Extra Hot Great: This Week In TV

Labor Day is nearly here, and with it the unofficial start of fall. With dozens of new shows premiering or returning, which are we actually planning to watch…and planning even harder to avoid? Eve Batey returns so that we can all share our picks and P.U.s. Eve presents the Widow’s Bay episode “Your Baggage” for induction into The Canon. Then, after we name the week’s Winner and Loser, we close with a Ted-y bear of a Non-Regulation Game Time. Take a break from burning your dead leaves to listen!
GUESTS
👤 Eve Batey
TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🍂 Fall TV Preview
The Canon: ⛽️ Widow's Bay S01.E08: Your Baggage
Winner & Loser: ⚖️ Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Winner & Loser: 📡 CNN
Game Time: 🔪 Ted Like Me
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NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🦋 Eve Batey on Bluesky
‼️ “The Cozy-Looking Sweaters In ‘Reds,’ Ranked” at Defector
📰 The Vanity Fair Daily newsletter
🌁 Eve’s piece on Under Story at the San Francisco Chronicle [subscription required]
👶 Sarah’s review of Baby Doe at Best Evidence [subscription required]
🖼️ “CNN Apologizes For Mistakenly Airing Photo Of Dolly Parton Impersonator In Report On Late Singer” at Variety

Five-part Swedish serial-killer cop show Blood Sacrifice just hit Netflix, and Sarah Baker is back to talk about scratching the Scandi-noir itch, mapping overseas procedurals onto B-B-B-B-Bosch, and what uniquely Swedish crimes a second season could incorporate. We went Around The Dial with My Brilliant Career, Big Brother, This Is A Gardening Show, and a Djokovic djokumentary on Prime Video before Tara very truthfully pitched Would I Lie To You? for another Canon spot. Line Of Fire won; Lost, um, you know; and we had to dive deep into our NCISknowledge for Game Time. Throw a couple cans of sparkling wine in the Volvo and join us!
GUESTS
👤 Sarah Baker
TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🩸 Blood Sacrifice
Around The Dial: 👷🏻‍♀️ My Brilliant Career
Around The Dial: 👁️ Big Brother
Around The Dial: 👨‍🌾 This Is A Gardening Show
Around The Dial: 🎾 Novak Djokovic: The Wolf In Winter
The Canon: 🤥 Would I Lie To You S19.E05
Winner & Loser: 🔫 Line Of Fire
Winner & Loser: 🐻‍❄️ Lost
Game Time: ⚓️ Navally
SUPPORT THE SHOW
🔥 Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads, community Discord and more!
🎧 Subscribe to EHG on Apple Podcasts for bonus episodes and no ads!
🛍️ Shop our merch store!
NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🍔 Listen to Sarah Baker on Bob's Burgers
💝 And keep an eye out for Loves Company
🏦 Contact Sarah about the EHG Mutual Aid Vault
📷 Photo: Netflix / Jörgen Johansson

HBO’s getting in the superhero game with Lanterns, a take on a DC Comics superhero with theories about aliens, and lore expert Kate Sánchez returns to walk us through why John Stewart is an interesting apprentice, what she’d do with glowing-ring powers, and whether we buy Coach Taylor in this role. We went Around The Dial with The Dink, Hard Knocks, and the return of The Challenge, and our esteemed colleague John Ramos hoped we’d represent an episode of Heartstoppers for the Canon. Only Murders casting won, Dylan Walsh lost, and we waded into the Simpsons–One Piece plot Venn in Game Time. While away that flight to Nebraska with an all-new Extra Hot Great!
GUESTS
👤 Kate Sánchez
TOPICS
Lead Topic: 💍 Lanterns
Around The Dial: 🏓 The Dink
Around The Dial: 🏈 Hard Knocks
Around The Dial: 🤾🏻‍♂️ The Challenge
The Canon: 💗 Heartstopper S02.E08: Perfect
Winner & Loser: 🏢 Only Murders In The Building
Winner & Loser: 🏒 Dylan Walsh
Game Time: 🏴‍☠️ One Piece Did It
SUPPORT THE SHOW
🔥 Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads, community Discord and more!
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🛍️ Shop our merch store!
NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🤨 Kate Sánchez's online community, But Why Tho
🦋 Kate on Bluesky
💪 Tara explains why you should be watching Reacher S04, at GQ
🤳 More on Reacher S04 from us in EEHG 424
📚 The virtual concierge at Exhibit B. Books, Sarah's true-crime bookshop
📷 Photo: HBO

