Time to shoot the charity ad, and Adam directs it. There's a shouldn't-be-complicated shot where Arsenio passes a basketball offscreen and Magic Johnson is supposed to catch it in his shot, which is being filmed out in L.A. by what turns out to be Adam's podcast crew. Which, yes, seems suuuper dubious. Anyway, Adam and Arsenio spend a billion hours on the phone trying to explain what side of the frame Magic should be catching the ball on. So many repetitions of "camera left" and "frame right" and clearly no one knows what they're doing. But everything else about the ad seems solid. Lisa's good, Paul plays into his grumpiness, per usual. Teresa is clueless but not disastrous. The consensus from his team is that Arsenio is a hands-off leader in a good way.

In the editing bay later on, Arsenio is fundraising on the phone while Adam works with the editor. As Arsenio interviews to us, it turns out some of his friends have been stiffing him, or at least ignoring his calls. And he's like, "No worries! I get to shed their bullshit friendship and tell them to fuck off now!" Arsenio is kind of a simmering cauldron of rage underneath, huh? Meanwhile, the Magic footage takes FOREVER downloading from L.A., and when it does get there, it's the biggest disaster: Magic receives the pass, then proceeds to turn to his right and delivers the whole speech about the charity while standing SIDEWAYS to the camera. It's literally the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen. I don't care WHO is managing that shoot or how many wires got crossed with the "camera left" thing -- who doesn't know that you don't deliver exposition like that while standing SIDEWAYS? I hardly ever believe in producer-dictated fakery on this level, but COME ON. Anyway, the footage is essentially unusable. CLIFFHANGER #2.

Next week: the finale! Godwilling.

Joe R still really likes "Shake Your Love." He can be reached for lavish praise and nothing but at joseph.reid21@gmail.com, and you can listen to him yammer on to his heart's content on the Extra Hot Great podcast.