Does TCM read this stuff?

[iburnttheboys]

Do they actually read what we post in here? I mean I know they know its here but do you think they come in here and say oh they want us to play more shorts, or oh we need to play more silent films because more people are interested in them know... just wondering...anyone know???

[slnt291]

Aren't most of the silents public domain?? You would think they would show more, or change Silent Sunday to Silent Saturday. I would stay up to watch them, it's too hard to get up in the morning and taping them doesn't have the same effect for some reason. I hate to complain because at least they do show silents every month...but I liked to see more! Surprised to see a Pickford movie coming next month, first one I have noticed since I started watching TMC.

[aimalac91748]

I'm beginning to think they dont read these. I think its just here for viewers to talk back and forth and share their thoughts and feelings. I've been requesting movies for the longest time that I know are in Turners library (they show on TNT & TBS, but in edited format interupted by commercials) but they never show them. Instead they keep rehashing the same movies. Granted, these are great movies. The reason I know they're great is because I already have them either on VHS or DVD. I can watch these at my leisure. What I want are some movies I havent got that I can then tape and watch at my leisure. I think TCM should post a list of titles available to them and ask the viewers for suggestions from this list only and then show those most requested. Maybe they could set something up to allow only one request from an IP address per day. that way someone wouldnt be submitting a million requests.

[path40a]

Well, I don't know if the folks who do the programming read the forums, but I know that some of the staff does (I've received replies).

 

It also seems to me that the people who decide which films to show DO listen to the input provided to the "Suggest A Movie" link. I think it is so because I have had several of my more obscure suggestions added to the schedule. Please realize that they pre-publish 3 months out, so you'll have to wait to see your suggested movie;-)

[aimalac91748]

I'm sorry. I just don't see it. I've been requesting movies for a couple years and have yet to see any, with the exception of 'The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight'. I already knew this was scheduled to be shown this November. I just wanted to see what TCM says when you request something they can show.

The movies I've requested aren't really that obscure. They just haven't been shown for many years, but they do have major stars in them.

For example:

Johnny Concho starring Frank Sinatra;

Sergeants 3 also starring Frank Sinatra and the rat pack;

Jeanne Eagles starring Kim Novak;

You Cant Run Away From It and The War Between Men and Women both starring Jack Lemmon;

Room For One More and Topper both starring Cary Grant and both requested by many other viewers for the same many years.

These are not that obscure. They are rare due to the fact that they never get shown. Another is the first '1984' in black & white starring Edmond O'Brien and Jan Sterling made in 1956.

I already have:

Gone With the Wind;

On The Waterfront;

Citizen Cane;

West Side Story;

High Noon;

North by Northwest and many of the other Great movies TCM shows. For the life of me I cant understand why these viewers that request these movies don't already have their own copies to watch whenever they want.

I think a good idea would be to devote 20 hours of the day to showing titles that haven't been shown within the last 2 or 3 years, and the remaining 4 hours of the day to continue their recycling of the above mentioned classics. TCM supposedly owns thousands of titles and if they showed 10 a day, that would be over 3,600 a year and in 3 years they could have gone through over 10,000 titles and still have had well over 4,000 hours to devote to the movies they're continually recycling.

[iburnttheboys]

there was a movie i tried to suggest but they said they didnt have it, i think it was "the beach" with fred astaire and ava gardner?? i dunno but thats a great movie and i wanna see it...

[path40a]

Well, it happened again, for me anyway. I realize it could be a coincidence. However, I requested (both on these boards and through the "suggest a movie") that TCM air The Little Foxes with Bette Davis. And, sure enough, in January, they'll be showing it!

 

Thanks TCM!!!

[moviejoe79]

You've got the magic touch path40a! Perhaps it is luck, but it could be a coincidence, because I still wouldn't bet on TCM taking all of our suggestions seriously. And they do get TONS of them, even from regular people who aren't TCMaholics like us. However, I did request "Trouble in Paradise" for about a year, and then about six months ago they played it, and have been airing it once in awhile ever since. In fact, its due to air this month. So perhaps they did listen to my individual request, or maybe a lot of other people requested it as well. Who knows? And I'm not trying to say that TCM doesn't care about our requests, I just feel that with millions of viewers, they can't listen to everyone.

[bethers52]

Does anyone know anything about employment opportunities at TCM? I would love to either work or intern there but I can't seem to figure out how to get in touch with their HR department.

Thanks

[venerados]

I'd love to work for them, too. I live close enough, but I suspect there's a requirement of either knowing the right people or being specially qualified.

[moviejoe79]

I'd love to work for them too. I live in New York, but I would move down to Atlanta for the opportunity to work with TCM - in ANY capacity.

[eleanorirma]

Hello to everybody:

I really wonder if TCM reads these entries. I have requested Ida Lupino's movies for two years. Yet, her dates of birth go by and the only movies shown are those she made with Bogart. I love those movies, but there were many others that TCM hasn't shown. I read an article about Robert Osborne having words with Ms. Lupino when she was alive. It is a shame that this should keep her movies off TCM based on a personal thing.

