This week’s show begins with a mea culpa to those of you who actually listen to the show in podcast form. After that, your friends in podcasting and broadcasting follow up on last week’s “What We’re Reading” with amazing tales of the Knights of Malta and of the great artist Caravaggio’s time in Malta. Then the Hall & Oates “Lawsuit of the Week” gets revisited and clarified, before loyal listener Maurice Terenzio sets Dean straight on a lawsuit that involved puppetry giants Sid & Marty Krofft. In “Celebrity Deaths”, a groundbreaking pianist, a groundbreaking soap opera actress, a trailblazing television producer, an Oscar nominated French Actress, and a beloved American movie star all get remembered. And because awards season in Hollywood is now in full swing, two new television series get described and appraised.

Phil Leirness is joined by music journalist (and friend of the show) Yoshi Kato, who briefly fills in for a tardy Dean Haglund, to discuss the lives and legacies of six notables from the world of music in “Celebrity Deaths”, as well as to set the table concerning a later discussion of Asian Pacific American Heritage month and the 1961 film Flower Drum Song. Dean then arrives just in time to remember a prolific character actor, the decorated police officer who played Eddie Haskell on TV’s “Leave it to Beaver”, and the great Fred Willard. Dean and Phil then answer an email from a loyal listener about an upcoming Michael Bay film set in the world of Covid-19. This leads to a fascinating discussion and argument before attention is turned to the ramping up of film and TV production and the announcement that the Venice Film Festival will go ahead as planned this September. Dean then sings the praises of two different television series, Phil sings the praises of two classic movies about gambling. Then the conversation turns to the careers of Sessue Hayakawa, one of the first heartthrobs of the silver screen, the hilarious and brilliant Jack Soo, and the tragically overlooked Reiko Sato.

Due to Phil’s teaching schedule, this week’s show was delayed by a half day. Once they made their trans-pacific, intercontinental connection, your friends in podcasting remembered a playwright, an actor from “The X-Files”, a beloved sitcom actor and a hip-hop star in “celebrity deaths”. They delved further into the topic of casting actors subsequent to a listener email they shared on last week’s show, which leads into a really deep analysis of diversity and cultural pendulum swings. Finally, they discussed such disparate movies as Clint Eastwood’s Sully, the recent drama about motherhood, Tully, the current inventive thriller Searching, as well as two legendary films, one about the concept of “celebrity” the other a romantic comedy about witches. YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. Enjoy!