voranis

With apologies to markbeckuaf for using his phrase...it's my turn to groove! According to my April issue of Now Playing, Buck Rogers is supposed to start next Saturday, April 23, at 11 a.m. I don't see it in the online schedule, but I'm hoping this is just another error from the online schedule overhaul problems. Free at last (I hope..if Now Playing is accurate) from The Bowery Boys! I did not care for them, their humor was too silly. Finally, the return of some old science fiction to TCM. I enjoyed the Superman serials they showed on Saturday mornings a few years ago. I did not care for the 70's Buck Rogers and I have not seen the Buster Crabbe Buck Rogers before, but I am looking forward to it and hoping it is good. At this point I am desperate for old B&W sci fi. The first two chapters are supposed to air Saturday, April 23 at 11 a.m., with Tomorrow's World at 11 a.m. and Tragedy on Saturn at 11:30 a.m. There's hardly anywhere I can watch old (non-horror) sci-fi these days. Even when the former Sci Fi Channel used to run old sci fi, it wasn't uncut and commercial-free. Now they are the Sy Fy Channel and most of what they show is modern indie horror films with too much blood and gore. Looking forward to seeing old sci fi serials again on Saturday mornings on TCM! Robbie

> {quote:title=lzcutter wrote:}{quote} > *#1 was good. #2 was better, especially Jane's costumes. #3 was boring, especially Jane's costumes* > > Well, the Production Code made the changes in Jane's costume necessary. Yeah, this is the first one after the Code went into effect. > > *I have little or no interest in the ape man.* > > It's okay, I have enough interest in him for both of us. Down, Lynn! :-) So the four directors were: James C. McKay John Farrow Richard Thorpe William Wellman Is that right? BTW, is it just me, or are the boards getting sluggish? I had difficulty getting the reply window up. Wondering if another Saturday night maintenance is happening... Robbie

> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote} > #1 was good. #2 was better, especially Jane's costumes. #3 was boring, especially Jane's costumes. I have little or no interest in the ape man. That's interesting--I missed #3 today, so I have not seen it--well, not since they were shown on basic (pre-cable) TV stations when I was a kid. I probably saw most of them then, but I don't remember them well. I did see #1 and #2 in the past two weeks. I was checking on #3 since I missed it today and a lot of people seem to like it. Your comment makes me feel not so bad about having missed it, although you have indicated you are primarily watching for Jane. :-) I see they are available on DVD, although I would liked to have heard all of Ben M.'s commentary about it, which would not be on the DVD. Had to rely on reading Maltin's review instead. :-( Robbie

> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote} > Ben just said that this film was made twice. > > He said the first version did not go over well with preview audiences, so they scrapped the first version and completely remade it. So there must be another version in the vaults somewhere, unless it was thrown away. Leonard Maltin said pretty much the same thing in his review on the TCM web site: This film was completely reshot and reworked when the original version proved too potent and blood-curdling for preview audiences; as a result there are some plot holes in what might have been the best Tarzan movie of all.

> {quote:title=sfpcc1 wrote:}{quote} > I ment patriarch not matriarch when I mentioned Phillip Carey. My bad. I see him a lot in 50's westerns here on TCM, and when I do I always think of him as Asa Buchanan on OLTL, as well as his groundbreaking guest star role on All in the Family. Robbie

> {quote:title=tcmfan1983 wrote:}{quote} > Fred: That's certainly part of the problem. My browser is open at all times and there is currently a tab I keep open on the forums. Unfortunately, the way this site works I keep getting logged out automatically. > > The automatic log-outs alone don't make sense because I always have the forum open, and since I can clearly be logged back in automatically when the site feels like it the whole situation is even more absurd. I've never been on any other message boards that don't immediately log users back in automatically the instant they open any page on the boards (unless the user opted out of having their login info remembered of course). On here though, it doesn't do the auto-login until the user performs an action it thinks requires an account, such as posting. Then as I've been mentioning it fails to bring the user back to where they were before the auto-login takes place. This is another problem that I've never seen on other boards since in the few cases other sites do ask for login info (such as logging in from a new computer or a different browser) they take you back to exactly where you were trying to go when it asked for the login info. Yes, I keep a browser open on the TCM forums page too and yet I still get logged out, sometimes after only an hour or two, and then when I go to post, it logs me in, but still kicks me to the main forum page. This is a problem they really ought to be able to fix, and they should fix. Robbie

