What We Watched On Our 2025 Winter Vacation

Dave: [0:45] This is the Extra Extra Hot Grape Podcast, episode 391 for the January 17th, 2026 weekend. I am Boxing Day tree disassembly enforcer David T. Cole, and I'm here with flaming Yule log Tara Arellano. Tara: [1:06] Crackle. Dave: [1:07] And Spiced Eggnog, Carrie Race. Kari: [1:10] I'm not drunk, you're drunk. Tara: [1:19] Welcome to Extra Extra Hot Great for another weekend. This is, of course, the show made possible by you and listeners like you, so thank you. We're thrilled to have you back for a whole new year of episodes actually recorded in this year. As we mentioned on the main show this week, Sarah is out with her family, but we have a special guest sitting in. She is a DJ and Culver's fan. You have heard with us many times before, including every other month on this very show, presenting the world's most dangerous musical moments on TV. It's Keri Raze. Dave: [1:54] Welcome back, Keri. Tara: [1:55] Thanks for so many. Yay. Kari: [1:57] Thank you for having me and sending love to Sarah and her family. Tara: [2:00] America! What was that about the. Dave: [2:07] Sarah sarah's the. Tara: [2:08] Musical uh logo now okay she's. Dave: [2:11] America's cookie tour oh how soon they forget. Tara: [2:13] All right well we're here to talk about what we watched on our winter vacation and we watched a lot of tv and we're gonna start with the one show that everybody got on board with on mass and is still obsessed with and is counting their rewatches possibly in the double digits at this point, heated rivalry. Softness in his eyes, iron in his thighs. Kari: [2:39] Wow, apropos. Tara: [2:41] You are our resident expert on heated rivalry in the Discord, so Carrie, take it away. Tell us about heated rivalry. Kari: [2:48] Well, first, shout out to the Discord and all of the lovely posters there, but especially Amanda, a.k.a. Cleggie32, who was a book reader and has been my shepherd into the world of hockey romance books, which is a whole nother deal. But the show Heated Rivalry, I mean, does anybody not know what it is? Tara: [3:13] I feel like no, but pretend someone doesn't. Kari: [3:16] Okay, long story short, there's two guys that we meet when they are junior hockey players, So still in their teens, one from Russia, one from Canada, they are drafted into the NHL. They are huge rivals, but they also are, I was going to say, F-U-C-K. Okay, great. They're fucking tells the story of their romance over about 10 years and they end up falling in love and it's great. It's wonderful and it will change your life. Watch it right now. Tara: [3:48] Yeah. I watched it as well. I think I'm not as passionate about it as you are. I felt like it's a little, some of the book stuff, and I know these are tropes of romance novels. This is not a genre that I engage with a lot, but I felt like it was underwritten in places. But I will grade on a curve of like, it's a Canadian production. They made it for $16 in 12 days. That's almost not an under-exaggeration. And obviously it doesn't really matter what I think because it has struck the biggest chord of, I'm going to say, the last quarter of the year in terms of TV penetration, no pun intended, pun a little intended. Kari: [4:28] The discourse really caught up with it after a little while. It started out sort of where everyone was just talking about it being smut, like it was all about the sex. And I think after about episode four or five, people started to sort of stop talking about it in that way. And I really think now it's kind of like this whole idea that people asking about like, why do women love this show this much? And like, why are straight men into the show? It just feels so reductive to me because I don't understand why people think that number one, queer romance would be any different than romance in general to people like everybody loves romance. But also like, there's something very particular about queer romance, especially when the people are closeted about like it becomes about something way more than the romance aspect of it. It becomes about like people not being able to be who they truly are, closing off parts of themselves and and not being able to, you know, express themselves in the ways they would like. And I think that's sort of like a universal experience. Kari: [5:40] So it just kind of is so stupid to me that it seems to be everyone thinks that there's only the romance that you can um tie yourself to or it's only like you have to be obsessed with watching these men have sex when there's so much more going on but there's also like the sex is good and there's also been a lot of like breakdown around how the sex in the show is actually telling a lot of the story right and yeah and i think on the discord i believe it was nora shared a wonderful article by a blogger at reading the end.com which we'll link in the show notes that talked specifically about the first two episodes and the sex scenes in those two episodes and how their relationship is reflected in the way that they're having sex and the relationship growing and changing is reflected in those sex scenes. So there's definitely a lot more going on here than people were talking about initially. And like I said, I think that has kind of, people have caught up with that on the whole, but there's still some of that happening. And I think that's a little frustrating. Tara: [6:50] Yeah. In terms of why straight women are into it, I would say to misquote a line from Mad About You where there's a scene where Jamie asks Pollock, why are men so obsessed with lesbian porn? And his answer is something to the effect of because they're both attractive and I agree with both of them. And that's sort of, I think, what's going on here too with the guys. But I'll also say one of the appeals, and this is like one of the queer specific aspects of the story, is over the last, let's say, 100 years or more, we've had lots of stories about queer trauma where, you know, if it's going to be a story about especially gay men, it's going to be like about someone getting hate crimed or someone getting AIDS or whatever. And like, obviously, both of these characters being closeted is part of it. And that's a trauma in itself. And especially Ilya has more on the trauma side coming from Russia and the, you know, illegality of being gay and so on. But I still think you can watch the show and think like, okay, no one's gonna die, probably. So that's like a step up from a lot of queer stories that get told to a mainstream audience. Kari: [7:56] Yeah, I mean, that is a particular trope in the romance book that I was not aware of. Like, it's like H-E-A, happy ending. Like, well, I don't know what the A stands for. But anyways, like, you're guaranteed a happy ending. Kari: [8:11] Yeah people that read the book knew that going in I guess or just if you're a fan of romance in general you knew that going in but that is part of it too is like people I think everybody you know regardless of orientation or what have you like I'm not queer I'm you know so that I that wasn't part of the attraction for me but seeing joy you know queer joy or just joy in general on my screen after the year we've had is like enough that it spoke to me for different reasons as well but like that in particular what you're talking about just like seeing two people fall in love and yes there was you know circumstances they had to overcome but like by the time you get to the last episode of this season and the absolute joy of seeing them finally connect with each other and like be totally in it with each other and like have the experience of being you know fully in love and fully committed to moving forward together it's just like it was it was transcendent like I I try not to be hyperbolic but it was truly something that was transformative I believe for a lot of people and and that's not something to like be smug about like it truly was great. Tara: [9:32] And not only the main two, but like, I know there was a lot of critique about people like, why are we stepping away from Shane and Ilya to look at these other two people I don't even know? And then when you get to that final, the final moments of episode five, it's like, this is why. Because that moment is so satisfying. Kari: [9:48] The other thing about this show that I think really the reason that it kind of took everybody by storm is that it's really a show that kind of rewards rewatching. And like, there's so many little details that you don't catch the first time you watch episodes. And so, I mean, I think there was some kind of statistic that went out about like the number of minutes that were actually watched. And it was, you know, something crazy because people were rewatching like even I can speak for myself, like episodes four and five, like while I was waiting for the next episode to come. I watched those at least six or seven times. Kari: [10:28] Not kidding. But you pick up on little things like, you know, each new time you watch and like people are breaking it down. And there's a cinematographer on Instagram that is now kind of like going back and like showing people like the different things that are happening in the show. There's a very particular scene in the episode six that's a one shot that I did not notice that on you know my first watch and and so like that's part of the fun too is kind of like seeing all those details being rewarded for like going back and watching it again you know seeing parallels between episode one and episode six like there obviously was a lot of care and attention put into the show and like you said this was made for you know five dollars five canadian dollars yeah and to know that like it's even more impressive like it just it's just crazy to think about that and there's reward for all of the attention and devotion that they're giving to it. Tara: [11:33] Okay, well, we are officially now we can go on the record of pro heated rivalry podcast. So I feel like we should move on to some