TCM

The loss of Robert Osborne was huge. Mancewitz (sp) is a terrible host with his smarmy, cynical humor. That's not what I want in a host. And these other hosts they've brought on could. not. be. worse. Just awful. And yes, the programming has suffered. They used to show only A and B movies, now it's C and D movies.

Losing Robert Osborne was a huge blow, but the jump the shark moment was when they started flogging the TCM Wine Collection.

I still find a lot of movies I want to watch or rewatch. Thanks to the TCM web site's on demand feature, I just watched a Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins film (The Old Maid) I'd never seen before.

[quote]They used to show only A and B movies, now it's C and D movies.

I don't care for any of the hosts except Mankiewicz, and he's hit or miss, but I don't mind them branching out to the B and C movies. How many times a year do you really want them to show Casablanca and Gone With the Wind? I've enjoyed some of the guest programmer's picks even when they're not the greatest movies.

I like Ileana Douglas but it is surprising how bad some of the other hosts are. Tiffany still sounds like she is reading off a cue card and even Dana Delaney was very flat and bland.

Ugh. The holidays are coming. I hate Christmas movies.

Tiffany is awful. And Ileana Douglas' voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me, not to mention how unpleasant she is to look at. I need a host with a beautiful, sonorous voice like Osborne had.

What about Leonard Maltin? Does he ever host?

They need someone who genuinely knows the movies like Osborne did and isn't just reading something researched by some writer for them to say.

Maltin does some of the events at their film festival. What else does he do now?

He's probably too old, but I wish they would hire Bob Dorian, the old host from American Movie Classics. He always did a nice job.

Good luck trying to find somebody as good as Robert Osborne. There aren't many like him. He was perfect for TCM. Anyway, I'm still a fan of TCM. I just ignore the hosts and commentary and guest programmers. Speaking of guests, some of them are so stupid about movies that it's ridiculous. David Letterman was on recently with Alec Baldwin and he was a total ass.

[quote]I still find a lot of movies I want to watch or rewatch.

Just one recent example: they recently showed the 1951 American remake of M, set in Los Angeles (with some great scenes at the Bradbury Building), directed by Joseph Losey. Probably something for a niche audience, but it's actually hard to see otherwise. So I'm still grateful to them for stuff like that. God knows it's better than 99% of the other cable channels.

They really need to rebrand and get a new host but I agree with r10, it won't be easy. Osborne was one of a kind. He had the right mix of charisma and personable voice, as well as being able to connect to old school Hollywood.

They still air good movies. The other night they played This Property is Condemned and it's pretty much out of print on DVD and not available on Blu-ray.

Their catalogue has definitely shrunk. But they’re all we’ve got left.

I appreciate them very much---it's still my favorite channel. And the prints they use are gorgeous and pristine.

No it hasn't r13. They have expanded it. Last year was their best year ever in terms of ratings.

Tell me about it, OP!

Tell me about it, r12!

Why has their catalogue shrunk?

The fellow who hosts Noir Alley - Eddie Muller - REALLY knows his stuff. It’s clear when he talks that he’s not just reading cue cards.

I appreciate it when they show lesser known pictures. One reason I cant stand “31 Days of Oscar” is that it’s the same damn movies year after year.

I also agree that watching TCM through its on demand feature is great. Just saw “Free and Easy” - Bob Cummings and Nigel Bruce play a father and son team of British fortune hunters on the lookout for rich wives.

Cummings’ accent is laughable, but the cast is great. Besides the two male leads, it has Reginald Owen, Aubrey Smith, and a young and smiling Judith Anderson.

A wacky plot, and it all wraps up in just an hour. Very fun.

I agree that their Halloween schedule was disappointing; I don't really care much about the hosts, but their movie schedule does seem lacking these days.

Eddie Muller is terrible! He's such a skimmer, such a lightweight when it comes to noir. How he ever got his gig I maybe don't wanna know. Yech.

I would like to see Karina Longworth from the old Hollywood podcast "you must remember this" host a movie each week and give us juicy tidbits about the backstory during the breaks.

Another thought would be to have movie plus serious analysis (maybe once a week). I would definitely watch. Film theory 101.

TCM should show high quality TV movies and mini-series of the 70s and 80s. For example, “An Early Frost”, “Consenting Adult”, “Roots”, “The Holocaust”, “Back Stairs at the White House”, “The Legend of Lizzie Borden”, etc. Also, they could show HBO and Showtime films. Yes, you can find a few of these on “UTube”, but the picture and sound quality are terrible and the titles are few due to copyright laws.

R23 Great idea. Is the Faye Dunaway Evita TV movie any good?

