Currently I am sitting in the computer room of my mother’s house in Viera, FL about two hours away from my home. This morning I woke up, brushed my teeth, had some coffee and was looking at Twitter updates on my phone when I saw one from Turner Classic Movies. The Jack Benny flop, The Horn Blows at Midnight was coming on and this was just a simple programming note to let people know.
Being a Jack Benny fan and having never seen it (Benny would poke fun of it on his show) I was really happy to be able to spend my morning watching it. I had no idea it was coming on and I don’t know if i would have bothered to look at the guide this morning. Yet, I didn’t miss it. And this was thanks to TCM itself.
The thing about this is that it’s not unusual. With so many networks on cable and satellite these days, each on catering to a more and more niche audience, TCM is still the one that truly stands out. Not only do they present classic films, but there is a feeling of genuine love and appreciation of them as well. Quite often if I see something that is coming on that I have no interest in, I will still watch the time leading up to it. Why? Because TCM packs in that time with brilliant advertising, short movies, behind the scenes infomation, classic trailers, and just about anything else they can think of that a movie fan would like.
I can’t speak highly enough about the marketing department at TCM. Granted, I’m not sure if that is who is making those wonderful montage commercials that highlight the films, actors, actresses, and filmmakers who are responsible for the films they show, but if that is from their marketing department, it just might be the best marketing department I’ve ever seen.
August marks TCM’s annual Summer Under the Stars month long theme. And in typical TCM fashion they have come up with something absolutely brilliant to go with it. They will unveil 31 new movie poster designs for classic movies, one for each day. Some of them are already up. It’s just another example of all that TCM seems to give.
There are many other examples I could site, screenings, exhibits, and other events they are behing all in the name of classic movie watching, but I don’t have all day to write it and you don’t have all day to read it.
I can tell you that TCM’s living mascot/host/film historian/all around good guy Robert Osborne seems more like a wise uncle as he appears before the movies start and give you interesting tidbits about them. I was fortunate enough to interview Mr. Osborne on my show once, and I can tell you it was most nervous I’d been talking to someone. Fortunately for me Jessica was way more nervous (and it showed) and it took the focus off me. At the time I was secretly hoping it would lead to a relationship with the network. TCM calling me up for interviews to promote whatever they had going on. Or maybe hiring me to do an official podcast for them. It was a nice thought but pure fantasy on my part.
I remember the first time I took note of TCM was thanks to Bill Cosby. He was/is such a fan of the network that in the 1990s he did some commercials for them at allegedly no cost. He just wanted to promote something he thought was great. At the time I didn’t have TCM on cable system but I remember thinking that it was something I should pay attention to.
Already having been disappointed by American Movie Classics lame selections, commercial interruptions, and overall lack of theme, I was ready to embrace a classic movie network that knew what it was doing.
It wasn’t until a few years later that I was able to watch TCM for myself. And I haven’t stopped watching since.
**I tried to find a link to the Bill Cosby commercials where he played a private eye encouraging people to call their cable companies to get TCM.