of the other things that we watched. Unless there's any final comments that you want to add. Kari: [11:44] But I just want to say one last thing. The press tour has been also sort of like transcendent in that these two actors, Hudson Williams and Connor Story, not only are they they seem very delightful, but they also are sort of like breaking down sort of like things about toxic masculinity. Tara: [12:03] Yeah. Kari: [12:03] They're very affectionate with each other in a way that they have expressly said, like, we love each other. We are friends. They show affection to each other physically in a way that I think models for young men that are not even queer men, but young hetero men. Like it's okay to be like this like there's no it doesn't matter you know if you love your friends you can be expressive about it and so I think that's also important that again like people that love the show feel even more devoted because the actors are inspiring that kind of care and devotion as well so I think that's a big piece of it but overall yep heated rivalry great Cultural phenomenon for a reason. Tara: [12:49] For real. All right. I watched 12 Dates Till Christmas. This was a Hallmark Plus series based on a book. Mae Whitman plays an American with a British dad who is living in England. She has gifted these 12 Dates Till Christmas program, I guess. It's like a series of blind dates leading up to Christmas. And they are so elaborate. it. She's like, you know, dining in a forest in one of those like plastic domes or like she's going skating or whatever. And the premise was probably flimsy on the page. It is even more so on screen. Like how would a program like this possibly work? But Mae Whitman is so lovable. She has such cute chemistry with the one true love whose identity is extremely obvious as soon as you see him. And it's probably a very repeatable format. So if it did well, I can imagine we'll see again. But it's cute. Fly to England and grab it if you don't have Hallmark Plus. Watch it next Christmas season if you missed it. It was very under the radar, but I'm glad I watched it. It made me, it really put me in a festive mood. And speaking of a festive mood, Dave, what is your first show? Dave: [13:56] It's everybody's favorite Christmas TV show, Fallout Season 2. You know, you do get a nuclear winter in Fallout, probably, so we've got that going for us. Remind me where we are in the Fallout timeline? Have people watched the whole season two yet, or is it still ongoing? Tara: [14:13] Episode five was the one that dropped on Wednesday. Dave: [14:16] So we're halfway through. Tara: [14:17] Yes, which is the one where, I mean, spoiler, I guess, if you're not up to date, where Cooper Howard and Robert House meet in Las Vegas. Dave: [14:25] Okay. More Fallout hijinks, and there's a lot of little details to enjoy. But my problem with season two, and I don't know how much of it, I think we see some of it in the first half that people have been able to watch is there's way too much about the brotherhood of, the army that only meets in mess halls. I don't know what it's called. But, you know, the sort of the remnant government or whatever that the Brotherhood of something, I forget what it's called. Tara: [14:50] I think of the sword. Dave: [14:51] Something like that. Yeah. That is the least interesting part of the show. And they do spend more time there this season. There's a power struggle, things happen. They're setting the table up for something else. But getting there has been a little bit of a drag. So when you're with the ghoul, great. You know, when you're with Ella Pardell. Great. I already forgot her name in the show. Tara: [15:13] Lucy. Dave: [15:14] And when you're not, it suffers and they're spent too much time. But also the ghoul and the lead are separated for a lot of the season too. So it doesn't gel quite as well as season one, but I did enjoy it. When it comes time for the splats, they're still very satisfying. Tara: [15:30] They are very gushy. Dave: [15:31] And that's probably 60% of why I'm here. You know, there's a lot of people that are fans of the video game and they're upset because it's not following the video game. Video game's an open world post-apocalyptic endeavor. Who gives a shit? Like, what do you want? A show where you're just running around collecting med kits for half an hour? Like, no thanks. Enjoying it, but season one better than season two. Tara: [15:54] Back to Carrie, what's your next show? Kari: [15:56] Crime Scene Zero, which is a Netflix joint. Apparently, this was an existing South Korean show, and the most recent season appeared on Netflix. And what's going on is there is a crime scene that's introduced at the beginning of the episode. A detective and five suspects arrive, and then two episodes are spent trying to solve the murder as those folks inspect the crime scene and other locations, which are also set up in the same area. There's voting on who they believe is the killer, and at the end, money is awarded based on whether the killer is found out. I never understood any of that, but it doesn't matter. Kari: [16:40] If you have any inkling you might want to watch it i would suggest you skip ahead now and save this for later and go watch the first episode before i get into specifics, so my journey with this was that i just saw a headline from andy denhart of reality blurred when he compared it to the devil's plan which i love yeah so just started watching it i had no idea if these people were actors or like joe schmoes off the street or what and of course i'm not south korean so i don't recognize these people they are apparently actors and they start off kind of like really super serious but by the end of the first episode they start taking it like it keeps getting like more and more like really like um like campy, Yes, campy. Thank you. And it just gets funnier and funnier. So such that like by the end of the first episode, I was just like laughing and but it's still like they're still doing the mystery like, but it's just funny. And they keep breaking and calling each other by their real names instead of the names of the characters. Kari: [17:50] It's just hard to explain. It's just a lot more fun than you think it's going to be. The mysteries are real, though. The crimes, there's tons of clues, but there's also tons of red herring. So if you want to watch it for the mystery and try to solve it along with them, you're welcome to do that. But I was more along for the ride of just watching these people be really goofy and silly. And the same people, there's 10 episodes, so five different mysteries. And the same people play all of the parts except for there's a guest star every case. So it's really fun. You get to see them play different things. And like there's an old man that plays a 27-year-old one time and they just keep making references to that fact. So it's just I would check it out, I think. It's just totally different than I expected, but a real fun watch. Tara: [18:41] Okay, good rec. I had never even heard of that, so that's awesome. Next up for me, Emily in Paris, season five. And truly the only thing that I remember about this season, other than how annoying it is that a show this smooth brain requires you to keep looking at the screen to read the French or now Italian subtitles when you could be looking at a magazine or your phone, is how many of the outfits that Mindy wears, the Ashley Park character, wears in public are truly just underwear. Like she's walking around going to a party in like a Taylor Swift era's tour, you know, unitard, basically. It's ridiculous how they dress her. And I know Heather said in the main show, they were going to be talking about it on their newsletter, Drinks with Broad. So I will be watching out for that commentary because it was really over the top. They are losing their minds there. But otherwise, this is exactly the kind of show that I want to drop on December 17th or whatever it was. It is a show full of people who do not have real problems. And sometimes that really hits the spot, like in December. We just want to relax. If you have been watching Emily in Barris, keep watching it. the fashions on her are still interesting and good. And she is still the same exact character with zero growth. And there's something kind of comforting about that. Back to Dave. Dave: [19:59] All right. My next show is from HBO. It's called Get Millie Black. It involves following Millie Black around. Millie Black is a Jamaican detective officer that did work in London, but is now back in Jamaica. And there's a mystery. And I have to say, I enjoyed the fact that the mystery is straightforward, but escalating, but not red herring filled. Tara: [20:24] Yes. Dave: [20:25] Tara's going to do the timeline because it's confusing. Tara: [20:27] Okay. She, yeah, Millie grew up with a very abusive mother and her sibling had a much harder time. But when Millie basically interfered with how her terrible mother was raising them, she was sent to England, which is how she grew up there. And then her sibling ran away from home. Right. And in the present timeline, the sibling has transitioned, is now known as, it's a flower name, but now I can't remember what it is. Dave: [20:52] Hibiscus. Tara: [20:53] Hibiscus. I was going to say hyacinth, and I knew that wasn't right. So they still have a fraught relationship, sort of, because Hibiscus feels abandoned, and Millie is living in their childhood home, which Hibiscus never wants to go back to and sell it and stuff, but is also sort of living with a basically unhoused community of other trans people in Jamaica, which is an extremely homophobic country, and that's part of the story, too, because Millie's partner is queer and lives with his partner, and they have to hide. No one can know about them because they could be prosecuted still in the 2020s. Dave: [21:28] And she lives in sort of a, I don't know, shantytown, I guess. Tara: [21:32] Yeah, the Gully. And it's like