Fedya

I think I've finally recovered from the two hours I spent on the floor laughing after the movie finally ended. Oh boy what a hilariously awful mess. Where to begin? Joan Crawford starts off with a dance number that shows off her legs. This is silly, but at least naturally shows her legs as the dress moves around them. It's not as "****" inducing as the oversized poster that shows off one leg, and has the other wrapped in the 1950s substitute for spandex. The plot hinges on one of the hoariest of tropes, that of the blind guy who can see what everybody else can't. Still, Joan Crawford gets to zing him with such memorable lines as suggesting he get a seeing-eye girl. Of course, he's already got one of those. Joan Crawford's bedroom, in all its sea green push-button glory. But for some reason, the layers and layers of drapes aren't operated by push button. Harry Morgan with a moustache. Or at least, it sure looked like a moustache. Was the music deliberately supposed to be bad to try to make a plot point about the Joan Crawford character's true abilities? Or did it just seem like dreadfully subpar music to me? Joan Crawford in blackface. Yowza. Especially when she pulls off the wig in anger at the end of the scene. Double yowza. Feel free to add your laugh-inducing moments to the list. I'm just amazed the movie wasn't directed by Douglas Sirk.

> Often, I catch myself watching a film and I say to myself, why was this made? They were trying to entertain people?? For some reason, I'm reminded of Jean-Luc Godard and his negative reaction to Fran?ois Truffaut's *Day For Night* because it wasn't challenging anybody. I mean, how dare Truffaut try something as prosaic as making a fun film that will entertain the masses?

> Did I miss anything? They hired Ben Mankiewicz instead of me! ;-) (Of course, Helen of Troy had the face that launched a thousand ships. I've got the face that broke a thousand cameras.)

> Don't forget HOFFA. There are scant others I can't recall just now, *Anatomy of a Murder*. I'm in Ulster County, NY, so I'll pick *Tootsie*, since they actually filmed at the Hurley Mountain Inn not too far from here.

Congratulations, LP! To be honest, I'm surprised I got any votes at all, since I was compiling my schedule fully expecting nobody would actually vote for it. :-)

After much consideration, I'm going to vote for *Remy Orpen*.

"Dialog" as a verb sounds like some sort of business buzzword to me, as opposed to standard everyday English. Like leveraging proactive synergies or something. Or maybe Variety-speak.

> The verbing of nouns is in the best tradition of the English language. When I hear "dialog" used as a verb, I am for some reason reminded of [this commercial|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIxcxfL5jas].

John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn both had their centenaries in May 2007 and were joint Star of the Month as a result. One got one week, the other a different week (I think the exact week with the centenary, but I don't have the May 2007 schedule). I think Wayne was programmed with a zillion movies in a row; I can't recall if they took daytimes off for Hepburn.

> you would of thought that as part of the anniversary Time Warner would expand more exploration of film history. Please please please run The Story of Film: An Odyssey again!

> Or, they COULD offer DVDs of all his "Private Screenings" interviews. Would you like to try to get the rights to all the clips and photos used? ;-)

Four or five of the commercials they showed were for different beers. It made me wonder whether Robert Osborne was a lush back in the early 1960s. :-)

I liked when they showed Robert Osborne's first introduction on TCM. :-)

> A finite amount? Technically, they're limited by the number of atoms in the universe, which is not infinite. ;-) > There were so many movies made in the '30s that TCM could show a different one in each time slot for the next 30 years without running out. 12 films a day x 365 days a year = 4380 films, x 30 = 131400 films. Plus a few for leap days. :-) Seriously, though, there is only so much from the 1930s that TCM can get. Either Universal doesn't normally like to let TCM run the old 1930s Universal movies, or Columbia movies haven't been converted to a playable format (heaven knows we've seen enough Columbias pulled from the schedule for presumably that reason), or like *Letty Lynton* there are rights problems. More generally, there are going to be fewer and fewer premieres from the 30s, if only because TCM is going to wind up going through every single movie in the old Turner library (MGM/WB/RKO) from that decade. I wish I could find the thread I wrote in last year where I argued that TCM wants to keep us diehards, and bring in new fans because eventually we're all going to die and need to be replaced as TCM viewers. (That's an overstatement, but I hope you all get the point.) In asking the question of how we find those people who might be fans of, say, Busby Berkerely musicals and not know it, or the glamorous Jean Harlow, or what not, without yet knowing it, there are too many people here who would answer that question with, "I don't care. Just give me what +I+ want."

