Should You Plot A Course For Alien: Earth?

Clip 00:00 I said we can do it. Sir, we're fast. We're strong. We don't break. We can do it. Dave 00:16 This is the Extra Hot Great Podcast, episode 575 for the week of August 11th, 2025. I am half a dandy David T. Cole, and I'm here with Feline Redshirt Server D. Bunting. The girl genius Tara Ariano and Eyeball Squid Andrew Cunningham. Tara 00:37 Mushi mushy mushy Welcome to Extra Hot Great for another week joining us. Andrew 00:41 Hold on, I'm just going to stick my face next to this giant egg. Tara 00:53 He is an editor at Ars Technica and the co-host of the podcast. Overdue and appointment television. You have heard him with us many times before. It's Andrew Cunningham. Dave 01:02 Welcome back, Andrew. Tara 01:03 Welcome back, Andrew. Andrew 01:03 Yay! Sarah 01:03 Andrew. Andrew 01:05 So glad to be here to talk about something that's not for Asia or Star Trek. Dave 01:09 But it combines the best of those into one. Tara 01:11 But I was gonna say it's somehow right in between. Yes, we are here to talk about Alien Colon Earth in the year 2120, two years before the events of the 1979 film Alien. The world is controlled by three corporations, all pursuing three approaches to the problem of human mortality: cyborgs, synths, and hybrid Last one of these turns out to be what you get when you upload a human's consciousness to a synthetic body with all its advantages superhuman speed, strength, and physical resilience. Marcy, who is suffering from a terminal disease, gets to be the first hybrid subject Christening her transformed self Wendy, she is played by Sidney Chandler. But even though Wendy has been told she will have to live at the Prodigy Corporation's research island Neverland, some traces of Marcy remain, which motivates her request To the founder of Prodigy, Boy Cavalier Samuel Blanken, to let her and a group of five other lost boy hybrids help at the scene of a spaceship that has crashed into a building in New Siam. Containing one cyborg, a bunch of human corpses, and a variety of very exotic non-human specimens. The show is based on the Alien Movie series and was created for T V by Noah Hawley of Legion and Fargo TV show fame. The first two episodes dropped on FX on Hulu on August 12th, with the remaining six dropping weekly on Tuesdays. We got access to the whole season, but we'll be careful about spoilers for unaired episodes Let us do the chen check-in, Andrew. Should our listeners watch Alien Earth, Sarah. Andrew 02:39 Uh yes, unless you get grossed out easily, I think. Sarah 02:43 This is not for me, but I can see that it's well made, so proceed, which I will not be doing. Dave 02:51 I don't begrudge you for watching it, but I felt like the problems that existed at the start were not solved by the end. So, I'm going to say if you like Alien stuff, you're going to watch it. If you don't, you can probably skip it. There's not a lot here that is newer or interesting to me. Tara 03:09 Yeah, my answer was going to be, I'll keep watching if Dave wants to watch it. And then Dave came out of his office like 10 minutes before we started and said, well, I've watched the whole season. So I get that's my answer. Dave 03:20 Sorry. Tara 03:21 Oh, I don't care. It's a pass for me. I was medium on it to begin with. I will say before we get into the spoilers though, I'll give a content warning for people who are going to be watching this. Several bad things happen to a very unlucky cat. So if that's something that Bothers you Yes, not just the human ones, although them as well. Sarah 03:34 Yeah, they do. Dave 03:35 Not just animals in this show generally are having a tough time. Andrew 03:35 Yeah. Among other yeah, yeah, for sure. Tara 03:45 Now we're in the spoiler zone. Past and future guest Dan Dodario did a variety cover story on the show. We'll link it in the show notes. He quoted Noah Holly saying that even as big as the alien franchise is, it doesn't have a lot of lore. Based on what we see at the start of this series, would we say that's a bad thing for someone like Holly? Or would we maybe have liked to see him work within more guardrails? Andrew, what are your thoughts? Andrew 04:09 Um, you know, I'm here for the alien stuff, really. I'm not here for the lore. I'm here for somebody to like. Tara 04:15 Mm. Andrew 04:16 look up at a ceiling because something drips on them and then for the thing that dripped on them to like eat their face off, you know? Tara 04:18 Yep. Yeah. Dave 04:22 Wait, I think we just need to, as we do this, keep a tally on things that could have been the title for this. Andrew 04:22 Like Yeah, like I'm I am not like super deep Into the alien universe. Dave 04:28 Something dripped on me. That's our first. Tara 04:33 Mm-hmm. Andrew 04:39 I like the first two movies a lot. I think the third movie is kind of an interesting movie. There's an interesting movie in there that's fighting to to get out. But then the the Latter-day like the 2010s and 2020s sequels, I haven't really like Prometheus and all that other stuff, I haven't really messed with at all. So it's just I don't know, it's just just fun to come back to a to a universe that I that has not in my brain been done to death and enjoy some of the some of the thrills and the chills and the gross outs. And that's that's what I'm that's what I'm here for. Dave 05:10 Yeah, I agree that I don't necessarily Think we need a lot of lore building in this. If it's in the context of a TV show, I understand why they wanted to do it because you can't have eight episodes of something dripped on me. Tara 05:22 Yeah. Although that is kind of what the Walking Dead is, but yes. Dave 05:26 Well, that that actually is sort of true, I suppose. There is more going on here than just Xenomorph on Earth. With all the this giant world conquering corporation versus this other giant world conquering corporation. But it's also oddly paced And the nature of the go-get-em squad was a choice. So, as you said, these are children who have diseases and Their terminal, so they stick their minds into robot bodies, and that's sort of like their characters throughout the whole season. They're kids in like 18, 19, 20-year-old bodies And it's kind of creepy sometimes. Not creepy, ooh, I'm watching a nice creepy alien film. Creepy, like, I don't like this choice Creepy sometimes. Tara 06:12 Yeah. Dave 06:13 And sometimes the actors are doing kid tics, you know, like they're shimming around because they got nervous kid energy and stuff like that while they're like going to kill something or whatever. Like, it's just some weird choices here. But when it just comes to the moments where the alien is running around chopping people up, I'm like, yes, give me the NFL Red Zone version of this where it's just the alien touchdowns. Wait a sec. Alien touchdowns is our second. Those parts were great. There is a certain choreograph to the way that it slices through everybody, the way the obscure it I thought was really well done. But the choices they made to propel the plot through, I thought, were maybe misguided. The whole Peter Pan analogy they do, and like they literally put on screen for you in case you didn't get it Like, put down those entertaining Disney products. Sarah 06:58 Totally agree. Andrew 07:00 It's yeah. Tara 07:00 Yeah. Yeah. Dave 07:07 They actually have Peter Pan projected on the ceiling while everybody is going through their transition, and they name all the kids after the lost boys. Tara 07:13 Yeah. Dave 07:15 Like, it's a lot, and it's really lazy when people do those sort of metaphors. So, like, at the first episode, it's already on guard for the writing. And having watched to the end of the season, that part of it doesn't really change. They really just keep on going with that. But along the way, there's a lot of menagerie moments that I feel. Make it worth your time to watch, but you'll instantly forget as soon as it's done. I think it's one of those kinds of experiences. Sarah 07:42 Yeah, my issue with it is pretty much identical to Dave's. Like, I think it is quite Pleased with itself and quite pleased with this choice that it made to have kids put into these cyborg bodies. And then, I mean, they provide a rationale. For this, that like adult brains are too stiff or inflexible or whatever, or adult consciousnesses. Dave 08:02 Yeah. Sarah 08:05 But then there's also a rationalization for why the kids can't really grow up. And like they're trying to they're trying to replicate adolescence, but then the Timothy Off with his Pants character is like, why are we bothering with that? Like they're not really adolescent human children, so why don't we just let them be whatever they are? But this entire decision seemed to be about letting actors do actor bullshit. And it's not like they're bad at it. They are very convincing. There's a couple of the others besides Wendy who just really do that like Tom Hanks and big. My feet don't f fit where they've used to anymore, like just inhabiting that physicality that's good. But it's like, why is this hap why is this happening? Here in the alien franchise, when you could be doing actual world building instead of focusing on a kid, which is not as interesting. Dave 09:02 Here's my conspiracy theory about that. This guy, Noah Hawley, decided that the big problem with horror films, according to him and his big brain, I hate this guy, the guy's so conceited. Tara 09:05 Hollywood Our neighbor, Noah Hawley, he lives here. Sarah 09:06 Hollywood, I'm not sure if I can do it. Dave 09:16 Oh, yeah. Tara 09:17 Mhm. Dave 09:17 Is that horror films? The characters always make those