Making Heads Or Tails Of The Twisted Tale Of Amanda Knox

Clip: [00:03] In the haze of tragedy, I was a deer in the headlights, unaware that my hunter was about to arrive. Dave: [00:18] This is the Extra Hot Great Podcast. Episode 576 for the week of August 18th, 2025. I am on the mis I am on the miss poop. David T. Cole here with miserable solve rate Sarah debunting. Sarah: [00:40] Your mom's the monster of Florence. Dave: [00:42] Treacherous translator Tara Ariano and bloody bath mat Eve Beatty Welcome, Peggy. Tara: [00:44] The English girls don't like her. Eve: [00:48] It's my time of the month. Tara: [00:55] Welcome to Extra Hot Great for another week joining us. She is a writer, small business owner, and the co-creator of the best evidence newsletter. Not Sarah, it is her co-editor, Eve Beatty. Welcome back Eve. Sarah: [01:08] Eve. Dave: [01:09] Look, it's not funny, somebody died, but there was a poop involved. Tara: [01:13] There was a poof. Sarah: [01:15] We saw yeah, we saw. Tara: [01:16] I have questions. Don't worry. Dave: [01:19] I mean, if only all true crime could have a poop, I have much more. Tara: [01:22] Yeah, you would. We are, in fact, here to talk about the twisted tail of Amanda Knox. Sarah: [01:25] A lot of it does, surprising amount. Tara: [01:30] In 2007, an English student named Meredith Kircher was murdered in her temporary home in Perugia, Italy, where she was studying abroad. Her roommate Amanda Knox was arrested along with Knox's boyfriend Raffaele Solicito, but there's a lot more to the story, which is dramatized in Hulu's new scripted true crime drama, The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox. Starring Grace Van Patten, and I looked it up. She is the niece of actor and pet food entrepreneur Dick. The show is created by KJ Steinberg. Formerly of This Is Us Mistresses and Get This The Nine. Remember the Nine from The Years After Lost? Sarah: [02:05] Oh God, yeah. Tara: [02:06] She worked on that. That's her first credit And the show's executive producers include Monica Lewinsky and Amanda Knox. The first two episodes dropped August 20th, with the remaining six dropping one at a time on Wednesday We got access to the whole season, but we'll be careful about spoilers. Keeping in mind, spoilers do not include true events that have been widely reported. Let's do the Chen check-in. Eve, should our listeners watch The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox? Sarah Dave It's probably not For me, either. Sarah: [02:33] Qualified no. Tara: [02:39] I'm not surprised that we split this way because we have two crime sickos complimentary and two true crime abstainers here. Dave, do you have a little more on why it was up to you? Dave: [02:51] First of all, I hope the mastering process I do really doesn't destroy the quality raspberries that I do. For the record, my problem was like right away, I thought this whole production was overwrought. Tara: [03:00] Sure. Dave: [03:05] So, I'm going to play for you the very beginning of the intro. Of the whole series where she's setting up the universe, I suppose. Clip: [03:14] On October 31st, 1986, at 1. 28 and 32 seconds, a rebellious hooded crow leaves its formation and flies into the window of a courthouse in Terrence. At that exact moment inside his chambers, a young Italian magistrate sees the crow's death as an omen. His prayer turns to panic when his favorite book starts burning. And at the very same time in the town of Coulston, South London, a much-loved little girl takes her very first steps. And at the exact same moment in Seattle, Washington, After walking like Egyptians, Flapper and Billy the Kid lie down like the frick. And nine months later, a baby girl is born. Dave: [04:11] So that is Amanda Knox setting up all the principal players of the series, and it lost me there. How. Overwrought, it was, and it did not win me back. Tara: [04:20] Yeah, I had a question about that. Like what what would our experts say about this tone? Because it seems like it's aiming for a little bit of like almost comedic Elements like in the style of the dropout, sort of, but you know, a person died. Eve, what did you think of the the way it opened? Eve: [04:36] Well, it was really interesting hearing that clip in the vacuum without the visuals because it suddenly sounded like the next season of Only Murders in the Building. Sarah: [04:44] Mm yeah. Eve: [04:45] Right down to like that music, right? But you could you could imagine instead if it was just like a little more nasal that this is like Mabel delivering these lines I'm glad that you brought up like the dropout, because that's the thing is, like, when I was sort of thinking about this, I was like thinking, like, you know, this sort of like belongs in that same category as the dropout and the Anna Delvy show that I can't remember the name of. Sarah: [05:06] Inventing Anna, I think they called it. Tara: [05:08] That's it. Eve: [05:09] Or even like apple cider vinegar. Like they all sort of occupy this area. And then I thought, but those are all shows about women who are guilty. So I guess that's not quite fair to lump it in. But they all sort of serve that same vibe, don't they? Tara: [05:21] Mhm. Sarah, what did you think? Sarah: [05:23] You could make the argument that the series is trying to mirror or reflect the sort of what seemed to be the primary Evidence against or allegation against Amanda Knox initially, which is that she was being totally inappropriate in the situation. And kind of remains a slightly like off-center, off-label responses somehow, but That's not evidence of anything, so you could make that argument, but I don't think they make the connection explicit enough if that's the case. I also think going back to what Eve was saying about these sort of docudrami about women who are guilty or at the center of a big case. This one shares with those that it is very well acted. The lead inhabits the main character extremely effectively. But it's sniffing its own farts, in my opinion, a little too much. Like way over directed, overproduced, overthought, I thought. And I'm not sure it knows who it's for, unless it's just for Amanda Knox working some shit out, which is fine, but it doesn't mean that you have to watch that happen. Eve: [06:38] I don't know that I can necessarily shade her for that. She was, in my opinion, done an incredible wrong, but that doesn't mean all of this is necessary. Tara: [06:48] I mean, how does it affect you as a viewer when you find out the subject of a show like this has been involved in making it? Was it sort of coloring your experience of watching it? Eve: [06:57] I think, you know, like as a journalist, I'm like still somewhat uncomfortable with some of that stuff. If this were like a documentary, I think I would be a little more prickly about it. After talking to more than one person who has been the subject of a true crime property, Margie from the Staircase I have sort of I've changed my position, and I sort of do feel like, especially when we're talking about something that's being made for like pure entertainment, which I think this arguably is then they should be involved and I think that they should also profit from it. You know, because otherwise I do think that we're talking about something that's pretty exploitative. So like, you know, I am sort of good for her. And that's why I say like, yeah, sure. Like, there's part of me that is like, just turn it on and let it play through because I want Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky. You know, I want them to get the money. I want them to get the eyeballs. You know, you can do other stuff and you'll be fine. It's eight ethic. You know, this is an interesting example of a woman sort of taking control of this narrative, and we don't see that often enough. So, you know, just let it run in the background while you do things. Tara: [07:56] Wow. Dave: [07:57] I will give the production credit If she did have her thumb on the scale of things, how dumb she comes across at the start of the series. I mean, it guess speaks to a certain Humility or self-awareness of where she was in this space at the time these events were happening because I was like, I just like that part of it. I was like, I don't know if I could continue watching. Somebody this obtuse in this situation, like it kind of made me not anxious because I'm not involved, but a little angry because I was watching it as entertainment. Sarah: [08:25] Yeah. Tara: [08:28] Mm-hmm. Dave: [08:31] As entertainment, I don't like this character. Tara: [08:34] Sarah, you were nodding. You agree. Sarah: [08:36] Yeah, I mean, she, if you sort of like follow her on social media or Like, follow her activist career or commentary that she does about various properties, and she and Ryan