What happened to TCM?

[ortega76]

I'd view it as an attempt to bring in a younger audience and to expand their definition of "classic" films beyond the Golden Age. I do like some of their experiments- especially the Rob Zombie-hosted late night show featuring Russ Meyer films and the like.

 

[mike]

Has anyone else noticed that the good films are always on in the wee hours of the morning when hardly anyone's awake to watch them? I don't have a VCR or digital recorder with me at college, so I guess I'm S.O.L., as they say.

If you're in school in Philadelphia, then you've got wonderful video stores nearby! TLA and Beaux Arts Video for example.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Bang the Drum Slowly is on tonight at 8. There's a good film that you don't get to see very often.

Maybe that's TCM's thinking - there are good movies in the last 40-50 years that aren't shown very often, because the masses are just going to revolt if they don't see Lindsey Lohan and Brittany Spears or Josh Hartnett starring in some insipid dreck with a rap soundtrack mascarading as music on their TV whenever they turn it on, so TCM's starting to air some of these better films with no commercials and a little introductory information.

I guess what I'm trying to say is just because it was made in the last 30 years doesn't automatically make it a bad film or not worth of being considered a classic. There are times when I wonder what TCM's thinking with some of the choice, but they're few and far between - it's not like they're suddenly running Charlie's Angels six times a day. They make an ocassional wacky choice (IMHO) - fine. 99% of the time they're running great stuff. They gave something different a little try - fine. It's not like a complete change of their programming policies. I can always pull out a DVD or a good book if there's nothing I want to see on at a particular time I've set aside for a good story.

 

[mike]

They still show rare and or never seen stuff before. There was a time about 10 years ago getting a copy of the West of Zanzibar remake, Kongo was virtually impossible through any bootleg source at all. Now, TCM screens it regularly, including just the other day as part of a jungle thrills block!

Plus, I was very impressed with the super rarity, 1933's The Circus Queen Murder featuring Dwight Frye! This is him almost right after Dracula, and he's absolutely at the top of his game... excellent ending too!

 

[ortega76]

There are times when I wonder what TCM's thinking with some of the choice, but they're few and far between - it's not like they're suddenly running Charlie's Angels six times a day. They make an ocassional wacky choice (IMHO) - fine. 99% of the time they're running great stuff. They gave something different a little try - fine. It's not like a complete change of their programming policies. I can always pull out a DVD or a good book if there's nothing I want to see on at a particular time I've set aside for a good story.

I'd say even their wacky programming choices are better than most networks carefully thought out programing. How many times can audiences really want to watch "Black Dog" (it's been on at least 4 times this month on AMC) or "Road House"?

 

[Feraud]

Plus, I was very impressed with the super rarity, 1933's The Circus Queen Murder featuring Dwight Frye! This is him almost right after Dracula, and he's absolutely at the top of his game... excellent ending too!

This was a good one.


TCM runs more than enough very good films to satisfy the average viewer. Ace in the Hole is currently on and Witness for the Prosecution is showing tonight too.
My dad is a movie buff and he never had it this good when it came to seeing classic films. I love my TCM!

 

[Brian Sheridan]

I agree....TCM still shows an amazing cross section of vintage movies.

 

[Feraud]

They still show rare and or never seen stuff before. There was a time about 10 years ago getting a copy of the West of Zanzibar remake, Kongo was virtually impossible through any bootleg source at all. Now, TCM screens it regularly, including just the other day as part of a jungle thrills block!

Plus, I was very impressed with the super rarity, 1933's The Circus Queen Murder featuring Dwight Frye! This is him almost right after Dracula, and he's absolutely at the top of his game... excellent ending too!

TCM is showing Circus Queen Murder tomorrow morning at 9:45 a.m.

 

[Feraud]

12:00 a.m. Lon Chaney in Tell It To The Marines.

 

[Feraud]

Wednesdays in December will be dedicated to Bogart. Set your dvrs.

 

[Nick Moreno]

Silent Sunday Night

As long as they keep Silent Sunday Nights, I'll keep watching!