very stupid decisions that no person would actually make in these moments. Like, yes, I will go alone into the dark hallway. Where the sounds are coming from. So, how do I get my characters to do that? Oh, I know they're kids, and kids just do stupid things, and they can be told to do things, and they will just do it. Go grab that Zeto Morth. Uh-oh. Okay. All right, dad. All right, robot dad. I'll do that. So I feel like that's like the genesis of it. Just, and they do do that throughout the series. There's like just dumb thing after dumb thing these kids do. That like yeah it propels the plot along Dumb dumb things kids do Dumb things kids do. Sarah 09:56 Here's another series title. Andrew 10:01 Youths Blackmail via telepathy would kind of work on me as an adult also. Dave 10:05 And a minor spoiler in it all, I'm just like gonna, in blurry terms, one of the lost boy characters gets blackmailed at a certain point to do things to help. The competing corporation get their hands on more alien stuff. And it really just is like a kid that you're sort of like bullying, and that's how the plot point progresses. Is that realistic? That's a kid? Yes. Is it like really a part of what you want in a sci-fi storied franchise? It feels out of place. That's my problem with it. It just feels out of place, and it feels like kind of lazy writing The whole Peter Pan metaphor is lazy. Andrew 10:44 Like, I don't think I need to be a kid to get blackmailed if you're threatening my family. Dave 10:44 Mhm. Yep. Andrew 10:50 But yeah, sometimes the the kids' stuff is is played for comedy and it works there, like you were saying. And then sometimes it makes you feel like you do in the movie Big when Tom Hanks A child in an adult's body makes love to an adult woman, and you're like, Wait, how do I feel? Tara 11:02 Yeah. Sarah 11:02 Yeah, they are like, oh, oh shit, now we're in the wrong place. Yeah, totally. Andrew 11:07 How do I feel about this? I don't think it's good. Yeah. Dave 11:11 Because these are the same characters that are having emo, I swear to God, this is in the series, that are having emotional moments about shared experiences with the Ice Age franchise in their youth Including, I want to note, a 80s school photo with the second picture of you in the corner set up in one of the scenes where there's a picture of Scout, Scrat. Tara 11:33 A screw I don't know. Dave 11:35 Whatever the little guy just wants his acorn. Tara 11:35 Yeah. Dave 11:37 That guy in the corner in sort of like the angel pose. I'm like, what the fuck is happening right now? Tara 11:43 Yeah, this is what I was complaining about when we talked about the residents. Sarah 11:43 Oh, my God. Tara 11:46 I know this isn't Netflix, but this is like the Netflixization of TV, where it's like, if we make something that is natively for television, no one is ever going to see it in a theater. We assume you are not paying attention. So we're going to have to hammer it. That's why we can't just call this research place Neverland and have a character named Wendy. Dave 12:03 Mhm. Tara 12:03 You also have to see footage from the movie Peter Pan, or else you're not going to get it, we feared. Andrew 12:05 Yeah. Mhm. Dave 12:06 Yeah. Yeah. Andrew 12:09 You have to have a TV on the ceiling like it's a dentist's office. Sarah 12:12 Oh my god. Tara 12:13 Yes. Sarah 12:13 That's what I was thinking that I was like, oh my dentist has that too. Oh wait. Tara 12:18 Sarah, you said this isn't for you, but there was a whole baseball scene. Come on. What more do you want them to do? Sarah 12:23 I don't know, less of what I didn't like. I think the action scenes are paced well. I think they do understand that, like, They get to the Xenomorph factory pretty quickly, and there's a scene in the first episode where two dudes have been sort of like restrain And baby, like Xenomorph Baby, is just slithering in and around helmets, and they go to a close-up, and there's like A little squelching, but not too much, and then they go to like the other guy's POV. Tara 12:34 Mm-hmm. Sarah 12:53 He's like, What's going on? Like, move, get free, get up, and then you tear more. squelching and horrified screaming. And the way that they do the way that they shoot this horror, they show you exactly enough. Sometimes it's like really gross and grisly. Dave 13:08 Yeah. Sarah 13:09 Other times you're just hearing it and that's way worse. But I mean, you know, you can't be like, well, here's some baseball. Sorry we murdered an orange cat. Like, fuck you, d Sorry. Like, you can't be self-serious and kill an orange cat and then be like, here's some baseball. Nah. Dave 13:28 A correction into one thing I really loved about the show: the creatures that you're talking about, the guys that are tied up, aren't the alien xenomorphs, they're basically Yeah, they're part of some ecosystem they went to. Tara 13:36 I cut in my notes I called them sl slug ticks. Dave 13:42 They're like ticks or mosquitoes. They suck your blood, but they're so like baggy and misshapen after they like drink their f Phil, it's just like, oh, it's such a good design. Sarah 13:50 Oh so nasty. Tara 13:50 It is. Dave 13:50 The designs of all the creatures I thought were great. I really enjoyed discovering all of them as they go al The hanging plant thing, the spider with six eyes that converge into one eye, and then it can like go in your eye socket and be like your parasite eye thing. Sarah 13:54 Mm-hmm. Tara 14:04 Yeah. Aha. Sarah 14:08 Yeah. Dave 14:08 It was like, oh. Sarah 14:09 Heather Cox, do not watch this television program under any cirques. Dave 14:14 If you're watching that and you're like, oh, I enjoyed the design of this, you gotta watch Scavenger's Rain. Tara 14:21 Yes. Andrew 14:21 Oh, yes, yes, absolutely. Dave 14:22 Because that's like a show that is ecosystem first, sort of writing, and it's so imaginative and well designed and drawn out. Tara 14:28 It's really cool. Dave 14:31 And this is more like the Rogue Gallery of Creepy Crawleys, but it still I thought was very effective. That part was good. Sarah 14:37 Yeah, yeah, it definitely was. Tara 14:39 I agree they do get to the Xenomorph factory pretty quickly, but I wanted more of the Earth part of alien Earth. Andrew 14:47 Right, sure. Tara 14:47 To happen faster. Sarah 14:47 Yeah, same Oh, yeah. Tara 14:48 Like, I know they attack an apartment building, like a dinner party full of rich perverts, which you can tell because they're dressed up like they're 18th-century dandies, which there's Still going to be doing in 2120. Andrew 14:49 Mm-hmm. I actually like that part a lot. Tara 15:00 Okay. But because they sort the ship crashes into this building, it still feels contained. Like I sort of wanted more chaos, I guess. Andrew 15:08 Yeah, mm. Dave 15:11 Yeah, well, they would have to place that show after the movie events, right? Like at the end of this series, nobody's gonna know about these except for a handful of people. Tara 15:15 Right, mm-hmm right Mhm. Dave 15:20 Most people that come across this will die. Andrew 15:20 Right. Dave 15:22 Is it going to rewrite the intent behind the start of the first film? I hope not. That would be terrible if, like, the corporation's like, hmm, you know, and then where can we send this ship that'll get Infected or something like that. But I understand why there's not a lot of like the lost world versus Jurassic Park of it all, but it would have been fun for sure. Tara 15:40 Yeah. Dave 15:41 Like those scenes where it is basically, what's that movie from Indonesia where they're going through the building? The raid? Tara 15:46 Yeah, the raid. Dave 15:47 If it was the raid, But with an alien instead of like the other, oh, that would have been so good. Tara 15:48 Mm-hmm. Yes. Dave 15:52 And you get a flavor of that for about like 20 minutes. They're tracking it through the building where they beat the weird party and stuff like that. That was really good. That's what I'm talking about. Like the fights, whatever you called it, the murder scenes, and those were like so visceral. Like, when it goes, cuts through that party, you don't see any of it, you just hear it. And there's some sort of like tail shadows whipping around. And then your POV character walks in, and there's just like dozens of half bodies just like all over the place. Andrew 16:18 Yeah. Dave 16:20 It was so gross. Andrew 16:20 It's just a a room full of slaughtered dandies, yeah. Sarah 16:24 Mm-hmm. Tara 16:24 Yeah, that I wasn't mad at the the execution. I just thought the the the framing was a bit of a cliche. But anyway, go on. Andrew 16:31 Yeah, yeah, I do I I agree that I I think a show that's showing like efforts to contain the aliens on Earth so that people can't find out about them and then the way that those efforts Fail and the perimeter needs to get bigger and it gets scarier. Like, that's that's a thing I would be more on board with. And then we just end up spending a lot of time on this island with these kids in this Peter Pan metaphor. And yeah, it's not exactly what I wanted in an alien show. Sarah 16:52 Yeah. Tara 16:55 Yeah. The lead of Dan's story that I mentioned earlier is about Sidney Chandler deciding to not come to the Variety cover photo shoot That she had previously committed to do? Is her performance good enough to forgive her pulling this kind of shit? Dave, you could go first because you saw the most of it. Dave 17:10 Yeah, I thought she was good. She is the leader of the Lost Boy group. What do they call her? Malalian. Tara 17:17 A millalian. Dave 17:17 Yes. Sarah 17:17 Oh my god, totally that's so good. Dave 17:22 It's gonna