It’s Veterans Day in the USA and Remembrance Day in other nations (like Dean’s homeland of Canada), so this week’s show starts with what the day means to your friends in podcasting and how they will commemorate it. Sort of. Then, in “Celebrity Deaths”, a great screen villain, a comedic character actor, and an acclaimed novelist are remembered. From there, it’s a lot of great television (we’re looking at you “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Watchmen”), and dreadful television (yikes, HBO, what happened with “His Dark Materials”?!). Finally, Dean and Phil weigh in on movie theaters’ anger towards Netflix, Netflix’s dominance of this movie season, and two forthcoming films (Bombshell and The Two Popes) get reviewed.

This week’s show is a little more than one day late, but we think it proves worth the wait! Dean gets things started with a “Live Event of the Week” review of Madonna in concert (in Chicago) and a preview of his own Halloween night improv episode of “The X-Files” (in Detroit). In “Celebrity Deaths” the lives and accomplishments of a giant of the U.S. Congress, a country music radio legend, a television creator and a sitcom star are remembered. This leads to a brief discussion of two current television series that are absolute crushing it (the second of which is a must-see for fans of “The X-Files” and which leads to an appraisal of the tone shifts in “The Lone Gunmen”)! A short while back, Dean and Phil dipped their toes into the National Basketball Association’s strained relationship with China and posited that rough days could be ahead for Hollywood in its never-ending quest to open the Middle Kingdom. And that was before Quentin Tarantino got involved! So, this topic gets re-visited and re-examined before Dean and Phil launch into an all-out analysis of the restored “classic”, The Cotton Club Encore.

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

Because Phil hosted “Leif Erikson Day 1953” at Friendship Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday night, he took a much needed day off on Monday. And so, this week’s installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour is one day late … Your friends in podcasting reconvene and compare notes on their respective “Live Events of the Week”, including upcoming comedy shows everyone in the Detroit area can enjoy at Go Comedy! Phil also reveals details of a party he attended in the actual Salem’s Lot house! In “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil remember the “King of Confetti”,  an opera soprano, an unsung blues artist, a punk rock icon, a pioneering actress of stage and screen, and a delightful character TV performer. After a discussion of a little-known Buster Keaton classic “talkie”, the subject shifts to comic book movies. Martin Scorsese’s (perceived) indictment of such movies, Cynthia Erivo’s (sure to be Oscar-nominated) portrayal of Harriet Tubman and Todd Phillips’ Joker, a fascinating mess of a psychological period piece and villain origin story, all get analyzed.

As loyal listeners know, Phil darn near went blind. As a result, he and Dean have not discussed books in a long time! Well, Phil’s eyesight is back, thank you very much, and so is “What We’re Reading” on this week’s show! In fact, Phil’s selection ties in very much to TWO conversations Dean and Phil will have this week. One about Buster Keaton’s “The General” (which will re-visit last week’s theme of “failure”). The other about what television your friends in podcasting are watching right now. Comedy, drama, mystery and the paranormal are all on the small screen menu! And before your friends in podcasting depart from the small screen, they discuss the current SNL controversy surrounding the firing of a recently-hired performer. 

Phil reveals good news and terrifying stories about his recovery from eye surgery, he and Dean lay out a wide array of possible solutions to gun violence, they remember a legendary writer, they update the Writers Guild’s battle with talent agents, they reveal new movie theater subscription news and they re-visit what they were talking about 12 years ago this week! All that, plus your friends in podcasting dig deep in their analysis and appraisal of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, his career output and his place in cinematic history. Finally, they celebrate one of the most important voices in cinema today, Sean Baker, the filmmaker behind The Florida Project, Tangerine and many more.

Because this show was recorded early Sunday morning, before America awoke to the horrific news of a 2nd mass shooting in a handful of hours, your friends in podcasting only address their thoughts concerning the El Paso shooting – thoughts that concern conspiracy theories, their film The Truth is Out There and more. 12 years ago, Dean and Phil were discussing the “dog days” of summer, “slow news weeks”, the stars that Entertainment Weekly were in love with, a true-life nightmare plane flight, and great sci-fi movies. All those topics get revisited, and a clip of CHH #14 gets shared, in an hilarious segment. Dean and Phil finally answer two emails from listeners, one about an interesting documentary and the other about the lost (?) art of long-form conversation on TV as well as the “rebirth” of Detroit, and the rebuild of one of that city’s icons. All that, plus a great voice performer and a Broadway legend (perhaps THE Broadway legend) get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. 

It’s Dean’s birthday and we have a special, action-packed show! It gets under way with a famous movie star singing “Happy Birthday” to everyone’s favorite Lone Gunman. In “Live Event of the Week”, the return of Dean’s one-man improv “X-Files” show gets celebrated. Phil updates everyone on his most recent eye surgery before climbing his soapbox in the wake of the mass shooting in Gilroy and the seemingly ongoing war on humanity’s joy. 12 years ago, the summer of 2007 was Dean and Phil’s summer of 007 and they were discussing James Bond. This week, they talk about how the Bond producers have missed out on a seemingly huge opportunity and in “Celebrity Deaths”, your friends in podcasting remember a man who was a friend of Phil’s and the answer to an awesome 007 trivia question. They also celebrate the legacy of Rutger Hauer, and of a man whose life was synonymous with space exploration. This leads into a brief discussion about Moon landing “truthers”. Dean and Phil tackle the various ways movie theaters are looking to cure the box office apocalypse. They discuss Netflix’s deal with the Screen Actors Guild. They continue their ongoing discussion comparing the late Krzysztof Kieślowski and Quentin Tarantino, and, oh yeah, they review Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (spoiler free) and preview the “Star Trek” movie he might direct. Happy Birthday to Dean, and Happy Chillpak Hollywood Hour Day to all of you!

This week’s installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour is a 75 minute, globe-trotting, space-faring, time-traveling adventure. 12 years ago this week, your friends in podcasting were discussing San Diego Comic-Con and “Star Trek”. This week, they are STILL discussing Comic-Con and “Star Trek”!  They are also discussing the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, great space movies, the Emmy nominations, great comedy shows, racism, freedom of speech and binge-watching. If you are going to be in Detroit this week, why not see Dean perform his live improv episode of “The X-Files”

12 years ago this week, your friends in podcasting were recording their first show in stereo (rather than the two channel mono that was absolutely bonkers) and were discussing Gary Oldman’s sex appeal and The Last Mimzy. A clip from that discussion opens week’s show before Phil provides an update on his recovery from AND preparation for eye surgery, and Dean provides an update on some very interesting live comedy shows he is doing. One is his improv episode of “The X-Files” and you can see it this month in Detroit! Then, the gents move this week’s episode into the Chillpak morgue, where a maverick U.S. Presidential candidate, an all-star pitcher who became a controversial author and a successful actor, one of the greatest character actors of all time, a legend of Italian cinema, and a star of the original “Willy Wonka” all get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. A couple more thoughts related to last week’s discussion of what approach will most likely lead to creating great television get shared. Then, Dean and Phil discuss the controversy surrounding the American Cinematheque and the landmark Egyptian Theatre. Finally, they compare notes on Alfred Hitchcock’s fascinating Rope and the recent releases Us from Jordan Poole and Under the Silver Lake from David Robert Mitchell.