basically a paved canal where people have set up like kind of an encampment. Dave: [21:39] Yeah. Tara: [21:39] But they are constantly subject to like raids and hate crimes. Dave: [21:43] So while all this is sort of happening to them personally, there is a mystery, a murder mystery that sort of escalates and involves more and more people. It goes back to the UK and comes back. It's a pretty interesting storyline. I thought the mystery was well done. But the sibling storyline really adds a lot to the proceedings. Otherwise, it would have been just a straight-up murder mystery. But I did enjoy sort of how the story did manage to switch gears a lot, but still feel cohesive. Because there's bit players, there's big players, there's international players. But the whole thing still feels very personal. Which I thought was a good feat. Tara: [22:25] I mean, speaking of the switching, Millie also code switches a lot from, you know, proper English to, you know, Jamaican English. And all of it is subtitled. And so some of it is like, you know, if you don't know Jamaican slang, you get those subtitles. Dave: [22:38] Yeah. Learning a lot about RAS. Tara: [22:40] Yeah. Yeah. It's a very interesting show. Dave: [22:44] Yeah. And the other thing I will say about just the language part of it, and this will be part one of a two-part feature I'm calling the Sucks Teeth Collection. Which is, it seems to be like, I don't know, like a glottal stop in Hawaiian that like teeth sucking is sort of, you know, non-word language and they bring to the forefront, they caption it. So I feel like there is a non-verbal language there as well that I never really picked up on. Even though we lived in a Jamaican neighborhood in Toronto, never really picked up on the teeth sucking. So I thought that was neat. Tara: [23:17] Back to Carrie. Kari: [23:19] So I watched Stranger Things. Tara: [23:21] You sound thrilled. Kari: [23:22] I know. I mean, I'm a completist. So I had to, although I didn't watch them until after they were all out and then I binged it. But I mean, this is actually kind of turning into an I Am Not a Crackpot segment because I demand that anyone that pitches a show from this point forward has to have like an outline for at least five seasons. You cannot just start doing these shows and not have a plan because it's so obvious that with the Duffer brothers, they didn't know what the heck they were doing. I mean, this latest, the last season was just basically the same old stuff over and over again. It was so boring. There was no like more character development. Like these kids never grew or changed or nothing was different. Dave: [24:12] Sounds more like familiar things. Kari: [24:15] Yeah. Tara: [24:17] Yeah, I don't think I've heard one person say they were satisfied by how it wrapped up. Kari: [24:24] Total bummer and total Paul over the whole experience, given that Lily Allen's album was my favorite album of last year. So screw David Harbour. Tara: [24:39] All right, back to me. So Get Millie Black was one of the international shows that we watched over the break. Another one is Pachinko, but we haven't finished it yet. We got through season one and then we had to really slow down on season two because it is sad. But one that was, we'll come back to Pachinko once we finish it. But for now, I want to talk about The Minister. It is on Prime Video. It stars that one Icelandic actor you know, Olafor Dari Olafsson. You've seen him in Trapped and Lady Dynamite in the latest season of Severance. Here, he is the leader of a political party in Iceland who wants to shake up how things work. But then, you know, it sort of opens on this prime ministerial debate among all the leaders. And his big thing is like, we all basically agree. And my main issue is not enough people vote. So if X percent of voters don't come out for this federal election, I will dissolve our party. And all of it just was basically like we we in this healthy democracy agree about more things than not and it was felt braggy to me in a way that was like i don't want to watch more of this, that sounds nice for you but fuck off so that was a problem but also it was kind of slow and boring. Dave: [25:55] How dare you how dare you iceland have a functional. Tara: [25:58] Democracy says tara you can i'm I'm just saying that's not what I want to watch right now. Dave: [26:03] Yeah. It compares poorly to my favorite one of those shows, which is Borgen out of Denmark. That is such a great show. It was just really dry. It just didn't really ever click into high gear. And the stakes are so low. Like, who cares if you don't head your party up after the vote? And like, the vote comes in and it's literally 89.9. Tara: [26:25] Right? Dave: [26:26] It's just like one tenth of a percentage away from this mark. And you're like, all right, like, let them stay, kick them out. Who cares? I mean, there's 300,000 people in Iceland. They're going to do fine. You know, just keep an eye on the volcano. Tara: [26:41] Yes. Dave: [26:42] Make sure the puffins are okay. Tara: [26:44] You're good. The five political parties are basically like all of us here in the center left to far left. And like the most left is the pirate party, which is a real party. Like at least with Borgen, it was like there are parties that have actual, you know, policy differences that are going to be materially changing voters' lives, depending on how it comes out. Dave: [27:05] If you really want to see that guy in something from Iceland, definitely seek out Trapped. Tara: [27:10] Yes. Dave: [27:11] Trapped. Which is sometimes known as Entrapped. Sometimes Trapped is the first season, Entrapped is the second season. It's all over the place. It's house, house MD all over again. But the first season was great. I really enjoyed the first season. It's basically an Agatha Christie mystery, but the whole town is the parlor room. Tara: [27:29] Yes. Because everyone is snowed in. Dave: [27:31] Snowed in. Yeah. Tara: [27:33] All right. Next, Dave. Dave: [27:34] All right. Number two in the Sucks Teeth series, The Thousand Blows Season 2 from Netflix. Tara: [27:40] From Hulu. Dave: [27:41] Thank you. This is the turn of the century-ish boxing London East End show, but also it's a little bit of a mob show by the guy that did Peaky Blinders. So it's got some Peaky Blinders energy, except more fists than things blowing up. I enjoy it. It's not like a super great series, but there's something about it that just sort of very watchable and sort of that little bit cold Saturday afternoon kind of way. It's just very comforting in that way. But the lead is a Jamaican that comes to London seeking fame and fortune, ends up boxing to make ends meet. And it turns out he's the best fucking boxer in the world. Yes. And he sort of rises up the ranks, gets knocked back down again, basically because racism. And it's the story of how sort of he survives by going in between all these different factions that are sort of running in. And one of the factions is a woman's pickpocketing ring called the 40 Elephants. Tara: [28:39] Yep. Dave: [28:40] And the other one is, what's the guy's name? Little guy, Brickhouse. Tara: [28:44] Stephen Graham. Dave: [28:45] Stephen Graham. He is sort of like the reigning fisticuffs guy, but also he's sort of like a mob figure and he owns the neighborhood. And there is a hotel owner played by Jason Tobin. Tara: [29:01] Yes. Dave: [29:01] From our favorite, Warrior. And he's there as well. So there's lots of like little parties and they all sort of gel together. They do a really good job intertwining all those stories. They never really feel separate, which I really appreciate about this show. Season two, more of the same. Lots more sucking of teas in the subtitles. So we got that going for us as well. Tara: [29:22] Yeah. In season two, also, the 40 Elephants develop a kind of organized heist plan, which involves bringing over a mesmerist from America, meaning a hypnotist. And all of those scenes are super fun and interesting. So, yeah, I felt like this was an improvement on season one, actually. Dave: [29:39] There's definitely more things happening. And the heist involves a very famous painting, which was a little fun, too. Tara: [29:45] Yeah. Dave: [29:45] There's a lot of art scene, little tidbits as well. Tara: [29:48] Yeah. If you want to see Aaron Doherty and Stephen Graham again after adolescence in something that's not terribly sad, there's this. And it's a lot more fun. Dave: [29:57] Yeah. And just by the way, you have to refer to it as 1KB. Tara: [30:01] Yeah. The new season is 1KB2. All right, Carrie, what is the last show you have brought us? Kari: [30:07] Have you seen me lately? This is part of the Music Box series on HBO Max, which is basically 30 for 30, but make it about music. It is produced by Bill Simmons. And this is about Counting Crows, specifically about their first two albums, which were released in like 94 and 96. Justice for Counting Crows. Kari: [30:31] Those two albums are absolutely perfect albums. Amazing and this documentary it's about 90 minutes it was really interesting insight into what was going on with adam duritz at the time personally and about the band's rise to fame all of the backlash that they faced and how they moved past that some really good stuff about like the cost of fame which i think is better received in 2026 than in 1996 it could have gone a little deeper on that front or just sort of in general but i think worth the watch and if you're a counting crows fan at all definitely check this one out the music box series in general is kind of hit or miss under that banner is like the alanis documentary that came out a couple years that she like disavowed but i found that one about her pretty interesting there's also one about kenny g which is actually really good and is more really about the genre of like smooth jazz or whatever you want to call what Kenny G does, which sounds horrible. But it's interesting from a perspective