write that one down too. Sarah 17:22 Yep. Mm-hmm. Dave 17:23 Homal alien. Sarah 17:25 Totally Yeah, right. Dave 17:26 I thought she was pretty good, actually. Like she does a lot with her face. And as the story progresses, she has to interact more with all the aliens that are running around and the dynamics change between her and the people that made her and all the kind of, you know, growing up stuff that you expect from a Peter Pan metaphor is happening. Tara 17:42 Right. Dave 17:45 And she handles it all pretty well. There's another one of the lost boys that has a creepy moment beyond the first two episodes that I thought was over the top. So there's a lot of contrast between the way those two actors are doing it. I have no problem with that variety thing. If we're here to bag on the variety thing, her problem was she committed to it and then backed out. Somebody should have said, If you don't wanna do it, just don't do it and we'll figure out a way to do it. Andrew 18:08 Right. Dave 18:08 Don't say you're gonna be there at two and then call at one thirty saying I can't make it because of reasons. Andrew 18:13 Right, right. Tara 18:13 She can't get a hold of her glam squad. Also, she's sick. It's like one or the other, guys. You know? Dave 18:18 I think they heard that thing where you had to do excuses in three to make them sound believable, and they only did two, and they fucked her. Andrew 18:23 Yeah, right. Tara 18:25 Yeah. Sarah 18:26 I made the mistake of reading that piece first, and I still admired the performance. Tara 18:28 Hmm Mm-hmm. Sarah 18:31 This is a show that is set up to allow for a little more actor BS than the brief necessarily warrants or supports, but she's good. Set a boundary if you want to, but then when you are interviewed by phone, try to keep the I'm dealing with trauma from this performance shit to a minimum. Not that she's not. Tara 18:56 No, but some people have real problems, you know? Sarah 18:59 Yeah, and like and I think there's a conversation to be had about getting into a headspace where you're a child in an adult cyborg body that's witnessing absolute massacres by a xeno. Tara 18:59 Like this was a job you did. Mhm. Sarah 19:12 Sure, like I married an actor. Tara 19:13 Sure. Sarah 19:15 I understand sometimes they take this shit on. Dave 19:18 Anybody else think Sarah was going to say I buried a xenomorph in that moment? Tara 19:22 Another title. Dave 19:23 Another title. Tara 19:23 Hi, Mary to Xeno More. Andrew 19:23 Well, that's the fun thing is that anyone can become a xenomorph when exposed to the right conditions. Sarah 19:23 Yep. Mm-hmm. Andrew 19:32 Yeah, I think Chandler is pretty good. Like, I think she sells the wide-eyed kid innocence of it pretty well without tipping over into like manic Pixie Dream Girl territory too too much like a i i think this show does lack a ripley character like a not just in terms of like what they the function they fulfill in the story but just in terms of like magnetic screen presence Timothy Oliphant sometimes is allowed to come close, but mostly he just kind of walks knowingly from scene to scene, kind of commenting on the things that are going on. Dave 20:00 Yep. Sarah 20:02 Yeah. Dave 20:04 So many of the supporting characters are either sociopaths or robots, so you don't get a lot of that Ripley energy for sure. Andrew 20:09 Right. A lot of the people who are left are people who you do just want the aliens to eat. So that's, you know. Tara 20:18 It is always the way. Andrew 20:20 But she is good. I didn't want the aliens to eat her. I did want her to get to know the aliens and to try and communicate with them. Dave 20:27 The other thing you have to know about this show, somebody told Noah, I want to call him Noah Hockley, so I'm just going to call somebody told Noah Hockley that they really liked. Andrew 20:31 Holly, Holly. Dave 20:36 The end of the Matrix, where Rage Against the Machine goes into the credits, and he decided he's going to do that for every episode, no matter what the ending of the episode is. Andrew 20:43 Mm-hmm. Dave 20:45 It could just be like, and now I'm going to go to sleep. So bad. Tara 20:54 Yeah, he's a cornball. Dave 20:55 So, I guess we're saying watch it for the walking dead of it all if you're into that. Tara 20:58 Yeah, mm-hmm. Dave 21:00 I think it's a good way to nutshell it. Tara 21:01 Great. Clip 21:07 Got a lot of shows. It's a great time for shows. Dave 21:11 So, just to recap, something dripped on me. Is that going inside me? Alien touchdown. Dumb things kids do. Neverland dentist office. I'm an alien and I married a xenomorph. Andrew 21:23 Humalian. Dave 21:28 Tara, what do you got for Round the Dot? Tara 21:29 Well, speaking of aliens, I watched War of the Worlds last week. You may have read. Some articles about a new straight to prime video movie version of this very old property that is now in the public domain so people can do anything they want with it include Make it really bad, which is what has happened here. It is 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. Sarah 21:48 Oh, wow. Tara 21:48 I made the mistake of bringing this up in an editorial meeting. It cracked and bought myself an assignment to watch it The movie was first announced in September 2020 to be the kind of movie you could shoot in September 2020 with absolutely zero COVID-related oversight, meaning all the stars shot themselves wherever they were. What the viewer sees is everything that is visible on the computer screen and camera of a DHS domestic terror analyst named William Radford. He is played by Ice Cube, who I think we can all agree. He's not one of our most expressive actors. He has the same seething glare whether he is accessing a CTV camera to monitor what his pregnant daughter buys at a coffee shop or watching a colleague from the FBI getting eaten by an alien. In the early going, we see William is doing warrantless surveillance on his own children. He has marked them as possible threats so he can use his government tools to keep tabs on them. He also can access his daughter's fridge and make sure she's getting enough protein. This is played for laughs. Ha ha. Isn't it funny that this professional creep is also creeping on his family? But then we find out his his wife is dead, so it's Boohoo, isn't it sad? Because he lost his wife. This professional creep is compulsively creeping on his family. But after the aliens land, start fucking everything up, the cheap ass framing device meets. The very boring plot. The screenwriters, it took two, can't decide if the aliens who have come to Earth to eat data. Have sent humanity back to the stone age, or what? 'Cause William's watching a lot of live TV news feeds reporting on power grids going down and so on. And even if you say Will can stay connected enough to go on Zoom calls, including with the President, who is still in the White House, is that he's at DHS and they have secret backup, whatever, whatever Doesn't explain how he stays connected to his children and his daughter's boyfriend via the regular ass internet everyone else other than Will is using. Dave 23:36 Hang on, you buried the lead. What do you mean to eat data? Tara 23:38 Okay. What I said. Dave 23:42 But how do do they show them eating data? Tara 23:43 They go to data centers, they plug their things in, and then they drain all the data out of data centers and consume it. Dave 23:45 Uh-huh. Yeah. But you can make your own data. Andrew 23:52 That's how it works. Sarah 23:53 It would be so much better if they ate data from Next Generation and then were like, well, we're good, see ya, and left. Andrew 23:54 That's how it works. Dave 24:00 But like just I don't know do statistical analysis on your own population or something like you can make all the data you want This sounds like the Futurama episode with the Death Star brain thing, but the Scooty Puff Jr. Tara 24:03 Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mhm. Mm-hmm. Dave 24:12 sucks. Tara 24:13 Mm-hmm. Dave 24:13 That's basically the episode as a movie, I think. Tara 24:16 That's one of many problems with it. Just so you know, I'm not defending it, I'm just telling you what happens Because eventually Eva Longoria, who is Sandra NASA, is how she's saved in Will's phone. She gets a little teeny tiny bug and discovers it's like some kind of robot-human hybrid that has blood There's also something involved in the daughter is she's a biochemist who's like engineering a cannibal code to eat cancer cells And so they're like, What if we could get that code into the aliens? Sarah 24:28 Oh, my God. Dave 24:34 What We're just going to put it in the Crisperomatic. Tara 24:45 And then she's like, got it. Like, no, that's not how it works. They're like, you gotta, we're gonna send you the virus. You gotta put it in the server. She's a biochemist. It's so stupid. What I ended up writing about, the deeply cynical gross product placement dependent climax. You can link in the show notes. I'm not going to say here what it is. If you're the kind of person who loves bad movies, you should watch this, even though almost everyone else alive should not. It is possibly the worst movie I've seen, and I've seen Battlefield Earth. Dave 25:16 All right, so one person got fired for making it, and one person got a giant promotion for putting it out there because This is all anybody's fucking talked about for the past week. Tara 25:17 Yes, Dave. Andrew 25:17 Ooh, wow. Dave 25:26 So many more people have watched this than it deserves. Tara 25:26 Yeah. Yes. Dave 25:29 So, like, whoever put that out there should probably get a big bonus under