RSVP-ing To You're Cordially Invited

Dave: [0:24] This is the Extra Hot Great podcast episode 548 for the week of February 3rd 2025, i am mischievous zebra david t cole and i'm here with platform for bitchy women Sarah D Bunting. Fuck off, y'all Drunk child, Tara Ariano. Sarah: [0:34] Fuck off, y'all. Drunk child, Tara Ariano. Dave: [0:41] Drunk child, Tara Ariano. Tara: [0:45] I can do anything that doesn't involve using a phone. Dave: [0:48] And businessman in the business of doing business for businesses Charles Star. Charles: [0:53] Hold on, I'm on a call. Dave: [0:57] He actually freaked me out there because I thought he was actually on a call there I was like, uh-oh, we gotta redo this Good start. Tara: [1:04] Charles Well done Thank you, Tara: [1:08] We'll welcome you in a second And first, have a little plug for the Patreon. It feels dumb to do this in the midst of everything else and the many extremely worthy organizations that need your support right now so they can support you. But we are also here and we still have a Patreon campaign going on. Please don't skip ahead. If you are new to the free feed, even if you hear ads on the podcast for major brands, those net us a comically negligible amount of revenue, we would not be able to make this podcast if not for our Patreon supporters and to make that worthwhile to them. We make a second Patreon-exclusive episode that comes out every Friday. These days, it's almost as long, probably sometimes longer than the Wednesday show. There's a lead topic, such as Interior Chinatown, Day of the Jackal, Agatha all along. There's Ask EHG, where we answer questions from the Discord. Access to that is another perk. There's the Tiny Cannon, where we look at a very specific bit of TV excellence. Not quite winners and losers. The extra credit, which replaces the old Patreon bonus episode format. and then there's also an EHG mini episode from the archives at the end of the episode. Once a month, we get the most awesome thing Kim Reid watched on TV this month. It is a big episode. And all of those are perks that have been unlocked as the campaign has gone on. Charles: [2:21] But can it cut through a tin can? Dave: [2:23] Slice the tomatoes thin. Tara: [2:27] The campaign's ongoing. As I write this, we're working our way to the next milestone. When we add another 200 or so in monthly pledges, we will unlock two new perks. One is for past guests Stephanie Early Green and Carrie Race to alternate months with their reports on TV ephemera old and new. Details on that are on our website. Also, as a one-off perk, we're going to schedule a Drunk Dave call-in show. You've already heard Drunk Dave in the Bridgerton episode years ago. This time, he'll be drunk and you'll be able to interact with him. Dave does not normally drink. This is a terrible idea. Help make that happen. So if you're not in the Patreon, consider hopping in. It's just $5 a month. If that's not something in your budget, but you have a gifting occasion coming up, you can tell anyone who asks what you want to gift you a subscription. And if you're already in the Patreon and can kick it up to the next tier, that would be great. And if the free feed is right for you, that's great too. We love that you're here. You can support us by writing a 17-star review, telling your friends who love TV about us, sharing links on your social media, basically yelling about this podcast whenever the opportunity arises. We know these are scary, stupid times. We're just trying to make a show that will help take your mind off that for a few hours each week. If we've done that and you have $5 a month to toss us to keep doing it, we are grateful. And thank you all for listening every week. Thank you for listening to a version of The Spiel once a month. Tara: [3:41] Thank you, Charles, for sitting through that on your very first visit. Back to Charles. Charles: [3:47] That's impressive. Tara: [3:49] He's the host of the podcast, Hostile Witness, City Saint, Country Saint, many others. You've heard him there. You've heard him on It's Christmas Town with our friends Jeb and Dave. You've never heard him here. It's Charles Starr. Welcome, Charles. Sarah: [4:03] Welcome, Charles. Charles: [4:05] Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. I have a television. Tara: [4:12] Then you're a perfect fit for this. We are here to talk about Your Cordially Invited, in which Jim, Will Ferrell, who lost his wife when his daughter Jenny, Geraldine Viswanathan, was very young, since then has made Jenny's happiness his number one priority. Margot, Reese Witherspoon, has never felt close to her Southern family and is even more distant since she moved to L.A. for a career producing reality TV, but she does dote on her younger sister, Nev, Meredith Hagner. What do Jim and Margo have in common? They are planning weddings for Jenny and Nev at a beautiful old inn on Palmetto Island, totally unaware the weddings have been double booked for the same weekend. How will they possibly work it out? Your Cordially Invited was written and directed by Nicholas Stoller. It dropped on Prime Video last Thursday. It is a movie, so we're going to talk about all of it. Let's do the Chen check-in. Charles, should our listeners watch Your Cordially Invited? Charles: [5:11] It depends. If they're like, not me, sure. If they're like me, I don't know that it is necessary. Tara: [5:20] Okay. Sarah? Sarah: [5:21] To my surprise, yes. Tara: [5:24] Dave? Dave: [5:25] I'm going to give a qualified yes, but let it be known if you skip it because you're in the spoiler-free zone this week for this movie. I sort of agree with Charles for the most part on this, but I am going to give a qualified yes, which we can get into at your pleasure, Tara. Tara: [5:38] Okay, well, I mean, I guess we're divided on gender normative lines because I liked it as well. Let's get into it, Charles. You thought you were coming on to talk about the hunting party, and we're going to get to it. Charles: [5:50] We're going to get to that, yes. Tara: [5:52] But then NBC moved out the premiere date. We pivoted to this topic instead. I know you had some trepidation going in. Talk about what your concerns were, and I don't want to quote your DM exactly. Charles: [6:02] You certainly can, because I was probably funnier than I will be off the cuff. My issue fundamentally was it is a genre that I am not super into in 2025 as a 50 something year old man. Tara: [6:19] Sure. Charles: [6:19] I watch a lot of sports. I watch a lot of more, I don't know, serious stuff. I don't, but like this kind of movie pitched at this volume is really not my thing. And so I was like, I'll watch it. I mean, it's two hours to kill, but it's not usually how I kill my two hours. Tara: [6:43] And yet we did give you the option to come back for a different topic. There wasn't there must have been enough here for you to be willing to dip a toe in. What was it about you that made you think this wouldn't ruin my whole week? Charles: [6:55] Me being on a podcast. Dave: [6:59] He just wants attention. He doesn't care if it's good or bad. Charles: [7:02] Number one, right? I say that in the most self-deprecating way possible. But also, you mentioned I did the It's Christmastown podcast. I have very low expectations for Hallmark movies. It's fun to dislike something. I didn't feel like I was watching Enchanted on the Lou or something where I have to put up with slicing eyeballs. this is like this is a rom-com didn't. Sarah: [7:32] Watch through the credits. Dave: [7:33] Yeah i was gonna say the weirdest that credit scene ever yeah the alligator. Sarah: [7:38] Comes back spoiler. Dave: [7:39] Can i give my qualified reasoning here of course at this point okay so i feel like your cordially invited should have been released around thanksgiving because it seems like the type of movie that exists so your whole family can find something to compromise on nobody's really happy about it but everybody's content that the family could get together and watch this. This seems like it was genetically engineered for that. And that's why I say like, it's okay. It serves a purpose in the larger world. But like, would I recommend the movie unto itself as a two hour slot? Probably not. But I feel like there's something there in that regard. Tara: [8:16] Okay. Well, Sari, you also didn't expect to like it. What won you over? Sarah: [8:20] Well, it clearly has a deep grounding in Hallmark movies, and then it, you know, it faints left and goes right often enough. Like, there's a lot of cursing. There's evidence that people have fucked and are saying fuck a lot, like, immediately. This is Reese Witherspoon in her doesn't-give-a-shit power bitch mode, which is my favorite Reese Witherspoon. Hey, birthday, mate. But