Welcome to Year 20 (“the year we get it right!”). On this, their overall 988th installment, Dean and Phil really put the “Hollywood” into “Chillpak Hollywood Hour” with showbiz news, analysis, previews and reviews. It starts with a discussion of the long-running series “Supernatural”. Then in the “Lawsuit of the Week” the supposed end of the It Ends With Us lawsuits gets discussed. The surprising details of the SAG-AFTRA deal with the AMPTP get analyzed and the fact that it (most likely) means no labor stoppage for the next four years gets celebrated. Some fascinating rules changes for next year’s Oscars get dissected, and some seemingly terrific, but certainly intriguing, news regarding Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia” movie for Netflix gets hailed. The Cannes film festival gets previewed. As does the American Cinematheque’s Bleak Week festival. Finally, two current theatrical releases get hailed as modern masterworks and the plans for a new episode of “Deep Dive” get finalized.

Welcome to a show 19 years in the making! Special guest co-host Jon Lawlor and special guests Erynn Petrulis, Yoshi Kato, Lily Holleman, and Marc Hershon join the festivities and help Dean and Phil celebrate this milestone event! Topics include movie-going here and in Japan, improvisation in jazz and in deejaying, performance art, laserdiscs, and the guests’ earliest memories of both Dean and Phil and of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. Jon Lawlor is the purveyor of numerous Chillpak theme songs throughout the years, as well as the co-host of the Chillpak Hollywood Presents shows “The Art Life” and “Celebrity Deaths”. Erynn Petrulis is an accomplished performer and musician whose persona “Kalinda” records on a major label. Yoshi Kato is a well-respected music journalist, and one of the true authorities on jazz. Lily Holleman is a brilliant actress and comedic stage performer. Marc Hershon is a branding expert, veteran podcaster and podcast reviewer, longtime professional in both the television and comedy industries, and star of the Chillpak Hollywood Presents show “Television with Marc Hershon”.

Phil gets things started by singing the praises of “The Lowdown” (and its emotional intelligence), and of Marc Hershon, who had this Sterlin Harjo-created Ethan Hawke-starring series on his list of the best television of 2025. Some casting news (regarding season 4 of “The White Lotus”) has Phil greatly enthusiastic. Then, for the first time in ages, but as they used to do on the regular back in the day, Dean and Phil analyze the long four-day weekend’s domestic box office, paying particular attention to the lack of performance by (the supposedly excellent) 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple and the milestone achieved by bona fide movie star Timothée Chalamet. Then, the conversation about IMDB’s list of the 20 most anticipated movies of 2006 picks up where it left off last week. The incredible achievement Sentimental Value pulled off at the European Film Awards gets placed in a historic perspective. Two movies get reviewed: Dean wags his finger at the Edgar Wright remake The Running Man and Phil doffs his cap to Bi Gan’s masterful Resurrection. This week’s show is EXCELLENT, but don’t take our word for it – just hit “play”!

Dean and Phil got together high atop a certain “historic building” in downtown Los Angeles to watch the sunset on the winter solstice, to enjoy a lovely bottle of Malbec, and to record this week’s show! They discuss Dean’s holiday travels, the big forthcoming change to the annual Oscars telecast, and the changes in the beaks on songbirds at UCLA! After that, they discuss the unique legacy of actor-turned-filmmaker Rob Reiner, and take the time to analyze several of his films. Then, two film noirs (Tension and Where Danger Lives), a fairly bizarre war film (36 Hours) and the biggest box office hit of Brad Pitt’s career all get reviewed!

Big changes are coming, with much more content each week. This week, Dean and Phil hint more at what these changes might bring, while whetting the appetite thru discussions of art, culture, television, movies and acting. The festivities begin with Dean revealing which of the cities he has lived in most inspired his painting. The return of Vince Gilligan to the small screen gets discussed, the hilarious new sitcom “Stumble” gets reviewed, and the cancellation of Rian Johnson’s “Poker Face” AND his plans to revive it get analyzed. In “Celebrity Deaths”, the maverick independent filmmaker Henry Jaglom gets remembered and his ongoing legacy and influence are pondered. Then a whole raft of new Netflix films get mentioned before Dean doffs his cap at Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix version of Frankenstein, and Phil wags his finger at the preposterous The Woman in Cabin 10. Finally, The Fantastic Four: First Steps gets revisited before the state of acting in the 1970s gets hailed as, perhaps, the all-time peak of screen acting.

This week, another “audio collage” of two different conversations recorded at different times, both exploring different facets of comedy. First Dean and Phil convene to compare notes on the new reboot of The Naked Gun – what it did right, what could have been done better and what good things its success (especially with young people) might portend! Another recent release, Riff Raff gets reviewed, and the importance of sketch and improv training for actors gets discussed. Then, your friends in podcasting take a deep dive into The Beatles’ movies directed by Richard Lester: A Hard Day’s Night and Help! A whole lot of deep concepts and legendary cinematic figures get explored as a result! In the final half hour of this epic installment, frequent contributor to the show, and comedy impresario, Marc Hershon and Phil discuss recent, disturbing news from the world of television, before discussing a Marc Maron comedy special, how authenticity might be having a moment, how young people seem to have good B.S. detectors, and several of Marc’s formative comedy influences.

Welcome to a very freewheeling episode! It begins with Dean Haglund revealing what he’s watching these days. The action then shifts to a rooftop roundtable discussion with two special guests all about television. “Baby Reindeer”, “The White Lotus”, “Severance”, “Hacks”, “Slow Horses”, “Poker Face”, “The Residence”, the Marvel Studios shows, the “Star Wars” shows and two special recommendations all get discussed. Then, it’s back to Dean as he and Phil reveal what they are reading! Art, essays, liberty, Edgar Allan Poe, AI and Philadelphia all get discussed!

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.

Following what many people seem to feel was the longest January on record, your friends in podcasting return to get February off to a good start, freewheeling their way through a variety of topics, including the closing of the most odd airport in the world, the reasoning behind Quentin Tarantino’s move into live stage work, a listener’s response to Dean and Phil’s dismissal of Oscar Best Picture nominee A Complete Unknown, and the influence David Lynch had on great Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin. Dean and Phil take a deep dive into two films that figure prominently on many year-end Top Ten lists (Hundreds of Beavers and The People’s Joker) and they discuss two films that are NOT eligible for inclusion on their own lists (La Chimera and Midway). Finally, good friend of show Marc Hershon drops by to share a disturbing story about a screenwriting AI and to suggest two recent television shows.

Dean is in Tokyo, but before departing the U.S., he recorded a grand conversation with Phil for this week’s show! Jeremy Saulnier’s Netflix original Rebel Ridge, the comedy Thelma starring June Squibb, the sports-based love triangle Challengers, and the Netflix documentary Will & Harper are just some of the new and recent films they discuss. Then, they take the time to celebrate the lives and legacies of Broadway actor-singer-dancer Adrian Bailey, groundbreaking vocalist-turned-actress Cleo Sylvestre, French-Italian singer (who recorded in 11 different languages) Caterina Valente, bossa nova and samba icon Sergio Mendes, musical star Mitzi Gaynor, and beloved actors (and Eddie Murphy co-stars) John Ashton and John Amos in “Celebrity Deaths”. Finally, friend of show Marc Hershon drops by for his now monthly check-in to discus the latest and greatest in streaming episodic programming (you know, what us older folks might still refer to as “TV shows”!).