Is Hitmakers Out Of Tune?

Clip: [00:00] So we all have limited time to write a song and at the end of the day we have to play the song that we wrote for each other at the listening party. You know, listening parties can be stressful because there's nothing worse than hitting play on a wax song in front of your peers. One, two, three, four, five, six. Dave: [00:24] This is the Extra Hot Great Podcast, episode 573 for the week of July 28th, 2025. Sarah: [00:25] William. Dave: [00:36] I am Caribbean Recording Studio presented by Monster Energy David T. Cole, and I'm here with Grammy-nominated Uber driver Sarah D. Bunding. Sarah: [00:45] Buckle up. Dave: [00:46] Hook Captain Tar Ariano, and bland backing track Mark Blankenship No. Mark: [00:51] I'm playing in the drugstore. Tara: [00:59] Welcome to Extra Hot Great for another week. We'll bring our guest in in just a moment, but first We try not to barrage you with these reminders, but since it is the end of the month, we would love for you to join us on Patreon to get so much more stuff. Add free Wednesday episodes. Access to our Discord server, first crack at special events like Listener Game Times, and a big second episode that is always brand new every Friday. This week we'll be talking about Chief of War, one of the shows Dave was into last month in our summer TV preview. We'll also be talking about I Think You Should Leave for the Tiny Sketch Cannon and lots more. And we are still teetering on the precipice of unlocking that next Here in our ongoing membership campaign, which would add regular commentaries from Stephanie Early Green and Carrie Race to that Friday episode. It would also unlock a one-off Drunk Dave Collins show, which some members on our Discord have suggested making a Drunk Dave Billy Joel karaoke episode. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but. Dave: [01:57] I hate that suggestion, but in the moment I'll probably agree with it, so I'm not going to say no. Tara: [02:04] There is also a way to get the bonus episodes if you don't want all the other stuff. Dave, tell our listeners about that. Dave: [02:10] Oh, if you just want to subscribe via Apple Podcasts, you can do that. But because of the way it works, it's the audio perks only. Sign up, same price, just the audio stuff, none of the frou-fra outside of the audio stuff. Tara: [02:24] Thank you. It is just five dollars a month to join wherever you do it. We are not part of a big media conglomerate. We are entirely independent, but We need your support to help us keep going. We would love to have you in the club. So hit extrahawkgreat. com/slash club to join, and we hope you do. And now With no further ado, he's a writer, critic, podcaster, occupant of the Blankenship chair. It's Mark Blankenship. Sarah: [02:49] Marketing is a very important part of the market. Tara: [02:50] Mark. Mark: [02:50] I am so delighted to be back, everyone. Hello Only if they want to experience the cleansing power of hot rage. Tara: [02:55] Hello, we're here to talk about hitmakers, in which we are told behind every hit pop song there's a songwriter whose name you probably don't know. They don't say that part, but I do. Some of them presumably spend days, weeks, or months Creating deeply personal work. But Hitmakers isn't about those ones. It's about the people who fart out hits for people like Dua Lipa and Shabuzi. In this candid reality show, we watch 10 songwriters, some of whom have number one hits and Grammy awards under their belts. Go to songwriting camps, get assigned to work in groups with virtual strangers, and have less than a day to come up with a song that conforms to the loose parameters provided by, in the case of the series premiere, the likes of John Legend The show was created by Adam Dovello, whose past credits include Laguna Beach and all its spin-offs, as well as Selling Sunset and a Nashville-based reality show called Music City. The entire six-episode season dropped July twenty fourth on Netflix. Let's do the chun check-in. Mark, should our listeners watch Hitmakers? Dave: [04:01] You didn't see Mark's prayer hands as he was doing that on the Zoom. It really sold it. Tara: [04:07] Sarah. Sarah: [04:08] I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it for reasons, but you still should not watch it. Tara: [04:10] Whoa. Okay. We're going to come back to that, Dave. Dave: [04:17] Yeah, I suspect Sarah's reasons are the processy parts of it, the actual writing of the songs and things like that, and how. That occurs, but it wasn't enough. You can skip this one, but there's little morsels that are interesting Yeah. Tara: [04:30] Okay, it's a no for me. Let's get into it. Starting with our song talking co-hosts, Sarah and Mark. Sarah, first tell us what made you continue watching? Sarah: [04:41] Well, I wanted to get as far into it as they started writing for Shibuzi. And then I just sort of was like carried along by the relationships between and among them, hoping for some Processy morsels, like Dave mentioned, but also like these are fashion icons, whether they say so, like Jay Hart does, unironically in a talking head. or not, just looking at them. Like they're all extremely like shiny and expensive looking. And I am a magpie and I enjoy that. The issue for me is that the processy parts were like enough out of context and like montagey that I couldn't really I just felt like the situation was too contrived for me to really understand the process and how it differs among genres and stuff like that. So, I don't think there's nothing here. They just weren't. Pushing hard enough on what they had, or they couldn't commit, I guess, to like a sound, so to say. Dave: [05:48] If it had a little bit more documentary flavor, it probably would have served the show a lot better. Tara: [05:53] Hmm. Dave: [05:53] Regards to how a song is written by these artists. Tara: [05:57] Yeah, knowing it once I saw it was by the selling sun set guy, I was like, well, that explains a lot. Okay, Mark, tell us about the rage, please, in detail. Mark: [06:05] Okay, I loved and watched well, loved is a strong word, but I watched both seasons of Songland, that songwriting competition show from a few years ago. I watched a Bravo songwriting competition show called Platinum Hit that was hosted by Kara Diaguarti and Jewel. Tara: [06:19] Mm-hmm. Sarah: [06:19] Mhm. Mark: [06:22] And even though Jewel hosted it, I watched the whole thing. Tara: [06:22] Whoa. Sarah: [06:22] Mhm. Yeah, I mean Yeah. Mark: [06:26] I've seen multiple episodes of the Song Exploder television show, so I really thought that I was going to be the dead center target audience for hitmakers, not realizing until it was too late to back out Of well, I was going to watch it anyway, that it was created by the selling sunset guy, which, as you've already alluded to, tells me: oh, this is not a show about artistry. This is a show about aspirational wealth and fame. And the people who are exhibiting the lifestyle that we're all supposed to crave happen to write songs, but they're really here, as Sarah said, to be Fashion plates and what have you. Whereas selling real estate is not really something that speaks to me in a spiritual way, in my sort of soul way. Tara: [07:12] Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mark: [07:14] The creation of music is actually interesting and I think beautiful and exciting. And I am not going to front like I think that. All songwriting is the product of someone toodling on a flute in a field until a butterfly lands on their ear and whispers the name of their next great hit. I realize that it's a song machine. I read the book, The Song Machine. But this piece of drek has the audacity to act like that everyone gets into the songwriting game because they want to eat Branzeno. Because they want to wear those flat-brimmed hats that everyone in Nashville wears to brunch right now. And I just found it to be so deeply nauseating that they suggested that these vacuous, vapid. Fools were the ones that we should be listening to to learn anything about creating music. And another thing that makes me mad is that these people clearly are not. Always vacuous, vapid fools, because at the end of the day, it takes skill to make these hits. And so, why would you take all of these people who clearly have gifts? And turned them into a chattering box of idiots. I hated these people so much. They're smug, oily. Oleaginous self-regard, their willingness to play into the reality show crap of, like, I'm mad at you, let's have a fight, let's go talk at the cabana. I just found it so infuriating because they're making art. Whether or not it's good art is not the point. Tara: [08:43] Right. Mark: [08:43] But if this is all you've got to say, all of you should get kicked out of the industry right now. Dave: [08:49] I love Angry Mark. I don't know if we've seen Mark this Angry on the show before, but I'm enjoying it. Tara: [08:52] This is truly the maddest I think I've ever seen you. Dave: [08:55] Yeah. Sarah: [08:57] I have done a train episode with Mark, so this you ain't say shit, but I was not frustrated with it to that degree, but I absolutely agree. Like, there is that sort of like bravo lebrity. Like, I have a way higher tolerance for that than Mark does, as we have demonstrated in our time together. Tara: [09:13] Yeah. Sarah: [09:17] But it's like. That is not what I want to see about this industry. I want like a sort of camera over the shoulder with each of these artists or teams. To see