Welcome To The Party Pal: The Mind-Bending Film & Television Podcast You Didn't Know You Needed!

In this episode of Welcome To The Party Pal hosts Michael Shields and Ryan O’ Connell share their choices for the best television shows of 2024. Join in as they take you to feudal Japan, the coast of Italy in the 1960s, the gritty streets of Gotham amid a burgeoning gang war, to Northern Ireland during The Troubles, and beyond— in a celebration of the television shows that entertained and enlivene...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates Say Nothing , the historical drama limited series created by Josh Zetumer for Disney+, produced by FX Productions. Detailing four generations in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, it is an adaptation of the 2018 book by Patrick Radden Keefe. The series follows the lives of people growing up in Belfast in the 1970s, 80s and 90s during The...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates  The Penguin, the crime drama television miniseries developed by Lauren LeFranc for HBO. Based on the DC Comics character of the same name, it is a spin-off from 2022's The Batman  that explores Oz Cobb's rise to power in Gotham City's criminal underworld after the events of that film. L...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal features a deep dive into HBO's The Sympathizer , the historical black comedy drama miniseries based on the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen. The series was created by co-showrunners Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, with Park directing the first three episodes. The series is based on the story of the Captain, a North V...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal once again celebrates the second season of  House of The Dragon , the television series created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO. A prequel to  Game of Thrones  (2011–2019),  House of the Dragon  is based on parts of Martin’s 2018 book  Fire & Blood where  the series begins about 100 years after the Seven...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates the second season of House of The Dragon , the television series created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO. A prequel to Game of Thrones (2011–2019), House of the Dragon is based on parts of Martin's 2018 book  Fire & Blood where the series begins about 100 years after the Seven Kingdoms are united by the Targaryen conquest,...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal journeys through the multiverse in a celebration of Dark Matter, the science fiction Apple-TV series created by Blake Crouch, based on his 2016 novel of the same name. In it, a man is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Amid the mind-bending landscape of lives he could've lived, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family an...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal journeys to Italy to celebrate Netflix's Ripley , the neo-noir psychological thriller television series created, written, and directed by Steven Zaillian, based on Patricia Highsmith's 1955 crime novel  The Talented Mr. Ripley . Starring Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley, with Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal breaks from its normal singular-focused episodes and dives deeply into not one, but two films. First up (6:06) is the action-comedy blockbuster Fall Guy , directed by David Leitch and written by Drew Pearce, loosely based on the 1980s TV series. The plot follows a stuntman (Ryan Gosling) working on his ex-girlfriend's (Emily Blunt) directorial debut action...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal pays tribute to one of the most enigmatic actors in the history of cinema, Nicolas Cage, through an interview with the author of How Coppola Became Cage , Zach Schonfeld. In this episode, a simulcast production with our sister podcast Across The Margin : The Podcast, the genius of one of the most misunderstood and gifted actors of all time is explored in-de...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal once again celebrates  Shōgun,  the historical drama television miniseries created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. It is based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell, which was previously adapted into a 1980 miniseries. Join in as hosts Michael Shields and Douglas Grant examine how faithful FX's adaption was to James Clavell's books while diggi...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates Shōgun, the historical drama television miniseries created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. It is based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell, which was previously adapted into a 1980 miniseries. Shōgun's ensemble cast is tremendous, and the series has received praise from critics and fans alike. Shōgun follows the collision of two ambitious men fr...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal breaks down the The 96th Academy Awards ceremony, which was presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and took place on March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. In this episode hosts Michael Shields and River Jordan exclaim over  Oppenheimer's  dominance,  Poor Thing's  impressive showing, and Da...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal, in the lead up to The 96th Academy Awards, takes stock of the cinematic offerings of 2023 and celebrates another outstanding year of movies. Join in as hosts Michael Shields and River Jordan tip their hats to prestige movies such as  Killers of The Flower Moon ,  Oppenheimer ,  The Holdovers ,  Poor Things ,  Past Lives , and ...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal delves deeply into True Detective :Night Country, the fourth season of True Detective , the anthology crime drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto. The season is set in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, and follows the investigation behind the disappearance of eight men from a research station. The season stars Jodie Foster and&...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates the fifth season of  Fargo , the anthology dark comedy–crime drama television series created by Noah Hawley. The enthralling season is set in Minnesota and North Dakota in the fall of 2019. It stars Juno Temple as Dorothy "Dot" Lyon, a seemingly typical Midwestern housewife living in Scandia, Minnesota, whose mysterious past comes back to ha...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates  Maestro , the biographical romantic drama film that centers on the relationship between American composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre. It was directed by Bradley Cooper, from a screenplay he wrote with Josh Singer.  Maestro  was produced by Cooper, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger,...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal looks forward to the year ahead and previews a slew of the captivating television shows set to air in 2024. Join in as hosts Michael Shields and Ryan O’ Connell discuss heralded television shows returning for their latest season — those highly anticipated, beloved programs such as True Detective , Stranger Things , The Bear , and House of the Dragon . Then,...

In this episode of Welcome To The Party Pal hosts Michael Shields and Ryan O’ Connell share their choices for the best television shows of 2023. Join in as they take you inside gourmet kitchens in Chicago, private jets taking off from New York City, acting studios in Los Angeles, evangelical churches in South Carolina, and beyond — in a celebration of the television shows that entertained and enli...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates the second season of the Disney television series Loki , based on Marvel Comics, which finds Loki working with Mobius M. Mobius, Hunter B-15, and other members of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) to navigate the multiverse in order to find Sylvie, Ravonna Renslayer, and Miss Minutes. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing cont...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates the epic Western crime drama film, Killers of the Flower Moon , directed by Martin Scorsese, who co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth, based on the 2017 book of the same name by David Grann. Its plot centers on a series of Oklahoma murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s, committed aft...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates The Creator, the 2023 science fiction film produced and directed by Gareth Edwards, who co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Weitz. The film stars John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Allison Janney, and Madeleine Yuna Voyles (in her film debut). Set in 2055 after a nuclear detonation in Los Angeles and a war against a...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, the sports drama television series created by Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht for HBO, based on the book  Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman. The first season, comprising 10 episodes, chronicles the 1980s Showtime...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates Oppenheimer, the  epic biographical thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Based on the 2005 biography  American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film chronicles the career of American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The story predominantly focuses on Oppenheimer's stud...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates  Barbie , the fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she wrote with Noah Baumbach. Based on the Barbie fashion dolls by Mattel, it is the first live-action Barbie film after numerous computer-animated films and specials. The film stars Margot Robbie&nbsp...