A Love Letter to TCM

When I was a kid growing up in the 60’s I would often envision the future. It was almost impossible not to. The space race was in full swing with the Russians. All of us looked up to the Mercury 7. Every little boy (and a few of the girls) dreamed of being astronauts.

When I was a kid growing up in the 60’s I would often envision the future. It was almost impossible not to. The space race was in full swing with the Russians. All of us looked up to the Mercury 7. Every little boy (and a few of the girls) dreamed of being astronauts.

The futuristic Worlds Fair in New York stoked the dreams even further. There was giddy speculation on the wonder of moving sidewalks and solar powered monorails whisking us to destinations faster than the soon to be obsolete automobile. In the near future, the sky would be filled with flying vehicles and commuters zooming around with jet packs making day-to-day living an adventurous romp.

My dreams and desires were more down to earth. I used to gaze at our tube powered black and white television with rabbit ears and fantasize about a big flat television screen with a perfect picture. A giant antenna would be planted on the roof that could pick up hundreds of channels from all over the world. No rabbit ears or horizontal and vertical controls to fuss over.

The most ambitious fantasy I had was, that one day, there would be a network that showed nothing but movies all day long. No commercials and no cuts. Just great movies in perfect color, or black and white to enjoy again and again. An oasis of film heaven I could enter anytime I wished.

Well, forty years have come and gone. Moon colonies never materialized. The monorail is limited to amusement parks and walking is still the best exercise for you. But now, the flat screen high definition television has fully arrived. My childhood dream has been answered with flying colors and black and white. I’m talking about TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES, the best damn channel in the world.

TCM started over 15 years ago. It’s the brainchild of Ted Turner and premiered on April 14th 1994, the centennial anniversary of the first motion picture ever shown in New York. TCM started with an extensive film library that only got bigger and better with the merger of Turner Communications and Time Warner. Thousands of films are presented each year. The prints are pristine and the content is uncensored and uncut.

There’s so much more to TCM than old movies. They have an extensive library of film shorts, cartoons, trailers, documentaries and studio promotional releases that will satisfy even the most discriminating film geek. This is an essential network for anyone who loves music, art, dance, sports or history. Film is undoubtedly the most powerful and influential art today and TCM shows films from all over the world.

In primetime and late night, the films are hosted by the savvy and articulate Robert Osborne. Mr. Osborne is a journalist and film historian with a vast knowledge of the films he presents. A former actor who once lived in Hollywood, he’s dapper and entertaining as well as a crackerjack interviewer. In my opinion, he’s the curator of the best museum in the world.

The microwave is twenty years old. Cell phones are a nuisance and the Internet is stress producing. TCM is a time machine that would make H.G. Wells sit up and cheer. So settle down in your favorite chair and take a trip as far back as a hundred years ago with TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES. The future is now.

–Allan Havey