> And yet another problem arises when the old classics are repeated so many times, such as THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL again tonight. As far as I'm aware, they aren't currently making any more pre-1960 movies. Perhaps you might want to get into your DeLorean and go back to the 1930s to make some new pre-1960 stuff? Eventually, they're going to have to repeat the pre-1960 stuff, because there's a finite amount of it. And when you complain, "Oh, that pre-1960 movie is a repeat", it gives the distinct impression that no matter what TCM does you're going to complain.

I just hope they can all get oot and aboot with that terrible ice storm they've had.

[*The Unknown Soldier*|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048752/reference] It's about a lesser-known part of World War II, the Continuation War. After the Winter War between the USSR and Finland ended, there was an uneasy peace between the two countries, until Germany attacked the USSR in June 1941. Finland, who had been invaded by the Soviets in the Winter War, felt this was an opportunity to get "their" land back, and so they attacked the Soviets too.

NOTES ON A SCHEDULE With The Story of Film showing up over the past several months, especially once it reached the 1960s, there was a lot of complaining about TCM's programming here on the TCM boards. Dozens and dozens of threads, it seems. There was a part of me that wanted to tell these people to {long, long string of expletives deleted}, but I decided to channel my energy into something else: coming up with a schedule for the Programming Challenge. If they don't like one movie released after Jan. 1, 1960, why not blow their minds with an entire week of such films? They'll probably say this is the end of TCM as we know it, so there are some movies whose titles suggest finality to kick things off on Sunday. Except for *Cinema Paradiso*, which is there because it has a scene of a movie theater burning down, which I figured was somehow appropriate. The second half of the SUnday afternoon/evening schedule should be self-explanatory, other than the Franciscans being a mendicant order. I'm not certain they wore sackcloth, but it was the best I could do. The Story of Film showed that there are posters here who hate hate hate "pretentious" foreign films, and seemingly think only Hollywood movies can be "classic", so I picked a day's worth of interesting foreign films from all around the world. Thankfully, last July's Truffaut spotlight gave me a movie I could use here, as did The Story of Film; *Babette's Feast* is on the March 2014 schedule for a Friday Night Spotlight of movie food scenes. Somebody suggested that all the post-1960 movies must be because TCM is under new managment or something. So I came up with a night of movies under new management, or at least where the director was replaced. I suppose that counts as new management of a sort. Those of us who aren't shrieking about the putative end of TCM have been accused of being part of a clique, so why not include a movie about a clique of Vassar graduates, followed by a movie starring Hollywood's most famous clique, the Rat Pack? If they're going to accuse us of being a clique, why don't they accuse us of being part of a conspiracy? Or just of being brainwashed? For Star of the Month, I had to pick somebody who made several movies after 1960, and with the allowing of Disney animated films, I picked Rod Taylor, the voice of Pongo in *101 Dalmatians*. Somebody else complained about all the repeats, so I scheduled several frequently-aired movies on Wednesday. TCM even shows some of the shorts too much. The last two movies on Wednesday afternoon have scenes set in British pubs, although I think the opening scene in *Ice Station Zebra* is set in Scotland. However, it's a good segue into the required theme of movies set in English pubs. Finally on Thanksgiving we get to the old movies, or at least movies dealing with old Hollywood. (Boris Karloff plays an old movie star in *Targets*, and snippets of his film *The Criminal Code* show up on a TV broadcast.) Some are fictuional, some are purportedly biographical. Tursday night sees the required theme of movies dealing with the meaning of America, for which I decided to spotlight people (actually, they're all police officers) who go up against police corruption. On Friday, we have a day full of old-time stars -- people who started in the 1930s or earlier -- in movies released in the 1970s or later. TCM being a TV channel for the movies, I figured why not have the Friday night spotlight look at the way Hollywood has viewed TV. Filming a TV special is part of the plot of *The Sunshine Boys* and *Twist Around the Clock*, while Peter Sellers learns about the world by watching TV in *Being There*. This spotlight could in other weeks go as far back as the late 1930s with *Five of a Kind*, in which the plot uses a TV hookup to show scenes of the Dionne quintuplets to an audience in a big-city theater. On Friday, I gave you some old actors in recent movies; on Saturday you get some old movies, updated with newer actors! And since this board is really just one big happy family, why not have Saturday night be some similarly happy families? Finally, if you're worried about the end of TCM, why not dance your worries away with some of the post-1980 dance crazes? There's break dancing, and then the craze of 1990, the Lambada. (I don't think there was a macaraena-themed movie.) I didn't realize when I picked these two that they were directed by the same man and cast Shabba Doo. For once, I actually used the limit of 10 premieres: *Marathon Man* *The Nasty Girl* *101 Dalmatians* *Harlow* *Gable and Lombard* *The Detective* *Witness* *A Star is Born* (1976) *The Jazz Singer* (1980) *The Damned*