It's the only place to see some of the more obscure Warner musicals from the 30s. Long live Ruby Keeler!

I depends what you're looking for.

Last night I DVRed an Ingmar Bergman film I never heard of before (All These Women).

Looking at their guide, I see today alone there's On the Town, Scorsese's Age of Innocence (with the 1930s film version coming on Friday afternoon), An Affair to Remember and Naked City.

Upcoming within the next week are McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Dryer's The Passion of Joan of Arc, Westworld, a bunch of Jimmy Stewart films and Audrey Rose.

I have mixed feeling about R23's suggestion re showing TV movies & miniseries of the past. Maybe instead there should be a channel devoted especially to that - a TCM version if you will. Some of those movies (like God Bless the Child, QBVII and Our Sons) were pretty remarkable. And even the trashy ones (like Home for the Holidays with Sally Field and the miniseries Captains & the Kings) are worth revisiting.

Much more interesting fare is on line at Filmstruck (the TCM collaboration with Criterion). It's worth subscribing. For example, there is a 14-film series devoted to "French Cinema Under the Occupation," almost none of them have been shown on TCM, and most aren't even on DVD/Blu-Ray from Criterion.

I get annoyed at all the TCM self promotions, it seems that everyone who talks between the movies is very annoying. David Letterman and Alec Baldwin are strange and annoying choices to speak about movies. I imagine if this Time Warner and At&t merger happens they will manage to start putting commercials in the movies.

If TCM was available as a stand-alone service. I would dump cable TV.

[quote]Their catalogue has definitely shrunk. But they’re all we’ve got left.

Translation: "They don't show the same five gay canon movies I love over and over."

[quote]If TCM was available as a stand-alone service. I would dump cable TV.

There's a streaming service. It's called FilmStruck. Also, your comment is a grammatical nightmare.

We now get a Fox classic movie channel. It's nowhere close to TCM, but it's nice to see some movies outside the usual TCM catalog. There's also some interesting vintage channels on YouTube, but the quality, especially.ly the sound, is all over the place and some of them are unwatchable because of it.

Maltin hosts Treasures from the Disney Vault r8. It appears about once a month. I find his hosting to be too manic, but he is a film scholar.

Their catalog hasn't shrunk. The channel is owned by Warner so they still have full access to all Warner Brothers movies and pre-1986 MGM movies (which Warner also own). And they still license stuff from the other studios.

[quote]Scorsese's Age of Innocence (with the 1930s film version coming on Friday afternoon)

Both of which have been shown very recently.

I kind of liked the Halloween schedule. They showed lots of Christopher Lee vampire movies. But it would have been nice if they'd shown a wide selection of horror films, GOOD ones, not schlock. And did they show "Halloween?" To me, that is the all time classic horror film to show during the month of October.

R31 What are some good YouTube channels?

They keep plugging their wine.

[quote][R31] What are some good YouTube channels?

Here's one:

Here's another:

Thank you R39

I hope they never add commercials to TCM. The fact that it's commercial free is a big part of the reason I love the channel. It's almost like being at the movies. And I wish they could show all classic films on TCM. Someone needs to work on the catalogue to expand it. But other than that I love the film's they show.

R36

This one is kinda fun. A lot of clips from classic Hollywood in the mix.

My favorite channel.

I love the forgotten films of the 1930s they show but they always seem to air them in the middle of the night, at dawn or the middle of the afternoon.

Author Jeanine Basinger is a true expert on old Hollywood. Her knowledge, and more importantly her opinions, are invaluable.

R44, check out the link for what is currently available online from TCM. To watch one of these movies, I connect an old laptop to my TV with an HDMI cable so I can watch it on a bigger screen than my laptop (or tablet/phone). Works great and you also get TCM HD with it, which my cable system doesn't offer.

If TCM folds, I shall surely die with it.

I gave up cable. This is the only channel I miss.

I'm right there with you r46. Classic films are the love of my life and I love TCM. Ben Mankiewicz isn't that bad. Granted he's no Robert Osborne but I've gotten used to him. What's Richard Roeper, from Ebert and Roeper, up to? How about Nick Clooney, George Clooney's dad. He was to AMC's early days, when they show classic films, what Robert was to TCM. I met Nick Clooney in person one day. Very, very nice man!

Clooney would be a good choice. It's not like they don't need hosts--one thing I've always found irritating is the lack of intros during the day which is often when some of the most interesting movies are shown.

As long as we're talking, what about the silent movies? I'll admit, I try to get into them, but I just can't. Am I an infidel?

R49, I'm not that into silent movies, either. I look at the scenery mostly; and make up my own dialog.

