In some ways, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness pick up where last week’s show (the one thousandth episode of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour) left off, by reminiscing about a couple of their early years spent “changing the way people listen to the internet” and by examining more in the shifting release strategies for television and the viewing habits of television viewers. They also go deeper still into the issues surround the soon-to-be-litigated proposed Paramount merger with Warners. They continue their ongoing analysis of the potential benefits, and current costs, of our evolving relation to Artificial Intelligence. They also discuss one video game movie, one sci-fi comedy from the 1980s, and one current samurai era “whodunit”. They share their love of a raft of different contemporary television series and reveal which streamers they enjoy the most and which shows keep them excited between seasons. Also, they preview this week’s release of an R-rate “director’s cut” of the second “The X-Files” feature film!

Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness commemorate this, the one thousandth episode of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour (originally called “From the Heart of Hollywood”), by reminiscing about their first few years of “changing the way people listen to the internet” by examining how the media landscape has changed since they started podcasting, and how that landscape might evolve moving forward. The in-depth topics that get discussed include the podcasting field itself, the ways episodic television programming has changed, the dire need to change facing Netflix, and why binge watching quickly brought an end to the 21^st century “golden age” of television. After a shameless (and hilarious) music plug for another podcast in the ever-expanding “Chillpak Hollywood Presents …” universe of shows, the topic turns to AI, the coming revolution revolving around artificial general intelligence, whether humanity can adapt, and whether an economy altering AI “bubble” may be on the horizon. Finally, the latest news in the now-frozen Paramount merger with Warner Bros. gets analyzed. Trust us, even if you only want to listen to one of our one thousand episodes, you can’t do wrong with this one!

One episode shy of their 1,000 installment of this show, Dean and Phil jokingly compare notes on the tolls reaching such a milestone have taken. Phil hints at some of his weekend 40^th high school reunion adventures, Dean updates the prognosis of his beloved Doberman, Leloo, and previews his own birthday celebrations. Of course, Dean and Phil now produce several different podcasts each week through the “Chillpak Hollywood Presents …” Substack. And last week’s episode of “Celebrity Deaths” resulted in the need to begin with some corrections and/or clarifications! After those, it’s nothing but good news from the world of show biz, including the continued astonishing success of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the halt (til at least next year) of the Parmount-Warners merger, and the announcement that an iconic Hollywood locale will be reopening in 2028. Finally, Phil sings the praises of the one of the all-time best debut features for any director ever, the heartbreaking and hilarious, sexually explicit, gay biker BDSM film, Pillion, and Dean reveals his early reaction to the new spin-off of “The Big Bang Theory”.

In a truly confusing, but nevertheless hilarious, cold open, Phil offers a correction about “Malta Air”. Thanks to emails from loyal listener and frequent contributor Maurice Terenzio, Dean and Phil have a ball talking about three great actors of Hollywood’s golden age: Joe E. Brown, George Raft and Edward G. Robinson. The big show biz news of the week get discussed: the possible halt to the Paramount-Warners merger and the historic box office success for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Two new movies get reviewed: The brilliant comedy Stop! That! Train! and the hit Netflix offering Enola Holmes 3. Of course, Dean and Phil continue their ongoing film noir and neo-noir discussion, focusing on the nihilism of the 1970s as depicted in such modern classics as Arthur Penn’s Night Moves and the Paul New man vehicle The Drowning Pool. Finally, colleague Marc Hershon (star of the “Chillpak Hollywood Presents …” podcast Television with Marc Hershon) drops in to help your friends in podcasting come up with ideas for how they can commemorate their upcoming 1,000 episode, and to discuss ideas for Phil’s next movie, a documentary all about improv!

It was a rough weekend for Dean Haglund, whose beloved Doberman, Leeloo, is undergoing emergency spinal surgery as we publish this show. It has also been a rough week for the media business where fear over job loss is concerned. In the UK, ITV has been taken over by Sky and several more television mergers, and downsizings, seem to be in the offing. In the U.S. Netflix is mulling a major expansion, and distribution company NEON has sold a major stake to production company Department M in hopes of massively “scaling up” operations. Dean and Phil have all this “business of show” news covered. Then, they go into detail analyzing Disclosure Day as a definitively “American” movie, and Guy Maddin’s Careful as a definitively “Canadian” one. Then, their ongoing discussion of film noir and neo-noir continues, with some key questions being asked and at least one truly awful neo-noir getting discussed in depth.

It was a big weekend, and your friends in podcasting have a lot of big topics to discuss, from the World Cup to the art of Caravaggio, from a masterpiece of German literature to the creation of synthetic life that demonstrates most of the hallmarks of actual life, from the ten films that best define America to a couple of the all-time greatest film noirs. Finally, Dean and Phil go long singing the praises of, and asking questions about, the independent film dominating the global box office, Obsession.