I also appreciated that, like, would I choose to watch this or anything in the genre if I didn't, quote, have to? Probably not. So my expectations are also very low. And, you know, we too have been on It's Christmas Town. And ankle-high expectations are where it's at for this genre. But I really did appreciate that it was much more acidic than Hallmark product. And that it didn't drag out these, like, idiot plot misunderstandings. Like there was a sort of like, oh, no, how are they going to figure this out? But then they did it in like two minutes and they'd be on to the next thing. Yeah. It's still a little too long. It's still a little in set. There's like a central set piece involving islands in the stream that is like just not credible and not funny in the way it wants to be funny. Like it had such an ear for that Southern matriarch who was just like withering. Sarah: [9:46] Like, I had that mother-in-law. I get it. So it did a lot of things so much better than you would expect in this genre that I enjoyed it. Charles: [9:54] I don't want to be a total grump about this. There were definitely things that I liked, though I honestly think that the things that I enjoyed most in the movie were improvisational. I think the cast had a lot more free reign to riff in some of the scenes. And so the stuff where funny people are just kind of being funny and playing around with parts of it, I thought really worked. Like, I thought the acting was all fine. Like, it was well done. I don't have any of those sort of silly criticisms. I thought there was a little more idiot plot than Sarah did. Sarah: [10:35] Oh, I didn't say there was none. Charles: [10:37] No, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, I know. But I'm saying I got more annoyed by it, I guess, than you did about it sort of getting resolved. I write that off to genre. And so it doesn't bother me. It didn't bother me that much. I was just like, okay, well, that's what this is. You know, like the premise of a double booking and people, you know, being in, you know, a full on war over sunset photography is, you know, you got to give them a little room to breathe. But I thought all the performances were good. Those weren't my issues. My issues were, I think Net or whoever made this. I don't even. Yeah. It's probably like, I don't care if Charles Starr doesn't like this movie. Tara: [11:25] Yeah. Dave: [11:27] Watching it, I kind of wonder which way it moved after its initial premise, because it feels to me either this started off more crazy, more in the Will Ferrell and Anchorman sort of side of things, because we do get little bits of that. You know, he's fighting with nature at one point. I don't want to give it away in case you want to watch still. But or was it the other way, which was it was much more of a sort of by the book major streamer does a Hallmark film. But then Will Ferrell arrived and added, you know, sort of his impromptu craziness. Dave: [12:01] I'm just curious, like which way the project started and which way did it get either diluted or they added a little little zazz to it? because it does feel at times where the things that Will Ferrell is doing are inserted into the proceedings and they don't really make a lot of sense as far as the tone goes. Like there's an escalation at one point of the tit for tat sort of, you know, if this was Magnum PI, it would be the paper war episode where they're exploding each other's hobbies and stuff like that. There's that element to it, but it kind of goes like one, two, three, four, and then goes like jumps right to an eight. And then they pull back on that almost right away to like the beginning of like, are we making eyes at each other? And it didn't make any sense to me. So like, I'm wondering if like they had a plan and then like somebody came in and said, we got to do something stupid here. We got to do something stupid here. And that was inserted into an otherwise sort of like normal escalation of events. Tara: [12:59] Right. You know, George Clooney and Julia Roberts also made a wedding of their kids movie. It's at one end. If Adam Sandler is playing Jim in this, it's at a different end. Like, this is sort of like the, yeah, I agree with you. This is sort of somewhere in the middle in terms of how heightened it is. Dave: [13:14] But it also bounce around within its own boundaries. Tara: [13:17] Yes, I agree. This is being described as a rom-com because it is a comedy and there are weddings in it, but the rom part of it doesn't come on until almost the movie is completely over and it feels so tacked on. Like, to me, this was the biggest problem with it, which is that Jim and Margot only have friend chemistry and the idea of them getting together at the end. I don't care if he is the CEO of Delta Airlines, although that did make me laugh, but I don't see the two of them still being a couple one year later as they show us. Sarah, you're shaking your head. Sarah: [13:49] I agree with that. And then, not that I didn't enjoy the credits and Peyton Manning being like, I'll do anything, sort of trying to sing, but then it's like, oh, right, Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon insisted that she be allowed to sing in this film. But this is exactly that movie for like, you're doing some craft thing that's like, you have to look at it, but you can listen to this and pay enough attention. Like it's familiar enough in its rhythms, but then every now and then someone's screeching about being the alligator police. And it's like, it's diverting enough. I am glad that I watched it, but I don't think it's critical. Charles: [14:33] I'll tell you this. If you watch it while winding yarn you may miss a tour de force of face acting from peyton man i thought he was in the background i mean it i mean it like the scene with nev's husband to be in like just in the background trying to sneak a selfie with peyton manning was funny because like peyton Manning is just kind of making weird faces like this is the kind of thing that happens to me all the time. It's kind of annoying. Yeah. And it's not overplayed. Tara: [15:12] Yeah. Charles: [15:13] You know, there's an actual scene going on while that is happening over Reese Witherspoon's shoulder. You know, it's like there There are things in it that are that are good, like talented people put together a piece of throwaway cotton candy. Dave: [15:31] Yeah. Sarah: [15:32] The talent level that's like in the background at any given time, like there's a Joe Bro playing a pastor and he's barely in it. And you have to think like, OK, well, this was appealing on paper to the guy from American Vandal who is now playing at Chippendale. Like, OK. Charles: [15:48] The one last point I think I want to make is the woman, I don't remember the actress's name, who played Reese Witherspoon's mom. Tara: [15:56] Oh, Celia Weston. Charles: [15:57] Feels like a notch above everyone else in the movie. Playing like this southern conservative mom with a subtlety I don't think the movie expected or deserved. Like, you know, there's only so high the emotions get in this movie. But when she has to like actually like act act, it feels like it's in a like was transposed from a much better movie. Mm-hmm. Tara: [16:28] Yeah. She elevates the material for sure. I love her. Dave: [16:37] It's time to go around the dial talking about what we've been watching on TV lately. First up, Tara. Tara: [16:42] So apparently this is the winter of aging stand-up comics starring in sitcoms as dads who uneasily reunite with their estranged daughters. I already told you about the one with Dennis Leary and the one with Tim Allen. And now Clean Slate is the one with George Wallace. And by the way, just as a sidebar, I asked Dave this and I won't tip his answer, but how many years apart do you think Dennis Leary and George Wallace are, Charles, if you had to guess? Charles: [17:06] They don't feel very far apart. Just because of when I knew them. I mean, I saw Dennis Leary at a shitty comedy club in Albany when I was a freshman in college and that was a long time ago. He was like middle. I would say they're probably within five years of each other. Thank you. Tara: [17:26] Well, I won't ask Sarah, because you're right. They're exactly five years apart. Dave said 25 years. And I was like, that's probably what I thought, too. But no, I was shocked. Anyway, the reason for his character's estrangement from his daughter is that she is trans. She left town for New York and cut off contact 23 years ago. She has since affirmed her gender. Now she's back in Birmingham, Alabama, because she's broke. She's played by Laverne Cox, who co-created the show with Wallace and another guy who seriously has like three credits, one of which is