I am NOT looking for a commercial free channel to show modern movies without commercials. If that were the case then I wouldn't have soooo many modern films in my DVD movie collection, okay?

What I am advocating is that we should consider that films from all time periods can and should be considered classic. NOT ALL films, but that some films from all periods of time can and should be considered classic.

That's a fair comment. Read on.

The word classic is bandied around here to define ALL films made from the golden era of Hollywood. You know that this IS NOT the case. Not every film from before 1959 is a classic. There were a lot of duds made back then as well, just like today.

Yet you are also guilty because you refer to the "duds" as part of the GOLDEN ERA or GOLDEN AGE of Hollywood. The duds, as you call them, WERE part of that era so they are forever linked to the classics and have ridden on their coat tails into our psyche as classics of a stature perhaps lesser then the big guns, but classics nonetheless. Therefore the BOWERY BOYS films can be considered classic even though they were garbage made by a Poverty Row company like MONOGRAM.

And has been mentioned by someone else recently on this thread, many more films were produced in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s than today. So just by that measure alone, one could say that many of those films are not worth the moniker of classic.

Well, it is theoretically possible that all of those films could be classics and as I proved in my last paragraph they, to a certain extent, all are.

But that being said, who should decide what is and what is not a classic for the purpose of a film being shown on TCM. TCM does stand for turner CLASSIC movies after all and I'm sure you would be the first to agree that not every film TCM shows of any era is a classic by any stretch of the imagination. At least not in the terms of GONE WITH THE WIND or THE WIZARD OF OZ, if you believe they truly epitomize the classic in the term classic film. Or can it be that TCM is itself guilty of painting every film they show with that too broad brush stroke label of classic. You never hear ROBERT OSBORNE start or end a film with the following comments "wasn't that a lousy film" or "the next film we're going to watch is just plain BAD". The lack of an honest appraisal does kind of cheapen the word classic when applied to truly classic films like the two above if one puts them on the same level as MONSTER A GO GO or THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN. Of course there are different gradations of the term classic film. There are cult classics AND there are genre classics. Films like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD are cult classics and also horror classics, hence their inclusion on TCM. But again, are they classics in the classic sense as GONE WITH THE WIND or THE WIZARD OF OZ are classics? What about porn classics like DEEP THROAT, BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR, or TABOO? For the porn genre they are as classic as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is to the horror genre. Yet I have yet to read a post from you requesting any porn classics. Yet if you are true to your position as a lover of all film you would embrace these films as well or at the least acknowldege that they are classics that deserve a place on TCM. Especially in light of the fact that TCM already shows nudity that can be considered soft core porn as opposed to the hard core variety. If, on the other hand, you say that porn classics have no place on TCM then you cannot, in all honesty, say anyone is wrong for complaining about modern classics being shown on TCM because now you are the one restricting a type of film for personal reasons not having to do with the films status as a classic.

One last thing:

I am NOT advocating that TCM show more modern films. What I am advocating is that they continue to populate the schedule with better, more recent films than what they are showing now. 24% of the films in May were produced after 1960. As far as I am concerned that is a good number of modern films to show on this channel. A number of modern films from 15% to 25% should be tolerated on a channel that has in it's charter indicates that they show films from every era up to the 1990's.

You may disagree with me, and that is fine. I have no problem with people indicating their desire that the channel show less modern films. My problem is when people continue to claim that TCM is going more modern each day, when in fact that is clearly not the case.

Of course as has been written here on this thread, it would seem that many folks do not want to use facts in their arguments. Instead they continue to use their opinions. And until they recognize that TCM is NOT going the way of AMC, we will be much better off for it.