|
|
Post by cineclassics on May 21, 2023 19:38:12 GMT
In 2024, TCM will be celebrating its third decade of existence. Unfortunately, I came to the party quite late, and have only been watching TCM the last few years.
Do we have any guesses as to how the network will celebrate the milestone? I've never been to a TCM Classic Film Festival, but I'm seriously considering going to the 2024 festival, in part because it will be the 30th anniversary. Has anyone here been to a TCM festival? Are you considering attending next year's event?
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on May 21, 2023 21:03:16 GMT
I started watching TCM in July 2008, and I felt that I was "late to the party" as they'd already been broadcasting for well over a decade! The channel has evolved significantly.
In 2014, when they hit the 20 year mark, there were some special presentations. I think they did a Private Screenings that focused on Robert Osborne. And they also had 20 fan programmers presenting their picks for a whole month. One of our members, YanceyCravat, was among those programmers.
It will be interesting to see what TCM is planning for next April.
|
|
|
|
Post by cmovieviewer on May 21, 2023 21:40:28 GMT
We had a previous discussion that April 2024 is also the 100th anniversary of MGM, so TCM should have a very busy month.
|
|
|
|
Post by sepiatone on May 22, 2023 15:59:21 GMT
I was still working the first two years of TCM's existence, so couldn't watch it until the evening hours. And if memory serves, didn't start looking in until the sixth month.
And no, never attended a film festival. Finances, health and time were always prohibitive factors. And like TOP, I too, think it will be interesting to see how they celebrate their 30th.
Sepiatone
|
|
|
|
Post by I Love Melvin on May 24, 2023 13:04:12 GMT
I've heard before how people would like to see some of the old Robert Osborne introductions and so would I, so maybe TCM could set aside a certain time slot each week to show some of Robert's picks, complete with introductions. One of the last times they showed Les Girls in Ben's slot, he basically said hello and then turned it over to Robert's old intro footage in which he engaged in a conversation with Mitzi Gaynor, one of the stars. Since, let's face it, there's not a lot new which can be said of most of the movies they show, it would give some nice variety to the programming and give newer viewers a taste of the history of the channel and older viewers something to sigh over. And if there were a dedicated time slot they could revive some of the old graphics too, like the morning ride on the elevated train, my favorite. And maybe it would appease some of us who haven't quite yet adapted to their 180 degree switch to the new, "improved" graphics. There's a lot that's available on their YouTube channel but not everyone searches that out. They should resurrect their old archive of interviews, etc. for broadcast, where it'll be seen. I know a lot of it was filmed in the old SD format, but they show films in the old standard ratio so why not their own original material?
|
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on May 24, 2023 13:22:43 GMT
I've heard before how people would like to see some of the old Robert Osborne introductions and so would I, so maybe TCM could set aside a certain time slot each week to show some of Robert's picks, complete with introductions. One of the last times they showed Les Girls in Ben's slot, he basically said hello and then turned it over to Robert's old intro footage in which he engaged in a conversation with Mitzi Gaynor, one of the stars. Since, let's face it, there's not a lot new which can be said of most of the movies they show, it would give some nice variety to the programming and give newer viewers a taste of the history of the channel and older viewers something to sigh over. And if there were a dedicated time slot they could revive some of the old graphics too, like the morning ride on the elevated train, my favorite. And maybe it would appease some of us who haven't quite yet adapted to their 180 degree switch to the new, "improved" graphics. There's a lot that's available on their YouTube channel but not everyone searches that out. They should resurrect their old archive of interviews, etc. for broadcast, where it'll be seen. I know a lot of it was filmed in the old SD format, but they show films in the old standard ratio so why not their own original material?
I get that TCM wants to attract new and younger viewers - I want the station to also as I want a new generation to discover these movies and it will keep the station alive - I've just never understood why modern-looking graphics would do that as seems to almost promise something TCM can't deliver.
