Welcome to Oscar Talk.

In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

Leading things off this week is discussion of the New York Film Festival’s Centerpiece selection, “Not Fade Away,” from “Sopranos” creator David Chase.

Next up is a look at some of the smaller films, from “Arbitrage” to “Smashed” that are looking to get a foothold on the race this year amid the usual big marquee titles.

Continuing our survey of various categories this week we move on to Best Supporting Actor and try to widen the net of hopefuls while also handicapping the category’s likely standing at the end of the year.

And finally, reader questions. Well, one anyway, regarding biopics. IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR US, please write in to OscarTalk@HitFix.com.

Have a listen to the new podcast below. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. You to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. And as always, if you have a question you’d like us to address on a future podcast, send it to OscarTalk@HitFix.com.

“Here I Come” courtesy of Stuart Park.