Be thankful for what you've got, or the end may be near SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2014 0600 *The Last Waltz* (117 min, p/s) dir. Martin Scorsese; stars the Band 0800 *Howard's End* (1992, Merchant/Ivory, 140 min, p/s) dir. James Ivory, stars Helena Bonham Carter, Prunella Scales 1030 *The Last Picture Show* (1971, Columbia, 127 min, p/s) dir. Peter Bogdanovich; stars Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd 1245 *Cinema Paradiso* (1988, 124 min, Cristaldifilm, p/s) dir. Giuseppe Tornatore; stars Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Jacques Perrin They're lamenting in sackcloth 1500 *Francis of Assisi* (1961, Fox, 105 min, p/s) dir. Michael Curtiz, stars Bradford Dillman, Dolores Hart Short: John Frankenheimer on Burt Lancaster and ashes 1700 *The Towering Inferno* (1974, Fox/WB, 165 min, p/s) dir. John Guillermin, stars Fred Astaire, William Holden, Jennifer Jones There will be much wailing 2000 *Cry for Happy* (1961, Columbia, 110 min, p/s) dir. George Marshall stars Glenn Ford, Donald O'Connor, James Shigeta and gnashing of teeht 2200 *Marathon Man* (1976, Paramound, 125 min) PREMIERE #1 dir. John Schlesinger, stars Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider 0015 Silent Sunday Nights: *Silent Movie* (1976, Fox, 87 min, exempt) dir. Mel Brooks; stars Mel Brooks, Marty Feldman, Dom DeLuise Short: Stop, Look, and Listen TCM keeps showing those damn pretentious foreign films, too! 0200 *All About My Mother* (1999, El Deseo, 101 min) EXEMPT dir. Pedro Almod?var; stars Cecilia Roth, Marisa Pendes, Candela Pe?a 0345 *Z* (1969, 127 min, p/s) dir. Costa-Gavras; stars Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trentignant MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24 0600 *Knife in the Water* (1962, Kamera, 94 min, p/s) dir. Roman Polanski; stars Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz 0745 *Autumn Sonata* (1978, Personafilm, 99 min, p/s) dir. Ingmar Bergman, stars Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman 0930 *Babette's Feast* (1987, Panorama Film AS, 102 min, p/s) dir. Gabriel Axel, stars Bibi Andersson, Stephanie Audran, Bodil Kjer 1115 *Ivan's Childhood* (1962, Mosfilm, 95 min, p/s) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, stars Nikolai Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeny Zharikov Promo: Andrew Lloyd Webber on *My Fair Lady* 1300 Closely Watched Trains* (1966, Barrandov, 93 min, p/s) dir Jiř? Menzel, stars V?clav Neck?ř, Josef Somr, Vlastimil Brodsk? 1445 *Boy* (1969, Art Theater Guild, 98 min, p/s) dir. Nagisa Oshima, stars Fumio Watanabe, Akiko Koyama, Tetsuo Abe 1630 *The Story of Adele H.* (1975, Artistes Associ?s, 96 min, p/s) dir. Fran?ois Truffaut; stars Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson, Sylvia Marriott 1815 *The Nasty Girl* (1990, Filmverlag der Autoren, 92 min) PREMIERE #2 dir. Paul Verhoeven; stars Lena Stolze, Hans-Reinhard M?ller, Monika Baumgartner Monday night: TCM must be under new management 2000 *The Outlas Josey Wales* (1976, WB, 135 min, p/s) dir Philip Kaufman replaced by Clint Eastwood; stars Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke Short: Searchers For a Special City 2230 *The Train* (1964, UA, 140 min, p/s) dir. Arthur Penn replaced by John Frankenheimer; stars Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield 0100 *55 Days at Peking* (1963, Bronston, 154 min, p/s) dir. Anthony Mann replaced by Guy Green; stars Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven 0345 *The Cincinnati Kid* (1965, MGM, 102 min) dir. Sam Peckinpah replaced by Norman Jewison; stars Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell Short: Lionpower from MGM (1967, MGM, 27 min) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 Those of us who dispute the end of TCM are just part of the clique 0600 *The Group* (1966, 150 min, p/s) dir. Sidney Lumet; stars Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett, Elizabeth Hartman 0830 *Ocean's Eleven* (1960, Dorchester, 127 min, p/s) dir. Lewis