Full Cast And Crew

Tony Bill's directorial debut 'My Bodyguard' holds a special and heartwarming place for the 99% of us not fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have been the most popular kids in school.  'My Bodyguard' is filled with respect for the difficulties of everyday teenage life in a realistic manner, and features wonderful performances from 1980's teen actors like Matt Dillon, Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwi...

125 episodes? Who knew? If you're new to the podcast and wondering what's out there in those previous episodes, this short introductory episode will provide a bit of a roadmap to orient you to some episodes you might be interested in. Thanks for checking out the podcast!

Thrilled to be joined by 3-time FCAC guest star, actor/writer/director Lee Wilkof and to delve into the making of Brian De Palma's most enduring and affecting film, 'Carrie', starring Sissy Spacek in a role she fought for, John Travolta in his first substantial film role just after being cast in 'Welcome Back, Kotter', and the future first ex-Mrs. Brian De Palma, Nancy Allen, who was about to give...

John Boorman's 1972 adaptation of James Dickey's novel "Deliverance" is a unique New Hollywood film in that its origins lie more in the older studio system yet the film upon release would become of of the most notorious films of its time and an iconic classic that's still discussed and debated today. On this episode of the podcast my friend and returning FCAC guest Ted Jessup joins to talk about a...

Tom Cruise and Joseph Kosinki's smash hit 'Top Gun: Maverick' has been out for a couple weeks now and if you're a rational, sentient human being, you've already seen this film in the theater and enjoyed it immensely like 99% of audience members and 97% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes.  For the 1% - 3% of you who were unable to set aside your limited worldviews and/or aversion to fan-servicing mass-m...

In this episode, Richard Brown and Jason Cilo tackle the making-of 'The Muppet Show', Jim Henson's seminal variety-show program of the late 70's.  Topics covered: the surprising British history of 'The Muppet Show', musings about Kermit's unique spirit and personality, Miss Piggy's actual rags-to-riches life story, Frank Oz's singular talents, an appreciation of Gonzo, the curious misnomer of 'Guy...

The original 'Battlestar Galactica', while a flawed and imperfect science-fiction TV series of the 1978 season, remains one of the most important and influential science-fiction TV series of all time. I'm joined again by Richard Brown (see our 'WKRP in Cincinnati', 'Taxi', and 'Network' episodes for more RF Brown) as we delve into the creation story of Battlestar and its creator, Glen A. Larson, k...

The original 'Battlestar Galactica', while a flawed and imperfect science-fiction TV series of the 1978 season, remains one of the most important and influential science-fiction TV series of all time. I'm joined again by Richard Brown (see our 'WKRP in Cincinnati', 'Taxi', and 'Network' episodes for more RF Brown) as we delve into the creation story of Battlestar and its creator, Glen A. Larson, k...

Dan Erickson's Apple+ thriller series "Severance" is, to my mind, the best sci-fi TV series we've gotten since "Black Mirror".  So why isn't it getting quite as much attention as that series deservedly did?  In this episode, I briefly discuss some of the aspects that I think make "Severance" so uniquely good, particularly the very strong casting, idiosyncratic production design, thoughtful world-b...

Last week's episode about the new Michael Cimino book spurred me to rewatch all three of these classic films and, in doing so, I surprised myself with a firm and resounding reset of what I THOUGHT I thought about these movies.  So here are some great clips and making-of anecdotes as I walk through what makes each of these films unique as well as give credit to foundational Viet Nam docs and other...

In his new book, Charles Elton tackles the impossible; a biography of late director Michael Cimino, an elusive, mysterious, obfuscating, and contrary Hollywood figure in real life...and, if possible, a man even more complicated and gossiped about online, in the press and in the power lunch spots of Hollywood than any other Oscar-winning director of his or any time. From Long Island roots to Mad Me...

Thrilled to be joined again by pop culture historian and author Richard F. Brown to do the definitive 'Taxi' total rewatch and episode. We get into the mysterious beauty and melancholy of Bob James' 'Taxi' theme song 'Angela', and the temporary filmed open that became so identified with the ennui and thwarted ambitions of the beloved cabbies of the Sunshine Cab Co. We discuss all the characters an...

