Color my world

The post you’re reading now was composed on Wednesday evening of the previous week—and before I begin, I apologize to everyone who may have already been clued into this news (I talked about it on Facebook…but not everyone in the TDOY faithful is into the whole [anti]social media thing); an article that I read at the MeTV website sort of planted the seed of inspiration, and I knew I needed to cobble together something fast and economical because of the weekend busyness.

Back about this same time last year, I mentioned that our DISH network system started carrying WGTA (channel 32), a local TV station in Toccoa (the “GTA” stands for “Greenville to Atlanta”) …and because WGTA’s programming consisted of the substations Heroes & Icons (32.1), Decades (32.2), and Movies! (32.3), our DISH had the full Heroes & Icons lineup—a rarity in the world of DISH, since they don’t usually carry substations.  In January of this year, there was an announcement that MeTV would be available on our DISH Channel 32 starting March 25, because WSB-TV—which originally carried MeTV as a substation—had dropped it, switching to Escape.  (And not the good kind—“designed to free you from the four walls of today.”)  The addition of MeTV as a WGTA substation meant all the other substations moved down a peg in terms of OTA (off the air)—Heroes & Icons is now 32.2, Decades 32.3, and so on.

The news that MeTV would once again be available in the House of Yesteryear was, as you may have guessed, warmly welcomed; sure, I experienced a small amount of initial disappointment (I was only a handful of episodes from a complete collection of Broken Arrow) that gave way to me being extremely jazzed because MeTV offers a good deal more variety in their classic TV programming.  (Also, too; I would gain access to reruns of Our Miss Brooks and 77 Sunset Strip—two series not yet released to DVD.)  I’m not happy that these shows are heavily edited in order to cram in the commercials my father constantly bitches about…but a thirsty man never turns down a glass of water.  I’m not joking about the ads on MeTV, by the way; I tried to persuade His Lairdship to start watching Gunsmoke on MeTV at 1pm EDT weekdays because they show two of the half-hour episodes back-to-back and he’s seen all of the color hour-long episodes they run on TVLand at that same hour.  (He claims he hasn’t…but this is incorrect, because I’m usually in the living room with him and I know I have.)  He gave up after one thirty-minute episode.  “Too many commercials,” he griped.  (I’ve been away from TVLand too long—I was not aware they were now ad-free.)

The amusing thing about MeTV is that on their current schedule, they run back-to-back episodes of The Andy Griffith Show at 8pm EDT weekdays (7pm EDT Sundays)—but only in selected areas.  If they’re running TAGS on another station in your viewing area, MeTV substitutes those reruns with…wait for it…Mayberry R.F.D.  (“Every time I think I’m out—they pull me back in!”)  Now comes an announcement that the network is going to work the TAGS episodes from 1965-68 into the rotation.  That’s right.  The color episodes.  The Mayberrys That Dare Not Speak Their Name.

I know many people—I think we even heard from them in the comments section when I was doing the Mayberry Mondays posts—who will not only refuse to watch The Andy Griffith Show in color…they vehemently deny the period ever existed.  And I get this—I really do.  There are a lot of TAGS episodes from the color era—a lot of episodes—that clearly illustrate that sitcom was running on fumes once Don Knotts said “I’m off like a prom dress.”  I think Don’s departure is the chief explanation for the hostility toward the Mayberry color era—replacing the Barney Fife character (even though Knotts returned on several occasions in a guest-star capacity) with that doofus played by Jack Burns was an idiotic decision that would not be equaled until they rolled out New Coke.  And I say this as a guy who likes Jack Burns…I just believe his "Warren Ferguson" was not a good fit where Mayberry was concerned, and in the MeTV article (“The Color Seasons of ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ are Great and Here’s Why”) the author amusingly notes “the character only appears in 11 episodes before mysteriously vanishing to wherever Chuck Cunningham went.”

The article makes some good arguments…and some not-so-good.  Their first bullet point, “Howard Sprague is a wonderfully milquetoast character,” is the strongest argument they could make (I’m going to assume that’s why it was first); it’s no accident that, as I have stated in the past, Howard is usually at the center of the one laugh-out-loud moment in every episode of Mayberry R.F.D.…and the subject of that show’s funnier episodes (“The Panel Show,” “The Caper,” “The Mynah Bird,” etc.).  My fellow Facebook denizens and I discussed this article a bit, with many of MeTV's points greeted with all the enthusiasm of drinking warm beer.  I believe it was Andrew “Grover” Leal who had his flabber gasted at #4, “Road Trips”—personally, I didn’t have a problem when Andy, Opie, and Aunt Bee made the trek to Hollywood…because if it was good enough for Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, it was good enough for the Taylors.