 

I noticed that another great actress doesn't get the respect from TCM that she deserved. Since Olivia de Havilland is one of the few remained stars of Gone with the Wind, one would think that Mr. Osborne of the staff of TCM would try to seek her out. Ms. de Havilland must have some great stories about Gone with the Wind, the Heiress, and To Each his Own. She won two Oscars and yet, TCM doesn't pay too much attention to such a great star. It seems that the station states their favorites and not those that we, the subscribers, would like to hear about. ellie68 eleanorr1@msn.com

[moviejoe79]

Hello eleanorirma - I never heard of Robert Osborne having a beef with Ida Lupino. In fact, I remember him speaking highly of her once. And I know that they have shown a few of her other movies, aside from the ones she made with Bogie. I remember one being on in the afternoon once. Hopefully they will show more, but honestly I don't think TCM has a problem with Ida Lupino. They give credit to just about everyone.

 

Regarding Olivia deHavilland, I have to agree with you. I would LOVE to see a Private Screenings with her. Shirley MacLaine is great, but they should be going after the stars like Ms. deHavilland, and even her sister, Joan Fontaine, who are in their 80's and probably won't be around much longer. Other people I'd love to see are Liz Taylor, Ann Rutherford, Doris Day, Maureen O'Hara, and of course, Brando. But definitely Olivia deHavilland - if she did the Oscars, I'm sure she'd sit down with Robert Osborne to reminisce. It's not like she's a recluse.

[eleanorirma]

Hello there fellow movie fans:

MovieJoe, I read an article on the TCM website where Robert Osborne said something about Ida Lupino when she was alive. She snapped back at him. Since getting the TCM channel, I have always wondered why the station and Osborne have shown just a few Lupino films. They haven't had an Ida Lupino film fest since 1997. There are certainly a new crop of fans who would like to see the Lupino movies other than those she made with Bogart. Where some movies are played repeatedly, Lupino movies like the Hard Way or Man I Love are played once in a while. Her movies like Life Begins at 8:30, Ladies in Retirement, Roadhouse are rarely played. A few of the movies she directed were on, such as the Hitchhiker and

Trouble with Angel were on once or twice. What I don't get is that Lupino's birthday of Feb. 4, or the date of her death in August are never shown as a 3 or 4 film festival. Many stars, who didn't accomplish anything like the 60 movies in front of the camera, 7 behind the camera as a director and 100+ TV shows as both. What do you think? ellie68 eleanorr1@msn.com

[moviejoe79]

eleanorirma - I agree with you about Ida Lupino's films. I too would love to see more of them. I just hate to think that Robert Osborne has a problem with her, since he speaks highly of everyone.

[marshald25]

TCM has the rights to air the entire RKO, MGM, and Warner Brothers library to 1948. A problem with TCM is that they rarely show lesser-known films that are outside of this package, stuff from Paramount, Columbia, Universal, and post-1948 Warner Brothers. Sure they license stuff like "Lawrence of Arabia" from Columbia, even "Trouble in Paradise" from Universal, which controls all the old Paramounts. But these movies are well-known and/or critically acclaimed. How about movies like "Home Before Dark," a 1958 Warner Brothers film starring Jean Simmons, movies that are good but a bit obscure? They don't seem to hold a chance of ever being shown on TCM. TCM would have to actively seek to license them, something that, from past history, they are unlikely to do..

[path40a]

Thank you again TCM for including in your March schedule one of the films which I requested - Dodsworth!

 

http://turnerclassicmovies.com/Schedule/Print/0,,03-2004|0|,00.html

 

Additionally, a quick browse of the schedule yields this:

 

a Jean Harlow/Charlie Chaplin day (where's littletramplover?), a John Garfield day (could be a John Garfield month;- ), a Sherlock Holmes day, another Charlie Chaplin day, a Ronald Reagan day, a George Brent day, another Charlie Chaplin day, a Joan Crawford day, another Charlie Chaplin day, a baseball evening, a Shanghai evening, a Joel McCrea day, and yet another Chalie Chaplin day.

 

I probably missed some other "theme" days too. BTW, a LOT of the films which are my favorites which I've used as clues in the "21 trivia game" here are also being shown ... too many to list!

 

What a great month next March is going to be!

[aimalac91748]

Does TCM filter movie requests? I was just on the 31 days of Oscar page and tried to request 'All The Marbles' and in the description field I mentioned it was about women wrestling. That's the second time I requested it describing it as women wrestling. I've requested it without making reference to women wrestling and it posted. Making the reference and it doesnt post. I then tried to request the movie 'Fritz the Cat' and in the description I remarked it was an x-rated cartoon. That didn't post. I then requested the black & white 1956 version of the movie '1984' and that finally posted. What does TCM have against lady wrestling and x-rated cartoons?