of like, you know, how a music genre like comes to be. Those are good ones too. But check out Have You Seen Me Lately. Tara: [31:49] Okay. All right. My last show on my list is Ha Ha, You Clowns. This is an animated adult swim show you can also watch on HBO Max. It premiered last October and it passed me by, I guess, because I saw some stills of what it looks like and figured that it fell into the bucket of adult swim shows that I will never like, like Squidbillies. But then I started seeing more people whose taste I respect post about it on Blue Sky, and I thought I should check it out. And then I regretted how long I waited, although we did dipped into it right before the season finale. So it kind of worked out well. Tara: [32:23] So Tom is a local weatherman whose wife has died not too long ago. He lives with his three large adult sons, Preston, Tristan, and Duncan. And all of the members of this family are voiced by the show's creator, Joe Cappa. But only the boys really sound the same. Tara: [32:40] They all have the same voice and the same haircut, different colors. It takes a while before you can tell which one is which. And they look like frat-ish bullies. But the gag of the show is they are incredibly sincere and loving with each other and protective of their dad and seemingly do not know what irony is because they have no sense of it at all. So it was hard to find a representative clip of how they are. But here is a clip of the boys who are, you know, all in their 20s playing a video game online with a woman that they want to set their dad up with. Let's hear the clip. Kari: [34:00] We must protect. Tara: [34:01] BriBri at all costs. Putting his hand, his fist over his headset mic before he sets that part. It takes a minute for you to lock into understanding their weird accent, I guess, their way of talking. But anyway, there was one episode that I put on my to-canon list as soon as it ended, even though I know in my bones, Sarah will not like this show. The animation style is, I will say, intentionally unbeautiful, but I'm going to, Dave said he would take that one. So we'll see how that goes if it comes up this year. Guest voices include Sean Astin, Justin Theroux as a crazy therapist. That's another really funny episode. Paul Rudd, June Squibb, and Debra Wilson, who, of course, we know from Rhapsody Street, Kids, Colon, Believe in Santa. All the new shows we watched in our break, and there were probably more than a dozen. And this was the standout for me, but it will not be for everyone. Dave, you also enjoyed the show. Dave: [34:57] I really, really did. Tara: [34:59] So dumb. Dave: [34:59] There is one episode in particular that is so fucking crazy and mad that we'll probably make an appearance in the Canada at some point, I am sure. We'll not get Sarah's vote, so it has to be introduced with an open-minded guest. Tara: [35:16] If you are a fan of, I'll say, the smarter tier of Adult Swim shows, I think if you could vibe with Frisky Dingo, even though they're really different shows, I think this will probably tickle you. Dave, what is the final show you've brought? Dave: [35:29] All right. Our last show that we watched on our winter vacation is the Great Peep Show Christmas Bake Off crossover. Dave: [35:37] It was fine and it was enjoyable. And I like it when there are people that I enjoy seeing on my screen doing Bake Off. Usually, you know, when they bring people in from UK celebrity sphere, I'm like, I have no idea who these people are. But everybody I know from Pew Show, so they had character-wise, they had Mark there, they had Super Hans, they had Big Suze, Dobby, and Sophie. They did not have Jeremy there, Robert Webb. And Robert Webb, at the start of it, dials in via Zoom, pre-taped, to say that he can't be there. And I'm like, oh, he must have got COVID, or he's getting recanceled again, or what's happening with Robert Webb? So I looked it up. Total bullshit reason. Robert Webb said that he had a prior commitment to do a children's show that he did every once in a while for BBC Kids channel or whatever. But how do you not know? How do you not know that you have these two things happening at the same time? Even if you don't have a personal assistant anymore because nobody will work for you, how do you not have Google Calendar set up to say you've got a conflict here? It seems to me that you've booked a giant international hit show and a minor commitment to the BBC's Children's Channel. That is a bullshit excuse. It did not happen. There's something else to this story. We've got to get Millie Black on the case. Dave: [37:06] Well, we're back in the studio, which means it's been a long time since this theme has hit my ears and it's making me happy already. it is time for Ask EHG. Sucks, team. All right. Well, guys, we have a ton of judgment to go through. I will be the judge for all of them. So I'm just going to get to the winners until we get to the last one, because we are going long. Here we go. Episode 384 from November. I asked, give us the best piece of Pennywise lore. And look at this. Our winner is Carrie Race. Tara: [37:54] Hey! Kari: [37:54] Oh, no. Dave: [37:55] Pennywise never says when, when the waiter is grating fresh Parmesan cheese. Kari: [38:01] Yay! Dave: [38:03] I know where you live. I can already get you your sticker set. Kari: [38:06] Thank you so much. Dave: [38:08] Episode 385, Eggery asked, have you come across any interesting examples of coded fandom? This is the thing I used to basically make money on in Clarkwear, selling shirts, winky shirts to people that like show A, B, and C. But have you seen them recently? Big Time Tomato posted a picture of Kirk Van Houten's Pictionary Drawing of Dignity from The Simpsons. And then Seekan immediately asked what the hell that was. And then everybody ganged up on him and posted Dignity memes, proving Big Tomato correct. So our prize for that one, Big Time Tomato. Congratulations. Dave: [38:44] 386, Damon asked, you are the casting director for a new limited series murder mystery show from, let's say, Netflix. To appeal to Gen X nostalgia, you must cast only actors who are at the height of their careers in the 90s. Who do you cast and what's the gist of the show? Our winner is Erica. Beloved veterinarian Quentin Green, Darren E. Burroughs from Northern Exposure, is dead. And his best friend, Benjamin Casper, Alfonso Ribeiro, is missing. Sheriff Amber Thistle, Joan Chen, thinks these two things are connected. Benjamin is her chief suspect, but Benjamin's wife, Antoinette, Nets, Capper, Helen Hunt, isn't buying it. Together with her board gang group, conspiracy theorist Mackie Burns, Perry Gilpin, Librarian Gemini Taylor, Marina Sirtis from Star Trek, and bar owner Roddy Roberts, Ian Ziering, Ian Ziering, excuse me. Dave: [39:41] Ness is determined to clear Benjamin's name and bring him home. The only problem, Benjamin hasn't gone anywhere. He's still in town, but no one can hear him or see him except reclusive palm reader, Matilda Malloy, Josie Bissette, who's also trying to deal with a very annoyed Quentin Green, who just wants to know who killed him. Well done. Very good. All right. So moving on. 384 also comes from Damon. Which show would you like to see retold from the viewpoint of its antagonist or villain? We're giving this one to Mademoiselle Caroline, who suggested Sherlock season one and two from Moriarty's point of view, which actually would be kind of fun. I would actually like to see that like split screen somehow. Tara: [40:23] Mm hmm. Dave: [40:24] 388, Seekent, what's a trope that may exist on TV, but the reason for them has evolved based on real world experiences. Old Dolphin wins here. Old version, teen in a bad situation, is revealed to see a phone booth. But when they pick up the receiver, they find the cord is severed. New version, teen in a bad situation, pulls out their cell phone only to see it is out of battery. Of course. 389, George asks, what show did you quit? because a character you like was written off. Lots of suggestions here. We had Michael Scott from The Office, Lance Sweet from Bones, Cordelia on Buffy, Glenn Walking Dead, Rose Doctor Who, Matthew on Downton Abbey, but our winner in honor of Tara is Kerfuffler, Brenda on 90210. Tara: [41:11] Good choice. Dave: [41:12] Last one, and we're going to take our time with this one. It is 390, our last question for you guys. It came from me. What is the best, least known TV theme song. And we're going to award two. One was my pick. And then as Carrie hears them, she will be making notes and. Dave: [41:32] Will also award one on which theme has just the best song. So just on the song alone. So we're going to give two awards. So I disqualified anybody who put in a moderately well-known show. There was like mod, great theme, but people know about mod. And there was a couple where unfortunately the audio just wasn't up to snuff so uh nickelodeon's roundhouse great theme enjoyed it can't play it so here are the runner-ups in alphabetical order we're going to start with this one i want you guys as you're hearing it to try to figure out either what this show is or just the genre of the show and we'll quiz you after here's our first theme it comes from prof reader. Dave: [42:43] All right. You've heard it. Any ideas, Tara, Carrie, either show or I'll even accept genre. Tara: [42:50] Miss Marple Mysteries. Dave: [42:51] You're really close. You're really close. I'm surprised how close you got. All right, Carrie, guesses? Kari: [42:56] I mean, it definitely sounded like some kind of sci-fi show to me. Dave: [43:00] Yeah. Well, to give you a further look into that, the visuals really look like the cover of an Omni magazine from the 70s. There's a moon in the background. There's a dramatically lit maze and the camera is sort of like pans up and down on the world. I think there's a crater in the foreground. Maybe it's supposed to be the moon. Tara: [43:19] Okay. Dave: [43:19] But it has nothing to do with science