writing one episode of Silk Stockings. I don't know what his dealer is or how he got the job, but this was one of the last projects that Norman Lear produced before he died. If you're already stressed just from the description that it's going to be all in the family too, turns out it's true. What everyone says, you couldn't make that show today. Clean Slate kind of has its cake and eats it too. Tara: [18:13] It's very grounded premise is that a teenager did not feel she could tell her father, Harry, about her gender dysphoria and left town instead. And it's very sunny execution is that when she comes home as Desiree, Harry gets over his shock more or less in one short conversation. The dead name and pronoun slips don't last past the second episode. And I don't think the show's that realistic about how this would go, but I also think the purpose is less to portray reality than to model acceptance. It's not hilarious. It's a single cam show with a multi-cam spirit, but you know, it's pleasant. It was originally made for freebie, so the episodes are 23 minutes It's like God intended sitcom episodes to be. And I'm frankly just not going to say anything bad about a show premiering this week that is about trans characters. Sorry. I would love to make it a huge hit out of spite, if nothing else. So if you watch it and love it, that's great. If not, turn it on. Let it run when you're in the other room. You can read my review of the show at the link in the show notes. But my real plug this week is for Trans Lifeline, the Transgender Law Center, and Advocates for Trans Equality. and you can find links to support all of those organizations and the ever more important work they do in the show notes. That show again, clean slate. Find it on Prime Video, just turn it on. Dave: [19:26] All right, Charles, what have you been watching recently you need to let the people know about? Charles: [19:30] Well, I am only letting them know is a cautionary tale. I was forced to watch The Hunting Party by my captors who have brought me back to discuss my trauma. So the premise of The Hunting Party, which I think is on Hulu, it's another thing that I've blocked out. Tara is nodding her head, yes. Correct, correct it is. It is on Hulu. And the premise of the hunting party is that a crack serial killer profiler who has become disenchanted with the good guys at the FBI and CIA is called back into duty when a secret underground research facility that houses all of the serial killers you thought were executed has been jailbroken. Charles: [20:27] And so why do they do this? Well, for the noble reason that the research of asking serial questions, so what was your mom like, is apparently preventing future serial killing. And so it's a monster of the week show where she has to track down and capture a serial killer who was busted out of this facility, figure out in a kind of metagame why they were busted out in the first place, because there was some nefarious actor, and she is reunited with her mentor, whose heel turn in a flashback is what disenchanted her in the first place. And so there's just a lot going on. And if you can get past the premise of a supermax filled with serial killers consenting to psychological experimentation, then maybe this is for you. Dave: [21:34] This sounds like it's of a piece with what was that show from a couple of years ago? Found? Is that the right title? Tara: [21:40] Yeah, found. Dave: [21:40] Also had like a super high concept criminal thing going on where the lead had one of the serial killers chained in her basement. Tara: [21:49] Yeah. Dave: [21:49] It was sort of like, what is Silence of the Lambs but Hannibal Lecter's in my basement? Tara: [21:52] Yeah. Dave: [21:53] And I feed him yogurt every once in a while. Tara: [21:55] And he's played by Zach Morris. Dave: [21:56] He's played by Zach Morris from Saved by the Bell. Tara: [21:59] Yeah. Charles: [21:59] This is kind of like, what if Manhunter, but really dumb. What if you captured all of them and you built a billion-dollar facility to feed them forever? Dave: [22:17] Good deal for them. Charles: [22:18] Yeah. It is the first good thing that Doge shut down. Sarah: [22:25] Yep. Tara: [22:26] All right. Dave: [22:27] Well, Charles, it's your first appearance here. So when do you tell the people where they can find you online? Charles: [22:32] There are a few podcasts. There is. It's not. You're not really going to get anything at CitySaint, CountrySaint. But that is my New Orleans Saints podcast, A-Lab series. All lawyers are bastards. A-L-A-B series. We haven't put out an episode in a bit, but we've got one technically in the can that I hope comes out soon. and we have ideas for more. I just got my contributor copy of the 2025 Baseball Prospectus Annual, and I have the Pirates essay in it. So, you know, if you subscribe to Baseball Prospectus and buy the annual, you'll get a little bit from me lamenting my fandom. And Richard's staff and Sean Doolittle and Tom Hackamer do a baseball podcast called Staffcast And right before we started recording this, oh, my God, I have that same hat without the stars today. Dave: [23:30] I just put on my Pitzer Pirates hat. They're actually not stars. My dad did this for me. Charles: [23:37] Yes. So I'm on the staff cast this week talking about random stuff. Also, because that long list makes me feel really guilty. I want you to look back at Tara's plugs for all of the trans charities because those are more important than my Michigan's. Dave: [24:03] Sarah D. Bunting, what do you have for us? Sarah: [24:06] I have Band of Brothers. It has now happened at least three times, possibly more like four or five times in recent records that Band of Brothers has come up, and I've been like, I really got to rewatch that. And finally, it was like, okay, I'm fucking doing it. So I did it, and I had not watched it since I had to wait for each DVD to arrive in the mail from Netflix, a DVD mail rental company. because I am 100,000 years old. Sarah: [24:35] So I was like, well, this is probably still going to hold up, right? It definitely does. In fact, it's even better than I remembered. I had forgotten that literally everyone is in this. I'm pretty sure I saw Charles, in fact, in the background of a shot. He was playing a tree. Very convincing work, Charles. It's so elegantly done in terms of introducing a ton of people and getting you up to speed as to where they are. the flashbackiness of it is not annoying like this is how you do a flashback everybody go back and watch this and take note it is yet another utterly vanity free performance from david schwimmer as just a fuck knuckle like he just had a string of them i'm not not a ross guy but like he just like his Sobel is just like horrible, but then you kind of feel for him. And I mean, I recommend it. It is on Max. I'm only like an episode and a half in, but it's just so well done, elegantly done, a pleasure to look at it. So yeah, Band of Brothers, Easy Companies, Adventures on the Coast. Sarah: [25:48] Just in case you are a newborn and don't know what happens. for my plug as we record this the grammys just happened um and uh we talked about it on mark and sarah talk about songs we actually recorded it like 10 days before and did a bunch of predictions i think we got one right and then we had some wild card categories that we talked about we may have accused sabrina carpenter of having a purse dog named aristotle it's not as bad as it sounds we actually really like her but um all of that and more is in our grammys episode and you can find that wherever you get podcasts. And additionally, there is something called the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, where a lot of musicians whom I respect have worked on behalf of this organization, which just kind of provides a little financial cover and insurance to longtime musicians who are struggling to make ends meet. So you can check that out at sweetrelief.org, and the link will be in the show notes. Dave: [26:48] Before I get to what's happening in the Extra Great Cinematic Universe. So Reacher, I assume is still embargoed at the moment, Tara. Tara: [26:55] That's correct. Dave: [26:55] Can I say I thought it was a pretty good season? Tara: [26:58] Yeah, you can say that. Dave: [26:59] Can I say I was surprised by the finale when Reacher exploded from just being too big? Tara: [27:06] Yeah, Reacher's great. We watched all of season three this weekend. Dave: [27:09] Season three was good. Better than season two. Season two, I felt was interesting, but I didn't really care for the large group dynamics with Reacher. didn't really gel as well as Reacher's on his own. Here comes Reacher. Oh, shit. How can a human be that big? It's Reacher. Charles: [27:25] Reacher