This week’s show begins with Dean and Phil discussing one of Dean’s all-time favorite films and filmmakers: My Winnipeg by Guy Maddin. Phil hails it as perhaps the greatest film NOT to be on the Sight and Sound poll of the 250 greatest films ever made. From great movies to great television, your friends in podcasting and broadcasting shift gears to discuss the end of “Succession”, the end of “Barry”, the end of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, the end of “Ted Lasso”, Season 1 of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”, and Season 2 of “Star Trek: Picard”. And speaking of “Picard” the actress who played the Borg Queen will get remembered in Celebrity Deaths, as will a beloved French-Canadian actor, an incredible Mexican character actor, the stunt man who inspired Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” … And the lead character in that film has also died?!

Next Monday, your friends in broadcasting and podcasting will return with a brand new “live” show that will catch you up on all the news of the season. This week, it’s part two of the road trip adventure Dean and Phil recorded on Friday December 9 when they drove from downtown Los Angeles to Montecito and back. The Sight and Sound poll of the greatest films ever made, the #16 film on that poll, surrealism, dream logic, and the works of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali are the topics that open the proceedings. Then, after a shift to the (very loud) Summerland Beach Café, Phil tackles two films making a lot of Top Ten Lists this year: the donkey adventure tale EO and the latest from auteur Robert Eggers, The Northman. Please bare with the difficult audio, for soon Dean and Phil will be back in the car, riding alongside the sparkling blue Pacific and discussing the Netflix series “1899”, the improv collaborations of Jonathan Winters and Robin Williams, and whole lot of casting “what-ifs”. There is also analysis of a law-change benefiting sexual assault survivors, and a fascinating “trash talk” interaction in the National Basketball Association. Hop in and buckle up!

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!