Tomorrow is Canada Day and the end of the week is Independence Day in the USA. Your friends in podcasting have thoughts about celebrating. They have thoughts about Team Canada’s big win in the World Cup. They have thoughts about why very few of the listeners to this podcast are in Canada! Phil got back from the Carolinas and has stories about being the “Guest of the Day” in Charlotte, North Carolina (the Queen City), and about beaches and alligator encounters in Kiawah Island, South Carolina (the Lowcountry). Dean asks Phil about Bill Murray’s baseball team in Charleston and Phil regales with tales of Carolina Day and America250. Turning to show business, the gents celebrate the best box office year at the movies since 2019 and glean some important lessons from that success, lessons they fear may be lost on the industry, but which certainly seem to be lost on the press covering the industry. Particular focus gets put on the just-opening, and already disastrous Supergirl and on Sam Raimi’s 2026 “survivor horror thriller film”, Send Help.

There are two Carolinas in the USA. North and South. Phil is exploring both of them. So, this week’s show was pre-recorded quite a few days earlier than usual. In it, Dean and Phil discuss The Actor’s Gang, a well-respected theater company and training ground for talented performers (like their pal, Steve Benaquist). Dean and Phil continue to talk about the late, great artist David Hockney, his love of smoking, and the ways in which he taught the world to think of Los Angeles, namely as it pertains to light. Light and its interplay with shadows is absolutely top of mind for your friends in podcasting and they go deep into film noir, talking about such great actors as George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, Burt Lancaster, Edmond O’Brien, and Edward G. Robinson, and such great directors of noir as Fritz Lang and Robert Siodmak. The movies They Drive by Night, The Killers and Scarlet Street all get appraised. Finally, Phil holds court about the 1980 neo-noir The First Deadly Sin, which was the final motion picture produced by Frank Sinatra, and the final lead performance for Sinatra as an actor. It was supposed to have been directed by Roman Polanski, which has Phil asking, “What if it had been?” He also suggests another young director (at the time) who would have been a better choice than the film’s eventual director, Brian G. Hutton. Nevertheless, Hutton did director a couple of Dean’s favorite movies, so Phil shares the quite interesting details of Hutton’s career.

In a rather shocking cold open, Phil reveals not only that he has World Cup Fever, but also that he is genuinely thrilled about the early tournament achievement accomplished by Team Canada! Brief remembrances of artist David Hockney and journalist Gene Shalit (both of whom died during the past few days) are offered. Then, things turn dark, as Dean and Phil explore some of the shabbiest corners of show business, with the latest on the impending Paramount merger with Warner Bros. and the return of the It Ends With Us lawsuit between director Justin Baldoni and star Blake Lively. Last week Dean and Phil talked about actress Ann Savage, who starred in Dean’s all-time favorite My Winnipeg. This week, Phil reveals to Dean that the Academy Museum will be hosting a “Weekend with Guy Maddin” featuring four of this master filmmaker’s greatest works. Dean convinces Phil to attend the entire weekend. A couple weeks back, Dean and Phil discussed the all-time classic Some Like it Hot and in so doing, Dean made some comments about that film’s indelible supporting player Joe E. Brown that inspired friend of the show Maurice Terenzio to hunt and peck his way through a lengthy, fascinating and rewarding missive about this great comic actor (and humanitarian). Film noir has been foremost on Phil’s mind of late, and he offers detailed appreciations for two of his all-time favorite actors: Sterling Hayden (in the process analyzing the revered Nicholas Ray-directed and Joan Crawford-starring western Johnny Guitar and the classic John Huston crime procedural The Asphalt Jungle) and Veronica Lake (with particular attention paid to the Raymond Chandler original The Blue Dahlia). Finally, it’s no secret that Dean loves action, and he offers a full report on the just-released action film The Furious.

Phil was actually worried he and Dean wouldn’t have enough to discuss to fill this week’s show and wow was his worry unfounded! The gentlemen get the conversational ball rolling with the return of “What We’re Reading” wherein four quite fascinating and quite disparate works get covered, leading to in-depth discussion about such topics as painting watercolors, epistolary novels, the comedic genius of Norm Macdonald, and life in Austria-Hungary of the early 1900s. All the major prizewinners at Cannes 2026 get discussed, and the early summer U.S. box office gets celebrated. Then, however, the tone turns darker, as the need for a full-on boycott of Paramount and its properties gets expressed, and the ramifications of waiting for the Warner Bros. merger to launch said boycott get explored. Dean saw The Sheep Detectives and shares his thoughts. Phil watched the classic 1945 film noir Detour and spills the dirt on its director’s fall from grace, hails the film as a must-watch for aspiring filmmakers, and regales Dean with a delightful fact about the career of the film’s lead actress, Ann Savage.