R10 Letterman was weird, plus he gave a spoiler for some film which most likely a lot of people hadn't seen. (I forget which film.)

R44 Basinger knows film history, but some of her opinions are ridiculous -- she claimed Vera-Ellen wasn't very special as a dancer! WTF! She's just about the only person to partner Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in musicals. Ok, Debbie Reynolds sort of partnered Astaire in a ballroom dramatic scene in "Pleasure of His Company", but that doesn't really count. But Vera-Ellen could do jazz dance, acrobatic, ballet and tap en fuckin' pointe with the fastest nerve taps I've ever seen. Probably Basinger was drummed out of basic tap.

Paul Rudnick would be a great host. His moments in The Celluloid Closet are brilliant.

Sigourney Weaver would be a fantastic host.

r22 really? You like her? She sounds so vocal fry/bitchy and she mispronounces things constantly.

r46 they had their best year ever in 2016 so I doubt they will be folding anytime soon

r24 yes it actually is pretty good. (even Faye likes it)

It has gone downhill...as have so many other iconic gay passtimes

Is Eddie Muller on TCM gay? I know he is married ,but I get a vibe he is at least bi? Any info on him?

I don't think so r58. I've been to TCM events and he is often at the bars talking to pretty young ladies.

why did they have Anderson CIA Cooper Vanderbilt on there? just corporate synergy?

when r60?

r61 :

[quote] why did they have Anderson CIA Cooper Vanderbilt on there? j

Just be thankful Ben Mankiewicz doesn't get Cenk Uygur to cohost.

Originally, TCM had all of the Warner Brothers, MGM and RKO libraries, and slowly added on Monogram, Columbia and some independent producers. It's great to see the Monogram films in pristine condition rather than the faded public domain prints that are cheaply released on DVD. There's not much from the Universal library, so copies available from private collectors are usually much faded.

But if it wasn't for TCM, previously forgotten stars like Kay Francis, Ann Harding, George Brent, Ricardo Cortez and many others would still be obscure. I'd like to see more rare British films as they were really ahead of their time technically in many ways. You figure with the main studios they have releasing dozens of films each year, that's thousands of movies available to rotate over and over, and things that they add on put it into the tens and possibly even hundreds of thousands.

Anyone know if The Ten Commandments will be shown now through Easter? I thought it was always shown around Good Friday..?

East shit, Op!

[quote] Anyone know if The Ten Commandments will be shown now through Easter? I thought it was always shown around Good Friday..?

Doesn't look like TCM has it. Maybe ABC will show it with a bunch of commercials instead.

Robert Osborne was a great host. He was a class act. I still love TCM, except when it's all westerns or sci-fi..renaissance movies. It's just my taste though. I know many people enjoy those movies. I like that the movies are more varied, bringing some more contemporary ones, and some more obscure movies, that I've never seen. I find them interesting. They still have the old classics.. and love the silent movies. I think Ben does a fine job, and the others hosts are good, as well. I like Eddie Muller, who hosts the film noir features... he's very informative, with a hint of humor. I don't like that TCM repeats a lot of movies, which was done, even when Osborne hosted, I think. It's still my favorite channel.

Agree, R68! Love TCM in general and *really* miss Osborne but *do* like Ben and Eddie Muller at least!

I pray that they never ruin this gem of a channel by adding commercials.

Also: good post, R64! Very true.

Does anyone know if there's a reason why they don't show movies with the old Robert Osborne intros?

I agree, R69. TCM is a gem.. don't change!

After my mom died, I went running, wasn’t focused and badly sprained my ankle. I then discovered TCM and it got me through that first week of complete immobility. Even though I was a film major, I didn’t know George Sanders, Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis or many of the irreplaceable character actors until I watched TCM for hours a day. I joined Backlot because I don’t want it to ever have commercials. I just couldn’t imagine having any other channel on without going bananas - it’s like Cymbalta for me.

R65 Memnet asked Bithia what she had found. "The answer to my prayers". "You prayed for a basket?", Memnet asked her in a rare moment of humor. "No I prayed for a son." I had always thought that you got the basket first, then you got the sun. Oh well.

I can just pull out my two part DVD (double bill with "Ben Hur") and go to camp heaven without the commercials.

As far as hosting cruises, selling memorabilia and their brand of wine.. and a TCM Backlot Club, I don't mind that they are doing this. I understand that there are costs to maintain this channel, without commercials. I think it's a good idea, to help with keeping everything commercial free.

C and D movies can be fun to watch, too. The tacky ones can become cult classics.. lol.

I WANT BEN'S FEETS .