Dissecting the latest attempt at reinventing the Oscars and assessing where, if anywhere, the telecast goes from here. 

Thrilled to be joined this week by Kyle Buchanan, a NY Times writer whose new book 'Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild & True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road' is out now from William Morrow. Kyle and I talk about the incredible 30-year-journey of Fury Road; two times called off just prior to shooting, casting issues with Mel Gibson flaming out (and aging out) of the role, a non-traditional storyboard scr...

Jason and FCAC returning guest Bruce Edwards, a television and film line producer and production manager as well as a filmmaker, collector, and cinema and comic geek par excellence to dive into the making of Ridley Scott's 1982 cinematic masterpiece 'Blade Runner'. Topics covered include Alternative Casting, the 7 versions of the film, the actor's strike that resulted in 9 additional months of pla...

Joined again by good friend of the pod and pop cultural maven and scholar Richard Brown, this week we dive into all the 70's goodness of iconic sitcom 'WKRP in Cincinnati'.  We talk the theme song, Tim Reid's impressive career and contributions to the series and to 'Frank's Place', the KRP cast, some iconic KRP episodes, KRP-adjacent content like the feature 'FM' and MORE..so, baby, if you've ever...

Jason is thrilled to be joined by crime writer Joseph Schneider, author of two (and soon to be three) LAPD Detective Tully Jarsdel novels (links below), to discuss the criminally-underrated Peter Bogdanovich thriller 'Targets', Joseph's novels, 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', and much more. 'Targets' was made in 1967 when  Bogdanovich, then working for Roger Corman's B-Picture factory of filmmaki...

Late to the party, as ever!  Topics: My weird aversion to watching what's popular. My weird aversion to Adam McKay (con't). A certain HBO series' production staff puts LabelMaker labels on EVERYTHING in our shared office space. The Jeremy Strong New Yorker hit piece and how it enraged me to action-viewing Succession.  

If you know the pod, you know I am of the opinion that Gomorrah and The Bureau are probably the best TV series ever made.  And Gomorrah just concluded a Season 5 run, available in the States on HBO Ma. The final (in question marks?) season of this landmark series attempted to build upon and bring to a close a storyline begun in S1, EP1: that of Gennaro and Ciro and their twisty, entangled frenemys...

(NOTE: A previous version of this episode erroneously posted and was cut off at the end. This is the revised posting with the full episode) Joined once again by FCAC special guest Richard Brown, Jason gets into Walter Hill's seminal, cult hit 'The Warriors', which despite (or perhaps because of) deficiencies in funding, production time, cast difficulties (resulting in the firing of the lead actor...

Mike White's 'The White Lotus' is a product of the pandemic; a quick-turnaround series that went from inception to air in 9 months as HBO scrambled in 2020 to line up produceable content from trusted creators. Shot in one location, the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, under strict quarantine protocols, the series is a testament to the power of what can happen when limited options meet fairly un...

I admit to having a few deep-seated biases when it comes to writer-directors whose work doesn't speak to me.  Two of them have names that rhyme with Karen Zhorkin and Badham McWay.  This is neither here nor there with regard to anything but it makes for an interesting viewing experience when I need to TRY and put those biases on the shelf in order to watch something like 'Don't Look Up', which has...

Back from holiday break and bursting into 2022 with a special quick listen all about the best Film & TV books I read in 2021 AND a quick review of the Harry Potter reunion special on HBO Max, in which I totally forgot to mention how great Helena Bonham Carter was in cackling her way through the entire thing and being her naughty, bawdy self.   Links to the Books mentioned in this episode: Midnight...

Longtime journalist and author Mark Seal has a fantastic new book out that's positively overstuffed with brilliant and hilarious and mind-blowing anecdotes about the story of 'The Godfather', from Mario Puzo's unlikely beginnings to the movie's famously tortuous path to and through production. Mark and I chat about some of the great revelations in his book and about all the wonderful and colorful...

I'm joined this week by Frazer Rice, a James Bond freak whose familiarity with the films, the books, the comic strips, and the business of Bond makes him the idea guest to chat and speculate with on The Future Of Bond. With 'No Time To Die' closing out the Daniel Craig era, Bond now enters what likely is a 2-4 year window between films and a search for the Next Bond.  The search this time is perha...