fiction. So any guesses here, Carrie? Kari: [43:24] No. Dave: [43:24] That was the theme to the Hardy Boys' Nancy Drew Mystery Show. Kari: [43:29] Oh, okay. Dave: [43:30] You gotta track down this video. You will not believe it is for that series. Our second comes from Aaron P. It's a show from the 80s starring a young Jason Bateman. It's called It's Your Move. I believe we played this on the show before, but it is a little-known show with a great theme. Dave: [44:21] That is so 80s. Oh, my God. Good jam, though. A lot of people put down their favorite anime shows. So these were mostly all new to me. And there's some definitely good ones. Our first one of those comes from Milsnack. It is called Keep Your Hands Off Azukan. Here's the theme. Easy, Catch catchy easy breezy next one is from julie i don't know whether to put this in the good theme or the bad theme if i had to vote i would definitely go this is a bad theme but it was in the mix and i think is worthy of our attention it is from a show called love sydney familiar with love sydney love kava sydney yes. Tara: [45:27] It's with um tony randall. Dave: [45:29] Right tony randall yep at all here is the theme please believe me lately my whole, Better than before We're friends forever, Sharing everything together Always understanding just how much the other cares, We're friends forever You. Kari: [46:03] Know that's how you feel. Dave: [46:31] My Tara: [46:32] Lord the world before pro tools. Dave: [46:35] I mean. Kari: [46:37] Was that like tony randall and the rest of the cast singing. Dave: [46:40] I think that was definitely him i don't know exactly what the story is about to get the feelings about a mixed blended family you know i thought. Tara: [46:48] That was the one that was infamously like he's sort of coded gay. Dave: [46:52] Oh is he okay i was just going by the theme and fact that they're all Okay, well, that makes sense, too. Moving on? Tara: [46:58] Yes. Dave: [46:59] Taco Tina brings us another theme we played on the show before, but it is a banger. It is a show called Making It, and I think you can establish exactly what movie it came shortly after. I'm as bad as they come. I'm a two to no one. I've got looks. I've, taking it. No more. No more. Making it. Good song. Tara: [47:35] Mm-hmm. Dave: [47:35] And if you watch the actual credits, it is jammed full of disco dance floors. Tara: [47:41] Mm-hmm. Dave: [47:41] This one comes from me. I am not sure if this is well-known or not. I think I only know it because it was a very cheap show from the generation before me that It was just shown every day after school. It is the mighty Hercules. Tara: [48:28] There's virtue in his heart, fire, and every part of the mighty Hercules. Dave: [48:40] Carrie, have you ever heard the mighty Hercules scene before? Kari: [48:42] I have not. It kind of reminded me of the mighty mouse, Here He Comes to Save the Day. Dave: [48:48] A little bit. Kari: [48:49] Yeah. Dave: [48:49] If you don't recognize those lyrics, it's because there was 10,000 versions of it that floated through the schoolyard. Tara: [48:57] Schoolyard filk. Dave: [48:59] Yeah, fighting with his life with a rubber knife. It's probably the only lyric I can actually say. Tara: [49:05] Yep. Dave: [49:06] Did not age well. All right, I got two from Matthew, who emailed me with a whole bunch of selections. There is this one from the early 80s. It is a cartoon version of the video game Pole Position. Pole Position. Probably the only song to feature the lyrics only their uncle knows, but I don't know for sure. Man, some of these theme songs, just like they're going way harder than they need to. And I appreciate that. All right, moving on. Tara: [50:22] Yes. Dave: [50:22] Second selection from Matthew, also a cartoon, also something I watched in the early 80s. It is from the 70s, though, I believe. It is an anime show from Japan known here as Star Blazers. Searching for a distant star Heading off to Iskandar Leaving all we. Tara: [50:51] Just one year Mother Earth will disappear Fighting with. Kari: [50:59] The Gamelons We won't stop until we've won Then we'll return, and when we arrive. Dave: [51:15] Cannot tell you how much I loved this show as a kid. I was so excited running home from school because this was the 3.30 show on WUTV Buffalo. Oh, I fucking love this show. And then they had ones that were kind of the same. Japanese animation did a lot of these sort of things in the 70s. Battle of the Stars, I think was one of them, but they never scratched the Star Blazers. The ship in Star Blazers, and I think the Japanese version is called Space Battleship Yamoto or something very similar to that. It's just a battleship from the Second World War. They turned into a spaceship and it's flying around. It's got a giant fucking laser cannon on the front. Fantastic. All right. Here's another one I'm going to play you. Again, you have to guess what it is. This one comes from SteelMillEric. I'll give you a hint. The title of the show is only three letters long. Tara: [52:32] FBI. Dave: [52:33] Nope. Kari: [52:34] Yeah. I mean, this is giving me like wacky spy comedy. Tara: [52:37] Yeah, I thought something in the Get Smart realm. Dave: [52:41] That's definitely the impression it gives. It is from the UK. It is a show that sounds like one half the premise of The X-Files, which is a UK investigative government agency charged with trying to figure out when aliens are going to invade Earth and what exactly they want. It's a show called UFO. Tara: [53:00] Oh, OK. Dave: [53:01] And seek out the credits again. Fantastic credits very much of their time. There's a telex right at the start. So, you know, you're in for for a good time. All right. Last one before we start awarding things is from Mandrake. It is called Wonpaku Omikashi Kumukumu, which translates into Naughty Ancient Kumukumu. And it is a cartoon about a mischievous caveman boy. Tara: [54:16] That sounds like something that one of the Queen of Villains wrestlers would be putting out as a single. Dave: [54:24] It's definitely from the same period as the animation for Fables of the Green Forest and stuff like that. It's very early, mid-70s. Very endearing. That's my favorite of the bunch. Although not the one I can give the award to. And before we get to that, it's time for Carrie Race's Sonic Award. You've heard them all. Kari: [54:44] Which one. Dave: [54:45] Do you think on the merits of the song alone deserves a sticker pack. Kari: [54:48] Yeah there were some really good ones in the mix um uh i mean julie deserves something for that dear sydney song we can give her. Dave: [54:58] Okay we you. Kari: [54:59] Well that'll be a separate award separate award for. Dave: [55:02] Courage of your. Kari: [55:03] Convictions okay yeah exactly um but my winner is mill snack i liked that anime i forget what the name was. Dave: [55:12] Keep your hands off Azokin. Kari: [55:14] Yeah, I loved it. It was giving me Pizzicato 5 vibes. Loved it. Dave: [55:19] Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Good choice. All right. Here comes your winner. It comes from Mopsoukas. It is for a show called Down to Earth. And there's a few reasons I like this. First, the music is OK. It's like the actual theme is fine. But this is a long theme, wall-to-wall exposition that spans so much time and explains the show in so much unnecessary detail. Let's hear it down to earth. Tara: [56:08] Wacka-doo But she was struck down by a trolley Golly, said goodbye. Dave: [56:41] Teach the Preston's lessons, Richard, Lissy, Dwayne, and JJ too. Now she must be a 1980s, down to earth, they say you have to say something three times so you'll remember it, i like a theme for a sitcom that tells you directly it is hysterical in the lyrics yeah so you know what to expect wow that was just like it was like reading the wikipedia page for the show. The Wikipedia page just says, see theme. Kari: [57:38] I remember that show. It was syndicated. I used to watch it when I was, I mean, it was only five or six, I think, when it was on. Dave: [57:46] Yeah. Kari: [57:46] Crazy. Dave: [57:46] Really great suggestions. Thank you, everybody. Some ones there that I have never heard before that I really enjoy. And congratulations to Julie, Mopsoukas, and Milsnack. You can DM me for your awards. Of course, everybody that won the ones before that get a hold of me i need your mailing address and i will get you out that sticker pack soon all right let's get to your questions for us we're only going to do five i did not plan this but apparently none of them are about tv kerfuffler one of our winners from above asks what was your favorite board game when you were a kid and what is your favorite now. Tara: [58:25] As a kid, I really loved Rummy Cub. Oh, yeah. Which is like dumbed down Mahjong, basically. And now we don't really play board games that much anymore. Even when we have game nights, it's usually not board games. So I'll say recency bias, but we played a lot of Zero last weekend, and that was pretty fun. Dave: [58:42] Yeah, although the board game part of it is definitely the weakest part of that game. It's like the board is like a big spiral, but the spiral isn't connected. It's just a bunch of dots, and the dots are different colors, so you can go off track so easily. We're playing with Mark Blankenship with a Blankenship chair, and I'm pretty sure he was trying to cheat and take advantage of that. At certain points, he was going backwards, but he should have went forwards. We see you, Mark. Tara: [59:04] Wow, shots fired. Carrie. Dave: [59:06] Carrie. Kari: [59:08] Tara, I truly believe we were separated at birth because Rumi Cube, we called it Rumi Cube. I don't know what the correct pronunciation is, but that was one that I played a lot to as a kid. Dave: [59:23] What about the, it sounds adjacent, Romoli? Do you remember that one? It was the same thing. You would buy it. It had like a big shitty plastic oil cloth mat. And this one had like three trays of