There was a movie shown, the other night...Gettysburg. It was over 4 hours long (!).. and ended around 3 am. I was thinking, how another movie, Glory, should be on afterwards, keeping with the Civil War theme. Well... it was the next movie! I tried to stay awake to watch that.. and there was another Civil War movie on afterward. I was asleep at that point.

R71 they do and just did with GWTW a few days ago

R79, that's great. No reason not to- it's not like there is breaking news with many of these movies.

Slow Dancing in the Big City please.

R65 ABC used to show it but I’m not sure they even show it anymore. A while back they switched to a new TV-movie version of The Ten Commandments that was terrible!

Do yourself a favor and get the DVD. It comes with the remastered silent film version on a bonus disc, along with other features.

Watched Raffles last night. Had never seen it. Love TCM. Especially the old noir. Even if it's just on and I hear it while doing something else it makes me happy.

I thought Bill Hader did a wonderful job as a guest host while Robert went out for a while before he died. I would love to see him host again. But he’s probably too busy with his own shows.

R83 Which Raffles? Ronald/Kay (the better version), or David/Olivia (basically the same, but missing the magic)?

ABC will show The Ten Commandments Saturday at 7pm, as usual for Easter weekend. I don’t believe TCM has ever run it.

I am not interested in most of what they show.

[quote]Is Eddie Muller on TCM gay? I know he is married ,but I get a vibe he is at least bi? Any info on him?

Well, he DID co-author Tab Hunter's autobiography, so there's that.

TCM doesn't have the rights to "Ten Commandments," but they ARE showing "King of Kings" on Easter. This is the with Jeffrey Hunter in a role described by one critic as "I Was a Teenage Jesus."

R85 Niven. I thought it was good until the last scenes in his apartment. I'll look for the other one but I thought the plot was flimsy and could have been better.

Hope you've all explored the new Criterion streaming service. Worth every penny, but of course doesn't delve into the fun stuff.

Go to your library and get free Kanopy.

I’m 45 years old and am a fan of TCM! ❤️ classic movies.

Ten Commandments will be on ABC tonight 7:00 pm to 11:45 pm

The only truly essential cable channel.

[quote]Is Eddie Muller on TCM gay? I know he is married ,but I get a vibe he is at least bi? Any info on him?

Typical kinda letchy hetero with no game whatsoever.

Dave Karger is a host, so i won't complain about TCM.

Plus they occasionally show Japanese films that I've never seen. This past month for example, they showed two Kinoshita films from the 1950s.

Hey guys! What about me?

First of all, I want to say I am addicted to TMC. It so much more exciting and satisfying than the shit Frau entertainment that is out there. Its all so one dimensional.

I own a copy of GWTW , but I haven't watched that film in a long time. I watched it on TCM and I fell in love all over again with that film. Osbourne said there is nothing like GWTW and there will never be. I totally agree. I relish that film big time! When the camera focused on Rhett Butler staring up at Scarlet, that small moment is movie history magic. That special energy is just not there anymore in films. I love the old biblical films. I don't think they are camp at all. The sets are beautiful and the costumes as well. I love history and I am fascinated with ancient biblical times. These old films of the bible are a feast for the eye. I am sorry but the new or newer films on the bible don't interest me at all. They are beige on beige. The wealthy in those days had dyes and lots of color in their clothes. Some times the poor had some color to their clothes ,but it was mainly a luxury. However, the new biblical films make everything as a whole overly bleak. When they make period films today they make everything brown on beige etc. which is bull because again, they did have some color.

BTW, Dave Karger is a stud. However he is a bit fem and he lisps a bit. Is he a top of bottom?

this is R99, I meant is he a top or bottom, LOL!

TCM reminds me that films today are rarely about people and characters. They’re about special effects, editing, and someone’s vapid idea of “style.”

That’s why I don’t go anymore, unfortunately. And why I want to smack my younger coworker whenever he goes on and on about “Star Wars” films being the epitome of fine filmmaking and why “The Hangover” is a comic masterpiece.

R99, I vote for insatiable cum dumpster. But back to the movies!

I love ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ which usually’ plays during Christmas week.

It’s a great ensemble cast, but the fabulous Ann Sheridan steals the movie as bitchy actress, Lorraine Sheldon

The films today are all done by computers and so everything is push button. The films in the golden age of Hollywood had creative hands on people to make a story come to life. You had set designers. artists, costume designers, lighting crew, camera men, on and on.

RJ Wagner said, you know the back drops in the movies helped the actor get into the environment in the making of the film. Various scenes, sets, etc as well. Now, they just have blank green screens in the background and the computer doses the rest as far as filling in the environment surrounding the actors . When you are now acting, you are not in from of a moving screen anymore so the actors and actresses don't have that help to get into the mindset while filling. RJ said sorry, but using computers is not making a film. It's just pushing buttons and programing machines. The magic and creative hands on creative energy is gone.

