The Hip Pocket #308 - Dan Fienberg

DAN FIENBERG has been the Chief Television Critic at The Hollywood Reporter for a decade now and hosts TV’s Top 5, a weekly television podcast for the trade. He also writes the Now See This newsletter and was the president of the Television Critics Association. He was a co-founder of HitFix, one of the original writers for the site, and I have spent an enormous amount of time at film festivals and industry events with him. He was part of the Firewall & Iceberg podcast with Alan Sepinwall, and I felt genuinely lucky to work at a publication with the two of them. They are consummate professionals and good all-around dudes, and there was no way I was going to do this podcast without having them as guests eventually. Anyone who follows Dan on any social media platform is familiar with his long-standing use of Gizmo as his icon, so it should not be a shock that he picked Joe Dante’s Gremlins as his first film. His second pick is another film he has always given a lot of public love, Chris Noonan’s magical Babe. Finally, he threw a real curveball at us with an intense ‘70s film that people don’t discuss nearly as often as they should, Sidney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Craig picked our response film this week, and when you hear his reasoning behind the choice to program Hot to Trot, a talking horse comedy from the ‘80s, I think you’ll be as entertained as we were. Finally, my choice for the Hip Pocket Hall of Fame this week is a nod both to Craig’s unorthodox choice and my history with Dan, since he was at Sundance with me the year I saw Bobcat Goldthwait’s caustic World’s Greatest Dad. Support The Hip Pocket over at Patreon, where we’re neck-deep in recording a full season of bonus episodes! Support The Hip Pocket on BlueSky! The Hip Pocket is hosted by Drew McWeeny and Aundria Parker. Craig Ceravolo is the show’s bandleader and producer. It is a Formerly Dangerous Production.