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'Vine Joy Randolph's intoxication spirit while recounting the most heartwarming and hilarious moments of this year's...

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 American Fiction — while also lauding exciting popcorn-adventure films such as Guardians of The Galaxy 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of...

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 Kali Reis as Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro. Night Country was created by Issa López, who serves...

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 haunt her after she lands in hot water with the authorities. Jon Hamm also stars as menacing North Dakota...

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, Fred Berner and Amy Durning. The film stars Carey Mulligan as Felicia alongside Cooper as Bernstein; Matt Bomer,...

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, they dig into a bevy of television shows premiering this year, ones such as The Veil, Fallout, The...

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 enlivened our lives in 2023!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 continuity with the films of the franchise. Eric Martin served as head writer and Justin Benson and...

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 after oil was discovered on tribal land. Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone lead an ensemble cast, that also includes Jesse Plemons, John...

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 artificial intelligence, an ex-special forces agent is recruited to hunt down and kill the...

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 era of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team featuring notable NBA stars Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It features an...

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 studies, his direction of the Manhattan Project during World War II, and his eventual fall from grace due to his 1954 security...

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 as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken on a journey of self-discovery following an existential crisis. It features a supporting cast that includes America Ferrera, Kate...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal tips its hat to the second season of The Bear, the comedy-drama series created by Christopher Storer. The first season premiered on Hulu in 2022 and starred Jeremy Allen White as a young, award-winning chef who returns to his hometown, Chicago, to manage the chaotic kitchen at his deceased brother's sandwich shop. The supporting cast includes Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Abby Elliott, and Matty Matheson. The second season recently...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal dives deeply into Succession, the celebrated television series created by Jesse Armstrong that aired on HBO from June 3, 2018, to May 28, 2023, for four seasons and 39 episodes. In Succession, the head of one of the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerates decides to retire whilst each of his four grown children follows a personal agenda that doesn't always sync with those of their siblings, or of their father. The series starred Brian...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates the second season of HBO Max's Perry Mason, a compelling series which portrays the origin story of the famed criminal defense lawyer (played by Matthew Rhys). The series was created by Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald for HBO and it is based on the character of the same name by Erle Stanley Gardner. The series also stars Juliet Rylance as Della Street, Chris Chalk as Paul Drake, Justin Kirk as Hamilton Burger, and Shea Whigham as Pete...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates the American mockumentary television series created by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, and starring Ronald Gladden, Jury Duty. The series chronicles the inner workings of a jury trial through the eyes of juror Ronald Gladden, a solar contractor from San Diego, who is unaware that his jury duty summons was not official, and that everyone in the courtroom aside from him is an actor. Everything that happens, inside and outside the courtroom,...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal delves into Daisy Jones & The Six, the musical drama television miniseries developed by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Set in the Los Angeles music scene of the late 1970s, the series charts the rise and fall of the fictional titular rock band through a documentary style series of interviews with the members and footage of concerts and recording sessions, complete with vocals...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates The Last of Us, the post-apocalyptic television series created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for HBO. Based on the 2013 video game developed by Naughty Dog, the series is set in 2023, twenty years into a pandemic, caused by a mass fungal infection which forces its hosts to transform into zombie-like creatures. The series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler tasked with escorting the teenage Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a...

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal dissects the 95th Academy Awards to examine what the academy got right and what they got wrong while celebrating the magical moments that occured on stage amid Hollywood's biggest night. Listen in as hosts Michael Shields and River Jordan tip their hat to Everything Everywhere All At Once's dominant evening, bemoan Banshees of Inisherin's lack of award recognition, and ultimately, reveal their picks of their favorite films of 2022. Hosted on Acast....

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates The Menu, the black comedy horror film directed by Mark Mylod, written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, based on an original story created by Tracy, and produced by Adam McKay, Betsy Koch and Will Ferrell. It features an ensemble cast that includes Ralph Fiennes as a celebrity chef with Hong Chau playing his assistant and Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Janet McTeer, Reed Birney, Judith Light, and John Leguizamo playing diners who attend his...

In this episode of Welcome To The Party Pal, hosts Michael Shields and River Jordan dissect the Oscar-nominated film The Banshees of Inisherin which was directed, written, and co-produced by Martin McDonagh. Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, the film stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two lifelong friends who find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them. It reunites Farrell and Gleeson, who...

This episode of Welcome To The Party celebrates the return of Mike White's Emmy-winning television series White Lotus which premiered its sophomore season this past October. The second season stars Jennifer Coolidge, Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Theo James, Michael Imperioli, among others. It recently won Golden Globe Awards for Best Limited or Anthology Series and Best Supporting Actress for Coolidge. In this episode hosts Michael Shields and Justin Wells attempt to explain the phenomenon of...

In this episode of Welcome To The Party, Avatar: The Way of Water, the epic science fiction film directed and produced by James Cameron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, is dissected and celebrated. It is the sequel to Avatar (2009) and the second installment in the Avatar film series. Cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, and Giovanni Ribisi reprise their roles from the original film, with Sigourney Weaver returning in an...