I saw "The Man Who Came to Dinner" for the first time only last year and I was amazed how they got past the Hayes Office with Ann Sheridan's bralessness and Whitesides' "simpering Sappho" crack at Bette Davis.

Sheridan was playing Gertrude Lawrence and Reginald Owen was playing Noel Coward. Coward and Jimmy Durante's Harpo Marx rang true. How close was Lawrence,

R101 R104 Not all movies. European movies are superior to American films. They actually have plots and characters who are well developed of every age and ethnicity. I order most of these movies from my library or use their free movie websites to stream. But I love TCM. We're lucky to have it.

R106 yes German,Scandavnan,Italian,Spanish,Greek and Russian films have tons of people of color in them......not!

They just played that fabulous film with Doris Day and Ray Bolger, April in Paris. They are paying attention to their Depends and their gay audience with a film.like that.

Yes, R106. I love foreign movies.

But good luck finding them in my local American cineplex which plays new “Star Wars” films on five of its six screens whenever the come out. The sixth screen is usually reserved for some shit rom-com.

[quote]Hey guys! What about me?

Fuck you, you Aussie cunt!

Ha ha, R110.

I know Tiffany was not popular with the DL crowd, but I do wish they had stuck with and worked with her. She seemed intelligent, well-spoken, and sincerely interested in the films. TCM needs to add younger, more diverse hosts to its roster to remain relevant into the future. Old fucks like me (but I look like a young fuck, of course!) aren’t going to be around to carry the torch for old films forever.

I like Alicia Malone, but when you have to recruit a film scholar from Australia as a host, it’s time to start developing your bench.

Remember that Christmas we were broke? Your father put on “Jim Thorpe: All-American” and told you it was “King of Kings”?

R103 Love that movie, too, but I love Mary Wickes in it, her film debut.

R113 Mary Wickes was a wonderful character actress. So good as Miss Preen

I’ve wondered the same thing, r105 The blouse Ann Sheridan wore in the Christmas morning scene is practically transparent. Did you notice the buttons on that blouse were shaped like little hands?

I think they should have viewers host. They had some retired New York cop guest-hosting the other day and he was more interesting than any of their regulars hosts.

[quote]I think they should have viewers host. They had some retired New York cop guest-hosting the other day and he was more interesting than any of their regulars hosts.

Yeah, but sometimes it's just embarrassing. The other day they had some woman introducing her favorite movie ("Wuthering Heights") and she kept pronouncing the star's name as "MERYL" Oberon.

In regard to Mary Wickes

I went to the TCM festival screening of Postcards from the Edge (by the way the festival does get a much younger crowd than you'd expect. It is pretty popular for all ages.)

But at the end when the credits came up (there were none at the beginning) it was like Starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, Richard Dreyfuss..........Mary Wickes (there was a whole bunch of ooos and ahss like oh yeah that was Mary Wickes (in a nice callback to Now Voyager----Bette was Charlotte VALE in that Meryl was Suzanne VALE in Postcards.)

Well anyway Makiewicz came out and said you know you are at a TCM event when Mary Wickes gets the biggest response!

R115, I totally agree with you. I was thinking the same thing the other day.

I'm sorry but I am getting annoyed that they have been showing films from the 80's and 90's. Sorry, but those aren't classic films. Stick with the older films which the most recent film should be the 60's. TCM website they have the movie suggestion section and people have been suggesting films like, A League of Their Own, and numerous other 80's and 90's films uh? really? I can see TCM winding up like AMC which would be totally devastating. AMC started out showing nothing but classic old films, and now its wound up being just another cable channel showing anything that you can see almost anywhere else. I don't understand why they call their channel, AMC anymore because its a joke.There are A LOT of other channels that show films from the 70's -90's. TCM is practically the only channel that have been showing REAL classic OLD films. But again, they are starting to become liberal by what they consider to be Old Classic Films for TCM.

They have a finite amount of films in their library. I don't mind an 80's or 90's once in a while. "A League Of Their Own" is a wonderful film and was shown as a tribute to Penny Marshall.

I have a question for posters. What is your favourite decade for classic movies from the 30s to 70s? Ist the movies you find significant from that decade.Mine's the 40s. The Philadelphia Story, Citizen Kane, Notorious, Out of the Past, The Heiress, Adams Rib

R120, my favorite decade is 1935 - 1945. Does that count? I love the 40's, but there are a lot of mid-late 30's movies I don't want to leave out.