something. I don't know. I can't remember how to play, but it was like a disposal tray and two play trays or something like that. Tara: [59:41] I remember seeing it on shelves, but I don't think I've ever played it. Dave: [59:44] I think it was a gin rummy kind of knockoff. Kari: [59:47] Yeah. Not a big board game person now, but no lie. the board game that I've played the most in the last couple years is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer board game. I've dug it out of a box and took it to my best friend's house and we have played it together a bunch of times over the past couple years. That's it. Tara: [1:00:09] Dave? Dave: [1:00:10] Board Game of My Youth, it wasn't a very fun game, but I absolutely loved the design and all the pieces. And the board was a game called Payday. And the board was a month calendar in which you had to get through. And there were things where you can make money. And there were things where you had to spend money. Dave: [1:00:29] But one of the great things is that they had giant cards. So they had big ones the size of envelopes, and those were your mail cards. So in this game, you would get mail remember back to the thrill of getting mail as a child you would happen to you twice a year maybe and you were so excited there was finally something for you to open the forbidden adult world is opening up to you and here's this game where you get mail every week and then there were like payday well obviously paydays at the end of the week and you had to sort of like survive the month eking out an existence and you're like your little guys These were dollar signs in all different colors, and there's a whole bunch more to the game. But the design was sort of somewhere between Shoebox Greetings and Schoolhouse Rock. It was that 70s sort of loosey-goosey watercolor painted approach to art. And then over time, they updated it. Now it looks like utter shit. I looked up the latest edition. It's terrible. Dave: [1:01:28] There's a link in the show notes to the version I had. I think it may have been the second version, but it's my favorite designed one. And then I'm gonna put in a plug we should have played it when Mark was here now that I'm thinking about it but it is a game called so clover and oh yeah that is a word game you know what it's like it's like code names it's a better version of that code names game it's a little more structured and it's more fun to play so if you like code names give a look at so clover it's called that because the central playing piece that you can arrange your cards on. Looks like a giant four-leaf clover. All right, moving on. Rightwood, what's the best response you've gotten from a bad joke or a dad joke? Gary. Kari: [1:02:13] This past Mother's Day on Blue Sky, I posted a picture of Octavia Spencer from the movie Ma, and I said, Happy Ma Day. And I got a bunch of likes. Tara: [1:02:24] That was really funny. Dave: [1:02:25] That's pretty funny. I'm laughing right now. That's dumb. I worked at the Donut House in high school at one point, so I was doing the evening bake. I would start at like 9 o'clock and go to midnight. And at one point, they brought in this old guy. When I say old, I was in high school. This guy was probably 21 or 22. Tara: [1:02:44] Sure. Dave: [1:02:44] To help. You always have the radio on and the radio starts playing Simon and Garfunkel's The Boxer. And at the line, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. This guy turns to me and asks if I thought that was true. And in a triumph of comic timing, I said, what's that? And he was halfway through repeating himself where he just like went silent and just went back to his baking. I felt so good in that moment. So good. And I never really taught it from there. Tara? Tara: [1:03:14] Mine is also based on my high school job. And I don't remember that I got a great response from it. But I do remember I tried it a lot, which is I was a page in a library. When I was ever talking about it, I would say there are a lot of pages in the library. Yeah. Dave: [1:03:30] And then they put you on their shoulders. Tara: [1:03:32] Yeah. Dave: [1:03:33] Carried you out. Tara. Tara. Kari: [1:03:35] Tara. I also worked at the library. Tara: [1:03:37] What? We really were separated. Kari: [1:03:38] I know. Tara: [1:03:39] That's crazy. Dave: [1:03:41] Cara's got a question for us. Is cooked celery worse than jazz? I got to say, outside of soup, I never considered the possibility that you would cook celery. Tara: [1:03:50] Yeah. Dave: [1:03:50] Like in a stew, fine. But like what recipe, I should look this up. What recipe calls for like cooked stalks of celery? It sounds like a torture method. Tara: [1:04:01] No, I don't think it would be stalks. It'd be like, you know, curls, like slices. Dave: [1:04:05] Yeah. Tara: [1:04:06] Anyway, the only thing I could think of was possibly my mother had like a sweet and sour something recipe when I was a kid that maybe had celery in it. But yeah, I agree. When I, you know, run across celery in a chicken noodle soup, I'm not mad. Dave: [1:04:19] Or a stir fry. Tara: [1:04:20] Or a stir fry, yeah. Dave: [1:04:21] Like when she says cooked, I'm imagining somebody's boiling celery. And they're like, you know that nice crunch you get with that very unique vegetable that can suck water up from the ground? You know that one? It's kind of cool. Everybody loves capillary action, they'll say. But then let's make it all wilty and gross and floppy. We need a garden hose. Can we make one out of celery? Let's find out. Tara: [1:04:45] Carrie. Kari: [1:04:46] Yeah, I mean, my notes were, why are you eating cooked celery? But the answer is no, it's not worse than jazz. Dave: [1:04:57] All right, EC Fell. Seeing this as a food podcast, true. What's the best thing you ate over the holidays? Good question. Tara. Tara: [1:05:05] Probably Key Lime Tiny Pie from Tiny Pies in Austin. Those are legit. Dave. Dave: [1:05:11] Well, I thought it was going to be my Christmas nachos, but apparently not. Tara: [1:05:15] Oh, I'm sorry. They were very good too. Dave: [1:05:16] Not as good as tiny pies. I understand tiny pies are dessert and they're very good. I enjoy a pie where the crust ratio is probably like one third crust to two thirds pie. That's why tiny pies are superior pie delivery method. Tara: [1:05:31] Yep. Dave: [1:05:32] I always make a homemade nachos for Christmas. We go to the Mexican grocery store Fiesta Mart because they make their tortilla chips in-house and they are very thick and extremely oily. And then on top of it, we do either a tar amount of cheese for her half or a regular amount of cheese for my half. We've got pigo de gallo. We've got some black beans. I put soy chorizo on my half. And then we have like tons of toppings. We've got essebiche, spicy guacamole, sour cream, other things. Fantastic. We also made a batch for Mark, and he really enjoyed them, too. Tara: [1:06:07] I just want to point out, you also didn't say any of the grilled cheese sandwiches that I made you over the break. Dave: [1:06:12] That's true. Tara: [1:06:12] Go to hell. Harry. Kari: [1:06:15] My husband makes an apple pie, which is amazing. Tara: [1:06:20] Nice. Kari: [1:06:20] So. That was it. Dave: [1:06:22] Towering monolith. If your soul became trapped in a doll or action figure and you had to live that way a la Chucky, which doll or action figure would it be? Carrie, trapped in a doll or action figure. Which one? Kari: [1:06:33] American Girl makes an 80s doll. And I have a visual representation for Tara and David. Tara: [1:06:42] Oh, I've seen that. I've seen that queen before. Kari: [1:06:45] Yeah. Her name is Courtney. Of course it is. Yeah. And obviously, this is my answer. I'd be trapped in Courtney. Dave: [1:06:53] Does he have those kind of eyes that are just on rollers or whatever? They're open and closed based on? Kari: [1:06:57] Yes. Dave: [1:06:57] Those are creepy. They need to put little pneumatic pumps on them so they don't open. So they don't like snap open when they enter. That's always the part that takes me by surprise. Tara? Tara: [1:07:09] I would be a Raggedy Ann doll because that would mean I was mostly left alone. No one cares to play with a Raggedy Ann. So I just get to relax. Dave? Dave: [1:07:18] So here's my strategy. I'm going to be a Lego minifig because you can swap the pieces and become other professions or people if the mood strikes. You can exist in many places or worlds, you know, because Lego's got everything. You want to be pirate? Gotcha. Space? Sure. Star Wars? Yep. Fine. We got it. And if you lose a limb, you can get a new one. You can turn your head all the way around, which is a great perk. All right. That's it for our questions. Oh, wait. I forgot to close the food thing earlier. Enough! I don't want to leave the food thing open. All right. Tara: [1:07:54] Of course. Dave: [1:07:55] Damon, this is for you guys. This is our Ask Ask EHG question. Which space TV property should be relaunched as a purely terrestrial enterprise? Tara: [1:08:05] You've been there. All right. Dave: [1:08:07] So if you've got an answer for that, take a space show. It is no longer in space. It is EarthBound. Explain why. Dave: [1:08:14] It is time for the extra, extra hot, great Tiny Cannon. Presenting this week is our guest, Carrie. Carrie, take it away. Kari: [1:08:20] It is a shame that the only representation of Moonlighting currently in Extra Hot Great's Annals of TV Notoriety is the No Knack episode, A Womb with a View. That episode is truly horrific, but there should be an episode in the canon. I will work on that for the future, but today I will have to settle for pitching the cold open from Season 5, Episode 8 for the Breaking the Fourth Wall Tiny canon. A bit of backstory is necessary here. Throughout its run up until this point, Moonlighting had always aired on Tuesday nights. Sure, its chaotic and inconsistent schedule meant you never knew when you were tuning in if you would get a new episode or a rerun, but Tuesday night was when you turned on the TV to check in on Blue Moon Investigations. Well, on April 2nd, 1989, after Moonlighting returned from a six-week hiatus, for the first time it was airing on a new night, Sunday, and here is what happened in those first moments of this new episode. Clip one. Kari: [1:09:48] So we heard the familiar strains of the Moonlighting theme, that classic song by the fabulous Al Jarreau. But then we saw David Addison, played by Bruce Willis, walk out of the familiar Blue Moon offices asking, where's Al? And what follows is a prime example of what Moonlighting did so well throughout its run, breaking the fourth wall to talk about Blue Moon and the characters as if they are real, but still acknowledging that we are watching a TV show about them. Don't ask me to explain it more than that. It's just fun. Up next, Maddie asks if maybe Al didn't get the news about the move. Clip two. