We hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season. This week, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness make merry by discussing the very best in episodic television as they count down their Top Ten Television Series of the Decade! And trust us, it’s a truly globe-trotting adventure!

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!

With how much ground your friends in podcasting cover on this week’s show, you’ll forgive them going almost eight minutes overtime, won’t you? The show starts with a “Live Event of the Week” as Phil regales Dean with tales of his 49th birthday celebrations on a day that involved marionettes, Norse mythology and the oldest restaurant in Hollywood. Then, for the first time in ages, Dean and Phil discuss what they’re reading. After that, it’s onto “Celebrity Deaths” which contains a correction of a correction from last week, as well as remembrances of a former teen idol, a jazz great, a country music great, a gospel great and two award-winning actors. Then, a few more thoughts about the latest news involving toxic masculinity, the United States Senate and “Whataboutism” before Dean and Phil roll up their sleeves to discuss almost a dozen movies, including both the 1974 and 2017 versions of Murder on the Orient Express, Orson Welles’ 1952 Othello, Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women, and this year’s award hopefuls Last Flag FlyingCall Me By Your Name,Lady BirdMudboundHostiles and The Disaster Artist.

Vince Gilligan spent Sunday night at the Emmy Awards, where his Breaking Bad leading man, Bryan Cranston, won the award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (for the second year in a row!). Today, Vince Gilligan, creator of the series (as well as a hugely admired writer-producer of films like Hancock and television series like The X-Files), is back with Dean and Phil for part two of their conversation. Also, Phil shares with Dean an idea for a film-making symposium he would like to bring to fan conventions. Is this too much for one show? Nah. In fact, it’s as simple as (Chillpak Hollywood Hour) 1-2-3 …

Dean and Phil begin this week’s show by wrapping up DragonCon, sharing some of their more bizarre, amusing and inspiring experiences. They then welcome a very special guest for the first part of a two-part interview. Vince Gilligan was one of the most prolific and respected writers and producers on The X-Files (as well as its spin-off series, The Lone Gunmen). He wrote the motion pictures Wilder NapalmHome Fries and Hancock. Now, he’s earning great accolades for his work on the AMC original series Breaking Bad, which he created.

That’s a hell of a lot of show for one hour, but what do you expect? This IS your Chillpak Hollywood Hour, after all!