The Skinny On The Girl With Something Extra

Clip 00:01 Well, I suppose you'd like to talk about that centerfold, huh? Sure, fire away. Yeah, I have got a couple of questions. Uh go right ahead I have nothing to hide. Dave 00:16 This is the Extra Extra Hot Great Podcast, episode 419 for the June 11, 2026 weekend. I am Swinger HR issue David T. Clip 00:31 Send the send Dave 00:32 Cole, and I'm here with Merv Griffin interviewee Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah 00:36 They said I was wooden. Dave 00:38 And Beach Based Talent Scout Tara Ariano. Tara 00:40 I'd like you to take off your clothes. Welcome to Extra Extra Hot Great for another weekend. Thank you so much for your support and special thank you to everyone who has Submitted to the Forcening Pool. Remember, this is something you can do as many times as you feel like. Just ask Mandrake, because I think this is about the sixth of Mandrake's submissions. Dave 01:06 He's flood the zone to increase his chances in the draw, yeah. Tara 01:11 Mandrake has submitted The Girl with Something Extra, season one, episode five. The title is All the Nudes That's Fit to Print, and Mandrake writes The Girl with Something Extra was a sitcom starring Sally Field and John Davidson that ran for one year following Sanford and Son. The premise is what if Robin Laura Petrie, but it's after the sexual revolution And also she has ESP. The jokes aren't great, but the show is a lot of fun and of course a time capsule. This episode is especially sexual revolution-y indeed. What I learned about this from doing this exercise was the Burtons, boutique owner Sally, Sally Field, and attorney John, John Davidson, yes that one. are just like any other adorable newlyweds in Southern California, except for one thing, she has ESP, so when a magazine editor approaches John about possibly posing nude for her magazine and he immediately refuses Sally knows exactly how much he's actually been thinking about it. The show was created by Bernard Slade, a Canadian playwright and screenwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario, Dave! Dave 02:15 Gosh, so close to my hometown. Tara 02:18 I know. Sarah 02:18 Wow. Tara 02:18 He wrote the play same time next year. He previously created both the Partridge Family and The Flying Nun. If I had known we could claim the Partridge Family all this time, I would have made a I would talk about it a lot more than I do. Sarah 02:26 Wow. Dave 02:31 In Canada, none spelled with two U's, just in case you're checking. Tara 02:33 That's right. Sarah 02:34 Mm-hmm. Tara 02:35 This is one of six episodes of this show that was directed by Richard Kinen, a veteran whose longest TV gig was 65 episodes of the love boat. Now granted that's 65 out of approximately 7,000, but still it's a lot This episode originally aired October 12th, 1973, when two of the three members of this judging panel were alive. We will do a deeper dive in a second, but in case any listeners want to seek this episode out, let's do the Chen check-in. Sarah should our listeners watch the girl with something extra. Sarah 03:06 Uh yeah, why not? Tara 03:08 Dave. Dave 03:09 Yeah, I'll give you permission to watch this one. Tara 03:11 I think so too. It is quite the curio. Dave 03:15 First of all, the font's crazy. Tara 03:17 The font, I'm in love with the font. Sarah 03:18 Yeah. Tara 03:19 Did you know what font it is? Sarah 03:20 And Dave 03:21 I've seen it before, but I I don't know if there's a digital equivalent to it Sarah 03:26 Is that the wedding chapel from the graduate? I'm sure they just filmed like everything in that thing, but it looked familiar. Dave 03:32 It's definitely been in Rockford Files because we just recently saw an episode where he goes there a couple times, so Yeah, I wonder if the location scout's the same for some of these shows because there was uh more than one Rockford file place in this one episode. Tara 03:45 For sure. Dave 03:46 Yeah. Tara 03:46 Yeah, it's very modern angular. It's like an A-frame with a lot of diamond-shaped stained glass tiles. Dave 03:51 Yeah. It's got a lot of women and who run with the wolves energy Sarah 03:52 Mm, mm. Tara 03:52 It's uh I wouldn't say that, but Dave 03:57 Yeah, no, I think it's no longer a church. If somebody like, you know, they deconsecrated it and she sells like dragon crystal ball sculptures and shit like that out of there. It's got that sort of like uh rich hippie vibe to me. Sarah 04:05 Mm-hmm. Tara 04:07 Perhaps. So yeah, that's the that's the opening credits. We see them getting married. So as John and Sally in the episode proper run out of the ocean toward their towels, a woman pretty openly ogles John as he runs by. Dave 04:19 Mm-hmm. I like what I see. Tara 04:21 Yeah, she drops her sunglasses. Dave 04:23 Mama like. Tara 04:23 It's classic uh classic um beer or soda commercial energy from this lady. Sarah 04:23 Mm-hmm. Dave 04:27 Yeah. Mm-hmm. Tara 04:31 John says he could use a couple of weeks of this, and as he gazes at the water, Sally reads his mind, clip one. Clip 04:39 Oh yeah, I've always dreamed of going there too. John, why don't we? You have some vacation time coming up at the office, and I'm sure Annie'd be glad to look after the store. We could be in Hawaii by Monday. If we had the money, yeah. We could clean out our bank account. I mean, who needs security at our age? I do. Well, why? Is there a law somewhere? Yeah, called John's Law. Well in that case we can repeal it. It's a grain in my character. Oh Dave 05:16 Thing about John Davison in this role is that I only knew him previous as a game show host. So all his deliveries sound like they're from Hollywood Squares in my brain, and it's sort of freaking me out. Sarah 05:27 Mm-hmm. Tara 05:29 Mm-hmm. Yeah, he's as an actor, he's a great host. Sarah 05:30 Yeah. Tara 05:32 I'll say that. Dave 05:32 Yep. Sarah 05:33 Yep. Very cute though. Tara 05:35 He is cute, great dimples Dave 05:35 Yeah. Sarah 05:36 Mm-hmm Dave 05:37 And before his hair settled down to a boring Brown or whatever it was by the time he got on game shows. Tara 05:42 Yes, it's also funny after having watched all of Gidget last year after a previous forcening by a different listener and thank you, listener, I forget your name. Dave 05:42 Yeah. Tara 05:51 Seeing Sally Field back on the beach is crazy, especially given the different context. This is only seven years after the end of Gidget, and now she's married. That's how it goes sometimes, I suppose. So having established the premise that Sally wants a vacation and John doesn't think they can afford it, the show sends Sally to the snack bar, and the ogler, whose name is Kelly, she's played by Corinne Camacho, approaches John clip two. Clip 06:15 You're gonna pay me $500 if I take off my clothes. You see, you do understand. My wife's gonna get a hot dog. What's that got to do with anything? Nothing. It just I couldn't think of anything else to say. Would your wife mind you posing in the nude? Posing? Look, I'm Kelly Handley, the editor of a magazine called A Woman's Place. We're introducing nude male centerfolds. You seem like ideal material. The fee is five hundred dollars. Oh, I see. I I'm very flattered. But I couldn't possibly do it. Why not? I'm a lawyer. Perfect. Well, I'd not only Hollywood movie stars do that sort of thing. Well, we thought we'd do something different. We planned to photograph just ordinary people with great bodies, of course. Well, uh, it's just not for me. Thank you very much. Only one of the pictures would be nude. The rest would be shots of you at work, in court, holding a briefcase, enjoying your leisure time. It might be very good exposure. Yeah, I'm sure of that. For your career. After all, even lawyers need publicity, don't they? Somehow I I can't quite picture Oliver Wendell Holmes uh that way. Neither can I. But we are going after Efflee Bailey Dave 07:37 Oliver Wendell Holmes. Oh, block. Sarah 07:42 Don't do it. Tara 07:44 Well, I mean I looked him up yes, he didn't cover himself with glory for his entire career, let's say, but I looked him up when he was young. He is kind of foxy and looks a little like John Davidson, like same face shape, same sort of dimples. Weird reference. Sarah 07:59 Would have done it for publicity, I'm sure, had he been asked. Tara 08:02 Yes. Mm-hmm. Sarah 08:03 Him and Melvin Belleye Which as played by Brian Cox, I I don't know. Tara 08:09 Hmm. Sarah 08:10 The mind uh the mind shrinks from these things. Tara 08:13 Sally returns, she reveals that she perceived the whole conversation extrasensorily. She agrees that John shouldn't do it. He should hold out for a thousand, har har, and then a completely naked baby runs through the scene with his mother chasing him, yelling, Sydney, because You could name baby Sydney in 1973 and Sally makes a joke about like it's, you know, very popular, etc. Ha ha, naked baby. So that night before getting to her calisthenics, Sally says that if John doesn't want to pose, he should stop thinking about it. He admits he's flattered by the request and thinks it's useful for him to examine his attitudes. Sally says he's just modest. He doesn't wander around the house doing ordinary activities in the nude, and it's fine if he has a thing about it But it could have bought them a very nice vacation