their process and to hear more about, like, some of these people can really blow, right? And you hear it on the temp tracks, but then it's like, okay, well, how did you get from I am going to be a singer, which is usually where people start, to I'm not quite there to break through with that, but I'm good enough to give the talent, the idea, and the juice to write a song and make a million bucks and get the publishing. Like, what's the process? I want process. Tara: [09:55] Yeah. Sarah: [09:56] And there's not enough. Tara: [09:57] Agree. I will also say I'm almost at the end of Susan Morrison's Lorne Michaels biography, Hear Me Out, and still no more convinced. Than I was when I started, that pulling several all-nighters in a week is the best way to make a TV episode. And Hitmakers didn't convince me that spending six hours in the studio with people you just met is the best way to make a song either. And Mark, it seems like the show convinced you that it was, but were any of the songs that they, to use my own term, farted out, worth listening to in your opinion by the end? Mark: [10:27] Okay, you've touched on one of the other things that filled me with. Fury, and I honest to God had to take a walk after I finished the last episode because I felt truly like a visceral feeling. Tara: [10:38] Okay, so we're sending Mark a fruit basket when this is over. Okay, go on. Sarah: [10:43] Enjoy Mark's last episode, everybody. Mark: [10:46] It was actually kind of great. I would rather hate something than feel middling about it. Tara: [10:49] Sure. Mark: [10:50] And for those of the listeners who might not know, Sarah and I have a long-running pop music podcast called Mark and Sarah Talk About Songs, where She has, in fact, heard me reach this level of rage about Jewel and Train, but it's neither here nor there. The songs were the reason I chose Bland Backing Track as my Nam to podcast today is because every one of the songs that they created sounded like something that is currently playing as you pick out cough syrup And even though they fronted that some of them were country, some of them were RB, and some of them were pop, they all essentially sounded the same And I thought that that one Ur song was competent because these people are too good at their jobs to be incompetent, but none of them had the feeling of energy of a song I would ever want to hear again They were just sort of all one wash of mid-tempo programmed drums. Sarah: [11:42] Mm-hmm. Or just like shaboozy, but like a fourth-generation mimeograph of what he already did that is good. You and I talked about this in an episode. There's something about a giant hit, like Shibuzi's hits, that it seems very replicable, but then the danger is that it will just be replicated. It's like all the like Friends clones on NBC in the 90s. And it's like, I mean, you know, like everyone's dressed and remembered their lines, and yet it's not friends. Mark: [12:07] Yeah, the single guy. Sarah: [12:15] It's harder than it looks, and I would have preferred to just see, like, let's have some real feedback about these, and not just I've had four inches of whiskey. That's fire. Like, is it though? Tara: [12:26] Yeah, God, yeah, exactly. Sarah: [12:28] Stop saying fire. Everyone, stop saying fire, please, just for like a day And even the show is like waiting for a verb. Tara: [12:31] Stop, yes. Learn some other words, like when the one girl with the Steph, I think, or no, Jenna, who was Stephen's partner. Dave: [12:39] Is that the one that looks like the daughter from Gilded Age? Tara: [12:42] Yeah, kind of. But with with corn row, with braids, yeah. Dave: [12:44] Dreads. Tara: [12:47] Where she was like, a sexy song could be vibes. It's like, you're just saying noises. Like, that's not a sentence that actually means anything. Dave: [12:52] Yeah. This is what happens when a person literally turns into a TikTok. Tara: [12:58] Yes. Dave: [12:58] They are becoming TikTok. It's like Veger from Star Trek. Mark: [13:03] I'm so glad that you brought her up because at one point I put her on close captioning. Tara: [13:05] Uh Yeah. Mark: [13:08] Because I couldn't make out what she was saying. And then I realized, oh, it's because for a good 40 seconds she just goes, I like, yeah, it's totally like, mmm, exactly. And I thought, huh? So you craft words for a living, do you? Sarah: [13:25] Waiting, waiting. There's a time lapse. And then Her partner is like, okay, next song, like literally. And then that's like the scandal of the season. And it's like, who was not thinking it? He was trying to help her. Dave: [13:39] Can we add waiting for a verb into the lexicon? Sarah: [13:45] Waiting for a verb to come. Tara: [13:50] Yeah. The fact that the briefing from the artist in the premiere that they're supposed to be writing for comes in the form of an earlier that day like clip Flashback basically of John Legend talking to the artists over Zoom from a car, like tells you everything you need to know about how seriously we need to take any of this. Dave: [14:04] Yeah with I I'm not a crackpot, but they should have technology that's similar to the Tagging of X-Ray from Amazon Prime, but it's an option to actually have names that follow them around on screen, like they're captured to their motion. Tara: [14:12] Even just on a functional like what you need a reality show to do. Like when they introduce all of the songwriters, they chiron them when we're seeing them like From the side, they're walking from the airport to like the shuttle bus or whatever to take them to the resort. And that's the only time we see their names, and then we don't see them again. Like, I don't know who any of these people are. I have no idea. Maybe. I kind of know who Steven is 'cause the members of Nova Wave who he was paired with were like he can't figure his shit out to like hook up his computer to the keyboard. And then the one whose name was Seven because her name is Seven with a Y. Sarah: [14:48] Uh-huh. Mark: [15:00] Yeah. Tara: [15:01] I'd love that. Sarah: [15:01] Yeah, like in The Sims, sure. Dave: [15:03] Yeah, exactly. Tara: [15:04] Yes. Dave: [15:04] Like the Sims, or they make their shirts into like football jerseys where their names across them all the time. Tara: [15:07] Right. Mark: [15:08] Yeah. Sarah: [15:08] Mm-hmm. Tara: [15:09] Yes. Dave: [15:09] I don't care how stupid it looks or how old it makes me seem. Tara: [15:10] Mm-hmm. Dave: [15:13] That's what I want. Tara: [15:13] If half of them are already wearing baseball caps with like words on them, make them all wear them with their names. Dave: [15:16] There you go. Flippity flu. Mark: [15:20] I honestly, why not? And look, I went and did some googling myself on who these people were because after watching two episodes, I still knew two of them had maybe worked on a BTS song. Tara: [15:25] Mhm. Right. Mark: [15:31] which was not enough to make me think I should keep watching the show, by the way. Tara: [15:34] Sure. Mhm. Mark: [15:35] But for instance, Nova Wave were co-writers on Cuff It by Beyonce, which is a great song. Maybe just take a few extra minutes to tell me that. Because when you watch a show like Project Runway, you'd actually get to learn who these people are to an extent. Tara: [15:48] Yeah. Mark: [15:49] And another thing that I found out: oh, oh, oh, this makes me so mad too. I can't believe I had to Google this. So, Seven and Jenna previously worked together on a single that Seven released herself. Why did that not? I mean, I look, I know you're supposed to review the thing in front of you and not write the play you wish you were seeing, but why did you not talk about that? Tara: [16:07] Sure. Yeah, that does seem like an oversight. Sarah: [16:10] Well, yeah, the other thing you want from a reality show is some drama, which, like, They're pretty good at squashing amongst themselves. So once you realize, well, you know, once the loggers are like, yeah, occasionally there's some shit talk, but then they just resolve it, like then just cut that part out. Like, we don't need to sit around the campfire with biggest Ben being mad that someone took a two word phrase. And then you have, like, well, let's have Ferras come and think that he's too good for this like gluten-halving songwriting camp, and then just not show up in the next episode. Like, all right, I guess you are too important to be here, but. Maybe we are also. Clip: [16:55] We got a lot of shows. It's a great time for shows. Dave: [17:00] It's time to go around the dial. Our first stop is Tara. Tara, what have you been watching recently? Tara: [17:05] Well, I watched Happy Gilmore 2 and the original Happy Gilmore from 1996 is hardly a perfect Film. It's not even the perfect film in its category of dip shitty Adam Sandler movies because that honor belongs to Billy Madison. I think it's fair to call Happy Gilmore the second best Adam Sandler moron comedy, but. That said, Happy Gilmore 2, which started streaming on Netflix on Friday, is a stain on its legacy. I realize that's ridiculous to say about Happy Gilmore But what you want from a movie like this is pure idiocy, not for a major character to be killed on screen in the first five minutes, which happens. And then having shown that. For there to be a reminder, approximately every eight minutes of a different original cast member who has died since 1996, there are so many of them. The other problem with this movie Is the main antagonist who's played by Manny Softie wants to launch a new golf