Setting Sail With Doctor Odyssey

Dave: [0:18] This is the Extra Hot Great Podcast, episode 530 for the week of September 30, 2024. I am fancy nautical apothecary David T. Cole, and I'm here with bucket of fun, Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah: [0:37] You're living it. Dave: [0:39] Dance-off judge Tara Ariano. Tara: [0:41] Six. Dave: [0:42] And broken penis Jessica Morgan. Jessica: [0:45] Ow! Dave: [0:52] I love the fact that it just engendered an ow. I think it might be a lot more. Jessica: [0:57] I don't know. I don't have one. So I just seem that ow seems like it's gonna be the start point anyway, if nothing else. Tara: [1:04] Wow already an exclusive here on the podcast, Tara: [1:09] Welcome to extra hot great for another week joining us without a penis She is the co-creator of go fog yourself the co-author of novels including the royal we and the air affair and a former dawson's creek recapper at television without pity It's jessica morgan. Jessica: [1:27] Thank you for having me for the record. Dave: [1:30] We don't know. She doesn't have somebody else's penis around. Jessica: [1:34] I mean, that's fair. Do I have one in a jar? I'm never going to say. You don't know that. Dave: [1:38] We don't know who owns Napoleon penis anymore. Jessica: [1:41] Actually, we do. Heather wrote a lengthy newsletter article about this for our sub stack. It's in New Jersey somewhere. Tara: [1:47] Wow. Dave: [1:47] Of course. Jessica: [1:49] Yeah, seems right. Dave: [1:50] So she says, this sounds like a cover story, but let's proceed. Sarah: [1:52] So it into Bob Menendez's pocket, probably. Jessica: [1:56] Yes, I think that's probably accurate. Dave: [1:58] Remember when Jessica was buying us dinner the other day and she was trying to fish out loose change out of her pocket and a whole bunch of penises fell out. Jessica: [2:07] That's how I roll, guys. I don't know what to tell you. Sarah: [2:11] That's how we lost everything. Tara: [2:14] We're not here to talk about any of that, other than some of it. We're here to talk about Dr. Odyssey, in which the Odyssey is a luxury cruise ship that includes nurse Tristan Silva, Sean Teal, and nurse practitioner Avery Morgan, Philippa Sue. When they find out the ship's doctor is out, Avery starts campaigning to replace him. NPs have as much training as doctors, after all. But Captain Robert Massey, Don Johnson, tells them he's hired a hot shot surgeon and he's definitely right about the hot part when we get our first look at Dr. Max Bankman, Joshua Jackson and his white pants. Over the course of the first episode, we see him treat one passenger with a food related ailment, another with a sex injury and a third who chose the wrong moment to try to be the king of the world. What's the backstory that led Max to change course on his career and take this job? And how quickly will he and the show's only female series regular hook up? Get on board and find out! The show was co-created by John Robin Bates of Brothers and Sisters, Joe Bacon of Hollywoodland, and Ryan Murphy of Too Many Shows to Name. Only one episode has aired so far, and we did not get screeners because ABC didn't need to release any. This show sells itself. Let us do the Chen check-in. And Jessica, should our listeners watch Dr. Odyssey? Jessica: [3:33] Yes. Tara: [3:35] Okay, Sarah. Sarah: [3:37] No. Dave: [3:39] What? Oh my God. Tara: [3:41] What? Dave. Dave: [3:43] The year is 2024 and ABC has discovered the formula for the perfect network show. So it's a yes. Tara: [3:52] Yeah. Yes for me as well. Hard yes. Let's get into it. watching the pilot, this seems like a show that almost has it all. And then you get to the beach dance off and it's clear, okay, yes, that's everything literally that the show does have it all. Jessica, is any part of you worried? Because it sounded like it was a medium yes for you that these creators have left themselves nowhere to go. Jessica: [4:15] It's so hard to judge a show from a pilot. Like you don't really know what's going to get going for a little while. I was talking to Heather, You guys all know Heather, my business partner and friend. And she has a lot of interesting theories about Dr. Odyssey that I'm sure we'll get into later. Tara: [4:30] Okay. Jessica: [4:31] I felt like it could have done more, to be honest with you. Like, I had a lot of questions about the logistics of the ship and stuff. But all that we'll get into, I'm sure. For me, it was like a really decent one-eye program. Like, I don't have to pay a lot of attention to this. I can be on my phone while Dr. Odyssey is fixing broken penises or whatever. And there is something to be said for kind of like a glossy, slick, kind of dumb network television show where you don't really, you're not that invested. And then like Paisley's wearing white pants. So, yeah, I have notes, but I will watch it again. Tara: [5:04] OK, Sarah, it sounds like you're way out. Was there one thing that made you say this is not for me? Sarah: [5:10] Oh, I'm not way out. I would say that my no is about the same strength as Jessica's. Yes. Tara: [5:17] Got it. Sarah: [5:17] I mean, grading on a it was really pilot-y curve. If this were like Captain Sonny Crockett and Dr. Pacey are wearing white pants and solving crimes aboard the oceanic bloodthirst or whatever the hell, or fighting pirates, there's just stuff in here that is so pilot-y and so network-y that I was like, I don't care quite enough. about Dr. Pacey to keep going with it, even though I know a lot of this was pilot-y. With that said, Joshua Jackson, I mean, he's so good in this. He's perfect for this. He's not even better than it. He's just perfect to drive it. He is great. It was a pleasure to watch him doing whatever it is he does that makes him perfect to also be Dr. Death and on Fringe. Like, I have consumed a lot of Jacksoniana over the years, and I always am fascinated by how he can drop into almost any genre this way. But the other leads, Don Johnson is fine, but he's reading a Princess Cruises pamphlet, basically, in most of his dialogue. And the other two are so dull. And John Robin Bates? What? Sarah: [6:43] There's just a lot here that's like, it doesn't quite make sense. It doesn't quite cohere. And it's not quite doing enough for me that's not... predictably networky and piloty but i like if it's on and someone else is watching it i will happily watch it uh if it all of a sudden gets like good and i should come back in i'll try it again i'm not mad i just don't need it yes dave. Dave: [7:11] Wrong no this is exactly what network television should be providing, which is dumb fun. And sure, it's piloted insofar that they have to establish the setting. But like a lot happens in the pilot for the first episode. You get three distinct medical emergencies. Tara: [7:33] There's more I didn't mention too. Dave: [7:35] Sure. You get a lot of stuff happening. You get a full first encounter, love triangle, like all in a first episode. Like it's not just flirting. It's we go from who likes who down to the betrayal, down to the resolution of the betrayal, all in the pilot. Like they're kind of going at 3x speed, which is a little rare for a network pilot. So I thought they actually got through a lot of shit pretty quick. Yes, the casting of a lot of the people here are very like who's pretty, but that's the show. The show is pretty people on a boat. And OK, it's a show on a crew. Their safety depends on three people. The three medical staff are on the boat. All three people will go on a shore leave, leaving the boat empty. So if anybody... Tara: [8:25] No problem. Jessica: [8:25] Thank you. Dave: [8:26] This is exactly the kind of level of network show that we need. This is basically the love boat if we dispense with the yucky love and we put in things going wrong with people. So there's like this 911, another Ryan Murphy show element into Dr. Odyssey. But then, of course, there's this Dr. Odyssey. Will they? Who will? Won't they? romantic stuff also don donson's character's got a terrible secret we just don't know what it is yet he's just not a company man he's got like there's going to be an episode where we discover he was like the guy who had to ram his battleship into another battleship in the you know the strait of hormuz or something like that and this is like the only job he could get after and then like it does affect him at some point in episode five i thought this show was sort of like a pitch perfect, what the network TV has to do here in this year in order to be very different from other shows that would have done a better, more serious job tackling this, say, on Netflix or HBO Max or something like that. Sarah: [9:31] Well, I don't disagree with you. I just we're, you know, at different places as to whether we're going to give it more time. Tara: [9:38] Yes. The question is whether that's the kind of thing you want to watch or not. And it sounds like you do that. This is doing well, what it set out to do. It's just not something that you're that interested in. Dave: [9:47] Let me give you just one quick visual example of why this was great. Tara: [9:50] Okay. Dave: [9:51] There is a pool, you know, one of the sets they built. There is a, just a pool that you can go swim in. It's got a hot tub at one end. And at one point they show the pool being skimmed, you know, just being