This weekend, Dean and Phil got together in-person on the “American Riviera” for a fascinating discussion inspired by a loyal listener like you (yes, YOU!). The conversation involves the importance of awards not only recognizing and rewarding great work, but also rewarding the great stories surrounding the making of that work! Somehow that inspires Phil to reappraise the entire filmography of James Mason. That great Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot, gets more time in the spotlight, as Dean and Phil take a little more time giving both a doff of the cap and a wag of the finger to Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile and Phil, who took the time during the week to unearth the final Peter Ustinov performance as Agatha Christie’s protagonist, has some thoughts about Appointment with Death from the infamous Cannon Film Group. Finally, in a riff on their usual “Celebrity Deaths” section, Dean and Phil discuss three non-celebrity friends who died recently.

On this week’s episode, Dean and Phil pick up right where they left off last week when they were discussing the SAG Award winners. Specifically, they will analyze what the foreign-language “Squid Game” winners tell us about the ways Americans in general (and younger generations in particular) consume their entertainment and their openness to subtitles. This conversation continues with a review of the multiple Academy Award-nominated Norwegian film The Worst Person in the World. Other nominated films get reviewed, including Coda, and the 1961 classic Judgment at Nuremberg gets reappraised. The box office triumph of The Batman and what it might mean for movie-going gets examined. An awards season controversy and what it means for the Best Picture odds of The Power of the Dog get dissected. Dean offers up a BBC Series recommendation. Finally, in “Celebrity Deaths”, one author, three musicians, and the “Freddy Krueger of Magic” get remembered.

On this week’s installment, you will hear a touching email written by a Dean Haglund fan, one whose entire career path was influenced by Dean! You will also learn what Dean’s 3 favorite places are! One MIGHT be The Magic Castle in Hollywood. At least ten movies will get discussed, including classics starring a few of Dean and Phil’s all time favorite actors as well as two of the best films from 2020 – one an all-time great documentary and the other perhaps the most relevant film to be released all of last year. Finally, Phil wants to discuss three 2021 cinematic releases all starring legendary comedians. One is a horror film, one is an action film and one is a comedy about dementia! And speaking of comedians, Norm MacDonald will get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths” as will one of the greatest contemporary actors, an icon of movie musicals and a pioneering female writer and producer.

Phil is back from another emergency trip to Turlock, and Dean is safely ensconced back in Detroit after a trip to Virginia, and after adopting another kitten! Cats get discussed, of course, and in an almost weekly occurrence, “Lord Turlock” issues proclamations. Then your friends in podcasting continue to tackle the appalling, ongoing wave of violence being directed against member of the AAPI community, which somehow leads to a discussion of just one of the problems Phil had with Godzilla vs. Kong. Dean and Phil share a text message from a loyal listener, and celebrate the show business lives of the actor who played “Cousin It”, a country-rock hitmaker, and a prolific country songwriter, and wax rhapsodic about the pedal steel guitar! Friend of show Jon Lawlor has another single out and it inspires a conversation about mental health and the messy business of having feelings. Dean and Phil both have feelings about the death (?) of the Arclight and Pacific movie theater chains, and about the controversy surrounding this year’s Oscar front-runner for Best Picture, Nomadland. Finally, speaking of the Oscars, Dean and Phil close the proceedings with an Oscar-themed edition of their recent (and apparently popular?) vintage movie ad game!

Dean and Phil compare hilarious notes on their Thanksgivings, Phil shares tales of his birthday adventures, updates on his sister’s medical status, and relays what a birthday card he received from a loyal listener and friend to the show inspired. Phil quizzes Dean on a few ad lines from movies to see if Dean can guess the films they describe. In “Celebrity Deaths”, a groundbreaking TV executive, a chart-topping doo-wop singer, a beloved voice actor, a civil rights trailblazer, a former mayor of New York, and a fascinating pop culture icon get remembered. David E. Kelley has a new television series mired in controversy and that controversy will lead to a discussion of “Law and Order” and Q Anon! Finally, Dean and Phil share a couple of their favorite all-time episodes of television, one from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and the other from “Homicide: Life on the Street”.

Dean regales us with details of his trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, and updates us on his teaching of improv. Phil updates us on his recovery from multiple eye surgeries, and regales us with details of a Hollywood Bowl “Live Event of the Week” before previewing an upcoming presentation at The Los Angeles Breakfast Club about silent film great Harold Lloyd and his love of 3-D Photography. Phil also sings the praises of two terrific Asian-American performers – Maya Erskine and Awkwafina – as he recommends their most recent movies, the romantic comedy Plus One and the indie drama The Farewell. Dean and Phil revisit the great Denis Villeneuve sci-fi pic Arrival, answer an email from a loyal listener like you (yes, YOU) about the Manson family murders and provide updates and analysis on the CBS-Paramount merger and Netflix’s efforts to purchase the landmark Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. That a whole lot of entertainment for one hour (plus)! Of course it is YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. 

Oh, man, is this week’s show a good one! 72 minutes long and featuring a “cold open” AND an “Easter egg” (post-credits scene?), this epic installment boasts big laughs,. two poems, celebrations of the lives of poet Mary Oliver, Tuskegee Airman John “Jack” Lyle, Broadway legend Carol Channing, CIA Operative Tony Mendez, and a tribute to good friend of the show John Girodo, who was feted as one of L.A.’s Impact Makers to Watch in 2019. There is all that, PLUS Dean and Phil engage in a thoughtful, fascinating discussion about recent movie casting controversies and Dean regales us with reviews of three TV series available now for binging!

On this week’s brand new installment #609, your friends in podcasting discuss the adventures they are looking forward to in 2019. From an update on a certain graphic novel, to an X-Files convention in Illinois in June where the Lone Gunmen will reunite, from Phil’s wedding weekend, to the three or four feature film projects they will be working on, Dean and Phil point the compass of their brains to a journey on the map of the entire infinite! Then, they welcome a special guest, producer and host of Succotash, Tyson Saner! And if you can’t get enough of hearing Dean and Phil, or hearing ABOUT their film, The Lady Killers check out this interview Tyson did with them all about the movie!

It’s been a big week here in Los Angeles for your friends in podcasting.

Dean Haglund performed in a benefit for Chris Bonno, reviewed a documentary about a 1970’s punk band from Detroit, and is appearing this Saturday at a UFO Society event in Santa Monica!

Phil Leirness filmed a project with Hollywood legends John Saxon and Mariette Hartley, attended “A Prairie Home Companion”, a live cowboy poetry event, and went to see Iron Man 3.

Hear all about that as well as the deaths of a Broadway and television legend and an up-and-coming Bollywood Star, the latest mass gun shooting, the rumors circulating around a powerful show business columnist and the bizarre stories coming out of the Michael Jackson wrongful death lawsuit.

Stop reading and enjoy it. Now and forever.