league that is more extreme, like with hazards that are on fire and holes where the ground is covered in ice. So, they want us to root against the guy who's trying to make Holy Moly for real. I'm not gonna do that. That's a problem. So, I had to get up early on Friday to watch it because they didn't give me a screener, and then I had to write three posts about it. So, if you are curious about this movie, I must stress. You should not watch. You can find my 360 Happy Gilmore 2 coverage at Cracked. We'll link it in the show notes, and a bunch of other colleagues wrote about it as well. But Happy Gilmore 2, Stinky. Dave: [18:33] Yeah, it didn't look good. Tara: [18:35] Wasn't Mhm. Dave: [18:35] Billy Madison is an American classic. I will fight people on this. I will die on that hill. Tara: [18:40] Yes, in its category. Sarah: [18:41] Mm-hmm. Dave: [18:44] Mumble, mumble. Tara: [18:44] Oh, okay. Sarah: [18:46] Oh AFI calling. Mark: [18:46] Well, maybe if you mean the category of films, then yeah. Dave: [18:53] Mark Blikeship of the Blikeship Chair. What have you been watching recently? Mark: [18:57] I want to make clear that I can still get down with a Fairly trashy reality show concept. And so that's why I was decided to bring up Million Dollar Secret, a competitive reality show that is currently streaming on Netflix that is a combination of the mole and the traders. It takes place in a very fancy mansion, and there are eight contestants. And one of them has, oh, I'm sorry, there's like 12 contestants. It doesn't matter. One of the contestants is given a million dollars at the start of the first episode. And then throughout the season, the contestants have to figure out who has the million dollars. And whoever ends up in possession of the million dollars at the very end wins it. So there are all of these things where at the end of each episode they have to guess who has the million dollars. And Yeah, exactly. Dave: [19:41] That sweater looks pretty lumpy. Mark: [19:45] Oh, what's that? You're sitting on a phone book or a stack of Benjamin Franklin's? Dave: [19:50] That's a tall hat, mister. Mark: [19:52] But one of the things, there are a couple of things that make this show really pleasurable. One is that the gameplay is interesting, not least because when they do the mini challenges where contestants try to gain advantages, the person who has the million dollars is given a task where they have to do something ludicrous without getting detected. And if they can do that, they win an advantage. Sarah: [20:11] It's the Radon Chong challenge, but like in 3D. Mark: [20:14] But it's exactly. Oh, taking it back. Oh, so for instance, if you're one of the contestants at one point has to get three other contestants to scream. And just like doesn't explain why. And that is very funny to me and makes the gameplay more interesting because I want to see how they pull it off. And then, of course, you can think about how you would get them to say the names of characters from Back to the Future movies and things like that. Then the production also decided that they needed to have several scenes take place around a pool, even though it seems that the show is being shot in the spring in Scandinavia, which would suggest it's pretty chilly. But they still have all of these slow-mo shots of all of these men without their shirts on, and it's so unnecessary that it sort of becomes sublime They just really go for it with the glistening nips and everything. And I was down for it. I mean, a little break from the gameplay to enjoy these washboard abs, sure. So. I was delighted to watch this stupid yet captivating competition show. Tara: [21:17] And it is on Netflix. Mark: [21:19] It is on Netflix. It's eight episodes. You can enjoy it to your heart's content with a subscription. Tara: [21:23] It's hosted by Peter Sarafinowitz, Dave. Dave: [21:25] Oh, very nice. Mark: [21:27] And he is not even a poor man's Alan Cumming. He's just good in his own right. Dave: [21:31] Mm-hmm. Mark: [21:32] Now, for those of you who might be wondering where you can find me, other than with Sarah on Mark and Sarah Talk About Songs, coming back this fall with an exciting, very special episode You can also look for me at The Lost Songs Project, and that is a newsletter that I write in which I write about top 10 hits that now have fewer than 10 million streams. And in unearthing these forgotten pop songs, I write about why they're still good, why they were popular at the time. I throw some history in there, I throw some analysis in there. Definitely throws some boogieing in there, both metaphorically and literally. So lostsongs. substack. com, or you can just Google Mark Blankenship Lost Songs Project, and you'll find me there. Join me. Tara: [22:14] Thank you so much. Dave: [22:16] Sarah, what do you got? Sarah: [22:18] Keeping it non-fic, the challenge forty-one vets and new threats. I kind of slid off the surface of the previous seasons because a consistent issue with the challenge, which is one that, to the show's credit, it does try to solve by constantly mixing up How teams are constructed and how gameplay is likely to affect social game strategery. But there's always the question at the top of a given challenge season of how suspenseful it's going to be for the Duration, or whether the usual Rube Goldbergian alliance craft is going to make the final slash the champion a Predictable slog that isn't worth actually watching the episodes. This season does seem like the producers have installed as much insurance as they can. against a routine, massive bananas alliance picks off weaklings, then turns on itself, and the smooth brains from Love Island simply can't believe he lied to their faces on this their first day on earth. Outcome All forty prospective challengers had to climb a literal mountain, and then contestants got to pick their partners based on the finish order, but newbies would have to pick a veteran, women would have to pick men, etc. , and so on Is that going to stop the usual bananas, nani, anissa, floating plastic island in the Pacific from forming? Maybe not, but this is the solid thing about the show. If you have watched it for long enough, you can see that storm of boring coming from way out to sea and just fail on the season and then duck back in on the reunion. If anything happens that becomes show, like Enemies cannon, they will flash back to it forever in future seasons, and you won't really miss anything. If anyone else is watching this season, hopefully, I will see you on the Discord, but They do have some different shows in the mix casting-wise this time. Married at First Sight, Tara. Cheer of all things. That's actually kind of brilliant And I can't look away from my dude CT, whose middle age is taking the somewhat apprehension-inducing shape of if Jason Momoa and Ted Kennedy had a kid. Like. Is he paid by the producers to not do a single thing to prepare for these seasons physically? Do they come to his house with a trash bag of linguine and a Bitcoin and just tell him, do not get your steps in. It's a violation of your contract. It's really the only explanation. I'm a little worried for him, frankly. Tara: [24:49] Before you go on to your plug, I just want to mention and I'm not going to dox them, but Sarah and I got a text this weekend from a past guest of this podcast who was at an event where someone they knew was in line to get a selfie with Johnny Bananas and they know who they are and they should be grateful we are not revealing their identity. Sarah: [25:04] Mhm. Yeah, yeah. I mean, spoiler, this season does not kill Johnny Bananas either. He is alive and well and DJing in Connecticut. Tara: [25:18] Well, I wasn't going to say that part. You really did. Got closer. Sarah: [25:23] Well, it's a I mean, I would say it's a big state, but Yes, speaking of things that often don't have explanations, true crime. Mark: [25:26] But you meant DJing in Connecticut in the metaphorical sense. Tara: [25:28] Yes, exactly, exactly. Sarah: [25:35] Come on over to bestevidence. fyi, where Eve Beatty and our freelancers and I explain which true crime is worth your time. I've got that lineup of billionaire boys club IP that I mentioned last week on the show, and our esteemed colleague Susan Howard has begun her 1999 Edgar Awards flashback series for the summer Come on through. Lots to talk about. Link in the show notes. Dave: [26:03] Gilded Age, Gilded Age, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. This is going to be a spoiler discussion, and it's kind of an important spoiler, so I'm just going to spoilers tag. People haven't watched yet? Spoilers aho fun ahoy. All right, at the end of the last episode of Gilded Age, Oscar, the gay son of the house of moving money. Tara: [26:27] Mm-hmm. Dave: [26:27] Is thanking his former boyfriend. Yes. Tara: [26:31] I think former, yeah. Dave: [26:32] Yeah. And now, sort of a guy that's helping him out meet people in the money markets and get his fortune back after losing it, actually, losing his family's fortune. And he says, Well, now that this first trial balloon that we put up worked, I'm now gonna introduce you to the real players who got the real money. And Oscar's like Yay! And he says, Well, we'll see you next time. And the guy walks out the street and gets absolutely plastered by a horse cart. Tara: [26:56] It was so great. Dave: [26:57] It is that scene where somebody, it's the scene from Mean Girls where Western nuts gets slammed by the bus. Tara: [27:02] Mhm. Yep. Mark: [27:03] Yes, Regina George. Dave: [27:04] Yeah, it's that exact scene, except it's a super CGI-looking horse cart coming barreling through, slapping him to the sidewalk like a wet bag of cement. Tara: [27:05] Yes. Mhm. Yeah. Dave: [27:14] Fantastic. We were at our watch party that we threw every weekend, and it was absolute chaos. Tara: [27:18] There were eight of us in the room. Dave: [27:21] And Tara immediately reached for the remote to watch it a second time right away. Tara: [27:24] It's true. Yes. And by the way, the the way they made him look like flying, it was like the uh the Dean in the college episode of The Simpsons when um he gets hit by a car 'cause Homer forgets he was the plan was for for him to Save him at the last second. Dave: [27:39] So I really enjoyed it, but like Shark Who gets a taste for blood, I wanted more. So this is what I posted on Blue Sky soon after, and I'm going to stand by it. So I'm just going to read it because it captures everything I want from this show. Moving forward. Every time Oscar catches a break, the person who is helping him should also get hit by a horse cart. I don't care if they're on the street, in a train station, or swimming in the ocean, the horse cart will get them. Each time a new helper character enters Oscar's orbit, the time it takes for the horse cart to find them is halved. Until we get to the point where two seconds after they shake on a deal, the horse cart kills them, leaving Oscar holding their hand stump. This is the way forward, Gilded Age. Mark: [28:24] Well, you've also just created the template for the next prequel to Final Destination. Dave: [28:28] Yes, thank you. As finally these two great franchises merge. Tara: [28:32] Mm-hmm. Dave: [28:40] Now the spoilers for the Gilded Age have come to an end All right, so here's what's coming up on the Extra Hot Great Cinematic Universe in the week ahead this Friday on Extra Extra Hot Great. We are talking about Chief Award previously mentioned. Remember, go to extrahotgreat. com/slash club to join. And then come back here next week on EHG Prime. We welcome back. Pam Ribbon to talk about the King of the Hill Revival. It is time for the extra hot great cannon. We're throwing it to a listener this week. Here we go. Clip: [29:23] Hello, Extra Hot Great, Dixon Chance, aka David L. S Dickerson here, and I would like to pitch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 7, once more with Feeling for the Extra Hot Great Canon. There's a lot to say about this, but I will leave it to you all to discuss the costume design, the choreography, the story, the plot reveals, the acting, and all the 30 or 40 little side jokes from the they got the mustard out to Tara's quick jazz hands to Buffy Needs Backup. I'm just going to briefly explain why it's important and then find what I specifically find amazing about it. First, the short pitch is that Once More With Feeling was, and remains, the only musical episode of a one-hour non-musical TV show that wasn't a dream sequence or a one-off, but actually forwarded the plot with multiple bombshells that to this day leave reaction video watchers with jaws dropped and mouths covered from beginning to end. It isn't just a nice fun musical episod It was meant to change what musical episodes can do, and in the process it became the platonic ideal of musical episodes, and it hasn't really come close to being equaled in the almost 25 years since it aired. But what I came here to talk about is the songwriting, and especially the lyrics. There are three main ways to half-ass a musical, and the first thing I look for, warily, is thin lyrics. A bad musical will have songs like Hakuna Matada, I Just Can't Wait to Be King, or Can You Feel the Love Tonight Songs that only have one single idea, say it in the title, and then have nowhere to go, so that all the verses, dramaturgically speaking, are just a waste of everyone's time. The second thing I look for is interesting music and interesting rhyme patterns. This is where Xena's Bitter Sweet and Scrubs' My Musical episodes fall sh All of Bittersweet's songs are simple AABBCC rhymes that proceed in a straight musical line and hesitate to even risk syncopation. And although the songs in My Musical are genuinely smart, there were Avenue Q writers on staff, in the end they all sound very similar. It's fine, but that's not how you make a legend. The third way to cheap out is to make generic songs. Sometimes you just have everyone doing covers. This is how the Flash musical episode did it. It's basically a juke. Blackbox musical designed to be familiar rather than innovative, but you can also write original songs and make them generic and they become useless for storytelling. If you can yank it out of context and lose nothing, you wind up with Circle of Life, a song whose English lyrics contain no lions, no kings, no jungle, no specifics of any sort, just that the sun exists and the circle of life is a thing. Listening to it is like starving. Amazingly, Grey's Anatomy's Song Beneath the Song manages to do both. It's a bunch of cover songs that are all generic and unmemorable. It is the lion king of musical TV episodes. Now, let's just look at a few lines from the very first song of Once More With Feeling called Going Through the Motions. Every single night, the same arrangement. I go out and fight the fight. Still, I always feel the strange estrangement. Here is real, nothing here is right. I've been making shows of trading. We start off with a three-syllable rhyme: arrangement, estrangement, and then we get internal rhyme, strange, estrangement, and then a varying line. Nothing here is real, nothing here is right. And note that real rhymes with feel from the earlier line. So instead of Xena's A, A, B, B standard pop rhymes, this rhyme goes A, B, C, A, C, B over staggered length lines. We are half a verse into this musical, and the song is already way more complicated than most songs in TV shows before or since. Then in the second verse, we get. I was always brave and kind of righteous. Now I find I'm wavering. Crawl out of your grave. She ain't got that swing. Thanks for noticing. She does pretty well with a tougher challenge. We now have Righteous rhymed cleverly with fight just. And there's a bonus shortline for a triple thing, swing, noticing rhyme. But also, look at that lyric. Crawl out of your grave, you find this fight just doesn't mean a thing. This is a song that only Buffy could sing, referencing her specific history. That takes care to craft. And finally in the bridge, she sings, Will I stay this way forever, sleepwalk through my life's endeavor? Still using interesting rhymes, still making side jok But this is a song about depression, and I always marvel at how depression is conveyed so accurately and devastatingly in just five words. Sleepwalk through my life's endeavor. This isn't some empty circle of life bullshit. This is a song with something to say whose lyrics you ought to pay attention to. Will I stay this way forever? Sleepwalk through my life's endeavor. How can I repay? Whatever I don't wanna be. Going through the motions, losing all my drive. I can't even see if this. Is really me, and I just wanna be here. All of which goes to say that 25 years on, alone among every musical TV episode ever made, Once More With Feeling nails everything you want from an actual musical All of the virtues of this first song continue throughout the show. Lots of fun rhymes, interesting line construction. The songs are all written in the voice of the character who's singing. Anya blurts out insensitive things. Xander sings himself out of his own opinions. Spike is an angry punk. And what's extra nice is that almost all the songs actually deepen as they go and have interesting things to say. Beyond that, musically speaking, although the songs are different, many are actually written to be sung together. Tara and Giles in Wish I Could Stay, Buffy and Spike at the end. It is beyond astounding to me to think that this is the first musical Joss Wheaton ever wrot Now I know this is already long, but hovering over all of this is the shadow of Joss Whedon, who had the idea, insisted on getting made, wrote the music and the lyrics, directed the episode, and understandably gets a lot of the credit for this whole thing. And we all hate Joss Whedon now because he was despicable while pretending for years to be one of the good guys. That treason still stings. I'm not defending Mr. Whedon, who is rotting in justifile obscurity nowadays. But Once More with Feeling is an all-time high point in TV creativity and was the work of dozens of dozens of incredibly talented and ridiculously hard-working people who deserve to have their part in this recogniz Joss is an asshole, but I don't think he's a big enough asshole to kill something this amazing. He's just another bitter Hollywood disappointment. I mean, look. Maybe his award has an asterisk. Maybe you give his display card a black border in the hall. But Pete Rose deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, goddammit. Hey, I did a sports. In an era where we now see more time lavished on shorter seasons, I have hoped that we will get a musical episode that's better than Once War with Feeling someday. That would be nice. Once War Without Misogyny Until that day, we have this, and I think it's safe to say that it's possibly overdue for admission into the canon Cause she is drawn to the fire Some people she will never learn And she