I wish they would split the channel into three different channels.

1920s - 1949

1950 - 1969

1970s - onward

I'd even settle for 1920s -1969 and 1970s onward.

I just hate when I turn on TCM and there is a movie that was produced in my lifetime. I want to see the classic 30s and 40s movies and Film Noir.

[quote] AMC started out showing nothing but classic old films

The way I recall it is AMC defined a classic film as one over 25 years old. Indicating that TCM is doing likewise.

People have whined on TCM's boards for years that the channel is showing too many recent pictures (anything post 1967 gets a few people's knickers in a twist). Yet time and again it's been proven that TCM still shows overwhelmingly movies from pre-1967 period.

Today and tomorrow the films are about 95% pre-1970. Yet people will cry bloody murder that because a few films from the 1970s will be shown in the next few days that the channel has been destroyed!

More favourite decades please with lists.

You're right, the channel does show mostly pre 1967 movies, but it still pisses me off when I want to watch an old movie and they're showing Field of Dreams.

I don't know why they have to show the foreign films so late at night on Sundays. Mix it up a little, please!

But I do love their monthly promos, which are always expertly edited and scored, and their "TCM Remembers" segments when another great star dies.

I was delighted when TCM showed Babette's Feast from 1987 a few weeks ago. I hadn't seen it since it was released and had forgotten everything about it but the food. It was surprisingly moving as well. So there are '80s movies worth TCM's time. (I also rewatched 1981's Pennies From Heaven recently, thanks to TCM.)

When are they showing "Hello, Everybody!"?

[quote] What is your favourite decade for classic movies from the 30s to 70s?

Easily the '30s. Jean Arthur, William Powell, Joan Crawford, Leslie Howard, Lee Tracy, Kay Francis, Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow, Josephine Baker, Basil Rathbone, Robert Montgomery for stars.

Movies: The Thin Man, My Man Godfrey, Million Dollar Legs, Modern Times, Duck Soup, Sons of the Desert, Reaching For the Moon, The Petrified Forest, A Nous La Liberte,

Tough decision, but I think I’m going with the 40’s.

Meet Me in St Louis George Washington Slept Here The Man Who Came to Dinner Double Indemnity Treasure of the Sierra Madre Pride of the Yankees Casablanca The Maltese Falcon Mildred Pierce Shadow of a Doubt It’s a Wonderful Life Bambi His Girl Friday Arsenic and Old Lace

R132 I adore Jean Arthur!Her voice reminds me of champagne bubbles.

r132 here, kicking myself for not mentioning "Dinner At Eight" and "Grand Hotel." I watch "Dinner at Eight" every chance I get.

Nina I forget where I read this (it could have been on a Datalounge post) where Mary Wickes had a small role in a revival of Wonderful Town and when she appeared the illusion Oz from the audience whereas if a delightful long missed aunt had just come in the room. I always get the same feeling I see Margaret Hamilton, Edna May Oliver and many other character actors that worked a lot during the Golden Age. With few exceptions, we have no character actors like that today.

Author of the above post. Voice activation picked up words from the old movie I'm watching now which I didn't notice earlier.

TCM Underground is the best!

Last week they had feminist newsanchor Lauren "Cokehead" Tewes hunting a serial killer who was after her deaf & dumb sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh).

PS... she was deaf & dumb because she had been molested.

There are four classic films that TCM will probably never run. The previously mentioned "The Ten Commandments" (ABC seems to have the exclusive rights,) "The Sound of Music" (ABC again,) "It's a Wonderful Life" (NBC) and "Mary Poppins." Obviously, Disney/ABC owns that last one. They used to run it on the network for the holidays, but not lately.

I hope they don't discard the "Treasures from the Disney Vault" nights when Disney launches its streaming service.

I think they should show the great and sometimes campy TV films of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. I’d like to see “An Early Frost”, “Consenting Adult”, a clear copy of thr camp delight, “The Killer Bees” with Gloria Swanson and Kate Jackson. There are many others with an excellent cast, fine writing and superb direction.

Mankiewicz is a bit of a derisive jerk for this job. I feel bad for anyone he co-hosts with.

Who watches TCM for the hosts? I mean, it's fine if they're knowledgeable and/or attractive, but really who cares? It's the movies that matter--and where else but TCM could you find such a treasure trove of classics/obscure/underground/period films? In this age of crap, thank God for TCM!!!!

R138 ABC still usually airs Mary Poppins during the Christmas season, it aired Dec. 12, last year, with Dick Van Dyke hosting it as a presentation of The Wonderful World of Disney presented by Target. It used to air on ABC Family, but it has been bumped up to ABC for a few years. Also, The Sound of Music will stay on ABC for the foreseeable future, since Disney now owns it, thanks to buying 20th Century Fox.