> {quote:title=wouldbestar wrote:}{quote} > This is important for many reasons. First, this is a genre that began on New York and Chicago radio stations in the 30's and then transferred to TV. This is 80 years as of now. There must be a reason they have lasted so long in spite of the storylines that seem implausible at times. They are a part of our cultural history. AMC and OLTL were the brainchildren of Agnes Nixon, prot?g? of Irna Phillips originator of many of the radio and TV soaps. Days of Our Lives is the last of her shows. > And two of Irna Phillips' oldest soaps, Guiding Light and As the World Turns, were just themselves canceled by CBS in 2009 and 2010. It really is a shame to see part of the TV history dying out like this. You're right, it's not like their storylines were plausible or the acting wasn't overly melodramatic at times, but it's still a big part of our TV history. There is talk of the soaps being rescued by a cable channel, but that seems unlikely given that ABC announced last year it is discontinuing the SoapNet cable channel this year due to dwindling viewership, and that was the channel that showed repeats of AMC, OLTL, GH, DOOL, and Y&R. I still watch reruns of the old ABC soap Ryan's Hope on SoapNet, the only dead soap that SoapNet still airs, but that will end soon. Another channel picked up NBC's Passions after NBC dropped it, but it didn't last long. So it seems unlikely there is a cable channel out there to rescue AMC and OLTL. Still, we can always hope. :-) According to Walt Willey of AMC, Agnes Nixon is back on staff at AMC working with the head writer. Hopefully she will be involved with both soaps up through and including the finales. More on Agnes Nixon's response from the web: Agnes Nixon released the following statement about the cancellation of All My Children and One Life to Live, the two soaps she created for ABC more than 40 years ago. ?ABC?s decision to cancel All My Children and One Life to Live saddens me greatly,? the 83-year-old queen of daytime soaps said. ?I treasure the decades that the worlds of Pine Valley and Llanview were brought to life by our talented casts and crews. I appreciate that the network allowed our teams to break new dramatic ground and always supported our commitment to the honest portrayal of social issues. We hope we have entertained our viewers and perhaps even educated them along the way. ?My deep gratitude goes to all the talented people who have contributed to All My Children and One Life To Live over these many years; we were always family, made up of writers, producers, directors, actors, crews. Equally important in that family are our loyal fans who shared this journey with us. Although ABC has concluded there is no longer a place for our shows on their network, I will do everything possible to keep them alive. God bless you all.?

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote} > I'm reminded of the "Twilight Zone" episode, "...in the Eye of the Beholder" I was actually thinking of the phrase "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" as well as the Twilight Zone episode when I was writing my opinion. Also the Star Trek episodes "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" and "By Any Other Name." I'm definitely in the minority on what I consider a "perfect face." Sound also had a lot to do with it for me. Monroe's voice sounded kind of wispy so it was hard for me to take her seriously. Taylor could sound screechy at times and it set my teeth on edge. Nevertheless, I realize she was a great actress and a wonderful humanitarian, regardless of my personal biases. I think, for me, the "perfect face" in the movie biz was Veronica Lake.

> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote} > What makes up a "perfect" face? I never was able to figure that out. It's still a mystery to me. And I still don't understand why people like Lana, Ava, Taylor, and Monroe can look so different, yet still seem to have "perfect" faces. And it's still a mystery to me why people consider Taylor and Monroe to have "perfect" faces. Taylor's face seemed too angular to me--a pointed chin, cheeks too big, lips too big--some of the same attributes you ascribe to Ann Miller's face. When she was young, Taylor's face seemed to "taper down" too much--too full at the top, too narrow at the bottom, except for the prominent chin. I didn't find Taylor or Monroe attractive at all. I much prefer Miller's well-rounded face.

