Cultureshark Guest Programs TCM--The Prelude

Well, in my dreams, that is. But Guest Programming month in November on TCM got me thinking about how I would do it. It's fun to ponder this if you're a TCM lover and a classic movie fan like myself. So I ran with the idea. But instead of the 4 films or so the celebrities have picked this November, greedy ol' me decided to program a whole day--24 hours. And instead of just doing THAT, I crafted 3 schedules: First up, coming later this week, is the standard "here's what I would do" version, which really answers the question of how I would program the channel for a full day given no restrictions.

Many might simply select their top 10 or so favorite movies of all time. But I know I'm more excited by guest programmers that choose something seldom shown on the channel. And what about programming flow? Do you just run a bunch of great movies out there, or do you try to organize them so that there is some kind of theme or series of transitions?

I decided I would try to introduce a mix of some of my favorites, but not necessarily THE favorites, into a schedule with a variety of genres, and that I would program it with a certain flow in mind. I would imagine myself yakking it up with Robert Osbourne and explaining why I love the movies so much, what makes them so great. And that would be my dream TCM schedule.

BUT I had so much fun doing that--OK, that and it's so hard for me to narrow it down to even a dozen or so movies--that I created another lineup, one spotlighting lesser-seen movies that I might enjoy talking about.

AND while I was at it, I started thinking again about movies that would excite me if I saw them on a Guest Programmer's schedule. So I came up with a whole day's worth of movies I've never seen but would like to.

So that's 3 schedules coming up this week. And none of them include The Godfather or Rear Window or The Maltese Falcon or scores of other classics I love. You know, I'd better hurry up and post them before I change my mind again.