their Christmas tree this year. Tara 25:33 Mm-hmm. Dave 25:35 I have a universe rule thing for you. Tara 25:37 Please. Mm-hmm. Dave 25:38 Do the food items from Sausage Party exist in the War of the Worlds universe? I'll take my answer offline. Tara 25:46 We don't see them, but I can't say that. By the way, I did get the Sausage Party Foodtopia Season 2 screeners. Dave 25:54 Excellent, yeah. Tara 25:55 And I put them in our like calendar that we share at Cracked. And I was like, I can't believe I'm bringing this up, but I just want to make sure you really don't want me to do anything on this. And he was like, no. And I was like, best day of my life. Watched as much sausage party food topia as I ever need to. Dave 26:09 But maybe you should watch it for this show so we can ask more lore questions. Tara 26:09 Anyway. Are you going to watch it with me? Dave 26:15 I'll watch one with you. Tara 26:16 All right. Dave 26:16 Okay. All right, Andrew, what have you been watching on TV recently that the people must know about? Andrew 26:24 I have two polar opposite programs that I've been spending my time with. The first is the The Gilded Age, very Zeitgeist. As somebody whose society is being destroyed by new money, I found that it had a lot to teach us about how we just need to keep all of these amoral social climbers just out. Dave 26:43 And looking both ways before you cross the street. Andrew 26:45 Yeah, right. Also, that. Yeah, it's just got a ton of performers in it. Sarah 26:48 And that's the first Oh, yeah. Andrew 26:49 I did get in pretty big trouble with my Broadway loving wife when I referred to Audra McDonald as being, quote, from the good fight. Dave 26:58 Yeah, sure. Sarah 26:59 I've yeah, I've been scolded for that. Tara 27:01 I mean, sh she is Clock joint, yeah. Andrew 27:02 And I think most people I've talked to agree with her, yeah. But yeah, it's you know, historical drama is usually not my not my thing, but it's a it's a fun it's a fun show to watch while you are doing something else. Dave 27:13 I love that show. I love that show so much. That and Downton Navy. I don't know. What do you think the next story is going to be for Clock Guy? Clock, what do you call him? Clock tweak. Andrew 27:22 Clockstorm. Dave 27:23 Yeah. Like, where do they go with him now? Andrew 27:26 I have only watched to the end of season one so far. So if you're referencing events that happen later in the show, I still need to catch up. Dave 27:31 Oh, oh, well, I just spoiled a whole bunch of shit for you. Tara 27:32 Oh, my. Andrew 27:36 No, it's fine. No, it's I I sure do. Dave 27:38 Obliquely. Okay. All right. Well, then you got some stuff to look forward to. So you got season two, you got the Opera Wars, the best thing that's ever happened to television in this decade. Andrew 27:43 Yeah. Mm-hmm. Dave 27:47 And then season three, you got railroad business and like dookie stuff. Andrew 27:47 Mm-hmm. Dave 27:52 So, man, you got so much to look forward to. Andrew 27:53 Great. Dave 27:54 Yeah. Andrew 27:54 Yeah, the Opera Awards have been foreshadowed a lot in season one. So I'm glad to hear that they get they take center stage. And yeah, it's just fun to watch a show where like every guy could have participated in the The 30 Rock, like talking like this contest with Jack. Dave 28:09 Fantastic. Andrew 28:10 And then the other show I've been watching, I've lived in Philadelphia for nine years, and I feel like, you know, I'm still kind of getting to know the city. One of the ways I'm doing that is I'm finally sitting down and watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia all the way through for the first time. I tried it years and years ago when I think like season four or five was the one that aired most recently. And I found it too like bleak and nihilistic, but now the amount of bleak and nihilistic it is is just just what I'm looking for. I don't know if it's if I've changed or the world has changed. Dave 28:40 I was gonna say the bleak window has moved. Andrew 28:42 Yes, it's moved a lot. But yes, just something about Danny DeVito casually wielding a gun in all kinds of situations is. . Doing it for me now in this moment. Yeah, I they did that crossover with Abbott Elementary, which remains like a, you know, a fun, soothing sort of brain off. Network comedy for me. So I watched both ends of the crossover with that. And I was like, what if I just went and I started from the start? Dave 29:10 Yeah. Andrew 29:10 It's always fun to go back to a show from the 2000s where they're just like casually dropping the R word in every episode. Dave 29:15 How compressed was your viewing? Tara 29:15 Yeah. Dave 29:17 Like how quickly did you watch that? Andrew 29:19 In the last like two or three weeks, I've gotten up through like mid season five. Dave 29:24 Oh, wow. Andrew 29:24 So it's going, it's going pretty. Dave 29:25 So you're mainlining it. Andrew 29:26 I'm moving at a pretty steady clip. Yeah. Dave 29:27 Yeah. So, okay, let me ask you this because when we do canon presentations for the show, One of the things we always say is like the episode is good, except for these one or two things which were in such poor taste that I have trouble recommending it. Andrew 29:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dave 29:43 Like, there's an AIDS joke, or something like that, or like, there's something like really off color, but also not funny About that. And it always sort of like pulls me back. But then there's like also a lot of great stuff in the episode. Do you have that reaction? Andrew 29:57 I'm s I'm still in that that phase where it's you know it's like I'm not quite out of the odds yet, so I can still be like, oh, it was a different time. Dave 30:05 Right, right. Andrew 30:06 What we could joke about on television was just different, but I suspect I'm going to lose that excuse Pretty rapidly as I keep going. But yeah, I've definitely hit a couple of those episodes where I'm like, if I were making a list for somebody who's watching this for the first time, I think this one's maybe not essential. Dave 30:25 Yeah. So where can uh people find more of Andrew Cunningham out in the world? Andrew 30:30 Sure, so I'm on blue sky and rights where I just Kind of doom with everybody else on blue sky, um, write about technology at ours technica, and then um, my TV podcast A point of television, not dead, but it's been defunct for a little bit. Catherine's working on a book, Margaret's busy, it's just been hard to get the band together to record anything lately, but we're still out there And then mainly I'm at overduepodcast. com. It's my book podcast. We just read the I know this is a TV podcast, but we just read the book Jaws as part of Because the movie's 50th anniversary is happening. Like, it's on Netflix. I think it's going to come into theaters for a limited run for a little while. So, we read that, and it turns out that everything that they cut out of the book for the movie was a really smart decis And you only need to watch the movie well there's like a there's a scene where Unfortunately, no. Dave 31:15 Okay, well, wait wait, give us one example. One example. Sarah 31:17 There was a sex scene, right? Dave 31:21 Between the shark? Sarah 31:23 Uh-huh. Andrew 31:25 It's a whole plotline where Richard Dreyfus's character is boning the sheriff's wife And then they're like out on the boat together, like hating each other. Dave 31:30 Oh. Andrew 31:35 And it just, I prefer it in the movie where it seems like they're always like one glance away from just kissing each other. Tara 31:35 Mm-mm. Andrew 31:42 That's how I You didn't pick up that Richard Dreyfuss and oh, this cheriff, what's his name? Dave 31:44 I never I d I didn't pick that up in the movie. No Okay. Andrew 31:51 They just seem, they give each other several very loving glances. I re-watch it and I think you'll see what I'm talking about. Dave 31:56 Okay, well, I will now. Sarity Bunting, what have you got? And describe the sex scene that was cut out from it. Sarah 32:06 Um no, I shan't because it's American Prince JFK Jr. I get why people are fascinated by John F. Kennedy Jr. , his parents, his death, what his life and death, quote, seem to say. about Celebrity in the American Experiment. I vividly remember the weekend that that plane went down. I do think that if he had lived, it might have set RFK on a path where we wouldn't be obliged to think about him ever. I do enjoy looking at pictures of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bassett because these are very charismatic and beautiful people. Nobody has ever gone broke going into an ex Extensive archive of Kennedy Anna and putting together a docuseries is my point, so I don't think CNN's American Prince is necessary. For anyone who has read the oral biography of JFK or Maureen Callahan's Ask Not. But it is a diverting enough waiting room T V sit, I would say. If you choose to proceed, I don't think you'll be disappointed But what I kept thinking during episode one, as one after another after another publishing Titan was being interviewed about Kennedy's short lived political magazine George The what I really wanted to be watching was a multi-episode docuseries about magazine culture in New York City over the decade Like, here's Kurt Anderson, and here's Tina Brown, and here's Graydon Carter. They're all talking about the reputations of various magazine publishers and how important magazines were to the monoculture and to the culture of the city. And I get that George was probably doomed, although it wasn't my fault, because I subscribed and thought it was Pretty good, or at least