It’s been a while since Phil brought out the ol’ Chillpak soapbox, but on this week’s show, it comes in handy as Dean and Phil delve into the huge show biz news in “The Explanation of the Week” involving late night shows, corporate mergers, bribery, evangelical Christianity, and Stephen Colbert. In “What We’re Reading” the teachings of Taoist philosophy go into the spotlight. The first two episodes of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” season 3 get reviewed and Phil defends the series from some recent criticisms about the show “not being about anything”. Then TV mysteries “The Residence” and “Poker Face” get discussed before the 1965 big-screen Agatha Christie-adapted mystery Ten Little Indians and 2024 Cannes winner for Best Director, Grand Tour, get reviewed.

Phil shares some of his Los Angeles adventures from the past week. Dean shares his latest adventures in painting. Phil celebrates the daily joy of David Lynch reading the weather report. Dean and Phil update on the latest in the battle between two different actors’ union, and on the battle between the Writers Guild and the most powerful agencies in Hollywood. They discuss season 4 of “Fargo” and the work of “X-Files” veteran Daniel Sackheim on “Lovecraft Country”. Phil questions Dean about the comments from comic book legend Alan Moore on the cultural blight that superheroes, superhero comics and superhero movies have become. Several performers and writers get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Dean and Phil bring back “What We’re Reading” and celebrate their all-time favorite bookstores!

On this week’s brand new, action-packed episode #544, Dean and Phil are discussing great movies again, as they count down their lists of the Top Ten Action Movies of All Time!

It’s the summer of 2007. The summer of ‘07. No, it’s the summer of 007! Dean and Phil go deep into the world of Bond. Enjoy! WARNING: NOT A COMPLETE EPISODE! In fact, it’s only 5 and a half minutes … Finding out what happened to the rest of it is certainly an assignment worthy of … Bond. James Bond.