[dottanyia43]

i agree with you moviejoe. i would also like to see a sidney potier film fest. i would love to see "for the love of ivy" and "a warm september" and "paris blues" he did with paul newman, dianne carol and joanne woodworth. also his oscar winning "lillies of the field".

[kaneboop]

Yes they do. Looking for Love and Rio Rita which is being showed in June are movies I asked for in the suggestion box. It's just that there are so many suggestions but they do listen.

[harlowkeatongirl]

 

> a Jean Harlow day

 

Actually they already had one not long ago. I think it might've been for her birthday. I remember because as luck would have it, I was actually HOME to watch it. It was an awesome lazy way to spend a day off, that's for sure. My VCR never worked so hard.... lol..!!

 

 

[professorecho]

I don't think Robert Osborne programs TCM's schedule; I believe he is only their on air host.

 

Olivia De Havilland IS reportedly a recluse who lives in Paris and shuns the spotlight. I'm sure TCM has tried to get her to sit down for an interview and she has declined. Outside of the Oscars her only recent interview was a few comments about GWTW to TV GUIDE. I don't know the whereabouts of Joan Fontaine, but I'm guessing she too has been approached by TCM. Add me to the list of someone who would love to see Doris Day talk SERIOUSLY about her career. It has always been a great disappointment to me that she turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson in THE GRADUATE and I would love to hear her thoughts on this.

 

The Sidney Poitier movie the earlier poster is thinking of is A WARM DECEMBER, not September, but you were only two months away. LILLIES OF THE FIELD is actually shown on TCM quite often. FOR THE LOVE OF IVY is available on DVD.

 

 

[slappy3500]

Poitier fans may also want to check out "The Bedford Incident" a taut Cold War thriller Co-starring Richard Widmark; one of three times that they worked together to my knowledge. Also some good supporting appearances by James MacArthur, Martin Balsam and Wally Cox. Also of note a short but memorable appearance by Donald Sutherland. His film debut I believe. If not, I'm sure someone will correct me.

[renethefish]

Somebody must occasionally read this stuff - I've had one reply, of sorts, to the same issue I've posted about 3 times. As an Australian subscriber to what is called TCM here but appears to be about two weeks worth of veryrandom programming constantly repeated*. They gave me an e-mail address of someone at the TCM organisation (I don't know if it was the "programmer" for TCM, the janitor or perhaps he was both). He never replied to my e-mail. So, the short answer is" yes, someone at least skims the material. Whether there is any practical outcome resulting, who knows?

(*)After a year of watching TCM Lite, there have been no screenings of any of the following famous films from their library: The Asphalt Jungle; Flying Down to Rio; Out of the Past; Murder, My Sweet; any silent movies (except for Buster Keaton's The Cameraman which is playing as I write); almost ANYTHINGfrom RKO or many hundreds of other wonderful films that they own. On the other hand, we've had many screenings of rubbish - interminable screenings of Man from UNCLE "movies" (cobbled together form old TV shows); The Extraordinary Seaman (of which Maltin's guide says:"Bomb. ... highlights: old newsreel footage and Fay Dunaway's eye makeup); War of the Planets and another film by trhe same director whose title I forget.Night of the Lepus (about giant rabbits). The Ice Pirates. Innumerable MGM comedies, etc from the 60's and 70's, hardly MGM's glory period. And too many to remember or mention. I've seen discussion here about a hypothetical 2nd TCM, perhaps devoted to B-movies.Sounds great but here in the boonies we'd be ecstatic if we just had onedecent classics station.

[renethefish]

Somebody must occasionally read this stuff - I've had one reply, of sorts, to the same issue I've posted about 3 times. As an Australian subscriber to what is called TCM here but appears to be about two weeks worth of very random programming constantly repeated*. They gave me an e-mail address of someone at the TCM organisation (I don't know if it was the "programmer" for TCM, the janitor or perhaps he was both). He never replied to my e-mail. So, the short answer is" yes, someone at least skims the material. Whether there is any practical outcome resulting, who knows?

(*)After a year of watching TCM Lite, there have been no screenings of any of the following famous films from their library: The Asphalt Jungle; Flying Down to Rio; Out of the Past; Murder, My Sweet; any silent movies (except for Buster Keaton's The Cameraman which is playing as I write); almost ANYTHING from RKO or many hundreds of other wonderful films that they own. On the other hand, we've had many screenings of rubbish - interminable screenings of Man from UNCLE "movies" (cobbled together form old TV shows); The Extraordinary Seaman (of which Maltin's guide says:"Bomb. ... highlights: old newsreel footage and Fay Dunaway's eye makeup); War of the Planets and another film by the same director whose title I forget.Night of the Lepus (about giant rabbits). The Ice Pirates. Innumerable MGM comedies, etc from the 60's and 70's, hardly MGM's glory period. And too many to remember or mention. I've seen discussion here about a hypothetical 2nd TCM, perhaps devoted to B-movies.Sounds great but here in the boonies we'd be ecstatic if we just had one decent classics station.