trying to do something when it wasn't so great. But I would love a deep documentary dive into why that is. CNN, call me and call Tara because she's the Twentieth Century Magazine historian in this group. Tara, do you have anything to say on this pitch? Tara 34:00 Well, first of all, I don't know what you're talking about just because I have this on my desk right now. This copy of Entertainment Weekly from 1994 That we will be talking about on Again With Again With This soon because it depicts Jenny Garth and Jason Priestley right after Shannon Doherty left 90210. Sarah 34:09 Mm-hmm. Tara 34:17 Anyway Yeah, I agree. I was listening to Who Weekly's Patreon coverage of the Gwyneth biography, which I texted you about on the weekend. Like, please stop me from buying this book. I'm sure I've already heard all the juicy parts from. Sarah 34:29 And I was like, I shan't, sorry. Tara 34:31 I haven't yet, but you know, the day is young. Anyway, they talk in there about another magazine of that era that I conflated with George until I figured out what they meant, but Talk magazine, which was the Miramax. Sarah 34:43 Oh, God, yes. Tara 34:44 magazine that had that weird, like, tabloidy cover, even though it was a glossy also saddle stitched, like it didn't have a spine, it w had staples, but it was so fat. Yeah, I I there are so many magazines I was buying in the nineties that just like Don't exist anymore because that whole economy is dead. Sarah 34:54 Yeah. God, me too. Tara 35:02 I mean, as we were recording this, I got a text that Richard Lawson has been laid off because Vanity Fair is not doing reviews anymore. Andrew 35:02 Mm-hmm. Tara 35:08 Like, what is that magazine going to be now? It's already. Sarah 35:12 Yeah. Tara 35:12 like this when I get my copies, which I probably won't for much longer. It doesn't sound like there's going to be much in it that I will ever care about again. So that sucks. Sarah 35:21 Inventorying late nineties and early aughts vanity fairs for the for the bookshop. More on that in a second. But like they're massive. Like I have to lift with my legs. And now it's like July and August 2025. And it's just this little Reedy, it looks like a business to business publication. Like bless. But if you're laying off Lawson, you're doing it wrong. It's just my opinion. Speaking of said bookshop, I have one. It's called Exhibit B Books. It's all and only true crime, mostly second hand, and there is an older inventory sale-on for the rest of August 2025. 20% off, and you know that there's a shit ton of Kennedy stuff of any flavor over there. Once again, that's 20% off. Anything tagged oldies but goodies. The cart does what, David T. Cole? Dave 36:15 Where the cart does the math. Sarah 36:17 Bucket A, link in the show notes, exhibit B Books. com. Dave 36:23 All right, here's what's coming up on our shows in the next week on Fridays, Extra, Extra Hawk Great. We're going to be talking about Butterfly. That's Daniel Day Kim's spy thriller I think it's half set in America, half set in South Korea, and it's all thrilling. And there's spies. We'll be talking about that on that episode, plus a lot more. Ask EHG, not quite winners and losers of the week, extra credit, all that stuff. If you're not a member, you can go to extrahotgreat. com slash club to find out what's on tap and to join either on Patreon, where you get all the goodies, or you can join an Apple Podcast for the audio perks only Apparently, we are less than twenty dollars away from our next milestone as we stand right now. Of course, that always fluctuates when we hit the start of a new month. But if we can hit it, that means these are on tab. The one-off drunk Dave episode, possibly the dumbest idea I put on this whole thing when we started it. Tara 37:18 You left off the most important part, Drunk Dave call-in episode. You can call in and interact with Drunk Dave. Dave 37:21 That's right. That's all it is. Andrew 37:24 Oh no. Tara 37:25 Yeah. Dave 37:25 Actually, I had a really stupid idea for it. I'll tell you about it offline. Tara 37:28 Okay. Dave 37:28 And if you agree to it, we'll explain it next time. Tara 37:30 All right. Dave 37:31 And then, in addition to that one offering, we have some ongoing content, which is going to be Carrie and Stephanie trading off months. for an extra segment, sort of like Kim Reese's Most Awesome Thing I Saw on TV this month. Kerry's going to be talking about music on T V and Stephanie's going to be talking about reality shows on TV. Tara 37:50 Yeah. Dave 37:51 And we leave it up to them beyond that. Tara 37:53 Yeah, those are loose mandates. They're, you know, free to talk about whatever weird shit they come across. Dave 37:58 That could have been the eighth title. Tara 38:02 Carrie recently found out about Cher's one woman-only version of Westside Story, a TV special from the 70s. Sarah 38:09 Oh, my God. Tara 38:11 So hearing what she felt about that could be something that gets in your ears if you join us on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Sarah 38:16 Mm-hmm. Dave 38:18 Yep. And then come back right here next week on ESG Prime. We're welcoming back Sarah D. Bunting's partner in crime, literally, partner in crime. You guys should make business cards that say that. Eve Beatty is back to talk about the curious case of Amanda Knox, and that is next week, right on the show. It is time for the extra hot great cannon presenting this week as our own Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah 38:49 Hi, it's me. The podcast's designated Sopranos Canon Submitter coming at you with season two, episode seven, D-Girl. This pitch actually began its life as a tiny canon. For our Patreon-only podcast, I had originally planned to submit Tony's disgusted fucking internet from this episode. And then two things happened. One, I realized how many other legendary quotes and references also come from D-Girl and have. Braided themselves into my regular lexicon. And two, my esteemed sibling, Dave Jr. , responded to a totally unrelated post by the actor who plays the titular D-Girl, Alicia Witt. by grumbling, Fuck it D girl in the comments, and Wit showed some wit by immediately replying in all caps that she is a vice president, asshole I love that for her and Dave Jr. So what the hell? Let's try to get D-Girl in at the grown-ups table. This episode is written by Todd Kessler, who's also responsible For the season two finale, Funhouse, and the third season episode University, among several others, and directed by old series hand Alan Coulter. It's the one in which Christopher, Michael Imperioli, faces an existential crisis about his screenwriting aspirations and is dragged to the crossroads of the WGA and LCN. AJ, Robert Eiler, on the eve of his confirmation, also has a literal existential crisis thanks to reading for school that he actually did for once in the fucking series. Big Pussy, Vincent Pistori, ordered to wear a wire to AJ's confirmation party, must confront the rat-shaped boundaries of his current existence And the show talks about its own crisis of the self, grappling with its own popularity and the ways it has glamorized sociopaths. There is an academic paper in each one of those things, and yet D-Girl is somewhat undersung, in my opinion. In lists ranking all 86 of The Sopranos episodes, D-Girl usually tops out in the 40s. I assert that it deserves better. Here is why. Number one, Alicia Witt's performance. I believe that Dave Junior was actually clocking Wit for some maha foolishness on her socials, and I'm not trying to wade into that, but She is perfectly cast here as a smugly authoritative Hollywood exec. Wit has always brought a certain I'm not wearing underpants, but know this, I have killed people, energy to her performances that I've liked And that started with Amy Safer, who is prone to burbling things like Quentin's a friend and has to be told by her boss, Jon Favreau, playing himself, to stop comparing every true story she hears to top box office draws. This sour portrait of Hollywood is the second plank in my pitch platform. Specifically the ways that creators and executives think of their power and influence as quote real until they're confronted with true, lethal tales of gangster vengeance and violence, and it's perfectly served by Witt's performance and by Jon Favreau's. I used to have a runner on Previously. tv about Favreau's compulsive mentioning of his Rocky Marciano project on Dinner for Five. But to his credit, Favreau, playing himself, is perfectly willing to lampoon his and the industry's tourist attitude Towards the IRL murderers and their victims, that everything from 30s Cagney pictures to The Godfathers to yes, the Sopranos give a safety glow-up. Until, that is, gets a little too real with a coke-snorting Christopher, his revolver, and an ugly transphobic violence anecdote. that Favs appropriates for his own Crazy Joe Gallo script before fleeing town. Clip one Hat tip in this section of the plot also to Sandra Bernhard and Janine Garofilo as themselves, noting a climactic shootout scene to death while covered in squib gore. Clip 42:38 No, that's cool, man. I'm sorry. No, come on, you can ask me. Oh, come on. Come on, Rocky. Come on, Rocky. Come on. Ask me. Can I did I what? Did I what? Have I ever watched? Nothing man. Come on. Come on. Come on, What love is it? Just take that factor. Wow, come on, your money. Come on, your money. Did I ever watch? Come on. Come on now. Here we go, yo, Bunny. Did I ever watch? Did I ever w It's not cool, man. I got it because I got like dialogue tomorrow, so my voice gets all scratchy. It's not cool. Sarah 