to Hawaii. And when he goes to do some work downstairs for the new client that's coming in the next day. We see their very modern house has like a bedroom loft that's open to the rest of the house. It was very like California chalet. Uh, I also thought that was extremely now design-wise. Sarah 09:15 Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was very wanting to live there. Tara 09:22 Mm-hmm. It's probably a very uh desirable Airbnb now if it were a real place, but it probably wasn't. Sarah 09:27 Mm-hmm. Tara 09:29 At the office the next day, John finds out he's not gonna get to work with the new client that we never see. The only thing we know about them is somehow John's boss, Owen Metcalf, played by Hey, it's that Henry Jones knows the client is a swinger and thinks John is too square not to have a personality clash. Like, how do you come to know this information about the client? Like is it not a questionnaire you have to fill out when you come to the firm? Sarah 09:55 I'd wonder if that wasn't like I think that Squares used that differently at the time and not the way that we would think we would assume that it's like, oh, they're it's the poly lifestyle. Like uh you know, the Polaroid named a whole product line the Swinger, and I think it was just supposed to be like Mod and hip and then people who knew the other meaning were like, uh phrasing? Tara 10:19 Right. Well, either way, for this ancient man to think John is square has to be devastating. Although when I say ancient He was 61. At the time this episode aired, I looked it up. Sarah 10:30 Of course. Oh boy Tara 10:33 John's, I assume, father Jerry, who's played by Jack Sheldon, agrees when they're out playing pool. So John gets home and announces to Sally he does want to go to Hawaii clip three. Clip 10:45 John, I don't want you to feel like you have to prove anything Then you do mind. Oh no, no, of course I don't. Why should I? I just like you the way you are. Happen to like squares. Excuse me. Hello? I'd like to speak to Miss Kelly Hanley, please. I'm sorry, Ms. Hanley. Tara 11:22 Take that, women's livers. Ha ha, Miz Sarah 11:25 Yeah, you too, seven digit dialing. Tara 11:29 Yeah, seriously. Sarah 11:29 Punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch. Oh, those were the days. Tara 11:33 Loudest, chunkiest phone that ever there was So it's on, but Sally's even more alarmed when John says that Kelly herself will be shooting the photos, which no she won't. She said she's the editor of the magazine. That's not what she does. Magazines still had budgets back then. She would not be doing double duty Sharing the news is how Sally finds out that her business partner Anne, played by Zora Lampert, is excited to see John naked, and so is John's assistant Angela, played by Stephanie Edwards, when he tells her. Dave 12:04 Did anybody find the friends conversation about that extremely oogie? Tara 12:09 Yeah, she was a little too excited. Sarah 12:09 Yes Dave 12:10 Like she was really into it. Like she was like one step away, but speaking about swingers, how about this idea? Tara 12:15 Yeah. Dave 12:17 Like she was almost there. Tara 12:17 Mm-hmm. Sarah 12:17 Yeah, yikes. Dave 12:19 And she was like, she had a twinkle in her eye I did not appreciate, ma'am. Tara 12:19 Yep. Sarah 12:20 Uh-huh. Tara 12:23 I agree Sarah 12:23 Mm-hmm. I agree as well. Tara 12:25 Angela is also the one to tell Sally that it's not just going to be a magazine centerfold. There will also be Naked John posters for sale. So when Sally comes to pick up John for lunch, on the day that he's going for this photo shoot, like again, I don't know how these everyone worked a lot less in the olden days, I guess. Dave 12:44 I I I guess, but also what's this poster business? Tara 12:47 What do you mean? Dave 12:47 Like it's a magazine, but you can also buy posters? Tara 12:49 Sure. Dave 12:50 Okay. Tara 12:51 There was Dave 12:51 Not a centerfold that you take out, but it's auxiliary. Sarah 12:53 Yeah, I thought it was like a fold in, like you would get at Dynamite, but with staples in the dick. Dave 12:54 Yeah. Yeah. Sarah 13:00 I don't know. Tara 13:01 When we see it at the end of the episode, it just folds down. I think the p the poster is a separate thing. Dave 13:06 Cachunk. Sarah 13:07 Oh, okay. Dave 13:07 All my balls. Tara 13:09 Anyway, at lunch, she finds John daydreaming about what kinds of things he might do naked once he poses and loses all his hang-ups. Nude in a ticker tape parade, watching the symphony nude, totally nude on the Merv Griffin show, clip four. Clip 13:25 Well, I suppose you'd like to talk about that centerfold, huh? Sure, far away. Yeah, I have got a couple of questions. Uh go round ahead. Now I have nothing to hide. That's obvious. Didn't that bother you at all? No, no, not really. After all, it's just a body. Have you ever been asked to pose nude? Yeah, once uh a beautiful baby contest. Were you embarrassed? When I came in 38, I wasn't too thrilled. Dave 13:55 That whole segment was the most modern thing I thought about this episode. Like imagine if it was 30 rock, the whole thing where he's imagining himself, it would probably be one-third of the length of the total time they spent on this episode, much quicker in in modern pacing. Tara 14:08 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah Dave 14:11 But I thought that was pretty solid. Tara 14:13 Yeah, I agree. So Sally knows about all of his daydreaming because, you know, ESP. So at a Malibu snack bar, I am certain we have seen Rockford eating at in the Rockford Files. Dave 14:25 100%. I think the geography of the Rockford files, based on some alternate shots we've seen, is that there is a bend in the beach. There's a big rock outcropping you can see. Tara 14:33 Mm-hmm. Dave 14:36 It bends in, that's where his RV office is, and then there's a little parking lot, and then actually the taco or hot dog stand, whatever it is, is very, very close to it. Tara 14:38 Yeah. Sarah 14:39 Mm-hmm. Dave 14:45 They just don't shoot it that way. Tara 14:47 Right. Dave 14:47 And that is the same one that you can see in some alternate shots. I I think it's the hot dog one, not the taco one. Tara 14:53 Right. Sarah 14:53 Right, and you s would see it in Knight Rider also, I'm pretty certain. Dave 14:55 Yeah, that makes sense. Tara 14:56 Mm. Sarah 14:57 And in Ba Ba Bosh, I think Dave 14:59 Yeah. Tara 14:59 Nice. Dave 15:00 So when we see the stand here on the other side of the stand would have been where his office was. Like it's right there. It's definitely the same I dropped a pin spot. Tara 15:10 Yeah. So I would love to know where his firm is supposed to be. Like even if her little boutique, her little shoppy shop and his firm are in the same place. Maybe it's in like Santa Monica area, like Santa Monica downtown or something Dave 15:21 Mm-hmm. Tara 15:23 Then it wouldn't be too far. Dave 15:24 Malibu in the 70s sounds absolutely fascinating. Like when you compare it now where it's just like unattainable, but back then it seemed much more like a hippie hang. Tara 15:27 Mm-hmm. Yes. Sarah 15:33 Mm-hmm. Dave 15:34 Or just sort of like degenerate gambler hang as well. Like it's got this mix. Tara 15:37 Yes. It's always sicko's living at the beach in Colombo or what have you. Dave 15:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Sarah 15:43 Mm-hmm. Dave 15:43 I don't Sarah 15:43 Beretta, I think. Tara 15:45 Hmm. Dave 15:45 It's weird to think how undervalued beachfront property was at one point in time. Tara 15:50 Mm-hmm. Dave 15:50 It's crazy. Tara 15:51 Yeah. Dave 15:52 Yeah Tara 15:52 At this snack bar, Sally admits she's not into John posing anymore. Clip five Clip 15:58 I don't like the idea of sharing you with a thousand other women. Sally, you realize how you sound. I know. I'm not perfect. Sometimes I sound like a wife. Tara 16:08 Uh, the worst thing. I do get uh I think this is still, you know, a reasonable objection to have. I've been uh listening to the Lonely Island and Seth Myers podcast, as I've mentioned before, and Yorma Taccone told a story about when he was cast on girls as a love interest for Marnie and that they wanted him to show his junk and he was ready to do it. And then his wife, Marielle Heller. was like, ple please don't. Please don't do it. Like everyone is gonna be able to see this for the rest of your life. And so he didn't. Sarah 16:39 Yeah, fair. Tara 16:41 Anyway, John was very intentional about deciding to do the shoot, so he's going through with it anyway, and we only see the first f few clothed shots that Kelly is taking at the photo shoot and then he's meeting everybody at Sally's store afterward to tell them how it went. It was only an audition and he was rejected for being too wooden But he is proud of having even had the guts to try, but then jealous when everyone sees the magazine's latest model in the uh tag at the end of the episode, Clip Six. Clip 17:22 You really like that kind of guy? John, I knew this would bug you. No. I'm just curious to find the female reaction to all those muscles and everything. Well, the female reaction is oh yes. You like that showy type, huh? I think any guy that would pose like that is definitely trying to prove something. He did. Tara 17:46 I assume Sarah 17:46 Yeah, it's all about the