Coming at you from Venice, Italy, Los Angeles of the 1980s and everywhere in between, this week’s show is a wild pastiche. First, Phil gets the ball rolling from Venice, as he welcomes frequent contributor over the years, Lily Holleman (Leirness), who shares some thoughts about the ancient world capital. Phil issues a warning to anyone who is listening to the show from Los Angeles of the 1980s. Then, after Christopher Walken leads us into the show’s traditional opening, Marc Hershon drops by to discuss both recent television awards, the SNL50 special, and current shows of which you might be well advised to avail yourselves. Then, in the back half, Dean shows up to find out what Phil’s reading, and to share with Phil his advice of the must-see sights and much-do events Venice has to offer.

Your friends in podcasting have two more shows before they make their way (separately) to Europe and reconvene in Denmark! So, understandably, they have a full discussion agenda for this week’s show. They discuss the theft of thousands of art works from Venice and how a 1954 cinematic masterpiece helped in the reconstruction of one of the landmark buildings of that city. They discuss TWO “Live Events of the Week” and in so doing, discuss Shakespeare, Armin Shimmerman, and two of the most legendary Los Angeles stage actors. In “Celebrity Deaths” a chart-topping singer-turned-elected official gets remembered, as does a prolific character actor, a groundbreaking African filmmaker, and an influential poet and multimedia artist of the Beat era. The “SNL50” special gets discussed, as does an excellent new sports documentary series on Netflix. Finally, this weekend’s Spirit Awards (honoring the best in independent cinema) gets analyzed, and one of the most acclaimed animated films of 2024, one of the most acclaimed international films of 2024, and one of the most acclaimed documentaries of 2024 all get reviewed.

Your friends in podcasting have a great deal on their minds … Cold weather in the nation’s capital, the hell of home renovations, fire and long-term unhealthful air and the Olympics in Los Angeles … And they discuss it all on this week’s show. They also remember the late David Lynch, suggesting that no artist has ever loved Los Angeles more than he did. They discuss the latest in the Justin Baldoni-Blake Lively (and now Ryan Reynolds!) lawsuits, and this leads to a discussion of the “abuser’s playbook”. The programming glories of the Detroit Film Theater (at the Detroit Institute of Arts) and the Renzo Piano-designed Academy Museum (at the L.A. County Museum of Art) get celebrated and lead to a discussion about “old school” wide-screen filmmaking, and big screen “pacing”, as well as cyber punk and yacht rock! Finally, analysis will be directed onto the Directors Guild and Producers Guild awards nominations and what they portend for this week’s Oscar nominations. Oh, yeah, and the show opens with an epic Dean Haglund meltdown!

Birthday boy Dean Haglund has the week off, so Phil Leirness welcomes Marc Hershon to discuss the recent Emmy Awards nominations and all that is excellent right now in what we used to call “television”. Marc is a screenwriter, author, improv professor, comedy impresario, columnist, editorial cartoonist, and corporate branding expert. He is also responsible for Dean and Phil seeing many of the shows they have discussed over the past several years. Phil also welcomes Jeff Briggs to discuss China’s first female action star, “The Queen of Swords”, Cheng Pei-Pei, who died recently at the age of 78. Jeff is a lifelong archivist, a former magazine writer, and an expert on Asian Cinema. He is also Phil’s former college roommate! All in all, this week’s show is a globetrotting 73-minute epic!

This show runs the gamut geographically from the U.K. to Detroit, and from Los Angeles to Laguna Beach. And it features a wide array from topics, including the supposed demise of radio in general, the new hopes for one station’s programming in particular, the death of a great actress, the acquisition of a legendary Hollywood company, and the latest (and final?) news in the prosecution of Alec Baldwin. There are also a slew of TV and movie reviews, including “Tulsa King”, MaXXXine, Remembering Gene Wilder, I Used to Be Funny and Janet Planet. Join Dean Haglund, Phil Leirness and special guests Alex Lewczuk and Lily Holleman as they bring you the insightful, the irreverent, the inspiring and the deeply felt. And if you are so moved, please visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/witham-radio/. Donate if you can and share if you will.

With Dean in the “Zone of Totality” for Monday’s solar event taking place over much of the contiguous USA, will this week’s show ECLIPSE all those that have come before?! Decide for yourself as your friends in podcasting & broadcasting discuss a great story about how people getting stuck in an elevator changed history, discuss D.W. Giffith’s Intolerance, discuss Kelly Reichardt’s 2006 breakthrough Old Joy, discuss French actor Marcel Dalio, discuss Christopher Nolan’s proposed big screen version of “The Prisoner”, discuss the “renaissance man” artistry of Hiroshi Teshigahara, discuss the poem that inspired “Game of Thrones” AND Ghostbuters: Frozen Empire, discuss the terrific new horror film Late Night with the Devil and the delightful surrealist classic Céline and Julie Go Boating. All that plus “SCTV” great Joe Flaherty gets remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

Awards season is finally behind us and Phil is finally back in Los Angeles, and normalcy is restored on this week’s episode, or at least as much as “normal” is ever on our audio menu! Dean and Phil will reveal any thoughts they have about last week’s Oscars as well as if or how they celebrated St. Patrick’s Day this weekend. In a “Live Event of the Week”, Phil will regale with stories about seeing the great indie rocker Hamilton Leithauser at the legendary Cafe Carlyle. Five movies get discussed: the current smash hit Dune 2, a possible future cult favorite Argylle, the recent Marvel flop The Marvels, the interesting Nicolas Cage vehicle Dream Scenario, and the brand new, utterly brilliant performance documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus. All that, plus a groundbreaking stunt performer and a British actor of stage and screen get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

This week’s show will pick up right where last week’s Season 4 Episode 6 left off, with a pre-recorded segment wherein Dean Haglund reveals his top two films of 2023, and Phil Leirness reveals his number one choice. Then, Dean and Phil hook up live on digital audio to discuss a wide array of topics, including: the choreography of Pina Bausch, the German nominee for the Best International Film Oscar, the Mardi Gras jazz of Delfeayo Marsalis (and a real-life backstage mystery!), the Houdini Estate in Hollywood, “Bicycle Thieves”, the French classic “Diva”, and why February 10 was a terrible day for breakfast!

Dean was still battling Covid and Phil was heading to Savannah, Georgia, so this week’s installment of was recorded several days early. In it, Dean offers suggestions to Phil of sites he should visit in the Hostess City of the South and Phil regales Dean with the history of the place where he would be staying. Dean and Phil preview what they expected to happen in the ongoing labor strife in Hollywood. A deep discussion of improv leads to Dean recounting a particularly hilarious scene in which he once performed. This leads to a preview of Richard Linklater’s new movie, Hit Man, and that leads to a discussion of two classic films celebrating anniversaries this year: the Hong Kong actioner Executioners (aka Heroic Trio 2) starring Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, and Maggie Cheung, which turns 30 this year, and perhaps the greatest concert film of all time, Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense, which turns 40 this year and which has inspired Talking Heads reunions. Finally, a beloved English folk singer and a former piano prodigy get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.