B737-800 air carrier flight crew reported an engine over temperature malfunction during takeoff and initial climb. The crew returned to the departure airport and landed overweight.

Narrative

I was pilot flying and first officer was pilot monitoring. We had an FAA inspector in the Jumpseat. After setting takeoff thrust; everything appeared to be operating normally. Thrust was set and the takeoff roll began. First officer called out rotate at rotation speed and liftoff occurred. As soon as we were airborne; I immediately noticed the left engine EGT was red and reached 990 if I remember correctly. At thrust reduction; it went back to normal range. I then ordered the first officer to notify departure and ask to stop climb at 5;000 feet for the possibility of return. After receiving the ok to stay at 5k; I transferred controls to the first officer. I then contacted dispatch via sat phone and maintenance was also patched in. The maintenance controller said this was a reoccurring event. It had happened a few times in the very recent past. We ran the QRH; did the landing assessment and I contacted dispatch again to verify and back up our landing distance calculations based on current weight. We [requested priority assistance] and requested runways XXL. ATC obliged. The Airport Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) was also dispatched. We landed about 8;000 lbs over weight at about 200 fpm. Pulled off the runway and had the emergency vehicles do an exterior inspection. They said everything looked normal and the ARFF folks notified us the brakes were less than 200 degrees. We then performed after landing checks and proceeded to the gate and logbook entries were made. Aircraft was removed from service.Cause: Recurring event that was not attended to.This was a repetitive fault. According to MX; this had happened I believe three times in less than three weeks. Maybe fix it first or second time?