season two is dumb. Reacher season one is guy walks into small town. Reacher season two is guy takes on national security complex. And I'm like, come on, man. Tara: [27:36] They're back to guy walks into small town. I think all of this I'm about to say is in the trailer, so it's safe. But they found a guy who's bigger than Reacher. Dave: [27:43] Yeah. Tara: [27:44] And that's remarkable. Dave: [27:45] Like, not just marginally bigger, but, like, way bigger. Like, humans shouldn't be this big. There's something wrong with the design. Tara: [27:52] He's too big. Dave: [27:52] Yeah. Tara: [27:53] Sonia Cassidy, who played the sister in Logic 49, is the female lead this season. Dave: [27:58] I couldn't get past her accent, though. I tried. I thought eventually I'd be like, okay, all right. No, right till the end. Like, that's not the way you talk, lady. Tara: [28:06] No, I was, because she's British, but I was talking about this on Blue Sky DMs with Dave Roth, past and future guest. and he has spent a lot of time in Maine because that's where his wife is from. And so I made sure that he knew this was a Maine set season and he was like, oh, hell no. And then when he saw the trailer and heard this British woman trying to do a Boston accent because that's where she is from, he was like, they always sound like from Quebec. I wasn't that distracted from it. I was more distracted by the fact that she looks so much like Coby Smulders who was also the female lead in the first Reacher movie. Dave: [28:41] Yeah, I guess I could say that. Tara: [28:42] Anyway, it is a good season. We'll be able to talk about it freely in a couple of weeks. Dave: [28:46] Anthony and Michael Hall is in there playing somebody who's supposed to be two years younger than me, which I did not enjoy. But we found out he's actually not younger. Tara: [28:54] He's 56. Yeah. Dave: [28:56] All right. So here's what's coming up in the Extra Great Universe this Friday. It is apple cider vinegar. We're going to be talking about that show? Tara: [29:04] It's a show on Netflix starring Caitlin Deaver. Dave: [29:07] Right. That one. Come back here at ESG Prime next week for Kinfolk Kerfuffle. And that is absolutely nothing like Family Feud. Don't you dare even think about it? Tara: [29:17] Definitely not. Dave: [29:17] Then we're going to be back that Friday for February's Forcing Pool episode. And we just hot off the presses. It's going to be Millennium's Somehow Satan Got Behind Me episode, which I watched about 10 minutes of just to make sure that the video is okay. And it looks quite interesting. I'm looking forward to that one. And then two weeks time on EHG Prime. It's the White Lotus Season 3. And we welcome back Daniel Denario To talk about that, Dave: [29:50] It's time for the Extra Hot Great Cannon, presenting this week's Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah: [29:54] Yes, Chef. Today I am plating The Bear, Season 2, Episode 7, Forks, for the Cannon. In the event that you're not familiar, Forks is the episode that sees Cousin Richie, Eben Moss Bacharach, sent to a fictionalized version of a legendary restaurant ever to do stodge, basically staging Scud, for a week. Richie thinks it's a punishment detail, an effort on the part of Carmi, Jeremy Allen White, to sideline him as the beef's transformation into the bear gets closer to its opening day. But Carmi's intent is quite the opposite. It's teach Richie how essential he really is to Carmi and to the restaurant, the bear, and to give him the tools to succeed and transform alongside the restaurant. The episode succeeds, in my opinion, because it highlights a handful of the show's strengths. I will dispense with this first one quickly, because this famously visual medium that is the podcast does not let me go into that much detail. But The Bear, The Show, is excellent at meditative montages of food prep shot with loving authority, and Forks is no exception. Sarah: [30:57] Forks is also full of carefully composed non-food shots, like Richie's car shot from above, one cell in one artery of the heart of Chicago, or Richie's wedding band glinting cruelly on his hand as he struggles to be gracious when his ex, Tiff, Jillian Jacobs, tells him that she's getting married again. I did want to mention these shots, even if I can't entirely convey them aurally. The second strength is the show's almost documentary presentation of restaurant and food service work. Season one episode, Review, gave everyone on my couch PTSD when that system started spitting out tickets and threw the kitchen into chaos. sauce, Forks is gentler, but still gives you a peek behind the curtain, whether it's Chef Jess, Sara Ramos, expediting a dinner service with martial precision, or Chef Adam Shapiro having a meltdown about an imperfect plate, clip one. Sarah: [32:21] That's a good segue into a third strength the bear is very serious about food and cooking it very much wants to make points about the art of fine dining and how it creates community and it has a very good sense or it did in its first two seasons of how to balance a certain jerk-off motion inducing solemnity about herb glazes with say neil fack maddie matheson repeatedly electric-shocking himself and shrieking during an otherwise tense phone call Carmi is trying to have with Ritchie. Or with the winking 80s training montage soundtrack cue that accompanies Ritchie's sprint off-site to procure a customer a deep-dish pie, clip 2. Sarah: [33:18] Or Richie's sports fan-esque celebration of Chef Adam's decision-making as he is in the process of elevating that pie, clip three. I mean, who amongst us? The bear is trying to teach Richie about himself and move the character forward for us at the same time in the space of only a week in showtime. But the writing understands it can't be too portentous in doing so. For every quiet conversation with Olivia Colman's Chef Terry about the praxis that is peeling a mushroom, you also need Richie happily rocking out to a vintage Taylor Swift tune with a lyric about making it out of this mess. The quiet conversation is, of course, Forks' greatest strength, and there were half a hundred ways it could have gone wrong. Ritchie could have been too intimidated, Chef Terry too condescending. The dialogue could have rushed the characters to the capital B big ideas about starting over or self-respect. Another actor besides Coleman might have made this moment mawkish, clip four. Sarah: [34:42] He's not. And the entire preceding scene has shown us, without quite telling us, why that is. Ritchie is direct, curious, loyal, not manipulative, and I freely admit that I fell in love with the character the minute he bellowed, listen up you fucking dorks, into a megaphone in the premiere, but there is more to Ritchie than impatient hollering, and Moss Bacharach's performance lets you believe that Ritchie might be the only one who hasn't figured that out yet. Also, oh my fucking god, Ritchie in that suit. I need to go lie down in my bunk, so I will just wrap this up now. Forks is sweet without being treacly, evocative without being heavy-handed, and an all-around win for a character who needed and deserved one. So I hope that it is a love story, and you babies will just say yes to putting this episode in the Extra Hot Grey canon. Tara: [35:30] Charles, please start off our discussion. What did you think of Sarah's presentation and of the episode? Charles: [35:35] First of all, kudos to Sarah. I am a big interrupter. And I just let it wash over me and did not interrupt. The episode was great. When I do TV-ish media podcasts, I typically make it my wife's problem. I don't always do that because after forcing her to watch the first Hallmark movie, she was like, you can't make me do this every time. Tara: [36:01] Yeah, that'll do it. Charles: [36:02] I think, you know, like I made her sit through the horse whisperer. I've done I've done her dirty a few times. And so with this, you know, first I'm like, we have to watch The Hunting Party. And I ended up watching that one on my own. And then it became You're Cordially Invited. And she sat through that one with me. But then I said Forks and she goes, I love that fucking episode. Charles: [36:26] And so I had to rewatch it because obviously I've been subjected to like however many years of people talking about how great the episode is. And I watched it and I liked it and I like the bear, but I did not remember it deserving kind of all of the accolades. And I rewatched it and apparently I was sort of watching it like while scrolling my phone the first time because it was a much, much better episode on the second watch. Like there was a lot more subtlety to it. The pace, which I allowed myself to scroll during the first time, makes a lot more