will walk through the fire Will this do a thing to change her? Tara: [36:15] Thank you, DixonChance slash David Ellis Dickerson, for this presentation. Mark, please start us off. Mark: [36:23] Well, first, Dix and Chance, we should hang out because I have spent my career as a dramaturg, and you clearly, if you are not working as a dramaturg, have a dramaturg's heart and soul. And I see you, my friend I see you. I also could not agree more with this assessment. When I was in graduate school, getting my master's degree in dramaturgy, because I'm really sexy and cool. The other students at the school and I mounted an unauthorized stage version of Once More with Feeling in the student-run cabaret theater. And it was really, really fun. One of the things that we discovered as we were working on it is that the show is Complex. You really have to think about what you're doing when you put this thing on stage. It isn't just get up there and goof around. There's actual character stuff to play, which was so nicely articulated in that recap of what's going on in the show. Another thing that I really loved about this episode upon re-watching it was the a way that the book Meaning in this case the spoken sections of the show flowed so nicely into the music, that's also very difficult to pull off. The songs Emerge from the thinking of the spoken text in a way that is very satisfying. And the songs absolutely fulfill that Crucial thing in a musical in that they express the feelings that people don't know how to speak otherwise. And it's really ingenious that the demon who comes to town Curses everyone with musicals. Like, you can't, you don't want to say this up out loud. I'm going to force you to sing it. But that's what musicals always do. They put to song what we don't want to say. And it's just such a clever idea, and it works so well. And I also pulled a clip of the 11 o'clock number in the show, Walk Through the Fire, because this is to me such a thrilling musical theater moment. Just in general, and it works so well on this show. But let's hear the clip, and I'll talk a little bit about why. Clip: [38:41] Am I leaving Done in danger? Is my slayer too far gone to care? What if Buffy can't defeat it? Beady eyes is rough. Right where needed, or we could just sit around and glare. We'll see it through, it's what we're always here to do. So we will walk through the fire. Mark: [39:06] Now that clip is a little bit longer because I wanted to make sure that we got to hear That this is a song that manages to have multiple perspectives that feel distinct, but that still cohere into a really good chorus. That is so satisfying, and it's exactly what you want at the end of a musical where all of the plot threads get woven together, and you feel like all of the stories have become one story. And all of the people in the Scooby Gang are now gathering with Buffy to fight this thing. And, you know, they've referenced it before throughout the show, throughout the episode, We Can Do Things Together, et cetera, et cetera. But this is the moment where dramaturgically it happens. And it does so in a power ballot. Oh, God. It's just everything I want. So that's what I think. Dave: [39:51] I have a question for you, Mark, before we move on. Were you on stage for this, or were you the director? And if you're on stage, who did you play? Mark: [39:57] I was the dramaturg, and I also wrote a campy prologue performed by two demons to orient people who maybe did not know anything about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Tara: [40:09] Amazing. Sarah: [40:10] I kept thinking as I was rewatching this, I hadn't watched it in a while, but the soundtrack has been on my iTunes and in my phone and has never left. And I was thinking about like all the discussions that we had at the time on Television Without Pity about it and how I really like Based on people's anticipation of it, I was like, this is going to be the most obnoxious time to run a television site. In history, and then it really did bring all its receipts. And I knew every single word and still do The Whedon asterisk assholery, like that note is taken and it is something that you know you do have to sort of sit with. But the Whedon proxy character in the show, Xander, is actually at Fault for everything that happens with Sweet showing up. So maybe that can give us permission to induct it into the hall, despite His sins. But I was also thinking about beyond the beautiful, dense, complex construction. That stays true to character and advances plot. I was also thinking about our esteemed colleague Adam Grossworth of The Equalizer Challenge. And when we were masochistically discussing the program Cop Rock, and that Adam said a variation on what Mark just said, which was basically that In order for a musical to succeed on any level, you have to believe as the audience that there is no choice but to sing and dance your feelings. And if it Feels too contrived, or like this information could have been communicated in just normal exposition in a police procedural. Then you're screwed. Coprock had a bunch of problems. It was just all bad. But I was really thinking in this Case, like, you really are convinced from the jump, like, from the credits, which are in that sort of old, like, studio system style. And that the overture, like you don't know it yet if you've never seen it before, but you have what overtures do in musical theater, which is like, you know, here's a teaser of some melodies that you will be hearing This episode of T V colors all the way to the edges of the paper. They got the mustard out, the overlapping in duets, like Xander's duet, like that was on my wedding. Playlist because it was just so like, you know, this is my verse, hello. Tara: [42:42] It's a great sound. Sarah: [42:47] Like, just the delivery of that is so Perfect. And everything from the credits and the sort of like the cameos that the cast appear in and the font that they use to the very end. And the production card, I really couldn't think of a single song I wanted to clip, so I went with this very teeny moment from the very end that shows that no detail was left unfinished. I literally am not capable of seeing that little monster and not singing Gerarg. It really is just such an impressive achievement. And as Dixon noted, it's the accomplishment of many, many, many people, and that it is still Enjoyable and singable, and that certain songs have been stuck in my head. That I found new interesting things, like the way that Tara and Willow's relationship is sort of like Branching off down this to this darker place, but it's still sort of unresolved as both a chord and a story so far at the end of this. It's some really nice performances from the cast that you might not have been expecting. It's just really, it's really wonderful. And what a pleasure to get to revisit it when I hadn't sort of purposefully done that for For many years. So thank you so much for that. Tara: [44:26] David, the submitter, did not mention it, but I also want to give a shout out to the choreography, which is by Adam Shankman Legend. Director and choreographer and producer. You've if you've seen a step up movie, you've seen his work before. It's clear while you're watching it On a meta level, that thought was put into like who could do what in terms of the idea. Sarah: [44:46] Mm-hmm, yes. Tara: [44:49] It's interesting to see like who gets more dancing, who gets more singing, because especially in the ballet with Sweet and Dawn. It's clear Michelle Trachtenberg has like more dance training than she does, you know, vocal strength, and so she's, you know, sort of sidelined. Sarah: [44:59] Oh, we miss her. Tara: [45:04] Allison Hannigan clearly Cannot sing, and everyone knows it. And it's like you barely hear her for the whole episode. Like, so that's there's something sweet about that, too. That it's So vulnerable that all of these actors are also doing this thing, and it adds to the whole, you know, the overarching story of like, we don't want to be doing this, we are being made to. And stuff is coming out of us that we're trying to hide, which also, you know, it just makes it makes it more fun. Dave: [45:31] Wait, were they were they all singing? Tara: [45:33] Yeah. Dave: [45:34] Tara, too? Tara: [45:35] Mm-hmm. Dave: [45:35] I thought Tara's oh, really? Tara: [45:36] No, that's really her. Dave: [45:37] Wow, good pipes. Tara: [45:37] Well, and so good segue because one of the great joys of the episode is that I think she can really sing, and Anthony has Stuart Head, of course, can sing. And so, one of my favorite moments is the two of them singing together. So, play my second clip, please. Clip: [45:52] You made me believe in me I don't wanna go And it'll grieve me cause I love I love you so we both know. Wish I could say. I just wish I could stay wish I could stay. Wish I could say Wish I could Staying in the middle of the middle of the middle of the morning. Tara: [46:54] It's so lovely. So nice to hear them singing together. Mark: [46:56] It really is. Tara: [46:58] Sort of in that moment you can imagine like you know So many karaoke parties they probably had. But also, to David's point, the episode does advance the plot in and people shit on season six. And I think it's unfair. There's good stuff in this season. And one of those is not just like all the music in this episode, but like the moment where Buffy tells everyone I was in heaven because the horror on everyone's face, it really