Investigating R.J. Decker

Dave 0:19 This is the Extra Hot Great podcast episode 604 for the week of march 2nd 2026, I am stoic clown neighbor David T. Cole, and I'm here with broke cable TV subscriber Tara Ariano. Tara 0:37 It was this or electricity, and I made my choice. Dave 0:40 And sinkhole avoider. Kim Reed. I'm sorry, did Mel Blank enter the conversation? Kim 0:55 Did you get it? I didn't avoid the sinkhole, but I tried to. Dave 0:59 All right, everybody, before we get into today's festivities, I have a tiny little bit of pod business. This is mostly for our club members. Just to let you know, there is a Discord reorganization happening this Friday. I don't know exactly what time, but there'll be things moving around for a while. So if you get confused, just peace out for an hour or two, and I'll have it all back to normal. And that's it. Tara 1:21 Well, our guest is our friend, of course, and also the creator of Extra Extra Hot Great's recurring most awesome thing I watched on TV this month. You've heard her with us many times. It's Camry. Welcome back to Camry. Dave 1:34 Hello. Tara 1:35 We are, in fact, here to talk about R.J. Decker. Once R.J. Decker, Scott Speedman, was a photojournalist at the Broward County Herald and married to a reporter named Catherine Delacroix. But that was five years ago and a lot has changed. Now R.J., Arge, to his best friend and former Selly Wish, short for Aloysius, played by Kevin Rankin, is a private investigator. Catherine has remarried, and Arge is still laser-focused on finding the person who strangled his former colleague, Maya Gregory, with a wire hanger and left her in the trunk of a car. I forgot to say he went to prison because he beat up the son of a very powerful local politician. It's both exciting and infuriating when another victim shows up killed with the same M.O. as Maya right when R.J.'s prime suspect has an airtight alibi. Can R.J. leverage his many contacts in both respectable and shady circles to find the real killer? Creator Rob Doherty adapted the series from Carl Hiaasen's novel Double Whammy. As you may remember, we talked about the last Carl Hiaasen TV adaptation, Bad Monkey, when it premiered on Apple TV in 2024. This show premiered on ABC March 3rd. We got access to the second episode as well, but we will be careful about spoilers. Let's do the Chen check-in. Kim, should our listeners watch R.J. Decker? Kim 2:52 I'm going to say not yet, and I'll explain further. Tara 2:56 Okay, Dave? Dave 2:57 I'm going to say if Bad Monkey was too crazy for you, then here is the network equivalent. I'm not saying no. I'm just giving you that piece of advice. Tara 3:10 It's Diet Bad Monkey. Dave 3:11 It's Diet Bad Monkey. Tara 3:13 Yeah, I think it's fine enough. I will continue to watch, but it didn't super grab me the way they probably hoped that it did. So, Kim, explain. What is your caveat? at. Kim 3:23 I haven't yet watched Bad Monkey, although I probably would like it because I do like Carl Hyasson novels or did. But it reminded me a lot of kind of two other similar shows on ABC, Will Trent and High Potential, both of which I watch. Will Trent, I didn't like in the beginning when I first started watching it. Kept watching it because I'm weird like that. And now I freaking love that show. It's like one of my favorite shows. It started very dark and it kind of got rid of all of that. And now it's just kind of weird. which I like better than Dark. High Potential, I also started watching. And I find myself not that excited about watching it anymore because I think it just stayed the same. So I guess what I'm trying to say is for this show, there's so much in the pilot. And if it can kind of settle down, I think that it could be a good show. I will say I had two separate friends who I don't normally talk to about TV stuff that much text me when the show got announced and say, are you going to watch this? Scott Speedman's in it. Like, that's the draw for ladies of a certain age. Tara 4:24 Yep. Kim 4:25 And that'll probably be enough to keep me watching. But I can't recommend it for everyone else who doesn't care about the Scott Speedman of it all. Maybe check back in after a few more episodes of aired and see what people are saying. Tara 4:38 All right, Dave, you don't care about Scott Speedman. What are your thoughts about Kim's prescription? Dave 4:43 I like Scott Speedman fine. I have nothing against Mr. Speedman. Tara 4:46 Sure. Dave 4:47 I felt that his character needed a little push. That character felt like he should have been a little louder. Tara 4:54 Mm-hmm. Yes. Dave 4:55 First of all, can we just have like a happy PI? Yeah. in pop culture. We don't need one that's extremely damaged and whatever. I understand everybody wants PI equals failed cop usually. And he wasn't quite there for what I wanted. I think that speaks to Kim's advice to maybe check in. And there was so much going on in the pilot, like way too much. They wanted to have all the character introductions and a relatively complex case for a network show to boot, and they should have picked one or the other. I don't think they should have done all of that in the pilot. The second episode is a bit better in that regard. So hopefully pilotitis is to blame there. When you see this show and you see the key art and the posters and everything, you think, oh, this is going to be wall-to-wall, quirky Florida man shit. And that's sort of what I wanted, and I got a little of it, but I wanted more of it. Tara 5:55 Yeah, when you say you needed R.J. Decker to be louder, I felt that as well. Not only because Scott Speedman is very soft-spoken, although that's a lot of his appeal in Felicity, for example. Like he's very low key, but he's at risk of getting out charisma by the Kevin Rankin character who is immediately like more grabby and more interesting. He was RJ's cellmate. RJ like basically got him exonerated while they were both locked up and he got out one day earlier than he was supposed to. And on that day, he went and bought a scratcher and he won a million dollars and it changed his life. And so his thing is like, who knows what my life would have been if not for RJ getting me out that one day earlier, which is like, all of that is more interesting. It's kind of like, make the show about this guy, maybe. But I agree. He's like, he