Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers is coming at you, to open up the 2024 season. They boys are winging it this week since the tape got stuck and shredded in the VCR, having an off-the-cuff discussion about anything that comes to mind, which is usually about the good old days of childhood. Come have a listen as Blake and Dion head back down the alley yet again, in this very special installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
Welcome to a surprise, bonus2023Halloween episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! Dion Baia and J. Blake get back together to have a quick chat about Dion‘s favorite episode from the early ’90s show, Tales From the Crypt, that starred the legendary Morton Downey Jr. They reminisce about this iconic series and why they feel this particular installment was both a harbinger for modern reality TV, and a stellar example of pure horror when Tales was firing on all cylinders. So gather around the campfire and get ready for a scare, as the boys celebrate Halloween on this latest 2023 edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
The boys are back for a Spring 2023 edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! J. Blake and Dion Baia bring the band back together and cover a film near and dear to their childhood, The Fugitive from 1993. They discuss the movie’s origins and the epic original 1963 television series, and try to put into context how big of a deal this film was for their generation. So, grab your bucket of pizza and some Mega-jolt cola, because Dion and Blake are running from the law in this brand-new episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
Welcome back to another exciting edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers ! J. Blake and Dion Baia are throwing up an episode a week early to coincide with the Saint Patrick Day holiday, and to surprise and celebrate a film that’s been on the boy’s short-list since the inception of the SNMS podcast– the 1959 Walt Disney classic, Darby O’Gill and the Little People!
After some present giving, Dion and Blake jump right in, unpacking this epic masterpiece. They discuss the 1959 Magical World of Disney Television episode, I Captured the King of the Leprechauns, where Walt Disney and Irish actor Pat O’Brien venture to Ireland as a setup to convince King Brian Connor of the Leprechauns to star in Mr. Disney‘s big budget Hollywood film. This incredible marketing ploy, along with the astounding Special Effects which used a combination of matte painting and forced perceptive, came together to create one of the best fantasy movies of all time with effects that still hold up some 60+ years later. So settle in and listen to the lads take a journey to County Kerry, Ireland and visit their old mate, Darby O’Gill, on this much requested Saint Patrick’s Day installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
“They say Eddie Egan(aka Popeye Doyle) stepped on the gas and that SonnyGrosso would step on the brake- no… Back then, Eddie was the Doberman Pinscher and Sonny held the chain.” -Randy Jurgensen
Randy in the 1977 TV film, Contract on Cherry Street
Randy Jurgensen has lived an amazing life. The former NYPD Homicide Detective, Korean War veteran turned film consultant, producer,writer and actor worked on some of the biggest cases in New York City’s history and also some of the biggest and most important films of the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s.
With the passing of his lifelong friend and formerNYPD partner Sonny Grosso, Randy sat down exclusively with Dion Baia to discuss the loss of someone who was also able to seamlessly transition into the film industry, becoming a producer, actor and writer, and most memorably was played by Roy Scheider in the 1971 classic, The French Connection.Randy unpacks his friendship with the legendary detective and film icon, and discusses their intertwining careers that involved some of the most notorious cases in NYC‘s history. He talks about the memories he’s never disclosed publicly, and his recollections of some of the biggest films they worked on together. He chats about how Sonny got his nickname “Cloudy“, and how Eddie Egan got the nickname “Bullets” and “Popeye“. He also explains their singular contributions to the original Godfather film. Along with the amazing stories, Randy also relays the biggest regret Sonny had about TheFrench Connection movie. It’s an incredibly insightful, fascinating and exclusive interview that you’ll only find here, on Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
Welcome back to another installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This week Blake and Dion are covering a classic that is turning 40 this year, Jim Henson‘s masterpiece, The Muppet Movie, from 1979!
The boys also unpack the ground-breaking Sesame Street program which is also sharing a birthday, turning 50 this year, and the backstory of getting the show on the air in 1969. They track JimHenson’s journey through public television to the hugely successful Muppet Show, and to the 1979Movie. So come on down as Dion and Blake jump into their 1951Studebaker Commander and hit the road, on this all new episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
Welcome to week four of the 2019 Horror Movie Extravaganza on Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! Dion Baia and J. Blake decided to continue down the same route and do another anthology that has been related to the others they’ve profiled this past month, covering the cult classic Tales From The Darkside: The Movie, from 1990!