Ferguson often do talks together about wrongful convictions and false confessions and stuff like that. She Has a very good, wry, almost winky grasp of how she was perceived from the beginning. And like, she's very serious about making sure people understand, like, You know, that's not due process. That girl's cringe is not an indictable offense. But, like, I always say, like, there's sort of Realistic, and I mean, it's evocative, but it's not necessarily pleasing to watch. I don't think this is necessarily testimony that you, quote, have to sit through, but this does sort of track for me with her current IRL persona of like Understanding that even though it was wrong, she does understand how she came off. It just shouldn't have wound up with her in fucking prison. Dave: [09:46] Right. And it serves a narrative purpose in the show when the crime scene is first being established. She's doing some real dumb things, like making out with her boyfriend, like hours after all this happened, and sort of stuttering through her Italian and getting translated through her boyfriend and sort of just saying dumb things out of Nervous energy and all this sort of stuff. And all this plays into like the Italian authorities' sense that she is hiding something, that she is acting squirrely. And that all plays into it. You know, later on, there's some dubious translation going on in the station, and the way that she is interviewed is in question. So, all of those Quirks of hers at the time. And, you know, were we all so dumb back in, you know, when we were her age as well? But it does serve a purpose, but it's not necessarily, I didn't enjoy watching it. Sarah: [10:34] Yeah, that yeah. Dave: [10:40] So it might have been true to it, but I kind of wish they could have massaged some of that because some of those scenes where it is her just getting Peppered by the Italian authorities, they go on so long. And I got the point one minute in, and they go for four minutes. Sarah: [10:53] Yes. Dave: [10:53] And I was just like, you gotta edit this stuff down. Tara: [10:54] Right. Eve: [10:57] You mentioned like Amanda Knox's like thumb on the scale. If I were gonna say where, like, where I see the thumb, it's like there are no ellipses. It is, it's a total 100% of like every element that happened. And it's one of those things, like, as like a person Consuming entertainment, I wanted to say, Amanda, just tell me what happened. And I don't know if Amanda identifies as neuroatypical and I am not a doctor, but I do see some elements of some of this stuff where this is a person who is very focused on, I'm going to ex Explain things, and I'm going to explain things accurately, and it's going to be like this, and it's going to be every single moment. And that maybe fills eight episodes, but maybe that's one of the reasons that it is challenging to watch. Tara: [11:35] Yeah, there's definitely been a lot of speculation about her in that respect. Sarah: [11:36] Yeah. Tara: [11:39] But go ahead, Sarah. Sarah: [11:41] I think she does identify as neurodivergent, but I'm also not a doctor and I cannot swear that my memory is correct on that. Eve: [11:49] And who and who among us, you know, who among us? Sarah: [11:51] Well, really. Eve: [11:52] Yeah. Sarah: [11:52] But also, even if she weren't, I think this is sort of the flip side of the coin of having the subject be an executive Producer, that I don't need it to be objective and I don't need it not to have a point of view, just the opposite. I think that having the subject as the executive producer gives you a like greater Force confidence in the narrative, for lack of a better term, that like I would rather have a strong point of view, even if I'm like, I don't know if I agree with this, but at least it has the courage of its convictions, if you'll excuse the pun. But the flip side of that, the underbelly of it, is that who is going to tell the executive producer, like, we got it? Because that interrogation scene in the second episode, I think, is the one Dave's referring to, like, it just. It is very evocative at first at a minute long, and then at two minutes long, you're really starting to feel it closing in on you like it must have Closed in on her, and then at mini three, you're like, Well, now this has been going on too long and it's lost its power. So I think the problem with having the subject as the executive producer is that you don't have As much like narrative or edit say as you maybe should in terms of being like, I understand why this is important To you, but the viewing experience is compromised by including every jot and tittle of what happened. Eve: [13:19] Well, I think there's another lost opportunity there, too. Tara: [13:19] Yeah. Eve: [13:22] And this is not me going to McDonald's and ordering a ribeye, but You have Sharon Horgan there. She's, you know, a very compelling actor. She's a very useful person. And the actual story around Amanda's mom Who posted up in Italy, who was this tireless advocate for her daughter, who was talking to the Times, who was doing all this stuff, is actually a hella interesting story. A lot more interesting than, hey, guess what? In prison, there's babies. And so there's something squandered there that Sharon was not used better. Sharon did not have a dialect coach. And that Amanda's mom's story, which is a great story. Was not did not get the opportunity to be told to because there's this opportunity here to talk about there were these other victims, there were these people around her who were suffering. Sarah: [14:03] Yeah, that is a missed opportunity that, like, set up from behind the shoulder of the mom, or like Each episode, it's like one episode is her, one episode is Rafaele, one episode is whoever, but like this story has been told and told and told. And if you are going to sort of give this testimony again, and not for nothing, put the Kircher family through it with you, because they're so over it, they're under it and have been for fifteen years. I think you have to do something new or find something else to say that is not just as easily and more quickly served with. The Wikipedia page. Like, I don't think this is badly done. And if you don't know the case, it might be great. Grace Van Patten is very good as Amanda Knox, but I just don't, it's not enough. It's not enough, I don't think. Tara: [14:55] Well, that's the problem. If you're interested in this case, you already read both of her books. You saw her cameo in Laid last year on Peacock, a very bad show. I didn't like and got quickly canceled. Then, when you decide you're still going to do this for all the people that are interested in crime generally but don't know this story, and then you put it in the hands of Someone who comes from primetime soaps, and then two executive producers that have their right to, but they kind of have their own naxes to grind, like it's going to give a certain kind of focus. Sarah: [15:26] Agendas, yep. Tara: [15:28] To this, that may or may not be what the story needs. Eve: [15:33] Over the course of the past week, I have interviewed two different authors of crime fiction who have said in various ways, So why does anyone watch true crime when you can just read the Wikipedia And so these are people who arguably pay their bills on writing about crime, albeit, you know, like fictional crime. But even they are sort of, you know, at the point in sort of like the true crime arc where they question this one woman's like I can devote eight hours of my life to watching a show, or I can read Wikipedia while I'm waiting in line at the grocery store. I think that in a case like this that question becomes especially relevant because nobody is going into this series thinking we're going to have some new revelations and new insights about the caves. Clip: [16:20] Got a lot of shows. It's a great time for shows. Dave: [16:25] It is time to go around the dial first stop, as always is with Tara. Tara: [16:29] Hello, last week I finished watching North of North on Netflix, in which Cia, who is played by Anna Lamb. Feels stifled as just the wife of Ting Kelly William, basically the king of their town, Ice Cove Nunavut. She decides to take her daughter and move back in with her mother, Nevie. Played by Micah Harper, and basically starts adulthood from scratch by getting her first ever job working for the town under the demanding Helen, Mary Lynn Rice Cub from 24. Also shaking things up is the arrival of Alistair, Jay Ryan, and Kook, Brayden Clark, hot scientists vetting the town as a possible site for a polar research center. This is a production of the CBC, which means it is wholesome and life-affirming in the ways that you might expect from a public broadcaster, but it has a harder edge than I thought it would. Nevi is, for