needs to be crazier. He's letting the shirts do a lot of his performance for him. Dave 6:46 That's a really good point. It really is a shirt-formance. Tara 6:49 It is. It's an Aloha shirt in most scenes. Dave 6:52 You know, he lives in a trailer, and the trailer's next to a giant sinkhole. The trailer park is full of all these crazy characters, It's including the guy that wears an insane clown posse get up and just stands in the woods. Lots of weird stuff like that, but it doesn't really click as a cohesive. This part of Florida is somehow phased from reality. Tara 7:13 Right. Dave 7:14 And I live in that reality. That's what it needed for me. Tara 7:17 Mm-hmm. Kim 7:18 Well, like when you said he's not loud enough, I was thinking, you know, well, his wardrobe is, but... Tara 7:22 Mm-hmm. Kim 7:23 My one note was that it's two hat on hat because R.J. Decker is not just divorced. The divorce is amicable, but it's not just amicable. His ex-wife is now married to a woman, but she's not just married to a woman. That woman is a cop. It's like everything has 10 extra things that could have been introduced later in the series. And, you know, you can whatever about the TV business. And maybe they're like, we got to put everything in here because who knows how many episodes we'll get to do. But I couldn't concentrate on the plot, which, like you said, is pretty complicated for this type of show, at least the pilot, because I was still so like, wait, who's this and what are they doing? And it just was a lot to throw at people. Tara 8:00 Yeah. Dave 8:00 Speaking about a lot, how much overtime did the original author put into everybody's name in this universe? Because they go way too hard for what we're dealing with. Just everybody's got that kind of name, that over-considered name. It's just, oh, boy. Tara 8:16 Yeah, Aloysius is a book-ass name, as our friend Joe Reed would say. Dave 8:21 Caroline Delacroix. Tara 8:22 Delacroix. Dave 8:22 Yeah, a lot of those. Tara 8:24 I'll give them credit, though, that there's a kid, but it's not his kid. Whenever a character like this has a kid from a previous relationship, it's always like, the show's going to want him to get back together with his ex for the kid's sake. and the kid can be around being like sad that the fuck up character is not around more. And it's like, this way the kid is around because it's the new wife's daughter from her previous relationship. But she's like, they have an amicable relationship, but they are not, she's not his kid. And it's not, that's a part of the shit that is on his plate. Dave 8:55 Well, here's another solution. No kidding. Well, sure. Kim 8:58 This is one of the things that bothers me about High Potential. Like, I know they have the conceit that her ex-husband, and again, I haven't watched in a little while, so this may have changed, but takes care of her kids for her while she's off gallivanting around being a detective. But I'm always thinking, where are your kids? What's going on with your kids? And so I'm glad, male or female, I'm thinking that, not just women. And so I'm glad that he doesn't have kids because that's one less thing I have to worry about. Dave 9:21 I think High Potential, that's the character's name. I think High Potential has built a human-sized hamster habitation tube system for them at home. Kim 9:29 I mean, I don't know if you know this, Dave, but she's extra smart, so she probably could. Dave 9:32 She probably could. Tara 9:33 And one of the kids is a real nerd, so he would probably be fine with that as long as he could read books in there. Kim, we had you on a few years ago to talk about ABC's private investigator dramedy, which I think we all liked and which got renewed and then on Renewed, Stumptown. Are you ready to open your heart to another show that has so much in common with it? Kim 9:52 Since then, I think I've gotten more used to the idea of like, you might start watching a show and it might just go away. There might only be six episodes or it might be on some streaming service and it'll be four years before you get another season of it. Or, you know, like I feel like the TV landscape has changed and I've just kind of gotten used to it by now. Whereas before, I think we were more like had more expectations of shows having a full season and getting renewed. Now it's like, who knows what's going to happen? Tara 10:17 Yeah. Dave 10:17 Yeah. Kim 10:18 Watch it or don't. Dave 10:18 I feel like this show is so close to being a Blue Skies show, but doesn't quite get there. And I felt like if they just sort of studied something like that, Burr Notice perhaps, since it's also in Florida, that they could have got to that point where it felt from the get-go that they were having some fun. And it's not like it's unfun. I felt like it would have been stronger if they went kind of goofy. Kim 10:41 I was a little worried about Scott Speedman as the lead in the pilot, because I was kind of like, I don't know if I buy it. Like him is this Florida dirt bag. But by the second episode, I felt like he settled into the role or the writing got better. I'm not sure which a little bit. And I have less concerns about that moving forward. Tara 10:58 Dave, did you have notes on his photography technique? I guess we don't get. Tara 11:01 To see any of his his work. Dave 11:03 Yeah, no, not really. It's fine. There is a part, I think it's in the second episode, so I guess this is a minor spoiler, but he has this line about seeing through the lens and the lens telling the story and all this sort of stuff. It's like, calm down. Cancel items. You're just taking pictures of pots on the balcony. Like, you're good. Tara 11:24 Take it easy, yeah. I also would like to tell writers who are working in TV and movies, you need to come up with a different method of exposition than character flips through channels on live TV to see the local news. Because this character is presented to us, does not pay for watching live TV. He watches shit on his phone maybe like hours after it aired. Dave 11:47 Yeah, that was a good note. And then he ruins his TV. Tara 11:49 And he's not that guy either. I didn't buy them as a person who would like, in a fit of peak, rip his TV down and break it, sending his trailer into a sinkhole. Kim 11:59 Yeah, I kind of felt like the original template maybe for the character