sense in context, and you kind of have to let it be slow. And so the episode really, really works. Charles: [37:16] Grant is great. You know, the guy who's the head of Back of House. Oh, Garrett. Garrett. Mm-hmm. Who is training up Richie and it literally tells him to have more self-respect, you know, like it's not even subtle. He's like, respect the plays, respect me and respect yourself. It's like they didn't pussyfoot around the fact that it's the kind of a self-reclamation project for him. And it was great. And I didn't love, honestly, how Forks projected forward through the season. I thought the Ritchie transformation episode before Forks episode after Forks was a little dramatic and a little on the nose. Right. Like there's the one episode where he's like, I intentionally put the place setting wrong and she didn't move it. She should never be hired. I'm like, all right, come on, buddy. Your car is full of garbage. Sarah: [38:11] No, sell it like the convert, though. I sort of took that. Charles: [38:14] You know, yeah, no, I get it. Yeah, I get it. But like I but as a as a moment in time, as you know, 30 minutes of television, Forks is amazing. Yeah. In the canon. Tara: [38:26] I'll go next. I agree. I love this episode, and I was very down on season three. And there are certainly episodes of season two that I didn't love either, but I did love the build of how it showed how you assemble a team for the restaurant that the bear is trying to turn into from the beef. and how meaningful this would be for Richie to realize Carmi saw something in him and that he was right, that what he thought was a punishment is actually such a gift. And the other part of it is like, and this is something that we say all the time, the purpose of setting a show somewhere that we don't see all the time, as opposed to a facility for serial killers, like something like this where you're getting you're getting a look at a world and how how you make it run properly is so interesting and seeing people be competent at anything like no matter what the job is is fascinating and that's definitely true here where it's like this there's a reason that you start out just polishing forks and that you have to learn the right way to do it like i might think that all of this fine dining stuff is bullshit and like if i found out that my meal was comped because they stalked my Instagram. Like, that's nice, but also creepy. Like, I don't like that. Don't do that. That part creeped me out a lot. Respect the environment. Respect yourself. Like, the way that it works on Richie, even before he meets Chef Terry and her quiet, gentle mushroom energy. Tara: [39:54] It's such a pleasure to watch his progress through it. And also, I mean, I love Garrett, too. And when he explains that he wanted to get into this line of work because he figured out that service, acts of service were important to him. It's like, that's lovely. Like that part of it is so sweet. You're right, Sarah, the karate kid music that they play in the kitchen is so funny. Like it's such a hilarious choice. And shout out to Chef Adam, my friend, not my friend, the person who I bought pretzels from on Gold Belly because they're super good. Shappi's Pretzels, check them out. Dave. Dave: [40:30] I think this episode represents My upper limit for the bear frou-frou-ness, which is to say it's probably at the sweet spot if you're going to engage with an episode that is sort of like on the side of the bear that I don't care for. Sarah: [40:42] This is the one. Dave: [40:43] I feel like they just go right up to the edge, but don't go over. But it is not my upper limit for Cousin Richie content. So those two things together make it a really kind of powerful episode to digest content. Dave: [40:54] A year or so later after it first aired because I was like not really having season three of the bear no the further they get away from the beef the less I'm interested but like this conversion to being like a food believer you know and or whatever your restaurant dining dining experience believer like we've already had it with Marcus right and that one didn't grab me the way this one does and I think it's just because of cousin Richie and just like the portrayal there and for all the reasons Sarah said, contained here, very powerful. But just to put it in the bird's eye, I feel like Cousin Richie, you know, he is the closest thing we have to the blue collar slob character that a show like this must have. And to finally see him not necessarily like getting everything that Carmi is doing here, but sort of coming into his own within that environment and realizing that Carmi wasn't giving up on him and punishing him, but rather he was saying like, there is a place for you in what I'm doing and you need to get away from me to discover that that is true. Like that is at the heart, you know, what's going on in this episode. And I thought it was, it was pretty touching to see all that play out with Forks. And then of course, the best part of the episode where he gets to be the sprinter to pick up the pizza and he's like, fucking jammed that this kid is going to get a deep dish pizza on her last day in Chicago. Dave: [42:15] Genuinely happy to be there to share this experience, which I think is something that he wasn't having in his life a lot. Tara: [42:22] Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to add that we hardly see the other characters on the show except for the phone call when Richie calls and is like, I know what you were doing. And the vibe shift between the quiet, tense, but organized ever and everything that's going on back in the barrel between like Carmi and Fack, like just screaming at each other. It's like, you would never want to go back there. Of course, Richie's asking if they're hiring him. Sarah: [42:46] It's just so stressful. Tara: [42:48] Just this three-minute phone call. It's like, oh, God, I never want to talk to you again. This is awful. So, yeah, I like the way they dropped that into the middle of the episode just to show the contrast. It's like they could have done more with it, but it's very restrained, I thought. Charles: [43:01] I wanted to say I like this episode with Richie. I like the one with Marcus, and I really like the one. I don't remember her name, but Sydney Sue, whose name I don't remember because it's Regina. Charles: [43:13] Because it's been too long since I've watched the season. I thought the Tina episode was incredible. And if they do one in season four for FAC, I will go falling down like 100 percent. Like there's no backstory there. There's already too much. Like FAC is great in an I'm electrocuting myself scene. FAC is ridiculous in and and this is my problem with season three. FAC is ridiculous in a front of house scene when he has not had the Ritchie transformation experience. He's just a bull in a china shop. And I liked season three a lot more than a lot of people did, but it felt very, you know, like the second of the Lord of the Rings trilogy just suffered from like middle chapters disease where you're like, it starts, you know, in the middle and it ends in the middle. And so season three revolves entirely around how they tie it up, kind of, because the problem with the first three seasons is that Carmi keeps starting and ending in the same place. And he is the one who has to fucking learn something in season four that isn't how to make a sad face or else the whole thing has been a complete waste of my time. Tara: [44:31] Yep. Sarah: [44:32] All right. So I guess we know who is coming back for the bear season four on extra hot. Dave: [44:39] All right. Let's put this to the official vote. Charles, what do you think about forks cannon worthy or not cannon worthy? Tara. Tara: [44:47] Yeah. Richie is my favorite character on the show behind only Sydney. So of course it's a, it's a, it's, it's a yes for me. Yes, chef. Dave: [44:56] Me too. So. that means that the bear season two episode seven forks you are hereby inducted into the extra hot gray cannon, It's time to discover who is the winner and loser of the week. Sarah has this week's winner. Sarah: [45:26] Yes, I do. It is James Norton, who is joining House of the Dragon for season three. This is still not something that I'm really tempted to watch realistically, but James Norton does up the percentages from 0.03 to like 1%. Dave: [45:44] All right. Who is James Norton? Because he's not the guy I was thinking of in my head, which I really just figured out was Graham Norton. Charles: [45:51] Oh, you see, I saw the URL, and I was thinking Jim Norton. And I'm like, okay, is he an ogre? Sarah: [45:59] No, this was the villain on Happy Valley, seasons one and two, and then the first vicar on Grant Chester, seasons one and two of 40,000 