Our last show before our 18th Anniversary is also our last show to be recorded via Skype! It’s also an action-packed 72 minutes that boasts the return of “Lawsuit of the Week”, where Dean and Phil get down and dirty discussing the Paramount merger with Skydance, the fate of CBS’ long-running “60 Minutes”, DEI initiatives, the FCC and Trump advisor Stephen Miller. Several films get discussed in depth, including Easter Parade, Diary of a Mad Housewife and Meshes of the Afternoon – each of which leads to discussions about husband-wife creative teams. In “Live Event(s) of the Week”, the delightful TCM host Ben Mankiewicz and the super-talented “Medicine Woman” Veronica Osorio both get celebrated. “Celebrity Deaths” this week is a lightning round quiz edition featuring remembrances of a game show host, a child star, a TV cowboy, a Canadian movie director, an Emmy Award-winning dramatic actress who starred in and co-created one of the most legendary dramas of all time, a Tony-winning composer and lyricist, a rock drummer, and a neo-expressionist painter. Finally, Dean discusses the Seth Rogen-starring Apple TV+ series “The Studio”.

This week’s episode finds Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness in fine form, discussing this year’s Oscar-winning animated feature Flow, how it was made, and why actual cats might be enjoying it! The “Lawsuit of the Week” returns, and it is a rather astounding one involving a once Oscar-nominated filmmaker. Phil and Dean both relate to a recent Substack post by one of Phil’s favorite journalists entitled, “We Are Schrödinger’s Cat”. You will find out why. Dean learns some very cool things about the Helsingør locale where he was married, including about a (rather legendary, though rarely-seen) version of Hamlet entirely shot there and about the World War II “underground railroad” operation run through there! The Scandinavian countries are very much on Phil’s mind. Dean and Phil discuss how high those countries rank on the list of “happiest” countries and how low the USA ranks. Two recent Scandinavian horror films (this past year’s Oscar-nominated The Girl with the Needle and the 2021 supernatural thriller The Innocents) both get reviewed, and the world’s first open-air museum, the Norsk Folkemusuem, gets described. Finally, Phil tips his hat to the success of the just-completed season 3 of “The White Lotus”, while Dean grabs his popcorn and pours his wine and sits down to start season 1!

The riddle: What show covers the best film of 2023 (thus far), one of the best films of the 21st century (a movie from Hungary), the 11th greatest film of all time (according to the Sight and Sound poll), AND one of the worst films of all time (a musical version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), in addition to drag shows in Florida, the charms of Santa Catalina Island, the Japanese American National Museum, Dobie Doodle puppies, and several fascinating (quasi) “Celebrity Deaths”?

The answer: Why, this show, of course!

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?!