Watching Born to Dance this morning...Eleanor Powell is magic on the screen. The whole movie is just beautiful to watch. Nice to see Buddy Ebsen (aka "Jed Clampett") in this. The Wizard of Oz is my favorite movie of all time, I have seen it more than any other, and I read all the books in the Oz series as a kid (I mention all this because some people think not one iota of anything in their favorite movie or book should be changed, but I am not that kind of person), but I still think Buddy Ebsen would have been as good, maybe even better, as the Scarecrow than Ray Bolger. Watching him dance with those gangly legs, and that kind face, he would have done just as well as the Scarecrow as Bolger. If only he hadn't switched roles with Bolger and then had the reaction to the aluminum paint. I feel they really cheated him out of a role in the film, and replacing him while he was recovering was really dirty. When I hear Ebsen's voice singing in "We're Off to See the Wizard" on the soundtrack, or when I see him dancing with Shirley Temple, I think of what might have been. Actually I think I would've liked Shirley Temple as Dorothy (Garland seemed a little too old for the role) and I know I would've liked W.C. Fields as the Wizard... Robbie

> {quote:title=RainingViolets101 wrote:}{quote} > I am so glad to see TCM will show one of my favorite films of all time > Home Before Dark at 2:30 PM EST ...I have suggested this film on the movie request > Board..Jean Simmons gives the performance of her career as the wife coming home > from a mental institution . I dont. want to give away the plot , but, please watch this > great film and the scene of the Dinner party should go down in movie history... > watch this one. > > .. For anyone who missed it, it will again air on Tuesday, June 28, 2011, at 8 p.m. EST. So we will get to hear what Robert Osborne has to say about it during that airing. I saw bits of it during the last airing and it looked really good, so I am looking forward to seeing the complete movie in June. I first saw Jean Simmons in The Thorn Birds when I was a kid. She seemed to me to be a very underrated actress, somewhat like her character of Fiona Cleary in The Thorn Birds, who seemed to have lived a life of suffering in silence, not getting proper recognition for all she had done... Robbie

> {quote:title=lzcutter wrote:}{quote} > I think Time-Warner the corporation sold off Time-Warner cable company a few years back (around 2008). Looks like it was March 2009. I rarely keep up with this corporate ownership stuff. It's not as interesting as watching films or TV shows. :-) I wonder why they continue to keep the Time Warner name when they are no longer owned by Time Warner. > And, are MrCutter and I, even with a high speed DSL internet connection, the only ones who dislike streaming? Every film we have tried streaming starts out great but about half way through the film, everything comes to a halt so it can buffer. Then the film starts again, then stops for buffering, continues, stops, repeat until the movie ends. > > Given a choice, we prefer recording Pay-per-view films or On Demand films over streaming. > > We have yet to enjoy a film all the way through without interruption while streaming. Yeah, I have high-speed DSL and I haven't been able to watch much streaming video that doesn't stutter or halt for buffering. There's all this talk about Hulu and Netflix streaming being so great. Every TV show I have tried to watch from Hulu has had buffering issues. Right now the only thing I might consider is Amazon's Instant Video service which will actually download the video to the newer Tivo boxes. I mentioned wanting to see Robert Osborne's commentaries available for streaming from the TCM web site one day because they are short enough that buffering issues should not be a problem. Robbie