The boys unpack the iconic 1980’s series Tales From The Darkside, and set the stage for how the 1990 feature film came about. Blake discusses his interviews with composer and (this film’s) director John Harrison– about the backstory involving George A. Romero and Stephen King, and getting this film made, and how Creepshow and even Creepshow 2 were the catalyst. So make sure you don’t scare easily, because Dion and Blake are back to tell you some more spooky tales on this all new installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
Welcome back to week two of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers’ 2019 Horror Movie Extravangza! Dion and Blake are back and trying to fill a tall order, doing an old double feature this Saturday Night. They’re heading back to the well, tackling the films that bred life back into the historic EC Comics property–the Amicus classics Tales From the Crypt from 1972 and Vault of Horror from 1973!
Blake and Dion jump right in, laying out the lengthy and fascinating history of EC Comics, and how a British Company named Amicus reinvigorated a forgotten franchise that’s still going strong, almost 70 years on. They also utilize both novelizations to help breakdown these incredible double-features. So gather round your streaming devices as the fellas act as pseudo “horror hosts”, to take you through this week’s spooky and ghostly installment of SaturdayNight Movie Sleepovers!
Welcome back to another episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! J. Blake and Dion Baia are celebrating the 5th anniversary of the podcast and after wrapping up the critically acclaimed 2019 Summer of Sequels, the boys figured they’d perform an encore to close out the season! And what better way to celebrate their anniversary then by exploring the iconic and legendary superhero sequel Superman II, from 1980!
Dion and Blake unpack the lengthy history of the Superman character, and do their best to lay out the timeline of lawsuits by creatorsSiegel and Shuster in their attempt to regain the rights to the character they created. The fellas then segue to Superman II and discuss the tension while filming the incredible sequel, and compare and contrast the different cuts of this film, juxtaposing the theatrical cut, to the television cut and the notorious Donner Cut. And Dion relays his fun Dean Cain story as well. So it’s a fun, fact-filled and lengthy, high-flying anniversary-installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
As the summer comes to a close, the boys want to welcome you back the Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers‘ 2019 Summer of Sequels! Dion Baia and J. Blake are wrapping up the season with a bang, as they pull out all the stops and cover the underrated (and their favorite in the series) spaghetti western masterpiece, Sergio Leone’sFor a Few Dollars More from 1965, starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef.
The fellas bring separate suitcases as they unpack and discuss the impact that this film, For a Few Dollars More, and the Italian western sub genre, had on the greater western genre on a whole. Blake explains the evolution of the Italian Spaghetti western and Sergio Leone‘s influence, while Dion lays out the incredible era of the American television westerns of the 1950’s, and Clint Eastwood’s journey to television and then to the groundbreaking, career-defining and trend-setting Fistful of Dollars, in 1964. It comes together for the lads as they argue why (in their humble opinion ) For a Few Dollars More is the best of the Eastwood/Leonewestern trilogy. And they hit on the influence of Morricone’s amazing score and its impact. So kick the dust out of your boots, put your feet up and settle in around the campfire, as Dion and Blake hit the trail one more time in the roundup of the 2019 Summer of Sequels in an all new edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
(*The David JanssenTV mountain film mention within the episode is called High Ice, and not Avalanche. Sorry for that. )
Extras! As mentioned in the podcast, here are some shots from the original theatrical program for the play Mister Roberts, with Dion‘s mother‘s family goat, Bertha, making her Broadway debut. Check them out HERE, HERE, HERE, HEREHERE, and HERE.
Welcome back to another all new edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers’ Summer of Sequels! This week J. Blake and Dion Baia are getting crazy with the cheese whiz, and doing an epic double-feature! They’re taking on a film that has been called the most watched movie of all time, the MGM1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz, AND its unofficial Disney sequel which has now become a cult classic, The Return to Oz, from 1985!
In their longest running podcast to date, Dion and Blake attempt to do this massive topic some justice. On the 100th anniversary of author L. Frank Baum’s death, they discuss the original book published in 1900; the fellas unpack the 1939 MGM movie that turned 80 this year; and analyze the 1985 film which people deemed too dark and scary for a Disney film, even though it was the closest rendition of the Baum material to date. They chart what is faithful to Baum‘s original work and the incredible impact his book series has had on the world. So you better hit the bathroom now and do some stretching, because this is gonna be a long one as the boys ‘ease on down that yellowbrick road with Dorothy, in an all new exciting, hilarious and informative edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
*(Okay, with a podcast this long, the boys are bound to misspeak: They accidentally referred to the 1900 bookThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz as The Wonderful World of Oz. They regret the error. Also, Dion misspoke when bringing up Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre, calling it Shelley Winters’ Faerie Tale Theatre–-which would be a completely different thing; Dion also accidentally referred to Jack Haley as the Cowardly Lion when discussing the make-up scars on Bert Lahr‘s face; and, when mentioning Deanna Durbin‘s 1945 film Lady on the Train, Dion called it The Stranger on the Train– his apologies.)