Milestons; stars Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. Or maybe we're in on the conspiracy theory 1045 *Seven Days in May* (1964, Seven Arts, 118 min, p/s) dir. John Frankenheimer; stars Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March 1245 *The Parallax View* (1974, Paramount, 102 min, p/s) dir. Alan J. Pakula; stars Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels Or maybe we've been brainwashed 1430 *Return to Witch Mountain* (1978, Disney, 95 min, p/s) dir. John Hough; stars Bette Davis, Christopher Lee, Kim Richards 1615 *Telefon* (1977, MGM, 102 min) dir. Don Siegel ; stars Charles Bronson, Lee Remick, Donald Pleasance) 1800 *The Ipcress File* (1965, Rank, 109 min, p/s) dir. Sidney Furie; stars Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman Star of the Month: Rod Taylor 2000 *101 Dalmatians* (1961, Disney, 79 min) PREMIERE #3 dir. Clyde Geronimi; stars Rod Taylor, J. Pat O'Malley, Betty Lou Gerson 2130 *Hotel* (1967, WB, 124 min, p/s) dir. Richard Quine; stars Rod Taylor, Catherine Spaak, Melvyn Douglas 2345 *Young Cassidy* (1965, MGM, 110 min) dir. Jack Cardiff; stars Rod Taylor, Julie Christie, Maggie Smith 0145 *36 Hours* (1965, MGM, 115 min) dir. George Seaton; stars James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Taylor 0345 *The VIPs* (1963, MGM, 120 min) dir. Anthony Asquith; stars Rod Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton Short: Zhivago: Behind the Camera with David Lean (1966, 10 min) WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26 TCM shows the same stuff over and over 0600 *Boy Did I Get a Wrong Number* (1966, Edward Small, 99 min, p/s) dir. George Marshall, stars Bob Hope, Elke Sommer, Phyllis Diller 0745 *Viva Las Vegas* (1964, MGM, 85 min) dir. George Sidney, stars Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova 0915 *Major Dundee* (1965, Columbia, 136 min, p/s) dir. Sam Peckinpah, stars Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton Short: TCM on Letterboxing (5 min) 1145 *A Thousand Clowns* (1968, 118 min, p/s) dir. Fred Coe, stars Martin Balsam, Jason Robards, Barbara Harris 1345 *Mister Buddwing* (1966, MGM, 100 min) dir. Delbert Mann, stars James Garner, Jean Simmons, Suzanne Pleshette 1530 *Ice Station Zebra* (1968, MGM, 148 min) dir. John Sturges; stars Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan 1800 *Bunny Lake is Missing* (1965, Columbia, 107 min, p/s) dir. Otto Preminger, stars Laurence Olivier, Keir Dullea, Carol Lynley Short: TCM on Letterboxing (5 min) Set in pubs: 2000 *My Fair Lady* (1964, WB, 170 min) dir. George Cukor, stars Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison 2300 *Saturday Night and Sunday Morning* (1960, Woodfall, 89 min, p/s) dir. Karel Reisz, stars Albert Finney, Shirley Anne Field, Rachel Roberts 0045 *Withnail and I* (1987, Hand Made, 107 min, p/s) dir. Bruce Robinson, stars Richard Grant, Paul McGann 0245 *Frenzy* (1972, Universal, 116 min, p/s) dir. Alfred Hitchcock, stars Jon Finch, Alex McCowen, Anna Massey THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27 For those of you who don't like "new" movies, here are some movies about old Hollywood 0445 *Hearts of the West* (1975, MGM, 102 min), dir. Howard Zieff; stars Jeff Bridges, Andy Griffith, Donald Pleasance 0630 *Targets* (1968, Saticoy, 90 min, p/s) dir. Peter Bogdanovich, stars Tim O'Kelly, Boris Karloff, Arthur Peterson 0800 *The Carpetbaggers* (1964, Embassy, 150 min, p/s) dir. Edward Dmytryk; stars George Peppard, Alan Ladd, Carroll Baker 1045 *The Legend of Lylah Clare* (1968, Associates and Aldrich, 130 min, p/s) dir. Robert Aldrich, stars Peter Finch, Kim Novak, Ernest Borgnine 1300 *Frances* (1982, Brooksfilms, 140 min, p/s) dir. Graeme Clifford; stars Jessica Lange, Kim Stanley, Sam Shepard 1530 *Harlow* (1965, Paramound, 125 min) PREMIERE #4 dir. Gordon Douglas, stars Carroll Baker, Red Buttons, Angela Lansbury 1745 *Gable and Lombard* (1976, Universal, 131 min) PREMIERE #5 dir. ; stars James Brolin, Jill Clayburgh, Red Buttons What America means to me: Fighting police corruption 