TCM - Where should they cut it off?

[HadleyH]

TCM

First choice: I'd show everything up to 1937.-(this could be the ideal)

Second choice: Everything up to 1964.-

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Like Feraud said, every decade has it's classic film. I don't mind when they show a film from the 80's or even later because even during that time there were films that hadn't been given much appreciation when they were released. I guess one of TCM's purposes are to show films that haven't been given a second chance. Like Lizzie said, they are trying more to steer towards a younger audience, but it seems superficial at times to me.

It's difficult to convince a person of 17 or 19 that old movies are cool because they are old movies. No matter how new you make it look, it's still old. A fedora can be brand new as if it was just purchased from the shop in 1933 but the representation is gangsters and 1940s, aka old. I don't see enough silent films though. Only early mornings and late nights.
If it cut at 1960. we'd never see the Godfather, we'd never see any Woody Allen film, no Laurence of Arabia, any later film with a veteran actor. If it cut in the 30s or 40s, we'd never seen a Marilyn Monroe film, or a 50's melodrama, Singin' In The Rain. Maybe it's just that they are picking the wrong films to air?

I'd keep it as it is, and air a variety of decades only with an equal share of films from the past 100 years. No less from the 40s than from the 60s.

 

[Nts]

I like movies from 30' to mid 40's but I dont mind them showing some 70's movies every now and then. I am only 27 so I havent had the opportunity to see every great movies made, and I enjoy it that they open me to some movies I might not have normaly watched(Take the Money and Run 1969,The Mouse that Roared 1955)

But yeah the beach movies are crap..

 

[Elaina]

I've seen bad movies , pre-1950 on TCM and I've seen good post-1965. GWTW is a classic, and really if you think about it so is Tron. Honey, I shrunk the kids may be pushing it, but then it's also a good way to introduce old films to a younger audience and maybe teach them to be a little more discerning about what they watch (not that I think it's a good movie.)

I really only watch TCM for the silent films. If they went off the air tomorrow, I'd watch 2 less hours of TV out of my vast 10 or so I do watch.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Some years ago, my wife and I spent a wonderful (for us) evening of TCM playing the Star Trek movies. It was fun. But for the most part I'd prefer if TCM had a cut-off year of, say, 1969. That's just my preference, as I never watch TCM if they play stuff like Rain Man. I defitely don't like the new emphasis on those lousy exploitation films and the techno-beat adverts for the coming month's features. In my dreamland, TCM would stay rooted in the 1930s-1960s time frame and meet the audience on it's own terms. Let my (and future) generation(s) learn to appreciate the vintage styles and actors as they were.

The good side of this is that Turner owns the rights to a lot of movies, so the obscure stuff I live for (like Skyscraper Souls (1932), for example) will still get played because its owned by Turner and costs them nothing to air. So maybe the changes aren't so bad after all, if they keep that. I don't really think there's anything to worry about. Just as long as they don't become AMC!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Exactly what I was looking for, but with what film, and why? And remember, if you cut it off at '45 you would miss films like The Third Man, North by Northwest, and Vertigo.

There is nothing wrong with films made recently. They just don't belong on TCM, just as a movie like U-571 doesn't belong on The Biography Channel and that is currently what is on there.

1945 was in some respects an arbitrary date I pulled out of the air, I must admit -- most of the films I enjoy the most date from prior to then, but I wouldn't insist that *nothing* be shown from after that date. I'd just be much more selective with the later pictures.

It's more the overall aesthetic of the postwar films that I don't much care for -- sure, there were some fine pictures that came out of the 1945-65 period, but I think the overall standard of quality tended to skew progressively lower: a bad film from 1960, to my eye, is usually *worse* than a bad film from 1940.

And that, to me, is the thing that worries me about the overall trend TCM seems to be taking -- it's not a matter of showing the occasional 60s or 70s or 80s film from time to time, it's the drifting of the overall aesthetic of the channel toward the whole insufferable baby-boomerish/film-school hipster mentality. I prefer my classic films *without* a side dish of irony, thank you very much.

Another point that's been made already in this thread but can't be made often enough -- what made TCM a great channel to begin with was that it wasn't clotted up with pictures that are already widely available elsewhere. If I want to see some film or another from the 70s, 80s, or 90s, well, there's a video rental store just up the street. But when I want to see some obscure RKO programmer from 1932, well, TCM is about the only choice there is. I'd hate to lose even that option so that Mr. and Ms. Suburbia can kick back for the nth showing of "Foul Play."

 

[Brian Sheridan]

I agree classics can come from any period. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is a classic!

I just hope they don't cut the films or show colorized versions. It is so annoying how we have to withstand the dumbing down of our culture in recent years.

