When Michael met Mario (Photo: Oxfam International)

The Sundance Channel has locked down guests for the first five episodes of the "Iconoclasts" series it announced last month, in which a pair of cultural icons get together for some mutual J/O and a little lite talk about what fuels their creative passions. The pairings Sundance has in mind to start off with, followed by each episode's title (I am not making this up):

--Mario Batali and Michael Stipe ("Chef on Musician")
--Tom Ford and Jeff Koons ("Fashion designer on Artist")
--Jonathan Safran Foer and Michel Gondry ("Author on Filmmaker")
--Samuel L. Jackson and Bill Russell ("Actor on Sports Legend")
--Brian Grazer and Sumner Redstone ("Academy-Award winning producer on CEO")

Wow. Lest you think the Sundance hand release only applies to the likes of fat chefs and creaky old men, producer Christine Vachon is also slated to appear in a future episode with an as-yet-unnamed partner. Typical--leave it to Sundance to make us wait for the good stuff.