filmlover

But will have to be rescheduled because of the tribute for the passing of famed director, Alan Smithee. (that's the pseudonym credit when a director wants his name removed from a movie)

Sorry to disagree but I will include birthday tributes since TCM does them. And you mean I would have to axe the Bringing Up Baby Day, on back to back in case anyone misses it, is not a possibility?

And I definitely think Farewell, My Lovely with Robert Mitchum would be a good end to the month.

I?ve found the perfect way for me to end this thread, and it?s by defining what ?classic? is. And it?s from a TCM brand notebook: ?WHAT?S CLASSIC? Is it old? Can it be new? Often, a classic is the best of its kind. Sometimes, it?s the worst. Either way, it stands out. A classic always stands out. Classic can mean different things to different people. You parents idea of classic is probably different than yours. Your kids idea of classic is probably different, too. Everybody has a classic. Sometimes classic means the original, Or the best-known, Or the first of its kind. Sometimes it means one of a kind. You could argue that classic is extreme: The saddest of the sad, The bravest of the brave, The gosh-darn charmingest of the charming. Of all the things classic is, the one thing it?s not is one thing. Classic is too big to be pinned down, too universal to be selfish. Classic belongs to everybody. Everybody has a classic. Is it old? Yes. Can it be new? Yes. So, what?s classic? Turner Classic Movies. THAT?S CLASSIC.?

Sounds like "Save the Tiger", but I don't know for sure.

Oops, I meant to credit sweetbabykmd with the inspiration for this idea, having mentioned in a thread seeing more film noirs and it got me thinking how a whole month would be great (one night a week, of course).

Several nights in one month would be great. Here in Los Angeles, the Egyptian Theater holds a festival each year, but it so often sells out far in advance. One film, which I can't recall the title of at the moment, I would like to see had Brian Keith as a corrupt cop having to protect a witness. And any films with Ella Raines or Edmond O'Brien.

No, sweetbabykmd, I was not referring to all of 2006. I was comparing one regular month to one regular month. In the month of 0ctober 2000, there were 5 different movies broadcast from 1998 and 1 movie from 1990. My point was that people are saying that each month in 2006 seems to be getting turned over more and more to recent movies, and they view it as an avalanche, proving that TCM wasn;t the same as it was. By looking at the October 2000 schedule, it was clear that even back then a few recent movies were being shown. And percentage wise, that is still what TCM is doing. And as pointed out, the March 2006 schedule has even less.

Hi, pktrekgirl (if you are still reading the thread), I wouldn't yell at you. I was aware of the other thread, which was anti-TCM scheduling, and I was trying at the beginning of my thread to show the opposite view through a bit of humor and facts of an actual old Now Playing schedule from October 2000. showing that things are still as good as they always were. I agree it is a topic where neither side will give an inch (facts don't seem to sway, it seems). Before I started this thread, I was going to post at one point in the original "The End is Near" thread, started by FredCDobbs, that after a number of posts that the entire thing had come full circle to where I felt I was in a movie and it came to the place where I came in and it was time to leave. Unfortunately, that thread got all heated up again, and I thought my comments about the old Now Playing schedule I had received would end up getting buried in the multiple posts on that thread. By starting a new one, my comments would at least be the starting point that everybody could see without having to dig through page after page of comments. I was also trying a logical, fact-driven approach. I wouldn't mind in the least if both threads stopped since it seems a heated argument no one will agree upon. But I do suspect that some may keep the other going just for the fun of the heated debate. I just wanted to calmly state the other side because I am so tired of a select group of people complaining whenever a recent movie (meaning in the last thirty years) is shown. lol, sometimes it feels I was up against the Three Musketeers of Despair (Attackos, Pathos, and Aromas ["what is that stinking recent movie doing on TCM??]). I agree that there are other topics to get into, and I welcome them. The whole history of movies is available for us to discuss.

Hi, slagman, I was going to post the same thing about the zoom feature. I have a Sony DVD/VHS player and I noticed it has a Zoom feature that can take a widescreen image then zoom in on it until it fills the screen. It would mean you would have to tape the letterbox film from TCM and then play it back on a similar VCR (I think many have that ability now). The great thing about this will be that you can then actually compare a scene you watch in the zoom close up and then play it again in the widescreen format and see what you possibly missed. TCM runs an excellent short about letterboxing and in it directors talk about films in letterbox and, through clips, show what gets cut off when the letterboxed film is pan-and-scanned. The short runs quite often on TCM after a movie. Try to catch it and it might change your mind. You may want to watch a film where it fills your home screen (a reasonable request since we are not in the theater where the screen is large), but in cropping a film in that way you lose out on the overall feeling the director may have tried to achieve. And you also lose out on actors' performances. Imagine a scene where two characters are at odd with each other and are standing apart from each other. In widescreen, you can see both actors and see how one reacts to what the other says. In an image that is fitted to fill your screen, you will lose on seeing one of the actors and their performance. By not seeing that, you rob yourself of the total emotion of a scene. Even in pan-and-scan, where the TV editor moves the image back and forth between them, you are going to miss some nuance of the performance. Please try to catch the short. It is very informative.