The one thing that TCM/Turner messed up for me, during the years I didn't have TCM, was I missed having the yearly broadcast of The Wizard of Oz, on CBS. My grandmother forgot every year that the first part of the film is sepia toned and was certain her tv was broken.

Sitting here weeping with joy at the beauty of Louis Jourdan discovering his love for Gigi in one of the greatest songs ever written for a musical. Thank you, TCM!!!!

I agree, R129! I *love* and look forward to their wonderfully put together monthly promos and their “TCM remembers” segments too.

In my opinion TCM is even better than the Academy in every respect at celebrating film and film history and inspiring its preservation.

So Mankiewicz is a jerk? I always got that feeling that he seems arrogant. However, I really, really like the other hosts. The two other guys are really good looking.

r125 Gosling wasn't nominated for Blue Valentine so that is why he wasn't seen around with Williams who was.

R145, I think some posters are just saying that they personally don’t like him and find him arrogant or seeming like a jerk in his intros and outros on TCM; I don’t think anybody was saying that they had a bad personal experience with him (from what I can tell).

For what it’s worth, I saw him interact with tons of “regular people” fans at a TCM Fest event (where he was not the focus) and he was very nice to everyone who came up to him; I also have a relative that met him at an airport while they were changing planes and said that he was very nice and friendly.

So maybe some people don’t like his on air style, but I personally have not heard anything negative about him as a human being.

I met him once in a hotel computer room (back in the days before wireless internet in the rooms.)

I didn't really know who he was. He said he worked for TCM but was in NY auditioning for some job at CNN. Said TCM was the best place to work in TV.

I watched many prime time intros just to see Robert Osborne R141. Often I would then decide to watch the film based on what he had to say. I find Ben M to be serviceable but his snark has put me off infrequently.

[quote]I think they should show the great and sometimes campy TV films of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. I’d like to see “An Early Frost”, “Consenting Adult”, a clear copy of thr camp delight, “The Killer Bees” with Gloria Swanson and Kate Jackson. There are many others with an excellent cast, fine writing and superb direction.

Have they ever showed a Movie Of The Week/Made For TV movie? I don't remember any.

TCM’s presentation of the old roadshow movies has declined. They used to broadcast them restored to their original length, complete with original overture, intermission, entr’acte, and exit music. Often, they would add images from the film as visuals for these cues.

Then this practice ebbed. Now, they never show original versions of Hawaii, Raintree County, or South Pacific, and others. Even this past Easter Sunday, they showed King of Kings without the intermission and entr’acte cues. And yet, they still claim to be showing their films complete.

Also, they’re showing the old widescreen films not quite in their original width, but are clipping the edges of the image. I recently watched Demetrius and the Gladiators on the Fox Movie Channel in a pristine wide print, in gorgeous color. Fox sometimes shows pan-and-scan prints, but this one was a gem!

Sadly, TCM’s attention to quality has diminished.

R150 When I first got TCM in 1994, they showed the 1974 TV movie "The Phantom of Hollywood". That is the only one I recall seeing during the time I had it. I no longer have cable because I went out and created my own collection which includes many TV movies I was able to upload & copy onto disc, including every TV movie that Bette Davis ever did. There certainly are many interesting old TV movies out there. If you are lucky to find it, there was a huge book that documents information for every TV movie and mini-series ever made up to the mid 1980's. I tried to find a picture of the cover or at least the title but was unsuccessful.

R129... The do the "TCM Remembers" for directors and writers, too... not that I would always know who they were. They pay homage to all people in the movie industry. I think my favorite decades for movies are the 40s to the 60s. I love black and white movies, it adds an interesting atmosphere and grittiness, especially if it's a film noir feature. I like the silent movies, too. The physical acting was over the top.. the emotions, and comedy. I like to see the styles of fashion and homes, too. It blows my mind that some of these movies are 90 to 100 years old, or older.

*They do..

I've seen plenty of movies on TCM with entr'actes, intermissions, overtures -- even recessional music.

They also show the old movie trailers... even old tv commercials... to get into the spirit of things. I like the "behind the scenes" gossip from some of the stars, and the hosts. If anyone from TCM is reading this thread... keep up the good work! I hope you never go the way of AMC.

I have an Internet friend who was one of this month's viewer guest hosts for TCM's 25th Anniversary. He shot his segment about four months ago. He has worked previously in the industry and said he's never met a nicer bunch of people than those at Turner Classic. I was pleased to hear that.