2000 *The Detective* (1968, Fox, 114 min) PREMIERE #6 dir. Gordon Douglas, stars Frank Sinatra, Jack Klugman, Tony Musante 2200 *Witness* (1985, Paramount, 112 min) PREMIERE #7 dir. Peter Wier; stars Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Josef Sommer 0000 *Serpico* (1973, Paramount, 130 min, p/s) dir. Sidney Lumet; stars Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe 0215 *Soylent Green* (1973, MGM, 97 min) dir. Richard Fleischer; stars Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28 For those of you who like the old stars, here are some New movies with old stars 0400 *The Black Stallion* (1979, UA, 118 min, p/s) dir. Carroll Ballard, stars Mickey Rooney, Kelly Reno, Teri Garr 0600 *The Cassandra Crossing* (1976, Associated General, 129 min, p/s) dir. George P. Cosmatos; stars Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Lionel Stander 0815 *Airport* (1970, Universal, 137 min, p/s) dir. ; stars Burt Lancaster, Helen Hayes, Van Heflin 1045 *One Is a Lonely Number* (1972, MGM, 97 min) dir. Mel Stuart; stars Trish Van Devere, Janet Leigh, Melvyn Douglas 1230 *Fool's Parade* (1971, Columbia, 98 min, p/s) dir. Andrew V. McLaglen; stars James Stewart, George Kennedy, Anne Baxter 1415 *Rooster Cogburn* (1975, Universal, 108 min, p/s) dir. Stuart Millar; stars John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Zerbe 1615 *Grumpy Old Men* (1993, WB, 103 min, p/s) dir. Donald Petrie; stars Jack Lemmon, Walther Matthau, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith 1800 *Harry in Your Pocket* (1973, UA, 103 min, p/s) dir. Bruce Geller; stars James Coburn, Michael Sarrazin, Walter Pidgeon 1945 Carson on TCM: Fred Astaire Friday night spotlight: How movies look at television 2000 *Network* (1976, MGM, 121 min, p/s) dir. Sidney Lumet; stars Peter Finch, William Holden, Faye Dunaway 2215 *The Sunshine Boys* (1975, MGM, 111 min) dir. Herbert Ross; stars Walter Matthau, George Burns, Richard Benjamin 0015 *Being There* (1979, 130 min, p/s) dir. Hal Ashby; stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas 0230 *Tootsie* (1982, Columbia, 116 min, p/s) dir. Sydney Pollack; stars Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Charles Durning 0430 *Twist Around the Clock* (1961, 86 min) dir. Oscar Rudolph; stars Chubby Checker, John Cronin, Mary Mitchell SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29 Old movies with new stars 0600 *The Great Waltz* (1972, MGM, 135 min) dir. Andrew L. Stone; stars Horst Buchholz, Mary Costa, Nigel Patrick Short: Redd Foxx Becomes a Star 0830 *The Champ* (1979, MGM, 121 min) dir. Franco Zeffirelli; stars Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway, Ricky Schroeder 1045 *International Velvet* (1978, MGM, 127 min) dir. Bryan Forbes; stars Nanette Newman, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Hopkins 1300 *The Wiz* (1978, Universal, 134 min, p/s) dir. Sidney Lumet; stars Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell Short: A Cinderella Named Elizabeth (1965, 7 min) 1530 *A Star is Born* (1976, WB, 139 min) PREMIERE #8 dir. Frank Pierson; stars Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson, Gary Busey 1800 *The Jazz Singer* (1980, EMI, 115 min) PREMIERE #9 dir. Richard Fleischer; stars Neil Diamond, Laurence Olivier, Lucie Arnaz The TCM boards are one happy family 2000 *The Wrong Box* (1966, Columbia, 105 min, p/s) dir. Bryan Forbes; stars Michael Caine, John Mills, Ralph Richardson Short: The Million Hare (1963, WB, 6 min) 2200 *Our Mother's House* (1967, MGM, 104 min) dir. Jack Clayton; stars Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Brooks, Pamela Franklin Short: All Eyes on Sharon Tate 0000: *The Damned* (1969, 156 min) PREMIERE #10 dir. Luchino Visconti; stars Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Berger TCM Underground: 0245 *Breakin'* (1984, 90 min, exempt) dir. Joel Silberg; stars Lucinda Dickey, Shabba Doo, Michael "Boogallo Shrimp" Chambers 0430 *Lambada* (1990, 104 min, exempt) dir. Joel Silberg; stars J. Eddie Peck, Melorda Hardin, Shabba Doo