at this point. Yes. Yeah, he's in a lot of those British murder shows, and he is hot. Charles: [46:17] Yeah, I was going to say the preview that came up when I moused over the URL was a very handsome man. Tara: [46:25] Very not Jim Norton. Yes. Charles: [46:27] Yeah. Sarah: [46:27] No, or Graham Norton. Tara: [46:30] Our loser is collectively the fans of the HBO show Insecure who have apparently asked Issa Rae, or I mean, I have asked, it's probably more demanded, to reshoot the series finale because it didn't end the way you want. Fans have too much power. We've empowered the fans too much. Just because you have access to creators of shows doesn't mean you get a vote. And if you don't like the series finale, we've all been there. We've all seen series finales we didn't like. Keep it to yourself or tell your stupid little friends. Don't take it to Issa Rae. She has other things to do. Shut up. Dave: [47:06] Speaking about keeping it to yourself, you know what time it is? Tara: [47:08] It's game time. Dave: [47:08] It's game time. It's game time. Charles, this is the closest thing you're going to get on this podcast to sports, so enjoy it. It is the fifth game time of the season. The season scorers are Tara with zero, Sarah with two, and Value Guest with two. Today we are playing Adaptation Aptitude Test from Meredith, who earns herself an extra credit, topic of her choosing, plus a free shirt from our store at throughmethods.com. Meredith writes, This is inspired by the verbal section of the SAT. The object of the game is to match the cast of a TV show with the cast of a movie on which it is based. You will hear the first half of an analogy. Complete the analogy and name the show we're talking about for one point and one point and one point for a total of three points if you get them all. You can ask for any one of those things as a hint before you answer. So here's an example. Christy Swanson is to Donald Sutherland as who is to who on what show? Shout out if you know it. Sarah: [48:22] Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anthony Stewart Head, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dave: [48:27] That would get you three delicious points. And if you needed a hint, you could ask for any one of those three items. All right, let's throw it to picky to see who's going first today. All right, I'm going to go Sarah, Tara, then Charles. Are we ready to play Adaptation Aptitude Test? Tara: [48:47] Yes. Charles: [48:48] Yes, sir. Dave: [48:48] All right, Sarah D. Bunting. Jack Lemon is to Walter Matthau as who is to who in what show? Jack Lemon is to Walter Matthau as who is to who, two actors, in what TV show? Sarah: [49:06] Tony Randall and oh my fucking God, Klugman? Jack Klugman? Is that a person? On the odd couple. Dave: [49:17] You are correct. The full three points for Sarah D. Bunting out of the gate. Tara? Tara: [49:23] Yes? Dave: [49:23] Alicia Silverstone is to Stacey Dash as who is to who on what TV show? Tara: [49:29] Okay. It's Clueless is the show. the woman who played the lead i know she's canadian i can picture her i can't remember her name and i believe stacy dash replayed her replayed the role again i think it's also stacy dash is to stacy dash okay so you need. Dave: [49:48] The alicia silverstone analog if you can grab it. Tara: [49:51] Yeah i don't remember her name all right so two. Dave: [49:53] Out of three we're looking for rachel. Tara: [49:55] Blanchard rachel blanchard Yes, correct. Dave: [49:58] All right. Charles, are you ready? Here we go. Charles: [50:00] Yes. Dave: [50:01] Brad Pitt is to Angelina Jolie as who is to who on what TV show? Charles: [50:06] I think this is Donald Glover and Maya Erskine on Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Dave: [50:13] That is a three point answer. Nicely done. Tara: [50:16] Tax book. Dave: [50:17] Sarah. Patrick Swayze is to Jennifer Gray as who is to who on what TV show? TV show made from a movie. Patrick Sweet is to Jennifer Grey as who is to who on what show? Sarah: [50:31] Who is to who? I mean, I don't think I remembered this was a show. I assume it's Dirty Dancing. Dave: [50:39] That part is correct. It's going to be very hard to pull the actors if you've never remembered the show. I can give you one of them. Might stir something in your brain. Sarah: [50:47] Might leap into my brain. I mean, I don't think Jennifer Grey played herself, but I don't have any other guesses. So let's guess that they played themselves or that they rebooted the roles. Dave: [50:58] We were looking for Patrick Cassidy and Melora Hardin. Tara: [51:02] Her I know him. I never would have got. Sarah: [51:05] Okay. So I got a point. Charles: [51:07] I was in the Sarah zone. Yes. Dave: [51:11] Steve Martin is to Tom Hulse as who is to who on what show? Tara: [51:18] As Peter Krause. Dave: [51:20] Peter Krause. Tara: [51:22] Is to Dax Shepard. Yes. On Paradox. Sarah: [51:25] Oh, wow, nice. Dave: [51:26] Three points, yes. Sarah: [51:27] Nice pull. Dave: [51:29] Back to Charles. We've got Connie Britton is to Billy Bob Thornton. Who is to who? And what's that show? Connie Britton is to Billy Bob Thornton as who is to who on what show? Charles: [51:40] God damn. Dave: [51:43] Any ideas? You can ask for any one of those as a clue. Charles: [51:47] I guess give me who Billy Bob Thornton was. Dave: [51:54] Billy Bob Thornton in the TV version. Our analog is Kyle Chandler. Kyle Chandler. Charles: [52:00] Oh, so is it Connie? Is it Connie Britton and Friday Night Lights? Dave: [52:05] That is correct. Connie Britton on both sides of that comparison. And that show is Friday Night Lights. Severity Bunting. Harrison Ford is to Melanie Griffith as who is to who on what TV show? TV show adaptation of a movie. Sarah: [52:20] Who to who? Could I get the Harrison Ford one? Dave: [52:28] Harrison Ford Analog played by Oh, listen to sassy Fave, George Newbern Oh. Sarah: [52:36] Forgot it was him He was one to watch. Dave: [52:40] Do you know the property? Sarah: [52:41] I mean, I can sing The song and the name of the property Has fallen out of my head It's such a Bobby Fields movie too I can't believe this is happening to me Yeah, I'm just fucking blanking. I don't know. Give us the answers. Charles: [52:54] I know the movie. I don't know the show. The movie is Working Girl. Dave: [52:58] The Working Girl is the title. Sarah: [53:00] Yeah. Jesus. I was like, Let the River Run. That's not what it was called. Charles: [53:04] Sandra Bullock. Dave: [53:04] Sandra Bullock, yes. Charles: [53:06] Oh. Yeah. Sarah: [53:07] Tara. Yeah. Dave: [53:09] Julia Stiles is to Heath Ledger as who is to who on what show? Tara: [53:13] Oh, God. I'll never. I was going to say I'll never get this, but I will. The Heath Ledger is Josh Peck, Shit. Okay, well, the show is 10 Things I Hate About You. Yeah. I don't remember what the girl's name is. Dave: [53:29] Lindsay Shaw. Tara: [53:30] That's it. Dave: [53:31] You want to take a second crack at the person? Tara: [53:33] Ethan Peck. Dave: [53:34] Ethan Peck, yes. Tara: [53:35] Little Spock. A.K.A. Little Spock. Charles: [53:37] Trivia tip for all you trivia players is never say a first name when you don't have to. That's a good tip. That is a really good tip, actually. Dave: [53:46] Unless I, you know, decide that you have to. Charles: [53:49] Which is all up to you. Correct. Correct. But if you're talking to Ken Jennings, don't take a stab at the first name. And I am glad I actually got a clue last time because I was like this close to just going Sling Blade. The Sling Blade TV show. Sling Blade. The multi-cam on CMG. Dave: [54:08] All right. Don't get confused because we have another appearance by Donald Sutherland here, Charles. We have Donald Sutherland is to Sally Kellerman as who is to who in what TV show? So we've already heard Sutherland with our example It's not that Wait No. Charles: [54:25] No, no, no, no That's not. Dave: [54:26] So Donald Sutherland is to Sally Kellerman As who is to who on what adaptation TV show? Charles: [54:33] Yeah, give me Sally Kellerman. Dave: [54:35] Sally Kellerman's analog is Loretta Swit Any idea there? Charles: [54:41] Oh, I Is this Private Benjamin? Dave: [54:47] No It is not Any idea? It's going to be really hard. Charles: [54:51] Oh, wait. No, no. It's a different military movie. Dave: [54:54] Okay. You still can get a crack at the Donald Sutherland analog. What actor played his analog? Charles: [54:58] Oh, the Donald Sutherland, I think, was Alan Alda. Dave: [55:01] Alan Alda. Because the show is? Charles: [55:03] MASH. Dave: [55:04] MASH, yes. All right. One point there for you. We're still in TV shows based on movies, but I'm going to let you know that the TV shows and the rest of the questions here in round