example, sober now, but wasn't always. And. The long-term effects of that are still being felt in her relationship with Siya, now that Sia is in her 20s and a mother herself. Seems like Nibi is a better grandmother than she was a mother. There are also a lot of. Very dark jokes about residential schools that they just expect the audience to get, which I appreciate. And there's also fun to be had at the expense of Helen, a white lady with some authority in a community of Indigenous people, but this is ultimately Anna Lamb's show. She is so winning and so cute as Cia. I don't necessarily think this is a show for Sarah, but I would recommend that you scrub through just to look at her outfits. When you live somewhere cold, you gotta cover your butt which is why you see her in a lot of really cute floral hoodies that are almost like mini dresses with a little ruffle at the bottom, always pockets, always. Sarah: [18:07] Yes. Tara: [18:07] Coats are often cut high on the sides to give the wearer more shape. And it may go without saying, but beautiful beaded earrings are all over every episode, and furs because they hunt seals there are also involved. I found a source for some of the pieces. I'll link it in the show notes. Something crazy happens at the end of the first episode that might put you off continuing to watch, even if you like the rest of it. Not violent or non-consensual, but something people regret later in a comedic way. And the fact that recommending the show requires including that caveat suggests to me that another taste pass should have happened to cut that. But If they wanted to create a buzzy moment to make sure that they would get picked up, it worked and nothing wild in that way happens in the rest of the season. So give it a shot. It's already been picked up for a second season It's a little Rutherford Falls, a little Schittz Creek. It's nice, but with just enough acid to keep it from getting too corny. North of North For my plug, I wrote about the series finale of And Just Like That and somehow was maybe the only person to commentate on it that didn't include the fact that there's also a poop in that one. Just like there's enough other sh literal shit. To talk about without including that detail. But yes, a toilet does get backed up in the final moments of the show. So many weird choices. You will never convince me that was always conceived to be the way the series would end. But anyway, you can read that and more. At the link in the show notes. Dave: [19:32] All right, Eve, what have you been watching recently? Eve: [19:35] Thank you, Tara, for having previously mentioned the yogurt shop murders and a piece I wrote about it for Vanity Fair I just wanted to bring it up again. If you watched the Amanda Knox show and you're in the mood for more elicited confessions, Yogurt Shop Murders also sort of like talks about that. Sort of the one-two punch of those shows will make you suddenly look at things like law and order criminal intent with a far more John to sty than you might have already. I want to talk about Back to the Frontier. Does anybody else here watch it? Uh-uh, okay, so listen. I was like, okay, let's just see what these ding-dongs do when they go outside. The whole idea is It's like, hey, we're going to live the life of homesteaders in that sort of immediately post-Civil War era where people came and claimed land that had belonged to indigenous people. They don't talk about that much on the And so they're living like homesteaders, like living off the land. And it's these three families and they're trying to figure it out. And the one family is two two dudes and their son. Another family is sishet, mom, dad, two kids. The third is also cishet. Mom, dad, three kids. One of the families is black, the other family is assholes. I started watching it thinking this would be a fun hate watch, but I have grown to actually care about all these people, which rarely happens to me any at any time with anything. It's totally gamed. Like, they aren't really living. It's not like Survivor or something where they're starving or anything. Like, they, you know, go to the general store and stuff like that. But it is legit, fun, and interesting watching these people shit in a hole So, you know, just like to like stay with our theme. So if you see it when you're flipping through on HBO, just give it like 15 minutes, but be really careful because when you get to the end It's going to try to make you watch Living Off the Grid instead, which is all of these extremely problematic prepper people. Like, you can tell these are people who drive trucks with stickers, or you're their Google and trying to figure out what plan they're in. But the Homestead Show, I definitely encourage you to watch it. So for my plug, I recently relaunched my personal blog as a newsletter. Called the pleat. It's pleatmag. com. So, if you just want to see where I have been working, I would like to see where I'll be working too. We'll figure that out together. And just what I'm thinking, please come and sign up for it. Sarah: [21:57] I would like to talk about The Fixer. That, of course, is a show in which plumbers come and deal with a floating poo in people's houses. Just kidding. It's not. It is Marcus Limonis' new show. It airs on Fox Fridays at 8. It's available on Hulu as well. I think most, if not all, of the season has dropped by now. The fixer is technically not the prophet It's with a different corporate monolith. The investment, if there is one, comes at the end of the episode and not towards the beginning. But everything that made the profit compelling for Process nerds who enjoyed it is present on the fixer, and I think I'm going to keep watching it because, as a small business owner, I am Fascinated by the retail insights that he has, like where stuff is supposed to go in a shop's floor flow. How marketing consultants choose color schemes for different sectors of the market, the compromises that one makes for scalability, etc. , and so on. I always liked The Prophet and liked picking it apart each week on Previously. tv. I enjoyed interviewing Limonis that time. I had his phone number in my phone. I like kept it across like two or three phones and then finally was like, I need to stop this. That's not a personality. But it does scratch the same itch as Shark Tank, just with less stupid. And not just because of the pitching investors aspect, but because you really get insight into what, quote, mainstream America is buying and is able to sell in a way that you really can't anywhere else. Like some of these pitches roll in, and you're like, it's a candle that smells like your first true love. That's not a thing. But then they're claiming six figure grosses in their first year of business, and you have to accept that what you think should sell and what will sell? are not the same. And obviously I know this from running a book shop and watching Ed Gein shit fly out the door same day while thoughtful, processy books on forgery will sit for literal years being eaten by literal bookworms. So there is something like, I don't know, soothing, affirming about seeing the same struggle for other businesses and seeing Limonis gently but firmly correct people that should does not pay the bills. So, yeah, once again, that's on Fox, which is unfortunate, but just watch it on Hulu. It's all it all just needs to be a single channel that's beamed directly into the side of my head. At this point, it's way simpler. If anyone cares, I can try to hunt up that Limonis interview from previously. tv. In the meantime, our esteemed colleague Andy Dennert did a great breakdown of the show and how it's different and not different from The Prophet At RealityBlurred. com, and that is also where Eve and I are still doing the true crime review equivalent of sipping delicately from a fire hose of content. Reality Blurred right from the home page, or bestevidence. fyi will take you there as well. Dave: [24:58] All right, here's what's coming up on Fridays. Extra, extra hot grade available to club members. It is the August Forcing, and we are being forced into watch trial and errors first episode of its second season. So, if you want to hear that, and you're not a club member, go to Extra Hot Great. dot com slash club to sign up and a lot more beyond that we got ask ESG we got a whole bunch of things waiting for you And then come back here, EHG Prime next week. We're going to be talking about long story short with new guest Eli Udin. Uh oh, backwards canon music only means one thing. It is time for the no-knack, in which We discuss what is a terrible episode of an otherwise enjoyable TV show. Presenting this week, it is Tara. Tara: [25:51] Is Tara. Exactly 150 episodes ago, I pitched the friends episode, The One with the