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Post by BingFan on Oct 22, 2024 17:13:39 GMT
I went to the TCM home page the other day on the way to looking up something on their web site and discovered that there’s basically nothing there.
I guess I hadn’t been to the web site for a couple months or so, and didn’t know that they’d given up on it.
It made me kind of sad. Along with the old TCM message board, the web site as a whole was a way to bring TCM fans together and provide an information resource for lovers of classic movies.
Now, it’s as though the TCM owners really don’t care about bringing movie lovers together, even though that would increase the value of the channel and associated money-making ventures (like the Cruise, Film Festival, and Wine Club). I suppose that the person who oversaw the web site was fired so that some executive could tout cost-saving actions on a spreadsheet.
While I’m very glad that the channel itself survived last year’s assault by the bean counters, I really miss the days when TCM was the center of a whole world of classic films and their fans. The old staff did a great job of creating that world.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Oct 22, 2024 17:47:18 GMT
You raised a really good question about how they'd be able to administer their side hustles like the Wine Club, Cruises, and Film Festival without a central place to do it. I guess now each will have its own site? I miss the old site too and it seems foolish for them to assume that the people they rely on to support their ventures will be able to maintain the same sense of fellowship without any dedicated place to do it. Are the newsletters still a thing?
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Post by BingFan on Oct 22, 2024 18:20:29 GMT
I still get the monthly Now Playing email newsletter, which, besides links to the month’s schedule and an alphabetical list of that month’s movies, includes links to write-ups on the monthly TCM themes. I continue to find the Now Playing email useful, although less so than the much beloved hard copy version.
And on re-examining what’s left of the home page, I see that there’s an unlabeled menu of links to not only the pages regarding TCM money-makers (Wine Club, etc.), but also links to brief write-ups on a few regular features (Noir Alley, Silent Sundays, Musical Matinee) with lists of recent or upcoming movies.
So gladly I’ll give them credit for at least maintaining this minimal amount of information on the web site. But it would be very easy to miss any of this material when looking at the TCM home page (i.e., TCM.com), which doesn’t do anything to call one’s attention to the little bit of information that’s there. The current home page would be almost unrecognizable to anyone who used the old, much fuller version.
I certainly appreciate the hard work that the pared-down TCM staff has to put in to hold things together. I’m sure it’s not easy to see many of your colleagues fired by executives who’d like to see the whole channel go away, and then have to work twice as hard to try to keep things going. The TCM staff does an admirable job under the circumstances.
With all of that said, I still miss the good old days when everything connected to TCM was golden — when the channel was actively trying to engage the viewers with the programming and with each other.
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Post by lydecker on Nov 3, 2024 16:41:34 GMT
I'm horrified that you can no longer print a monthly schedule (unless you want to print 150 pages, printing it day-by-day.) Yes, there is the "programming guide" which they
email but it rarely specifies Daytime film blocks. And, it doesn't give a ton of time-specific info either. For years, I loved printing the schedule and planning what I would watch and tape. (Remember when you could view and print 3 months of schedules in advance?) Now, aside from the schedule cmovieviewer so kindly compiles on Silver Screen Oasis, (Thank you, thank you, cmovieviewer!) there is no comprehensive schedule which includes all films being shown/times/lengths and database info as well. Now, the only way to access that info is to Google a title, find the Wikipedia synopsis and then, at the bottom of the page there are links to other resources and generally the TCM Database is one of those resources. I truly hate what they did to the website and onscreen graphics the last time around. During the TCM 30th Anniversary, there was a brief, shining moment when they interviewed so many of the brilliant, talented, dedicated movie lovers who created the channel we all came to love. Amazing that the current management had the nerve to interview those people when they, no doubt, fired many of them to save $$. Alas, the TCM Community is gone, replaced with a barebones version of what it once was, though the channel still wants to exploit their fanbase with endless promos for Festivals, Cruises and Wine Clubs. In other words, they are so very glad to use us and take our money, but wouldn't think of reinstating many of the website and channel features that made us fall in love with the network in the first place.
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Post by gerald424 on Nov 3, 2024 23:42:46 GMT
TCM is fighting for survival, as are all channels that are "cable based". Cable (I'm counting Satellite), viewership is dwindling rather rapidly. Which also means revenue is also dwindling. And they so far, haven't found a way forward to be relevant for the future. So downsizing had to happen.
Remember when they tried that streaming service and it went nowhere ? That was their attempt at some new venture that would keep them afloat and it didn't work. Many channels like TCM exist because they forced cable services to carry their channels as a block. "Carry all of our channels or none of them". Because if TCM existed only on the fans willing to pay for it, it would have sunk long ago.
TCM is probably going to go through some more changes until they find a way to be successful on in some form.
I'm still hoping they offer a real TCM on Max for an extra $5. Problem is, that would tank the cable version.
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Post by BingFan on Nov 4, 2024 2:54:23 GMT
After the demise of the hard-copy Now Playing, I’m another one who printed out the schedule from TCM’s digital version. I made a handy little booklet each month, with the Star of the Month on the cover. Definitely not as snazzy as the old Now Playing magazine, but my booklet served its purpose. Now I can’t even do that.
As someone who lives in a semi-rural area with substandard internet service, I really hope TCM doesn’t become a streaming service, since our lousy internet service can’t handle that. We still love the existing version of TCM that our satellite service provides!