cleaned, except it's being cleaned by somebody in a Baywatch uniform, like a Baywatch swimsuit. Not like the pool boy in all ways, but it's, you know, yeah, it's a lifeguard, but that's a really high cut for a lifeguard. Tara: [10:14] Bathing suit sure that's. Dave: [10:16] The sort of show we're dealing with. Tara: [10:17] And there's. Dave: [10:18] A spot for that in in the tv. Tara: [10:20] Diet for sure and as a fan of royal pains i was obviously like bought in on this immediately but jessica you wanted to jump in earlier talk about the realism because i was curious and i'll throw it to sarah after if you're also a below deck person who has learned a lot about about sailing and thus has has notes with regard to the realism i. Jessica: [10:41] Mean as we're going to discuss later in this very podcast. I watch almost everything on Bravo. So yes, of course, I have watched a lot of Below Deck. Yeah, I have a lot of questions. Like, first of all, Where's the rest of the crew? Like, we've got a captain who, by the way, I think is probably evil. We've got, or I hope he's evil. I think it's boring if he's not evil. Also, I think Don Johnson plays every role now that he's like a man of a certain age with like a nefarious undercurrent, which is a good move for him, actor-wise. Dave: [11:13] Quick pitch. He's, is he Crockett? Yeah, he's Crockett. He's Crockett's evil twin from Miami Vice. Same universe. Tara: [11:20] Yeah. Jessica: [11:20] Another weirdo who. Tara: [11:21] Lived on a boat yeah for sure. Jessica: [11:22] Yeah he. Dave: [11:23] Killed all this and then things went bad after that. Jessica: [11:25] Exactly that's exactly it but like where's everybody else there's like one woman who's chucking people into the boat and that's and then the captain and then that's it like there's where's the as so heather wrote about this for our substack uh yesterday um and she pointed out like the love boat had a bunch of crew members like where's your where's your chief stew Hello? It seemed like, why aren't you spending money on cast members? If you look at other 9-1-1 shows, there's tons of cast members. If you look at Grey's Anatomy, you got 45 doctors. Where's everyone else on this boat? Also, I know I'm all over the place here, but I just felt like they didn't take any boat logistics in charge at all. And I've never been on a cruise. My cruise experience is below deck, but like they would never let everyone off the ship when everyone's on an excursion. Tara: [12:21] No, they have things to do. Dave: [12:23] They got to party hardy, guys. Jessica: [12:26] Apparently so. But I learned from below deck they do that when there's no one, no guests on the boat. That's when people get crazy. Tara: [12:33] Yeah. Jessica: [12:34] And I also felt like there was a lot of like timeline information. confusion because i felt like don johnson was like we only have a day and a half for the people to get here and then like the very next scene a guy's got a broken dick or rachel drach's husband's eating too much shrimp what what when are they loading in like at least the love boat gave you a really good it was formulaic obviously but it was like here's here's like all our people who work on the boat here's everyone entering the boat and saying hello and now we know that the guests are here like i just felt like it's weird like there's some weird shit going on on the I mean. Tara: [13:09] Counterpoint, not to ride the show's broken dick too much, but like, I think the reason the only time we're supposed to meet passengers is when they interact with the crew. And otherwise, the show doesn't care. Jessica: [13:21] There's no crew. There's like one person on the crew. No, I get it. Tara: [13:25] But there's not enough. And I agree. Dave: [13:26] But don't you think the lack of support crew is because it's a pilot and they don't hire all those people until you get a pickup for a season, the rest of the season? I mean, I'm just saying it wouldn't be surprised. Yeah, we'll find out. But I wouldn't be surprised if there are more semi-regulars in the crew that you'll see the bartender, etc. like that, like from Love Boat. Tara: [13:47] For sure. I can imagine that a decision was made where it was like, we can either have a pool or we can have six series regulars and we want a pool, so it's going to be four. And that's just how it is. I've learned from the Melrose Place podcast I've been listening to lately that having a pool on your set is really expensive and a lot of work and people definitely want to make sure that you use it. So if that's the reason that it's these four people plus a bunch of guest stars, I get it, I guess. We all got to know and love Joshua Jackson when he was playing a teenager. Now at 46, he is in his Silver Fox era. Is the world ready? And I'm going to throw to Jessica first because, you know, I've seen more than one comparison of Max to George Clooney. And as intern George's boss at GoFug Yourself, I would love your thoughts on that. Jessica: [14:32] Look, no one thinks Josh Jackson is more charismatic and charming than I am. He's not George Clooney on ER. Nobody is George Clooney on ER. like if you catch an er rerun on pop or whatever it's on now like this guy's a giant superstar nobody's george clooney i think if he were george clooney he would be george clooney already no offense to josh jackson who actually might arguably be a better actor than george clooney george clooney is a superstar charisma bomb and he is the only one of his kind currently living in my opinion although i feel like you know speaking of him in his prime that doesn't mean Josh Jackson isn't good in this. I think he's great. I mean, I don't think you look at this and think, oh, my God, that man is a movie star. You just don't. Tara: [15:17] Sarah, you've also been steeping in his earlier work lately with me. What do you think of him in this era of his career? Sarah: [15:25] People may recall from original coverage of Dawson's Creek that I just could not go into certain threads on the boards because they were talking about his treasure trail. And while this is not, this is like completely a vibes thing that isn't really true anymore, but like he's my younger brother's age. And at that time they had a similar like vibe. so in the same way that i would not be attracted to my brother who was a you know wonderful guy yay dave jr you don't have to over explain that. Tara: [16:00] I think we're all with you. Sarah: [16:01] So like i get where people are going with like you know josh jackson silver fox like in theory absolutely get it but in practice it's like okay that's a like chalk and cheese thing in terms of like cluny charisma and fuckability and stuff like that. Again, he does have a lot of charisma and he also has this, like, not opacity exactly, but I would say that he holds enough back in performances that it's compelling and it makes you wonder what's going on. And he tends to make things more interesting than they might be on the page. And he's definitely doing that here. And I mean, I don't disagree, again, with Dave. This was doing more than it needed to, I would say, for a network pilot and really putting on a show. But he is such a big part of what makes it go, honestly. Him and Don Johnson, who, okay, I wasn't a fan of his stuff after Miami Vice, but he also has charisma and used to really be able to wear a pair of white pants with nothing on underneath. Dave: [17:13] Are you not a fan of Heartbeat? Sarah: [17:18] We've we've been over this on another podcast. Dave: [17:22] So right now, heartbeat is playing under this under our discussion. Sarah: [17:25] Oh, fart bleep. Dave: [17:29] Obviously, everybody who made this show knew why they hired Joshua Jackson, just from the way he was introduced. Of course. The pilot, because it is a two minute walk from the bay, you know, dock all the way to meeting the captain. And you do not see his face until the very last moment you're treated to, you know, his tight butt in a white sailor's suit. So, like, everything about this says we hired Joshua Jackson for this reason is that he is a Silver Fox sexy man. so where the show revolves around and he is the ship's doctor so you know the x of the weeks are going to be somewhere between er and 9-1-1 insofar that they're going to be a little kind of goofy mostly non-threatening medical things of the week and then everything else sort of happens between these beats. It's so formulaic and yet has so many opportunities to be stupid and entertaining that I just kind of feel like it's a magic formula and it's not unproven. Like this is basically the same show as 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star, except they're not putting out literal fires, just putting out figurative fires. Well, I mean, not yet. Who knows? Boat on Fire is probably going to be an episode. I shouldn't say that. Jessica: [18:51] Oh, yeah. Sarah: [18:52] Sure. The Pacey-Sydon adventure? Why not? Tara: [18:56] I mean, based on the super tease, that's coming. But yeah, I'm sure that the reason this show exists is that after they did the three-part season opening cruise arc on 9-1-1 last season, someone was like, there's something here. We got to stick around this milieu. And then Writers for Hire made it. It's so 9-1-1-y. It might as well be like 9-1-1 boat honestly, for how much the tone is the