What I find heartbreaking about TCM

[gracieanflix]

I've been a big fan of TCM for years but find the selection repeative. Every month I download the schedule but find it harder and harder to see anything new, fresh and exciting. For those of us that cant afford High tech cable it would be nice to have a wider selection or another channel with comerical free movies.

 

Just my two cents.

[bggalaxy]

Welcome Gracie,

As you know by now there is a limited number of films TCM has the rights to. Heartbreaking as that is they are the best and I would not like them to start commercials to generate cash to pay for the rights to show more films (catch 22?). Right now they are able to lease a small number of films without going the commercial route. These are always a thrill to catch and watch for.

 

By the way, what are your likes - actors, films, TCM, etc.?

[leobertucelli]

I feel same way. Furthermore there ought to be no need to go to commercials, IF TCM wants to stay in business then they have to spend the money. That's simply the cost of doing business.

[cagneydavisfan]

I don't get to watch TCM as much as I would like but I usually don't have any trouble catching a new movie I haven't seen. Maybe its just where I'm a newbie though.. I do know I don't want TCM to start with commercials that was the beginning of the downfall to AMC. JMO though : )

[zombi6422]

"As you know by now there is a limited number of films TCM has the rights to."

 

Comeon, Turner probably has over 5,000 films to choose from and they always show the most popular ones out of them and occasionally throw in a rare unknown one.

[edgedrv]

Unfortunately, I too have to agree with these comments. I find myself watching less and less of TCM since too many of the films are repeated over and over again. Many of these films I already own on DVD. I realize this is a 24-hour non stop movie station without commercials but I am hoping the station will be adding many more films to the library and do a better mix next year. Would love to to the entire FOX library of classics go over to TCM!

[path40a]

I don't disagree entirely with all of the sentiments expressed thus far in this thread. However, I do appreciate the fact that TCM is trying to attract new viewers all the time, which means they must show the films we've all come to love and appreciate fairly often to "catch" new viewers. From the looks of those new, younger fans which have been participating here, it seems to be working. Yes, there are still lots of great films in the vault (which "we" hope they'll show) and others that "we" wish they'd lease. But given TCM's limited revenue stream and other minor sources of income, I think they do a pretty good job.

 

Also, if you take the time to review their library and the films they do own the rights to outright, and then utilize the "suggest a movie" function, I've found tcmprogrammer and his staff to be very receptive. I've even experienced TCM leasing a film I've suggested ... though you have to be patient. After all, it takes about 4 months to have one selected after you go through this process, given how far in advance they publish the schedule.

 

And, you can't beat uninterrupted and commercial free!

[emwriterdude]

The also show popular things at times like 8:00pm, and then rare, gems are shown either late late at night or early early in the mourning. Why don't they ever show a silent movie in primetime?

[chrtbsh]

wait, wait, wait - I'm all for people submitting their thoughts and complaints, but I don't think it's fair to suggest we don't play silents in primetime

 

last month we had 24-hours of Chaplin, including silents in prime; he was our star-of-the-month in April

 

last April ('03) Harold Lloyd was our star-of-the-month

 

every single week we play a silent at midnight, which is 9PM on the West Coast

 

in December we're playing three lost Hughes silents - films that haven't been played anywhere since their original release - starting at 8PM Eastern time

 

last year we premiered the restored version of "Metropolis" at 8PM

 

every year we premiere a silent scored by the winner of our Young Film Composers competition in at 8PM

 

that's a partial list - I wish I had time to go through our old schedules

 

we do play silents in prime!

[therealfuster]

is that vague comments about not having anything to watch on TCM, are taken seriously by anyone here.

 

Let's get some specifics here. Person A complains that the same shows are repeated over and over. But...Person A rarely gives any real just criticism in detailing which films they are referring to, or with what they should be replaced in their Utopialike film schedule.

 

Why do I feel that it would be a horrible thing and I'd be seeing a bunch of less than golden gems, if some of these people got their wish and were in charge of programming. Be careful what one wishes for.....

 

Hmmm, I've seen a boatload of movies, try to have seen at least one film of every actor, actress, director, or cinematographer who ever lived, have seen both good and bad films, foreign and domestic, A's, B's and Z's, silent and talkies and own all those books on WB, Columbia, MGM, Paramount etc. that came out way back, and yet every day I see films listed on TCM that I doubt have seen the light of day since they were first shown at the Orpheum in anyone's home town.

 

And this thrills me. Sure...Casablanca is shown more than a film like Sunrise, but I'm just happy that Sunrise is shown at all.

 

Tell me that the common person has seen Cain and Mabel with Clark Gable, or Babyface with Barbara Stanwyck, which are representative of the anomalous character of some rarities TCM shows. Where else would one get a night of all Joe E. Brown films?

 

Some may hate Joe E. Brown [though I could not like such person!] but he is a part of film history, and as such it is fun to see him in his prime, and NOT just in Some Like It Hot.