was to have him be someone who makes bad choices that are sometimes violent based on why he went to jail in the first place. And then the little temper tantrum in the trailer. Tara 12:13 Yeah. Kim 12:13 But that was kind of it. So I wasn't sure if they kind of cast Scott Speed and were like, is anyone really going to buy him as like the super aggro guy who's beating people up all the time? I don't know. Again, we'll see as episodes go forward. But those two, both of those things and the fact that he, I guess this isn't a spoiler because it's in the first episode, in the first five minutes of the first episode, that he hooks up with a lady just out of nowhere on the courthouse steps. Tara 12:38 Mm hmm. Kim 12:39 I was kind of like, what? Yeah. Excuse me? Like, I'm like, I'm kind of a prude and I'm old. But is this really a thing that people would do? Like, while you're waiting for the trial to continue, hook up with somebody? I don't know. I just thought that seemed a little impulsive. And then the character doesn't really seem that way, except for the temper tantrum he throws. But that could just be the writers kind of figuring out the character, I guess. Tara 13:02 Yeah, I could see that. I also think that character's name is Emmy. She's played by Jaina Lee Ortiz. She's also a Florida scumbag, but in a very different way. And, you know, they have her come back. And the reason that she is still in the story is because she testified against him. And her testimony was, like, not totally true and had him sent away. And then she comes back and she feels bad about it. So she, you know, sends him, gets him information and stuff because she still has access to it through her very connected father. Who, by the way, whenever we eventually meet him, and I'm sure he's going to come into it at some point, Jimmy Smith's. Just saying. Kim 13:37 I was just thinking Jimmy Smits. Tara 13:39 But if they're setting her up to be a love interest for him, does anyone else think they made her too unlikable to redeem? Because I kind of do. Dave 13:48 So the timeline is she is the one on the steps of the courthouse that fucks him in the car. Then in the next scene, she is on the witness stand, says that he beat up her brother. He goes to jail for 18 months. And then she's back and she's like, well, I got you that piece of information. I guess we're even now. And he's like, no. First of all, would you even interact with that person just from a legal jeopardy standpoint? No, but OK, let's just go with it. Second of all, how much would you have to do to make up for just pausing somebody's life for 18 months? Just like that just conceit that she's going to be on the hook for a couple of years or whatever. Feeding information was pretty dumb, but such as the network show. Tara 14:31 The other thing that happens in that scene is he is studying an Almond Joy chocolate bar that later comes up as a callback. She sort of taunts him with it. I refuse to believe anyone ever made a life-ruining decision while pondering an Almond Joy. It's just not good enough. Snickers, maybe. Canadian O'Henry probably happens every day, but Almond Joy, no. Dave 14:54 No chocolate bar with coconuts. Tara 14:55 No. Kim 14:56 Throw it in the garbage. Dave 14:57 Yeah, throw it in the garbage. All right, last thought. Who would win in a fight? RJ Decker or TJ Hooker? Tara 15:04 I think TJ Hooker. I think TJ Hooker. He's a cop. He's got a nightstick. He's crooked, probably. Dave 15:09 Yeah, he's probably crooked. Kim 15:11 Yeah. Dave 15:17 Newfangled stories on my electric story box. All right, it's time to go around the dial. First up is with Tarek. Tara 15:24 So this is about The Greatest Average American, which premiered on ABC last week. It's hosted by Nate Bargetsy, who first came to be known as a clean comic, which is fine. He released several specials that were well regarded. I watched them and they were good. He achieved a level of fame where he was invited to host SNL. He did well there, too. And then the entertainment industry decided he should get to fulfill every dream he ever had and a bunch that he hadn't. And it's a problem now. And I soured on him initially when his last special had a bit about him making a charitable donation to someone who approached him on the street because he couldn't say no to their face and then finding out he'd accidentally signed up to make it monthly. So his wife had to cancel it. I don't remember what the amount was, whether it was 50 bucks, 200 bucks. He's filming in a giant stadium, like in the round. He's on a rotating stage so everyone can see him. Like, you have the money. This is not a cute story. It makes you look like an asshole. Tara 16:19 There's a point where you can't do that kind of aw shucks i'm just a down-home dunce because we all know you're rich but then he goes to the emmys speaking of him being rich and the big bit that everyone got mad about rightly was about saying i started with this huge donation to the boys and girls club and for every second winners go over their allotted time in their acceptance speeches he's going to subtract a thousand dollars or something it was very tacky everyone hated it it underlined the obvious fact that he doesn't know what award show fans like about award shows and he just ended up making the intended donation anyway so why make that the runner anyway now he's got this game show so the first round of this show is basically family feud but stupider instead of instead of the contestants supplying the answers for a question like okay for example what is the form that most americans would say if they can only have potatoes in this one way i'm obviously mangling how it's phrased but What would they say? Dave 17:13 Butt plug. Tara 17:15 How would they want to eat potatoes for the rest of their life? Dave 17:17 Not butt plug. Kim 17:18 French fries. Tara 17:19 French fries is the answer. Dave 17:20 Sure. Tara 17:21 Which I said before they even gave the multiple choice answers, which were chips, mashed, or hash browns. Like, come on. And fries. Kim 17:28 Who's saying mashed? Come on. Tara 17:30 Honestly. So there are slightly harder question formats. Like, well, you have to get what percentage of Americans know which president is on the nickel. And at the end of the first round, the lowest scoring contestant is