Thanks, decotodd, for reprinting sweetbabykmd's comments and answering them. I have been trying to get a reply posted for awhile but having posting problems. sweetbabykmd, the reason I said that we could not count the February list was because it is an all-Oscar month. This is an entirely different once a year special programming that TCM does. It is as different from the regular months as Summer Under the Stars will be. It would like wondering why there are more income tax forms filed on April 15th than June 23rd, or comparing final sales on an After-Chrismas special sale day to that of a regular day. One is going to be much heavier than the other and is not something to be compared. The October 2000 Now Playing is a regular month, so it is equal to a regular month in 2006. I was merely trying to show you and others who were getting upset with the schedule thinking it was the end of the old TCM, when the old TCM hasn't changed.

leo, I see it as a fun exercise, in line with the way some people create new stories of Star Trek and the like. It's sort of a wish list, and I see nothing wrong in that. To make it more real, one could always schedule a day for himself or herself using whatever movies he or she has, but using some of the criteria originally mentioned.

Great idea. It's fun, it's challenging, and it involves movies that we love.

Hi, TCMProgrammer, I noticed you were in the threads answering questions but I guessed that you probably missed this because it had slipped down the line. So I am refreshing it in hopes you will see it and answer the questions here. Thanks.

I am just curious, and I think others would like to know. Even a round figure would be interesting. By the way. when we are asked to nominate a film to be played from the TCM library, is there a way to access the entire TCM list? The Database, while it is a fantastic reference, includes many films not in the TCM library

Oops, please excuse the occasional typo.

The point I was trying to make in starting this thread was that the TCM Now Playing Guide for October 2000 could easily be substituted for any in 2006 (with the exception of Oscar month, which I know many for its inclusion of recent films, but you have to ignore because it is a special month). bsweetbabykmd replied that the 5 films of the 1980s and the 1 from 1990s from the October 2000 issue is not the programming of TCM now, but it really is. I was not tryiong to state an opinon, but rather showing that in the 5 1/2 years since that Now Playing issue came out, TCM hasn't changed. (If I were to list everything in that month, you would only be shocked that TCM is still running the same films today.) I think, and correct me if I am wrong, some people object to any recent movies being in there is because you believe it doesn't fit in with the name "Classic" in "Turner Classic Movies". Actually, though, if TCM truly did play only classic, meaning "incredibly great," there would only be about 100 movies ever showing on TCM. There are many, many films from the Twenties, Thirties, Forties, etc., that play on TCM that do not come under the heading of "Classic", by any stretch of the imagination, but they are fun. Maybe a better name would be just to call the network, "TOTFYOM", or "Turner Older Than Forty Years Old Movies". I truly, truly love old movies, but I can't see condemning TCM's current schedule because there is a turkey in there like Sonny & Cher's "Good Times" any more than I would condemn it for running the 1938 turkey, "The Goldwyn Follies". And, of course, there are a few, who seem to start anti-TCM threads because they do believe it isn't the same, but also get a kick out of the controversy generates and throw more fuel on the fire when it threatens to peter out. Ha ha, and then there are others who don't believe what they say but say it to start a fight, like a -- I can't recall which comedian said it -- but it is like being a Nazi Quaker, "starting a war and then refusing to go". In all sincerity, I really would like to know why you think TCM is not as good as it used to be (remember, you cannot include Oscar month since it is not a typical month)? I don't worry that TCM is going to be like AMC when the schedule is the same as it was 5 1/2 years ago. If you believe TCM is being overrun by newer movies, look at the facts. In March 2006's schedule: only 1 movie from the 1980s; 1 movie from from the 1990s; and 1 movie from the 2000s. lol, I am fstarting to feel like Henry Fonda in Twelve Angry Men, asking for reasons from facts rather than hot-headed feelings.