 

[Brian Sheridan]

New Year's Eve, TCM is airing a "Thin Man" marathon. Mix up the martinis and ring in 2010 the right way!

 

[sportell]

*SIGH* I used to love watching AMC and TCM in college. In the case of the latter, I'd stay up late Sunday nights, just to catch "Silent Sundays" and see a new silent flick. That was the one channel I missed when I moved overseas. But the past few summers of American visits sorely disappointed me. Like AMC, they have taken to playing newer movies as well.

Yes, while some movies after the 60s can be classics, I don't believe a movie less than 10 years old can be a classic. It's too bloody new and the classic standard has not been set for it yet.

I do agree that they should stop around 1959. There are so many different films before that time that they have hardly ever played, if at all. So they can't claim to be running out of material. Their current schedule looks pretty good, but it would be nice if they played more earlier stuff again.

 

[Mickey Caesar]

I've been noticing gradual changes on TCM, too. There's definitely been a lot more 50s-60s-70s movies than ever before and a lot less 30s. I remember when I would record 3 to 5 movies in one day Now I'm recording once every few weeks. They just don't don't show as many 1930s films as they used to, and the ones they do show I already have recorded.

Maybe I've just come to the end of the line [huh]

Its happening to a lot of channels. AE, The Learning Channel, and Discovery are increasingly showing home makeover/flip this house shows.

 

[Big Man]

I wonder ...

To me, a movie isn't an "old movie" unless it was made pre-1950. Not that I have anything against "new" movies, or that I don't think there are any good new movies, it's just my personal cut-off date for what I think of as an old movie.

Now, what I'm wondering is, how do younger folks think about movies made in the 1960's and 1970's? Do they see these movies as "old"?

I was born in 1955, so movies from the 1930's and 1940's are 15 to 25 years "before my time". So, for example, for someone born in 1985, movies made in the 1960's and 1970's are the same "before their time" age. How does this impact on what is viewed as an "old movie"?

 

[John in Covina]

Its happening to a lot of channels. AE, The Learning Channel, and Discovery are increasingly showing home makeover/flip this house shows.

It's funny how in entertainment so many people copy a succesful concept until the concept is totally deluted on TV.

(It's like the reality TV shows big egos clash with narcicism and selfishness, what's the attraction? Nobody is sympathetic to me, I want them all dead not off the show but dead. I imagine the cast & crew on a bus heading over a really tall cliff.)

 

[Brian Sheridan]

It's funny how in entertainment so many people copy a succesful concept until the concept is totally deluted on TV.

(It's like the reality TV shows big egos clash with narcicism and selfishness, what's the attraction? Nobody is sympathetic to me, I want them all dead not off the show but dead. I imagine the cast & crew on a bus heading over a really tall cliff.)

And it is all done to the lowest common denominator, without any wit, style or class.

 

[Fletch]

While watching a William Powell movie this morning on TCM I got the idea that too bad TCM couldn't be declared some sort of musuem and obtain public funding.

It is too bad. But it can't happen. We are too young and commercial a culture. Having TCM at all is a kind of miracle.

The ability to see these movies uncut and commercial-free is a national treasure. It is also one that people don't need to live near to see like the monuments in Washington DC.

There was a time when vintage nonart film could only be seen in New York - mostly at private club showings. It was that questionable, both legally and socially (the audience was basically early devotees of camp).

I wouldn't be surprised if such a ghettoization came to pass again, if the access becomes that limited.

 

[Mickey Caesar]

Tonight is a special case. It is the final night of a month long series on images of Asians in cinema. Earlier this month they had some rarely seen Anna May Wong, Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto films. That said, I have noticed that over the last few months they have been showing more late 50s and 60s films. But last month featured Sinatra and next month features big bands in film. So all is not lost yet. Until then I am recording as many films as I can.

I was wondering if anyone could help. I saw a film on TCM a while ago with either Edward G Robinson or Jimmy Cagney. He played a "Hatch Man" for the Asian Mob whose wife left him for another man. He ended up finding both of them working in a bar/bordello/opium den type of place, and he got her back. What was the name of the movie?

 

[Chas]

"The Red Shoes" is on.