muscles. Dave 17:47 Okay. Tara 17:50 Right. So even given Mandrake's intro, I was kind of surprised how horny this episode was, considering how old it is. Dave 17:57 Yeah Tara 17:57 What did you guys think? Dave 17:59 Well, okay, before we get off this particular scene, wouldn't in this context are are we supposed to make this connection back in nineteen seventy whatever as well? Tara 18:08 I mean there's no way that he would that the the model would be hard. It's not porn. Dave 18:14 Right, but I just mean the innuendo of Wood, Morning Wood, etc. etc. Like would that be is it just a coincidence that we're saying this or is the show actually going, huh? Tara 18:24 No, I think I mean I think it's a probably a a joke they were making, but yes. Dave 18:24 Uh-huh. Okay. Sarah 18:28 Yeah, if I had to guess, I would say the original line was that he was too stiff, and standards and practices was like, this airs at 830. Tara 18:34 Uh huh. Dave 18:36 Yes. Tara 18:36 Yep. Sarah 18:37 find some other way to do it and they were like, they're all euphemisms now. Tara 18:41 It's true. Dave 18:41 Yeah, you can this work is hard. Sarah 18:41 Like Mm-hmm Tara 18:43 It's true. Dave 18:44 Yeah, okay. Tara 18:44 Uh-huh. I guess you could get away with a lot as long as the first thing that you see in the show is that your lead characters are married. to each other because, you know, when we watched the Mary Tyler Moore show, very rarely was there even a hint that Mary was like having sex with guys she went on dates with. Sarah 18:53 Mm-hmm Tara 19:03 And that was around this time. Sarah 19:03 Yeah, mm-hmm. Tara 19:05 I would like to see some HR training for everyone at John's office, personally. Dave 19:10 Yeah. What if this episode was I can't lock in this new client at work because I'm not a swinger. Tara 19:18 Mm-hmm. Dave 19:19 So we have to become swingers stat. Tara 19:22 Yeah. And she seems like she's a goer. I think she would Dave 19:25 I mean she would know who's interested at the party, right? Tara 19:27 That's very true. Dave 19:29 Yeah. Sarah 19:29 Yes, that's true. She would be the ideal person for a for that cover story. Dave 19:33 And but and then you can do things like, okay, maybe you're not thinking about your own dick, but your wife is, so I can figure out what the deal is from your wife by reading her mind about your junk. Sarah 19:42 Mm-hmm. Tara 19:43 Yep. Dave 19:43 I'm just saying there's a lot of opportunities at a key party if you can read people's minds to get the most out of your time. Tara 19:46 Mm-hmm Yeah, find out what they're into and maximize. Dave 19:52 Mm-hmm. Yep. Tara 19:53 Every bit of design from the church to the house to Sally and Anne's store was so like glamorously Californian. I loved it. Sarah 20:02 Mm-hmm. Tara 20:03 Sarah, I'm sure you were into it as well. Sarah 20:04 Oh my god, yes, multiple like freeze frame, Google image search. Where can I find this blouse? Like the, you know, big loud gingham collars sometimes are a problem, but not always. Tara 20:14 Mm-hmm. Sarah 20:16 And there's that like oh hi grill, dark wood, wagon wheel chandelier vibe. Tara 20:22 Mm-hmm. Dave 20:23 Yeah. Sarah 20:23 happening, but also that sort of like mod, and I mean both like mod, but also modular design of like walls, partitions in the office. Tara 20:34 Mm-hmm. Sarah 20:35 Once you hear a Burt Reynolds reference, you're like, okay, I know I know when we are, and I like it here, especially when they put a price tag on something, and I'm like, Tara 20:38 Got it. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep. Sarah 20:46 Oh my god, do you know what you would pay for that shit in a vintage store in Brooklyn? Tara 20:50 Mm-hmm. Sarah 20:51 I want to go to this place and shop and then leave. Tara 20:54 Yep. We also now know how committed John Davidson was to an all-over tan. Sarah 21:00 Is it Tara 21:00 Because we sure see every little bit of him almost. Dave 21:03 I was surprised about how much skin they showed in some of those scenes. Tara 21:07 Yeah. Dave 21:07 You know, when he's in an interview and he's just in the chair and he's cross his legs. Like they go pretty high up the thigh. Tara 21:13 They do, mm-hmm. Sarah 21:13 Mm-hmm. Dave 21:14 Yeah, it was well framed. Sarah 21:14 Yeah. The bikini also, both bikinis were pretty legit. What was the thinking on like grooming the grooming the strip back then Tara 21:26 Mm-hmm. Well, they had Nair, Nair's for short shorts. Sarah 21:31 Oh god, yeah. Tara 21:34 Yeah Dave 21:34 Yeah, it's basically hydrochloric acid. Sarah 21:37 You weren't supposed to use it in the in the zone Dave 21:39 Downstairs area? Tara 21:40 Well I think you can d use it w we're really getting in the weeds here, as it were, but you can do it on your bikini line, as long as you're not touching anything, you know. Dave 21:42 The zone. The DMZ. Sarah 21:46 As it were, I don't know. Tara 21:50 I I don't think anyone was fully clean shaven. Wow. We've done a Gidget and a girl with something extra. If you're sitting on a flying non-forcening listener, now is the time So they can complete the trifecta. Sarah 22:01 Mm-hmm. Tara 22:03 But thank you, Mandrake. Dave 22:03 Yeah. Sarah 22:03 Yeah. Tara 22:04 This was a delight. Dave 22:05 Yep. Sarah 22:06 And this has been pubstrat. Dave 22:15 Just looking forward to somebody reading the transcript from this episode just in segmentettes on pubes trying. Sarah 22:20 And getting arrested, yeah. Dave 22:23 Alright, it's time for ASCII HG.all right, let's just jump right into your questions for us. First one comes from L Triple D. When it comes to shows that you enjoy, which would you prefer? A sequel? A prequel or a spin-off. Tara. Tara 22:53 Well, the past few years of wildly unnecessary backstory fill-ins have really soured me on prequels, so I guess spin off if those are my choices. Sarah. Sarah 23:04 Yeah, I went spin-off too. I think we've seen the prequel done about as well as it can be done with Better Call Saul, and I just think Other attempts have been understandable but disappointing. And uh so yeah, I think spin-off has the um is the lowest barrier to success. Dave. Dave 23:23 Yeah, that was my thinking too. The prequel is very hard to pull off, and we all point to Better Call Saul because it is definitely the exception here. Tara 23:32 Yeah. Sarah 23:32 Mm-hmm. Dave 23:32 The spin-off just has the most potential without knowing what the original show is. Like there are some maybe I'd want to see a sequel to if the show doesn't actually end properly, you know, or or Like it's just not a definitive we won kind of show. Maybe there's some room in there, but I think just spin-offs in general give you a creative reset opportunity that the others don't have. Tara 23:46 Mm-hmm Dave 23:54 Millsnack, you can pick one TV character to be your flight attendant every time you fly for the rest of your life. Who do you pick, Sarah D. Bunting? Sarah 24:02 Uh Megan Calvay from Mad Men. Um she's attractive, she's competent, she has a soothing way about her. for me and uh you know that she's used to drunk entitled assholes just from her life. So Megan Dave Dave 24:15 The only thing I want from a flight attendant is to rule the plane with an iron fist when people are doing stupid shit, kids are running around, I'm getting kicked. I just want the society brought into the plane. And nobody better than Jeff Hiller from 30 Rock. With his guardians, the Gaoul for the third time Tara 24:34 Uh-huh. Dave 24:34 I mean it doesn't end well for those passengers in particular, but it's not really his fault, but he does lay down the law, and that I appreciate. Tara 24:39 No. Based on that intro, I thought you were gonna say Brock Sampson, which I would also pick, but my actual answer was Dave 24:46 I don't want I don't want death on the plane. I just want order. Tara 24:49 I don't think he has to kill anyone, he just has to yell really loud. Dave 24:51 He doesn't have to, but he might. Tara 24:53 That's true. It's what he prefers. But my actual answer is helper from the Venture Brothers, the uh the robot. Dave 24:58 Oh yeah. Tara 25:00 Because, you know. I don't necessarily feel great about having a person wait on me that way all the time, so Hell. Dave 25:06 So what you're saying is you want robots to take people's jobs. Tara 25:09 Just this one. Dave 25:10 Mm-hmm. L Triple B is back. What is a classic late night infomercial that should be rebooted? Don't quite understand, but just let's assume it's a show somehow. I would vote for anything Ron Popiel from the nineties, all his madness, the v the vegematic, the vegematic. Sarah 25:28 Slap chop. Dave 25:28 Yeah, I don't think that was him, but um uh what's the spray? Sarah 25:30 Oh, was I? Oh, that's too bad. Dave 25:33 Couvre? Tara 25:34 Yeah, couvre. Sarah 25:34 Yes, coup for A. Dave 25:36 Remember couvre Tara 25:36 Mm-hmm. Sarah 25:37 Sure. Dave 25:37 It was basically the uh Martin Crane episode of Fraser where he melts into the recliner. Tara 25:42 Oh Dave 25:43 I went to school with a relative of Ron Popiel. Yeah. She did not have any of his products or money, but I think she was her niece, his niece. Yeah. Sarah 25:52 I remember these as much spookier than they actually were, and I think they also were in Prime time and not late night, but I went with the Time Life