> {quote:title=sfpcc1 wrote:}{quote} > I just learned on ABC Nightly News that ABC is cancelling All My Children and One Life To Live. What does this have to do with movies? A lot of actors start out in Soap Operas. Some actors that came out of those two soaps are Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kim Delany, Lauren Holly, > and Ryan Phillipe. Some actors who came out of soaps in general are Roy Schieder, Tommy Lee Jones, Ann Heche, Robin Wright Penn, Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin. I wasn't so surprised to hear OLTL is canceled. I was a little surprised to hear AMC is being canceled considering how popular Susan Lucci/Erica Kane is. OLTL started two years before AMC and is staying on a year longer, so it will have had a longer run than AMC. I have been expecting more cancelations since Guiding Light two years ago and As the World Turns last year. I'm surprised NBC hasn't canceled Days of Our Lives yet. I watched the finales of Guiding Light and ATWT, even though I had never watched those soaps before, because at the time each ended, it was the longest running soap still in production in the world. When ATWT ended, Britain's Coronation Street became the longest running soap still in production. I watch Coronation Street's competitor, the British soap EastEnders, on my local PBS station. Susan Lucci did an interview with Nightline a year ago when it was announced ATWT was ending. She talked about the budget cuts happening on the soaps like AMC to make them more cost-effective with dwindling viewership. I guess it wasn't enough. Regarding movie actors coming from soaps, I read the following in the first story I saw about AMC and OLTL being canceled: "They?re also boot camp for stars such as Kim Delaney, Kelly Ripa, Josh Duhamel, Sarah Michelle Gellar and recent Oscar winner Melissa Leo (all seen on ?All My Children?), and Dixie Carter, Laurence Fishburne, Tommy Lee Jones and Mario Van Peebles (?One Life to Live?)." Also, this was kind of amusing: "After 40 years and 10 husbands for Erica Kane, the beloved ?All My Children? and ?One Life to Live? have been sentenced to death ? and not the kind that can be remedied with a brain transplant or recasting. " I remember Christopher Reeve started out on a soap I watched as a kid--Love of Life. I expect it's just a matter of time before Young and the Restless, Bold and the Beautiful, and General Hospital go as well. They say the decline of soaps is due to dwindling viewership with more women in the workforce. But my question is: the people who are still at home will watch the game shows, talk shows, and court shows that they replace the soaps with, but they won't watch soaps? I think the real answer is that game shows, talk shows, and court shows are cheaper to produce. These are sad times for daytime TV. Robbie

> {quote:title=markfp2 wrote:}{quote} > Probably would depend on the corprate bean counters at TCM's parent company, Time-Warner, as to whether they could make money on it or not.The downside is the more people who watched it streaming means less watching it on cable. The fewer viewers TCM draws to cable, the less the cable companies will want to pay for TCM. > > Somehow I doubt it. And since TCM's parent company, Time Warner, actually has a cable company--Time Warner Cable, which is the cable company in my area--there would probably be great resistance within the corporate umbrella to doing anything that would take away from cable. I do hope one day they might make Robert Osborne's commentaries available online for viewing. Robbie

I originally posted this in a new thread but it was locked by TCMWebAdmin and I was told to post here. I created the new thread because I thought this thread was only for problems with the schedule page. Anyway, here is my question: Is anyone having problems with the TCM home page ? I have the TCM schedule page bookmarked and normally go directly there. Occasionally, however, I go to the TCM home page to look up articles or to access the menu for the movie database. Since this past weekend, every time I load the TCM home page, my web browser locks up for long periods of time--I often have to kill it and restart it. This seemed to start last Saturday night. I have taken to using a different web browser (one made by a different company) to access the TCM page so that if there are problems, it won't affect my original browser session. Even just loading the TCM home page as the first page in the new browser, it seems to bring the browser to a halt. Is the TCM home page a memory hog or something, now that there is so much flash and graphics on it? I am not having problems with the TCM schedule page, Google, or any other web sites. Robbie

> {quote:title=epstewart wrote:}{quote} > Some things have to give, firm commitments to time slots for MGM Parade et al. among them ... Also, ending movies "on time" per the indicated time slot ... But up until the recent overhaul of the schedule web pages, MGM Parade was listed in the schedule. And, for the most part, Now Playing is still listed. For example, Now Playing is listed in the schedule for April 14, at 2:15 p.m.: http://www.tcm.com/schedule/index.html?tz=est&sdate=2011-04-14 10:45 AM Doctor Zhivago (1965) 2:15 PM Now Playing April (2011) 2:45 PM The Loved One (1965) Clearly they don't feel that including Now Playing in the schedule limits them in any way, since they are including it in the schedule. And, since they included MGM Parade in the schedule up until the web site overhaul, I think the dropping of MGM Parade from the schedule is due more to the mess that is the web site overhaul than it is due to any deliberate intent to increase flexibility. I think the dropping of MGM Parade from the schedule is an inadvertent casualty of the schedule overhaul mess. The MGM Parade show runs as long as Now Playing does--they each seem to run about 20 minutes or so--so if the inclusion of Now Playing in the schedule isn't limiting them too much, the return of MGM Parade to the schedule shouldn't, either. Robbie

