Mia Galuppo mines the storied history of the Sundance Film Festival — Weinstein hitting screenwriters! Near plane crashes! Golden retrievers! — ahead of its last go in Park City; and Mikey interviews Judd Apatow about his new documentary (Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!), the late Rob Reiner and the state of the studio comedy. 

Filmmaker Nia DaCosta pipes in from London to talk about her spin on the 28 Years Later franchise — just don't call them zombies! —  after I Said No Gifts host Bridger Winegar pays a visit to discuss pressing Utah-set reality TV news and the state of comedy writing in 2026.

Actor Josh Charles swings by to discuss his new series, Best Medicine, and growing up on camera, after Lacey Rose joins Mikey to talk about the significance of Canadian hockey drama Heated Rivalry's surreal run atop the HBO Max charts and why it won't be part of the Emmy race.

Actor Simu Liu opens up about his Hollywood learning curve, racism in casting and his new spy series after a quorum of Hollywood Reporter staffers debate the merits (and cost) of the L.A. cake that Tom Cruise famously gifts his friends and associates every Christmas.

Comedian and actor Robby Hoffman, closing out a very good year with her Netflix special Wake Up, talks poverty, the irrelevance of political correctness and how she'd fare on The Traitors. That's after THR's David Canfield joins to debate the good and the bad of The Golden Globes and Mikey offers an obligatory take on the Warner Bros. sale.

Comedian Sarah Sherman visits to talk about her wild new HBO special (Sarah Squirm: Live + In The Flesh), John Waters core and being SNL's resident weirdo, after Lacey Rose and Mikey debate how Gwyneth Paltrow became a cultural obsession as the Goop goddess returns to acting in Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme.

'Wicked: For Good' screenwriter Dana Fox discusses the movie musical's conclusion, the necessity of rom-coms and her Little House on the Prairie reboot... after Mia Galuppo joins Mikey to debate awards season movie-going priorities and Mikey yells about the long wait for Stranger Things season five.

Rhea Seehorn discusses 'Pluribus,' reuniting with Vince Gilligan and vending machine tutorial videos. But first, Mia Galuppo joins Mikey to ponder reality TV's current obsession with the women of Utah.

Leanne Morgan discusses Dollywood, L.A. Costco anonymity and flirting with Pedro Pascal... after Mikey digests the wild press tour (and unprecedentedly bad reviews) for Kim Kardashian and Ryan Murphy's All's Fair.

Each week, The Hollywood Reporter’s Mikey O’Connell attempts to stay on top of the latest in TV and entertainment (and stay sane) with a little help from his colleagues, friends and a revolving door of actors, comics, writers, showrunners and filmmakers.

Thanks for the memories, Friends of the 5.

Top 5 of the Week: #1 Headlines (1:33) #2 Paramount CEO out (08:24) #3 CBS fall schedule (13:09) #4 May TV preview (28:22) #5 Critic's Corner (37:29)