eliminated, leaving two. The third round is dumbed down fast money from Family Feud. It's like they just ask questions and you say true or false, basically, based on answers that people gave in the audience to questions like, do you know how to tie a necktie? Yes or no? And the prize is the average salary in America, which is like $67,000 something, plus the taxes so you don't have to pay the taxes on it. Dave 18:01 So wait a sec. Took a format of a dumb show from the 70s and made it dumber. Tara 18:07 Yep. Dave 18:07 And then the prize is the ever-shrinking salary of middle-class American worker. Tara 18:13 Yep. Kim 18:14 Capitalism. Dave 18:15 Wow. Tara 18:16 So here's the second round, though, because this is what made me insane. Nate has to complete some kind of test of skill. So one contestant guesses what number of successful tries he will get, and the other guesses will be higher or lower. And again, this is my other problem with ABC primetime shows. They are like they air in an hour block, but they're just two episodes of show glued together for no reason. Like, just call them two episodes. They're clearly two episodes, whatever. In the first half, he had to shoot free throws for a minute. One person had to guess how many he would get. And the other person had to see that number and decide if it was going to be higher or lower than that. So he doesn't know what answer he's what number he's aiming for. In the second half, the test of skill was naming as many titles as he can from a list of the 150 all-time best sports movies according to IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes. I forget which. Who cares? Here's how that goes. Let's hear the clip. Rudy. Uh... Kim 19:36 30 seconds. You have five. Blue Chips. Uh, there's going to be some main ones. Uh, oh, man. Uh, man, it's, uh, it's the game. Golly. I'm sorry. That's great TV. What are you doing? Tara 20:12 I don't, it's, I swear, I don't. Kim 20:15 I should never have wrote that into the game because that's not. Tara 20:20 It's really embarrassing. I'm never gonna watch that again. I hate it, Sky. Like, they give him the category at least 40 seconds before the time starts. He apparently doesn't spend any of that time like putting some in the chamber, coming up with a strategy. Like, just start with one sport, Say as many ones you can think of, like, okay, The Natural, that one worked, Major League, great. Bull Durham, Field of Their Own, Pride of the Yankees. Kim 20:46 I'm sorry, Tara, don't you mean Major League Baseball? Tara 20:48 Or The Miracle, which is also not what that movie's called either. Obviously, he has approved categories he thinks he can possibly do well with. Like, they're not asking him to hot potato former Soviet republics or something, but whatever. They thought he could get 11, he got six. I don't need to see this boob struggling through a lot like this ever again. And I definitely don't need to see him in his feature film starring debut, basically remaking Mr. Mom with poor Mandy Moore as his wife, who the only reason I'm OK with that is her house burned down in the fires last year. And I hope this helps her rebuild. But fuck that guy for my plug. I don't have anything to plug myself, so I'm going to recommend everyone watch Chris Fleming Live at the Palace on HBO Max. Put the link in the show notes. It's super funny. I died laughing. Strong recommend. Dave 21:34 All right cam what do you got for us well a lot here we go settle in. Kim 21:38 I thought it's quick i thought i'd do a quick reality roundup i thought i had this great hot take about the traders which just finished uh its most recent season and then joe reed went and wrote a piece on vulture that said exactly what i was gonna say which the headline is the traders need to ban housewives he said for a while the headline just says ban housewives full stop that's basically what i was gonna say Too many Housewives on The Traitors. The Traitors is a social strategy show for people who don't watch social strategy shows. So I have all these friends who never watched Survivor, Big Brother, all of those. They watch The Traitors like, oh, my God, it's the greatest show ever. And I'm like, is it? It's not. But if you like The Housewives and like to see them acting up, good. More for you, less for me. Survivor Season 50 just premiered last week. And at first, I was very lukewarm on the cast. It's the first returning player season in quite some time since Season 40. Yeah. And I was kind of lukewarm on the people they decided to bring back. There's a lot of like recent players, recency bias. And then I went and watched the first episode and it was very nostalgic. They really leaned into it. And I was like, all right, Survivor, you got me. I mean, they've got me anyway. I watch every episode, but I was much more excited about the season. So if you didn't watch that episode, you can still catch up. It's only three hours long. Tara 22:50 Good God. Kim 22:51 I know they get a little crazy. You crazy for that one, Survivor. And then also recently premiering is a show I never really watched, which was House of Villains. It has moved from E to Peacock for the new season, season three. I never watched it because I don't really love, see also my thing about the Housewives on the Traitors. I don't really love watching people just yell at each other for no reason. That's not entertaining to me. But this season is a little bit better. It seems a little bit more sane, that's relatively speaking. It's got more Joel McHale, who is just making fun of the whole concept. It's much more self-parodying, I think, than... I haven't watched a full season, but I've seen episodes here and there. And it's much more leaning into the self-parody, the sort of soup of it all with Joel McHale and reality shows. It's weird. It's more in on the joke. They can swear now because it's on a streaming service. So that's always a plus. So that might be something you want to check out. There you go. That's my reality roundup. Thank you. Tara 23:46 No Australian survivor? Kim 23:47 I was just going to say, they just started a new season of Australian Survivor. It's called Redemption. The great thing about Australian Survivor is they don't care. So it's called Redemption. They brought back four players. None of them really need Redemption for much of anything. They