43:26 My third reason is Drea Di Matteo, and specifically her butt. She is giving her usual pitiably optimistic and easily wounded performance as Adriana, who deeply believes in Christopher and is taken for granted at best as a result. And she's doing it under five pounds of jersey hair and in a high cut, lacy pair of undies, and as always, she brings it, and so does her butt, MVPs, both cheeks. But the fourth and final reason is the meat of it. D-Girl has one of the highest lasting quote densities of any episode in the series' run, and I do not say that lightly. I didn't realize how many of these were in my daily or weekly row until I rewatched the episode, but let's start with the one I'll be having carved on my headstone. as Lorraine Bracco's Doctor Melfi tries to help James Gandalfini's Tony Sr. cope with AJ AJing Clip Two It hears AJ trying to explain what he's feeling. Clip 44:20 Sounds to me like Anthony Junior may have stumbled onto existentialism. Fucking internet. Sarah 44:31 while not knowing how to pronounce Nietzsche, and Tony not knowing how to explain how much of Jersey spirituality is actually social ritual, Clip three. Clip 44:41 There's not no God. Just God is dead. Who said that? Nitsch. He's a 19th century philosopher from Germany. Anyway, that's why I'm not getting confirmed. Enough with that shit. Right? Your confirmation's coming up this week and you are getting confirmed. That sucks, why not? Hey. You've got a lot of bulls, you know that. You go to Catholic school and your mother wants it. Yeah, what does she know? She knows that even if God is dead, you're still gonna kiss his ass. Sarah 45:09 AJ, dispatched by Pussy to see his grandmother Livia, the great Nancy Marshand, because she's quote old and has wisdom and stuff. even though Livia and Tony are, to understate the case rather dramatically, estranged, gets a predictably scabrous take on faith from his grandma, Clip Four. Clip 45:29 The world is a jungle, and if you want my advice, Anthony, don't expect happiness. You won't get it, people let you down, and I'm not naming any names. But in the end, you die in your own arms. You mean alone? It's all a big nothing. What makes you think you're so special? Sarah 45:58 I did not remember all these That's Olivia bangers were in the same fucking scene And it's worth noting that when the scene begins, Livia is just laying on her side staring into space, ignoring her lunch tray, but by the end she has been energized by her own nihilism and is digging into lunch. Nice bit of writing business there Tony later accidentally stumbles onto an insight about what makes relationships last for good or ill, clip five. Clip 46:26 Cause if you ask me, Caravaggio's is slipping. I heard they fired the produce, guy. Enough! I'm so sick and tired of hearing you people talk about food, food, food. That's all anybody ever talks about is projut. Cheese and fucking fava beans. I'm drowning here. Jesus Christ, take it easy. We're not even engaged yet. Well, when you're married, you'll understand the importance of fresh produce. Fuck the importance. Oh! Sarah 46:48 Carmella, Edie Falco, has zero insight into her younger child somehow, clip six. Clip 46:55 What kind of animal smokes marijuana at his own confirmation? Sarah 47:00 And finally, the exchange that started all of this, when the scales drop from Christopher's eyes as to which vocation is perhaps safer emotionally. The Mob or Hollywood, and after a typically flip reference from Amy, her first genuine emotion of the episode when her status and primacy are questioned in Clip VII. Clip 47:21 This is getting kind of William Inge here, isn't it? I gotta go. You fucking D-girl! Excuse me? Excuse me! I'm a vice president! You fucking asshole! Sarah 47:36 D-Girl is a fairly straightforward set of parallels and reflections of characters' existential angsting. a classic David Chase indictment of Hollywood systems, and funny and quotable as hell, while at the same time insightful about the role the funny quotability of the sopranos has played in normalizing ruthless narcissists Plus, I am constantly bellowing at the pets to excuse me, I am a vice president. Not that they listen to me, but thank you. You for listening, and I hope you'll find a niche for D-Girl in the extra hot gray canon. Tara 48:13 Thank you, Sarah. Andrew, please start off our discussion. Andrew 48:18 I haven't re-watched The Sopranos in a while. When you think about it, you always think about, you know, this is a show that Help to usher in the peak TV era. Like, there's a lot of discussion about the deep and complicated themes, and the way it's shot, and the way it's scripted, and the way it just kind of sets the tone for HBO, and then all this other stuff for decades afterwards But it's just so funny also. And I never I rarely remember exactly how funny it is unless I'm like sitting in front of an episod You got every quote that I wrote down. The one that you didn't have was a drive-by from Meadow, who appears in the kitchen to be helpful. When Tony and Carmella are disciplining EJ, and she says, Madame de Stall said, In life, one must choose between boredom and suffering. And Tony briefly pauses and then says, Go to your room. Sarah 49:07 Yeah, it was on the long list, for sure. Andrew 49:10 It's very good. It's got celebrities playing themselves. It's got Christopher being Christopher. It's got just some Alzheimer lines. Yeah, not didn't jump to the top of my list of Sopranos episodes that I think of as memorable, but definitely a lot of really good stuff here, I think. Tara 49:28 Thank you. I will go next. I had the same experience as you, Sarah, when you decided to do this as a full canon instead of a tiny that, like all of these were in the same episode wasn't something I had remembered. I also want to just highlight, I know you did already, but Jon Favreau getting so pissy every time Christopher shits on swingers is funny to me every time. Sarah 49:48 Oh, my God. Tara 49:49 He, unlike Amy. Knows how far he can push back with Christopher. Sarah 49:55 Mm-hmm. Tara 49:56 And so he wants to defend it, but he doesn't want to do it in a way that's going to get him murdered. See also his notes on Christopher's Screen point, which are hilarious. Sarah 50:05 Oh, God. Tara 50:07 When he, and you know, the fight over the gun, and when he, you know, just subtly taking the napkin from his room service dinner and wiping it off after they have this sort of Scuffle. Sarah 50:07 Oh. Tara 50:16 Like he's really funny in this episode, including just blowing town as soon as he thinks he can get away with it. Sarah 50:23 Yeah. And just the shrieking in the clip too, like just vanity-free performance and pitch perfect. Tara 50:30 Yeah, he really goes for it. It works on so many levels. Like, just the straight-up story is funny. All the connections that you highlighted of like everyone having their own different existential crises, real and fake I mean fake like AJs because again, I've already said it once, but some people have real problems. It's not one of them, really. Getting to see too from his perspective, whenever he's trying to pull him back from the brink, even Big Pussy's son is telling him, like, oh, this is all bullshit and don't listen to rap. It's just marketing now. Just his education is continuing outside of the classroom in a variety of ways, including with his horrible grandmother telling him he's nothing. Special. This is a funny, grim episode, which is what you want from this show. And I loved it. Thank you for bringing it back in front of me, Dave. Sarah 51:19 My pleasure. Dave 51:19 Yeah, like Andrew, I often forget how funny this show can be when you're not actually actively watching it. So that's the part I enjoy the most about. D-girl. So the reason I'm not going to put it in the canon is because at some point Meadow grabs a snapple from the fridge at home and she grabs mint tea snapple, possibly the worst sounding snapple I've ever heard of in my life. Sarah 51:41 You don't think that's in character for that hag, though? Dave 51:44 Minty? I don't know. Minty's kind of an old person drink. Olivia saying he can go shit in his hat is something I think we should be bringing back into the vernacular. Absolutely. And question for the panel: What do you think Michael actually said to the guy in the bar? So there's a scene where the two couples are in the bar. They're getting jostled by the table behind them, a bunch of frat boys. At a certain point, he gets up and he whispers something into the guy's ear, you know, as they're about to fight, and then it totally diffuses everything. And those guys just like, we gotta leave. What did he say? Tara 52:21 I think if any of us could improvise something as threatening as Christopher could. Dave 52:26 Did I say Michael? Tara 52:27 Yeah, but I knew who you meant, Christopher. Dave 52:27 I said Michael. Andrew 52:28 Yes, yeah, but we know yes. Tara 52:30 We would not be here today. We would be killing people. Dave 52:34 I guess my question is, was it like direct and descriptive? Or was it vague and menacing? What's his style? I suppose is the question. Tara 52:42 I think he was direct and used as few words as possible, so it was clear that he meant it. Andrew 52:46 Yeah, that's Christopher's style, I think. Sarah 52:49 I think he probably got his jacket to sort of like crease open far enough and just directed the guy to look down into the jacket and he would see like a holster gun there and that was the end of that. Dave 53:03 The only part of the episode I thought was off was the weird transitions they did in and out of the sex