> I'm highly dubious of all these new posters who register, make one or two posts saying they're unhappy about something at TCM, sometimes creating lengthy, lively threads, and yet the original poster is never heard from again for the rest of eternity. You'll notice once again that the OP registered eight months ago despite having a total number of posts in the single digits. You'd think somebody who was enough of a fan of TCM to sign up months and months ago would have been watching long enough to see how little of a change there's really been.

> When my son Jake was about 5 (Christmas '96), I've got a nephew who would also have been 5 at Christmas '96, but I think the story involving him might be from a year earlier. His parents (my sister and her husband) taught him to be gracious when opening his Christmas gifts. That year, somebody in the family bought him some battery-operated toy, except that whoever got him that present wrapped the batteries separately and put that small package on top of the box with the toy in it. So the nephew takes the little package and unwraps the batteries. At this point, he holds the batteries up so everybody in the room can see them, and says, "Just what I *ALWAYS WANTED* !" Poor kid couldn't figure out why everybody was laughing so hard.

Somebody else already mentioned Sarafian being included, but I'm 98% certain Michael Winner was included as well.

> You see, TCM is not an ADULT FILM CHANNEL. It is a FAMILY CHANNEL. It wasn't that many generations ago that Laura Ingalls grew up in that little house on the prairie. I'm sure she heard the bumping and grinding of the sex that Charles and Caroline had which produced her three younger siblings. More related to classic movies, there's a contraception joke in *Yours, Mine, and Ours*, too.

Technically, isn't the last scene Agnes Moorehead saying that the Eleanor Parker character will be back? (Or is it another character?)

Because every other news outlet does their year-end retrospective in December? Flipping through the channels this morning, I saw a commercial on MSNBC asking viewers to vote for their favorite moments from one of their hosts' shows (I think it was Rachel Maddow, but which one it was is beside the point) in 2013. Those evil blankety-blanks! Don't they know they should wait until January to do it?