fantastic. Sarah: [42:39] Thank you very much, Tara. Tara: [42:40] You're welcome. Dave: [42:41] And thank you, Diatho, for providing this week's extra credit challenge. And it's a big one. Thank you for all the work. He's asking us to build your crew to rob the crown jewels. And he set up various tiers that cost five, four, three, two, or one dollars with various characters in there. And we have 15 bucks to spend among all these levels and all these heist crew members. So what we're going to do is everybody's going to do one pick, spend some money, and we'll go around again until everybody's out of money and then we can compare who's got who and i don't know maybe put put a vote somewhere as well we'll figure it out be in the show notes everybody if we do that any questions comments concerns any regulations we have to do we have to go over the minutes from the last heist no no okay all right tara you get to pick first once again we have five four three two and one dollar tiers while you're there if you're opening up a category Why don't you tell us who's in it? Tara: [43:41] Sure. I do have someone from the $5 tier, which Diatho is called The Masterminds. These include Raymond Red Reddington from The Blacklist, Mike Ehrmantrout from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Parker from Leverage, Asan Diop from Lupin, The Professor from Money Heist, and Michael Schofield from Prison Break. And straight off the top, how is Gus Fring not in this category is my question. That's who I would pick as a mastermind, bar none. But under protest, since he's not here, I'm going to go with Mike Ehrmantrout. He's also good at planning, including anticipating problems and adjusting on the fly. Sarah. Sarah: [44:19] I also picked Mike Ehrman Trout. He is competent across a wide range of engineering problems. He can project manage, but also pitch in and do stuff. He's no bullshit. He is intimidating, but not so much that the rest of the crew is going to be paralyzed, just like we'll listen to him. And he's not annoying, personally. He's just intimidating. So that's, I think, kind of who you want, project managing a heist. Dave? Dave: [44:45] I'm actually going to start with a four dollar choice oh sol goodman better call sol michael weston burn notice thomas shelby peaky blinders back at mariner star trek lower decks neil caffrey from white collar and sydney bristow from alias who i am going to spend four dollars on so that she's got all the disguises and then when that just fails to work she sticks your sticks her foot in your face and you crumble down and you says Quentin Tarantino. Tara: [45:17] Since you brought her up, further protest. If you're going to have anyone from Alias, I would have loved to see Marshall Flinkman and Jack Brisson. Dave: [45:23] Well, why don't you do one of these games. Tara: [45:24] Tara? I'm just saying, those are my only critiques. Dave: [45:27] It's not supposed to be exhaustive. It's an illustrative list, Tara. Tara: [45:30] Okay. All right. Well, my next pick is from that tier and I'm going to go with Neil Caffrey. Pulling off heists without bloodshed is his whole thing. He's definitely going to be the one to crack the safe and will also be the one to dazzle anybody in his way with his good looks and charm. Sarah. Sarah: [45:47] Since we're in the $4 tier, I will go with Saul Goodman from Better Call Saul. He is versed in the law and how to work around it slash bend it until it's about to snap. He has also practiced at the short cons that necessarily surround a larger heist or precede a larger heist. And he knows people who he can deploy for window dressing stuff like pickpocketing and videography and all of that big store shit that you need, usually. Dave: [46:17] I'm going to do a little buying in bulk all at once, and let me explain, for I am buying out the $1 tier, the Chaos Crew. I am taking one each of Niles Crane from Frasier, Don Draper from Mad Men, Cliff Clavin from Cheers, Dr. John Carter from ER, Cyril Karn from Andorre. And Doug Heffernan from King of Queens. I'm buying them all. Tara: [46:43] Wow. Dave: [46:44] I've now increased my spend to $10 after my first $4 pick. So it's just a chaos crew jamboree. Tara: [46:52] Okay. Well, I'm going to skip down to the $2 tier. These are the unlikely assets. The list is Alex Dunphy from Modern Family, Catherine Martell from Twin Peaks, Fox Mulder from The X-Files, Dr. Hank Lawson from Royal Pains, Wynne Duffy from Justified and Patty Hughes from Damages. I'm going to spend two bucks on Fox Mulder. I had a moment of hesitation about this because I thought he might try to step to Neil Caffrey as the alpha hot guy in the crew. But I think that like a woman in a male screenwriter script, Fox Mulder is hot but doesn't know it. He also has access to resources, both legitimate and illegitimate, which is why I went with him over Wynne Duffy. And in a pinch, he can flash his badge to get us into a restricted area. That's my thinking with that. Sarah. Sarah: [47:38] My next pick is going to be from the $3 tier, the Elliot Elite, which includes Elliot Alderson from Mr. Robot, Elliot Spencer from Leverage, Elliot Reed from Scrubs, Elliot Stabler from Law & Order SVU, Elliot Weston from 30-something, and Elliot Anderson from Outer Range. I was very tempted to pick Elliot Reid from Scrubs and just absolutely blow Tara and Dave's minds, but that's not what I'm doing. I'm taking Elliot Weston from 30-something, and this is a pretty rando pick, but hear me out. He has a goofy presentation and a loud necktie, and he sort of breaks up the pattern wreck for what authorities or eye in the sky might be looking for in a crew. He has to be used somewhat sparingly because he is a redhead and memorable for that reason. But he also reads like your average suburban dad and he is an ad man. So he is a solid salesman and talker and can adjust on the fly, in my opinion. That brings me up to 12 bucks. Dave. Dave: [48:43] I'm going to spend $4 from the pros and smooth operators section for Thomas Shelby. I may not be able to spend this dollar now. I might have to use it for nuts and gum or something later, but for $4 for Thomas Shelby, I'm going to take him over what I was mulling over earlier, which was also picking my ember because I think Thomas