lands like in a way that I didn't remember how strong it was To the lyrical cleverness, David already covered that well. I couldn't clip all of I'll Never Tell the song that Sarah mentioned, the Xander Anya duet, because Same. Sarah: [47:37] No need, I could sing both parts. Tara: [47:40] I love it so much. But like rhyming Buffy with rough, he, when things get rough, he just hides behind his Buffy's. You know, one of those great, cute, sort of screwball-y rhymes Of a piece with their whole number. Tonya is then paranoid for the whole rest of the episode that it's not a pop hit, it's just more of a book number, which is hilarious and very her. But in terms of the lyrics, I would just like to hear my second clip. This is from Under Your Spell. Clip: [48:10] The moon to the time. I can feel you inside. I'm under your spell, surging like the sea. Holding you so helplessly, I break with every swell. Lost in ecstasy. Spread beneath my willow tree. Make me complete. You make me come please. You make me come please. You make me come. I bet they're not even working. Tara: [48:58] Someone was real proud they got all that past the WB censor because that is pure filth, not sis. Sarah: [49:03] Yeah. Oh, my God. Tara: [49:06] Not says Monica the Musical's sea-soaked sunken treasure in a sexy duet. Have I heard this kind of rauchiness? I'm just kidding. It's a lovely song, but it is very dirty. So, congratulations for sneaking that in there as well. Dave. Dave: [49:24] All right, Mark. I'm very sorry from what I'm about to say. I don't like musicals, and I like this. So that is a triumph unto itself. Mark: [49:34] Yes. Dave: [49:34] So here's one of my problems. What is the name of the song towards the end, if there is a name for it, towards the end of musicals where everybody sings a little bit of their song and they start singing over each other and then they all sort of start to collect under one lyric roof? Is there a name for that? Mark: [49:49] Well, it depends on where it is in the show. Typically, you're going to find that in what's called the eleven o'clock number Meaning the song that when musicals used to be over three hours long, at eleven o'clock you're hearing that rousing song. Dave: [49:54] Okay. Sarah: [50:01] Mm-hmm. Yeah. All the reprises and then Yeah. Dave: [50:04] So, for me, that song, that type of song. Scrambles my brain, and I hate it. I hate it when there's like six people singing over each other, or three, or whatever. But then when it all syncs up, I'm like, oh, yeah, thank you, God. So they're sort of like, it's going to feel better when we stop punching you some of the time for a musical with me. But this one, it works. I mean, part of it is that it's in a universe that I know and I understand the characters coming in, and it's all familiar, and it gives me. You know, the warming feelies and all that. But I hadn't watched this in at least 20 years, probably. Didn't remember anything about it. I didn't remember the bunnies thing where she starts rocking out about the bunny being, you know, a force of evil and everything. And it all hit again. Like it sells you right away at the end of Buffy's first song in the graveyard, where She pops through the 1990s CGI vamp dust to sing alive at the very end of the song. Like, that's a great moment right away, and they just build and build on that. Tara: [51:04] Yes, also clever that usually that's the I Want song, and in this case, it's it's it's I don't want, I don't want to live this life, you know. Dave: [51:10] Mm yeah, yeah. Mark: [51:11] Yeah, well said. Dave: [51:13] Uh And you know, there's a couple other little moments too that I enjoyed in the was it is it the book is when people are just talking about it and not singing. Yeah. So, in the book part of it, Dawn is just come back from school and she's complaining about stuff, but nobody's really paying attention to her. She starts saying stuff like, I gave birth to a pterodactyl, and then somebody just quips, oh my God, did it sing? Tara: [51:34] It's Anya, and I don't I think she's being quite serious. Dave: [51:37] Oh, okay. Tara: [51:38] Love that line too. Dave: [51:39] Thank you. Tara: [51:39] That was great. Dave: [51:40] Correction. It was a really strong episode, and it is still a singular moment in TV history. Like, nobody's come close to replicating it. Tara: [51:45] Yeah. Dave: [51:47] Everybody tries. Tara: [51:48] Yep. Dave: [51:49] Star Trek tried a couple of years ago, a year and a half ago, and didn't really hit that well. Tara: [51:50] Mm-hmm. Dave: [51:53] This is still the high watermark for that. And it's too bad it came from a giant asshole. But here we are separating the maker from the product, I think For this boat. At least I am, anyways. Oh, one thing. Totally agree with everything Dave said that I could understand. Like when it got into the song structure stuff, that's why I was so glad Mark was here. But Citing the reaction of reaction video makers really doesn't hold any water because they could watch a duck quack and be like, ah, that's the stick. Tara: [52:20] That duck is fire. Dave: [52:21] No! Duck is fire! Sarah: [52:23] Oh no. Tara: [52:24] That duck is vibes. Dave: [52:25] But that was a really good presentation, and I loved how it just concentrated on one little part and built up from that. So fantastic, fantastic pitch as well. Tara: [52:32] Mm-hmm. Dave: [52:33] All right, let's put this to the official vote. Tara: [52:33] Yes. Dave: [52:35] Mark Blankenship, what's see you? Mark: [52:37] I say yes Wow. Dave: [52:39] Server debunding. Sarah: [52:40] What do bunnies need such good eyesight for, anyway? Yes, the weedinosity notwithstanding, absolutely yes from me, Cannonworthy. Tara: [52:49] I'll never tell, just kidding, it's a yes for me as well. Dave: [52:51] And me, so Buffet Season 6, Episode 7. Once more with Fielding, you are hereby inducted into the extra hot great cannon asterisk. Clip: [53:11] Americans love a winner. Yeah and will not tolerate a loser. Nope. Dave: [53:17] It's time to discover who is our winner and loser of the week. Sarah has this week's winner. Sarah: [53:23] I do. It's Ella Beatty, who is the daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Benning. That's not why. She's a winner, although that doesn't hurt. But she will be starring as Lizzie Borden in the next season of Monster. They announced pretty recently that that would be the next topic. And I don't think I'm familiar with her work, but she comes from good. stock and I like that franchise. Hope it turns out hope it turns out well. She was kind of a whack job, Tara. Tara: [53:53] Loser of the week is Resident Alien. It has been canceled after four seasons on Syfy and USA Across the two networks, it was sci-fi first for three seasons has been on USA this year. Season is not even over yet, and they're canceling it. So Like they really mean it, I guess. This was a show that I would say we enjoyed for the first two seasons a lot. It's based on a graphic novel, and then in season three, I felt like it's Started to get a little up its ass in the X-Files-y way, and we watched the season four premiere, and I was like, I think I'm done. Dave: [54:21] Mhm. Tara: [54:25] It was like too, it got, I would say, tangled in the lore. Dave: [54:25] Yeah. Yes. Tara: [54:28] lost track of what made the show charming, which is an alien trying to act like a doctor in a small town. Dave: [54:34] Yep, it's a fish out of water show, and it just got overwhelmed under the weight of everything it was trying to do with the story that nobody cared about. Tara: [54:41] Yes. No, by the time you get to like gray aliens are stealing people's babies, and then you're on a ship looking at all these babies that have been stolen. It's like, this is dark. Like, this isn't what I'm here for. Time was probably right for that. Dave: [54:54] Yep. Well, speaking about time being ripe for that, do you know what time it is? Tara: [54:58] Is it not a regulation gate time? Dave: [54:59] It is. Tara: [55:12] We are between seasons, so we're doing a non-regulation game time, and we're in a musical mode for this episode. We haven't had a Tube Tune since November, so it's going to be Tube Tunes 16. Dave: [55:24] Ah, sweet sixteen. Tara: [55:25] Sweet sixteen. Dave is going to play a clip of her original song from TV. If you get it from the clip alone, you get three points. If you need a hint, I will give you a cast member from the show, not necessarily in the clip. Then it's worth two. If you need another hint, I'll give you another star. Also, may not be in the clip. Then it's worth one. No free guesses. And no shows in the game more than once. Sarah: [55:47] Oh, okay. Tara: [55:50] We're going to skip steel meals and all that other stuff. Winner gets a present from me related to one of their correct answers. Sarah: [55:54] Jazz Yes, yes. Tara: [55:58] Let us throw it to Picky to see who's going first. Clip: [56:04] We will start with Sarah. Tara: [56:05] We're going to go Sarah, Mark, Dave, are you ready to play Tube Tunes sixteen? Dave: [56:12] Yes. Yes. Thank you. Tara: [56:19] First clip, number one, is That's that vulnerability I was talking about. Dave: [56:20] I thought people were going to join in on that one, but apparently not. Spotlight on the stage, singing solo. Everybody's leaving. Tara: [56:29] All right, clip one is for Sarah. Clip: [56:32] I love you, Mallory. I love you. And you love me and believe that you'll propose to me Marry me, marry me, Mallory. Sarah: [56:58] Family Ties Whee Wh Jeez. Tara: [57:00] Good for three points. Next clip is for Mark. Clip: [57:05] I wish I could say the right words to lead you Through this land, wish I could play the father and take you by the hand. Dave: [57:10] I was jokingly going to play a clip from what we just played to freak somebody out, but. Tara: [57:15] Everyone is gonna get a nice softball to start the game off. Clip: [57:25] Wish I could see you. Sarah: [57:26] Don't overthink it. Clip: [57:27] Stay, but now I understand. I am standing in the way No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, but yeah Stop the world, we broke up I'll get my records, then I'll get off Love next out and crack in my head She broke up and left me for dead A real deer. Mark: [57:39] Okay, I'm gonna need an extra ten minutes to think about it, and then I'll say Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Tara: [57:52] Clip number three is for Dave. Dave: [58:14] I don't remember that song, but it's got to be Bruce McCullough, so I'm going to say kids and all. Tara: [58:16] Really? It is Kids in the Hall. Dave: [58:21] Is that one of the Armada songs? Tara: [58:22] But you're not Laura. No, he's the the kid with the long hair. All right, back to Sarah for clip number four. Clip: [58:31] Uh, who's the plug? Yo, I'm the plug, yeah. Rearrange your guts, yeah, I'm a stomach bug. Spitting bars on yellow bars, foreign models, foreign cars. Walk the yard, take the charge, block is hot, charizard. Yeah, I'm a true shooter like I'm John Wilkes booth. Yeah, better grab my hose. I set fire on the roof Cause I'm back on the cook. Sarah: [58:52] Gosh. I need a hint. Tara: [58:54] Your first star of the show is Brenda Song. Sarah: [58:58] Hmm. That does not help me. Can I have another hint, please? Tara: [59:01] Your next star of the show is Kate Hudson. Sarah: [59:05] Oh god, what was the name of that goddamn thing? Shit! I liked that show two, and it was not winning time. Clip: [59:14] Cause I'm back Find that guy, find that guy, and get that ring, and get that ring. Sarah: [59:15] It was something like winning time, but it was not that. So you gotta buzz me Oh, yeah. Tara: [59:19] What was it, Dave? Dave: [59:20] Running point Running point Jerry Running Point Well, speaking about Descracios making good product, that sounds like Robert Webb from Peep Show. Tara: [59:21] Yes. Running point to mark for clip number five. Clip: [59:35] Find that guy, and get that ring. Let the other ladies falter as they're racing for the altar. To find that guy and catch that ring, ring, ring. Here come the groom, here come the bride. Let's all meet him on the other side. Here come the groom, here come the bride. Let It's all meeting on the other side, man. I want to take a rock. Mark: [59:58] I have a guess, but I'm gonna be safe and ask for a hint. Tara: [1:00:01] Okay, your first cast member is Cecily Strong. Mark: [1:00:06] Okay, now I need another hint. Tara: [1:00:07] Your second cast member is Keegan Michael Key. Mark: [1:00:12] Shmigadoon Okay. Tara: [1:00:13] It's Shmegado to Dave for clip number six. Clip: [1:00:19] This is outrageous, this is contagious. This is outrageous, this is contagious. Ooh, ooh, feel it! Tara: [1:00:44] It sure is for three points. Back to Sarah for clip number seven. Clip: [1:00:51] Come on and supersize it, hold on, trickle down on my knees. If you don't want all my love, next window, please, next window, please. Supersize it. Sarah: [1:01:07] Ah, I need a hint. Tara: [1:01:09] Your first cast member is Molly Shannon. Sarah: [1:01:14] That actually does not narrow it down because it's between two things. So I guess I'm just gonna hope that it's the other two. There was the other one. Tara: [1:01:25] That's Saturday Night Live. It's from the Josh Jackson episode we watched that was in sync performing. Sarah: [1:01:27] Fuck shit, right? Dave: [1:01:32] It's a heartbreaker. Sarah: [1:01:32] Damn it. Yeah. Tara: [1:01:34] All right, Mark gets clip number eight. Clip: [1:01:37] I wish my love and loyalty to all the hive and every bee. Our model is and everyone Buzz, bus, boys, buddies, bus, bus, bus. Mark: [1:01:54] Wow, I need a hint. Tara: [1:01:56] Your first cast member is Candice Cameron Beret. Mark: [1:02:00] Full house? Tara: [1:02:02] It is full house. Mark: [1:02:03] Okay. Tara: [1:02:03] I thought that might have been a show that you were the right age for. Mark: [1:02:06] I was, but uh, I I must say that that song did not stitch itself into my heart. Dave: [1:02:11] What I know I've heard it, but I have no way I'm going to be able to place it. Tara: [1:02:13] All right, let's play clip number nine for Dave, and then we'll get a score break. Clip: [1:02:17] Don't say this, don't say that. I'm offended, I'm offended. Please don't say that my dress looks nice. I'm triggered, I'm triggered. Don't smile at me. It makes me feel unsafe. I'm a victim. I'm a victim. Could I make a makeup? Dave: [1:02:45] So I will take that first delicious hint. Tara: [1:02:47] Well, unfortunately, I don't think this is going to help you that much, but I have to tell you, first cast member is Harriet Dyer, D-I-E-R. Dave: [1:02:49] Great. Clip: [1:02:51] Cause I'm back on Cut the book, and the moon book I want it a rocky rock Cause I make a cool Don't say this, don't say that. Dave: [1:02:54] Harriet Dyer. Sounds serious. Sarah: [1:02:59] Hardly even knower. Dave: [1:03:01] I don't know who that is, so I will ask for the second hint. Tara: [1:03:06] You probably don't. Dave: [1:03:06] Angrily. Tara: [1:03:07] I know. I was really hoping you would get it from the clip because I knew you weren't going to get it from the stars. Dave: [1:03:10] Oh boy. Tara: [1:03:12] The second clip is second star is Patrick Bramall. Dave: [1:03:16] Patrick Bramall. Tara: [1:03:17] Mm-hmm. Dave: [1:03:18] He's got all the Bram. Tara: [1:03:19] Yep. Dave: [1:03:20] All right. I'm going to listen to that clip again. Tara: [1:03:22] Okay. Clip: [1:03:26] I'm offended, I'm offended. Please don't say that my dress looks nice. I'm triggered, I'm triggered. Don't smile at me, it makes me feel unsafe. I'm addicted. Dave: [1:03:41] I can't uh no idea. Tara: [1:03:44] That is calling from accounts. Dave: [1:03:46] Oh oh, okay. Tara: [1:03:47] That was the women against men, against women, women against men, against men event. Dave: [1:03:52] Fuck on Australians. Tara: [1:03:54] Okay, let's get the scores. Sarah: [1:03:57] Well, it's close for some. I'm not one of them. I have three. And then Mark and Dave are tied with six points each. Dave: [1:04:05] Oh Musical fight musical fight Yeah Wait, what? Mark: [1:04:06] What? Tara: [1:04:06] Oh, my Okay, clip ten is for Sarah. Mark: [1:04:12] Beat it, beat it, knife you in the street, it's fun. Clip: [1:04:23] Wait is over. Don't like this feeling I feel. Wait is over. No one's gonna tie me down. I love you. She take the wheel and drive a man crazy. So tell me why I gotta have her. Don't tell me I can't really care. Sarah: [1:04:53] I feel like I almost can tease out a voice, but I can't. So hint, please. Tara: [1:04:59] Your first star is Terence Mann. Sarah: [1:05:05] Field of Dreams, the TV show. Just kidding. Can I have another hint, please? Tara: [1:05:08] Yes, your next star is Melora Hardin. Clip: [1:05:10] Like the one that I rock to make a move. Dave: [1:05:12] Malora Harden or Harden Berlora Harden or Harden Berlora No, no, I didn't. Sarah: [1:05:17] Boo Terrence Mann and Melora Hardin. Clip: [1:05:21] Cut the book and the ball. Sarah: [1:05:22] Uh, we're in. Uh, I can't answer Benson because that's Mark's jokes. Mark: [1:05:29] That's my joke. Sarah: [1:05:30] So I know, so I'm not going to do it. Scrubs. I don't know. Tara: [1:05:36] Does anyone else remember this one? Sarah: [1:05:36] I don't know. Tara: [1:05:37] That's Shangri-La Plaza just came up on the podcast like a second ago. Dave: [1:05:39] Oh, Jesus That was cruel That's really oh, sure, but yeah, all right, fine. Sarah: [1:05:40] Oh, God, it really did too. Tara: [1:05:43] No, it wasn't. Sarah: [1:05:43] Ouch. Tara: [1:05:44] We watched it. Sarah: [1:05:46] We did. Tara: [1:05:47] All right, clip eleven is for Mark. Clip: [1:05:50] Oh, the way you look at me. I can't explain it, but I know it's the Love oh love love I'm a little bit of a bad boy. Mark: [1:06:15] I've actually seen this. I have some sort of lizard memory of enjoying this scene. Tara: [1:06:18] I thought this was a show that you probably have watched. Mark: [1:06:21] Damn. Okay, I need a cast member, though. Clip: [1:06:22] I'm a mother I want to take a look. Tara: [1:06:23] Your first cast member is Bridget Everett. Mark: [1:06:27] Somebody somewhere. Clip: [1:06:27] Cause I'm very comfortable. Tara: [1:06:28] That's it. Mark: [1:06:29] Of course. Tara: [1:06:30] In an episode where we see them write that song. Mark: [1:06:31] Oh, I love that show so much. Yes, for real. Tara: [1:06:34] And it's so much more compelling than in Hitmaker's. Clip: [1:06:35] It's a big coming to the boat. Mark: [1:06:38] You did a good job, though, of not using a Bridget Everett performance. Yes, shrewd and crafty you are. Clip: [1:06:42] It's a big coming to the boat. Tara: [1:06:45] All right, I wasn't supposed to hang you up. But anyway, clip twelve is for Dave. Clip: [1:06:50] Well, well, well, look what's falling under my spell. Music Meister. Express your souls. Don't try to hold back. It's best to just. I'm not participating in this buffoonery, so how about you choke