I don't mind if they try to attact younger viewers but how about just trying to attact smart viewers (which can be young, old or in-between)?

 

[Paisley]

I think quality is more important than a specific year. I like the idea of great movies you won't see anywhere else.

I agree with Lizzie that it's baby boomers with money to spend, not younger viewers, that they're probably trying to draw.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Seems likely that if TCM is still around in 15 or 20 years, it'll be showing practically nothing but films from the '60s onward. As terrible as this sounds, chances are that the next generation of viewers will be as little interested in Katherine Hepburn's films as today's generation is of Greta Garbo's silent flicks.


I'm old enough to remember when local L.A. TV stations actually broadcast silent movies on Sunday afternoons. A decade before then, silent movies were shown on TV in the late evening/early morning as well. It's entirely possible that, had TCM existed in the late '60s and early '70s, it might have shown silent films exclusively -- and some people would have complained if it had included "more recent" 1940s movies in the mix.


In 15 years, a pre 1960s film with, say, John Wayne will probably never be shown on TCM. I guess we'll see what happens ...

.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Seems likely that if TCM is still around in 15 or 20 years, it'll be showing practically nothing but films from the '60s onward. As terrible as this sounds, chances are that the next generation of viewers will be as little interested in Katherine Hepburn's films as today's generation is of Greta Garbo's silent flicks.


I'm old enough to remember when local L.A. TV stations actually broadcast silent movies on Sunday afternoons. A decade before then, silent movies were shown on TV in the late evening/early morning as well. It's entirely possible that, had TCM existed in the late '60s and early '70s, it might have shown silent films exclusively -- and some people would have complained if it had included "more recent" 1940s movies in the mix.


In 15 years, a pre 1960s film with, say, John Wayne will probably never be shown on TCM. I guess we'll see what happens ...

.

But were you program director, what would you do? Which films would you like your channel to show? What would be its missions and when, and with which film, would you cut it off?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Me? I dunno. I'd probably stick to films made between 1896 and 1914. Pre Hollywood stuff.


No one would watch it, TCM would go bankrupt, and I'd be ridden out of cabletown on, well, a cable.

.

 

[Feraud]

Me? I dunno. I'd probably stick to films made between 1896 and 1914. Pre Hollywood stuff.


No one would watch it, TCM would go bankrupt, and I'd be ridden out of cabletown on, well, a cable.

.

And in 50 years you would be heralded as a genius.

 

[LadyStardust]

Me? I dunno. I'd probably stick to films made between 1896 and 1914. Pre Hollywood stuff.


.

Are you kidding? I would watch it day in and out!:eusa_clap That's my dream channel, haha....yeah, I'll never be normal.

 

[Liz]

Personally, I'd like it if TCM didn't show any post-'70s movies, but that's just me. I know this may be a minority opinion, but I'd prefer for them to show more oddball, lesser-known movies, from the '20s through the '70s. I love it when they show rock 'n' roll movies the most because then I don't have to buy them from the Video Beat, and the quality is better as well. Oh, and they can never show too many beach party movies!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Oh, and they can never show too many beach party movies!

Oooh...another Beach Party lover! You have excellent taste in cheese, dear.

 

[Rafter]

Oooh...another Beach Party lover! You have excellent taste in cheese, dear.

"Beach Blanket Bingo"... My faVorite summer diversion!,....
along with music by Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys, Ronny & the Daytonas and the Ripchords!!
BTW, Miss Neecerie, those shoes would be perfect for the beach!!
American Movie Classics used to play all those (AIP) American International
flics every Saturday night.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

"Beach Blanket Bingo"... My faVorite summer diversion!,....
along with music by Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys, Ronny & the Daytonas and the Ripchords!!
BTW, Miss Neecerie, those shoes would be perfect for the beach!!
American Movie Classics used to play all those (AIP) American International
flics every Saturday night.

You left out Gidget......

 

[Rafter]

You left out Gidget......

Loved Gidget, the first flic only with Sandra Dee!!

I'm even a bigger fan of the 60's TV show with Sally Field. Saw those episodes on TV Land.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

And in 50 years you would be heralded as a genius.

And celebrated in France right now. lol

Any other ideas? What film closes the Golden Age of cinema for you?

For me, I think it is Lawrence of Arabia. It is an epic in the Cecil B. mode; it has an amazing cast, including Claude Raines, but it is also the portrait of an anti-heor of sorts, more in line with the themes of films to come. So, to me, it will always be viewed as somewhat of a transitional film.

It TCM stopped there, they wouldn't be doing half bad.

 

[Rooster]

I'm with you Hem. Everything after LOA isn't worth watching.
For the most part, TCM is one of the few channels I watch. It's the only place on TV I can find a plot and no needlessly gorey FX.