Welcome back to another edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers’ 2019 Summer of Sequels!Blake and Dion are leaving the car in neutral this week, staying in 1990, and hitting up a sequel that doesn’t seem to get a fair shake–the dystopian future noir Motor City film, RoboCop 2!
The boys breakdown this disturbing sequel, utilizing the novelization, and deleted scenes and other outtakes, to paint a broad comprehensive overall picture of what the writers and filmmakers were going for. They discuss the complexities of the Robocop 2 miniature design, and the reasons behind it, and again tell their Tom Noonan sighting story… which leads to reflections of encounters with John Lithgow and Peter Weller. So grab your popcorn and Auto 9 pistols, because the boys are headed to the old 313, Detroit, on an all new exciting and hilarious episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
Welcome to another Holiday Edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! To close out 2018 J. Blake and Dion Baia are showcasing a cult Christmas classic that is getting some much-deserved love in recent years. They’re tackling the Jim Henson holiday classic, Emmet Otter’s Jug~Band Christmas, from 1977!
The boys lovingly unpack this once lost holiday gem that is celebrating its 40th anniversary in ‘the states’ this year. Dion and Blake utilize the original 1971 source book by Russell and Lillian Hoban for reference, and can’t hold back their utter amazement at the technical prose of the Jim Henson team and the unbridled magic they are able to create. Mixed with the genius that is Paul Williams and his music, they layout a Christmas Special that may have more film cuts than Blade Runner. So come pull up a chair and a have a listen as the boys grab their Mom’s washtub and head down to Waterville and Frogtown Hollow, on an all new holiday installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
Welcome to a very special edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This week actor, political commentator and professional wrestler, the incomparable Tyrus, stops by to join us for a sleepover!
After reminiscing about what it was like for a boy to grow up in the ’70s ’80s & ’90s, Tyrus and Dion Baia chat about their love for cinema, hitting specifically on Smokey and the Bandit and Jackie Gleason, Cannonball Run, Superman Returns, and the Marvel Film Universe, among others. They discuss Godzilla, He-Man, You Can’t Do That on Television, G. I. Joe, and the “latch-key” childhood era they both grew in, versus the drastic differences that kids now encounter growing up in the past two decades. They get into Tyrus‘ background and how he went from doing security for Snoop Dogg, to becoming a WWE and ImpactWrestler, and his seguing into acting (even signing on to play Suge Knight in an upcoming Biopic), and his recent position as a cohost on The Greg Gutfeld Show on the Fox News Channel.
It’s a fun, absolutely hilarious, and insightful conversation this week on an all new episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
Welcome back to another exciting episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This week Dion Baia and J. Blake are exploring one of their favorite franchises -talking all things Star Trek– and taking a deep-dive into the 1991 film, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country !
Blake and Dion jump right in, unpacking this huge topic- from the original series, to the feature films, and all the other elements that led to this movie, Star Trek VI , as well as utilize the fantastic novelization. They also lay out all the social and geopolitical events that were unfolding around the world at the time that played into this film (which the boys consider one of the best of the series). So watch your Romulan Ale intake, and monitor any enormous neutron radiation fields, because the lads are dissecting one of their absolute favorites in this all new installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
(During the episodeDion and Blake excitedly referred to the great character actor Ward Bondas Wade Bond and his fabulous showWagon Trainas Wagon Trail – yes they can get overzealous at times.)
(Brock Peters was not the voice of the Kingpin on the 1994Spiderman animated series, but instead it was Roscoe Lee Browne.)
drastic differences that kids now encounter growing up in the past two decades. They get into Tyrus‘ background and how he went from doing security for Snoop Dogg, to becoming a WWE and Impact Wrestler, and his seguing into acting (even signing on to play Suge Knight in an upcoming Biopic), and his recent position as a cohost on The Greg Gutfeld Show on the Fox News Channel.