The only item on the MeTV list that found me searching for where in my skull my eyes had rolled to was #7, “Aunt Bee Gets to Do a Lot More.”  Mr. Leal persuasively argues: “[They] were trying too hard to fill the ‘Barney does something wacky’ gap,” and I have to agree (while at the same time believing “The Mayberry Chef” to be one of the stronger final season episodes).  I might be persuaded to side with MeTV if I stopped to consider that with every “wacky” Aunt Bee installment that meant less time spent with Mayberry’s resident fix-it savant and wife-batterer, Emmett Clark.  As I told Facebook chum Jason Beard: “…I have stared into the R.F.D. abyss, and I know that even on its worst color-saturated day TAGS was better.”

I think that last part might be the number one reason I’m not as filled with revulsion with a color Mayberry as some.  You see (this is the portion of the blog where I tell a sad childhood story—please, no tears), we didn’t get a color TV set until 1976.  Mayberry was always in black-and-white when I was a kid.  Sure, some of town’s residents either vanished (Otis, Ernest T.) or moved away (Barney, Floyd), but for the younger Ivan, that sleepy little North Carolina hamlet remained in its monochromatic state until the day my father decided that color TV was no longer a fad and was here to stay.  (Yes, he never misses an opportunity to ride me about my love of black-and-white TV shows and movies—completely missing the irony that my childhood might have had something to do with that.)

So bring on the color episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, MeTV.  The channel is also running announcements of the return of Rhoda (yay!) and Remington Steele (snore) …I just hope this isn’t going to interfere with my burgeoning Our Miss Brooks collection.

“Broken Arrow? This is why we can’t have nice things!”

This morning, whilst I dubbed onto a blank disc a copy of Passport to Suez (1943) for my pal Andrew “Grover” Leal, I decided to supplement Suez’s short running time (72 minutes) with a pair of episodes from the 1956-58 TV Western Broken Arrow, which we recently acquired when DISH Network added station WGTA to its lineup.  I mentioned in Saturday’s post that this was a most welcomed surprise in the House of Yesteryear, because a similar channel (in the same spot as WGTA is now on DISH, channel 32) that offered up the occasional tasty classic TV run had been yanked about the time we signed on as DISH subscribers (in July of 2015).  What I did not know—or rather, would have known had I did a little more research—was that this was the same channel.  Hereby hangs a tale.

WGTA (“Greenville to Atlanta”) was originally WNEG, a Toccoa, GA station that had been in operation since 1984, primarily serving four Georgian counties that comprise the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market.  (Athens, Gainesville and Braselton comprise the station’s secondary market.)  In 2008, the station was sold to the University of Georgia, who had planned to use WNEG as a training facility for UGA’s journalism and broadcasting majors, and the station became WUGA in May of 2011.  But the UGA experiment came to an end when the station was sold to Marquee Broadcasting in March 2015, and it adopted its WGTA call letters in July (just as we were subscribing to DISH).  If you’re like me, and you do a lot of channel hopping just to see if there are any non-home shopping channels on DISH, you would have come across a disclaimer on channel 32 stating that the channel was no longer available but that you (the viewer) should keep an eye out for replacement programming.

So DISH graciously gave us Heroes & Icons on WGTA’s 32.1; the 32.2 portion of WGTA features programming from Decades! and 32.3 is a Movies! affiliate.  I was genuinely surprised that the ‘rents have clutched WGTA to their bosom—they amused themselves Saturday mornings with reruns of the 1966-68 Tarzan series (my father wanted to know why the ape man spoke perfect English and I had to explain to him that it was Johnny Weissmuller who attended The Tonto School of Speech…not Ron Ely) and Dad put on a pair of Wanted: Dead or Alive episodes this morning while he engaged in his morning paper ritual.  As for myself, I took a stroll down Memory Lane last night with back-to-back reruns of Hill Street Blues.

But leave us return to the matter of Broken Arrow.  The TV series premiered six years after the release of the 1950 movie version (adapted from Elliott Arnold’s novel Blood Brother) that starred James Stewart and Jeff Chandler, with a May 1, 1956 pilot that originally aired on CBS’ The 20th Century-Fox Hour.  In that pilot, actor John Lupton played Stewart’s role of Tom Jeffords and future Fantasy Island mogul Ricardo Montalban as Cochise.  By the time Broken Arrow was greenlighted as a regular series in the fall of 1956, Michael Ansara took over as Cochise—he made for a very convincing Native American chief despite his Syrian-Egyptian origins.