just name it a season. They're not like Americans Forever, where they're like, it's got to fit in this box. They're just like, yeah, we're bringing back these people. We'll give it a name, Redemption. But nobody really needs Redemption. It's three episodes a week. Each episode's like more than an hour, an hour and a half, sometimes long. They're wild over there in Australia. But you have to fly to Australia to watch it. It can be difficult to find. But if you love Survivor like me, it's worth checking out. Tara 24:22 All right. Kim 24:23 I don't really have any plugs, but you can find me on most social media at Kim Reed, K-I-M-R-E-E-D. Dave 24:31 Coming up this Friday, an extra, extra hot great. We're going to be talking about DTF St. Louis. What does DTF stand for? We'll find out. I don't want to know. I know what it means. Then, bonus episode for club members. The first of the three of these for 2026 will be dropping. Circle back to me somehow. I've been doing this. This is the fourth year of this. This is weird. I get time. three of these 70s british sci-fi shows i was always curious about but also i'm very very lazy we'll be watching doom watch an episode called tomorrow comma the rat and that was a journey so check that out that's going to be episode 399 dropping tuesday probably right correct good available to all club members go to extrahotgreat.com slash club if you're not to sign up and then come back here next week EHG Prime. We're welcoming back Bobby Crutt to talk about Rooster! Rooster! Dave 25:42 Here's the time for the Extra Hot Great Cannon. Presenting this week, it is Julie. Julie, take it away. Time plays both the savior and the villain in season two, episode 23 of The Good Wife. Tara 30:31 Doomed, but in this moment, our hearts can pretend better things are ahead. Thank you, Julie. Kim, you selected this from our list. Why don't you start us off? Kim 30:41 Sure. Well, I watched every episode of The Good Wife. I think famously I did a marathon and wrote about it for you guys. Tara 30:49 That's right. Kim 30:50 I'm remembering. I didn't watch an initial airing. And I always liked the show, but I never loved the show. So I was kind of interested to see what someone who loved the show would say about what made this episode great. And I thought it was a great presentation by Julie. My one issue was that the show so serialized that it's tough to watch just one episode when I haven't watched them since that initial viewing. So it was a lot of me like on Wikipedia trying to remember like, wait, where are we in sort of the grand scheme of things and who's where and what's Peter doing and etc. et cetera. But I enjoyed watching it, but I didn't feel like I wanted to go ahead and watch like the next episode. I know Sarah often says that it's one of her rubrics for an episode. I would watch it and I was like, huh, okay. I remember that. And then I was kind of done. So I'm interested to hear what you guys thought. Tara 31:40 I agree with Julie that this has a lot of the ingredients that you want in an episode of the show, especially the ticking clock. The compression of time is, you know, adds a lot of pressure, obviously. And you get to see the kind of slimy things that these defense lawyers will do, which, you know, when you're on their side and like will going into the bathroom and loudly talking about the case and then being like, oh, no, because there's a juror in there that's overheard everything. So now he'll have to be removed. And then he's like, oh, actually, there were two jurors. He's like, oh, no, that wasn't part of the plan. But Will is so enjoyable when he's being that guy, like that kind of lawyer. Tara 32:21 There's earlier, there's another moment where he finds out about the glove, this key piece of evidence that has shown up at the office. And he runs back in and has to like ask his client, apparently for the very first time if he did it, which, you know, if you're a defense attorney, you wouldn't necessarily ask that. It's not germane. You're just trying to do your job regardless of whatever the facts are or what they tell you. But that like for that to be such a departure for Will, that was kind of fun, too. and then the payoff like i'm kind of with julie it's so sexy i love them together and it was hard to to wait for them to find their way back to each other and especially like everything goes wrong until they're like well fine let's pay 7 800 for the presidential suite because we just want to fuck that bad you know it worked on me and kalinda had a lot of great stuff to do too but i agree with you it is because of the serialization i was like okay i can tell by the way they're acting that like the two of them are on the outs at this moment like not for not for actual actor reasons but like something happened with the two of them and peter and i don't remember what it was but obviously they have to like put that aside for now alicia and kalinda to you know figure out what to do with this glove and get it admitted and get it tested and blah blah blah for me it delivered on every front and diane looked great i didn't even mention that part every suit a winner. Dave 33:42 Before we get into it. All right, Tara Arianna, wig cop, anything to report on this episode of The Good Wife Famous Wiggly Show? Tara 33:58 Yeah, this is, I don't think is one of her worst wigs. Alicia, or Juliana Marlies, throughout the run of the show wore a wig. She has very curly hair and she didn't want to like take the time it would take to do it properly. So that was why they just got her wigs and it was usually a different wig every season. Some are worse than others. This one is not the one I remember as being like in the really bad section of her wig use. Dave 34:21 Not particularly egregious wigging. Tara 34:23 No, I think this one is okay. It's still quite obviously a wig. I will mention it is International Wig Month, so perhaps there will be more wig updates as we go forward through the month of March. But happy International Wig Month, everybody. Hang your wigs on your wig tree and sing all your wig carols. Have wig chocolate, et cetera. Dave 34:43 I enjoyed this episode. This episode to me, especially with sort of this time crunch, to this compression of time in this race to get all the evidence in order before the jury comes back. That felt like