The Silver Screen Oasis

I was wondering about this too as I watched the interviews last night. It sounds like a few of the major TCM executives had retired before the purge hit last year. In one of the interviews they referred to the long-time head of programming Charles Tabesh and showed his photo - he was infamously announced as being let go but was brought back when the directors intervened. I guess we will have to see if he is a guest on the Thursday night series later this month.

Just be glad they haven't succumbed to AMC's fate, and be hopeful that they never do...

Ironic, TCM has been around so long that I forget we did not have it before 1994. Of course, I forget a lot of things - at least that is what my wife keeps telling me. I assume Ted Turner gets credit somewhere for the creation of TCM? From a little ol' independent station in Atlanta GA to cable "empire."

If they're going to show the old interstitials, can they show Sydney Pollack getting the heebie-jeebies at the thought of Ben-Hur panned and scanned again?

cmovieviewer wrote: ↑April 5th, 2024, 6:49 pm I was wondering about this too as I watched the interviews last night. It sounds like a few of the major TCM executives had retired before the purge hit last year. In one of the interviews they referred to the long-time head of programming Charles Tabesh and showed his photo - he was infamously announced as being let go but was brought back when the directors intervened. I guess we will have to see if he is a guest on the Thursday night series later this month.

Quite a number of the executives working for TCM at the time of the first festival were let go through various downsizings as the mergers and takeovers shifted ultimate control from one corporate master to another. For instance, one of the first cuts involved the original programming department. A change in ownership inevitably meant at least a partial downsizing each time. It isn't that TCM was losing money, but that when the new owners inevitably demanded cuts, they were made across the board, including cutbacks to profitable divisions.

This is only one example of the permissive attitude toward corporate mergers from the time of Reagan on; it just happens to be the one that hits the hardest for us.

One item missed in the shuffle was that sometime last year Ben Mankiewicz had his 20th anniversary as a host on TCM, with no mention on the channel. I'm sure he felt it was inappropriate to celebrate given that so many others had lost or were losing their jobs around the same time. Just another indication of how uncertain things have been with the ownership changes.

Fedya wrote: ↑April 6th, 2024, 7:44 am If they're going to show the old interstitials, can they show Sydney Pollack getting the heebie-jeebies at the thought of Ben-Hur panned and scanned again?

Yes!
That one must be shown!

Also, the one where someone says "Damn good actress." (I'm not sure who that comment was referring to.)

TikiSoo wrote: ↑April 5th, 2024, 7:20 am
I enjoyed seeing Billie Lourd talking about her Mom/Grandmother.

The sweetie and I are big fans of Billie Lourd and also of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.

HoldenIsHere wrote: ↑April 6th, 2024, 2:56 pm Also, the one where someone says "Damn good actress." (I'm not sure who that comment was referring to.)

The “damn good actress” phrase comes at the end of the introduction to the TCM "Word of Mouth" segments (an earlier version). Here is an example:



It sounds a bit like Gene Kelly but I'm not really sure who it is.

cmovieviewer wrote: ↑April 7th, 2024, 11:52 am

HoldenIsHere wrote: ↑April 6th, 2024, 2:56 pm Also, the one where someone says "Damn good actress." (I'm not sure who that comment was referring to.)

The “damn good actress” phrase comes at the end of the introduction to the TCM "Word of Mouth" segments (an earlier version). Here is an example:



It sounds a bit like Gene Kelly but I'm not really sure who it is.

Thanks for finding and posting this!

The voice that says "Damn good actress" sounds a lot like Alec Baldwin.
I'd love to know the context of the comment and who the "damn good actress" was.

ziggy6708a wrote: ↑April 7th, 2024, 2:40 pm

Thanks for posting this, ziggy6708a! Every time I see this commercial on TCM, I wondered if this man is an actor, a real WB employee, or someone who works for TCM!

I'd say Will is photogenic enough that he should consider trying to get more work in front of the camera.

(...wouldn't ya say?!)