When does an hour turn into 80 minutes? When it’s this week’s installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! Dean is back in Michigan and has travel horror stories. Dean and Phil tackle the latest bizarre turn in the ongoing saga of Paramount changing ownership. An “all icons” edition of “Celebrity Deaths” involves the fascinating story behind the creator of Famous Amos, the hilarious reason Peter Marshall became the long-running host of “Hollywood Squares”, and appreciations of an 80’s music hitmaker, a groundbreaking and format-creating talk show host, and one of the greatest, most important leading men in movie history. Speaking of movies, Dean reviews the new Strange Darling, Phil tries to understand the failure of the recent Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Dean and Phil close with an appreciation of the great Michael Powell. Then, before the show ends, Marc Hershon joins the festivities to celebrate what just might be the best show on television.

This week’s Canadian Thanksgiving installment features follow-ups on several topics from past episodes: Are the most important pop culture figures of the last quarter of the 20th century all named “David”? Why is contemporary art so abundant with creativity and so full of joy? What are some of the most thrilling aspects of Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia? And speaking of Savannah, why is The Pirate House so darn haunting? In addition to those follow-ups, Phil has been researching “Trainee” programs offered by the Writer’s Guild in the wake of their (tentative) deal with the producers. And a loyal listener has thoughts about the best/worst actors to play Hercule Poirot on the big screen. This last leads into Dean’s thoughts about Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice before three films starring the great Dirk Bogarde, the soulfulness of Oliver Reed and a brilliant, unheralded masterpiece by the late William Friedkin all get discussed. Finally, in “Celebrity Deaths”, a beloved star of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (and “NCIS”) gets remembered.

We hope you enjoyed last week’s special episode celebrating the cinematic legacies of two of Hollywood’s greatest actor/producers – Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. This week is part 2 of that conversation, and covers the years 1960-1990. Some great movies, some horrible but (unintentionally) hilarious movies, and some fascinating stories of acting and filmmaking will get discussed.

Dean and Phil commiserate about power outages in Dean’s Michigan neighborhood and about snow in Los Angeles! More important than winter season weather, however, are which way the winds are blowing in Hollywood’s award season and they discuss the latest news and how it affects handicapping this year’s Best Picture Oscar race. Long before it was called “Best Picture”, the top Oscar was called “Best Production” and Phil analyzes one of its earliest recipients – Cimarron, one of the only westerns ever to win the top prize from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Another western also has Phil’s attention: Red Sun starring Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune and Alain Delon. Phil follows up on last week’s remembrance of Raquel Welch, by sharing thoughts on and stories about one of her earliest films, Lady in Cement starring Frank Sinatra. Finally, Phil saw a screening of the great Italian classic The Conformist and discussion of this leads to appreciations on the art of editing and some of its greatest practitioners, as well as an appreciation for the great production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti. Dean also saw a movie this week – the current (modest) box office hit 80 for Brady and Dean actually sings its praises! Dean also has two personal stories about the great stand-up comedian-turned-actor Richard Belzer (with whom he starred in and episode of “The X-Files” exploring the origin of the Lone Gunmen). Other notables remembered in “Celebrity Deaths” include a big screen star of the 60s and 70s, and a 6 time Emmy-nominated television actress of the 80’s and 90s.