Mysteries of the Unknown book series. Dave 26:03 Oh yeah Sarah 26:04 I will link to one of them in the show notes. Um I loved any shit like this back in the day as you know, in search of, unsolved mysteries. I would love to see what that book series would even be now and how they would promote it. Dave 26:15 Oh god. Yeah. I kind of want them to mix do the same beat in each commercial, like uh Bigfoot once shot a man just for snoring. Alright, Jovial Gent, after seeing a clip of With Orco and Alan Thick talk about divorce, I am wondering what other cartoon character and sitcom actor pairing should explain a serious topic to kids. Tara. Tara 26:41 Matt Walsh from Veep and Cheese from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends are gonna lay down some facts about firearm safety. Dave. Dave 26:49 Ukla the mock and Frank Costanza explained the Cold War. Sir. Sarah 26:55 I'm sorry, what was the first one? Dave 26:57 Ukla the mock. Ukla the mock just goes, ah, is basically Chewbacca ripoff. So he doesn't actually say anything. Sarah 27:01 Gotcha. Dave 27:03 From Thundar to Barbarian Sarah 27:05 Killface from Frisky Dingo and Tom Hiddleston of Loki explain how to handle bullying. Dave 27:10 Jovial Gent has another question for us, and I hate it. When people say the tri-state area, what are the three states they mean? All right, buckle up. Sarah, what do you got? Sarah 27:21 New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, sorry, Dara. Tara 27:25 Yep, Dave. Dave 27:26 I'm not getting into this one. Nice try, Agent of Chaos, Jovial Gent. I did look it up though. Apparently there's like 25 places in the states that call themselves a tri-state area. Sarah 27:36 Sure. Dave 27:36 So, you know, you got three states together, tri-state, sure. Do four coroners call them the quad state? I hope so. Tara 27:42 Plenty of s places can do whatever they want, but the real answer is New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Sarah 27:42 Yeah. Dave 27:47 Yes. I mean they're the Kleenex of the tri-state industry. Tara 27:51 Yes. Dave 27:51 Sure. Elspeth, please choose a show and replace the credits cast with animals giving the appropriate energy for their characters. Alright, I'm doing Brooklyn 999. Jake is a dolphin, loud and annoying, but playful and smart at what he does. Holt is a bald eagle, stoic, hard to read, but sees all. Boyle is a golden retriever Rosa is a panther, solitary, mysterious, but protective. Terry is a big blue whale. He's imposing but mostly eats goo. And Hitchcock and Scully are hippos. Sarah 28:25 Mmm. Dave 28:25 Sir. Sarah 28:26 I also had a hippo in my west wing of the zoo. Starring President Hippo Bartlett, Josh Lemer, C. Giraffe Craig, Donna Parakeet, Charlie Bear Cub, Leo McGarra Coon. Turtly Ziegler, Sam C. Biscuit, and Will Bale and Doodle Tara. Tara 28:46 I went with Dr. Odyssey, and I'm not gonna explain my choices. I'm just gonna lay them out and you guys can deal with them or not. Joshua Jackson's now a panther, Philip Asso is a nurse shark. Seantial is a Python and Don Johnson is a SEAL. Dave 29:02 Chris Clair, how would Dawson's Creek be different if instead of Steven Spielberg Dawson was obsessed with David Lynch? Tara 29:09 It would be Daria, but with a male lead, Sarah Sarah 29:13 This sort of broke my brain. So here's what I came up with. Instead of Twin Peak stars cycling through the show as guest stars, we would have inverted that in this sliding doors verse. So it's like Richard Dreyfus and Henry Thomas and Karen Allen cycling through as professors or whatever. That's as far as I could get before one of my eyes rolled back into my head and it's still stuck there. Dave. Dave 29:34 Well, no doubt it would make him more insufferable, I think, because you have a movie love and of an Autour and that's just like Tara 29:38 Yes. Dave 29:42 Freak fucking get me out of here. But I think there would be a scene where you have to deal with three minutes of him talking about how he would have been a better director on Return of the Jedi and go through all that kind of shit. I don't want to hear that either. Dry Dendon has your ask-as-e-h- question, people. Ears up. Here's your charge. Create the best classic 24-hour TV telephon. What's the cause? Who's hosting? Which celebrities are mending the phones? And what is the final total of money raised? Put your answers in our Ask Ask EHG channel, or of course you can do it right on the episode page on our site. And we'll be back soon with judgment on that. It is time I just now discovered for the no-knack, which explains a lot of things I've been feeling over the past 24 hours. Tara 30:32 I highlighted it in yellow. If you didn't notice that, that's on you. Dave 30:37 Wow, I wasn't blaming you, but defensive much. Tara 30:38 Okay. Dave 30:40 So here we are with the tiny commercial no-dack presented by Tara Ariano. Tara 30:44 Okay, listener, when I get to the clip of what I'm presenting, you will understand why I am so offended that anyone would think I was presenting this for canon purposes. Dave 30:53 I just said I was confused. Tara 30:55 Okay. Dave 30:55 I couldn't match what was happening in my brain and my eyes Tara 30:58 Right. Dave 30:59 Knowing you. So take it as a compliment and with walnuts. Tara 31:03 I don't. Recently I used this space to celebrate the National Enquirer's long-running Inquiring Minds Wanna Know TV commercial campaign. I remember both of you having immediate and positive reactions to it when I told you I was doing it and our posters on the Discord agreed, some saying they had fallen into their own rabbit holes watching old spots. So it is with some regret that I must wrench us all in the exact opposite direction, the tiny commercial no-nack. Please play the clip. Clip 31:31 Smushy butt, mushy kushy, tushy butt, skinny butt Spinny with your meaty butt. Rolly butt Eat your mustacholi butt Bony butt Riding on a pony butt Eggie butt Drop it on that heady butt Nake butt Stop. Put a Huggies on that butt Cause only Huggies is the number one fitting diaper with a curved and stretchy fit. So no matter what kind of butt you got, we got you baby Tara 32:02 I feel like the clip speaks for itself in terms of snow knackiness, but since we're here, I'll say more about my reasoning. If the only sensory input that you got from this spot was the audio, it would be bad enough. The spoof of nineties Euro pop performed by a monotone German perhaps outside of Bergheim feels vaguely threatening. The song's repetitive lyrics echo right said Fred's I'm too sexy, which given that this jingle is about baby butts is inappropriate. But it's not just an audio commercial. There's also video of countless, mostly shirtless toddlers Squatting, sitting on glass, smeared in red sauced pasta, butt shuffling on the floor like a dog with diarrhea, spinning around on a toy I pray does not vibrate Repeatedly sitting on dad's head and don't think about whether this baby actor and grown man actor even knew each other before the shoot day, if you don't want to get very upset. Dave 33:00 That's what the money's for. Tara 33:02 I know none of us is in the target market for this commercial. I don't know who is in the target market for this commercial and finds this kind of thing cute and appealing and even a positive differentiator from other disposable brands. In conclusion, yuck Dave 33:19 Yuck Sarah 33:19 I concur. I don't remember this spot. It's possible it's because I blocked it out. My notes include questions like why sprockets? Why ass on someone's face? Tara 33:29 Mm-hmm. Sarah 33:32 Why? I think that's pretty much where I am. Certainly I was not questioning why this was submitted because on top of everything else. This is the kind of obnoxious ad that you hate so much that you go around like making fun of it in your life. That pronunciation of bot Definitely broke containment, like escaped that diaper leaked and it was in the friend group for like 10 years. It's one of those songs that you hate, but it gets stuck in your head, and then you think you're making fun of it, but it's actually just put down roots and Poisoned you. So yes, I look forward to voting this in and then that having the f black letter law force of subtracting it from everyone's lives forever. Dave. Dave 34:22 Alright. Well, like I said, that makes a lot more sense now that I know it's a no-neck and I thought it was a canon and I was like, what's wrong with Tara? Does she have brain worms? Tara 34:30 Yes. Dave 34:31 Did she fall down and hit her head on something? Tara 34:33 Did she have a stroke? Dave 34:33 But now it all makes sense. That's all I was saying. I can love you again. Tara 34:39 The only way I mean, you must have thought that I had a brain tumor pressing on the taste center of my brain. Dave 34:47 I don't know. To me, this feels like they're trying to do the Volkswagen commercial. The da da da. Tara 34:52 Uh-huh, da da. Dave 34:53 They're trying to do their own version of that. Sarah 34:54 Mm-hmm. Tara 34:54 Yeah. Dave 34:55 It has a lot of the same DNA. I mean that one was of his time, but it was about a friend group and it wasn't about, you know, losing your two decades of your life because you had a kid in diapers Tara 35:05 Yeah. Dave 35:06 S prove me wrong, parents. Prove me wrong Sarah 35:10 My god, you