I'm looking at the proof that the END is not only near, IT IS HERE!!!! I was just looking through Now Playing for the month and I counted eleven movies from the 1970s (including Airport again!), 5 from the 1980s and 1 from 1994!!! And I did a count, 22 movies are repeated within the month! And Bringing Up Baby is on again??!!! I am totally aghast. The way they are going, TCM won?t survive one more month and --- Oh, wait. Oops, sorry?I just noticed I was looking at the wrong issue of Now Playing. This one is from October 2000. (AND IT REALLY IS. I got it on eBay.) I hope the point is made. "The end is here" that I mention in the header is one where I hope the predictions and carping of TCM?s impending demise by naysayers will end. TCM is doing the same great programming job they did 5 ? years ago.

Sweetbabykmd, I could not disagree with you more. Wasting valuable TCM time? The man is dead and holds a special place in many people's hearts. I will miss him a lot. I remember seeing his movies in the early Sixties when I was a kid. To this day, I think "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" is hysterically funny. He gives one of the greatest comic performances of all time. If you don't believe it, check out the speech scene in the park when his pages fly away in the wind. I laugh all the way through that film because of Knotts. I know we tend to think in movie terms of the later and generally unfunny Disney movies he made, but Ghost and Mr. C muct be checked out. And, of course, there is Barney Fife. Isn't that character, with all his faults, nervousness, and heart, still etched in your memory, even if you haven't seen The Andy Griggith SHow in years? I was lucky. I got to meet him a few years ago at a Hollywood Collectors Show. I am so glad I got to do that. And I deeply regret that I will never be able to again. Don Knotts will be missed. "Attaboy, Luther."

I'd like to see Sanders of the River or some of the other older Korda films like Knight Without Armor or the Divorce of Lady X.

As to Reefer Madness, it's funny but I just happened to notice tonight that it is scheduled to run on Tuesday morning on The Movie Channel Extra West. LOL, and I too have not seen it except once many years ago at a University but I still recall how outrageously bad it was.

I am actually surprised by people not subscribing to Now Playing (okay, I can understand Canada being upset if they can't get one). Subscriptions work out to about $1 a month. I circle all the movies I want to see when I get it and leave it on the coffee table, the way I used to with TV Guide (which costs several times for one week's issue!). So, each day I pick it up to see what I have circled and know ahead of time what to record. I have also printed out the full schedules and they really are great for seeing what is coming up months ahead of the Now Playing, but when the actual month comes the Now Playing guide is the only way to go. I have read in different threads that people are very upset because the Remind Me feature is not working as they like, but I have to suppose they don't get trhe Now Paying magazine. And then here in this thread I feel downright hostility from some about getting it. Why? It's not expensive. (And I have even seen them become collectors items. Some people are selling individual back issues for $9 or more on eBay.) I think it is a great bargain at about $1 a month. And, more importantly, we all love TCM here. So I also see getting the magazine as showing my support for TCM. So, why so much anger?

In defense of TCM in answer to the post a little down the list about TCM not running silents during Oscar month, it seems obvious why they are not. The Academy began giving awards on 1927, just when sound was coming in. So there will probably be very few of the silents that managed to get a nom during their remaining days that would be in the TCM library. And the rule of the month is that TCM is running ONLY Oscar-nominated movies. So, they can't run anything prior to the first Awards.

I wouldn't mind a day of rarely seen Dietrich, such as Knight Without Armour and Scarlet Empress. Or even four days devoted to composers Alfred Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Max Steiner, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold (even though they don't come under the heading of "Stars". Each day would have a great variety of films when you consider each did so many different kinds of movies.

It's a bit eclectic but here goes: The Big Heat The Haunting (the 1960s version) Say Anything 1776 The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock version) Somewhere in Time The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T The Thief of Bagdad (1940) The Mark of Zorro (Tyrone Power) Gallipoli Those Lips, Those Eyes The Thin Man Field of Dreams The Killers (1946) The Conversation Blow Up Inherit the Wind (1960) Judgement at Nuremberg My Darling Clementine The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) A Double Life (1947) Of Mice and Men (1939) A Place in the Sun The Bad and the Beautiful The Music Man L.A. Story Footlight Parade White Heat Elmer Gantry Ball of Fire Arthur Gilda Lady from Shanghai Robin and Marian Sweet Smell of Success Seven Days in May Sullivan's Travels The Searchers Meet John Doe Marty Notting Hill King Solomon's Mines (1950) Duck Soup Shane A Fish Called Wanda Nightmare Alley Witness for the Prosecution Laura Brief Encounter (1945)