Ansara wasn’t particularly jazzed about his gig on Broken Arrow.  “Cochise could do one of two things—stand with his arms folded, looking noble; or stand with arms at his sides, looking noble,” he explained to a TV Guide interviewer in 1960.  But I have to be honest; Mike is the main reason the show works, in addition to the fact that it was one of the few small screen oaters at that time to portray Native Americans in a positive light.  The first installment I watched was “Indian Agent” (10/09/56), in which Jeffords falls for and marries Sonseeahray, the maiden who later draws her rations (Debra Paget played her in the 1950 movie—here it’s Sue England in the role) as a result of a fight between Cochise’s men and a bunch of “the-only-good-Injun-is-a-dead-Injun” yahoos.  It’s a well-done episode that features Tom Fadden (a series regular as “Mitt Duffield”), Robert Warwick, James Griffith, Michael Pate, Kenneth MacDonald, and Anthony George.  Ansara sure gets his nobility workout here, as he tries to counsel the hot-headed Jeffords not to fly off the handle in the face of revenge.

The tables are turned in “The Captive” (10/23/56); here Jeffords advises Cochise to keep calm and carry on when an Apache brave (Ray Stricklyn) is kidnapped from the tribe.  The boy is a white man raised by Apaches; his grandmother (Kathryn Card) tries to persuade him to return to his birthright…and when he refuses, a skeevy lawyer (who else but Trevor Bardette) arranges for the young man to be snatched, inviting the ire of the Apaches.  Lane Bradford is in this one (appropriately as a henchman), and I chuckled to see Dick Wessel tending bar.

Broken Arrow ran only two seasons on ABC (a total of 72 episodes—seventy-three if you include the pilot) but bounced around on its daytime and evening schedules in reruns until 1960.  I can see why this one hasn’t been given the nod for a DVD release: the prints are not particularly sparkly (I think Facebook chum Hal Erickson pointed this out to me before I watched the show) and of course, they’ve whittled down the running time in order to squeeze in an extra commercial or two (I clocked both episodes at 23 minutes).  But I’ll certainly continue to DVR the shows because I think the series is entertaining; springing from a time when it was possible to do dramatic stories in the short span of a half-hour.

(Anti) Social media update: You may have noticed (then again, maybe not) that I recently deactivated my Twitter account—a proposition that I had been considering for some time…yet refrained from doing so for a number of reasons.  Long story short, I pulled the plug on Twitter this weekend…but I want to reassure people that it’s not for anything you did; I’ve just become frustrated with the whole 140-character “social media” experience.  I’m still on Facebook (I have argued all along that while the FB content can sometimes get poisonous, it’s still preferable to Twitter any day of the week) so I’m able to share pictures of my niece and nephew with their “Nana” and “Pop” from time to time.  Go in peace, my children.

Here’s what we thought you should know

An e-mail that I received from my saddle pal Toby at 50 Westerns from the 50s last night (he’s also got another blog of interest—more on this in a sec) prompted me to sit down and compose this post, because there are some blogathons around the corner that I thought fellow classic movie/nostalgia bloggers might be interested in…and I always like to give these good people a shout-out when possible.

Our U-Verse system currently doesn’t carry the digital network offering GetTV—which is rapidly making a name for itself as an oasis for folks who treasure old movies but who either can’t afford or avoid on principle ponying up the extra simolians for The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™.  (GetTV is very similar to MOVIES!...which AT&T U-Verse doesn’t carry, either.  Swine…) The channel is able to draw deep from the extensive film library owned by Sony Home Entertainment, and though there is an Atlanta affiliate that carries the network (WUVG) it’s one of those stations you have to pick up with an antenna.  (Ask your folks what that is, kids.)

Anyway, GetTV—for reasons known only to them—is offering a tribute to the late Mickey Rooney in September…first with a marathon this Labor Day, and then with showings of the Mick’s movies on Thursday nights all month.  Now…keep in mind that since Tee Cee Em pretty much owns the majority of Rooney’s cinematic contributions lock, stock and barrel, the GetTV offerings are going to be along the lines of Sound Off (1952) and Everything’s Ducky (1961)…and I wouldn’t wish films like that on my worst enemy.

Okay, I promised to be positive about this and I see I’ve backslid a bit.  GetTV has partnered with Aurora at Once Upon a Screen, Kellie at Outspoken & Freckled and Paula at Paula’s Cinema Club to honor Mr. R on what would have been his 94th natal anniversary with The GetTV Mickey Rooney Blogathon in September.  (Again, I don’t pretend to understand what motivates these kids…but I don’t blame them—rather a society that tells its youth that the answers are on the MTV video games.)  It’s no secret here at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear that I consider Mickey Rooney to be the celluloid equivalent of prickly heat, but if you’re curious to participate, skate on over to either of those three blogs and present the proper credentials at the window.

Over at Silent-ology (with an assist from Fritzi at Movies Silently), Lea will host The World War I in Classic Film Blogathon, an experiment that’s just what it sounds like—focusing on movies that deal with “The Great War” and optimistically hoping that it will be a learning experience as well.  (Crazy, I know.)  I kind of came to this one late and so most of the features I would have written about had already been snapped up so I decided to sit this one out and just be in the sidelines, rolling bandages.  But if you’re interested…then off with you, my lads and lassies.  (The WWI in Classic Film Blogathon takes place on September 6 and 7.)