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Post by kims on Nov 4, 2024 15:58:47 GMT
TCM runs the ad for MAX emphasizing Max to be the place for classic films. Repeats of the features like the Two for One, lack of promoting when directors and stars appear to introduce films, less attention to the website and Now Playing email. It's the playbook for how to kill a channel. I hope the celebrities supporting TCM with their appearances will exert more participation to save TCM. Because TCM doesn't promote itself on other channels like MAX does, they cannot enlarge their audience.
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Post by gerald424 on Nov 4, 2024 18:37:23 GMT
TCM runs the ad for MAX emphasizing Max to be the place for classic films. Repeats of the features like the Two for One, lack of promoting when directors and stars appear to introduce films, less attention to the website and Now Playing email. It's the playbook for how to kill a channel. I hope the celebrities supporting TCM with their appearances will exert more participation to save TCM. Because TCM doesn't promote itself on other channels like MAX does, they cannot enlarge their audience.Every cable/satellite service already has TCM. The only way to expand their audience would be to encourage more people to get cable/satellite, which isn't going to happen. The few people I know who have those services get calls and mail every month encouraging them to go to streaming instead.
Dish Network sold last week for $1. AT&T just sold it's stake in Directv also last week. TCM is chained to a cable business model that's obsolete.
Even if more people wanted to watch TCM, how would they do it ? Around here, cable starts at $150 a month. Which is a major reason why people moved to streaming in the first place.
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Post by gerald424 on Nov 4, 2024 18:38:45 GMT
TCM runs the ad for MAX emphasizing Max to be the place for classic films. Repeats of the features like the Two for One, lack of promoting when directors and stars appear to introduce films, less attention to the website and Now Playing email. It's the playbook for how to kill a channel. I hope the celebrities supporting TCM with their appearances will exert more participation to save TCM. Because TCM doesn't promote itself on other channels like MAX does, they cannot enlarge their audience. I get Max, Disney+ and Hulu for only $17 a month. Cable just can't compete with that. |
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Post by cmovieviewer on Nov 4, 2024 20:32:36 GMT
I'm horrified that you can no longer print a monthly schedule (unless you want to print 150 pages, printing it day-by-day.) Yes, there is the "programming guide" which they email but it rarely specifies Daytime film blocks. And, it doesn't give a ton of time-specific info either. For years, I loved printing the schedule and planning what I would watch and tape. (Remember when you could view and print 3 months of schedules in advance?) Now, aside from the schedule cmovieviewer so kindly compiles on Silver Screen Oasis, (Thank you, thank you, cmovieviewer!) there is no comprehensive schedule which includes all films being shown/times/lengths and database info as well. Now, the only way to access that info is to Google a title, find the Wikipedia synopsis and then, at the bottom of the page there are links to other resources and generally the TCM Database is one of those resources. I truly hate what they did to the website and onscreen graphics the last time around. During the TCM 30th Anniversary, there was a brief, shining moment when they interviewed so many of the brilliant, talented, dedicated movie lovers who created the channel we all came to love. Amazing that the current management had the nerve to interview those people when they, no doubt, fired many of them to save $$. Alas, the TCM Community is gone, replaced with a barebones version of what it once was, though the channel still wants to exploit their fanbase with endless promos for Festivals, Cruises and Wine Clubs. In other words, they are so very glad to use us and take our money, but wouldn't think of reinstating many of the website and channel features that made us fall in love with the network in the first place. I updated my TCM schedule page to include a link called "Print" that brings up a concise version of the detailed schedule that is suitable for printing. I believe this is similar to the monthly schedule that TCM used to provide for printing. It runs about 20 pages or so for a given month. I hope this is something close to what you are looking for. Also, from your description I'm not sure if you know that you can click on any title in my detailed schedule and it should open the TCM database web page for that title. It is a shame that TCM seems to be devaluing the work that had gone into creating and maintaining their own detailed film database. |
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Post by topbilled on Nov 4, 2024 21:30:02 GMT
I'm horrified that you can no longer print a monthly schedule (unless you want to print 150 pages, printing it day-by-day.) Yes, there is the "programming guide" which they email but it rarely specifies Daytime film blocks. And, it doesn't give a ton of time-specific info either. For years, I loved printing the schedule and planning what I would watch and tape. (Remember when you could view and print 3 months of schedules in advance?) Now, aside from the schedule cmovieviewer so kindly compiles on Silver Screen Oasis, (Thank you, thank you, cmovieviewer!) there is no comprehensive schedule which includes all films being shown/times/lengths and database info as well. Now, the only way to access that info is to Google a title, find the Wikipedia synopsis and then, at the bottom of the page there are links to other resources and generally the TCM Database is one of those resources. I truly hate what they did to the website and onscreen graphics the last time around. During the TCM 30th Anniversary, there was a brief, shining moment when they interviewed so many of the brilliant, talented, dedicated movie lovers who created the channel we all came to love. Amazing that the current management had the nerve to interview those people when they, no doubt, fired many of them to save $$. Alas, the TCM Community is gone, replaced with a barebones version of what it once was, though the channel still wants to exploit their fanbase with endless promos for Festivals, Cruises and Wine Clubs. In other words, they are so very glad to use us and take our money, but wouldn't think of reinstating many of the website and channel features that made us fall in love with the network in the first place. I updated my TCM schedule page to include a link called "Print" that brings up a concise version of the detailed schedule that is suitable for printing. I believe this is similar to the monthly schedule that TCM used to provide for printing. It runs about 20 pages or so for a given month. I hope this is something close to what you are looking for. Also, from your description I'm not sure if you know that you can click on any title in my detailed schedule and it should open the TCM database web page for that title. It is a shame that TCM seems to be devaluing the work that had gone into creating and maintaining their own detailed film database. |
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