scenes. Like, they were so like fade to commercial quick. Tara 53:12 Yes, mm-hmm. Dave 53:13 That it really took me like a second to be like, wait a sec, why is this cut for a commercial breakfast? No, it's not. It was just like a weird editing choice. Tara 53:20 Mm-hmm. Dave 53:21 I thought that was a bit strange. Perhaps the style at the time, much like everybody's suits in this episode. Holy fuck. Sarah 53:27 Oh, God, yeah, well, yeah. Tara 53:27 Yeah. Dave 53:28 Damn. Sopranos is often funny, and I do forget that, but I feel like this episode is With all its Hollywood connections, it is like a fun, one of those fun diversion episodes for you know any show, but the show in particular. And then a later again when we get into the what was it, Cleaver? Is that the name of the movie? Andrew 53:47 Cleaver, yeah. Sarah 53:48 Yeah. Dave 53:48 when we get into the cleaver stuff. Sarah 53:49 Mhm. Dave 53:50 So it sort of pays dividends down the line too. So yeah, fun episode to revisit for sure. Let's put this to the official vote. Andrew, what is your determination here? Canon worthy or not? Andrew 54:01 Uh I think yes. Dave 54:02 Tart Me too. Tara 54:02 I can't say no to my book yak over here. Yes, for me as well. Dave 54:07 So That means that the Soprano Season 2, Episode 7 D Girl, you are hereby inducted into the extra hot gray canon. Clip 54:27 Americans love a winner. Yup. And will not tolerate a loser. Nope. Dave 54:32 It is time to find out who is our winner and who is our loser of the week. Tara has this week's winner Martial law from Tekken And also, we can add the monkey from Why the Last Man just to round out the gas. Tara 54:38 Yes, it is the forthcoming Yellowstone spin-off titled Why Colin Marshalls? Which has just cast Logan Marshall Green. You know him from the movie Upgrade. You know him more recently from being Adam Gardens in the final season of And Just Like That. I have some other suggestions for them. James Marshall from Twin Peaks. Chris Marshall, of course, from Space Show. That's right. Sky P Marshall on her days off from the new Matlock. Bring back Penny and Gary Marshall CGI form. Also, E. G. Marshall, why not? Marshall Mathers, we know him as Eminem, and obviously get Rob Marshall and Ross and Marshall Thurber to direct, but. And I know it will be tempting. Don't hire Paula Marshall. She is a famous show killer. Don't do it. Sure. Sarah 55:32 Oh, yeah. Dave 55:33 Fantastic. Sarah, who's our loser of the week? Sarah 55:36 But we got twins this time. Not really. It's two of them, Megan Markle and Prince Harry, who have gotten downgraded to a first-look deal at Netflix. like the Obamas. I hope they don't take the wrong message from that, but that's that's where that is. Dave 55:50 Well, speaking of getting a first look deal, you know what time it is? Sarah 55:53 Game time? Dave 55:54 It's game time, first of the season. This is the first game of the season. I just want to let you know up top there is one secret point in play today. All right, new seasons, new scores, zero, zero, zero Today, we are playing They Mostly Come at Night, in which you must name the alien TV character I will describe. Tara 56:20 Oh. Dave 56:26 I will give you up to two clues to their identity. First, I will tell you how they will burn you. And then, if you don't give the correct answer, which means you get to guess at both levels, I will tell you what that alien's mouth in a mouth likes to talk about. Two points after the first clue, one point after the second clue. You can steel mill after the second clue only. And speaking about steel mills, can I please get the steel mill Kalp Tara? And remember, this is the little mouth doing this That's right. Okay. Tara 56:57 Okay, Sarah has zero, I have one, valued guests have one plus Eric's meal for a total of two. Dave 57:04 So let's throw it to Piggy and see who's going first. Clip 57:09 We will start with valued guest. Dave 57:10 All right. Andrew's in the hot seat, followed by Sarah, then Tara. We have 21 questions. We're not going to do any challenge zones today. Here we go. This alien, Andrew, burns you with spatial impossibilities. Andrew 57:23 Spatial impossibilities. Dave 57:25 Yes, and I just want to say at this point, we're not literally burning you with these things. Andrew 57:25 Can I get can I get another clue? Clip 57:26 Can the book have the bars of my killer? Dave 57:34 This alien's mouth in a mouth talks a lot about tiny whiminess. Clip 57:39 Cause I'm back on the cold. Andrew 57:40 Oh, oh, dang. Um, man, I'm not enough of a doctor who had like the the dolleks, like the one Yeah, just Daleks, the the bad, the main ones. Dave 57:45 Yeah, but just like put something obvious out there. Tara 57:47 Don't over don't overthink it. Clip 57:47 Cause I'm back on And he was forever tormenting old Boney with his cold volcano logic. Dave 57:48 Don't overthink it. Oh, wait. Daleks? No, no, wait. Nope, we just simply wanted the doctor. The doctor from Doctor Who he is an alien, yes. Andrew 57:57 Ah, there we go. He is an a. Dave 58:01 To Sarah D. Bunting with your first alien. This alien burns you with his cold volcano logic. Sarah 58:09 Volcano volcano logic. Dave 58:12 Yes. Sarah 58:12 I see what you did there. Is it Mr. Spock? Tara 58:23 It's two points, right? Dave 58:24 Two points for that one. Tara 58:24 Oh, sorry. Clip 58:25 We got to the book we were to the bar to work Is a big old colour. Dave 58:25 Yes, his alien mouth within a mouth talks a lot about his acne clears up after ponfar. What's your second Tara, here's you first. Tara 58:33 All right. Dave 58:34 This alien burns you with heat vision. These days, the alien's mouth in a mouth talks a lot about truth, justice, and a better tomorrow. Tara 58:46 Oh, Super Brand. Clip 58:46 There's a man to move out of the bar. Dave 58:47 Superman is correct, yes. Back to Andrew. This alien burns you with medical incompetency Dr. Andrew 58:56 Is it uh Doctor Zwidberg? Dave 58:58 Zoiberg Sarah, this alien burns you with a unique aging process. Sarah 58:59 Oh, good one. Clip 59:01 Is me coming to the book. Sarah 59:02 Yeah. Unique aging process. Clip 59:09 It's a big coming to the book. Sarah 59:10 I don't know. Hint. Dave 59:11 The alien's mouth and a mouth talks a lot about his boss Orson. Sarah 59:17 Oh, uh, Mork. Dave 59:19 Mark is your alien. Good for one. Tatara. This alien burns you with an Eludium Q36 explosive space modulator. Tara 59:30 Brilliant Um is it Harry Vanderspiegel? Dave 59:31 Yes. This alien's a mouth in a mouth talks a lot about destroying Earth to get a better view of Venus. Clip 59:39 It'll be done. Dave 59:44 Nope, anybody want to steal meal this? Okay, so we've got Earth upsetting the view of Venus. Clip 59:50 I want to move like I want to rock. Dave 59:50 So they're on Mars. That is Marvin the Martian from Looney tens. Sarah 59:55 Oh, okay. Dave 59:57 All right, back to Andrew. Clip 59:57 I want to move like I want it a rock. Dave 59:58 This alien burns you with ruthless loyalty to the Irkan Empire. Clip 1:00:01 Cause I made up the cut after Like I want to get a rock, 'cause I'm back on. Andrew 1:00:05 Uh Invader Zim. Dave 1:00:06 That is Zim from Invader Zim. Correct. Back to Sarah. This alien burns you with Cat, Cat Breath. Alf is correct for two points. Clip 1:00:22 Like I want to get a rock, 'cause I'm a Cause I make a lot of money. Dave 1:00:22 Tatara, this alien burns you with pain from a long curved mealy weapon. Tara 1:00:23 Yes. Uh warf I'll steel mule it. Dave 1:00:32 Whorf is correct. His mouth on a mouth talks a lot about today being a good day to die. All right, everybody's last question before our score break. This one for Andrew. This alien burns you with the dark matter he poops out. Andrew 1:00:47 Uh nibbler Man. Dave 1:00:48 Nibbler from Futurama is correct. The alien's mouth on a mouth talks a lot about how that past nastification is what gives you your special powers. Sarah, this alien burns you with her species state-of-the-art conditioning room. Clip 1:01:01 Cause I make a moment. Cause I make a Cut up, got the woman. Sarah 1:01:08 Conditioning room? Dave 1:01:10 Yeah. Sarah 1:01:11 Uh I don't know. I can guess at any level, right? Dave 1:01:15 Both. Sarah 1:01:16 Okay, um seven of nine. Why not? Dave 1:01:20 The alien's mouth in a mouth likes to swallow lots of living rats Anybody? Sarah 1:01:26 I don't know who that is Space Ghost. I don't know. Tara 1:01:34 Sure. Dave 1:01:34 All right. Tara 1:01:34 Is it Diana from V? Dave 1:01:36 Diana from V is correct from the miniseries V. Clip 1:01:39 Can't both have the ball. Dave 1:01:40 She loves to eat rats. Sarah 1:01:40 Ugh. Dave 1:01:41 She loves them. Sarah 1:01:42 I wouldn't have known that name, but I had a feeling it was V Jason. Dave 1:01:45 Yeah. All right, Tara, your last question. This alien burns you with this boo from Mario approach to social interaction. Clip 1:01:51 Like I want to take a rock a rock There's a big old ticket. Tara 1:01:58 I feel like I should know and I don't hint, please. Dave 1:02:01 This alien's mouth in a mouth talks a lot about being in a quantum locked state. Tara 1:02:07 Okay, is it the weeping angel? Dave 1:02:08 It is the weeping angel from Doctor Who, correct. Tara 1:02:09 Okay. Sarah 1:02:10 Oh, wow, nice pull. Dave 1:02:12 They only move towards you when you're looking away, and you have to look at them and they stop, just like Boo from Mario. Tara 1:02:16 Yep. Dave 1:02:17 All right, it's time for the scores. Tara 1:02:20 Okay, it's very close. Sarah and I are tied with five each. Andrew has six. Dave 1:02:25 Ooh, all right. Liking the scores. Everybody has three more