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Did someone tell Al about the move to Sunday night? Lady asked a question. That's a negative, Ms. Hayes. After some more meta banter about how they have to cut back on the sexual innuendo because the show now airs in the 8 o'clock hour, Maddie decides to take matters into her own hands. Clip three. Doesn't matter to me. We're not going to have a show because we can't start the show without the theme song and Al's not here. Kari: [1:11:11] Hold it. Hold it. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. And then, of course, David has to give it a try. Clip four. Roll the tape. Homewalk by the, new Perry Como. I know, this is wonderful, but if you're going to sing like that, you should join a garage band. But finally, Miss DiPesto drags Herbert Viola in and pushes him in front of the microphone. Clip 5. Kari: [1:12:09] That last part is more visual. You have to see the cheesy way Curtis Armstrong breaks into song and really hams it up as he sings the theme song. Moonlighting had a lot of great cold opens over the years that specifically broke the fourth wall and played with the cultural conversation about the show in general. Apparently this practice started because the dialogue for the scripts was spoken so fast that they would often end up really short for episodes and needed to throw something together to pad out time. However it began, Moonlighting was the master of breaking the fourth wall, and this cold open was the perfect way to poke fun at its inconsistent schedule and Bruce Willis and Sybil Shepard's side careers as singers. I humbly ask you to induct it into the tiny canon. Tara: [1:12:58] Thank you, Carrie. I'll go first. This is so funny. The idea that the theme song is played live on set and the musicians are like right outside the door of the office is so stupid and funny. And as we've been watching more and more classic sitcoms of the 60s and 70s, there is always a moment when a woman in a comedy show who can sing wants to show that she can sing. And so the i assume it happened before season five with sybil shepherd it seems impossible that they wouldn't have had a pretext for her to do it but but she's the first one you saw it you saw it in that canon episode right right yes i forgot about that right she did it mary lou henner did it georgia engel did a dance routine on mary tyler moore you know the list goes on and then to have bruce willis sing badly when we know he can sing okay he had an album Like for him to do it comedic style was also a funny choice. All of it was good. This makes me want to watch the show from the beginning. Great choice. Dave. Dave: [1:13:58] Yeah. This is what we call a good piece of business. I didn't know this was coming. I've never watched Moonlighting before except for that no neck. And I was delighted at how fourth wall breaking it actually was. I just didn't think TV shows were there yet with that kind of thing. And here we are. The other thing I was impressed by was that the speed of it was relatively modern feeling. Like it didn't feel slow like some of the comedy bits can feel where they're giving you room to breathe rather than just perfecting the comedy timing of it. And I thought that was pretty good. And the comedy escalation of doing everything in threes is great. And when Curtis Armstrong comes in and really just gives it his all asterisk, I thought that was just a perfect capper to it. So, yeah, is a good piece of business. Enjoyed it thoroughly. And let's put it to the vote. Tari Ariano. Tara: [1:14:56] Yes. Dave: [1:14:57] Me too. So. Shit. The Where's Al Juro cold opening for moonlighting you're hereby inducted into the extra hot, great, tiny, breaking the fourth wall cannon. Dave: [1:15:09] Americans love a winner. Yup. And will not tolerate a loser. Nope. All right. It is time for Not Quite Winners and Losers of the Week. We are running long, so I'm just going to make this quick. Our winner of the week is Sarah D. Bunting, who was on the ABC 90s talk TV documentary, Dirty Talk, two nights ago as you're listening to this And I believe that doc series runs until tonight as you're listening to this Friday, right? Three days in a row, I believe it is. So Sarah was on the first episode. I do not know if she's on the second or third yet, but if you want to see her talk, I'm sure she's going to tell the story of her being on... Ricky lake i'm sure she did hopefully it made the cut yeah i don't know i haven't been able to watch the first episode yet because we are busy doing this we. Tara: [1:15:56] Were preparing for this episode. Dave: [1:15:57] Yes and loser of the week common not quite is heated rivalry carrie nope stop stop we gotta get through this star hudson williams she just. Tara: [1:16:06] Pulled out a gun. Dave: [1:16:07] Yeah she's. Tara: [1:16:07] Gonna try and figure out how to shoot a sudden soon. Dave: [1:16:09] Star hudson williams had his letterbox identified and apparently this is this thing that happens, doxxed and ruined by your letterbox that you're trying to keep safe and secure. And he said some not kind things about his fellow actors in the industry. And now everybody's mad at him. Also, who gives a shit? But apparently Hollywood does. Nobody holds a grudge like Hollywood. Tara: [1:16:34] So yeah, it was funny because I was listening to a bunch of Who Weekly episodes in a row because I had fallen behind. And in their bonus episode last Sunday, one of their predictions for 2026 was that one of the stars of heated rivalry would get soft canceled and then I had to talk about it in the very next episode that that had happened. But you know who can probably take a little criticism? Pedro Pascal. He's doing fine. Kari: [1:16:57] I think he's doing fine. Tara: [1:16:59] Let Hudson Williams live. Dave: [1:17:02] Yeah. Hudson Williams also kind of sounds like it is the posh, full, nice bookstore version of Hudson News in the airport. Like you get Hudson News in the airport And then when you get off at Heathrow and you go to London town, there is a nice, warm, rich, walnut Hudson Williams store waiting for you. Tara: [1:17:20] See, I was thinking it was like the fancier department store version of the Bay, like Holt Renfrew or Bonwet Teller or whatever. Yeah. Dave: [1:17:29] All right. Kerry, what do you got? Not quite winner of the week. Kari: [1:17:31] Not quite winner of the week, Emily Bader, cast as Mia Hamm in the Netflix film The 99ers. I picked this because I got to represent for my fellow Tar Heel, Mia Hamm. But yeah, I just saw this actress in the Netflix movie People We Meet on Vacation. I've never seen her in anything else. She's cute. I like her. we're the winners that they're making a movie about the 99 women's soccer team so good for everyone nice yeah loser of the week really all men yeah there were so many bad links yeah you should be safe i don't even know what it is yet i don't have it in my notes probably should shut up, timothy busfield bill the list goes on there were so many bad links to choose from guys um but But anyways, the one I singled out was Netflix and Pete Davidson, who are weaseling out of paying union rates for what is clearly a late night talk show by calling a new Pete Davidson show a video podcast. Get out of here. Gross. Dave: [1:18:42] Sly need unions. Tara: [1:18:43] This is something I hadn't considered until Catherine Van Derendonk, past and future guest, posted about it on Blue Skies. We'll link that in the show notes, too. But this does seem very shady. My not-quite-winner of the week is the aforementioned Ian Ziering, host of the Great American Road Rally, colon, celebrity edition at the CW. This is a lot of words in a row that should mean something to someone. And don't mean anything to me, but I'm glad he's getting a check. Perhaps his cameo bookings are lower now that the holidays are over. Dave: [1:19:16] You know what I can't get out of my head? We're talking about Ian Ziering on the Again With Them podcast, which is only available to club members. And then only available to High Roller club members where we talk about Tori and Jenny Gar's podcast. But we're talking about how to transfer the cast of 90210 to the Teletubbies. Somehow it came up and we agreed that Ian's earring would have to be the sun. Tara: [1:19:40] The baby in the sun. Dave: [1:19:41] Yeah. I just can't get out of my head. That image. I think I might have to Photoshop it now. Tara: [1:19:46] My not quite loser of the week going back to Stranger Things is the Duffer brothers who are losers, not just because no one likes the final season of the show, but also because this week Netflix released a behind the scenes documentary about the making of the last season. And in one of the shots, you see one of their computers and you can see in that shot that on their browser, they have a tab open for chat GPT. So now the conspiracy theory is they use chat GPT to write the show. I haven't watched it, but I wouldn't rule it out based on the little I've seen of the show. And then the director of the documentary, his