I always pad my recordings 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after, to allow for commentary and such. However, one or two times 10 minutes was not enough when they had guest programmers--especially recently, some of the commentaries with the TCM employees were so long the schedule went way over the posted times. Also they are no longer showing the MGM Parade in the schedule. I try to calculate my recording times to approximately fill a DVD. After Ivanhoe on Sunday night, they had an MGM Parade which was not listed in the schedule. If I had seen it in the schedule, I would have used a higher recording rate than I did because the recording time for Ivanhoe would not have had to be as long. I would have recorded Ivanhoe until 6 am on Monday instead of until 6:30 am. I wish they would put MGM Parade back on the schedule. Now I am looking to see if a movie's running time ends before the half-hour mark and yet the schedule doesn't show the next movie starting until well over 30 minutes later. Then I can be fairly certain there's a "hidden" MGM Parade or Now Playing in the schedule that's not posted in the schedule. I wish they would put everything back in the schedule they used to have before the web site overhaul. Robbie

> {quote:title=LoveFilmNoir wrote:}{quote} > Off topic, but I am still curious to know what the rules are in determining what recently deceased actor/director etc gets a TCM Remembers spot. I ask this because I was surprised Gloria Stuart didn't get one and she lived to be 100. I've wondered if it has something to do with whether they have the rights to air any of the films at the time that enables them to make a montage. It seems to me Gloria Stuart did a lot of films for Fox and so TCM might not have ready access to scenes with her at the time she died. I'm sure TCM has to do special deals to get rights to air films from Fox and these have to be planned well in advance for the schedule, and unless they just happened to have a deal going at the time Stuart died, they might not have any footage to make a montage. I wonder if TCM doesn't have the rights to air any of the actor's films at the time they die, if they just don't do a TCM Remembers for them. It's too bad if licensing issues dictate whether an actor gets remembered. Robbie

They are having a day of her films on April 22: Julie (1956) Love Me or Leave Me (1955) My Dream Is Yours (1949) Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) Romance on the High Seas (1948) The Tunnel of Love (1958) With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) I think sometimes they have to schedule the films on a day other than the actual birthday if there are conflicts. I noticed they had a day of Virginia O'Brien films last Friday, but her birthday isn't until April 18. I have a 45 (record) of "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (on the back side of "Que Sera Sera") that was my mother's--I used to listen to it a lot as a kid. She has a beautiful voice. Glad to hear there are some Doris Day fans in the forums like myself. Sometimes I feel the TCM fans only like the dark, tortured, demented, or conniving heroines and can't stand someone as sunny as Doris Day was in some of her movies. I like her movies--I feel good after watching them. Robbie

I have the TCM schedule page bookmarked and normally go directly there. Occasionally, however, I go to the TCM home page to look up articles or to access the menu for the movie database. Since this past weekend, every time I load the TCM home page, my web browser locks up for long periods of time--I often have to kill it and restart it. I have taken to using a different web browser (one made by a different company) to access the TCM page so that if there are problems, it won't affect my original browser session. Even just loading the TCM home page as the first page in the new browser, it seems to bring the browser to a halt. Is the TCM home page a memory hog or something, now that there is so much flash and graphics on it? I am not having problems with the TCM schedule page, Google, or any other web sites. Robbie

