I mentioned MGM before but it usually does one commercial interruption per movie as well as being limited to the MGM archive.
The Sundance Channel does some movies, uncut and uninterrupted. (They once aired Shortbus!) E.g., today they are airing Tootsie, The Jerk, Uncle Buck and some other John Candy films.
So “old” but not “old, old”.
Unfortunately this only works if you have a cable/satellite service already feeding TCM to your house.
We’re off cable here, so that’s a no go sadly.
I don’t know how I would live without TCM, it has been the default station on my tv since it began. There’s a lot of complaining and whining on TCM Facebook page from those buttthurt thinking it’s SO gone ‘downhill’ since Robert Osbourne died, but I don’t know why. They have to mix in a few ‘newer’ things. (I was kind of shocked to see ‘Rocky’ a few years ago - I remember we sped to the movie theater to see it and ended up on the second row! And here it is a blink of the eye later, on cable tv.) .
Looks like Armored Car Robbery (1950) is ending. A guy just got ‘run over’ by a Beech AT-11, with a reaction shot of his pursuers. In my head, they were thinking ‘Great. Now we’re going to have to do an engine tear-down.’
The thing I really missed about giving up cable was TCM and the channels that played cartoons. (Sci-fi, Discovery, Nat-Geo were going to hell even way back before it became SyFy)
I loved Robert Osborne. I would have expected the channel to go down the tubes if he left.
Rocky was released in 1976, so I think a 42 year old film qualifies as a classic.
I was amazed that they showed some R-rated teen comedies last year, but they really are classics: Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Valley Girl. Although I appreciate getting some artifacts from the 1920s and 1930s into view, there are lots of good, unheralded movies from 1970-on that I wish they would show more of, for variety sake if nothing else.
TCM is my favorite channel. When we moved and ordered cable, I asked the service rep for the package with TCM. Somehow he thought I meant The Movie Channel - TMC - which was bundled with Showtime. Even when Showtime has free-view weekends, I still can’t find anything worthwhile on their channels.
I loved Robert Osborne. Such a classy, erudite man. TCM is the only reason I have cable. I have minor quibbles about their schedule as they have a few movies that are shown about every 2 weeks. But I can always sit down and watch whatever is on TCM.
TCM and Criterion have sort of combined to form the online subscription service called Filmstruck. I have only just checked it out, and I know that the offerings will change through time, but as of now there are several movies that aren’t available on DVD (at least in new versions) but are exclusive to the service, including Sptifire.
I know it’s not the same as having a physical copy, but it is quite a good service (and the Criterion offerings include their fantastic special features!)
For me, it’s more the weirdness in the programming; a few of weeks ago, they showed the same movie twice within 12 hours, and it wasn’t like it was different version; it was the same movie (I can’t remember now what it was), stuff like that. I don’t know if that’s anything to do with what Osbourne was involved in before he died (how heavily was he involved in programming decisions?), but some of their programming choices and timing have seemed a little off in the last year or so.
That being said, I do like Ben Mankiewicz and the other newer hosts. I miss Osbourne, though! He was like a walking movie encyclopedia!
They do ‘Noir Alley’ on Saturday night and Sunday morning every week, same movie.
there are other channels doing Christmas in July as well. Didnt know it was catching on.
I love Tarzan every Saturday morning, reminds me of my childhood!
I like Ben Mankowitz (unsure of spelling) I dont like the guest hosts so much. Especially young ones that talk about the older movies. Seems so scripted.
In the last week I have been seeing Uncle Buck nightly! I like the part where he goes to the school about the 6 yr old girl. Wild thing! John Candy is great!
I dislike film noirs! Not sure why…
I like Ben Mankiewicz, but Mrs. L.A. thinks I don’t just because once I made fun of his name.