Ball, to the Nonak That one did not bounce in, but I have a good feeling about the badness of season two, episode 10, the one with Russ. Here's why I think it's Onakworthy. Number one, the A-plot is moronic Mid-season two is Friends in its Imperial period with no real time-slot competition and huge cultural impact. The episode after this one includes a meta-joke about people copying Rachel's haircut. The one after that is the two-parter that was the lead out for the 1996 Super Bowl. There wasn't much the show couldn't do except get Rachel and Ross together before February sweeps. So for an episode airing January 4th like this one did, the pretext for keeping them apart is Rachel's dating another guy. But His name is Russ and he looks and sounds exactly like Ross because he's played by David Schwimmer in a Neo Mullet wig and facial prosthetics The character is credited to Snarrow, apparently a reference to a friend of Schwimmer's. I found a story on screen rant about it. We'll link in the show notes. Everyone is disturbed to meet Ross's doppelganger except the people most directly affected by his arrival in their lives, Rachel and Ross. When Phoebe tries to lead Rachel to the realization, Rachel just guesses he reminds Phoebe of Bob Zaggett. Ross also doesn't see how much he and his new rival have in common. Clip one. Clip: [27:14] She's dating? She's dating? Yes, yes, but did you see who she was dating? What do you mean? Do you not see it? See what? I don't know what she's seasoned in that goober takes him what? Like like I don't know. Uh hello. A week to get out a sentence? Yeah, it's annoying, isn't it? Yeah? Tara: [27:44] The next day, Phoebe tells Rachel straight out that Russ is Ross, but Rachel refuses to agree until she hears an inconsequential argument In stereo, clip two. Clip: [27:54] For your information, it's a card sharp, not a card sharp. You could not be more wrong. You could try, but you would not be successful. Okay, I'm gonna get some more coffee before the pinching and eye-poking begins. I know what your problem is. Oh, you do, do you? Mm-hmm. You're jealous. Of of what? You're jealous because I'm a real doctor. Hey, you're a doctor of gums. That's the smallest body part you can major in. It's like day one floss. Day two, here's your diploma. Let me listen. No, no, let me finish. No, let me finish. No. You let me finish hi, hi. Tara: [28:41] That's them both looking at Rachel at the same time as she walks over. I will grant that Ross. Could legitimately lack the self-awareness to recognize his own annoying habits when they're reflected back at him and Russ. But the joke, such as it is, about Russ's resemblance to Ross, wouldn't work if it wasn't immediately apparent to the majority of the cast and the viewer. Rachel has never before been this oblivious about information in her field of vision. You can't even say Rachel's attraction to Russ is because she's refusing to let herself be attracted to Ross. While she's still mad at him for ruining their burgeoning relationship before it started, back in The One With the List during Guess What November sweeps. Anyway, here is her final word on her time with Russ, clip three The writers just thought they could get away with this cornball gimmick and they did until now. Number two The B-plot is offensive. Starring a play in which he achieved what one critic termed brilliant new levels of sucking hasn't stopped Joey from attracting interest from a Days of Our Live casting director named Laurie However, when Joey goes to see his agent Estelle after the audition, he has concerns. Clip four. Clip: [29:49] The network casting lady a dull! I kind of got the feeling that she was sort of coming on to me. And I definitely would get the part if I would have, you know. If I would have sent a little general in, I see. Well. I'm just gonna put in a call here and we'll find out what's going on and straighten it out. Yeah! Hi! Lori, please! Hi, darling! So how about Joey Tribiani for the part of the camera? Driver, isn't he terrific? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay, Joe. I'll talk to you later. Yeah, you're gonna have to sleep with her. Tara: [30:44] Joey's upset about this, not because he's being sexually harassed at work, but because he wants to get hired for his talent in acting, not by Sexually gratifying a gatekeeper in his industry. Chandler doesn't see the problem. He'll have sex with a woman he thinks is attractive and he'll get a great job. Cool perspective, but I'll let Joey tell you how things go. Clip five. Clip: [31:07] It was unbelievable. I walked in there and she was all over me. So what'd you do? Well, I couldn't do it I told her I didn't want to get the part that way. Good family! But wait, wait, wait. But then after I left her office, she caught up with me at the elevator and offered me an even bigger part. So, and so. You are now looking at Dr. Drake Ramore, neurosurgeon, recovering in at least four episodes. All right, I gotta go shower. Tara: [31:37] Worse than Joey's submission to sexual coercion is that his male friends bet against his withstanding it. Laurie is kept entirely off sc Screen. When Estelle calls her, we don't even hear Lori's half of the conversation, which I think meant the writing staff knew the storyline wouldn't play as well if we actually saw her abusing her power. As it is, Joey gets cast as Doctor Drake Ramore, a character he will continue playing on and off until the series' finale of friends, so the fact that his victimization, however cheerful he is about it, is a footnote to a major through line for the whole show really sucks. Number three, the C plot is a slog and is also offensive. Monica has reunited with an ex, fun Bobby, who we first met in the Season 1 New Year's Eve episode. She's hopeful that it's going to work this time, and it can't hurt that her friends all love him. But, when Rachel is collecting the empties after a chill weeknight hang at Monica's, they figure out Fun Bobby drank three bottles of wine on his own. The next day, when he pulls out his flask at Central Perk to make their coffees Irish, Monica gently points out that he's been doing that a lot lately. He tells her she isn't the first person to suggest that he drinks too much and that he would be willing to quit for her, whereupon he undergoes a complete personality change. Clip six. Clip: [32:46] You want to hear something funny? Oh god, yes. There are no hardware stores open past midnight in the village That is funny. I needed to buy a hammer the other night, and I'm out walking around the neighborhood. But apparently, there are no hardware stores open past midnight in the village. Up say honey, don't you have to be at your interview now? Oh yeah. See you guys. Bye. Ridiculously dull, Bobby. Oh my god. It's not that bad. Not that bad. Did you not hear the hammer story? Okay, okay, don't get all squinky. Maybe it was just the kind of story where you had to be there. But I'm gonna be there! For the rest of my life. I mean, I can't break up with him. I'm the one who made him quit drinking. He's dull because of me. All right, don't say that. He's probably always been dull. You just, you know. Set it free. Tara: [34:02] Monica could only handle spending time with fun Bobby Byte, drinking excessively herself. So much that he finally tells her he thinks she may have a problem and that he's not strong enough to be in a codependent relationship right now. Relieved, she says goodbye, and that's a series wrap on Bobby, fun and otherwise. Instead of giving ridiculously dull Bobby more than a day or two to recalibrate into fun Bobby, Sober Edition, Monica immediately gives up on him as the episode treats recovery not as a positive change For the person whose substance use has become disordered, but as a bummer for everyone around him. Sure, Fun Bobby is only a two-time guest star whose well-being we don't really have to care about, but still, yuck! With all due respect to the episode's funniest moment, Chandler reaching into a cookie jar that turns out to be full of red sauce Joey has just made out of stress, I feel this one sinks to the level of no-naked like whiskey into a central perk latte. Dave: [34:54] Thank you, Tara. Eve, why don't you start us off? Eve: [34:57] It uh so uncomfortable uh looking at Matthew Perry during that plot, huh? I mean, that made it like almost unwatchable. And my understanding is that people were aware on set that Matthew Carey had substance use disorder even at the time, and they were trying to Support him. So, I'm just trying to figure out how this, how did all these adults who do this stuff not know anyone with problems with drugs or alcohol and think that this is like super hilarious? Sarah: [35:24] Agree. The fun bobby becomes unfun, and that's a problem for