could toilet train it after a couple years. You don't have to live like this. Dave 35:17 It's an earworm in a very annoying way. You know, like I feel like this is the uh zero dark thirty instead of Metallica you put on this song, and that way you'll get a quicker confession. Sarah 35:20 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dave 35:29 Terrible. Alright. Sarah D. Bunting, what say you? No knack worthy or not? Sarah 35:34 You bet your bot. Yes, it is. Dave 35:37 Alright, me too. So Huggies for all baby butts, you are hereby inducted into the Extra Hot Great tiny commercial cannon. Clip 35:51 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Dave 36:00 Alright, we're putting aside not quite winners and losers of the week and instead presenting you with three not quite top 11 lists. I will go first. This is a not quite top 11 list of TV shows that sound like something you can order at a class of restaurant you can't afford. Number one, Yellow Jackets. Mmm. Number two, Beef Ripley. Number three, Mash Tremay. Number four, Brimstone Cracker. Ooh, spicy. Number five, Fringe Borgen. Number six, Quincy Airwolf. Number seven, Kojak Banacek. Number eight, Carnival Fraser Fencey. For dessert, we're gonna have a little silo bonanza and we're gonna wash it all down with Rubicon Riptide. Sarah. Sarah 36:51 Not quite eleven other shows with Girl in the title that it's fun to think about inserting 1973 Sally Field into. In alphabetical order. Gilmore Girls. Girl Meets World. Girls. Girls Five Eva. Good Girls Guide to Murder. Gossip Girl, New Girl, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Super Girl, and Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place. Tara 37:19 I have brought the panel, inspired by our lead topic, the not quite top 11 male nudes on TV, counting from least best to best best. Dave 37:29 Yeah, this is harder than you thought. Tara 37:30 In tenth place, ugly naked guy from Friends, an important character, if not necessarily the most exciting Ayakandian. Yes, we do see him one time from behind. Number nine, Uncle Baby Billy from the Righteous Gemstones Cold Open where he's water skiing naked. I feel no further comment is required. Number eight, Jerry in Seinfeld when he's dating a girl who likes to be naked all the time and he's trying to make her stop. Number seven. Steven, also in the Righteous Gemstones, BJ confronts him about fooling around with Judy, and Steven chases him outside and beats BJ's ass while completely naked with a prosthetic penis. Number six, Jack McPhee in Dawson's Creek very controversially posing naked for Joey to sketch him for an art class Speaking of Joey's, number five is Joey Tribiani, also in Friends, he's auditioning to play an Italian in a film set in a period when circumcision wasn't Commons, so he gets Monica to help him fashion something for him to wear. When the director is appraising him, it falls off Number four, Turk in Scrubs, golfing naked the day of his wedding because of an old bet with JD.this one is worth looking up because thighs. You know what? Fuck it. I'll put it in the show notes. Number three Declan O'Hara in Rivals season two, who rejects a would-be partner pretty far along into a seduction and gets shoved out into a hotel hallway totally naked and no one is bad. Number two, Lieutenant Kavanaugh, played by my beloved Thomas Calabro in the TV movie Lady Killers. Join the Again With Again With This club to hear all about it and f Sarah 39:00 Oh my God. Speaking of hero wings, thank you. Tara 39:04 Find a link to that film. It's important. And of course, number one, straight from our lead topic on the main show this week, it's Lestat. An interview with a vampire, the first time he has sex with Louie and goes flowing up in the air and giving us a full view of death. Stephanie 39:26 Welcome to the Green Screen, the bi-monthly segment in which I, Stephanie Green, take you on a journey through the reality TV landscapes that are best not traversed alone. As a service to you, this month, I've watched one episode of Temptation Island so that you don't have to. You're welcome, trust me Temptation Island is a property I was dimly aware of but I'd never actually watched. Turns out it premiered on Fox in January 2001 when I was a senior in high school. and sharing a television with my parents, which probably explains why I didn't watch this show, which involves scantily clad hot people trying to convince other scantily clad hot people to have affairs. The show ran on Fox until 2003 and then went off the air until 2019 when USA Network brought the property back from the dead. It moved to Netflix in 2024, where you can now watch both seasons of the revival. I started with the latest available season, which Netflix calls season two, but which is actually season 10, not that it matters. Temptation Island premise wise pretty much does what it says on the tin. Four unmarried couples travel to a tropical island where they're separated and forced to commingle with a bunch of hottis of the opposite sex called tempters and temptresses who try to convince them to cheat on their partners. That's it, that's the premise. When this show premiered in 2001, it was considered quite scandalous and controversial, but in the year of our Lord 2026 a world that didn't blink when MILF Manor was renewed for a second season? This is tame stuff. As I watched Temptation Island, I found myself not compelled at all by questions of who would end up with who because truly who cares. I was more interested in the fact that this show seems to attract people so looks maxed that it makes The Bachelor look like a British crime procedural These contestants, all of whom are 30 or under, have fucked with their faces to the extent that it's impossible to tell what they actually look like. Looking at the female contestants especially is like looking at a magic eye poster. You squint and try to see the hidden picture, which may or may not appear, and afterwards you have a headache. But I don't mean to single out the women. The men look equally cartoonish and worse are not even that cute. So much ill-advised facial hair. So many broccoli haircuts. One of them is wearing an onk necklace, but of course looks aren't everything. These people are also really dumb. Even their names are dumb One of the starting couples are called Cayley and Summit. Summit! There's also an Xavier spelled with an X and a Z, and a Kennedy with an I. Kennedy with an I! That should be illegal Some of the professions represented on the show include model, fitness coach, content creator, digital creator, totally different, and acrobat. Look, our economy takes all sorts to run. I mean, what would we do without our acrobats? But I think it's safe to say that these people aren't essential workers, which explains why they're not only able but willing to go on a show that seems to be premised on humiliation and heartbreak. After watching one episode, I did not feel compelled to continue, which is not to say that I won't at some point continue, because no one ever said I had standards. This is absolutely the type of show that one could have on in the background while folding laundry since it asks so little of one as a viewer. And you know, in these trying times, sometimes that's what we need. But for now you can safely skip Temptation Island. For a spin on the same premise that's marginally more interesting, you can try the ultimatum, which is also on Netflix. Well, that's all for this installment of the green screen. Till next time. Sarah 43:01 Hello grandpas, welcome to this week's extra credit. Before we talk about summer TV reading, I just want to note that you missed a Whole show, about 45 minutes of us talking about Sally Field, John Davidson, and their 70s adventures with a copyright-compliant Playgirl magazine. We fantasy cast flight attendants from TV. We talked about classic late-night infomercials and so much more. There was also a tiny no-nack dispute. that involves sprockets and if you want to know more you're just gonna have to bump up that pledge extragrade. com slash club we have a good time and we'd love to have you along But we're glad you're here now. We're gonna talk about books. Yes, in the words of the great philosopher Jeff Drake, TV is our friend who reads to us, but TV can't always read us books about itself. So it's time for some topical summer reading racks. I asked uh the panelists each to bring two TV books that we love or recommend, one that we would like to warn people away from, and one that doesn't exist yet and should. This is a pretty broad spectrum of potentials here, I would say. Memoirs, unrelated books by people who were on TV And that's where I'm going to start. I'm going to begin with one of my recommendations, and that is Anthony Bourdain's Typhoid Mary, an urban historical. Not to go immediately off model here, but the guy did do a lot of T V, so I'm gonna count it. I reviewed the book a few years ago at Best Evidence. I'll link that review in the show notes. The case of typhoid Mary Mallon is, strictly speaking, true crime. Depending on whose perspective you take, either it's manslaughter slash criminally negligent homicide on her part or unlawful detention on the part of the state of New York. Malon was an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid, whose