same. Dave: [19:22] Oh, yeah. And there's going to be a crossover with that, for sure. What I do want to see, though, is them doing a crossover Matrix with all of his shows, like American Horror Story on a boat. Tara: [19:33] Grotesquerie. Dave: [19:33] Yeah, exactly. Grotesquerie meets, you know, 9-1-1 Lone Star. Sure, let's do it all. Jessica: [19:38] I feel like it's not as gleefully OTT as 9-1-1. Like, I haven't watched the last season of 9-1-1, although I may be coming back to it now that there's the B-NATO. B-NATO, yeah. But like, exactly. There's a B-NATO. This is ridiculous. Like, 9-1-1 had an episode where a guy, they had to call the EMTs because he choked on his friend's cremains. Like, on Lone Star, a guy almost drowned in a corn silo. Like, this is not that dramatic or as campy yet. And I don't, I think, unfortunately, them being on a boat, does kind of preclude all the campy stuff you could do on 9-1-1. As we recall in Austin, a volcano exploded in the middle of a mini-golf. That was crazy. That's probably not going to happen on a boat. Dave: [20:22] Bull semen container explosions. That was in the pilot. Tara: [20:25] Guys, I don't know. All it takes is one food-tainting incident for it to get real dramatic. And we've all seen Triangle of Sadness. We know how bad it can get. Dave: [20:34] Let me reframe it this way. There is a lot of similarities between where we are on Dr. Odyssey and where we are on CSI Vegas, which is basically floating Vegas. Sure, true, true. All the weird shit that happens on CSI could happen here. Tara: [20:51] Yeah. Jessica: [20:52] Well, speaking of weird shit, can I share with you guys Heather's husband, Kevin's insane theory about the show? Tara: [20:58] Of course. Jessica: [20:59] He thinks it's purgatory. Tara: [21:02] I've seen more than one person say this. Sarah: [21:04] I have heard that too. I think that's really smart. Jessica: [21:07] I'm back in. And if Pacey is actually dead or in a coma, which he could be, and he's the kind of Dr. Odyssey, Don Johnson is God, the devil, some mythical being, which I do think he is playing it sort of like that's possible. Maybe this is also Don Johnson's theory, by the way. And they are ferrying these people, you know, they keep talking about this to the underworld. world and they keep talking about how this boat is heaven and they're escaping real life no one can see me but i'm doing a lot of air quotes and i just think i this did not occur to me but heather's like kevin is sure they're all dead and if they're all dead i am okay. Dave: [21:50] Oh my god. Jessica: [21:51] At the start. Dave: [21:51] Of the show they are going to the security check to get onto the odyssey and the sexy male nurse can't get in because he doesn't have his badge or I suppose his, you know, coin, right? For the, for the. Tara: [22:05] The ferryman. Dave: [22:06] Yeah. And then the female sexy nurse has his badge in her back pocket because he forgot it somewhere so they can pay it. So now they have both paid the fee. They're now on the boat going across the ocean sticks and they're away. There's a lot of other things like what's happening to all the guests that are leaving the boat at the end of the trip. Are they finally going to heaven proper? and that's where they are? Where are all these islands along the way that they're getting off? These are all questions I'm interested to hear inside of this. I mean, it sounds stupid enough that this could absolutely be. Tara: [22:41] For sure. ABC's already done this. It was called Lost. Dave: [22:44] Yeah. Jessica: [22:45] Yeah, exactly. Tara: [22:46] They could do it again, for sure. All right, let's wrap it up with a question that Dave wanted to ask, which was, it's established at the end that every week is a different theme. Next week is singles week. Dave, we'll start with you since this was your idea. What is a theme week you would like to see in the coming days on Dr. Odyssey? Dave: [23:06] First one, of course, because this is a cruise ship, but we all know bad things happen on a cruise ship. I'm going to say finale for season one should be Mass Diarrhea Week. Followed by, in season two, Reverse Pirates Week, where the Odyssey has to find a pirate ship to attack for fun. Jaws Week, sharks just circling the boat all the time and a whole bunch of shark-related things happening. I got one here, I don't know what it means. I'll skip that one Whale hunting week Where they're hunting whales, And of course The one that I think We all want to have happen, 90s teen soap week Oh my god yes Where they bring everybody From Dawson's Creek back WB week WB week yes WB con on a boat We solved it I had people explain boat Oh yeah this is what it is, People explain boat Versus ship week And when it's a boat And when it's a ship Just so we can all Finally understand Right Those are my ideas. Tara: [24:04] Okay well I'm gonna steal our friend Adam Grossworth and say there has to be a gay week. You can't have these creators making the show and not have it be more queer. I still am, by the way, I don't think the captain is necessarily evil, but no one in the regular cast is gay and that seems crazy. So I'm going to put a marker down now. He turns out to be gay. Dave: [24:23] Adam was also suggested that the episode should have been not titled pilot, but it should have been called Captain, which was pretty smart. Let's give it up for Adam. Tara: [24:32] But ships also have a pilot. Jessica: [24:34] Exactly. Tara: [24:35] This idea occurred to me after you said floating Vegas Furries Week. You know they left to be on a boat. Jessica: [24:41] That will probably happen. I think that will probably happen. Dave: [24:43] Oh, you know what it's going to be? It's going to be one of those nerd cons. Tara: [24:49] Oh, yeah. Like a Joko cruise or whatever. Yeah. Jessica, any thoughts on this? Jessica: [24:54] Well, that just reminded me that I have a friend who does go on New Kids on the Block cruises. Tara: [24:59] Nice. Jessica: [24:59] And I am, it seems likely that they will do something like that. Tara: [25:02] For sure. Jessica: [25:03] Like that seems possible. For sure. I also feel like clearly they're going to do one week that's like, not Halloween, but like there's going to be some sort of masquerade ball situation so they can have like costumes. Tara: [25:14] It could be Halloween. Dave: [25:16] Mardi Gras. Jessica: [25:17] Mistaken Mardi Gras. Mistaken identities. That'll be fun. Tara: [25:21] Yep. Love it. Sarah. Sarah: [25:24] Casino week is one that I thought of. And of course, the like Tony and Tina's wedding interactive theater concept, except the show won't be going on for someone, by which I mean everyone, because they're all dead. And then the closing credits have sticks playing over over them. Dave: [26:07] All right, it is time to go around the dial. First stop is with Tara. Tara, what have you been watching recently? Tara: [26:12] So if you're listening to this, the day it drops, the 15th season of The Real Housewives of New York City and the second season with the all new cast just premiered on Bravo. The episode opens at the credits shoot we were told happened a few days after filming ended on the season that we're about to see with several cast members not speaking to each other for reasons we obviously don't know yet. I think they decided they had to make sure we knew spicy stuff is coming because the premiere is kind of blah. The main fights are at some point, Jenna went to see Aaron in the Hamptons and Jenna's vintage Mercedes, Sarah, broke down. So Aaron called her an Uber. When Jenna didn't pay her back, Aaron started telling people as a funny story. This part is not in dispute, but now she's mad because when Brynn repeated Aaron's gossip, she says that Aaron is saying Jenna's having money problems. Aaron claims she didn't say, but given how Aaron gossiped about Jenna in season one, I believe Bryn. Also, despite how mad Erin supposedly is about this, she's bitching about it to everyone. But Bryn, who's bar hangout for her brother, Erin has no compunction about attending. Tara: [27:14] Meanwhile, Bryn is mad at Erin because Erin went on Jeff Lewis's cursed radio show. And when he sort of implied that he thinks Bryn has a sugar daddy or something, Erin didn't agree, but not strenuously enough, I guess. And I had to go back and rewatch this part because it was so boring, I forgot. Cy's also mad at Bryn for telling Jenna that Cy said she can't stand Jenna, for which Cy's defense to Aaron at this get-together is, I never said that to her. Notably not, I never said that. Cy dismisses Brynn with a not-today Satan, at which we cut to Brynn in a talking head saying, she's not Satan, she's Satan's forced wife. Pretty good line. Despite how boring all that is, Brynn leaves her own party in tears before Uba even makes it there. Tara: [27:53] They're also trying to onboard a couple of capital F friends. Raquel, she's an art consultant, whatever. Boring. The other is the fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff, about whom Bryn says to her brother he may have heard of her if he's ever been to Nordstrom Rack. Burn. Tara: [28:12] I had forgotten until it came up in the season super tease that Rebecca also has ties to Scientology, about which I will not say more. But if you're curious, you can look it up because it's on the