Does anyone watch retro plex? Its kinda like TCM where they to show nothing but classic film. As a matter of fact, retro plex is right next to TCM in the channel line ups.

Where I live, they have The Fox Movie channel next to TCM... and only in the mornings do they show old films, commercial free. I do often watch it, though.

I love Mankiewicz and think he's perfect for the hosting job. He comes across as loving film, while being just cynical enough about it to be able to review objectively.

R159 I haven't seen the fox movie channel in years. I forgot about that channel.

Ben comes from hollywood royalty. Wasn't his grandfather a legendary film producer/studio executive of something back in the golden age of hollywood?

He's the perfect choice to have as a host on TCM. He's indirectly apart of hollywood history because of his family and their impact on cinema.

I like ben. He's really quirky.

R162 He is the great nephew of Joseph Mankiewicz, legendary screenwriter, producer and director, and grandson of screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, who co-wrote Citizen Kane.

I love this channel and really like Ben.

Thank you for your post, R157; that is great news to hear about TCM!

When Ben Mank.. first started hosting, I couldn't stand him. Like others mentioned, I thought he was arrogant as fuck, and condescending. I'd have to fast-forward thru his intros.

But maybe somebody got to him, or he watched his own intros. Or maybe he was just nervous at the beginning. I don't know. But he's softened, and seems to have acquired a sense of humor. I like him very much now.

I'm watching the Wheeler and Woolsey films on the TCM roku app. So I started a related thread.

This is random but it is related and if anyone knows the answer to this question it is someone reading a TMC thread on DL. I used to listen to this nightly radio show in Los Angeles hosted by this old queen by the name of Greg something I think. All he and the callers talked about were Old Hollywood. Sometimes some old B celebrities would be on as guests. This was in the 90s. It was almost like TMC on the radio. Greg himself I think had some sort of acting or singing career at one time. Anybody know who I'm talking about?

Ben's father was Frank Mankiewicz, head of NPR, political advisor to RFK, McGovern, etc. Quite a family,

And Ben’s older brother is journalist Josh Mankiewicz who works for the tv news magazine show Dateline & reports for NBC News.

Ben has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.

I am friends with Josh. That family is one group of smart, savvy, funny, sarcastic yey NICE people. Josh can come across as arrogant, too, but it's just his way. He and Ben come by their "pedigree" honestly. They are educated and are part of a Hollywood "royal" family. Some UBER talent in that family. They may not be everyone's cup of tea but they are not jerks. Not in real life.

I’m glad to know that, R170. TCM is no place for jerks!

I want them to air some really rare films, like William Castle's [italic]Let's Kill Uncle Before Uncle Kills Us[/italic] (1966), or [italic]Skullduggery[/italic] (1970).

I want one of the channels to show Puzzle of a Downfall Child. And not the French dvd version with opening credits over black background but the original American version with the narration and photos as the opening credits.

It's Faye's fave movie of hers, so she would show up and intro it.

[quote]Does anyone watch retro plex? Its kinda like TCM where they to show nothing but classic film. As a matter of fact, retro plex is right next to TCM in the channel line ups.

I would but my cheap ass Comcast doesn't broadcast it here in HD and I won't watch a stretched out SD channel.

It looks rather.....pretentious, r173.

TCM is available in a Roku Sling streaming package. $30 a month for a very basic package of channels plus TCM.

R173.. I'm watching that full movie on youtube. God...Faye Dunaway was really gorgeous back then. She would rival Angela Jolie...fantastic bone structure.

R176, that looks like CMT (whatever that is), NOT TCM. Are you dyslexic?

Oops.. correction: *Angelina Jolie..

We had faces then, r177.

Faye eats an egg....

Very elegant R181...

I see they finally brought the essentials back to TCM. I always loved that on a Saturday night.

Glad its finally back.

I'm not a Faye Dunaway fan, but when she was younger in the 1960s, she was extremely pretty! She dressed very classy and elegant ,which is a breath of fresh air especially in a crappy time as the late 60s. I think as the years progressed her physical looks weren't the same and changed. Also, she became less elegant.

Been sucks because he tries to make jokes about the movies and the actors but he is not funny, but you can tell he thinks he is just hilarious.

Am so glad i was not tech savvy when movie critics were important. I actually celebrated when one died! EYE CANDY? These people hid under their desks at recess! The most accurate comments were about Roeper; but please remem ber Ebert wrote Return To Valley of The Dolls or whatever it was called, causing me to speculate. Best was Rex Reed commenting on the Oscars when I was 10. He knew looks are important and that show was really funny. That Roeper bought twitter followers confirms a lot to me.