food prep was deemed to have infected dozens and killed three at the turn of the last century. Bourdain's book has been called The Orphan of his Written Catalog, and it's a bit hard to come by, but a fast read and 152 pages, and it's everything that I love and still miss on like a weekly basis. about Anthony Bourdain and the way he met the world around him. Uh it's profane, it's curious, it's righteous. He's a born storyteller. I feel like we as a culture really are still bereft with the loss of Bourdain. I wish he were still with us and still tackling other true crime stories, honestly. But if you also miss Bourdain and his ways, Typhoid Mary is a great way to reconnect with him. My second recommendation is Audience of One by our Esteemed colleague James Ponawozek. It's about how TV and TV stardom created Donald Trump and he is one of those writers that like I think he's actually underrated, like he's doing fine. for himself, but sometimes I push back from a sentence of his and I'm like, God damn it. He just makes it look really easy and good. Well researched and well written, it moves right along, but and it's not gonna sort of drag down your vibe. Given the subject, I think that kind of I think it got overlooked when it came out a little bit. I tore through it in a morning, and uh I think that you, listener, would enjoy it Good analysis. Tara, what are your positive recommendations for the listeners? Tara 46:30 Alright, I got an oldie and a newie. The old one is Live from New York by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. This is To the Date, which is the 2000s. oral history of Saturday Night Live. It goes mostly chronological, I believe, and I know that, dear listener, you've heard me complain about this show a lot, but that's only because it meant a lot to me at one time. I'm still fascinated by how it happened. Like it sh it's one thing for it to have been a sensation in the seventies, but the way it has changed and evolved in the ways it hasn't are fascinating and it's just such a unique production that even though I don't care for it anymore and think it probably should have ended a while ago, I'm I'm fascinated by the stories of all the people who came through it and all the drama that happened on stage and off stage of course. And they talk to everyone. It's kind of amazing. And my new one is right right on the cutting edge. It's Fame Sick by Lena Dunham. Full disclosure, I am still in the process of reading it. We picked it for for a book club that I am in. And the it's a memoir book club and they really range in quality. The one that we were reading before this was Lucas Gage's I Wrote This for Attention, which actually Kinda good. But this is one of the more controversial figures of television of the past 20 years or so, who I think uh is long overdue for a reappraisal. I actually, as we're recording this on June 11th, just finished my first watch through of girls like four days ago and I have a different appreciation for Lena Dunham as an artist. I don't think I got what she was doing back then. I sort of mistook Hannah a for a hero when she's very much an anti-hero. And I have a greater appreciation for the totality of that artistic project. But you know, she's also had a bad time and from what I've read in reviews Faces that all head on and even in the early going, like it's very dishy. So I it feels like the kind of thing that you want in a book like that. So FameSick by Lena Dunham. Dave. Dave 48:41 Sarah D. Bunting, thank you for inviting me to your party, but I can't eat all the food you laid out, so I had to bring my own little meal to this. Don't really read TV books by for or anything like maybe the last one was like The Simpsons Guide from the 90s that I think I actually read, but I have no memory of it. But I am bringing you important content from one of the most important TV-related publications. Clip 49:06 Well, I've always been a firm believer in the three R's, reading TV Guide, um writing to TV Guide, and renewing TV guide. Dave 49:16 So here's what we're gonna do. I am going to take turns giving you hints. Three hints and you have to tell me what show I am describing the TV guide coverage cover coverage of. So I'm gonna look at a Cover, I'm going to explain some things to you. Answer it in the first one. You get three points. Somebody please keep score, etc. etc. A mini little tiny game time we'll play in three parts. Are we ready for our first one? Tara 49:41 Yes Dave 49:41 Two questions each. Sarah 49:41 Yes. Dave 49:42 Here we go. Serity bunting, you'll go first. Your first clue is there's a guy in a leather jacket with lots of feathered hair on the cover. Sarah 49:52 This is T V Guide. Dave 49:54 T guide. Sarah 49:55 Leather jacket with lots of feathered hair. Mm. Tara 49:59 If it's who I'm thinking of, it's someone who's very important to you. Dave 50:05 Alright, need an answer. Clip 50:05 Kato boat ringleys go. Dave 50:06 Let's go. Sarah 50:06 Night Rider Tara 50:08 Oh, that's what I thought was for sure. Dave 50:10 The copy up top includes millionaire sex object Sarah 50:17 Millionaire sex object Dave 50:19 Yes, sex object Sarah 50:24 Um I'm guessing a show, right? Dave 50:27 Yeah, we want the show. Sarah 50:28 Okay Dave 50:28 Mostly these are shows. There's one that isn't, but not yet Sarah 50:30 I feel like this is a Cassidy, so I'm gonna say Hardy Boys Mysteries. Dave 50:35 Last clue, the copy also includes the word sweat hog. Sarah 50:40 Oh, welcome back, Cater. Dave 50:42 You are correct. That is John Travolta on the cover. That is good for one point. Tara! There is a woman leaving through an office door in the cover photo of this issue. But what's that show? There's a woman leaving through an office door Tara 50:55 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Dave 50:56 You are correct, yes, the copy includes so long, the doors have WMJTV printed on them. Sarah 50:58 Nice Clip 51:01 Oh my god because I Dave 51:03 Nicely done. Three points back to Sarah. There's two shaggy haired characters on the cover Sarah 51:10 Hardy Boys mysteries? Dave 51:13 One of the actors is named Bozo. Sarah 51:18 Is this Benson? I don't I don't know. Dave 51:20 Alright, so there's two shaggy haired characters on the cover. One of them is named Bozo. Two of them on the cover. One is a human, the other is a bear. Tara 51:29 Is it bear? Okay. Sarah 51:32 B. J. and the Bear Dave 51:34 No, the bear's not a bear in VJ and the bears. Sarah 51:37 I don't care. What is it? Dave 51:39 Grizzly Adams. Grizzly Adams. Sarah 51:41 Oh. Dave 51:41 Alright, last one. Sarah 51:42 Why did I get fucking grizzly atoms? Dave 51:42 Tara. Tara 51:44 Yep Dave 51:44 Two stars are peeking out from behind a red curtain. Sarah 51:45 Oh. Clip 51:49 Knowing the land, I want to take a walk cut. Tara 51:49 The Muppet Show. Dave 51:50 Jesus Christ. Tara 51:52 No way. Dave 51:52 One is wearing a Brown pork pie hat. Sarah 51:52 Yeah, seriously. Dave 51:55 The other character is a frog. Tara 51:57 Wow Dave 51:57 Alright. I think I know the scores, but let's just hear them. Clip 51:58 I Sarah 52:01 Uh, one to six, congratulations, Dara Dave 52:04 All right, but we're not done quite yet. Little equalizer challenge here at the end of each one, just for whoever's in last place. So Sarah D. Bunting, you can get two points here. If you could tell me what year all these covers are from, they are all from the same year. We had Welcome Back Cotter. We had Mary Tyler Moore show so long. We had Grizzly Adams and The Muppet Show. What year is all this TV guide coverage from? Two points. Sarah 52:33 Seventy-eight. Dave 52:35 Seventy-seven very close. Sarah 52:37 Ah, I was gonna say that, and then I didn't. Buck. Dave 52:40 All right. Sarah 52:40 Buck a duck Dave 52:40 We'll see ya at the end of the next round of booked recommendations. Sarah 52:44 Okay, okay. Now we're gonna be talking about T V books that we do not recommend. We do not Love. I thought that there were too many from the celebrity dummy club list that Tara and our Esteemed colleague Stephanie Green and I all trade amongst ourselves. So I went with Daniel Paisner's Horizontal Hold, The Making and Breaking of a Network Pilot. Came out in 92. I grabbed it at the Strand years ago. This is about Bruce Paltrow and his team's attempts to get a sitcom called EOB, Executive Office Building, made First, they tried it in NYC, starred Mary Beth Hurt and Rich Hall. It focused on the antics of presidential speechwriters. They did a pilot, it didn't get picked up by CBS for a bunch of reasons, and then they tried it again in a West Coast production iteration new cast including William KITT Daniels and singer Gladys Knight that also died on the vine. This was the kind of s process y showrunner behind the scenes thing that I think is much more common now, or information about the process is much more widely available now. Than it was when this came out. It was sort of pre-internet, or like the internet was about to be born in Al Gore's basement shortly after that. But Paisner's writing is so pedestrian and Paisner's editor did not help him. There was access he got, but a lot of access he didn't, and certain decisions he just sort of had to theorize about why they were made. from this vantage point you