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote} > Since you've been monitoring it, just how different are RO's intros and outros upon subsequent showings of a film? Good question--I was wondering that myself when I first started watching them. Sometimes they are very different if the theme is different. For example, if the theme is an actor, then he will place more emphasis on that. Sometimes there is not much difference if it's a more general type of theme. It varies. I'm waiting to see if a commentary shows up that's a complete repeat. I haven't seen one yet, but I am not always able to see them every time so I may have missed some if there are any... Also my memory is not as good as it used to be, so I may not always remember exactly what he said before to know if what he saying the next time is identical. I have a friend who has a very small set of jokes he tells over and over again. His family says I am the perfect person to listen to his jokes because my memory is so bad that the jokes are "new" to me every time he tells them. :-) Robbie

I had planned to try to catch Dead Ringer with Bette Davis today, but I missed it. I've never seen it or the remake before. Is the original version good? Robbie

> {quote:title=mutti9 wrote:}{quote} > I've wanted TCM to play this movie for years, and when it did I missed it. Does anyone know if it's scheduled again anytime? Was it ever released on videotape? If it was I'd like to buy a copy. This is a great movie with fantastic acting, and for some reason it's almost unheard of, and it's rare for it to be shown on tv even though Jean Simmons won an award for it, so I'm obviously really upset about missing it. Any help on this subject would be appreciated. . Specifically, it will air on Tuesday, June 28, 2011, at 8 p.m. I wanted to see this today as well and missed it, so I searched the upcoming text schedules and found it. It's gotten lots of good reviews in the TCM database...many people have been asking for it. The good thing is, when it airs next time, we will get Robert Osborne's commentary with it as well! Now, if I can remember the new way to get to the reminder feature to set a reminder... Robbie

> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} >my main man Harold Lloyd in GRANDMA'S BOY (1922), and UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (1927)! It's a silent fans groove!! > > I kind of dig on BORN YESTERDAY (1950) too, mainly cos of my main man, Broderick Crawford!! > Saturday night we get two ?Crossfire's? for the price of one! The 1947 noir with a trio of Robert's: Young, Mitch, and Ryan!! And a 1933 western of the same name with Tom Keene and Betty Furness!! Wait--which one is your main main...Harold Lloyd, or Broderick Crawford? :-) I made it a point to watch Crossfire a few years ago on TCM because of the three Roberts. I thought it was a pretty good film. I am looking forward to the Westerns lineup on Monday morning, especially seeing Amanda Blake in Cattle Town, with Phil Carey, and...Merv Griffin? Leonard Maltin says it's bad but I still want to see it because of Amanda Blake. I think I saw The Roadhouse Murder on TCM a few years ago--on a Friday night, but before the TCM Underground slot. Can anyone confirm if it has been on TCM before? Robbie

> {quote:title=lzcutter wrote:}{quote} > It also humanizes the channel in a way you don't get with the other movie channels. It sets the channel apart in that regard and that is part of TCM's charm and it, ultimately, will be part of Robert O's legacy. > > And finally, even if TCM were to abandon the host concept (good bye Robert O, Ben M, Guest Programmers, Private Screenings, the Essentials), there's no guarantee that budget would go towards more film rentals. It could get spread around all the Turner channels or be used to upgrade Turner broadcast facilities or pay increases for executives high up the food chain in the Time-Warner hierarchy. > > Just my two cents. I agree. I do watch movies on other host-less channels such as FMC just to see movies that aren't available elsewhere, but I like TCM best of all the movie channels because of its hosts. I notice FMC is now taking very small steps in the hosting direction with with Tom Rothman's Fox Legacy Edition movies. And I enjoy their Life After Film School series too. But TCM ranks #1 for me and it is all because of the hosts. I often watch or record a movie subsequent times on TCM just to hear Robert Osborne or Ben M.'s commentary to see if they have anything new or different to say from the previous time. You have hit it right on the head--the warmth and charm projected by the hosts, especially Robert Osborne, set the channel far apart from the others. I used to watch AMC back in the 90s when Bob Dorian and Nick Clooney used to host the movies. I enjoyed their commentary. When they disappeared and the commercials and modern movies appeared, I stopped watching AMC. Robbie