name is Martina Radwan, did not exactly help when The Hollywood Reporter asked her about it. And her quote is, to me, it's like, doesn't everybody have it open to just do quick research? No, no, they don't. Please Google. They are normal. They don't trust an LLM to tell them anything that's true because they don't. Dave: [1:20:39] It would explain why she thought the show was called Stranger Thongs. Tara: [1:20:44] No, it'd be stranger like because I can't make letters when you ask them to. Tara: [1:20:56] Welcome in grandpas you've missed a lot we've been talking for well over an hour about what we watched on our vacation of course there's lots of food talk what our favorite game shows were a million answers to the ask ehg prompts from over our break it's it's a rich document so consider if you can kicking up your pledge to the five dollar level and then you can hear all of that for all of the episodes in the past that you've missed. Dave: [1:21:21] New year, new you. Tara: [1:21:23] New year, new you. Today, we are talking Taskmaster character casting from Amy A., and we've been holding this for a week when Sarah wasn't here because she does not watch the show, but Carrie does. Amy writes, the next season of Taskmaster is all cast from TV characters, and you're in charge of casting. You need to choose five characters, not actors, you think it would be fun to see on the show. And two, think about which challenges they would nail or struggle with. And I added, this could be either actual past challenges or anything from a category of challenge, like something that requires good time management or tasting gross food or drawing or songwriting or whatever. Your time starts now. Carrie, please start us off. What is your cast? Kari: [1:22:10] All right. First off, I've got Ilya Rosanoff from Heated Rivalry. Tara: [1:22:15] Thank God. Dave: [1:22:16] Wait, wait, wait, wait. Tara: [1:22:20] Eyes. Iron in his thighs. Kari: [1:22:23] I mean, for real. Will you send me that clip? Dave, I wanted to just play it wherever I go. Tara: [1:22:31] Carrie has a new ringtone. Ring, ring, ring. Kari: [1:22:37] He's going to kill the prize tasks because Greg is going to be absolutely besotted by him and his charm. He's going to talk himself into five points every time, no matter what and in the house he's probably going to struggle with like language-based tasks because english is not his first language sure and he's also going to be flummoxed by the queen's english but again all he will have to do is play a little dumb bat his eyes at alex and alex is going to bend over backwards to help him no no innuendo intended i was gonna say bending over backwards something you can see in heated rivalry season. Yeah. Then I've got Bernadette Manuleto from Dark Winds. So she's a sergeant on the Navajo Tribal Force, and she now works for the Border Patrol. But don't worry, this takes place in the 70s. She's a good guy. She's very serious on the show, but I think she's got a really fun side that could be brought out in the Taskmaster House. Plus, she deserves to just do something purely joyful like this. She'd probably be hyper-competent at most of the tasks, although she might have a hard time with any lateral thinking. I think as her time in the house and in the studio went on, she would become more and more confident and probably be a fan fave by the end. Tara: [1:23:55] Mm-hmm. Kari: [1:23:56] Then I've got Sam Miller from Somebody Somewhere. We see lots of different versions of Sam on the show. I think on Taskmaster, she would be that comfortable and gregarious version that is the life of the party and just gives herself over to every challenge. Absolutely not giving a care to how she looks or comes off, just trying to accomplish the task in front of her. She's obviously going to excel at any musical tasks destined to craft the next Taskmaster earworm a la Fern Brady's I'm the Rightful Queen. Next, I have the Log Lady from Twin Peaks. She is going to behave exactly as she does in the universe of Twin Peaks. I just really love the idea of a contestant just serenely attempting the tasks while refusing to put down the log. They are carrying like a baby in their arms. Obviously, she's going to do poorly in most everything, but anything that requires coming up with a creative or open-ended answer will be her forte. She'll weave long tails that make no sense, but will reduce everyone, including Greg, to tears. And he'll just declare five points and move on as she nods knowingly and says, my log told me you would love that. Kari: [1:25:10] And finally i've got jesse from starstruck this is a total cheat jesse the character is basically just rose matafeo i want rose matafeo back on taskmaster she's going to do great just like she did on taskmaster before bring rose back bring rose back. Tara: [1:25:30] Love it. Dave: [1:25:31] We are running along, so I'm glad I really just did this very lazy choice. That'll take two seconds to explain. My five characters to play Taskmaster in a new season are from Star Trek Next Generation Q, from Gravity Falls, Cypher Bill or Bill Cypher, I forgot. From the Twilight Zone, it is Anthony Fremont. That's the kid with the freaky powers that they made the parody of on The Simpsons. Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen. And Genie of I Dream of Genie. All characters that can basically conjure up anything they want at any time. Tara: [1:26:06] Where's the great kazoo? Dave: [1:26:07] Great kazoo, I forgot. Yeah, let's get Genie out of there so we got an all men lined up. Men. All right, so every game ends in an absolute tie. Tara: [1:26:20] Right. Dave: [1:26:21] And then all the characters just get completely outraged every time that Greg has to score it because he's just doing his Greg scoring thing. And they cannot handle it. And then probably something really bad happens to everybody on the set. Tara: [1:26:35] Yeah. Greg does not survive that season. R.I.P. Taskmaster and Greg. All right. So I feel that a balanced season of Taskmaster requires a mix of classic character or contestant types. So I've broken those down and I've picked who I think will be the best fictional representation for each type. So first we've got the shark. This is someone like Ed Gamble or John Robbins, who is like very focused and determined to win and unable to conceal how competitive they are. And for this one, I'm going to go with Morgan Guillory from High Potential, played by Caitlin Olsen. She will never misread a task. If there's something on the back, she's going to see it. She's great at pattern recognition. If there's a hidden clue in like the lab or whatever, she's going to find it. Where her weaknesses are, I know her left brain skills are very strong. I don't know she would be as good at anything that requires, like, artistic creativity. So that might be her Achilles heel. Then we have the ingenue. This is typically also the Greg fave. I'm thinking Anya from the most recent season or Sally Phillips from several years ago. For this one, we're going Tracy Jr. From 30 Rock. We're going to have to go back in time and play by Bobby J. Thompson. He is going to charm Greg, too. Greg will be delighted by Tracy Jr.'s quick comic mind in the studio, and Tracy Jr. Will frequently convince Greg to award him extra points, Ilya Rosenhoff style. Dave: [1:28:00] Eyes, iron in his thighs. Tara: [1:28:04] Another term for the sad sack on Taskmaster is like the Greg victim. I'm thinking like John Kearns or Joe Wilkinson. And so for this one, I'm going with Bill from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. This is the character played by Winston Story, who generally only shows up for the heist episodes because he looks exactly like Charles. And as someone who has survived a lot of tough breaks in life, Bill will seem like a lock for any eating gross food task, but he's going to lose time on those by eating more than he's required to because he is hungry. But he's going to be very good at hiding tasks. Next, the sloth. Obviously, this is the Joe Brand, Sanjay Baskar type. And this is going to be Scruffy from Futurama, the janitor. Scruffy is not going to be rushed away from his porn mag, so he will come in dead last on any timed task. But he will have a surprising facility for any task where you have to like build a simple machine or deal with water being somewhere it's not supposed to. Finally, the agent of chaos, the Sam Campbell, Jason Manzoukas type, and this is going to be Jack Griffin from AP Bio. Dave: [1:29:09] Oh, good one. That, that, that. Tara: [1:29:12] He thinks his plans to complete tasks are completely logical, but he is constantly editing them and iterating on them and, abandoning one and starting another ones whenever he runs into his distance and so he just loses control but as with all agents of chaos you can't predict what kind of results he will actually achieve remember sam campbell won his season so you never know that's my team. Dave: [1:29:38] And that is it for another episode of Extra, Extra Hot Great. We told you how we spent our winter vacation in front of the TV before answering your burning ass EHG questions like, what doll are you trapped in and how much cooked celery is in our future? Very little. Carrie broke down the barrier for the first tiny fourth wall cannon, courtesy of Moonlighting. We celebrated those who weren't quite the best and worst of the week and wrapped it all up with three TV character lineups for Taskmaster. Next up is back to school season with Star Trek Starfleet Academy. Remember, we're listening. I am David T. Cole. And on behalf of Tara Ariano. Tara: [1:30:23] With a rubber knife. Dave: [1:30:24] The absent Sarah D. Bunting and Carrie Race. Kari: [1:30:28] Softness in his eyes, iron in his thighs. Dave: [1:30:31] Thanks for listening. And we'll see you next time right here on Extra, Extra Hot Great. Tara: [1:30:43] Oh, God, you know what? The world needs more like you three, you know that? Well, we aim to please.