feel like you know why and it's because executives are idiots and like there's a whole book called like immersion wouldn't say that which is like stupid network notes. I would recommend that instead of this, but if you ever see it at a used bookstore and you're like, Huh, I bet that's dishy. It isn't. It's actually just frustrating. Almost nothing has changed and there are better written accounts of this process. Certainly. No, not you, Jeffrey Stebakoff. Tara 54:50 Oh God. Oh, that's that's a non-reckmend for sure. Sarah 54:55 Uh huh. Tara 54:56 But I have another one. Well, I'll preface this by saying if you watch this year's America's Desktop Model Netflix documentary and thought, I'm interested in hearing more from Jay Manuel in his Doesn't give a Fuck era talking shit about Tyra Banks. You might be tempted to pick up his novel titled The Wig, The Bitch, and the Meltdown. And of course It is uh rendered in the America's Next Top Model title font on the cover. But this book is, I'm quite sure. self-published and was not edited. Sarah 55:32 Oh Tara 55:34 And here's I'll let him speak for himself. This is from Goodreads. Ultimately The Wig, The Bitch, and the Meltdown was a book I needed to write myself without a ghostwriter. Brother, it shows. This is horrendous, and I'm sure it was useful to him to exorcise the feelings that he had about his time. working with Tyra Banks, but oo phu. So originally when this came out in twenty twenty, I read it, I took a lot of notes, uh in the margins, and there was talk that we would try to do a special extra, extra hot grate at the time with Dan Laurogi and Rad Judy Garland, our past guest will. And so I finished it. I sent it to Dan. I think he read about a hundred pages and then was like, I I cannot go on You know, he didn't say I am a father and I have better things to do, but he is and he does. So then he sent it to Will. And I don't know if Will, like, t went to Mount Doom to throw the copy in, but if he did, he was right, because it's bad. Sarah 56:37 Yeah. Tara 56:38 I have not gotten it back. I also haven't followed up. This seems like a project that no one actually needs to hear, but Except for me to tell you, beloved listener, do not read this book. Dave 56:48 Wow. Tara 56:48 Dave. Dave 56:48 All right, ready to get back into it Tara 56:50 Yes. Sarah 56:50 Yeah Dave 56:51 For new questions, we'll start with Sarah this time. Your first clue is the cover of this TV guide issue has the subhead that includes What's Next for Heartbreaker? Tara 57:03 Yeah Dave 57:03 Dot dot dot. Sarah 57:05 Hmm, Heartbreaker. So I'm guessing a show? Dave 57:09 Yeah, they're still on shows here. Sarah 57:11 All right, Beverly Hills nine oh two one oh, E R. Dave 57:14 The headline below it reads, bye George. ER is correct. Top Doc checks out two points Tara 57:23 Nice, yes, mm Dave 57:24 Tar. Name the show. There's three stars of very different heights, each holding an umbrella because the headline includes the word reigns as into rule. Tara 57:33 Mm-hmm. Fraser. Dave 57:36 The subhead starts how this everyday guy turned his life into the comedy. Tara 57:44 Home improvement. Sarah 57:46 That's what I would have guessed. Dave 57:47 Dot dot dot. Everybody loves. Tara 57:51 Everybody loves Raymond Dave 57:52 It's good for one point, yes. Back to Sarah. Name the show. The headline is Rookies of the Year. Sarah D. Bunting, what do you think? Rookie of the Year. Rookies of the Year. Pitch not correct. Copy reads, a smart, fast-paced comedy tries something different and scores Tara 58:13 If I may help my beloved wife, I think he's taking them all from the same year, so that may help. Dave 58:17 Hmm. Interesting thought. Sarah 58:20 First and ten Dave 58:23 Last clue. The photo is four stars holding various sports balls and equipment all painted silver. Rookies of the year! Smart, fast-paced comedy, try something different and scores. Photo is four stars of the show holding various sports balls. All silver. Sarah 58:41 Sports night Dave 58:43 Correct. One point. Last question for Tara. There's three stars of the show on this special edition cover, each with some shit on their faces. Tara 58:53 Can you say that again? Dave 58:55 There's three stars of the show on this special edition cover, each with some shit on their faces. Tara 59:00 Charmed. Dave 59:03 Each star's signature is also on the cover, and if I didn't know who their names were, I'd read them as HHL On. Amy Shamland and Vikola Dib. Tara 59:16 Melrose Place Dave 59:19 The copy exclaims, It's an out of this world farewell, and reveals a galaxy of surprises. Clip 59:23 Because I'm mad at the wheel and I'm getting it because I'm not gonna get a one cut because I'm gonna get Tara 59:26 Third rock from the sun? Dave 59:27 No, no points for you. Tara 59:29 Ugh Dave 59:30 Sarah D. Bunting, any idea here? Sarah 59:32 No, no, no. Dave 59:33 This is Deep Space Nine. Tara 59:35 Oh, sure. Sarah 59:35 Oh Dave 59:36 HHL is Michael Dorn's signature. Tara 59:39 Oh. Okay. Dave 59:41 Amy Shamalan is um guy played Quark. I forget his name. Tara 59:46 Uh-huh. Sarah 59:47 Armin Scheimerman. Dave 59:47 Thank you. And Vicola Deb is Nicola DeBeers. Or de Boers, whatever her name is Tara 59:53 Okay. Dave 59:55 Played the I'm two and one that character. Tara 59:58 Uh-huh. Yeah. Dave 59:59 Alright. Tara 59:59 Jadzia Dax, I believe. Dave 01:00:01 Scores, please. Thank you. Sarah 01:00:03 Tara is still ahead with seven. I have four. Dave 01:00:06 All right, you can pick up two points again if you can tell me what year all these covers came from, Sarah D. Bunting. We had ER, we had Everybody Loves Raymond, Sports Night, and D Space Nine. Tara 01:00:19 When did Clooney leave ER? Sarah 01:00:22 Yeah, when did sports night premiere? Ninety-eight. Dave 01:00:26 99 another year off. Sarah 01:00:28 God damn it Dave 01:00:29 All right, well we'll conclude this at the end of the next round of recommendations. Sarah 01:00:34 These are not recommendations. This is uh wish casting now in our final round, a TV book that doesn't exist yet, but should. I have spoken before in this space about Jane and Michael Stern's various books about road tripping around America, eating in every like diner between here and Cheyenne. I would love Jana Michael Stern to do an Encyclopedia of Misbegotten TV, jumping off my previous item, in the style of Encyclopedia of Bad Taste and Lexicon of Real American Food. I would suggest James Lylex for this, but his politics are just not like you can't unknow it. He usually keeps it out of the pros, but once you know, you can't un if anyone has other authorial ideas for this, like um, I don't know if anyone read or owns Obsolete, an encyclopedia of things that you won't know what they are by the time I publish this. It was by Anna Jane Grossman and like half the book has stopped being made. Is things that have stopped being made since she wrote it, like ten years ago. I would love a sort of witty dictionary of like legendarily terrible, misshapen, disgusting blobs of TV that never made it to air. So, universe, hear my cry. Tara. Tara 01:01:52 Can you believe there has never been a memoir by Ms. Heather Locklear? Cause there hasn't. Sarah 01:01:57 Oh my god, you're you're so right. Tara 01:02:00 And when you think about the lives this woman has lived, like not only on TV, although that is impressive enough, like you know, from TJ Herker to Dynasty to her many guest shots across the across the genres to of course Melrose Place where she was like one of the biggest stars of the nineties. Sarah 01:02:19 Yeah Tara 01:02:20 But she's also lived a life off screen, like with her two rather notable husbands, Tommy Lee and Richie Sambora. Like I I'm sure she has stories. My only hope is that she isn't storing them up to write some kind of inspirational book because now I guess she's gotten into kind of a Christian-y Sarah 01:02:37 Oh God, yeah. Tara 01:02:41 bent in her sobriety and we're glad she's doing better. Of course. I wonder if when she finally writes a book, and I'm sure she has h had offers over the years, that it's, you know, gonna be too inspirational, shall we say? Sarah 01:02:54 Suffused with love and light. Yeah, she was with J Wags for years, too Tara 01:02:56 Yeah. And him, yeah, yeah. Yes. They weren't married, but they were together for a long time, for sure. Sarah 01:03:01 Yeah, they were engaged for a while, so Tara 01:03:03 Yeah. So if she's got these stories, I want to hear them, but you know, depend depending on where she's coming from and her headspace. So that's mine. Sarah 01:03:12 Mm-hmm. That's an excellent pick. Tara 01:03:14 Back to you, Dave. Sarah 01:03:14 All right, Dave. Dave 01:03:15 All right. This is our last round. We'll start with Sarah again, since she is trailing. Clip 01:03:19 Well, it goes. Dave 01:03:21 We're gonna name that show. Your first clue is The photo is a man in a pink polo shirt at a marina. Clip 01:03:27 Well, Sarah 01:03:33 The Bachelor. Dave 01:03:36 The man is sporting a glorious mustache and is leaning against a boat. Sarah 01:03:42 Magnum PI Why not? Dave 01:03:45 The headline reads, Six Reasons Why I Like Perry King more than ever. Saddam Marina in a pink shirt leaning against a boat. It's Mr. Sarah 01:03:55 Was he riptide? Dave 01:03:56 Perry King. Riptide is