Internet. Other than Uba, who's barely in the premiere, the only other person I haven't mentioned is Jessel. I keep trying to hate her, but she keeps winning me over. Her response to the Bryn sugar daddy allegations is a story about a fan who she says asked her to fly to Miami on his private plane wearing nothing but a white T-shirt and a G-string and that she would have done it if she wasn't married. She also says whenever she ends up in the middle of a skirmish that she doesn't want to engage in. She just claims she can't remember what's being discussed because of mom brain and at the party. It also comes out that Psy called Jessel's husband Povett, your Dory from Finding Nemo Lookalike Husband, and they smash cut from this text on screen to a shot of Povett in semi-profile at the party, and she's not totally off base. Kind of a slowish start. I'm excited to see how everything devolves over the weeks ahead. Thank you again to secret lunatic Jenna Lyons for getting me into this franchise, because I never would have watched it if not for her. Jessica: [29:15] I did. I agree with you. This was sort of a slow start. I as I've mentioned is a I'm a Real Housewives um enthusiast and I've watched all of them scholar yes a scholar thank you and I do think that like it's been kind of a tough transition from classic New York to current New York um but I have high hopes for this I think I think Jussel's really funny I think Brynn is really funny yes and I really do think the key to keeping all of these on the track is conflicts that are stupid so they're not like heavy conflicts you want to have a huge fight about something dumb. Tara: [29:48] Yes. Jessica: [29:49] And that does seem to be what's happening. So hopefully this will get going. I have high hopes for Bryn hating Rebecca Minkoff, who I thought came off like a total nothing burger in this premiere. And if she continues to be this boring, she's going to be a one and done. Rebecca Minkoff, stylistically speaking, is no Jenna Lyons, so she doesn't have that going for her. Like, I could spend 45 minutes in Jenna's apartment just like looking at her stuff. And I do not think Rebecca is going to be bringing us that. But, you know, we are, as I'm going to discuss on my own Around the Dial, we are currently in a really beautiful time for Real Housewives enthusiasts. There are three of them running right now. Tara: [30:26] That's the craziest part. Jessica: [30:27] Yeah. Between that and the baseball, I'm watching a lot of television. I have a lot going on. But I'm always excited to have New York back. Dave: [30:35] Can I ask you a question? Tara: [30:36] Yeah. Dave: [30:36] Did you say one of the characters' names was Psy? Yeah. Tara: [30:40] No, it's SAI, but yes, pronounced the same way. Dave: [30:43] Okay. Tara: [30:43] She makes you feel that way. Dave: [30:47] Sure. Tara: [30:47] She's not in my upper tier of Housewives on that franchise. Dave: [30:51] Wait, you got a plug, Tara? Jessica: [30:52] No. Tara: [30:52] I reviewed the new Netflix show, Nobody Wants This, which is the one with Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. And so we'll link that in the show notes. And also a piece about the same show from past and future guest Esther Zuckerman. She wrote for Time Magazine last week about the show's portrayal of Jewish women, which I am not qualified to speak from. obviously but she is and i was very interested in her take on this so uh we'll link that in the show notes too. Dave: [31:20] Before i forget because you mentioned heather's husband you should uh next time you talk to him mention that we thoroughly enjoyed his episode of legends of tomorrow with bebo the weird stuffed god toy oh. Jessica: [31:34] I will he will love to hear that yeah that show was so fun i'm really sad it's not a thing anymore yeah. Tara: [31:39] Same the cw isn't really a thing anymore so. Jessica: [31:42] No Dave: [31:43] It It is not. Jessica Morgan, guess who owns all the IP to Television Without Pity now? Jessica: [31:49] Who? I was just asking someone about this. Dave: [31:51] Nexstar, the owners of CW. Jessica: [31:54] Oh, my God. This is like a real weird full circle situation. It is, right? Dave: [31:59] Well, get Heather's husband on it. See if he can, you know, wrangle us back to rights. Jessica: [32:04] Kevin, I want our rights back. Give me my recaps. Give me my recaps back, Kevin. All right, I'm on it. Dave: [32:11] All right, Jessica, what have you been watching recently? I understand we got some Real Housewives material waiting. Jessica: [32:18] I mean, I feel like this is a very thematic show today, actually. So yes, this is very in keeping with today's theme. I feel like traditionally, whenever I'm here, I recommend some trashy reality show or another. Like, I feel like I recommended Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders making the team like six or seven times before it ended up on Netflix and everyone was talking about it. I just like to say, you're welcome. I knew what I was talking about. My recommendation today is not under the radar at all. As I mentioned earlier, I want to congratulate Bravo, because after a few short, a few like bum seasons of their Housewives franchises, I feel like they're really firing on all cylinders over there, with the possible exception of New York having a slow start. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City came off a banger finale last season, and it premiered last week with an absolutely insane episode that ended with like nine people screaming at each other in concert. It was very well edited. They're obviously at a party for Valentine's Day and it ended up in a just a complete melee. People were storming out. The musicians that have been hired to play this party, like the final shot of the episode where these musicians like looking at each other and laughing. It was just hilarious. Next week, they're all going to Milwaukee with each other for an event that I'm sure will be a fiasco. Tara: [33:38] Wow, that's so glamorous. Jessica: [33:39] Yeah, glamorous Milwaukee. Also, not just like, I've been in Milwaukee many times and it is a hoot, but they are going in like January and that is not when you want to make a trip to Wisconsin. So they'll be miserable and that will be fun. What I really want to shout out is the current renaissance of the original Real Housewives of Orange County, which has been spectacularly good this season. All you really need to know is that this season has welcomed back a woman named Alexis Bellino, who is a housewife from 2009 to 2013. And she has come back primarily for two reasons. Number one, she's really annoying. And number two, she's currently engaged to John Jansen, who is the very, very, very recent ex of another current housewife, Shannon Medore. Now, Shannon, over the summer when they weren't filming, got a D.Y. in the wake of this very breakup when she fled John's house and she drove her car into another house. So you'd think that she'd be starting off exactly. No one was hurt except for this house. Jessica: [34:45] You'd think that she'd be like the villain this season, right, due to the drunk driving. John and Alexis have been so mean to Shannon that everyone feels bad for Shannon. They are literally committing extortion on screen to her. I'm not joking. Like, asking her for money or they're going to put out videotapes that will destroy her life. They're doing this with a camera rolling. It is fascinating. Additionally, Alexis's previous husband also sued Shannon for defamation when she said that his chain of trampoline shops were going to be dangerous to children, which I think is accurate, but he did get like $200,000 from her or something. Now he's suing her again because he claimed he gave her a loan for her facelift and she says it's a gift. Tara: [35:31] Oh my God. Jessica: [35:33] Yes. Sarah: [35:33] There's a lot going on here. Jessica: [35:35] There's a lot of drama. This is not even mentioning the fact that another of these housewives is romantically involved with a man who acted as a middleman for Shohei Ohtani's interpreter and the bookie. And this man got rated by the feds we have not gotten to this point of this series yet but we i know they filmed it because it's in the super tees now. Sarah: [35:56] You're speaking buncy's language. Jessica: [35:58] I know i was like when i get to the sarah's ears are gonna perk up there's all this stuff at the beginning of the season where they're asking jen his girlfriend like what he does for a living and she's like really vague about it she's like i not i truly think she actually does not know like she's very sweet but not that smart so she's doing love like oh i don't know really what he does i see they just do with finances? Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, I do think he flipped to the feds and sold out the bookie. So that's going to be interesting. Jessica: [36:27] And they also added a new housewife whose name is Katie. And she's like the perfect sweet spot of being funny and smart, but also a shit stirrer. And the shit she stirs is like stupid, but has staying power. Like she and Heather Dubrow are in an episodes long fight because Katie thinks Heather called a paparazzi on herself at Disneyland to distract from a rumor that her husband was cheating on her. Heather swears she didn't. But if you saw the photos, they're so obviously staged. So this season has been going on this joke or this fight's been going on for quite a while. And like this season, it really does have everything like women screaming at each other over wine, extortion, people having really dumb fights. Someone has a sweater that says shut the fuck up on it, which I love while they're screaming at another person um it's just been very funny really diverting the federal government's about to get involved it has not been this fun since like several years ago if you dropped oc a while ago i i highly recommend coming back like it is it is really very dumb and enjoyable right now that's. Tara: [37:33] So much my god. Jessica: [37:35] It's a lot what a franchise yeah it brings me joy gorgeous, Yeah, that's all I have to plug is Heather and I are still writing about dumb celebrity outfits on GoFugYourself.com. You can also find us writing about other stuff, including we're doing TV recaps and like more pop culture stuff at our sub stack, which is drinkswithbroads.substack.com. We're doing a lot of like old school recaps. If you're still into that kind of thing, like Heather's doing Only Murders in the Building right now. I did Emily in Paris. we did Feud which by the way also oh my god I hated it it's so bad your recaps. Sarah: [38:17] Were good I enjoyed the show actually but your recaps were really good. Jessica: [38:20] Thank you and so when John Robin Bates's name came up on Dr. Odyssey I was like oh no we're gonna have more like disinterest in women's interior lives and so far that has been true so yeah that's what I'm up to and thank you that's a very nice compliment I enjoyed recapping it I mean you guys know that sweet spot is always where you don't really like it, but there's a lot to talk about. Tara: [38:41] Yes. Sarah: [38:41] Yes. Yeah. Tara: [38:43] Mm-hmm. Dave: [38:46] Sarah D. Bunting, what is your Real Housewives recommendation? Sarah: [38:51] Real Housewives of the American Tennis Pros Tour. No, it's 30 for 30. This is a season four outing called American Son. It aired a couple months ago, but it's probably in reruns if you want to look it up. It is about Michael Chang. Sarah: [39:07] I am not sure why this franchise struggles with tennis-based topics. Maybe it's just me, but I saw it again in American Son. It's about Chinese-American Michael Chang and his sort of shocking win at the French Open at age 17, while at the exact same time, the notorious conflict in Tiananmen Square was happening. like in theory, it's about that. But in practice, it's much more about the Chinese American and or Asian pro athlete as a cultural outlier in the United States and the larger historical context of institutionalized anti Chinese xenophobia in the United States. And as such, I think it's actually quite informative and good and not heavy handed. I think there's actually more there than we see in this particular episode. Sarah: [39:59] At some point, Jeremy Lin of Linsanity is introduced for a Talking Head interview, and he's still clearly affected quite negatively by Linsanity, the burden of representation, how much he hated that whole period of his career. And it seems like Jay Caspian Kang, who directed, could have done more with a broader history of the Asian American athlete in American sport and like pitched it that it's like, oh, it's Michael Chang and the events in Tiananmen Square, but then was like a little bit confined by that. Maybe the timing of Chang's slam win and the events happening at the same time. I mean, it's not like a coincidence. That's a little flip, but after the. Sarah: [40:44] Like stepping us through that tournament for Chang and then the horrors that were being perpetrated in Tiananmen Square, the documentary kind of rushes to the end because Chang kind of peeked at that French Open. And I'm wondering if Kang didn't have a different idea for the dog originally and was told to narrow his focus. I don't know exactly why the tennis 30 for 30s don't hit as well as it were. I feel like sometimes there's not all that much more to say about a wild upset or a big comeback in those cases. And they try to kind of draw broader parallels and conclusions. And it's like, aside from the fact that Yvonne Lendl now kind of is turning into Blofeld from the Bond movies, I'm not sure there's more in these stories all the time. And if there is, I'm not sure that the directors always get at it. Like the Martina Chrissy one was like so cheesy, like they're literally in a pink convertible. Guys, that's not the story. Anyway, it isn't bad. I don't not recommend it, but I don't think you necessarily have to set the DVR for it either. It just felt like it needed another pass to find the story. Sarah: [41:59] Speaking of docuseries about sporting figures, I reviewed the docuseries about Pete Rose recently on bestevidence.fyi. Went back to read it again to make sure I hadn't missed anything or been too nice after the passing of the hit king. We'll link to that in the show notes. That one might be worthwhile in terms of Pete Rose's argument for the Hall of Fame being that he's caused more arguments about whether he should be in the Hall of Fame than any other topic in the history of the sport, practically. So rest in parlay, Pete Rose. And like I said, that's at bestevidence.fyi with a lot of other true crime reviews, including Feud. Dave: [42:47] Well, I've got a Real Housewives story for you. This is a show I'm pitching called The Real Housewives of Fresh Plus, the small grocery store near us off Anderson Lane, in which one of our stars asked the cashier where could she find the alligator pears. Tara: [43:04] Oh. Hmm. Dave: [43:06] So there's one for your pilot. Tara: [43:09] Is that a real event that happened? Dave: [43:10] Yeah. Tara: [43:11] Wow. Dave: [43:11] I was there and they asked the cashier where the alligator pears were. She had no idea what she was talking about because the cashier was 22 and lived, not in last two centuries. Tara: [43:21] But in fact this century. Dave: [43:23] The avocados are over there, ma'am, I said. Anyways, here's what's happening on Extra, Extra Hot Great. This Friday, it is the last days of the space age. Sarah Deepatting, get ready for your triple dose of space. And, guys, we've got a little something extra to tell you about for this one. It is a tiny triumph because we have met our milestone goal in our campaign, which means we are adding cannon fodder to our Friday's show. and that is to remind you a canon of some sort could be like a very niche canon could be an absolutely wide macro view canon i know what the canon is for the first one and it's a pretty good one but we're not going to tell you now you're gonna have to listen and you can only listen if you're a club member so go to extrahotgreat.com slash club for more info and to sign up thank you everybody so much for getting us over the fodder cannon hump. It's going to be super fun to bring that to you. Tara: [44:38] The fodder cannon hump? Dave: [44:40] Yeah, the fodder cannon hump. Tara: [44:41] Okay. Dave: [44:42] Yeah. Tara: [44:42] Yep. Dave: [44:43] Yeah. Cannon fodder hump. Yep. Very happy with that one? Tara: [44:47] Yep. Dave: [44:47] Workshopped it? Tara: [44:48] Yep. Dave: [44:48] Everybody good? Tara: [44:49] Yes. Dave: [44:50] And then come back right here on EHG Prime next week when we welcome back Davindra Hardwar for a look at the HBO show, The Franchise. Tara: [44:59] I've already watched it. It's pretty good. Dave: [45:09] Oh, that's the crazy backwards version of the canon theme, which means only one thing is happening, and that it is time for the extra hot great Nonac, in which we are pitched a bad episode of what is otherwise considered a pretty good show. This week's submission comes from Anne. Let's hear it. Tara: [51:27] Thank you, Anne. Jessica, you chose this from our list of submissions. Please start us off. Jessica: [51:34] Okay, I think, first of all, I think it was a really well-done submission, in part because I disagree with her, but she sort of talked me into her point of view. I remember watching this episode the first time and being sort of taken out of, like, the vibe of 30 Rock, because, you know, it was back in the day you'd watch it every week. And I remember being like, where are we going with this? But watching it now kind of in, like, removed from the live experience, I thought it was much funnier than I remembered. I actually think the Real Housewives jokes are pretty good. I also think the wardrobe is actually pretty good. Titus Burgess, I think, is really funny. Jenna's plot was quite funny. I agree that I think Frank's Mary Kay Letourneau does not age well, and that is a big old clunker. Dave: [52:23] But not only that, but they didn't write anything around it that was funny. Like, it was just a matter of fact kind of thing. They stuck in there. Like, they weren't building a lot of comedy around it, which was such a weird decision, therefore, to keep it in. Tara: [52:36] Yeah. Jessica: [52:36] Yeah. Yeah. That felt very weird. I feel like that part is bad. Other than that, I mean, I think this submission is so well done, but I kind of disagree with a lot of it. Tara: [52:45] I'll go next because I agree with you. This episode is I won't say one of my favorites, but like top 10 percent episode of 30 Rock. There's so much