what the good fight did even better. That felt like the formula for the good fight. You can kind of see a big piece of it here, whereas they want to carry this tone, this energy, this kinetic force over to this new show. So it was interesting to see it here in a pretty polished form, but then something that they'll elevate in their writing when they get to the next series. So I thought that was a pretty interesting watch in that regards. I was pretty fascinated by the chain of evidence stuff, like from the first moment where the bloody glove slides out of this envelope and just like the absolute terror on her face as she just freezes because now this is a whole chain of evidence, chain of custody thing. Tara 35:39 Yeah. Dave 35:40 And she's just like literally frozen in place, just trying to get somebody's attention through the glass office wall. But I thought that was really well done. I thought that like really captured the moment where it's like you kind of feel there, you know, that lump in your throat that like butterflies in your stomach, all that. Tara 35:55 Yeah. Dave 35:55 I thought that was very effective. Tara 35:56 And that it falls on a memo that they can't put in the envelope because it's like privileged work product. Dave 36:03 Yeah. It was a very Gremlins rules as legal drama. You know, like all these things you have to do. Tara 36:10 Yeah. Dave 36:11 So I enjoyed that part of it. I always enjoyed that sort of part of the good fight. The Good Fight for me, I could not watch The Good Wife again because I got The Good Fight and I thought The Good Fight was much more fun for the kind of thing I would like. But I think what The Good Fight was missing, though, is this big romantic triangle and the relationship between Josh Charles and Julianna Margulies. So I appreciate that this has that something extra that perhaps if you're going to compare one series to the other, yes, The Good Fight did these sort of lawyerly antics better and with more permission to be stupid and elastic with it, whereas this one dealt with sort of the office romance and office relationship stuff probably better. So I enjoyed it. I thought it was really good. And who amongst us has not pressed every button on an elevator at least once in their lives? Can't blame that girl. Tara 37:01 No. Dave 37:02 Let's put this to the official vote. Let's go backwards. I'm going to say yes. Tara? Tara 37:05 I'm going to say yes as well. Dave 37:07 All right. So, Kim Reid, what are you saying here? Kim 37:10 You guys convinced me I'm going to say yes. Dave 37:12 All right. All right. So... That means The Good Wife Season 2, Episode 23, Closing Arguments. You are hereby inducted into the Extra Hot Grey Cannon. Dave 37:34 love a winner. Yeah. And will not tolerate a loser. Nope. All right, it is time to discover who is our winner and loser of the week. I will go first with our winner of the week. It is groundskeeper Willie. Yes, Willie hears you. Willie don't care. credited by Pillion director Harry Lighton for his gay awakening, Groundskeeper Willie. Speaking truth. Also, that director would like to make a biopic of Groundskeeper Willie at some point, which... Tara 38:04 I would like to see it. Dave 38:05 I'm so far beyond caring about The Simpsons, but I would watch that. Tara 38:09 Having seen Pillion, I'm excited for that vision. To be a delight. Dave 38:14 Do you think it's when it's the episode Greasing Me Up Woman? Tara 38:18 Where he rips his... Yeah, of course. Dave 38:19 Yeah, you think it's that? Tara 38:19 Okay, yeah. But you also see his bum in other scenes too when his kilt blows up. Dave 38:24 Blows away, yeah. Tara 38:25 Everything Willie's got going on was very lovingly drawn and rendered, I would say, in the show. Dave 38:32 All right. Tara, who's our loser of the week? Tara 38:34 Well, speaking of housewives, they're going to take another L this week. Sonia Morgan's former assistant, Zoe Young, has partnered with Chelsea Handler to make a new sitcom about a washed-up reality star. so the headline on Vulture was like is Sonya Morgan about to be devil wears prodded and it kind of sounds like she is so I hope she was nice to this assistant Tara 38:55 otherwise this is going to be a bad time for her speaking. Dave 38:58 About bad times you know what time it is. Tara 39:00 Get back. Dave 39:13 Welcome back to Game Time. This is a non-regulation game. Today, we are playing Little Houses on the Prairie from yours truly. Don't get too excited. In Little Houses on the Prairie, you will take turns getting the top six actors from a TV show set in a prairie state. Tara 39:32 Okay. Dave 39:33 For your edification for this game, the pared down list is the big five, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, but also parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri are in play. I excised Texas and New Mexico were also technically in the list, but let's be realistic. Also Illinois, but all the shows in Illinois are set in Chicago, and that didn't seem very grassy to me. one person will get the sixth billed actor in this show. They have to guess what the show is. Tara 40:09 Okay. Dave 40:10 If they get it, they get the point. If they guess incorrectly, the other person's going to get the run of it. Tara 40:16 Okay, got it. Dave 40:16 The quicker you answer, the more points you get. So we go from six points all the way to one point. And then after, if you tell me what prairie state it is set in, you will get an additional point. Kim 40:26 Great, okay. Dave 40:27 Here we go. Let's throw it to Piggy to see our order today. We will start with Tara. All right, we'll go Tara, then Kim. That is just who is starting with the clues. Tara 40:39 Got it. Dave 40:40 Here we go. Tara. Adrienne Beard. Adrienne Beard. You only get one guess, so pass if you need to. Tara 40:48 Yellowstone. Dave 40:50 All right, the rest is for you, Kim. Kim 40:52 Okay. Dave 40:53 April Stewart for five points. Kim 40:56 No. Dave 40:57 Mona Marshall for four points. Kim 40:59 No. Dave 41:00 For three points, Isaac Hayes. Kim 41:05 No. Dave 41:06 For two points, Matt Stone. Kim 41:10 South Park? Dave 41:11 South Park is correct. What state does South Park take place in? Kim 41:15 Colorado. Dave 41:16 Colorado is correct. Yes, there are prairie bits in Colorado. Tara 41:20 Good job. Dave 41:20 So you've