one all have different titles than the movies that they're based on. Tara: [55:17] Oh, okay. Dave: [55:17] You have to give me both titles, all right? Tara: [55:19] Okay. Dave: [55:20] Matthew Broderick is to Jennifer Grey as Who is to Who on what movie and what show? Sarah: [55:27] Oh, fuck. Okay. It's Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and then I think it was just called Ferris Bueller on TV? Dave: [55:36] You are correct on the titles. So who played the Matthew Broderick analog? Who played the Jennifer Grey analog? One of them's pretty famous these days. One, not so much. Sarah: [55:47] Yeah, no, I know the Jennifer Grey analog is Jennifer Aniston. Yep. Pretty sure. Dave: [55:52] Can you nail Ferris? Tara: [55:55] He was Sassy's very first one to watch, in fact. Dave: [55:59] I remember that. Sarah: [56:00] I feel like it's also... No, that can't be right. I'm thinking of something else, but I have no other answer. So Patrick Dempsey. Tara: [56:11] Charlie Schlatter. Dave: [56:13] It's correct, Charlie Schlatter. But two point gain on that one. All right, Tara. Tara: [56:18] Yep. Dave: [56:19] Diane Ladd is to Ellen Burstyn as who is to who on what two properties? Charles: [56:24] Oh. Tara: [56:25] Okay. Alice doesn't live here anymore in Alice. That is correct. Dave: [56:30] Those are your titles. Tara: [56:33] And Diane Ladd's analog is Polly Holiday? Dave: [56:41] Wow. Tara: [56:42] Good pull. And the other is Linda Lavin. We missed her. Dave: [56:45] You are correct. Three-point answer. That's a television show, Alice. Based on Alice's Lickory. Charles: [56:51] And that's so funny. When you, I was trying to think of that at first on Donald Sutherland. Oh. And I was like, no, that's Chris Christopherson. Tara: [56:59] Yep. Sarah: [56:59] Oh, okay. Dave: [57:01] All right. Here comes our last question of round one. It is for Charles. We have Edward Furlong is to Linda Hamilton as who is to who? named the two property titles as well. Charles: [57:13] Okay. The movie is Terminator. Dave: [57:17] You want to finish that answer? Charles: [57:19] Oh, I guess it's Terminator 2 with... Dave: [57:24] Everybody getting a little help from David. Yep. Tara: [57:25] Okay. Dave: [57:26] That's one of them. Charles: [57:26] Yeah. What's the show? Yeah. I didn't even know that was a show. So give me the name of the show and I'll see if it allows me to pull the... Dave: [57:39] Your titles are Terminator 2, Judgment Day, and Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronicles on television. Charles: [57:46] I think Linda Hamilton came back, didn't she? Tara: [57:50] She came back for a future Terminator movie, but not for the show. Dave: [57:53] Edward Furlong is to Thomas Decker, as Linda Hamilton is to Lena Headey. Tara: [57:58] Right. Dave: [57:59] From Game of Thrones at all. Charles: [58:01] Never heard of those people. Dave: [58:03] That is the end of round one. Let's hear the scores, please, Tara. Tara: [58:07] Okay. It's pretty close. I have nine. Sarah has seven. Charles has six. Dave: [58:13] All right. So that means, Charles, you are in the Grossworth Equalizer Challenge Zone. Sarah: [58:17] Good luck. Dave: [58:23] Charles, I need you to pick a number from one to seven. Charles: [58:26] Oh my God. This is a lot of pressure. Three. Dave: [58:29] All right. Three. You're going to get six questions, TV related questions from cards. These are from the shit for brains question set. Don't take it personally. Charles: [58:39] It's just the name of the game. Yeah, no, that, uh, that definitely feels like I have an advantage. Dave: [58:45] If you get three of the six, correct. We give you three points. If you sweep, we double it to six. So you can get a maximum of six points here. Charles: [58:51] Here we go. All right. Sarah: [58:52] Good luck. Dave: [58:53] Question number one. David Joyner, the actor who portrayed what kids show character in the 90s, became a tantric sex expert and unblocks the energy of two to four goddesses a week. So that actor portrayed what kids show character in the 90s? He is now an expert in Get In It On. Charles: [59:14] Oh, man, that's disturbing. Let's say he played Cody. Dave: [59:22] Anybody want to take a guess here? Tara: [59:24] No. Dave: [59:25] What if I told you the title of the card, which I don't read because it gives too much information, was Purple Headed Monster? Tara: [59:30] Oh, Barney? Barney is the good answer. I don't like that. Sarah: [59:34] Oh, I cannot know that shit. Charles: [59:36] Nope. I'd rather not have the points. Tara: [59:39] I don't know. Charles: [59:40] All right. Second question, Charles. Dave: [59:43] The host of what beloved children's TV show had the middle name McFeely? Charles: [59:47] I feel like that's Captain Kangaroo. Dave: [59:49] You are very close. That is Mr. Rogers' neighborhood. Tara: [59:53] Oh. Dave: [59:55] What comedian and actor, known for playing the same character across several different shows, had Hulk Hogan on his talk show to demonstrate some wrestling moves, resulting in him getting choked out and splitting his head open on the ground, then suing Hogan for $5 million? Charles: [1:00:11] This is the Bells, Richard Belzer. Dave: [1:00:13] Richard Belzer is correct. You need two of the last three to get three points. Charles: [1:00:17] Mm-hmm. Dave: [1:00:18] What actress and former sitcom star stated that her famous ventriloquist dad gave his dummy a bigger bedroom than her and left her out of his will while leaving the dummy $10,000? Charles: [1:00:30] That has to be Candice Bergen. Dave: [1:00:32] You are correct again. Sarah: [1:00:33] Nice pull. Tara: [1:00:34] All right. Dave: [1:00:35] Need one of these last two. Upon discovering Heath Ledger's cold, naked corpse, their wording, not mine, massage therapist Diana Woolowson called which Olsen twin before calling the police. So you got a 50-50 here. Charles: [1:00:50] I guess I will just say Ashley. Alphabetical order. Damn it. Sarah: [1:00:55] God damn it. Charles: [1:00:56] Let me tell you, I was afraid you were going to ask for the massage therapist. And I was like, I do not know. That would be worse than knowing Barney. Dave: [1:01:07] All right. I'm rooting for you here. Charles: [1:01:10] All right. Dave: [1:01:11] What longtime character actor and the Larry Sanders show co-star was arrested in 2010 for drunkenly breaking into a closed bank with a loaded revolver. Charles: [1:01:22] Oh, that's Rip Torn. Dave: [1:01:25] Rip Torn, yes. Tara: [1:01:26] Nicely done. Charles: [1:01:27] That's a three-point get. I came very close to saying Rip Taylor. That is the danger of anything with Rip Torn or Rip Taylor. Let's get the episode scores, please, Tara. Tara: [1:01:35] Okay, Sarah has seven. Now Charles and I are tied with nine points each. Dave: [1:01:40] Excellent. All right, everybody has three questions left, as I mentioned a while ago. So once again, these round two, we're going from TV shows based on movies. We're now into movies based on TV shows. Tara: [1:01:51] Got it. Dave: [1:01:52] So those will be your analogs. Sarah D. Bunting, are you ready? Sarah: [1:01:55] Not really, but let's do it. Dave: [1:01:56] Will Ferrell is to Nicole Kidman as who is to who. Sarah: [1:02:01] Could I have the Nicole Kidman analog, please? Dave: [1:02:04] The Nicole Kidman analog is Elizabeth Montgomery. Sarah: [1:02:10] I Dream of Genie? Tara: [1:02:12] Oh, the other one. Sarah: [1:02:14] Oh, the other one. God damn you, Bewitched. Okay, that is correct. Dave: [1:02:18] Now, knowing that, you still have Will Ferrell's analog on the table. Tara: [1:02:22] And there's two options. Charles: [1:02:23] I was going to say two answers. Sarah: [1:02:26] But this is a time where I should use the first name because it's correct for both. Dix, Sergeant, and York? Dave: [1:02:33] You are correct. Charles: [1:02:34] Nice. Nice save for the point. Dave: [1:02:37] All right, this is question 17. Tara: [1:02:40] Spread Eagle. Charles: [1:02:41] Before we go on, can I just say that keeps showing up in my Google recommended news stories because I just watched You're Cordially Invited. No. Like Will Ferrell talking on Colbert, I think, about how blown away he was by Nicole Kidman's acting on a movie of no renown. Dave: [1:03:07] Doesn't take a lot to impress Farrell, I guess No All right, Tara Yeah Johnny Knoxville is to Sean William Scott as who is to who? Tara: [1:03:16] Okay, it's the Dukes of Hazzard. Dave: [1:03:18] You are correct, Not only do you have to get the actors' names, you have to get them in the right order Okay. Tara: [1:03:26] Sean William Scott's analog is John Schneider, Johnny Knoxville is? He's the brunette. He was on Broadway. And his name is as follows. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't pull it. Dave: [1:03:44] Anybody else know it? Charles: [1:03:46] Yeah, it's Tom Wopat. Sarah: [1:03:48] Tom Wopat. Dave: [1:03:49] All right, you got two. You got two there. Charles: [1:03:51] That is my era of watching too much television. Dave: [1:03:56] Charles, you've got Zachary Quinto is to Chris Pine as who is to who on what movie based on a TV show? So Zachary Quinto is to Chris Pine as who is to who? Charles: [1:04:08] Give me the, give me the franchise. Dave: [1:04:12] Star Trek. Charles: [1:04:13] Uh, I don't, I don't remember which version this is. So I'm just going to say Shatner and Nimoy. Dave: [1:04:20] Uh, you got to give me who they're connected to. Zachary Quinto is? Charles: [1:04:24] Uh, in that order. I'm just saying Shatner. Dave: [1:04:27] Uh, you had all the right names, just in the wrong order. Zachary Quinto plays Spock. Chris Pine is the new Kirk on Star Trek. Charles: [1:04:34] Abrams edition. Dave: [1:04:35] All right. This is question. Sarah. Sarah: [1:04:41] Yeah. Dave: [1:04:43] We've got Shelly Long is to Gary Cole as who is to who on what property? Sarah: [1:04:50] Okay. That is the Brady Bunch. Dave: [1:04:53] You are correct there. Sarah: [1:04:55] You had Shelly Long first, right? Dave: [1:04:58] Shelly Long is to who? Sarah: [1:04:59] All right. So that's Flohee, Florence Henderson, and Robert Reed. Dave: [1:05:06] Robert Reed. Good three-point answer. Nicely done. Tara: [1:05:08] Nice. Tara. Yep. Dave: [1:05:10] Dwayne Johnson is to Alexandria Daddario as who is to who on what property? Tara: [1:05:17] This was a show. Dave: [1:05:19] This is a TV show. They made a movie out of it. Tara: [1:05:25] Give me the property. Dave: [1:05:27] The property is Baywatch. Tara: [1:05:30] Oh, because they were also in San Andreas. That's what screwed me up. Okay. Dwayne Johnson corresponds to David Hasselhoff. Dave: [1:05:38] Yep. Tara: [1:05:38] And Alexandria, Alexandra Daddario, she was. Powers. Dave: [1:05:52] Nicole Eggert is her analog. Tara: [1:05:54] I knew she wasn't Pam Anderson. Dave: [1:05:57] All right, we are over to Charles. Your movie stars, Channing Tatum is to Jonah Hill as who is to who. Charles: [1:06:07] I'm blanking on something that both of them were in, and I should know it. So give me the franchise, and I'll figure out if I know the TV show. Dave: [1:06:15] The movie based on a show is 21 Jump Street. oh. Charles: [1:06:19] So uh johnny depp is channing tatum and it was it michael penn wait oh i'd love that. Dave: [1:06:30] One point for johnny depp we were looking for jonah hill is to peter de louise peter de louise oh miss indeed all right everybody has one question left so quickly the scores, please. Tara: [1:06:43] Okay, it's really close. Charles has 10, Sarah has 11, I have 12. Dave: [1:06:48] All right. Are you ready, Sarah, for your last question? Sarah: [1:06:53] Probably. Dave: [1:06:54] Ray Fiennes is to Uma Thurman as who is to who in what? Sarah: [1:06:59] Um, could I have the Uma log, please? Dave: [1:07:02] The Uma log is Diana Rigg with two G's. The extra G is for extra Rigg. Sarah: [1:07:10] Is for extra Rigg. Um, so, uh, Mission Impossible? Dave: [1:07:17] Incorrect. Sarah: [1:07:18] The other one, Mod Squad. Fuck. Dave: [1:07:21] Nope, not even the other one, Mod Squad. Anybody else know this one? Tara: [1:07:24] Yeah, it's The Avengers. Dave: [1:07:25] The Avengers, yes. Sarah: [1:07:26] Oh, shit. Dave: [1:07:27] So, uh, Ralph Fiennes is, anybody know this one? Tara: [1:07:30] Patrick McNeil. Dave: [1:07:31] Patrick McNeil is correct, yes. Sarah: [1:07:33] Tara, are you ready for your full question? Tara: [1:07:35] Yes, I am. Dave: [1:07:37] Steve Carell is to Anne Hathaway as who is to who? Tara: [1:07:40] Okay, it's Get Smart. Dave: [1:07:40] Get Smart is the movie. Steve Carell is too. Tara: [1:07:45] Anne Hathaway is too. Oh, no. Dave: [1:07:48] Actors that played those Get Smart characters on television. Tara: [1:07:52] I'm blanking on both their names. No. I know this. Come on. He talks into a shoe. I know. I know. Dave: [1:08:00] I've never seen one moment of Get Smart. Tara: [1:08:02] I've seen it. Sarah: [1:08:03] I don't remember either of their names, though. Tara: [1:08:06] I'm sorry. Dave: [1:08:07] Sorry, Get Smarties. We're looking for Don Adams Don Adams And Barbara Feldman Yeah. Tara: [1:08:14] I never would have got that. Charles: [1:08:15] Felden 99 I disagree with Sarah I think I can only watch it in short bursts But Get Smart is like very stupid funny, The original. I don't know about the movie, but I find the original, like, really funny. Pretty sure the movie was pretty big. Really funny. Tara: [1:08:32] Yeah. Yeah. It was entertaining, though. Dave: [1:08:34] We saw it. Charles, ready for your last question? Tara: [1:08:36] Yeah, you have a chance to tie it up. Charles: [1:08:37] Yes. Does he need three points? Yep. Tara: [1:08:39] He needs three points to tie it. Charles: [1:08:40] Yeah, I figured. Dave: [1:08:41] Well, we're roughly the same age, so I'm feeling good on your chances if we had at all the same tastes as a child. Charles: [1:08:47] Are you ready? Yes. Dave: [1:08:50] Liam Neeson is to Bradley Cooper as who is to who? Charles: [1:08:54] The problem probably isn't a TV show. The problem is me not knowing who's in movies now. Tara: [1:09:02] This wasn't now. It was like 10 or 15 years ago. Charles: [1:09:05] Yeah, well, the people in the movies, just to be clear. Dave: [1:09:08] Are Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper. Charles: [1:09:10] Yes. You need to name the two. No, I operate in geologic time. Got it now. Sarah: [1:09:15] All right. On a cosmic scale. Dave: [1:09:17] Do you know either the Liam Neeson analog, the Bradley Cooper analog, or the property we're talking about? Charles: [1:09:24] Give me the property. Dave: [1:09:26] The property is the A-team. Charles: [1:09:29] Oh, damn it. George Pappard and Richard Hamilton. Isn't it? Wait, what's his name? Oh, was he Murdoch? Because I don't know. Dave: [1:09:40] George Pappard is correct. They played Hannibal. Bradley Cooper played the face, played by Dirk Benedict on the TV show. Charles: [1:09:47] Oh, yeah, I wouldn't remember that name. I knew it was face. Dave: [1:09:50] One point, so that's regulation. Charles: [1:09:54] Who played B.A. in the movie? Dave: [1:09:58] Some football guy. Tara: [1:09:58] Kimbo Slice? No, he wasn't football. Charles: [1:10:01] He was an MMA guy. He was an MMA guy. Tara: [1:10:04] Okay. Our final scores are still super close. Sarah and Charles tied with 11. I'm finally on the board for the season with 13. Sarah: [1:10:15] All right. Good job. Dave: [1:10:17] Pretty close game. Everybody put in a good effort there. Do you want to quickly play the tiebreaker? First person shout out the correct answer. Wins a steel meal for future use. So Charles will be playing for future guests of the show. Charles: [1:10:29] All right. Dave: [1:10:30] All right. So let's just do, if you can name me, either one of the analog actors, I'm going to give you the point. Okay. I'm going to read it very quickly. Are you ready? Tara: [1:10:39] Yep. Dave: [1:10:39] Raoul Julia is to Angelica Houston as... Charles: [1:10:43] Oh, my God. Tara: [1:10:44] John Astin, Carolyn Jones? Dave: [1:10:46] Yes, that is correct. From the Addams Family. Charles: [1:10:48] Astin is nice. Astin is the one I should have remembered. Tara: [1:10:51] Yay! Sarah: [1:10:57] And the Flintstones was not in this game. So we're all winners. Really? Dave: [1:11:02] What if we did the Flintstones, but we did Viva Rock Vegas? Tara: [1:11:06] Oh, the sequel? Yeah. Sarah: [1:11:08] God. Charles: [1:11:09] You didn't even need a tiebreaker. You just kicked sand on us as you walked by our beach towel. No, it's for the future games for later in this season. Okay. Okay. Dave: [1:11:21] And that is it for this episode of Extra Hot Great. We gathered on the dock for Will Ferrell's and Reese Witherspoon's. You're cordially invited before going around the dial with stops at Clean Slate, The Hunting Party, Band of Brothers, and That Time Reacher Exploded. Sarah cleaned up at the cannon with a presentation of the Bears' Forks. We crowned winners and losers of the week, and Tara was the winner of this week's Game Time from Meredith. Next up, it's apple cider vinegar on the club-exclusive Extra Extra Hot Great. Remember, I am David T. Cole, and on behalf of Tara Ariano. Tara: [1:12:06] Micro basil, fuck yeah! Dave: [1:12:07] Sarah D. Bunting Sarah: [1:12:08] What are you, the alligator police? Dave: [1:12:11] And Mr. Charles Starr Charles: [1:12:12] A pleasure doing business with you. Dave: [1:12:17] Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time, right here on Extra Hot Great.