stuff in it that we still I mean, you can't mention ham in this house without saying it like you truly can't. people do love the way she says ham. And along the way, there's so many good jokes. Legal says we can't use the word best. My single is called My Single is Dropping and It's Dropping. Like that's a joke I made or I referenced like two weeks ago. Dave: [53:15] Cut that clip. Can I just play it since you just mentioned it? Tara: [53:17] Yes. Tara: [53:36] Yeah i agree i you know the the frank storyline can't really be defended and i will not defend it but to me like some of the things that ann specifically called out that to me the hitler joke is a perfect jack donaghy joke like no one ever talks about his paintings is exactly the kind of thing you would expect him to say and the reason that he's corny and like you know being so paranoid about them making them seem like he's clumsy or gay is like that's what that character is like he's corny and image conscious like he's not supposed to know what the dl is he didn't watch oprah in 2005 like he doesn't this is why he doesn't get it this these are jokes based on that character and they had to clearly do a write-around for several episodes in this season because tracy morgan like really got a kidney transplant and was out for several episodes and this is why they came up with the tracy's suddenly out of the blue going to africa like that's the background of why this and the episodes around it happened and i think this is a really smart creative hilarious way to to do that like i hear ann's point that when something that you know really well gets parodied it's annoying when they don't go as far as you might want them to but this isn't a show for housewives fans this is an episode for 30 rock fans and they have to only hit the greatest hits so that people get what's being referenced. Right. Dave: [54:58] I've never really watched Real Housewives beyond having to watch it for when it's a presentation here. But I obviously understood what they were going for and it had enough of the flavor that I thought they were doing a really good job of parodying it. It is definitely not engineered to be for a super fan. It is supposed to hit the beats and get you in there. But the criticisms of what Anne was saying about they should have done all these very detailed references to the original show would have been lost on the four quadrant nimrods like me that we're watching. Tara: [55:30] Yes. Dave: [55:31] And then less funny for it, right? Like you can't just because you're doing a parody of Star Wars, get into the ins and outs of what exactly the Kessel Run meant on 30 Rock because nobody fucking knows except me. And it wouldn't be that funny anyway. So I'm not quite sure about that. that criticism. Tara: [55:48] All right. Well, that's that. Let's let Sarah go next and Dave, you can close it up. Sarah: [55:52] It's interesting when you look up, when you look this episode up, it appears on worst of lists, but also best of lists. And this felt fairly typical to me, like the, you know, the LeTorno subplot is not appropriate, and I won't tree with it because it just wasn't well done and shouldn't have been done at all. But all the rest of it seemed like the thing with this show is that it is extraordinarily pleased with itself. And most of the time that's justified. And sometimes if the joke density is not adequate, then it slides off the face of itself with the being pleased with itself. Sarah: [56:32] But I didn't think that was the case here. Granted, I'm not as versed in the show as most of the rest of the panel, but I laughed a bunch of times I thought there were a bunch of good like that sort of very quick moment where they're arguing in the limo and there's a blue man in the middle like very just like random New York note that I was like and just wrote it down like there is a lot here I wasn't bored except for the Letourneau bits I wasn't uncomfortable or waiting for anything to be over so I think if you cut like is this going to get in the canon because of that no but is this going to get in the Nonac? I don't think so. I didn't think, I mean, yeah, some of the Housewives stuff was shortcutty, but they used the right shortcuts because as noted, this is an episode of 30 Rock. They also absolutely nailed the intervention aspect of the parody to the wall, to the wall. Like I am shocked that Jeff Van Vonderen himself was not on it. Tara: [57:35] That's definitely as Jeff Van Vonderen as you could get that actor without actually being Jeff Van Vonderen. Sarah: [57:41] Absolutely. And then Jenna being like, I drank all the throwing wine. I mean, there's enough here, I think, to save it. I think for certain people, there are some episodes that just hit you wrong. You're like, ugh. I understand what Anne's saying, but for me, who kind of has come to 30 Rock piecemeal via Canon and Nonac presentations, it's like, I don't know. I thought this was good enough. And getting up and down out of a chair to try to recreate a fart noise that is just not going to happen. This has occurred in my family in this calendar year. This felt very real. Dave: [58:24] Sarah, it's the universal human experience. Tara: [58:26] Absolutely. And this is when she's like, they made a fart joke on funny. Like, where? That was funny to me. Sarah: [58:32] I was like, well. Tara: [58:33] Sorry, I need to be a mark. Sarah: [58:34] Maybe that's just, you know, that any fart joke is funny to me and I'll examine it later. But yeah, I mean, I get what she's saying. Good presentation. I just don't, I wasn't seeing the failures that Anne was. Dave: [58:52] I think Anne's absolutely correct with the bit about the Frank teacher storyline. Like, it had no part being with this episode. And if you can excise it and write more about what was actually going on in the filmed version of Queen of Jordan as it was presented here, it probably would have been an even better episode. Like, I like this episode. It's not in my top whatever. It's like middle of the pack sort of affair for me. But there's still, like, quite a bit of joke density here to be had, I would say. Legal says we can't use the word best. This was, I actually forgot about that line. It did make me laugh. I love the moments where defeated Liz Lemon being top dog as a showrunner of her own show, but never really getting the success she thought she deserved. And the moments that come out of that are always funny. Liz just being so used to all the crazy shit that happens in her world that the first time somebody tries to throw throwing wine at her, she just like super casually as she's talking ducks out. So it didn't hit her. Great physical comedy bit where Jenna actually says, comes in drunk and says, I drank all the throwing wine and now I got things to tell everybody. Referring to Amy Grant videos as some white nonsense. Tara: [1:00:04] She is that episode. I mean, that video is white nonsense, if anything ever was. Dave: [1:00:09] Yeah. There's a plot where Liz is trying to get Angie to fall in love again with Tracy and want him back. And one of the things she does is write a fake seduction letter on Angie's computer about doing it across the bed instead of up and down the bed. Because she saw that once in a movie. That's something really sexy. The part where Randy, one of the Queen of Jordan personalities, casually pulls a full glass of wine out of her purse. We've been sitting there all day ready for her. Tara: [1:00:41] Yeah. Dave: [1:00:41] There's a lot of great stuff like that. Like Jack finally dancing in front of Defon and that being absolute proof that he is not gay from the three seconds of watching him dancing. It's a tired joke, but it works in this context. And the one joke that I was like, hmm, was there is a moment in the Frank teacher storyline where he goes to her workplace, which is like a diner somewhere. And he's just doing stuff. It doesn't really matter. And then eventually her boss, the diner owner, comes over and starts screaming at the camera people. And right at the end says something about, I'll sign your waiver because I need people to know about blurry face syndrome. I just want to point out Futurama did that joke nine years previous to that. Tara: [1:01:24] Oh, wow. Dave: [1:01:25] Do you remember the centipede creature when they're doing their cops? Yeah, they did that joke already. So last bit of joke that really made me laugh is right at the end where Liz Lemon finally figures out in order to get Angie to believe that a reconciliation is necessary, Liz Lemon has to go into Real Housewives mode and pick a fight during the taping of Queen of Jordan. And she does all this kind of stuff. And right at the end of it, as she's taking off her earrings, she says, all right, now who wants to teach me how to fight? Which I thought was really great. So right in a kind of a middle of the pack episode for me, the only joke from the Frank storyline that was funny is when you see his hat from his class photo that says my first hat and everything else about that. What was Susan Sarandon doing there? How did she read this? Yeah, I'll do that. Like too many late nights at the ping pong store, I guess. Jessica: [1:02:22] Exactly. Dave: [1:02:24] But like we're talking about, is it so bad that it is at the bottom of the pile? And for me, it's not. But I certainly think that Anne hit on some things that were not great about this episode, but I don't think it gets all the way down to no-knack territory. Let's put this to the official vote. Jessica Morgan, what say you? No-knack worthy or not? Jessica: [1:02:44] Unfortunately, Anne, I salute your hard work here, but I do not think it is no-knack worthy. Dave: [1:02:49] Tara Arianna. Tara: [1:02:49] And thank you for your submission, but it's a ham for me. Dave: [1:02:54] All right. Ham. Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah: [1:02:57] Yeah. Great submission, but this doesn't quite sink to the level for me. So no on the knack. Dave: [1:03:03] Yeah, me too. So unfortunately, and this gets confusing because you're hearing sad music, but it's the no knacks. Remember, it's the opposite day here in theme and judgment matching. So this here means it's a sweep. I'm so tired. That 30 Rock Season 5, Episode 17, Queen of Jordan, you hereby not inducted into the no-knack here on Extra Hot Crate. Dave: [1:03:50] All right. It is time to discover who is the winner and who is the loser of the week. Tara has this week's winner. Tara: [1:03:57] The winner is Stranger Things, which got the director Frank Darabont of Shawshank Redemption fame out of retirement after 11 years because the show has so much heart, as he put it. And secondarily, winner of the week is Frank Darabont, not dead. I really, really thought he was because I mixed him up with Anthony Minghella. Dave: [1:04:16] What's he doing? He's directing an episode And Loser of the Week Sarah D. Bundy Who is it? Let us know now The Sopranos. Sarah: [1:04:24] But really it's Lorraine Bracco Because Lorraine Bracco called the series finale Quote, bad and wrong And apparently Complained to David Chase about it Like, why are we hearing About this now? Dave: [1:04:39] You tell Jana Rossi in 4R That her finale was terrible Her. Sarah: [1:04:45] Finale is a whore do you hear me? Dave: [1:04:49] Well, speaking about do you hear me, do you know what time it is? Tara: [1:04:52] It's game time. Sarah: [1:04:52] Oh, it's game time. Dave: [1:05:05] Welcome back to game time, everybody. This is the fourth of the season. The scores currently are Tara with one with her victory last week. Sarah looking to get on the board and value guests in the lead with a two-point tally today we are playing slowly at first three tubies revenge that comes from sean johnson who earns himself an extra credit, Topic of his choosing, plus a delicious, if he likes to eat shirts, free shirt from the EHE store at throughmethods.com. Tara: [1:05:36] Can I break in for a second? It's bulk garbage collection this week in our neighborhood. Someone in our neighborhood is trying to throw away a boat, like just a little sailboat. Dave: [1:05:50] It's true. Tara: [1:05:50] It was in front of their house last night. Dave: [1:05:52] It's not small. I mean, it's small for like compared to Dr. Odyssey. Tara: [1:05:55] It's like a two-person, yeah. Yeah. But yes, we both went to boats. I mean, who cares? Not this neighbor of ours, apparently. Dave: [1:06:04] We should go out there and like put stuff around the boat, like stuff sharks and things like that. Create a scene, see what happens. Tara: [1:06:10] Sure. Dave: [1:06:11] So building off our extra, extra hot great last week, where we're answering Television Without Pity questions for its 25th anniversary. Jessica: [1:06:18] Oh, man. Dave: [1:06:19] This week is just going to be theme songs from the Television Without Pity recap era. And I think although please don't hold me to it these are all shows from our individual the four of us era so not from like the post us era so this is how it's going to work i'm going to play you a minute clip from a tv show that was recapped on twop the first 30 seconds of the theme have been slowed down to one third speed the next 20 seconds after that are played at half speed and then the last 10 seconds play at normal speed the sooner you answer the more points you will get in theory if you answer right away 60 points if you answer in the last second one point i'm going to give you three guesses per theme okay so you don't have to you can put out a couple wild guesses before you get down to your last one let's do an example we'll let jessica play the example okay oh god okay okay i'm gonna be. Jessica: [1:07:19] Bad at this okay i'm not gonna be good at this one i'm morning you all. Dave: [1:07:21] Yeah that's what they say before they like totally crush everybody okay here you go here's your theme once again starting at one-third speed until the halfway mark. Dave: [1:07:36] Yeah, see, X-Files. Jessica: [1:07:37] Right? Dave: [1:07:37] There you go. Jessica: [1:07:38] I mean, I should hope I get X-Files. Oh my God. Dave: [1:07:40] That's why you got that example. Yes, you're right. Jessica: [1:07:42] Yeah, thank you. Otherwise, I have to go in for a brain scan. Dave: [1:07:46] All right. So that would have got you about 58 points. So you would have done really great in that one. So too bad it's not in the actual game for you. Jessica: [1:07:53] Seriously. Dave: [1:07:55] All right. That's how you do it. No steel meals today, but we do have one Grossworth Equalizer that we will play at a certain point. It will be an extra theme just for one or maybe two people if you're in a tie. So let's throw it at Piki to see our order today. Dave: [1:08:15] All right, we're going to go Tara and then to Jessica, then to Sarah. We've got easy round and then I've got a hard round. I'm going to put in between the easy round and the third round. And I'm just going to let you know the hard round is just one question apiece. I had mercy on you. I reduced the number of hard questions on you. Okay. So easy round. Of course, according to Sean, Sean might have, you know, a different sense of what's easy from you, but here we go. First theme for Tara, three guesses, Tara. Tara: [1:09:41] Oh, Joan of Arcadia. Dave: [1:09:46] That was Joan of Arcadia with four seconds left for four points. There you go. Four points. Are you ready, Jessica, for your first theme? Jessica: [1:09:57] Ugh, yeah. Jessica: [1:10:24] The Office? Dave: [1:10:25] The Office is correct. Yes, The Office for 34 points. Tara: [1:10:31] Well done. Nicely done. Dave: [1:10:34] I sounded like John Lennon's Imagine there. Tara: [1:10:37] Kind of did. Jessica: [1:10:39] I was like, this seems serious. No. Dave: [1:10:41] All right. 30 points ahead of Tara already. Sarah, are you ready for your first slow at first theme? Sarah: [1:10:48] Oh, yeah. Dave: [1:11:49] Oh, time is up. Anybody else know that one? Tara: [1:11:54] It's Ally McBeal, right? Jessica: [1:11:55] It's Ally McBeal. Dave: [1:11:56] Yeah, no points for Sarah there. But boy, you could see the smoke coming out of her ears. She knew it was something. Just could not place it. Tragic. back to tari ariano yes, alias not alias, Charmed? It is Charmed. And that was worth 18 smackeroonies. 18 points for you on Charmed. Back to Jessica. Jessica: [1:13:12] Okay. Jessica: [1:14:03] Oh, CSI. Dave: [1:14:05] Correct. Jessica: [1:14:13] Not Buffy. Dave: [1:14:15] I see it. Four points. Sarah: [1:14:19] How many points? Dave: [1:14:20] Four points. Jessica: [1:14:22] I got it in there somewhere. Dave: [1:14:24] All right. Saturday Monday. Are you prepared mentally, physically? Is your soul ready? Sarah: [1:14:29] Probably not. Let's do it anyway. Dave: [1:14:31] Here we go. Sarah: [1:14:58] The OC? Dave: [1:14:59] OC, not right. Sarah: [1:15:13] Party of Five. Dave: [1:15:14] Party of Five is correct. Tara: [1:15:24] You go, Bodines. Dave: [1:15:30] So everybody bunting on the board with 19 points. 19 points. Sarah: [1:15:34] Nice grab. 19. Dave: [1:15:36] All right. Everybody has one more theme in the easy round. Tara. Tara: [1:15:42] Yeah. Someone's cow is sick. Tara: [1:16:28] Oh, no. Supernatural? I don't know. Dave: [1:16:43] Supernatural is not correct. And your time is up. I think Jessica knows this one. Jessica: [1:16:47] It's one tree hell. Tara: [1:16:48] The other one. Sarah: [1:16:49] That's all I was going to say. Dave: [1:16:52] Although I only saw faces of recognition at nine seconds. So I don't think anybody's going to get it. Jessica: [1:16:58] Until the very end, for sure. Dave: [1:17:00] All right, Jessica, here's your last of the easy ones. Here we go. Jessica: [1:17:04] Okay, easy. Yep. Tara: [1:17:38] Oh, Paula, are you okay? Dave: [1:17:50] Oh, Paula had too much coffee this morning. Tara: [1:17:53] Not enough. Dave: [1:18:00] All right. Good get. 28 points. 