The "experience" at TCM is old movies, so graphics that align to those movies makes sense and will attract a young person (like I was in the 1970s/80s when I "discovered" old movies) who is open to experiencing something "old" or from the past. But clearly TCM thinks differently. |
|
|
|
Post by jamesjazzguitar on May 24, 2023 18:57:28 GMT
I've heard before how people would like to see some of the old Robert Osborne introductions and so would I, so maybe TCM could set aside a certain time slot each week to show some of Robert's picks, complete with introductions. One of the last times they showed Les Girls in Ben's slot, he basically said hello and then turned it over to Robert's old intro footage in which he engaged in a conversation with Mitzi Gaynor, one of the stars. Since, let's face it, there's not a lot new which can be said of most of the movies they show, it would give some nice variety to the programming and give newer viewers a taste of the history of the channel and older viewers something to sigh over. And if there were a dedicated time slot they could revive some of the old graphics too, like the morning ride on the elevated train, my favorite. And maybe it would appease some of us who haven't quite yet adapted to their 180 degree switch to the new, "improved" graphics. There's a lot that's available on their YouTube channel but not everyone searches that out. They should resurrect their old archive of interviews, etc. for broadcast, where it'll be seen. I know a lot of it was filmed in the old SD format, but they show films in the old standard ratio so why not their own original material? I'm curious about any legal matter related to showing the deceased RO on TCM. E.g. Does TCM (or its parent), own the rights to such material? Even if they do, would they have to pay a royalty to the RO estate? AND, even if there were no legal matters involved, is it the right thing to do? To reuse prior material after someone is no longer a TCM employee? E.g. how would fans of Ben feel if Ben was fired but since TCM own the rights to what Ben did while under contract, TCM continued to utilize the pre-recorded Ben? Also there is the POV of the new-hosts; E.g. TCM cuts one of the host pay in half since they don't need them as much since they will be showing RO instead. PS: the writer strikes is related to reuse of previous material. So is the issue with studio-musicians and sampling that the musician's union has been fighting for over a decade now. |
|
|
|
Post by yanceycravat on May 29, 2023 15:56:49 GMT
PS: the writer strikes is related to reuse of previous material. So is the issue with studio-musicians and sampling that the musician's union has been fighting for over a decade now. You raise an interesting question.
Are the Host members of the Writers Guild? I know Eddie Muller writes his own intros. I believe they all have a hand in either writing, editing or adjusting the wrap-arounds. Should they be on strike? Since they are filmed in advance will the intros dry up once they catch up to the strike?
I believe the Intros are owned by what ever parent company now owns TCM to do with what they please. Some of RO's wrap-arounds have been donated to AFI and appear on their website.
|
|
|
|
Post by jamesjazzguitar on May 29, 2023 18:17:21 GMT
PS: the writer strikes is related to reuse of previous material. So is the issue with studio-musicians and sampling that the musician's union has been fighting for over a decade now. You raise an interesting question.
Are the Host members of the Writers Guild? I know Eddie Muller writes his own intros. I believe they all have a hand in either writing, editing or adjusting the wrap-arounds. Should they be on strike? Since they are filmed in advance will the intros dry up once they catch up to the strike?
I believe the Intros are owned by what ever parent company now owns TCM to do with what they please. Some of RO's wrap-arounds have been donated to AFI and appear on their website.
Thanks for the reply: I raised many questions, maybe too-many (ha ha). But the overall topic here (for me) relates to people in an industry that wish to work and need things they can work on. The use of previously paid for "stuff" impacts work for those still in an industry. This occurred to me in the software industry; The first few software companies I worked for, I signed the standard contract where anything I created or worked on was 100% the property of the company. But once I was more in demand I would only sign contracts that provided compensation after I was no longer at the company, if the software continue to receive revenue (thus similar to a royalty). |
|
|
|
Post by yanceycravat on May 30, 2023 3:07:51 GMT
once I was more in demand I would only sign contracts that provided compensation after I was no longer at the company, if the software continue to receive revenue (thus similar to a royalty).
|
|
|
|
Post by Swithin on May 30, 2023 16:36:33 GMT
I was trying to figure out when I started watching TCM. In the 1980s/90s, I lived in Long Island City, Queens, a New York City neighbourhood right across the East River (which is not really a river) from Manhattan. Because it had been an industrial area without any high-rise buildings, it was sparsely populated and hard to convince cable to come to us. (Permission was finally granted to build the Citicorp building in LIC, and, later on, the zoning laws were changed, and now anything goes. I moved to Manhattan in 2002.)