Monica is just I mean, everything that you guys have already said, like, it's sort of baffling that nobody in a Hollywood room, especially that Hollywood room, thought that there wasn't a better way to handle that that could still be Funny and like let Monica be self-absorbed, but not this oblivious. Whatever that way was, it is not inevitable here. The Joey plot. Tara made the case extremely well that this is it's it's just sour and gross and very mid nineties in that Everyone smoking cigars and pretending that they don't mind reading Penthouse, like cool girl way. I don't like that time was really Just sort of like scabbrously quote open-minded in ways that you look back at it now and it's like, oh, that wasn't open-minded. That was actually sort of like not realizing that things were coercion And control. And then Russ Ross, it works better than it should, but it still doesn't work all that well I think in a sort of more meta sense, my issue with this episode is it's not nearly funny enough to paper over. Any of this, like it's just not funny, and there's something about a friend's episode that isn't working that, like Friends is not really my jam, but I recognize that when it's operating at its peak powers, like actual canon episodes, you're like, yeah, that's how you make a sitcom. That's how you reel off a bunch of character and plot jokes. But when it's not firing on all cylinders and there's like too much sp Base between the laughs, or it's misbegotten, like this one is. You really see a How much of the dialogue among and between characters is the same. Like with Phoebe accepted, a lot of the characters just talk exactly the same way. Yes, it's a friend group, but they should be, there should be a little more distinction between them. And a lazily written episode like this, you see the problem when that's not the case Good episodes of Friends have an alchemy that like raises all the material and makes it greater than the sum of the parts. But a poor Friends episode, it's the opposite effect. And you really see where the Holes are like right down to fun Bobby's outfit. Like, that is a mile of fabric in every garment. Like, that turtleneck was for Andre the Giant. Tara: [38:05] But that was the style at the time. Sarah: [38:05] What is happening? Tara: [38:08] That's not his fault. Sarah: [38:09] No, I understand that was the style at the time, but even for the time got perfect hair. Tara: [38:13] Yeah. Eve: [38:13] Beautiful hair, though. Beautiful hair on that man. I mean, Kurt Russell level main. Tara: [38:19] Even when they make it a little droopy after he's dull, Bobby. Mm-hmm. Sarah: [38:23] That's like peak Stephen Weber in Wings Hair, and that is complimentary. Tara: [38:26] Yeah. Sarah: [38:27] Excellent presentation of a real floater of an episode agreed. Dave. Dave: [38:33] Yeah, I think the writer had a few ideas and just gonna cram them all into here. Be damned, the consequences, because You've got the Rust storyline, which is extremely lazy and not true to the characters involved, as Tara lays out. Absolutely agree with that. You have the fun Bobby storyline, which is offensive in its own right. I can believe that the person writing this and a lot of people involved probably didn't have an idea of Matthew Perry's actual situation. They. Only filmed one season so far, and people hide this kind of stuff. So I'm not going to put that against it, but still, that storyline. Is just mean-spirited, really, and it doesn't really pay any dividends. Like, you can make mean-spirited comedy really funny, or you can make mean-spirited comedy that flops like a fish on the dock, and that's this. Sarah: [39:24] Yeah. Dave: [39:24] It's weird that the Joey storyline about him having to reject a sexual advance, that storyline where he's going through the motions of actually having a conscience and wanting to succeed on merit. and then have it all disintegrate when he's given a better offer is like the truest friends moment in this episode. It is also rather insulting. You know, like that's the high mark of this episode. Joey fucking somebody to get a better job. Like, the funniest part was the cookie jar. The other funny part, the only other funny part that made me laugh was the agents. This is this is my ecstatic face joke. Tara: [40:02] Yeah. Sarah: [40:03] Yeah, I liked that one too. Well, here it is. Dave: [40:07] Here it is. Sarah: [40:07] Yep. Tara: [40:07] And her little cigarette thing where she popped it and they all come out. Dave: [40:10] Right. Sarah: [40:10] Her little cigarette carousel. Tara: [40:12] Yes. Sarah: [40:12] Yeah, that's good. Dave: [40:13] I get the impression that the writer of this episode is on social media today in 2025 complaining about people getting canceled. That is the vibe of this episode to me. That sort of personality now, writing back in the day for the second season of Friends. Tara: [40:26] Yeah. Dave: [40:32] That is the trajectory, I imagine, for that talent. Eve: [40:35] Well, as we're like talking about it, I have to wonder like where Seinfeld was in its peak of popularity when this episode was being developed. Because I feel like if we took the elements of this plot and transferred it to Seinfeld, it probably would have worked. And it does, like, it is serving a lot of Seinfeld. You can imagine a scenario where George has. To hook up with some chick who works for the Yankees to get a job, and it suddenly feels like a little bit funny, or Elaine is dating a Jerry lookalike. It suddenly feels palatable when we apply it using sort of the Seinfeld rubrics, but it doesn't work within Friends. But what I'm wondering is if somebody thought, We're the fucking lightweights, everyone thinks Seinfeld's great. Sarah: [41:17] That's not a bad theory. Tara: [41:19] Now the The same night as this, or the next night, Seinfeld aired The Switch, which is where Jerry wants to switch from dating a non-laughing woman to dating her roommate. And he and George crack this whole plan of like, you have to suggest a threesome. so that your initial girlfriend will be so disgusted she breaks up with you, but the other girl will be flattered and she'll go out with you. So that's It was also the one where George enlists Kramer's mother to spy on his seemingly bulimic girlfriend. So that's definitely in the, you know, mean-spirited vein that you're suggesting. So perhaps there's something to that. Sarah: [41:53] I mean, you're not supposed to expect, quote, better from Seinfeld characters. Tara: [41:56] No, that's what Seinfeld's about. Sarah: [41:58] That's the entire premise of the show. Tara: [41:58] Yes. Exactly. Sarah: [42:00] So, yeah, that's, I mean, Eve, you know, I think you are not a crackpot, maybe, for that, but I guess we should vote on this. Tara: [42:06] Yeah, there was also an episode where Jerry dated a girl who looked like him, played by Tracy Nelson. But back to Dave. Dave: [42:12] All right, let's put this to the vote. Eve, what say you? No knack worthy or not? Eve: [42:16] Absolutely no neck worthy. Dave: [42:17] Sarah Debunding. Sarah: [42:18] You want to see my No Knack face? Well, here it is. Yes, No Knack worthy. Dave: [42:23] I'm going to say no neck worthy as well. Tara: [42:25] Woo! Dave: [42:25] So, what's your pleasure, Tara? You want that karaoke version or you want the bad bonanza version? Tara: [42:30] Surprise me Woo Oh God. Dave: [42:31] So All right, that means for the No Nak Friends, season two, episode ten, the one with Russ, you are hereby inducted. Sarah: [42:41] Oh, my God. Dave: [42:55] Into the extra hot grade no neck no neck It is time to discover who is our winner and loser of the week. Clip: [43:10] Americans love a winner. Yep. And will not tolerate a loser. Nope. Dave: [43:19] Sarah has this week's winner. Sarah: [43:21] I do, but first I have to, for the other UHF heads in the crowd, say, What's the matter? You don't like Bonanza? A line delivered by Mr. Michael Richards, who also played Kramer. Okay, back to it. This week's winner is Wendell Pierce, who played bunk on the wire, correctly saying that the wire doesn't need a reboot. It doesn't. Was it perfect throughout? No. Could it have ended maybe a little stronger without some weird shit happening in season five? Yes. Are these sins that need to be actively corrected in the record? Eh eh. Listen to Mr. Pierce. He is wise. Dave: [43:57] Antar, who is her loser of the week. Tara: [44:00] It's MSNBC because uh Universal NBC Universal rather has sold The network to a company called Versant, which is the kind of thing where it's like they could sell anything from pharmaceuticals to like flushable wet toilet paper. I have no idea. Versant means nothing. Dave: [44:18] Sporidian dynamics What if it was a streaming service that only played My Shirona on demand? Tara: [44:19] It very much is. But anyway, they are therefore, because they're not part of NBC anymore, changing their name to MS Now, which supposedly stands for My Source News Opinion World Terrible. And as of yesterday when I put this in the dock, msnow. Sarah: [44:32] Man-woman television. Tara: [44:38] com belongs to a website in Korea that sells snowmobiles because it's m snows for snow machine. And MS-NOW can't. com can't do that either. It belongs to a Martha Stewart-branded meal kit service. So great, great thoughts, everyone. Really due diligence, done well. Dave: [45:07] What then? Tara: [45:08] It may be, we don't know yet. They could go through a lot of programming changes. Sarah: [45:12] Or is someone reading Ms. Magazine aloud? Tara: [45:15] Mm-hmm. Sarah: [45:15] I would actually pay for that. Dave: [45:17] Well, speaking about paying for it, do you know what time it is? Tara: [45:19] It's good time. Sarah: [45:20] Gotta be game time. Dave: [45:21] It is. Yes, it is game time. This is the second of the season. The season scores are Tara with zero, Sarah with zero, value guests leading with one. Today, we're playing three for all from Erica, who earns herself an extra credit topic of her choosing, plus a free shirt from the EHG store that's at Through Methods. We played these before. I will remind you in Three for All, I will start you off with two T V things with a common trait. Guess the commonality for two points If you don't get it, I'm going to give you a third thing in that set. You guess here for one point. Here's an example from a previous round of the game. Here's your two TV things Two and a half men and the Connors. Two and a half men and the Connors have something in common. Tara: [46:24] Chuck Laurie wrote on both of them. Dave: [46:26] Incorrect. Your third item is house of cards. So you've got two and a half men, the Connors, and House of Cards. What is the common trait here? Tara: [46:35] Oh, shows where the star got fired. Dave: [46:38] That's right. It shows where the main character gets killed off because their actor is capital A a problem. All right, so that's how it's played. Let's get the steel meal situation, please, Tara. Tara: [46:51] Thank you, Dave. Sarah has zero. I have one. Valued guest has Eric's meal, so one. Dave: [46:56] Eric's meal turns over each week, so no harm in using it, Eve. You can only steal meal at the second part. I've already explained that you can guess at each level, Sarah. That better not be your question. Sarah: [47:10] What? There's no Sarah here. I don't speak English. Shut up. Tara: [47:13] Have you seen my Game Time Shame face? Here it is. Sarah: [47:16] Here it is. Dave: [47:17] Let's throw it to the pickets who's going first. Clip: [47:21] We will start with Terra. Dave: [47:23] All right, Tara and then Eve and then Sarah will be our order today. Are we ready to play three for all? Tara: [47:30] Yes. Dave: [47:31] All right. Sarah: [47:31] Yes. Dave: [47:32] All right. You've got Riley Keogh and Allison Hannigan. Tara: [47:34] Hm. Dave: [47:37] They have something in common. What is it? If you don't get it here, I will give you a third. Tara: [47:43] They both played witches. Dave: [47:46] Your third clue is Tara Arellano favorite Betty White. Tara: [47:55] Oh no. Dave: [47:57] They all have something in common, but what is it? Tara: [48:02] They all played characters named Rose. No, they all played characters named after flowers. Dave: [48:07] Yeah, I'll give it to you. You corrected yourself pretty quick. Tara: [48:08] Okay. Sarah: [48:09] Yeah, so man, mhm Yeah. Dave: [48:09] We'll give that to you. Tara: [48:09] Okay, okay. Dave: [48:10] Got Daisy Jones. We got Lily Aldrin from How We Met Your Mother and Rose Nyland from Golden Girl saved at the last moment. Clip: [48:15] It's a big up to the book. Tara: [48:18] All right. Thank you for the loose scoring there. Dave: [48:22] To Eve, your first two clues are King of the Hill and Young Sheldon. Clip: [48:23] It's a big up to the boat. Dave: [48:29] They have something in common, but what? Eve: [48:33] White people. Dave: [48:36] Technically correct. Your third item is Friday Night Lights. So you got King of the Hill, Young Sheldon, and Friday Night Light. Eve: [48:45] Staten, Texas. Dave: [48:46] Set in Texas is correct for a point. Sarah, you've got Rob Lowe and Elizabeth Montgomery. Clip: [48:53] Is a big old colouring or baby. Sarah: [48:57] Rob Lowe and Elizabeth Montgomery Characters play characters named Sam? Dave: [48:59] Yes, Rob Lowe, everybody's favorite Milk Carton, prop making, dissatisfied actor, that little bitch. Clip: [49:04] I want to let you know I'm going to let you Come on, like I'm just gonna wrap it up. Tara: [49:07] You little bitch. Dave: [49:15] Adding to that, we've got Ion Zeering. Tara: [49:16] That's correct. Sarah: [49:21] Elizabeth Montgomery and Iron's Earring. Tara: [49:21] Oh, I got it. Sarah: [49:26] Uh no plus. Dave: [49:30] I'll let you know you're in the right area with your first guess. Clip: [49:30] Could make a move, like I'm gonna go back and make a There's a big old cutable. Sarah: [49:35] Played characters with s the word Steve somewhere in their name? Steve Finns? Steve. Tara: [49:42] I'll steal. They all played SSs. Dave: [49:45] Alliterative S named characters is correct. Sam Seaborn, Samantha Stevens, Steve Sanders. Sibilants. Sarah: [49:54] If only I and Searing had been in a true crime TV movie, then that would also have been true. Damn it. Dave: [49:58] Back to Tara. Tara: [50:00] Yes. Dave: [50:00] You've got Pinkie Pie and Clarissa Darling. Tara: [50:05] Um Melissa Joan Hart characters. Dave: [50:08] You've also got Sonny Crockett. Tara: [50:12] Characters that have pet reptiles, pet alligators. Dave: [50:20] Pet alligators is correct. Tara: [50:21] Okay. Dave: [50:22] Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic, as we all know. Clip: [50:22] There's a big old cutable. Tara: [50:24] Sure. Dave: [50:25] Clursa explains it all, and Miami Vice all have pet alligators. Tara: [50:29] Huh. Dave: [50:30] Back to Eve, you've got Dennis Duffy and Hank Schrader. Eve: [50:35] Call people dummy? Tara: [50:39] I love that guess. Dave: [50:40] Your third item is Clark Kent or Superman. Sarah: [50:40] I like that. Dave: [50:43] Dennis Duffy, Hank Schrader, Clark Kent, Superman. Clip: [50:46] Cut the boat out of the mouth. Eve: [50:49] All have beepers? Dave: [50:51] I don't think so. Anybody know this one? These are all played by characters named Dean. Tara: [50:58] Oh, sure. Dave: [50:59] You got Dean Winters from 30 Rock, Dean Norris from Breaking Bad, and everybody's favorite ICE agent, Dean Kane from Lois and Clark. Sarah: [51:07] Oh, yeah, Reek. Dave: [51:08] Back to Sarah. You've got, Sarah, Christopher Maloney and Sarah Chalk. Sarah: [51:10] Yes, sir. Tara: [51:16] Don't say amazing asses, hers is only fine. Sarah: [51:20] Of course, that was my first was my first thought. Dave: [51:24] And remember, they both pumped refrigerators, but that was in movies, so we won't take it. Sarah: [51:33] Both are primarily characters primarily known by their last names. Oh, no, sorry. Elliots. Elliotts. Tara: [51:40] Give it to her. Dave: [51:40] We'll give that to you. We'll give it to you. We gave it to Tara. We'll have to give it to Sarah. Tara: [51:43] Good job, Sarah. Dave: [51:44] Fair is fair, two-point answer. Play characters named Elliot along with any guesses, third one? Tara: [51:50] Uh Elliot Nass, whoever played him? Dave: [51:52] No. Clip: [51:52] Make up to the book I want to make up to the moment. Tara: [51:52] Oh. Sarah: [51:53] Oh yeah, Robert Sack, actually. Tara: [51:55] Oh, right. Dave: [51:55] Mr. Robots, Mr. Malik. Tara: [51:57] Oh, right. Dave: [51:58] Yes. Sarah: [51:58] Oh yeah, John's secret triplet. Dave: [51:59] All right, back to Tara. Tara: [52:00] Yes. Dave: [52:01] You've got the Brood Witch and the Sloppy Jessica. Tara: [52:03] No great. Oh, my God. Um Burgers from Bob's Burgers. Dave: [52:13] Good guess. Your third item is the Teamster. Tara: [52:14] It's not really sandwiches. Clip: [52:15] Cut the book and the bar. Dave: [52:19] Sandwiches is correct. That was the Brood Witches from Regular Show. Clip: [52:22] Cause I made up the cutoff and the bar Like I'm a digital rock. Tara: [52:23] All right, yes. Dave: [52:25] The Sloppy Jessica, Brooklyn 9-9, and The Teamster was the sandwich from 30 Rock. Back to Eve. You've got Terry Bower and Doyle. Simply Doyle. Clip: [52:37] Is a week old to the market. Dave: [52:38] Terry Bower, Doyle. Eve: [52:41] Tense Shoot, I actually feel like scrutal recall is familiar. Clip: [52:44] It's a me coming to the mark. Tara: [52:45] Look, she was kind of a bitch, but let's be reasonable here. Sarah: [52:48] She's Canadian, Shippy Demon. Dave: [52:51] Your third clue is Ned Stark. Terry Bauer, Doyle, Ned Stark. Tara: [53:00] That's what I thought too. Dave: [53:01] In the right area, characters that got killed off in season one of their shows. Sarah: [53:07] Oh, okay. Dave: [53:08] All right, Sarah, Viva Laughlin, and Samford and Son. Sarah: [53:09] Yep. Shows that took place in a junkyard? Dave: [53:20] Your third item is all in the family. Viva Laughlin, Sanford and Son, all in the family. Clip: [53:27] Like I'm just gonna walk out like a rock Is on me going to the bar. Dave: [53:28] What do they all have in common? Sarah: [53:30] Oh boy, uh, all in the family. Um Credits cast sang the theme song, performed the theme song Oh, right. Dave: [53:41] I would love to hear Red Fox singing Streetbusters and lyrics. Clip: [53:44] It's a member of the I'm on the line, I'm a ticket, a rock. Dave: [53:48] Here I'm collecting, collecting, and selling junk with my son. He's not that into it. Any guesses? Clip: [53:55] I'm a dog, like I'm a ton of rock. Dave: [53:56] These are all American remakes of UK shows. Clip: [53:59] Cause I make a cool and make up to the whole I'm on the rocket. Tara: [54:00] Right. Dave: [54:02] Believe a Laughlin based on Blackpool and also Viva Blackpool. Step toe and son, until death do us part. Sarah: [54:08] Mm-hmm. Dave: [54:11] Tara, here's everybody's last question before we hit the score break. Clip: [54:14] Cause I think I'm like a rocket. Dave: [54:14] Happy fun ball, Levi's three-legged jeans. Tara: [54:21] Products from fake from commercial parodies on S and L. Clip: [54:21] Cause I think Couldn't bow and bargain to the book and the bar. Dave: [54:24] You are correct. Two points. Third one was the bait, the basomatic or the base-o-matic. Sarah: [54:26] Yeah, do not taunt any of these. Dave: [54:29] I don't even know what that Is that their fish one? Tara: [54:29] Basomatic for fish. Dave: [54:33] Yeah, okay. Could have been the guitar. Tara: [54:34] Mm-hmm. Dave: [54:35] I wasn't sure. All right, Eve, you've got Baba Black Sheep and Scrotal Recall. Eve: [54:49] Um, yeah, yeah. Dave: [54:52] Get your balls to Mars. Eve: [54:57] Uh jokes Jake Bralta made on Brooklyn Nine Nine? Clip: [54:58] Is a week old to the clear. Dave: [55:01] No. Eve: [55:02] No, no. Dave: [55:02] All right. In addition to Baba Black Sheep and Scrotal Recall, you've got two guys, a girl, and a pizza place. Sarah: [55:03] Not a bad guess. Clip: [55:06] It's a week old to the It's a big up to the book. Eve: [55:10] Something to do with Ryan Reynolds. Dave: [55:13] Nope. Anybody know this one? Tara: [55:14] Shows that changed their name. Dave: [55:16] Shows that underwent a name change is correct. Baba Black Sheep became Black Sheep Squadron. Scroll to Recall became Lovesick And they dropped and a pizza place. Sarah de Bunting, here you go. Clip: [55:28] It's a big up to the book. Dave: [55:29] You've got Ted Mosby. Do you want to hear a little Ted Mosby singing? Just let me know. Clip: [55:34] Like I can rock to make a move like I've got to make I won't be like my father and I broke up with my mother. Sarah: [55:34] No Ted Mosby and Michael. Dave: [55:34] Ted Mosby and Michael. Michael Axe that are big in Japan is unfortunately Incorrect. Sarah: [55:41] Um Acts that are big in Japan. Dave: [55:50] Adding to that, we've got Mike Brady. Tara: [55:54] I'll add a fourth, Elise Keaton. Dave: [55:56] Hey, you shut up, he says with utmost respect. Sarah: [56:03] Michael Yeah. Dave: [56:05] What you're thinking. Tara: [56:09] Just take your headphones off, Sarah. Clip: [56:16] I got tired of her kisses, tired of her smothering. Things around my fingers let me punch and fuck shit up. The sight of blood and bone and bruises makes me feel like I have woken up to all the madness all around me. Tara: [56:32] Stop it I This time, what bothers me the most is that the lack of effort. Dave: [56:34] That would have gone on forever. All right. Clip: [56:35] Cause I make a cool 'cause I make It's a big old ring and a ball. Dave: [56:36] It gets so much worse the more you hear that song. It's great. All right. Tara: [56:42] Like, he doesn't even seem like he's this seems like a rehearsal. Dave: [56:43] Yeah. Yeah. All right. So to remind you, we're playing game time. Sarah: [56:50] Yes, architects. Dave: [56:52] Architects, correct. Tara: [56:52] Yeah. Dave: [56:55] All right, we are well over halfway done. Let's get the scores. Tara: [56:59] Are we having an equalizer challenge zone? Sarah: [56:59] God. Dave: [57:01] Yes. Tara: [57:02] Okay, then I have six, Sarah has three, Eve has one. Dave: [57:06] All right, Eve, that means you are in the Grossworth Equalizer Challenge Zone. Prepare yourself. All right, Eve, you gotta pick a number between one and seven. Eve: [57:21] Uh six Thanks for the option. Dave: [57:22] Unless you want to play the friends trivia set in honor of the no knack, which you don't, unless you're Tara, probably. Clip: [57:28] It's a big old ring and a bar. Dave: [57:30] Yeah, yeah. Clip: [57:32] I'm not going to let you wrap it up. Dave: [57:32] All right. Tara: [57:32] Oh no. Eve: [57:33] Oh no. Dave: [57:34] This is my this is my I'm gonna let you know. Clip: [57:35] Could I make a move like I want it a rocket? Dave: [57:35] This is my favorite box. I bought it at a At a yard sale. Eve: [57:37] Oh God. Dave: [57:39] It is the Canadian-produced Teen Trivia Plus box. Clip: [57:43] Could I make a Like to walk in, to make a move. Dave: [57:43] It is from 1984. And there are a whole bunch of questions on each. We'll just play the card. I'm not going to try to hunt for TV stuff in these. We all got to live our lives. Shall we? But we're going to play eight questions because there's eight questions on the card. So here we go. Teen Trivia Plus. Which album by Duran Duran directly preceded their Seven and the Ragged Tiger? Rio is correct. Tara: [58:08] Woo! Dave: [58:09] The basic techniques of which water sport are called beating, running, and reaching. Options are surfing, scuba diving, or sailing. Clip: [58:20] Cause I made a boat, and the ball is a moment. Dave: [58:21] You are correct. How many times per day is a devout Muslim supposed to pray? Five, nine, or thirteen. Clip: [58:27] There's a man to go out and I want to play out. Dave: [58:29] Get it wrong, your basis. Eve: [58:30] That's just gonna say this is a hate crime if I get it wrong. Five. Dave: [58:34] You are correct. Eve: [58:36] Oh, thank God. Dave: [58:38] Which weekly magazine sells more issues, nineteen eighty four, Time or Newsweek? Clip: [58:39] I want to play out. It's a big book. Dave: [58:44] Time is correct. All right, you've got half. That means you've getting three points. Three points. So if you get the rest, we double it to six. Clip: [58:50] It's a big book. Dave: [58:53] In what language is net the word for no? Fill in the blank. Joe, Blair, Natalie, and Blank. What kind of eclipse, solar or lunar, occurs when the moon comes in between the earth and the sun? You are correct. Get this. And it's a sweep. Is the church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints the church of the Mormons, Baptists, or the Quakers? Tara: [59:29] You can't give this question to a true crime expert. Dave: [59:31] No. Or anybody who lives anywhere, frankly. Sarah: [59:33] No, no Nice. Tara: [59:34] That's true. Clip: [59:35] Cause I'm back on top of the music. Dave: [59:35] But let's let's hear it. Eve: [59:35] Yeah, it's it's let's we we know it is the Church of the Mormons. Dave: [59:39] And that's a sweep. Eve: [59:41] All right, the teen teens But but but like Joey, I did not get there, honestly. Dave: [59:41] Big points. Clip: [59:42] Cause I'm a comfort Can't book out the barracks. Tara: [59:42] God damn We surely do. Dave: [59:42] Big fucking points. I think we need an update. Sarah: [59:46] Yeah, we do. Tara: [59:47] Sarah has three, I have six. Eve is now in the lead with seven Okay, yes. Sarah: [59:51] Oh, shit. Thanks, Angel Moroni. Dave: [59:54] All right. Everybody has three questions left. Sarah: [1:00:02] Shreed. Dave: [1:00:03] Tara, emissary and second contact have what in common? Emissary, second contact. Tara: [1:00:12] They are both episodes of Star Trek. TNG okay. Dave: [1:00:18] I'm going to give that to you. They're just Star Trek episodes in the Star Trek franchise. Emissary from Deep Space Nine, second contact from lower decks, and we had Encounter at Far Point waiting in the wings. That is the first episode of Next Generation. I think. I don't want to get angry letters. I think. Eve, Jack McKay, Lieutenant Shacks S H A X S Also adding to that Gus Spring. Eve: [1:00:41] Lieutenant I'm sorry, Lieutenant Shacks Uh people in law enforcement. Clip: [1:00:42] Is a big up to the boat we move out of the market. I want to be a