correct. Sarah 01:03:59 Oh never seen a frame. Dave 01:03:59 One point. Tara. Tara 01:04:01 Yep. Dave 01:04:02 You've got the outlier here. The answer is an actor, the only one we're not doing the show for. The illustration on the cover of this TV guide is of a berobed man with a Spanish ship sailing behind him. Looking for the actor Tara 01:04:18 Mmm. Yeah. Oh. It sounds this sounds like a mini series, some kind of historical affair. I mean the next clue. Dave 01:04:29 Columbus on the couch reads the headline. Tara 01:04:33 Oh my God. Dave 01:04:36 Don't worry, I put a lot of information in the next hint. Tara 01:04:38 Martin Landau Dave 01:04:41 Now, the actor is from Europe, but definitely not from Italy, nor is he from Scandinavia, but that won't stop him in another 28 years from playing a Viking warlord. Tara 01:04:44 And then Ethan Hawk? Dave 01:04:55 No. Tara 01:04:56 I don't know Dave 01:04:58 This guy played both Christopher Columbus and a Viking warlord in Vikings. Sarah 01:04:59 Well that Dave 01:05:03 We're looking for Gabriel Byrne. Tara 01:05:04 Oh, God, really? Sarah 01:05:05 Oh Dave 01:05:06 Yep, he was a Christopher Columbus back in some year. Tara 01:05:06 Okay. Wow. Sure Dave 01:05:12 Back to Sarah. The headline reads that the star actress, quote, escaped the camels, but not the mud hole. Clip 01:05:20 I want to go to the critical. Tara 01:05:23 As the old saying goes Dave 01:05:24 Yeah, classic. Sarah 01:05:26 The camels, but not the mud hole Dave 01:05:29 When you go to the idiom shop, this is right there at the counter, so you can just pick a few up, put them in your pocket as you leave. Escape the camels, but not the mud hole. Name the show Today Clip 01:05:40 I want to go with M Black. I want the control. Sarah 01:05:44 Uh uh Dukes of Hazard Dave 01:05:47 The actress is not Heather Locklear, not Sarah 01:05:53 Heather Locklear, uh Dallas Dave 01:05:59 The actress is not Heather Locklear because the actress is Heather Thomas. Sarah 01:06:03 Yeah. Dave 01:06:04 What's that show? Escape the camels when not the mud hole is Heather Thomas. Sarah 01:06:10 I don't I don't know what can I don't know. I don't know. Dave 01:06:14 I don't know. So we're looking for is the Fall Guy. The Fall Guy. Sarah 01:06:18 Oh well, good for her. Dave 01:06:20 Last question for Tara. Tara 01:06:22 Yeah. Dave 01:06:22 Name the show. The photo is the star in white vestments with a colorful stole. Tara 01:06:32 Next Dave 01:06:33 The copy reads: Why Catholic priests owe him a vote of thanks. Tara 01:06:39 Beauty of the Beast Dave 01:06:42 The hymn is actor Robert Blake. Tara 01:06:47 What the Fuck? Sarah 01:06:48 What the Fuck Tara 01:06:50 Father Beretta Dave 01:06:55 Yeah, I know, I know guys, I know. This is a show called Helltown, Helltown. Sarah 01:06:58 Oh my God. Tara 01:07:01 Oh my God, wow Sarah 01:07:02 Oh my God Dave 01:07:04 There's the cover. I will put all these covers on my blue sky or something so everybody can see them. Sarah 01:07:08 Oh shit Dave 01:07:08 We'll link them in the show notes. Tara 01:07:09 Well I do like the is that a shazable? I forget what it's called, but whatever's oh the stole. Dave 01:07:15 That's the stole. Tara 01:07:15 It's just a stole. Dave 01:07:16 Yeah. Tara 01:07:16 Okay, it's gorgeous. Dave 01:07:17 Yeah. Sarah 01:07:17 Wow. Dave 01:07:18 It's got some colors on top. He's got a Virgin Mary or something on one side. And I don't know what's going on the other side, but it is styling. Sarah 01:07:24 The Sacred Heart of Malibu. Dave 01:07:26 Sarah, I think you're still in the last place, so you get yet another crack at what year all four of these covers were from. You had Riptide, you had Columbus with Gabriel Byrne, you had Fall Guy and Helltown. What year are we talking about? Sarah 01:07:45 Uh I am not sure, but I will blunder ahead and say nineteen hundred eighty-three. Dave 01:07:52 Incorrect. We were looking for eighty-five, eighty-five. So let's get our final scores, please Sarah 01:07:59 Um, Tara is victorious with seven. I have five. Dave 01:08:03 All right, well played everybody. Thank you for indulging me because I don't read books. Alright guys, that is it for another episode of Extra Extra Hot Great We discussed the ESP Tinge nude photo edition for non-swinger lawyers square show, The Girl with Something Extra, before answering your burning Ask EHG questions like prequel, sequel, or spin-off Tara filled her diaper with a tiny commercial no-nack victory. Tara 01:08:37 Come on. Dave 01:08:39 What? Sarah 01:08:39 Oh my and then she sat on Dave's head Dave 01:08:40 We presented three not quite top 11 lists Stephanie made Landfall at Temptation Island in the green screen, and we wrap it all up with some summer TV reading advice from people who read books and also Davos there. Next up, something cool on TV.maybe a show about aliens who open an ice cream shop. You just never know what America's top entertainment scientists will come up with next. Remember. Tara 01:09:07 It's little house on the prairie. Clip 01:09:08 We're listening. Dave 01:09:11 I am David T. Cole and on behalf of Tara Arriano and Sarah D. Bunting. Tara 01:09:14 Sometimes I sound like a wife. Sarah 01:09:18 I never said I had a perfect liver. Dave 01:09:20 Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time right here on Extra, Extra Upgrade Clip 01:09:39 See you later, Stella. I said see you later, Stella. And I said, which is the nicest thing I can think of. This is Extra Hot Great Minis. Today's topic is Hello, welcome to another week of Extra Hot Great Minis. Joining us all this week with our minis is Heather Cox. Hello, Heather. Hello, thank you for having me. Um Jessica was with a She stormed off after she lost game time. She was on the ripped off her wagon ram. She ripped off her wig, her headset microphone came with it. We can't record her now by Jessica. Um, this topic we will be discussing today is an extra credit topic. From Heather, not this one. Uh and she asks, what TV character should start wearing a hat? What kind of hat Heather, not the submitter of this question, why don't you start us off? Uh this was a tough one because I think there are many programs where someone could be improved by some headgear, but I'm gonna say huck on scandal because I can't stand him. He is like the most irritating, murderous, bloodthirsty, nose panting ass out in the world. And the only way I can even begin to tolerate him anymore is if he has on some crazy headgear, although I think my first choice for headgear would be some sort of cranium obscuring piece like Rick Moranus wears with space balls when he plays Dark Helmet. I was I was thinking that it it Because of his occupation, it'd be really great if it was like super giant, like Homer Simpson's 30-gallon hat from the Simpsons. His foam foam. His foam cowboy hat or something like that. So where you actually like literally can see him coming around the corner I think that would up the stakes. Yeah, that's great. It would. Uh Tara, you want to go next? Sure. Well, up until literally last night as we record this, my answer would have been Ephraim Goodweather on the strain. Oh yeah. However, spoiler alert, if you're not up to date on the strain, you can consider yourself fairly warned. He finally shaved his head. Now Corey Stoll can start exposing his Very lovely, real dome to the world. And and measured in miles. How big are the air quotes on shaved his head in that sentence? Yeah, pretty big. There was there was a there was some uh some camera trickery with opening and closing a medicine cabinet and I think we all know what that is. But my answer is Amantha Holden of Rectify. Uh this season She's the beautiful Abigail Spencer always has terrible hair. I don't know why that is. It's not only in this role. She had had bad hair on suits too, and she was supposed to be a very polished lawyer, so I don't know why she has so many flyaways. Get some conditioner. Okay, good to know Um but I would say because she has such a rat's nest of hair and this season she's been trying to deal with it with um like old style like late 80s plastic clips, I'm gonna say she should mix it up. Um Bring a little pizzazz down to the thrifty town and get herself a fascinator. I think Polly is ready. Sarah That is uh fascinating, as it were, uh, that a fascinator came up because my honorable mention was that Tyrell Wellick of Mr. Robot should wear a fascinator. Yeah. No explanation. Because that guy. But my actual answer is that Will Graham of Hannibal should start wearing a Hamburg made of felted dog hair. What's a Homburg? Um it's the like at the end of um the movie Age of Innocence. It's like that 1890s hat. It's like a fedora but narrower. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yep. I love it. Um all right, so uh Our main podcast uh Project One Way discussion made me think of that. How great would it be if Tim Gunn wore a two-beer construction hat with sippy straw, for all the times he gets really exasperated. And then he just sort of stares at you and he has it so drunk. He has it in one side of his mouth. He just kinda looks at you, goes, but it's wine that comes out. or something not beer but it'd be like it's a foam dome it could be champagne yeah exactly so that's my pick I love it good picks everybody mm-hmm hat