In Anna Pigeon, the USA Network’s new Canadian import, the titular character is a cop whose beat is Glacier National Park. Did it make us want to abandon our TVs for the great outdoors? Famed National Parks Omar Gallaga returns to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us through The Last House, S02 of X-Men ’97, and Game Day Murders. Omar presents the Primal episode “Plague Of Madness” for induction into the Canon. Then, after we name the week’s Winner and Loser, we get out our credit cards for a Game Time that dares us to shop (TV) ’til we drop. Put on your sunscreen and bug spray and listen!
GUESTS
👤 Omar Gallaga
TOPICS
Lead Topic: 🐦 Anna Pigeon
Around The Dial: 🏘️ The Last House
Around The Dial: 🎆 X-Men '97
Around The Dial: 🏟️ Game Day Murders
The Canon: 🦕 Primal S01.E07: Plague Of Madness
Winner & Loser: 🕳️ Stars of The Pitt
Winner & Loser: 🦶 Ego Nwodim
Game Time: 💸 Shop The Show
NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🦋 Omar on Bluesky
🫥 The Cold Vanish by John Billman on Bookshop
🧗‍♂️ “No Return” (about “alpine divorce”) at The New Yorker
💄 The Listen To Sassy Club
🦸🏻‍♂️ “A Wunderkind Showrunner Was Put In Charge Of Marvel’s X-Men ’97. Then Something Went Terribly Wrong” at Vanity Fair
👨🏽‍💻 Omar at CNET
🏸 Sarah’s review of Game Day Murders at Best Evidence
🧼 Info on and tickets for The Bathroom Attendant
📷 Photo: Michelle Faye / USA
CLUB-ONLY NOTES
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💬 Get On Our Community Discord

Extra Extra Hot Great music-on-TV correspondent Kari Race is back to discuss Sterling Point, in which Manhattan rich kids head to a wifi-free island in Canada to uncover secrets, draw love triangles, and make out with their friends’ moms. The panel was divided on whether it was charming and sweet, or unrealistic and annoying; see if we think it’ll make you smile, or just feel old. We went Around The Dial with Unacceptable, Heartstopper: Forever, and the BBC’s Jared Leto investigation, and Dave asserted that a seventh-season X-Filesepisode was ass. Task won, Wonder Man lost, and Game Time turned X-Files guest-star deaths into blind items. Grab a handful of illegally stored acorns and join us.
GUESTS
👤 Kari Race
TOPICS
Lead Topic: 👉 Sterling Point
Around The Dial: 🫨 Unacceptable
Around The Dial: 💕 Heartstopper
Around The Dial: 😬 Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret
The Nonac: 🔫 The X-Files S07.E13: First Person Shooter
Winner & Loser: 👮🏻‍♂️ Task
Winner & Loser: 🤷‍♂️ Wonder Man
Game Time: 👽 The Ex-Files
SUPPORT THE SHOW
🔥 Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads, community Discord and more!
🎧 Subscribe to EHG on Apple Podcasts for bonus episodes and no ads!
🛍️ Shop our merch store!
NOTES
🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our site
🎧 Kari Race's Hey Remember the 80s podcast
🛬 Tara's "Why Can't TV Finales Stick a Landing" piece at GQ
😬 Sarah's review of JL:HDS at Best Evidence
✉️ Mo Ryan's "Jared Leto And Hollywood's Open Secrets" essay at NYT
🧯 Mo Ryan's Burn It Down at Exhibit B. Books
📰 Last week's guest Tim Grierson's profile of Wonder Man star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II for the L.A. Times
📷 Photo: Prime Video