 

If I were to guess, I don't really think this constant refrain of complaints comes from such genuine, dyed in the wool real film buffs, but rather from those who may have seen less movies than the normally obsessed film fan, and does not even want to watch some of the wonderful 1930's goodies that TCM shows daily. Maybe they just turn their nose up. They are just whining because they noticed that the Thin Man series is being shown again or something. As if, AS IF...every film every day for all 24 hours should please them totally, with no regard for anyone else or their tastes.

 

I personally do not care for films about aircraft, but I can relent and allow those who do a little enjoyment occasionally at TCM. One can shut the tv off for a couple hours, instead of expecting TCM to totally entertain people for 24 hours solid, 7 days a week. Ye gads!

 

I'm all for free speech in government, and one does have a right to complain there, as it's your money paying for things, but it amazes me that a channel like TCM which is commercial free, and shows class films or at least ones with historical interest, and not the usual pabulum which shows up on other channels, is treated so shabbily by a few of its viewers with their constant whining.

 

NO...I don't work for them. But I'd probably work for free, if they'd give me access to the whole film library.

 

I'd like to see some of the complainers make pertinent and specific remarks concerning what movies they would like to see to replace some of the ones they seemingly don't like on TCM. All this vague referencing and crying and gnashing of teeth is a bit childish.

 

I was honored to watch the film Babyface with Stanwyck the other nite, as it was a real gritty eye opener, and I also thoroughly enjoyed all the rare silent shorts they showed last night, particularly The Invaders, which topped many Hollywood extravaganzas in using the true Native Americans in their glorious attire. Name one other channel which would show such gems or the one with Dorothy Gish or the commercial tie in oddities.

 

My opinion is that real film buffs love TCM, and bogus ones only want to be negative, just to have something to say to harp about.

 

I never say...love it or leave it, if I'm talking about the country, but I would say it to anyone who complained about TCM's fine schedule. Only real film buffs could appreciate seeing films daily with Eugene Pallette so young that he is thin, George Brent without a mustache, and Bebe Daniels as a little child.

 

Those who are trying to commandeer this fine ship, will eventually sink it and those who love movies of the whole spectrum of film, will be left again to watch stations like AMC ad infinitum, and will then regret not speaking up.

[tflight9]

I'm grateful to TCM for the opportunity to watch the so-called little-known films featuring big stars that are never shown elsewhere.

 

For example, I just watched MY LOVE CAME BACK, a charming romantic comedy from 1940 starring a luminous Olivia de Havilland, Jeffrey Lynn, Jane Wyman, Eddie Albert, Spring Byington and S.Z. Sakall. It's virtually unknown by most fans--even Olivia's fans probably haven't seen it--but on TCM you can watch and enjoy it. They show it every once in awhile and it's one of those "unknown" little films that's worth catching.

 

So be it. God bless TCM!!

 

 

[silentfan66]

While I do agree with some of my fellow posters about the frequency of repeating movies (case in poing, To Kill a Mockingbird, yes I love it, but I don't need to see it on the schedule constantly) what I would like to point out is that sometimes you have to play the needle in the haystack game.

 

Check the schedule this month closely. There's all sorts of lovely Pre-Codes, many with Gable, many with others. Where else can you see Baby Face with Stanwyck? Or the Kay Francis Wonder Bar (showing later this month) which I've been waiting for eagarly. Walter Huston gets some time this month with Dodsworth, Kongo, and The Ruling Voice.

 

I could go on and on, just print up the guide and go over it with whatever is handy, pen, crayon, marker...I thank heavens that TCM is able to show us silents, Pre-Codes (may Breen rot), musicals, whatever genre you have a hankering for. It's gonna be hell or highwater whether most of the flicks we love get released on DVD, and until then I'll thank my lucky stars that I've got TCM to feed my habit.

 

 

[therealfuster]

the Pre-codes too!

 

Who can beat the TCM schedule?

 

I just perused and see that today we got a dose of the lovely Virginia Bruce and legendary Ann Dvorak, and then some early Ruth Warrick.

 

Though it's not an obscure film, who can not like any movie with both James Mason AND Alan Bates as tonight in Georgy Girl?

 

One starts off Tuesday with Josephine Hutchison, who played the robot grandmother in that great TZ episode of Bradbury's story "I Sing the Body Electric". Next a Curtiz directed gem with the mellifluous Claude Rains and the inimitable Kay Francis, whose lisp was endearing. I'm skipping over the fine Hardy family to envision how great it is to see a Tod Browning film with the marvelous man from Tennessee, Henry Hull [the original Wolf Man and actor of both stage and screen], Edna May Oliver makes it worth watching Larry Olivier be the original version of the dour suitor Mr. Darcy who is hiding mucho character in Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and in Waterloo Bridge we get the tearjerker of all time, with Vivien Leigh being the ballet dancer driven to prostitution, due to the supposed war death of her fiancee. This is just one day of viewing at TCM, and look at all the great stuff to see.

