After a brief cold open about Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, Dean and Phil switch gears from the Holiday Season to “Awards Season” as they tackle a handful of this year’s award hopefuls, including Tár, Don’t Worry Darling, The Menu, Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes. There is a brand new “Lawsuit of the Week” AGAIN involving the tragic Alec Baldwin-starring western Rust. An email from a loyal listener like you (yes, YOU!) about a celebrity death will be followed by … “Celebrity Deaths”! A versatile actor, a comedy impresario, and a legendary prop comic have their lives and legacies celebrated. All that, PLUS Phil shares a hilarious account of a recent 50th high school reunion.

During this week’s cold open, Dean and Phil finish up their discussion of Marlon Brando and Jack Lemmon, offering up some final movie recommendations. Phil is back after a lengthy trip to the east coast and he returns with tales of a Shakespeare Theater production about Leonardo Da Vinci and thoughts inspired by Hurricane Ian about how human beings become fixated on the statistically anomalous and he also shares with Dean the exciting way in which their former podcasting home – the Eastern Columbia Building – had a starring role in the new season of Amazon’s fashion competition show “Making the Cut”. Loyal listener Maurice Terenzio checks in with a thought-provoking email that brings the conversation back to Marlon Brando before the return of Lawsuit of the Week focuses Dean and Phil’s attention onto the ill-fated Alec Baldwin western Rust. Celebrity Deaths begins by bringing the conversation once again back to Marlon Brando (!) with a remembrance of activist and artist Sacheen Littlefeather. Many other notables get remembered as well, including an Oscar-winning actress, a comedic “love goddess”, a comic book artist who dazzled live audiences, and a chart-topping rapper-turned-reality star. Finally, two movies get reviewed: the current whodunit theatrical release See How They Run and the 2020 Netflix offering from Charlie Kaufman, I’m Thinking of Ending Things.

On this week’s show, Dean shares with Phil his jury duty “cheat code”, Phil shares with Dean fascinating historic facts and rumored hauntings surrounding the town of Turlock, and they discuss another David Lynch-Mark Frost television collaboration from the late 1980s, and this one was supposed to star Steve Martin and Martin Short! Speaking of those comedy greats, their co-star from “Only Murders in the Building” has a new movie in development, a remake of a 1980s classic. Dean and Phil discuss it and they analyze the ever-shifting landscape in the battle between theatrical movie-going and streaming releases, a battle that movie theaters seem to be winning. A terrible new Netflix movie gets discussed as does the rather spotty track record of its celebrated directors. Other topics covered include “Better Call Saul”, the casting of Bullet Train and Craig Kilborn’s new podcast. Finally, in “Celebrity Deaths”, three trailblazers get remembered: Pat Carroll, Bill Russell and Nichelle Nichols.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, from the cosmic to the deeply personal, Dean and Phil are going deep on this week’s show! Remembering the haunting, ethereal “voice” of “Twin Peaks”, Julee Cruise, leads into ruminating about the afterlife, hauntings, consciousness, and moral underpinnings to the universe. This, naturally, involves analyzing two new Netflix comedy specials – Ricky Gervais’ “SuperNature” and Norm MacDonald’s “Nothing Special” – and two fascinating and troubling cinematic releases of the late 60s – Otto Preminger’s Skidoo and Richard Brooks’ In Cold Blood.

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.

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 and Phil discuss Martin Luther King Day, share three messages from loyal listeners like you (yes, YOU!), reveal a handful of new nicknames for Phil, and analyze three recent cinematic releases. They also celebrate the lives and legacies of several music legends, a couple of beloved sitcom stars, and a true Hollywood icon.

Dean and Phil follow up on their deep dive analysis of the quality and box office fortunes of a wide variety of cinematic releases with an even DEEPER dive into the box office calamity that has befallen Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel. From a movie that died at the box office to “Celebrity Deaths”, a pioneering stand-up comic, an inspiring and award-winning jazz guitarist, a legendary writer of “Doctor Who” and “Wallace and Gromit”, and a popular actress of the 60s and 70s all get remembered. Then, Dean and Phil turn their attention to Thanksgiving by programming another of their “film festivals”. This time it’s five double-features you might be well-advised to watch in order to celebrate the holiday in style!

Last week, Dean and Phil ran out of time while discussing a vampire show from Norway that Dean has discovered and is enjoying. They kept recording, however, so this week’s show starts (as a cold open!) with that brief and hilarious discussion. Once the show proper starts, your friends in podcasting send love and best wishes to a dear friend who is having surgery this week. Then, they leap into discussions of the latest show business news, including the IATSE strike authorization vote that might lead to the halt of most television and film production, the resolution of Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit against Disney, James Bond saving the global box office, Venom: Let There Be Carnage setting the domestic box office ablaze, and the #1 worldwide box office hit of 2021 that neither Dean nor Phil have seen or even heard of! Phil and Dean then discuss Roman Polanski’s Repulsion and the importance of taking the time to do “nothing”, and what “Loki” season 1 might be telling us about the existence of multiverses. Finally, Dean and Phil celebrate the lives of a pioneer of Japanese anime, one of the best funk and soul bandleaders of all time, a character actor beloved on both the small and big screen, a groundbreaking singer-turned-activist, and two very popular comedians.

Saturday was International Ghost Hunting Day and Dean was at the forefront of it. Phil has been thinking a great deal about Buster Keaton, his influence, and other films and filmmakers that might have influenced the making of his beloved Wings of Desire. Phil asks Dean about legendary actress Ruta Lee, and an episode of “The Twilight Zone” in which she starred. One of the greatest banjo players of all time, a giant of reggae, and a founding member of a chart-topping UK pop band all get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. In the return of “What We’re Reading”, Dean discusses an artist who was once the most popular in Amsterdam and who has fallen into obscurity. This leads into a fascinating discussion about communicating with the future. Phil is reading a novel that explores two different timelines in the marshes and on the coastline of North Carolina in the 1950s and 60s. Dean and Phil then re-visit last week’s Emmy Awards and do an analytical deep dive into the furor surrounding “Ted Lasso” season 2 and the concept of “public ownership” before reviewing season 1 of “Hacks”. Finally, we want to wish our sponsor, Empire State Gas, Many Happy Returns! Thanks for sponsoring us all these years. You’ve got great gas!