Shelby is Mike, but also has these like old boy level planning abilities where he like plans something 12 steps ahead and then you only find out in five episodes what he was actually thinking the whole time. So I think you get two for one with Thomas Shelby. So I am going to spend four of my remaining $5 on him. Tara: [49:26] Going into this round, I have already spent $11. So I'm going to spend one more dollar on John Carter from the Chaos crew. If Neil fucks up and someone does get hurt, we'll be glad to have him. And he is pretty good under pressure, I think. And originally, my note was, I still have $3 left over, so I'm going to get myself a milkshake, but I think I have to spend it so you can come back to me next. Sarah? Sarah: [49:50] I have $3 left. I'm going to spend two of it on Winn Duffy. That choice sort of depends on whether he comes with the RV and the bodyguards, but not really. Winn Duffy is the fucking best he's an experienced baddie middleman slash fixer he's used to dealing with armed weirdos and he's not going to panic at critical moments he's hard to intimidate at weapon point and in my opinion again you do need someone on the crew who's willing to roll their eyes at some of the more overtly anti-social behavior of other villains and um he that's why you have him on the crew um sharp dresser as well So, yeah, now I'm down to a buck. Dave, are you nuts and gumming? And we're going back to Tara. Dave: [50:32] I have a dollar. So either can I have two Cliff Clavins? It's the only one we could give you two of is Cliff Clavins. I'll take it if I can do it. Can I have two Cliff Clavins? All right. I will spend my last dollar on a second Cliff Clavins. Tara: [50:50] Yeah. Sarah: [50:50] Wow. Tara: [50:51] I mean, I kind of think that my crew, which again is Mike Herman Trout, Neil Caffrey, Fox Mulder, and John Carter is pretty complete as it is. But if forced to spend all of my money, I guess I will spend my last $3 on Elliot Weston as well on the theory that he will just sit in the corner and not get in anyone's way and do what he's told, which is what is required. Because he is not a villain. He is not up for this, really. If he's just a body in a space, I think that's the best I can hope for of everyone among the Elliotts available. Sarah. Sarah: [51:24] I'm going to spend my last dollar on Niles Crane. The sight of blood thing is an issue. Like Elliot Weston, he is very easy to look past as a prospective heister. He might not love doing it and hand-wring a ton over the ethics of it to the point where Mike Ermitratt has to slap him into unconsciousness, but he could use psychological cues to influence targets. And if you can get him to stop wiping down every fucking surface in the bank, he is probably a solid asset, although I would not count on him for gold bar extraction at the end. God knows. Dave: [51:59] All right. So let's go around, read your full lineups. And if you had any like strategy or you think how this is going to heist is going to go with these people, you can add it in as color there. There may be some sort of voting. I'll probably forget, but maybe. So Tara, sorry. Tara: [52:14] Sure. I spent $5 on Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. I spent $4 on Neil Caffrey from White Collar. $2 on Fox Mulder from The X-Files. $1 on John Carter from ER. $3 thrown away on Elliot Weston from 30-something. I think this crew is pretty solid. There's not a lot of duplication of skills, I think. And they're all people who are good under pressure. None of them is going to try and step to Mike Ehrmantrout, the mastermind. So I think he's going to be able to keep everyone in line and get us to success. Sarah. Sarah: [52:50] I spent $5 on Mike Ehrmantraut and $4 on Saul Goodman. There's a force multiplier there. I believe that they've worked together before. I spent $3 spent, not threw away, on Elliot Weston for the reasons noted. I think that he's a salesman and could be useful if used correctly. I spent $2 on Winn Duffy. And yeah, Niles Crane was my dollar spend. And maybe that'll go great. and maybe he'll just wind up in a duffel bag that someone else has to carry in and out of the bag. Who is to say? I do think that there are some, not B-list exactly, but just overlooked undersung skills on my team that are going to let it penetrate the vault with ease. Getting out might be an issue, but we'll shoot that bridge when we get to it. Dave. Dave: [53:41] Okay, I spent $4 on Thomas Shelby, my person is going to be the high-level planner. And then at the end of it, if they need somebody to shoot somebody else, he'll pop up then too. He is going to send out on one side of my caper, Sydney Bristow from Alias. She will be sent to the real heist. While all seven members of my chaos crew are sent as a diversion to some high society thing. And everybody responds to that. You're going to have Niles Crane, Don Draper, two Cliff Clavins, John Carter from ER, Cyril Karn, Doug Heffernan, all in one room. Nobody's going to suspect that Bristow is halfway across town actually getting the jewels out there. So it is just a diversion tactic full of Chaos crew members. Dave: [54:31] And that is it for this episode of Extra, Extra Hot Great. We educated ourselves on the second season of A Man on the Inside before answering your burning Ask EHG questions like, where are you driving a golf cart and what TV show should change its primary point of view? We were not poor sports about putting Tara's taskmaster, tiny sportsmanship bitch into the nonac. We celebrated those who weren't quite the best and worst of the week and wrap it all up with Money Heist. We are off for Thanksgiving, so EHG Prime will be a Patreon episode unlocked, but Friday's extra, extra hot great will be all new with all the usual stuff, plus a look at Jingle Bell Heist, A Deadly Mob Christmas is something I added to that to make it more fun. Remember, we're listening. I am David T. Cole, and on behalf of Tara Ariano. Tara: [55:28] It's one of our most sensuous tasks. Dave: [55:30] And server debunting. Sarah: [55:32] Denim like the gene. Dave: [55:34] Thanks for listening. And we'll see you next time. Right here on Extra Extra. Hot Great. Tara: [55:50] I found Joni Mitchell. She was in the toilet. Tara: [55:57] Cording. Rolling.