The hometown nostalgia survived longer than the turkey hangover on the Hollywood Prospectus podcast. To kick off the holiday movie season, Chris Ryan and I invited fellow Philadelphian (and Grantland’s resident Cinemetrician) Zach Baron to talk about one of the best films of the year, Silver Linings Playbook (2:50). We three former Friends School League rivals dug deep into why SLP is a sports movie for non-sports fans, why its optimism matters (particularly for Eagles supporters), and why we loved it for reasons beyond its inclusion of the Llanerch Diner (try the snapper soup!) and Jennifer Lawrence in spandex. Lest the gushing cause the Schuykill River to flood, we also talked a bit about the rest of the big releases coming in December, including Killing Them Softly, The Hobbit, Zero Dark Thirty, and the inevitable juggernaut that is Les Misérables.

With Zach dispatched like Jason Babin, Chris and I turned to television. Our talk about the soapiness of Homeland (32:20) spilled over into a more far-ranging (and spoiler-free) conversation about the much-improved third season of Boardwalk Empire (44:00) (concluding this weekend) and the challenges of considering episodes on their own or in a larger sense, like chapters in a book. Finally, we unsheathed our katanas and took a few surprisingly positive hacks at The Walking Dead (48:00). (Book club will wait a week as Chris gets his bifocals polished.) So grab your headphones and some crabby snacks. We’ll bring the homemades.

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