questions. This one is for Andrew. This alien burns you with acute tailoring knowledge. Andrew 1:02:37 Acute tailoring knowledge. Is it Garrick from Deep Space Nine? Dave 1:02:42 It is Garrick from D Space Nine. Tara 1:02:43 Whoa, nice. Dave 1:02:44 Correct. Andrew 1:02:44 Hell yeah. Sarah 1:02:44 Oh, my God. Dave 1:02:44 Nicely done. Sarah 1:02:46 Wow. Dave 1:02:47 Sarah, this alien burns you with its misuse of earthling idioms. Sarah 1:02:48 Yeah. Earthling idioms. I'm gonna be mad, but I need a hint. Dave 1:02:57 The Alien's Mouth in a Mouth talks a lot about being from France. Sarah 1:03:04 Came from France. Uh, I don't know, Q. Dave 1:03:10 Incorrect. Anybody want to steal mill this? Now's your opportunity. Tara 1:03:13 I can't. Clip 1:03:13 I want to work. Andrew 1:03:14 Is it is it cone heads? Dave 1:03:15 It is conehead, yes. Tara 1:03:17 Is that an official steel meal? Andrew 1:03:17 Why do I know that? Dave 1:03:17 Beldar, Beldar, conehead. Sarah 1:03:17 Oh shit. Dave 1:03:20 Yes, that was a steel meal. Tara 1:03:21 Good job. Dave 1:03:22 Good job. Tara 1:03:22 Well stolen. Clip 1:03:23 It's a big up to the book, more than a month. Dave 1:03:24 All right. Yeah, Saturday Night Live Cone Heads. Andrew 1:03:26 Mm-hmm. Dave 1:03:27 This one is for Tara. This alien burns you with poor bedside manners. Clip 1:03:30 It's a big up to the boat, more than one Like I wanna take it, I rock Cause I'm a moonlight I wanna take it a rock Cause I'm made I'm coming up with the cut. Tara 1:03:36 Um hint Oh, this is Harry Vanderspiegel from Resident Alien, RIP. Dave 1:03:40 The Alien's Mouth in a Mouth talks a lot about apple pie. This is Harry Vanderspiegel from Resident Alien, yes. Back to Andrew. This alien burns you with its cuteness. Clip 1:03:55 I'm on Like I want to take a rock. Tara 1:03:56 That could be anything. Andrew 1:03:57 That could be a lot of aliens. Sarah 1:03:59 Mhm. Andrew 1:03:59 I mean, blind shot tribbles. Dave 1:04:03 Trebbles! Tribbles aren't cute, they're terrible. Tara 1:04:05 They're cute. Andrew 1:04:05 They're cute. Tara 1:04:06 What are you talking about? Sarah 1:04:06 They're adorable. Andrew 1:04:07 That's the whole point. Sarah 1:04:07 That's what I would have guessed. Dave 1:04:08 I don't know about that. But they're just like a koosh ball. I don't know, they're not that cute. The Alien's Mouth in a Mouth talks a lot about eating a poor frog lady's children. Tara 1:04:19 He is cute. Andrew 1:04:20 Uh shoot. I should I should know this, but I'm drawing a blank. Dave 1:04:24 All right, steel meal opportunity. Tara 1:04:25 No one else has any. Dave 1:04:26 Nobody else, steel meals. Sarah 1:04:26 Can't oh, yeah. Dave 1:04:27 All right, that is Grogu from The Mandalorian. Tara 1:04:28 Gro go to the middle. Andrew 1:04:30 Ah, yes, okay. Dave 1:04:31 Yes, he's cute and he eats somebody's kids. Tara 1:04:33 He sure did. Dave 1:04:34 Feet away from her. Sarah 1:04:35 Well. Tara 1:04:35 Yeah. Dave 1:04:35 Poor mother. Terrible storyline. All right. Sarah, this alien burns you with rubber tires. Sarah 1:04:40 Yeah. Clip 1:04:43 I want to take a rock It's a makeup to the book, and the ball is a big up to the book, and the ball is Don't do it. Sarah 1:04:48 Oh, I feel like I know this one, but I can't pull it. Hint. Dave 1:04:51 The Alien's Mouth in a Mouth talks a lot about rolling out rolling out. Sarah 1:04:58 Rolling out rubber tires rolling out um the Wonder Twins Oh, sure. Dave 1:05:06 Incorrect? Anybody know this one? Andrew 1:05:08 Optimus Prime, yeah. Dave 1:05:09 Optimus Prime from the Transformers, yes. All right, this will take us into our score break. This alien tar Burns you with the effects of an alien stiletto, which is not a song by Alien Billy Joel. Clip 1:05:22 Is a makeup to the bone. Dave 1:05:23 You're thinking about pressure. Tara 1:05:26 Pressure! I can picture it and I can't get there, so I'll take the hint. Clip 1:05:29 Is it make up to the book? Dave 1:05:29 I just will give you the hint that his name is his role. Clip 1:05:33 I want to move like I want to rock. Dave 1:05:34 He doesn't have a name, just in case you were, that was holding you back. Tara 1:05:36 Oh, okay, is it the okay, is it the Brian Thompson guy from X-Files? Dave 1:05:40 Yeah, but I need something close to what he does or something. Clip 1:05:41 I want to move on to rock. Tara 1:05:41 I don't know. Okay, his hand or something turns into a spike. Clip 1:05:44 Is a big old ticket. Dave 1:05:46 Yeah, but I need his character, his role, or something. Just like the actor is not enough for me to give it to you. Tara 1:05:50 Okay, he's an alien assassin, I think. Dave 1:05:52 Yes, the alien bounty hunter from X-Files. Tara 1:05:53 Okay. Jeez. Dave 1:05:56 The aliens, what do you mean, geez? Tara 1:05:58 No, I'm just it took a long time to get there, but we got there. Dave 1:05:59 The alien's mouth-and-to-mouth talks about his long-term goal is to run a firehouse in Los Angeles. Tara 1:06:04 Yeah, I knew who you meant. Dave 1:06:06 All right, everybody's got one question left, so let's get the scores. Tara 1:06:09 Okay. Sarah has five. I has seven. Andrew far out ahead with nine. Dave 1:06:14 All right, but it is possible to catch up because the exciting part of this one is, even though there's just one answer, I'm doubling the points because the answer is a pair. Tara 1:06:22 Oh, okay, okay, okay. Dave 1:06:25 A pair of aliens, okay? That will be your answer. We're starting with Andrew. This alien burns you with their access to abortion services. Andrew 1:06:39 Uh can I get a hint? Dave 1:06:41 The alien's mouth in a mouth talks a lot about miniature American flags. Clip 1:06:44 Cause I'm a cold. Andrew 1:06:46 Oh, Kangan Kodos. Dave 1:06:47 Kangakotos is good for two points. That's two points. All right, Tessera. Clip 1:06:52 Cause I'm a Can you walk away? Dave 1:06:53 This alien burns you with one of their large selections of animal forms. Sarah 1:07:00 Is this the Wonder Twins? Clip 1:07:00 Can you walk Cause I make a moment. Dave 1:07:01 This is the Wonder Twins. The aliens' mouth out of mouth talks a lot about the various shapes of water. More points for Sarah. Tara 1:07:07 Okay. Nicely done, Sarah. Dave 1:07:09 All right, last question is for Tara. Tara 1:07:11 Yep. Dave 1:07:12 These aliens burn you with their burns. Clip 1:07:14 Cause I'm back Me come to the beginning of the Valued guest valued guest valued guest We're listening. Dave 1:07:22 The alien's mouth in a mouth talks a lot about how your jambox is now his by way of our actions and that someone should shoot him the bird. The Moon and Iights is correct from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and that is regulation. So I need the scores. Tara 1:07:40 Okay, Sarah and I finished where we were in the first score break tied now with nine, but Andrew is our victor with 11. Dave 1:07:49 Nice. All right. Andrew 1:07:50 Yay, thank you. Dave 1:07:50 Nicely done, Andrew. Let's use the tiebreaker for our future steel million. You need them because everybody's got zero Here we go. First person to shout out the answer wins. This alien burns you by being one of the few characters in the world with footwear. Miss Ilium burns you by being one of the few characters in the world with footwear You talk about gossimer? Tara 1:08:13 Oh, it's the it's the red guy from Looney Tunes. Yes, no? I forget his name though. Yes. Dave 1:08:23 Gossimer is not the answer. Tara 1:08:24 Okay. Now I'm out. Dave 1:08:26 The alien's mouth in a mouth talks a lot about you and your friend being dum-dums. He's one of the few characters with footwear, and he talks a lot about you and your friend being dum-dums. Tara 1:08:40 I think I have it, but I don't know if I can guess again. Dave 1:08:42 Well, we'll let them guess first. If they give up or get and we'll go back to you. Sarah, any ideas here? Andrew? Sarah 1:08:48 Brack. Dave 1:08:49 No. Sarah 1:08:49 No, no ideas. Dave 1:08:50 Andrew? Andrew 1:08:51 I don't have it. Dave 1:08:52 All right, back to Tara. Tara 1:08:53 Is it the great gazoo? Dave 1:08:54 The great gazoo from the Flintstones is correct. Sarah 1:08:55 Oh, the great gazoo. Andrew 1:08:55 Oh, oh, footwear. Dave 1:08:58 Yeah, everybody else, you get to see their feet. Sarah 1:08:58 I didn't realize he was an alien. Dave 1:09:01 Not him, though. Tara 1:09:01 He's got a little bit of a little bit of a drink. Dave 1:09:03 No, he's real. He's a only those guys can see him. All right. Well done, everybody. But today belongs to Value Guests. Nice way to start the season, and that is it for this episode of Extra Hot Great. We digested Alien Earth before going around the dial with stops at War of the Worlds, the Gilded Age, and it's always sunny in Philadelphia, plus American Prince JFK Jr. Sarah hosted a dinner for four and got Soprano's D-Girl into the canon. We crowned winners and losers of the week, and Andrew was a winner of this week's. Game time. Next up is Butterfly on extra, extra hot grade. Remember. Clip 1:09:51 Ah! Dave 1:09:51 I am David T. Cole and on behalf of Tara Ariano, Sarah D. Tara 1:09:55 I never had an egg cream. Dave 1:09:58 Vunting, and Andrew Cunningham. Sarah 1:09:59 Fuck the importance. Andrew 1:10:03 When you're married, you'll understand the importance of fresh produce. Dave 1:10:08 Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time right here on Extra Author This is the first game of the season. Clip 1:10:17 Fucking internet. Dave 1:10:24 I just want to let you know up top there is one secret point in play. Today. All right, new seasons, new scores, zero, zero, zero. Today we are playing They Mostly Come at Night.