The Battle for TCM

During his reign as the King of Cable Television, Atlanta-based media tycoon Ted Turner had in his possession a stunning library of films, most notably the movies of storied studio MGM. Programming multiple high profile cable channels it came in quite handy having masterpieces like; The Thin Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Ben-Hur, Forbidden Planet, The Dirty Dozen and countless others available to screen at any given moment. The only drawbacks were the same drawbacks whenever a film is shown on television. Edits had to be made for content, runtime, or both and the print of the film was not always the greatest. Seeing these films as something beyond corporate assets, Turner believed they should rightly be treasured and sought to create a televised haven for movie lovers like himself to enjoy them in the best presentation possible. In 1994, he made this idea reality with the debut of Turner Classic Movies.

This was a channel made for cinephiles built by cinephiles. They lived by their now famous network mantra that anything on TCM would always be “uncut and commercial free”. Before and after each screening, presenters like the now revered Robert Osborne, would discuss the film at hand educating the average viewers and enriching the viewing experience. Where commercials would normally be in between movies TCM showed interstitials rooted in film history. This was the only place you could find Olivia de Havilland sitting with Osborne discussing what it was like being directed by the legendary Michael Curtiz. If you wanted the last interview with an ailing Robert Mitchum reminiscing about his career as Hollywood’s bad boy, TCM was where you needed to flip the channel. They also produce shorts featuring current Hollywood heavy-hitters allowing them to gush about the movies and stars they love on the network. Whether it is John Waters praising the brilliance of Vincent Price or Julianne Moore analyzing the greatness of the Thin Man films, TCM has you covered.

Even as we entered this current era of the media landscape with mergers and buyouts homogenizing entertainment, TCM found a niche. Its biggest advantage was now it was the final classic movie channel standing as its biggest competitors AMC and Bravo died off in their original forms. As Ted Turner lost his empire to Warner Bros., Turner Classic adapted to be a sort of archive curator for the now century old studio. These factors combined to make TCM what Steven Spielberg once dubbed “holy ground for cinephiles” as it celebrated the entire history of cinema in all of its forms. Their schedule of screenings covered everything from Citizen Kane and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Plan 9 From Outer Space and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Beyond the screen, Turner Classic played host to a number of in person events for film fanatics, most notably the prestigious TCM Film Festival. This has led to TCM evolving into more than a channel for so many cinephiles and created a community with a sense of belonging.

Recently these same fans were reminded of just how fragile this beloved network truly is, especially in this modern era. As you may recall earlier, I discussed how at the beginning Ted Turner recognized films as more than corporate assets and instead a part of our cultural heritage. Nowadays, bloated multinational entertainment companies are oblivious to such a concept. In a landscape dominated by “IPs”, “content”, “cinematic universes” etc. the rich history of Hollywood has little use outside of movies that could be turned into shallow, soulless remakes. This includes TCM’s own parent company at Warner Bros. and their new useless, butthead, incompetent CEO David Zaslav. His ignorance was on full display during his first shareholder call when discussing the company’s greatest assets and put Superman and Bugs Bunny on the same level as the “90 Day Fiancée Universe”. From there he proceeded to slash and cut through the company like a cokehead with a machete. Once a wholeass Batgirl movie was scrapped, it was clear nothing was safe, including TCM. As a casualty to this stupidity the network lost TCM Underground, a weekend late night block devoted to showcasing weird and cult cinema. Additional salt to this wound was the fact that Millie de Chirico, the block’s programmer, had just published a book about these movies and was in the midst of promoting it when the axe fell.

For a time the “#TCMParty” and the channels millions of other fans thought the worst was over. After all, while TCM was no financial juggernaut it consistently turned a profit. This was reinforced with an Entertainment Weekly article spotlighting TCM and its fan favorite presenters, Ben Mankiewicz, Dave Karger, Jacqueline Stewart, Alicia Malone, and the Czar of Noir Eddie Muller. This article even featured Zaslav spaking to his own love for the network and classic film in general….which turned out to be a lie. Just last week Turner Classic was rocked as the channel’s top brass was unceremoniously fired. If anyone needed a shot across the bow this was it as this attack on the channel led to #SaveTCM trending along social media as the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader and other Hollywood heavyhitters expressed their love of TCM and hatred for this decision. It all culminated with legendary filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson banding together to make a joint call to Zaslav to give him a piece of their brilliant, cinematic-loving minds. Once the dust settled, chief programmer Charles Tabesh was unfired and the trio of Spielberg, Scorsese, and PTA would serve as consultants akin to the role Isaac Asimov and Gene Rodenberry filled in the early days of the Sci-fi Channel.

This experience proved just how endangered our shared cinematic history is in this day and age. Over the decades it seems that every television channel has strayed away from what once made them stand out, but TCM has remained celebrating the art of film in all of its form. Sure there are plenty of other channels that specialize in showing movies, but how many of them would celebrate National Silent Movie Day (September 29) by actually showing silent films, in primetime no less. How many of them would opt to show The Maltese Falcon, Hiroshima Mon Amour, or The Exorcist over a Marvel movie? Personally, there have been so many films that now rank among my all-time favorites that I was first introduced to courtesy of TCM. Without this channel I never would have been introduced to the likes of: The Sweet Smell of Success, The Devil Rides Out, The Best Years of Our Lives, Dead of Night, Lady Snowblood, Night and the City, Nightmare Alley, Jigoku, The 39 Steps, Wild at Heart, Elevator to the Gallows, and so many more. I believe a random Tweet I saw summed it up perfectly, stating they had just watched a Judy Garland movie on TCM that does not stream anywhere and the DVD/Blu Ray is long out of print, so without Turner Classic it would simply be erased from existence. As the robber barons who currently run Hollywood have made clear these petty things do no concern them and they would happily wipe away the storied history of their respective studio if it made a quick buck. Should this happen the next generation of cinephiles would lose an invaluable resource that opens the world of film for all willing to delve into it. They will never see how the pioneers of the past paved the way for the movies of today, nor learn of movies that otherwise would fly under the radar. If there were ever a TV channel to fight for this would be it.