on my ass? Dave: [1:07:13] I have no idea what that is. Clip: [1:07:13] Couldn't bother, break down. I'm a little bit more See my vest, see my vest, made from real gorilla chest. Dave: [1:07:15] Guess I'll take a clue and hope I can get it off the first one to keep up with Mark. Tara: [1:07:18] The first cast member is Lake Bell. Dave: [1:07:22] Is this Harley Quinn? Tara: [1:07:23] Yes, it is. Another episode about people singing what they don't want to say. That was Larry Owens Jr. Dave: [1:07:30] Okay. Tara: [1:07:30] as Music Meister. Back to Sarah for clip 13. Dave: [1:07:37] No. Clip: [1:07:42] Feel this sweater, there's no better than authentic Irish setter. See this hat, it was my cat. My evening wear back These white slippers are albino African endangered rhino Grizzly bear They come to the board and ball. Sarah: [1:07:56] What, no mention of a dodo egg? Uh, is this The Simpsons? Tara: [1:08:00] Yes, it is. I was shocked that I haven't already had this in a previous Tube Tunes, but Former gophers It was that or kill my chauffeurs It sure does. Sarah: [1:08:02] Yay. Dave: [1:08:04] What a great song. Sarah: [1:08:04] I kind of am too. Clip: [1:08:05] They come to the board and ball. Mark: [1:08:05] Like my loafers, former gophers. Dave: [1:08:08] Merko first. That episode also has the Rory Calhoun joke, which I use weekly at least. Sarah: [1:08:18] It's true. Tara: [1:08:20] Clip fourteen is for Mark. Clip: [1:08:23] When we were young, but we're not much older. There was a song that we're doing fine. Oh you sung at the top of our mouth Why can't we sing it tonight? Mark: [1:08:51] I'm going to just take a leap. I think it's the righteous gemstones. Tara: [1:08:54] Sure is as Meghan Malally as Laurie singing Love Isn't Always on Time. Dave: [1:08:55] Oh, nice shit. Mark: [1:08:56] Yes. Sarah: [1:08:56] Nice. Dave: [1:09:00] Damn. Mark: [1:09:00] Magical season of that show. Dave: [1:09:01] All right. Mark: [1:09:02] Her performance was so good. Tara: [1:09:03] Such a great song, too. I love that song. And we hear it so many different ways, too. All right. Clip 15 is for Dave, and then we'll have the final score break before everyone's last question. Clip: [1:09:14] Hey now, little mouse. I hope we understand one another. Hey now, little mouse, show me what to do. Hey now, little mouse, something's moving now in my bathroom. Hey now, little mouse, show me what to do, show them what to do. Dave: [1:09:37] Wow, we're really going on a Commonwealth tour for my clips. I believe that is from season two of Look Around You. Tara: [1:09:44] I can't remember if it's from season two, but it is from Look Around You. Dave: [1:09:47] Well, I think well, at the end of season one, that guy is in the mix somehow, and they sort of reference him, but he gets the musical career in season two, and that's the guy's hit, but he's one of the presenters on the show. Tara: [1:09:56] Yes. Okay, right. Anyway, yes, good for three points. Let's get the scores. Sarah: [1:10:02] It all comes down to this, folks. I am also here with six points, but Mark and Dave remain tied with eleven each. Done done. Tara: [1:10:12] My God. Let's get everyone's last clip. Sixteen is for Sarah. Dave: [1:10:19] I'm genuinely excited. All right, here we go. Clip: [1:10:22] I push raises all kids and kids think it's cool Cause they're not told to do it by the parents they're sure I'm the pusher I'm the pusher I'm a common lour in the fans and boy cops. First up for raisins and they'll shoot up apricots. I know you. Sarah: [1:10:44] I resent this content. Clip: [1:10:46] Like I'm a ticket, I'm a good one, does it a rock? Sarah: [1:10:47] Speaking of being triggered, I mean, it doesn't matter. So I'm going to ask for a hint. Tara: [1:10:53] Your first cast member is Nicole Sullivan. Sarah: [1:10:56] Ah, that doesn't help. Clip: [1:10:57] Can't move Like I want it, I'm a good one, I'm a little Cause I make all the men come Little Scottish boy grew up to be the Supreme On the definition of American dreams Lucky for my daddy who believed in a star But take it from Mother Watcher Every single thing about the bitch's ride. Sarah: [1:10:58] I want this to be clone high, but I know it isn't. Can I just get the second hint? Tara: [1:11:02] What if it was? Dave: [1:11:05] Don't trick her. Tara: [1:11:06] Okay. Your next hint is Will Forte. Sarah: [1:11:09] I mean, it's not. I watched Clone High. It's not that it's not it. Sorry. Who? Tara: [1:11:14] Will Ford Day? Dave: [1:11:17] Maybe it's clone high optora Maybe you should guess Clone High. Sarah: [1:11:19] Hmm. Yeah, no, that doesn't really help either. Dave: [1:11:23] Maybe you should just guess Clone High, anyways. It's the one with the raisins It's the Raisins episode. Sarah: [1:11:29] Okay. Tara: [1:11:31] It's clone high. Sarah: [1:11:32] Who's fucking tricking me now? Tara: [1:11:33] Yes, it's the musical episode that's all about raisins. Sarah: [1:11:34] Okay. Great. Tara: [1:11:36] Everyone's smoking raisins. Sarah: [1:11:36] Yay. Clone high. Tara: [1:11:38] All right. Clip seventeen is for Mark. Dave: [1:11:40] All right, Mark, good luck. Clip: [1:11:56] Magnify the rest with a monster's tide. I can rap, what a gag. Check it, baby. This is drag. Tara: [1:12:02] Little hint there at the end. Mark: [1:12:04] That's RuPaul Stratgrace. Tara: [1:12:05] Yes, it is. Mark: [1:12:06] That's and that's Rose singing in the first part. Tara: [1:12:07] That's Rose. That's my favorite song from RuPaul's Drag Race. I bought it with money and I have it on my phone. Mark: [1:12:12] Yes. Tara: [1:12:16] All right. Mark: [1:12:16] Yes. Tara: [1:12:17] Last clip is for Dave. Dave: [1:12:19] Does my clip also have a word from the title at the very end? Tara: [1:12:22] Perhaps. Dave: [1:12:22] Let's find out. Clip: [1:12:23] What ever happened to sweet Daisy Lou? Her hoopscarth was a poop scared when she couldn't find the What ever happened to sweet Daisy Lou? Dave: [1:12:33] What the fuck? Tara: [1:12:35] What okay. Mark: [1:12:38] I actually know this. Sarah: [1:12:39] Yeah, me too. Clip: [1:12:40] Her hoopscar the other poops got when she couldn't find the What ever happened to sweet Daisy Lou? Dave: [1:12:45] I got a guess for a three-point. Tara: [1:12:48] I can't believe this. Clip: [1:12:56] Her hoopscar the was a poop scared when she couldn't find the loo. Sarah: [1:13:01] Dave, really? Dave: [1:13:03] No, it doesn't doesn't ring a bell at all. Tara: [1:13:05] I thought this was the biggest meatball. Sarah: [1:13:05] Oh my god. Oh my god, it's such a huge meatball. Clip: [1:13:08] What ever happened to sweet Daisy Lou? Her hoopscar the was a poop skirt when she couldn't find that Valued guest, valued guest. Dave: [1:13:17] I mean no, I'm out. Sarah: [1:13:18] My God, Tony Shaloob. Dave: [1:13:20] I guess I'll take a clue. Tara: [1:13:22] First hint is Natasha Dimitrio. Dave: [1:13:26] Oh, is this uh what we do in the shadows? Tara: [1:13:28] Yes. Dave: [1:13:29] Okay. Yeah. Tara: [1:13:30] Let's get the final scores. Sarah: [1:13:33] Final scores are Sarah with six, Dave with 13, and the curator of the Plague Chip Chair, Mark with 14. Dave: [1:13:43] Congratulations, Mark. Tara: [1:13:50] Let's play the tiebreaker for a steel meal for the new season. Dave: [1:13:54] Okay. Tara: [1:13:54] And whoever gets it, just yell it out when you know it. Dave: [1:13:56] All right. Okay. Everybody ready? Clip: [1:14:01] It's a flashing design that falls in from the stream Drink from the well so bitterswack You wrote your number on the back of mine See if you properly with your sucker punch Stepping together Shook retreat, it's a fire retreat. It's time to leave Sucker Watch. Sarah: [1:14:42] Oh fuck. Tara: [1:14:50] Any guesses? Mark: [1:14:52] No. Tara: [1:14:54] One cast member from this show is Simon Hellberg. Mark: [1:15:00] Pokerface? Tara: [1:15:01] That's Poker Face. It's the song they stole from the Benson theme. Sarah: [1:15:03] Nice Bright Shit. Mark: [1:15:05] It's the Chloe Seveny episode, right? Tara: [1:15:07] Yes, yes. Mark: [1:15:08] Yes. And it's the bench god. You're right. And that whole episode is about the Tara. I see what you're doing. I'm sorry I wasn't able to raise. Tara: [1:15:15] I tried. Mark: [1:15:16] I wasn't able to raise up to. Yeah. Tara: [1:15:19] Well, you got a steal meal for the valued guest, so good job, Mark. Dave: [1:15:22] Nicely done, Mark. As it should have been all along, Mark wins the musical episode game time. Well, guys, that is it for this episode of Extra Hot Great. We discussed whether or not the songwriting competition show Hitmakers charted for us before going around the dial with stops at Happy Gilmore II, Million Dollar Secret, The Challenge 41, and The Gilded Age. Dixon Chance finally put once more with Feeling Asterisk into the canon We crowned winners and losers of the week, and Mark was the winner of this week's game time from Tara. Next up is the Hawaiian Epic Chief of War on Extra, Extra Hot. Great, and come back here. Next week on EHG Prime for the King of the Hill Revival. Remember. Clip: [1:16:10] We're listening. Ah. Dave: [1:16:13] I am David T. Cole and on behalf of Tara Ariano, Tara: [1:16:16] This fire is vibes. Dave: [1:16:19] Sarah D. Bunting, and Mark Blankenship. Sarah: [1:16:20] That's entertainment. Mark: [1:16:24] Please write me ahead. Dave: [1:16:26] Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time right here on Extra Hot Great. Clip: [1:16:38] Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn. Showtime.