got three points in total. Two for Matt Stone, one for Colorado. All right, Kim, you're going to start us off here. Kim 41:27 Okay. Dave 41:28 Feel good about your chances here for a nice big payday. Sixth build, Anson Williams. happy days happy days is correct they weren't all happy days where does happy days take place wisconsin yes that's good for seven total points nice grab tara deborah joe rup deborah. Tara 41:50 Joe rup that's gonna be that 70s show. Dave 41:52 You are correct another six pointer takes place in. Tara 41:57 Hello wisconsin i was about to say michigan and i knew that wasn't right. Dave 42:01 Two sweeps in a row So seven points for you, Tara. Back to Kim to start us off with Erica Durrance. Perhaps Durrance. Tara 42:09 Durrance, I think. Dave 42:10 Erica Durrance. Kim 42:12 Pass. Dave 42:14 To Tara, John Glover. Tara 42:16 Smallville. Dave 42:17 Smallville, good for five points. Takes place in. Tara 42:23 Kansas. Dave 42:24 Kansas, good for six points total for that one. All right, Tara. Tara 42:27 Yep. Dave 42:27 Glenn Strange. Tara 42:31 Pass. Dave 42:32 Dennis Weaver to Kim. Dennis Weaver. Kim 42:38 I'm going to say pass. Dave 42:40 Ken Curtis. Tara 42:42 Pass. Dave 42:43 Amanda Blake. Kim. Kim 42:47 Pass. Dave 42:49 Milburn Stone. Tara. Tara 42:51 Pass. Dave 42:52 James Arness. Kim. Kim. Kim 42:57 Gunsmoke? Dave 42:58 Gunsmoke is correct. Yes, one point for the Gunsmoke. Kim 43:01 Thanks, Dad. Dave 43:01 What if I did it by characters? Kim, Chester, Festus, Kitty, Doc, Matt Dillon. What state does Gunsmoke take place in? Kim 43:09 Oh, boy. Dave 43:11 You can double your points. Kim 43:14 Montana? Dave 43:16 This is Dodge City, Kansas. We're going to start this one with you, Kim. Your first actor is Georgia Engel. Kim 43:27 Barry Tyler Marshall. Tara 43:28 You are correct. Dave 43:29 Six points takes place in what state? Kim 43:32 Minnesota. Dave 43:33 Yes. Seven points. Kim 43:34 Nicely done. Dave 43:35 Tara. Tara 43:36 Yes. Dave 43:36 Gregory Cruz. Tara 43:38 Pass. Dave 43:39 Laura San Giacomo. Kim 43:41 Pass. Dave 43:43 Bailey Chase. Tara 43:45 Pass. Dave 43:46 Kenny Johnson. Kim 43:48 Pass. Dave 43:50 Back to Tara. Leon Rippey. Tara 43:55 Is this Deadwood? Wait. Laura San Giacomo wasn't a dead one. Dave 43:59 Last clue, Holly Hunter. Holly Hunter. Top build. Kim 44:04 Holly Hunter and Laura San Giacomo were in a show together. Dave 44:06 This TV show that takes place in a prairie state. Kim 44:08 And it was called... Dave 44:09 Yes. Kim 44:12 Fargo? Dave 44:14 Not Fargo. We were looking for Saving Grace. Saving Grace takes place in Oklahoma. Saving Grace is just okay. Kim, start us off with India de Beaufort. Pass. Okay. Amber Valletta. Tara 44:32 Hmm. Dave 44:34 If you get this, I'm going to give you 20 points. Tara 44:36 Well, I know who both those people are, so that distinguishes this one from one of others I've gotten. I think this is the toughest question in the game. Okay, pass. Dave 44:43 Scott Michael Foster. Kim 44:47 I know who that person is, too. Pass. Dave 44:51 Rebecca Rittenhouse. Tara 44:53 Is this Greek? Shit. Dave 44:55 Chase Crawford, our penultimate actor for Kim, Chase Crawford. Kim 45:04 Pass. Dave 45:05 And finally, for Tara, Don Johnson. This show existed for one season. Tara 45:12 What? Dave 45:13 Maybe not even a full season. Kim 45:14 It's going to be one of those WB shows that was only on full season. Tara 45:16 Well, the one that I'm thinking of, Jay Baruchel, was in it, so he would have been billed. But I'm going to say that anyway. Just legal? Dave 45:23 No. This show takes place in North Dakota. It is called Blood and the Oil. Tara 45:28 Oh, okay. Dave 45:29 On ABC for one season. Kim 45:31 I was like, was it on Starz? Dave 45:34 All right, Tara. Tara 45:35 Burn. Yes. Kim 45:36 Jay Thomas. Tara 45:39 Pass. Dave 45:40 To Kim, Tom Poston. Kim 45:43 Pass. Dave 45:44 Back to Tara, Conrad Janis. Tara 45:47 Pass. Dave 45:48 To Kim, Ralph James. Kim 45:52 Pass. Dave 45:53 Back to Tara for two points. Pam Dauber. Tara 45:56 Mark and Mindy. Dave 45:57 Mark and Mindy is good. Takes place where? Tara 45:59 In Colorado. Dave 46:00 That is good for three points in total. All right, this will take us up to our score, a break. Tara 46:04 Okay. Dave 46:05 It is starting with Kim. We've got Kim Nobolok. Kim Nobolok. Nobolok. Kim 46:12 Pass. Dave 46:13 Orson Bean, Tara. Tara 46:15 Is this Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman? Dave 46:17 It is. Kim 46:18 Yes. Dave 46:19 Orson Bean. That guy is a guy. Tara 46:22 Three, four, five, right? Dave 46:24 All right. Where does it take place? Tara 46:25 Oh, God. Wyoming? Dave 46:30 Colorado. Colorado Springs. Colorado. So five points for that. Nicely done. All right. Tally the scores. Let's hear it. Tara 46:39 Okay. It's pretty close. Kim's got 18. I've got 21. Dave 46:42 All right. Let's get back to it. Tara, you get the first clue here. John Hawks. Tara 46:48 Is this Deadwood? Dave 46:49 This is Deadwood. It takes place in what prairie state? Tara 46:52 One, five, six, four. Dave 46:55 We've been there. Tara 46:56 I know we have. I know it's in Dakota. Dave 46:59 We were, just like, think about it. Tara 47:01 We're driving. Dave 47:02 We're near Deadwood. The Sturgis Motorcycle Festival is on. There's lots of people with shirts that said you could read this. The bitch fell off. All right, answer. Tara 47:10 Including in our car. Just kidding. South Dakota. Dave 47:13 South Dakota is correct. All right, six points total for that one. Back to Kim. Justin Shenkero. Kim 47:20 Pass. Dave 47:21 Holly Marie Combs, Tara. Tara 47:24 Picket Fences. Dave 47:25 Picket Fences is correct. Five points. Where does that take place? Tara 47:30 Rome. Dave 47:32 That is correct. It's the fictional town of Rome in Wisconsin. Yes. Tara 47:37 Okay. Kim 47:37 Oh. Dave 47:38 Nicely done. Kim 47:39 One of Jim Durr's favorite shows, Picket Fences. Tara 47:41 Aw. That's very cute. Dave 47:44 All right, Tara. Tara 47:45 Yep. Dave 47:46 Kelsey Asboli. Asboli. I don't know how many. Tara 47:50 Asboli Valpass. Dave 47:52 A-S-B-I-L-L-E. All right. Oh, look at this. Here we go. To Kim. Kohlhauser. Famous watch brand. Kohlhauser. Tara 48:02 She doesn't know what that is. Dave 48:03 I know. Tara 48:04 That's something we taped before we go. Dave 48:07 Kohlhauser. Kim 48:09 Pass. I know