 

Other films I've seen but look forward to seeing again this month are Mr. Skeffington, Strange Cargo, Clash by Night, I Walked With a Zombie, Dodsworth, Rollerball, Fury, A Face in the Crowd, and He Walked By Night. Some films I am really looking foward to are Night Nurse with Stanwyck, Mann's The Naked Spur, Mother India, Gabriel Over The White House with the astounding Karen Morley, Mark Robson's Roughshod, Ulmer's Strange Illusion, Joseph Losey's Finger of Guilt, Cast a Dark Shadow with the incredibly talented Dirk Bogarde, The Honey Pot by Joe Mankiewicz, the first lady of the American theatre in The White Sister and lastly...All Fall Down, which is a classic by Frankenheimer. We even get to see the wonderful Ann Sothern as Maisie and Marx Brothers classics that even Minnie would approve of, and end up the month with Murnau's film Phantom and some Busby Berkeley tasty morsels with the likes of screen beauty Dolores Del Rio, who still looked good as the mother of Elvis in her dotage. They don't make high cheekbones like that anymore, at least not without some Botox and major surgery.

 

There are so many films to watch on TCM, but so little time to watch them all.

 

Fus

[garboloygrant]

I'm clapping my hands as I type, therealfuster!! Yes, I've notice some repeats, but who gives a damn?! I stayed up until 11:30 last night watching the Treasures and I was absolutely mesmerized. (11:30 may not be late for a lot of you, but I get up at 4am). I had to do without TCM while I was at FSU. I went through withdraws. So TCM can repeat all they want. They will not hear of one complaint from me.

[eddie71664]

welcome gracieanflix, I sometimes wonder how some people

have the time to watch all the film that they do. I often wonder if they have any lives outside of TCM and then I catch myself getting up at 3.00 A.M. on sat. so that I can have the tele to myself for 5 hours before the kids get up. If you haven't already, get a DVD recorder and

record every movie you may care to watch, and when you have time you will have a plethora of wonderful films at your disposal. And the best part is finding some of the "Shorts" that are put in between films when they have a few minutes to spare between.

So don't be heartbroken, just open your mind to different films and watch everything that you have never seen and I guarentee you that you will find several treasures that you never thought that you would ever see.

Eddie

[ljenson71]

I couldn't live without TCM. We need more foreigns though.

[professorecho]

While I for one wouldn't mind if those Esther Williams films would sink to the bottom for awhile, there is no genuine cinephile who can legitimately complain about TCM overall. It is the greatest network in the history of television.

 

I know it's not a sign of a good debater to just dismiss someone's point of view without at least a hearing, but the truth as I see it is that you cannot inordinately chastise TCM and call yourself a fan, student or critic of film.

 

I admit that, yes, I am somewhat weary of the seemingly endless reruns of the more established titles or stars of the month, but for every month where I find little to watch, e.g. the Academy Awards month, there is a schedule like that of this past September where my DVR and I can hardly keep up. Nothing in life can please all of the people all of the time, but TCM comes closer than most.

 

As to the person who started this post, where were you for the Edgar G. Ulmer Yiddish language films or the East Side Kids marathon? If movies like that are not rare enough for you, then you sincerely have my utmost admiration!

[moviegeek3000]

My sentiments exactly.

 

I don't have that big a problem with the repetition. Look at AMC and their replays. Far too close together.

 

More Foreign....absolutely.

[imispelalot]

I don't mind the repeats much but some seem to get overdone. I just wish they would do another Month of Stars.

[leobertucelli]

I wouldn't go as far as to call it heartbreaking --I'd call it more a question of simply asking why? Like why book those silent sundays? And things shot in late 20's - 30's with no names and a story line that's the pits! Again, who do they think (except for a few mindless one's)

would stay tuned, makes so sense to me. The only positive to state is that's how film's were done then---fine, seen one or 2 is enough...

[KeithFromKC]

It looks like someone's starved for attention again......He ranted about Foreign films yesterday and is back to his Silent bashing today. Hmmmmm.......I wonder what is REALLY bothering Leo. Nawww, actually I don't. Now I think I'll go watch the third installment of the MORE TREASURES FROM THE AMERICAN FILM ARCHIVE....and most of them are SILENT! I can't wait!

[bansi4]

leo, its amazing how you sniff out any topic that has to do with bashing TCM. It seems you don't miss a **** in a windstorm when it comes to anything derogatory.

There are many viewers that enjoy silent films so don't be so selfish in your views. There is something for everyone on TCM...even you.

 

Mongo

[deeanddaisy666]

Well, that's a relief. The pimply faced kid and I can part company now, thankfully no longer in agreement on the efficacy of Silent Films.

 

Denying the utter wonderfulness of the Archival Films? 'Mindless' people enjoy them?

 

Yikes, one need not underestimate your intelligence, that is for certain.

[KeithFromKC]

The "utter wonderfulness of the Archival films." How right you are, Stoney! Even if one can't find entertainment value in these films, which is hard for me to imagine, the historical value of these films is priceless. That TCM is sharing them with us really shows me the respect they have for their viewers. I am always pleased with TCM, but every once in a great while, they simply amaze me. If I'm "mindless" for liking these films, well, I can live with that, Leo..........