After a cold open about the founder of Hollywood’s Magic Castle and about the greatest professional football player of all time, this week’s show gets started with Dean discussing upcoming “X-Files” convention appearances. And, thanks to an email from a loyal listener like you (yes, YOU!), Dean will share one of the most hilarious behind-the-scenes stories about the making of “The X-Files”. Another email from friend of the show Maurice Terenzio might just be the funniest Dean and Phil have ever received! It will get shared in all its glory. Movies are foremost on Phil’s mind this week and such titles as Armageddon Time, Renfield and the documentary Lynch/Oz will get discussed, as will a wonderful comedy-horror film called Evil Sublet. The current SAG-AFTRA negotiations with the producers will get touched upon as those negotiations relate to the “Salkind clause”, AI, and soap operas.

A cold open about a … melon festival (?!) … inspires a story about racial hostility in Turlock in the early 20th century. From there, Phil is inspired to pick up on a brilliant observation Dean made last week about Mike Nichols’ Working Girl and apply that observation as a potential thru-line for this celebrated director’s career. Alec Baldwin gets into hot water for tweeting support for Anne Heche and Salman Rushdie gets stabbed on-stage right before hailing the USA as the last bastion of freedom of speech. Dean and Phil try to make sense of both of these events. The return of “What We’re Reading” sees Dean learning how to sketch people’s hands and Phil learning what the next World War will be like! In “Celebrity Deaths”, a good friend and frequent collaborator of Stanley Kubrick, a popular and inspiring painter, a legendary French movie star, and the composer of one of the most indelible theme songs of all time all get remembered. Finally, Dean and Phil discuss the finely-tuned instincts Marlon Brando possessed as a great entertainer, and Phil hails the allegorical storytelling on display in Jordan Peele’s Nope.

Dean is back in the environs of the Motor City, Phil is back in Los Angeles, and they have a lot to discuss on this week’s show … Phil asks Dean about his SoCal travel adventures and about Dean’s grandfather, a truly remarkable man. Dean and Phil preview new seasons from two utterly terrific television series and also discuss a current show you might just want to check out. The box office is, at long last, seemingly revived and there are a lot of movies out! Dean and Phil discuss some of them, but pay particular attention to the return of Ke Huy Quan, a new Chris Pine spy vehicle, a classic 1960s musical from France, an unusually personal 1981 detective film from Peter Bogdanovich, and the movie that features James Stewart’s all-time favorite performance he ever gave. In the return of “Celebrity Deaths”, several sitcom character actors, a beloved stand-up comic and voice actor, and a groundbreaking dancer, all get remembered.

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.

Dean and Phil discuss the death of a genuine L.A. icon, the changes sweeping thru Phil’s beloved neighborhood, the “right” time to move, a TCM podcast about Peter Bogdanovich, his film Saint Jack, workplace safety on the films of Roger Corman and more thoughts on the recent releases The Last Duel and Nightmare Alley. All that, plus they celebrate the lives and legacies of a Nashville broadcasting giant, the “singer of the millennium”, a rock music superstar, three actors, a beloved comedian, a groundbreaking fashion maverick, and two historic figures from the world of sports.

Dean files one last report from Detroit before spending the rest of the year in L.A. What does he hope to accomplish while he is there, what has he been working on and how is a certain graphic novel coming along? Not only will you find out on this week’s show, you will also learn about the (tongue-in-cheek?) Turlock-based detective series Phil has conceived! Of course, Dean and Phil have several serious show biz and culture-related topics to cover as well, from current box office news to an overlooked Sean Connery film that is a true gem, from a Netflix riff on Sherlock Holmes to an Apple TV+ workplace sitcom starring Jason Sudeikis. In “Celebrity Deaths”, they will remember a true behind-the-camera titan of live television, a groundbreaking Broadway performer-turned-TV show creator, and the co-creator of one of the most beloved animated shows of all time. Plus, Dean and Phil will continue their discussion on taking things too seriously in the “public square”.

Those of you who have been longtime listeners know that Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness have a lot of practice in trying to make sense of a world seemingly gone wild, and having witnessed them do that for almost 13 years on YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour, you know that they can bring insight, irreverence and the inspirational no matter the circumstances. On this week’s show, they will discuss how they had apparently been preparing to be on lockdown for a year or more, what they have witnessed in the wake of Covid-19’s rapid spread and what’s right about it all. They will discuss the potential future impacts on movies and television. They will discuss what they have been watching of late. They will remember a great comedic TV actor, an Oscar-nominated actor, a ground-breaking radio host, and a trailblazing playwright. Oh, yeah, and they have a fascinating discussion analyzing the marketing of a Matthew McConaughey movie that bombed in 2019!

This week’s show begins with the re-visiting of topics from 12 years ago this week, as your Friends in Podcasting discuss how the box office and box office reporting and the importance of foreign markets for American movies has changed. A great actor who appeared in more than 100 movies, making all of them better, died this weekend, and as Dean and Phil celebrate his career, it leads to a discussion of the just-released El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Also in “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil regale with stories of a bona fide World War II hero and the first man to “walk” in space. This leads to a discussion of the Brad Pitt space adventure Ad Astra

Dean previews this weekend’s X-Fest convention all about “The X-Files”, and discusses the latest on his streaming comedy series “Gravity Hole”. In “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil celebrate the great singer Leon Redbone, the last of the Mohawk code talkers from World War II, and the socialite whose conviction and subsequent acquittal of murder formed the basis of the Oscar-winning Reversal of Fortune. Phil hips Dean to the breaking news about the Canadian genocide of indigenous women, and they commiserate over the latest mass shooting in the USA. They share an email about the (non-existent) Bowling Green Massacre. They assess the current state of movies in theaters, on HBO, via Netflix, and more, especially through the prism of reviewing two new comedies, a western revival, and one of the longest-developing projects in recent Hollywood history. Because next week’s show might be a mostly a pre-recorded interview, this week’s show is an extra 12 minutes long, offers something for almost everyone, and is jam-packed full of podcasty goodness!

Dean Haglund spent part of his birthday recording this episode of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour and it turns out to be a very special, very personal installment for your friends in podcasting. Sure, they talk about a whole bunch of movies, including Mission: Impossible – FalloutHotel ArtemisSorry to Bother YouEat Me and The Breaker Upperers, and they celebrate John Waters’ Hairspray at 30. Of course, they also discuss the latest news regarding the James Gunn and Chris Hardwick controversies and weigh in on the ramifications surrounding the accusations leveled at longtime CBS head honcho Les Moonves. All that plus disturbing news surrounding two L.A. icons and the show biz disruptor that is (was?) MoviePass. What makes the episode truly unforgettable and personal, however, will have to remain a secret to all but those who listen to this week’s show. Which you can do NOW wherever good podcasts can be found!