who he is. Dave 48:10 Tara. Tara 48:11 Yeah. Dave 48:11 Wes Bentley. Tara 48:12 This is Yellowstone. Dave 48:13 This is Yellowstone. Yes. That's good for four points. Takes place in what state? Tara 48:17 North? No, Montana? Dave 48:19 Montana, yes. All right, back to Kim to start us off with. Kenneth Kimmons. Kenneth Kimmons. Pass. Claire Carey. Tara 48:28 Coach. Dave 48:28 Coach is correct. Five points. Takes place in what state? Tara 48:32 Oh, my God. It takes place in Minnesota. Dave 48:34 Yes, one more point. All right. Tara 48:35 I am the world's most unexpected coach fan. I've really watched a lot of coach, and I don't think she ever did anything else. Thank you, Claire Carey. Dave 48:44 Luann Stevens. Tara 48:46 Pass. Dave 48:47 Adam Bartley. Kim 48:49 Pass. Dave 48:50 Cassidy Freeman. Tara 48:53 Oh. Pass. Dave 48:56 Lou Diamond Phillips. Kim 49:02 Pass. Dave 49:04 Katie Sackhoff. Tara 49:05 Is this Longmire? Dave 49:07 It is the longest of Meyers. Kim 49:10 Two points. It's not a show. Dave 49:12 Puts the scene like one. What state? Tara 49:15 Oh, God. Wyoming? Dave 49:17 Yes. Tara 49:18 Oh, God. Kim 49:20 Great. Dave 49:21 All right. Back to Kim. Kim 49:23 Yeah. Dave 49:23 Melissa Sue Anderson. Tara 49:24 Here we go. Kim 49:25 Little House on the Prairie. Dave 49:26 Yes. Takes place in what state? Kim 49:28 Minnesota. Dave 49:29 Wrong. No, you're right. Seven points. Kim 49:33 That's a sweet bet. Dave 49:33 The mountains of Minnesota. Kim 49:34 We all know. Dave 49:36 This is question 17. Tara 49:37 Pretty good. Dave 49:38 Four questions left. Tara. Phil Foster. Tara 49:41 Pass. Dave 49:42 Michael McKean. Pass. Michael McKean. Kim 49:49 Oh, Laverne and Shirley. Dave 49:50 Laverne and Shirley is correct. Tara 49:51 Nice. Dave 49:52 Five points takes place in what state? Kim 49:54 Wisconsin. Dave 49:55 Yeah, six points. Tara 49:56 Woo! Nicely done. Dave 49:58 All right, Kim, start us off with Bo Wyrick. W-I-R. Pass? Okay. Atticus Schaefer. Tara 50:06 The Middle. Dave 50:07 The Middle is correct. Tara's favorite show, The Middle. What state? Tara 50:14 Indiana. Dave 50:15 Indiana is correct. A fictional town called Orson in Indiana. All right. This is question 19. 19. Tara, start us off with April Parker Jones. Tara 50:26 Pass. Dave 50:27 To Kim Brad Bayer. Kim 50:29 Pass. Dave 50:31 Kenneth Mitchell. Tara 50:33 Oh, sorry. Pass. Dave 50:35 Ashley Scott. Kim 50:37 These are made-up names. Pass. Dave 50:40 Penultimate clue, Lenny James. Tara 50:47 It's not this, but I only know him from The Walking Dead, Alright. Dave 50:52 Skeet Aldrich Oh. Kim 50:56 Tara knows it I don't know it Scream, the TV show Incorrect. Dave 51:02 Alright, so no points on this one But Tara, what is it? It's Jericho Jericho, yes Was that the one where you sent Tabasco? Tara 51:08 Yep. No, that was Russ. Wasn't it Pink? Kim 51:12 Peanuts? Dave 51:12 Yes, that sounds right. That's right. That sounds right. All right, last question coming at us. Let's get scores. Tara 51:18 Okay. Kim has 20, 31. I have 20, 40, 53. Dave 51:24 It's anybody's game. Kim 51:25 A couple of those. I'm like two. I was like, I'm out. Dave 51:27 Kim, start us off with Sarah Podemski. Kim 51:31 Pass. Dave 51:32 Tara, Elva Guerra. Tara 51:35 Is this Reservation Dogs? Dave 51:36 It is. Reservation Dogs. That's good for five points. Takes place in what state? Tara 51:40 Oklahoma. Dave 51:41 Oklahoma is good for one extra point. All right. I think we know who won, but I do have two tricksy tiebreakers here. I wanted to do it. Giancarlo Esposito. Prairie State set. Kim 51:56 Pass. Dave 51:57 All right. Michael Mando. Tara 52:01 This is Better Call Saul, is it not? Dave 52:05 It is. Tara 52:06 Okay. Dave 52:07 What state does it take place? What Prairie State does it take place in? Keep in mind, New Mexico is not among them. Tara 52:14 Yeah. Of these, I don't know, Colorado? I think it's Nebraska. Dave 52:20 Nebraska, yes. The Cinnabon in Nebraska is the true setting of the show, according to me. All right. Tara 52:25 Right. Dave 52:26 Work together. First to figure out this show, we'll start with Russell Harvard. Tara 52:32 Pass. Dave 52:33 Jason Schwartzman. Tara 52:36 Pass. Kim 52:38 Yes. Dave 52:39 Colin Hanks. Tara 52:41 Oh, I think this was that weird Mike White show that was on for a second. Kim 52:45 Oh. Tara 52:46 I think. Dave 52:47 What's your guess, Kim? Sound like it was different. Kim 52:48 I was going to say Fargo. Dave 52:50 It is Fargo. Tara 52:50 Yes, correct. Dave 52:51 All right. Tara 52:51 Good job, Kim. Dave 52:52 Name the five prairie states in which Fargo takes place. Tara 52:56 Okay. Kim 52:57 North Dakota. Dave 52:58 North Dakota, correct. Tara 53:00 Probably South Dakota. Dave 53:01 South Dakota, also correct. Tara 53:03 Definitely Minnesota. Dave 53:04 Three out of five. Two more. Tara 53:07 Wisconsin? Kim 53:08 I'm just going to say Wisconsin. Dave 53:09 Nope. Tara 53:10 Oh, I had the same thought. Oklahoma? Dave 53:13 Nope. Kim 53:15 Indiana? Dave 53:17 Nope. Tara 53:19 Iowa, which has not been mentioned in this game yet? Dave 53:21 There's no Iowa in this. No shows take place in Iowa. But yeah, I did Missouri. We had Missouri in one of them and Kansas because there's a season that takes place in Kansas City. Tara 53:31 Right. Kim 53:32 All right. Dave 53:32 All right. That is it. Well played, everybody. But today, Tara won. We'll be right back. Dave 53:45 Well, that is it for another episode of Extra Hot Great. We investigated the new Florida PI series RJ Decker before going around the dial with just two stops at the Greatest Average American and Kim Reeves Reality Roundup. Julie convinced the judges not to dismiss her canon case for the good wife's closing arguments. We crowned winners and losers of the week, and Tara was the winner of this week's prairie-filled game time. Next up, this Friday, it is DTF St. Louis. Still waiting to find out what that means. I think I'll be pleasantly surprised. Remember! Kim 54:21 We're listening. Dave 54:25 Doug the Friend. I am David T. Cole, and on behalf of Tara Ariano. Tara 54:32 But not laugh-out-loud funny. Dave 54:34 The Absincerity Bunting and Kim Reed. Kim 54:37 Look out for that sinkhole. Dave 54:38 Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time right here on Extra Hot Great. Tara 54:59 Ma'am? Dave 55:03 Boo-doo-doo-doo-doo.