28 points. Sarah: [1:18:04] Wow. Dave: [1:18:05] Last question of our easy round. Sarah D. Bunting. Here it is for you. Sarah: [1:19:03] Smallville? I don't remember what this was a theme to. Tara: [1:19:06] I don't either. Jessica: [1:19:06] Me either. Sarah: [1:19:08] I know who it is. Dave: [1:19:10] Do you know? You're close with Smallville. It is about an alien or aliens. Tara: [1:19:15] Oh, Roswell. Jessica: [1:19:16] Oh, Roswell. Sarah: [1:19:16] Oh, fuck. Sorry, Dan Blahrogey. I forgot Roswell existed. Dave: [1:19:21] Oh, that was a heartbreaker. All right. That is the easy round. So why don't we go ahead and get our current scores? Tara: [1:19:29] Okay. Jessica's way out ahead with 66. I have 22. Sarah barely behind with 19. Dave: [1:19:38] Okay. So as promised, we're going to play our hard round now, right in the middle, so you don't have to end on it. Okay. Get y'all upset. I will let you know the first one here. I know I said they're all definitely in the R-TWOP recap period. I'm not so sure about this one. and this might be right on the cusp. I can't remember, but here you go. For a time. Tara: [1:20:58] I know, I know this. Oh, fuck, it's Walking Dead. Dave: [1:21:01] It is Walking Dead for a total of zero points. Too late, but that was Walking Dead, yes. Well, it is the hard round after all. Jessica, are you ready for your hard slowdown theme? Jessica: [1:21:13] Hi. Bring it on. Dave: [1:21:15] All right. This is definitely safely in the OK Us recap period. Jessica: [1:21:21] Okay. Angel. Dave: [1:21:28] Not Angel. Jessica: [1:22:19] Deadwood? Dave: [1:22:21] Deadwood is correct. Three points for Deadwood. Jessica: [1:22:25] I was just like, what's Western-y in our time period? Dave: [1:22:29] Nicely done. Three points right at the end. All right, Sarah, here is your one and only difficult slowdown theme. Sarah: [1:23:20] Colt case? Sarah: [1:23:35] Amazing race? No idea. Dave: [1:23:38] No, incorrect. That was a tough one. It's not the kind of theme you'd expect from a science fiction show like Battlestar Galactica. Tara: [1:23:45] Oh, God. I watched that show and I don't remember. Sarah: [1:23:48] Space! Dave: [1:23:49] All right, that is hard out of the way, guys. So let's quickly get the updated scores, please, Tara, Ariana. Tara: [1:23:57] Well, Sarah and I are still the same Sarah as 19, I have 22. Jessica added three and is now at 69. Nice. Dave: [1:24:05] Nice. All right, that means that Sarah D. Bunting, you are in the Grossworth Equalizer Challenge zone. Dave: [1:24:21] I'm proud of sean he thought of it. Sarah: [1:24:23] I'm i'm proud of you sean proud of all of us. Dave: [1:24:26] All right sorry but i'm gonna double the points for you here double the points so you could like fire into the lead with a really quick answer, but it is the same this is something recapped on twop and i'm gonna play to the theme first 30 seconds, one third, next 20, half, last, normal. Here is your theme. Tara: [1:24:48] Good luck! Sarah: [1:25:35] Scrubs! Sarah: [1:25:42] Oh, my name is Earl. Dave: [1:25:49] Yes, you were correct at the six second mark. So we're going to give you 12 points. Sarah: [1:25:53] Oh, God. Tara: [1:25:59] You're in second place now. Dave: [1:26:01] Now you're in second place. Tara's at the bottom. But we still have our medium difficulty round to go. Everybody has three to play in this one. We're starting back with Tara. Tara, are you ready? Tara: [1:26:13] Yes. Breaking Bad? I still called life. Dave: [1:27:12] So called life at the seven second mark, seven points for Tara. Sorry, anybody, when did you know that one? How far before that? Sarah: [1:27:21] Uh, right. As it switched into the second speed. Tara: [1:27:25] I thought it was that too, but then I was like, we didn't cover that. Dave: [1:27:28] You have three guesses. Tara: [1:27:29] Yeah. Dave: [1:27:30] You have three. Well, you did it eventually, right? Sarah: [1:27:31] But at first I thought it was ER or so. I was like, yeah. Jessica: [1:27:35] I didn't know it at all. Dave: [1:27:35] We are to jessica here is your first medium difficulty theme, West Wing? West Wing is correct, yes! Tara: [1:28:09] Nice! Dave: [1:28:12] 33 points! Tara: [1:28:13] Holy shit! Sarah: [1:28:16] God bless America. Jessica: [1:28:18] Exactly. Tara: [1:28:21] Wow. Good job. Jessica: [1:28:23] I was like, what felt sweeping? In that time period. Dave: [1:28:26] Guys, I'm going to be so bad at this game. It's going to be terrible. Guys, don't even try, because I'm going to get zero. All right, here we go! Oh, Serity Vatting, here is your first. Sarah: [1:28:37] Yeah. Sarah: [1:29:04] It was the chair. Sarah: [1:29:33] Oh, num three-ers? Dave: [1:29:38] Reuse that. Sarah: [1:29:39] I always forget that it has that talking heads-y thing. All right, five points for you. Do I get any points for that? Dave: [1:29:45] Five points, yes. Tara: [1:29:46] Nice. Dave: [1:29:47] Okay, back to Tara. Yeah. Sarah: [1:29:50] Oh, my God. Tara: [1:30:05] Is this Angel? Dave: [1:30:07] Wow, it is. Sarah: [1:30:09] 43 points. Nice work. Dave: [1:30:12] Big get. Tara: [1:30:13] How much? Sorry. Dave: [1:30:14] 43. Tara: [1:30:15] Oh, fuck. Dave: [1:30:23] All right. Nicely done. Nicely done. To Jessica. Penultimate theme. Jessica: [1:31:10] I don't think. Six Feet Under? Really? Yeah, good job. Holy shit. I did watch that. Dave: [1:31:28] You know, Columbo didn't really have a theme, but I think we can all agree one third, six feet under, could definitely be the Columbo theme from the 70s. Here it again. Jessica: [1:31:36] A hundred percent. Sarah: [1:31:38] How many points was that? Dave: [1:31:55] That was 14 points for Jessica for that one. Sarah D. Bunting. Are you ready? Sarah: [1:32:00] Nope. Dave: [1:32:02] We can wait. Sarah: [1:32:04] No, I'm just not ready. Go ahead. Is this Scrubs? Tara: [1:32:53] No, but you're in the vicinity. Sarah: [1:33:01] Malcolm in the Middle? I don't know. Picky really punching me in the tits this week. Dave: [1:33:10] Not Scrubs. Not Smallville, did you say a second? Tara: [1:33:14] Malcolm in the Middle is probably the closest. Dave: [1:33:17] That was How I Met Your Mother. Sarah: [1:33:20] That would explain why I didn't know it and that's okay with me. Dave: [1:33:25] Everybody's last question coming at you. Let's get the scores please. Tara: [1:33:29] Okay, Sarah has 36. I have 72. Jessica in the lead. 116. Dave: [1:33:36] Okay. Well, it's still gettable. It's still mathematically possible. Jessica: [1:33:41] I got some lucky draws. I have to tell you, like seriously. Dave: [1:33:45] Are you ready? Tara: [1:33:46] Yes. Dave: [1:33:47] Tara, here is your last one. Tara: [1:34:38] Firefly! Sarah: [1:34:40] Oh, that bastard. Good for you. Dave: [1:34:49] 12 points for you. 12 points. Jessica, are you ready for your last theme? Jessica: [1:34:55] Yes. Dave: [1:34:56] I think you have it sewn up, but let's do this for glory. For glory. Jessica: [1:35:01] Alrighty. i don't know this one alias no. Dave: [1:36:02] Anybody know that one no anybody i thought sherlock nope not sure i had it but That sounds Sherlockian at the end. I think the show has something to do with making pies. Tara: [1:36:15] Oh. Jessica: [1:36:18] Pushing Daisies. Dave: [1:36:19] Pushing Daisies, yes. Jessica: [1:36:20] Yeah, I would never. I mean, I watched that, but I would not have ever. You could have given me it for five minutes. Dave: [1:36:25] How many points is Sarah behind? Sarah: [1:36:26] So far. Tara: [1:36:27] She's 80 points behind. Dave: [1:36:29] Okay, never mind what I was going to say. How many points is she behind Tara? Tara: [1:36:35] What difference does that make? Dave: [1:36:36] I just want to know. Tara: [1:36:38] Okay. I guess I'm going to be doing some math. Dave: [1:36:40] Is it less than 60? Tara: [1:36:41] Live on the pot. It is 48. Dave: [1:36:45] Okay, 48. I just want to remind you, Sarah, that you have three answers. If you just have ideas at what the thing might be, you want to blurt them out before the 48 second mark, just to stick at the tarot, that's the strategy you can employ. I just want to remind you, everybody has three guesses. Are you ready, Sarah, for your last theme? Sarah: [1:37:01] Yes. Dave: [1:37:02] Here we go. Sarah: [1:37:09] E.R. Sarah: [1:37:49] Strength Oh, this is Enterprise. Oh, God. I'm exhausted. Dave: [1:38:05] I thought maybe, just maybe, you might be able to get that one off the bat. Tara: [1:38:08] Given the lead up, I was like, this is going to be Scrubs for sure. And then it wasn't. So what was her points for that? Dave: [1:38:14] Oh, yeah. Right. Somewhere in 10. Let's say 10. Let's give her the full last second 10. Sarah: [1:38:21] Sure. Dave: [1:38:21] All right. 10 points for Sarah at the end there. And that is regulation. Let's get the official scores. Tara: [1:38:27] Okay. Sarah finished with 46. I finished with 84. Jessica comfortably in the lead. 116. Dave: [1:38:34] 116. Another victory for the Valued Guest. Dave: [1:38:44] Nicely done. And good mental games, Jessica, at the start there. Sarah: [1:38:48] Oh, my God. Jessica: [1:38:50] I truly thought I was going to just totally embarrass myself. So I'm glad that this is stuck in my head and not like important things. Dave: [1:38:57] All right, guys. that is it for this episode of Extra Hot Great. We spent our first week at sea with Dr. Odyssey before going around the dial with stops at three Real Housewives shows equaling 0.03 output of that franchise. And also 30 for 30 was there too. We threw wine in the face of Anne's Pitch for Queen of Jordan for the Nonac. We crowned winners and losers of the week. And Jessica was the winner of this week's Game Time from Sean. Next up, it's last days of the space age on Extra Extra Hot Great this Friday, including the first cannon fodder. And get back here next week for the HBO series The Franchise. Dave: [1:39:47] I am David T. Cole, and on behalf of Tara Ariano. Sarah: [1:39:53] Bunting, I too am a Christian illiterate. Dave: [1:39:56] And Jessica Morgan. Jessica: [1:39:58] I also drank all the throwing wine. Dave: [1:40:01] Yeah. Thanks for listening. And we'll see you next time right here on Extra Hot Great.