Residents kept badgering TimeWarner, who controlled the territory, and finally, probably in the mid to late '90s, they brought us cable. An early TCM series I remember was a comprehensive Bette Davis season. When would that have been? It was definitely the 1990s.
|
|
|
|
Post by cmovieviewer on May 30, 2023 17:16:22 GMT
Residents kept badgering TimeWarner, who controlled the territory, and finally, probably in the mid to late '90s, they brought us cable. An early TCM series I remember was a comprehensive Bette Davis season. When would that have been? It was definitely the 1990s. Bette Davis was Star of the Month for the first time in May of 1999. Perhaps that is what you are thinking of? |
|
|
|
Post by Swithin on May 30, 2023 22:16:55 GMT
Residents kept badgering TimeWarner, who controlled the territory, and finally, probably in the mid to late '90s, they brought us cable. An early TCM series I remember was a comprehensive Bette Davis season. When would that have been? It was definitely the 1990s. Bette Davis was Star of the Month for the first time in May of 1999. Perhaps that is what you are thinking of? Thanks, that must have been it. So I probably began watching TCM (at least in my own home) a year or so before then. I did have cable television in an earlier Manhattan apartment, in the 1980s, but there was no TCM then. In those days, we relied on AMC. |
|
|
|
Post by cineclassics on Oct 11, 2023 21:35:27 GMT
2024 TCM Classic Film Festival has been officially announced. Link here: TCM 2024 FestivalBased on the "theme" and the description, which I have included below, it definitely reads like this has the potential to be a lecture of how classic cinema portrayed people of color and women in a unfair way and we need to make sure you, the audience, are aware of it. Makes me less likely to attend the festival, quite frankly. However, this shouldn't come as a surprise to me, as TCM, since Robert's passing, has gotten considerably more condescending to its audience. Here is the "theme" of the festival: Most Wanted: Crime and Justice in FilmSince the beginning of cinema, filmmakers around the world have long been captivated by the inherent conflict between criminal endeavors and the pursuit of justice. A century’s worth of struggles between killers, crooks, convicts and the police, G-Men, amateur sleuths and other supposed keepers of the peace have entertained and thrilled audiences and storytellers alike. But movies also remind us that it’s not just simply about cops and robbers or good versus evil. Justice can be defined very differently when it comes to those wrongfully accused and pursued, to men and women of color, or when it’s corrupt authorities themselves who have violated the very law they are sworn to uphold. In those stories, what is most wanted is justice that has been denied.The TCM Classic Film Festival invites you and the usual suspects to the big movie house, for a lineup of films that not only bring the heat but reflect and inspire new ways of thinking about what defines true justice, straight down the line.Addendum: Why isn't TCM promoting the 30th Anniversary of the network for 2024? I see they're highlighting the festival's 15th anniversary, but not the network's. I find that curious. |
|
|
|
Post by cineclassics on Nov 18, 2023 17:15:10 GMT
Picking up where I left off with my previous post, more information has been revealed about the 2024 TCM Film Festival, including a sneak peak at a few films that will be screened:
Sherlock Jr.
The Sin of Nora Moran
It Happened One Night
The Good Fairy
White Heat
On the Waterfront
The Searchers
That's Entertainment!
So far, a pretty solid list of films. Passes go on sale December 6th and you get a $100 off early bird special if you purchase within the first month. I'm definitely considering going for the first time.
|
|