walk. Eve: [1:00:54] People Giancarlo Esposito pointed? No. Yes? No. Dave: [1:00:58] Any guesses? Sarah: [1:00:58] My god, very different show. People who got blown up real good. Clip: [1:01:00] I won't do it. Dave: [1:01:02] You blow it up real good. Clip: [1:01:02] I want to be a walk. Eve: [1:01:03] Ah. Tara: [1:01:03] Oh, I'm not sure if I can do it. Dave: [1:01:04] Characters that get killed or appear to get killed in explosions. Eve: [1:01:04] Right. Right. Sarah: [1:01:07] Appear to get killed, thank you in their sweatpants. Dave: [1:01:08] Yes. Sarah D. Bunting, you've got the animated series and evolution. Sarah: [1:01:11] Yeah. Clip: [1:01:16] Don't get moved. Sarah: [1:01:17] Dark Trek franchises that only lasted one season. Clip: [1:01:19] You make a little bit of a drink. Dave: [1:01:22] Adding to that, Animated Series, Evolution, and Ninety Seven, Apostrophe Ninety Seven. Clip: [1:01:28] Can't move in the bar. Sarah: [1:01:31] Apostrophe ninety seven. Dave: [1:01:33] That might help. Sarah: [1:01:33] Uh Partridge family properties. Dave: [1:01:35] The animated series Evolution 97. Do you be quiet? No more hints from you, Tara. You know what I hang on, hang on. You know what I say to that hint, Tara? You gotta look at the screen. Tara: [1:01:47] No. Dave: [1:01:50] All right, what's your answer, sir? Clip: [1:01:53] I won't do that. Tara: [1:01:56] He was trying to help you X Men Yeah. Dave: [1:01:58] It was my crossed arms X family feud style because the answer was the X-Men, X-Men properties. Clip: [1:02:00] I won't do that. I'm a kid. Dave: [1:02:04] Those are all names of X-Men TV shows. Clip: [1:02:04] Is a big old is a big old You don't know. Sarah: [1:02:06] Oh, okay. Good for them. Dave: [1:02:09] Tara, you've got Wicked Little Town and Song Beneath the Song. Tara: [1:02:16] Um songs that have been performed on Riverdale. Okay. Dave: [1:02:22] Adding to that, you've got once more with feeling. Tara: [1:02:26] Songs from musical episodes of CW shows? Dave: [1:02:31] I can't. It's musical episodes, the name of musical episodes from so you were close, but not quite there. Tara: [1:02:35] Oh, okay. That's fine. Okay. Dave: [1:02:38] This is question 17. Tara: [1:02:39] It's pretty cool. Dave: [1:02:40] It is for Eve. You've got Walter O'Reilly and Benjamin Franklin Pierce. Clip: [1:02:49] You need to go Is a big component. Eve: [1:02:49] President Irish Mafia. Sarah: [1:02:51] Okay. Dave: [1:02:52] Your third clue is Margaret Houlihan. Sarah: [1:02:59] Damn it, I wish I had a steel meal. Dave: [1:02:59] I mean, maybe. No steel nails? Because I know everybody. Tara: [1:03:04] We're all out, except Eve. Dave: [1:03:04] All right. Sarah, what is this? Sarah: [1:03:06] Smash characters who are who have nicknames, that we know them better. Dave: [1:03:09] Right. These are the real names of matched characters we usually know by others. Eve: [1:03:11] Oh, and Loretta Squid just died. Clip: [1:03:11] It's a big component. Sarah: [1:03:11] Right. Eve: [1:03:13] Now I'm now it is a hate crime. Sarah: [1:03:14] Radar Mhm. Dave: [1:03:14] Radar, Hawkeye, and Hot Lips are what they're usually known as. Eve: [1:03:15] Yeah. Clip: [1:03:15] I won't be a little bit more. Eve: [1:03:17] Yeah. Dave: [1:03:18] All right, back to Sarah. Roanoke and Hotel. Sarah: [1:03:24] American Horror Story Seasons. Dave: [1:03:25] Yes, good for two points. Tara: [1:03:26] Hell yeah. Dave: [1:03:27] Tara, this is question no no no nineteen nineteen the average age of the soldiers in Vietnam Wow. Tara: [1:03:30] Mhm. Was playing while I was walking in to see the naked gun a couple of weeks ago. Dave: [1:03:37] Really? Tara: [1:03:38] Yep, at at that bar at Alamo. Dave: [1:03:38] Like just just on the PA. Tara: [1:03:41] Yeah, you know the bar that's at Lake Line? Dave: [1:03:43] Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that was the that's the Wow. Tara: [1:03:44] Yeah, that's what that's what they were playing. Mm-hmm. I don't know. Dave: [1:03:48] All right. Weird. Tara, you've got the fifty thousand dollar steeplechase and grab that dough. Tara: [1:03:50] Yes. Okay. British game shows. Dave: [1:04:01] Nope. Your third clue is Hollywood stars and celebrities. Clip: [1:04:03] Is me down to the bow. Dave: [1:04:06] What do they know? Do they know things? Let's find out. Tara: [1:04:10] Uh fictional shows on Bojack Horseman. Clip: [1:04:11] Is it me dumb to the bow? Dave: [1:04:14] Nope. Tara: [1:04:14] Just fictional shows. Dave: [1:04:15] Fictional in-show game shows. Clip: [1:04:16] I want to rock. Tara: [1:04:18] Ah, okay. Dave: [1:04:18] Let's say that. The $50,000 steeplechase, you may remember. It was the Ted Baxter is going to audition to be the host of the game show. Clip: [1:04:24] I want to rock. Dave: [1:04:27] That was the game show. Tara: [1:04:27] Right, right. Sarah: [1:04:28] Mhm. Dave: [1:04:29] The Golden Girls had grabbed that dough, and Bojack Horseman was the last one. Sarah: [1:04:31] You sure did. Dave: [1:04:33] All right, to Eve, here is your last. You've got Jackie Payton, Carla Espinoza. Eve: [1:04:41] Waitresses Names I do not recognize. Dave: [1:04:44] Halle Adams is your last clue. Maybe Not from the show. Sarah: [1:04:50] People are not in my kitchen. Tara: [1:04:51] What is it, Sarah? Sarah: [1:04:53] ER nurses. Dave: [1:04:55] They are all nurses. Not necessarily from the ER, I think, right? Sarah: [1:04:56] Yeah. Dave: [1:04:58] Are they all ER nurses? Tara: [1:04:58] I don't remember. Dave: [1:04:59] Nurse Jackie? Tara: [1:05:00] I don't think, yeah, anyway. Dave: [1:05:00] She? Sarah: [1:05:00] Wait, who's the first one? Dave: [1:05:01] Yeah. Nurse Jackie. Sarah: [1:05:02] Oh, yeah, you're right. Dave: [1:05:03] Sarah D. Bunting finishes us off with Monica and Jonathan Smith. Sarah: [1:05:04] Yeah. Um, Doctor Who companions Angels John from Cincinnati? Dave: [1:05:16] Your third clue is Castille, Castille. Monica, Jonathan Smith, Castille. Clip: [1:05:25] It's a big old cleanable. Dave: [1:05:27] Angels is correct. Yes, Monica touched by an angel. Tara: [1:05:29] Woo! Clip: [1:05:29] It's a multi-click on the kill. Dave: [1:05:31] Jonathan Smith, anybody? Clip: [1:05:33] It's a big old kill. Dave: [1:05:33] Mm-mm. That's Michael Landon in Highway to Heaven. Sarah: [1:05:36] Oh, oh, yeah, right, right. Dave: [1:05:38] And Castielle is from Supernatural, a show I've never heard of before. Sarah: [1:05:38] Okay. Glad I got that. I don't want Mademoiselle Caroline to come here and kick my ass. Dave: [1:05:48] That's regulation. We need the scores. Tara: [1:05:50] It was so close. Sarah finished with six. Eve had seven. I had eight. Dave: [1:05:54] Oh, all right. Sarah: [1:05:55] Oh, good game. Dave: [1:05:55] So Tara wins, but we do have a tiebreaker here. That we will play for a future steel meal because everybody has none. They're all used. All right, here we go. All of these characters have something in common. I will read them one at a time till someone shouts out the right answer. You get one guess per clue, so we'll do it that way. Here we go. Deputy District Attorney Joe Connor. Howard Silk Matt the Bat Hard Hardesty Matt the Bat Hardesty Lenny Turtle Trub Will Pope all are played by J. Eve: [1:06:36] People with big dogs. Tara: [1:06:42] Agents? No. Clip: [1:06:47] Cause I make up the current book. Tara: [1:06:48] J. K. Simmons characters? Sarah: [1:06:51] Oh, wow. Dave: [1:06:52] K. Eve: [1:06:52] Wow. Dave: [1:06:52] Simmons. We had Skoda and Schillinger waiting in the wings there for you As our last two clues. Sarah: [1:06:53] Nice. Oh, Skoda. Dave: [1:06:59] Nicely done. Sarah: [1:06:59] Well done. Good job, Tara. Tara: [1:07:03] Thank you. Dave: [1:07:08] All right. Thank you very much, Erica, for another edition of that game. One of my favorite formats, for sure. That is it for this episode of Extra Haunt Great. We discuss whether the twisted tail of Amanda Knox was Bene or Scadente. Before going around the dial with stops at North of North, did you like my Italian there? It was a very good yogurt shop murders and the fixer. Tara: [1:07:29] Mm-hmm. And back to the frontier. Dave: [1:07:34] Tara's goateed lookalike Tara got the one with Russ into the no-nak. We crowned winners and losers. And Tara was the winner of this week's game time from Erica. Next up is the August Forestening Pool on Extra, Extra Hot Grate. Remember! Clip: [1:07:53] We're listening. Bye. Dave: [1:07:56] I am David T. Cole, and on behalf of Tara Ariano, Sarah D. Bunting and Eve Beatty. Sarah: [1:08:03] It's a me, Asario. Eve: [1:08:07] Nobody asked me why I needed to buy a hammer after 8 p. m. in the village. Dave: [1:08:13] Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time right here on extra on credit. Clip: [1:08:21] Uh-huh. Okay, Doll, talk to you later.