The return of The Oscars, celebrating a most unusual year in cinema, deserves to be celebrated, too! And so, this week, your friends in podcasting bring back their old Oscars smackdown style show for the first time in years! There will be wagering – for stakes both ridiculous and sublime. There will be critiquing of the Oscar show itself. There will be analysis of the winners and the snubs.

The first half of this week’s show is all about the art and craft and future of podcasting! Storyteller Dave Pickering joins us from his home in Lancaster in the north of England to talk about his brilliant podcasts (“Getting Better Acquainted”, “Down to a Sunless Sea”, “The Family Tree” and more), about college lectures he gives about podcasting, about where he sees the art form at present, and what he thinks the future might hold. Actress Lily Holleman drops by in the second half of the show to reveal her Screen Actors Guild Awards ballot and to discuss what she looks for in performances. A whole bunch of great movies and performers get discussed. Great podcasts and great movies – truly two of our favorite things!

Pop quiz: What do an Oscar-winning writer-editor, four dead actors, the story of how William Shatner became a star, 3 hilarious movie ads from the 1980s, anti-trust lawsuits pitting writers against actors, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards, a graphic novel, and the brother of presidential assassin James Wilkes Booth have in common? They are all a part of this week’s episode of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!

With special “theme” shows planned to ring out 2020 and ring in 2021, this week’s show will be the last of Dean and Phil’s usual irreverent and insightful show biz grab bags for a few weeks! In it, they celebrate the lives of two Broadway legends, an accomplished New Orleans-based actress, and a “Star Wars” icon. They discuss some of their favorite Christmas movies and share what movies they have gravitated towards this holiday season. They offer up a few holiday-themed movie print ads in what has become a weekly tradition. They discuss why Hitchcockian cinema (i.e. Hitchock-like movies directed by people other than Hitchcock) might have had its peak in the 1970s. They weigh in on Tom Cruise’s Covid-19 safety protocol rant. All that, plus, “The Mandalorian”, “Star Trek: Discovery”, “The Boys” and John Cassavetes!

After a week away, Phil is back in Turlock, and reports on the air quality. Meanwhile, Dean Haglund is in Detroit where his power went out. Fires? Power outages? These things can’t stop your friends in podcasting from bringing you their latest installment of free weekly entertainment! On this week’s show, Chadwick Boseman, a groundbreaking jazz trombonist, a screen star of the 1950s and 1960s, a World War II hero and computer pioneer who fathered a legendary filmmaker, and a beloved figure from TV animation all get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Then, Phil runs Dean through the eight shows nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series, and Dean shares his thoughts.