Mother, will you please stop interrupting me, I'm trying to tell you something! No, it's not called American Movie Classics anymore. I think you mean Turner Classics. Listen to me, Mother, I think I'm in great dan--
Charlie's Interesting Pile blog once again has the rundown on all the TV viewing marathons coming up this holiday weekend. Looking through this, I wouldn't set any TiVo season passes, but I can see three channels I might keep the tuner set on for any random live viewing.
First, though, I'm kind of disappointed VH1 didn't go with a "Celebrity Rehab" first season replay, seeing how Dr. Drew's special is airing this week and he's got another season of bad behavior to promote. "I Love New York" is feeling like last year's skanky-smelling trash, as opposed to last year when it felt like cutting-edge skank trash. Also, the folks who programmed "Trauma in the ER," "I Love Lucy" and "Twilight Zone" marathons clearly took their vacations early because I could've programmed those.
My picks, in this order: "John Adams" marathon on HBO, "How It's Made" on Science (which we're going to be getting here in HD, more on that shortly) and Hitchcock on TCM. Nothing commemorates American independence quite like seeing your countrymen violently killed while an Englishman looks on approvingly.
In a related story, while searching my mail for TCM-related announcements, I found this peculiar release from last month. As you may know, Turner Classics likes to invite a guest programmer to sit with Robert Osborne and choose four films from the vault and explain why. (Donald Trump's appearance was so memorable because he obviously had an assistant find the four most acclaimed films in TCM's library, like "Gone with the Wind" and "African Queen," reinforcing my opinion of him as a philistine who wouldn't know quality if it were six feet tall and in a long slinky dress with fake boobs.)
Anyway ... Bill Maher was the guest programmer last month. I don't know what I was expecting from Bill, I guess, but not this. The Website gives a little more information ... but they're all either campy or silly or "guilty pleasure" films. Maybe the toll of a long primary season has gotten to him and all he wants to do is chill. But a "memorable lineup" it is not.
Bill Maher Shares a Memorable Lineup On Turner Classic Movies’ GUEST PROGRAMMER in June
Humorist to Join TCM Host Robert Osborne on Monday, June 16
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) welcomes popular comedian, talk show host and author Bill Maher for the latest edition of the network’s GUEST PROGRAMMER series in June. Each month on this movie showcase, TCM invites a celebrity to exchange star status for a role as a devoted fan of classic film by picking a few favorite movies and sharing with viewers what he or she has come to love about each one. Maher will sit down with TCM host Robert Osborne to present an eclectic collection of films that includes an Oscar®-winning musical, the seminal beach movie and a gender-bending comedy on Monday, June 16, beginning at 8 p.m. (ET).
Maher has chosen the following films for his turn in the TCM programmer’s chair: My Fair Lady (1964, 8 p.m.), the Best Picture Oscar winner starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn; The Oscar (1966, 11 p.m.), with Stephen Boyd heading an all-star cast in a story about movie stars competing for the ultimate prize; Where the Boys Are (1960, 1:15 a.m.), the film that launched the beach movie craze; and Tootsie (1982, 3 a.m.), Sydney Pollack’s memorable comedy starring Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange.
Bill Maher is one of the most politically astute comedians in America today. His popular HBO series Real Time with Bill Maher has received multiple Emmy nominations while his Politically Incorrect earned four CableACEs and eventually took over the post-Nightline slot on ABC.
Maher has written several best-selling books, including Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? Politically Incorrect’s Greatest Hits; When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden; and New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer. He has also headlined numerous comedy specials, including Bill Maher: Be More Cynical and last year’s Bill Maher: The Decider. His one-man Broadway show, Victory Begins at Home, earned him a Tony nomination.
Maher is currently wrapping up post production on the feature documentary Religulous, an irreverent take on the current state of world religions. The film is directed by Larry Charles (Borat) and is set to hit theaters in October.
Turner Classic Movies, currently seen in more than 75 million homes, is a 24-hour cable network from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company. TCM presents the greatest motion pictures of all time from the largest film library in the world, the combined Time Warner and Turner film libraries, from the 1920s through the 1990s, uncut and commercial-free. The network also offers critically acclaimed original documentaries and specials, including the Martin Scorsese Presents: Val Lewton—The Man in the Shadows, the Emmy®-winning Stardust: The Bette Davis Story and the Emmy®-nominated Brando. More information is available at tcm.com.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.
"The Oscar" and "Where the Boys Are," yeah. But "Tootsie" is arguably the best comedy since 1980 (especially if you're not a fan of Judd Apatow or Adam Sandler) and a lot of people like "Lady." Mark Caro's Chicago Tribune blog did a post a few weeks ago about the proposed remake with Keira Knightley and from the response he got (I suspect mostly from show tune queens and over-60s, but still), you'd think the Mona Lisa was being defaced. (Me, I just wish that Keira would run away from the corsets and bustles and go back to being in movies the spunky modern girl she was in "Bend It Like Beckham.")
Posted by: Mark Jeffries | July 02, 2008 at 09:21 AM