On to October!  Kristina at Speakeasy raps the podium for attention with this earth-shattering announcement:

“Sorry to break it to you, but the Hollywood movies you love owe a lot to Canada…”

You do realize your ‘Canadian bacon’ is ham, right?  But it's Sunday and nice out, so I’ll take your word for it…anyhoo, Kristina and Ruth at Silver Screenings will co-host The O Canada Blogathon from October 4-9, focusing on films and movie people with roots in The Great White North.  TDOY has already RSVP’d for this event, and will offer up as its modest contribution an essay on the Technicolor noir Niagara (1953).  Plenty of movies and movies stars up for grabs, though—so if you’re interested click on this linky and sign up.

The last blogathon announcement involves the Toby I mentioned in the opening paragraph, who when not a-ropin’ and a-ridin’ at 50 Westerns chats up non-oaters from the 50s, 60s and 70s at his new blog, The Hannibal 8.  As a blog warming—because he cannot afford pizza and beer once we've volunteered to help move his stuff—Toby is going to host The Jack Webb Blogathon at his new digs from October 17-19.  Any and all things Webb will be the focus of the ‘thon, from his seminal police procedural Dragnet to his cinematic output to any of his other radio/TV offerings like Pat Novak for Hire or Adam-12.  I’ve informed Toby that TDOY is so up for this, and I’ve chosen as my text a look at the film that laid the groundwork for Dragnet, 1948’s He Walked by Night.  I know people like Our Lady of Great Caftan would love to get involved in this, and the rest of you should follow suit as well.

One of the perks of participating in the Classic Television Blog Association’s Summer of Classic TV Blogathon in June was that because it was in partnership with the channel responsible for transforming the once-proud TVLand into one of those bar dames who’ll sing a torch song for the price of a Jell-O shot—I am referring, of course, to the magnificence that is MeTV—public relations rep Melissa Kennedy was nice enough to send all the participating bloggers some swag in the form of a MeTV T-shirt.  But the nicest surprise was, since I was going to give the shirt to mi madre (as you know, most of my clothes come from Tents by Omar), Melissa threw in a MeTV ball cap as well.  So many, many thanks to her.

Melissa also sent me an e-mail announcing the new offerings on MeTV beginning tomorrow (September 1—Central and Mountain individuals click here); sadly, we have one of those U-Verses that refuses to carry the digital substation of WSB-TV that features MeTV (I have spoken on the Twitter machine with AT&T subscribers from other localities, and they tell me they do receive it on their system) so I will miss out on the premieres of programs like CHiPs and Saved by the Bell.  (Yes, that is sarcasm—I’m sorry, Melissa…but this is how TVLand started its decline.)  The curious thing is that MeTV will also introduce The Andy Griffith Show to its programming ranks…but (this is your big but) due to contractual reasons, MeTV can’t air TAGS in every city—so some cities will get in its place…wait for it…

…yes, The Not-Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D.  When our Charter first introduced MeTV to its lineup I remember that we were treated to an extra half-hour of The Dick Van Dyke Show on weekday nights because those same contractual reasons kept the network from showing its regularly scheduled offering, Cheers, in Atlanta.  (Not that this is a bad thing, for those people who know how much I worship the Van Dyke show.)  Despite the fact that WATL shows TAGS reruns at 7:30pm weeknightly, WSB-DT (our MeTV affiliate) will be running TAGS at 8 and 8:30pm.  So WSB viewers will be spared lesser Mayberry; I would have bet differently (and lost a substantial amount of money).  Many thanks to TDOY cub reporter Tom Stillabower for giving me the heads-up on the TAGS/RFD situation.

I hope I’ve still got the hang of this blogging thing…

Well, since I’ve been officially in slack mode for the past month I figured it might be a good time to throw something up on the blog in the form of an explanation for that slackitude.  There have been a number of important goings-on here at Rancho Yesteryear that have had a profound effect on my blogging output, and while I haven’t been able to completely iron out the kinks I’m hoping that some of the measures I’ve taken to mow the grass that’s grown will ensure a bit more activity and the return of some of our beloved (and not-so-beloved) features.

A few weeks back, my office chair decided to put in its retirement papers…and since I’m still interviewing candidates for a replacement I haven’t been able to sit down in front of the computer for prolonged periods of time.  Right now, I have two temp chairs filling in—one of which leaves my ass numb after ten minutes…the other fifteen.  I’ve got a third chair that does rather well when I have to sit and watch movies…but it comes up woefully short whenever typing and other computer-related duties need attending.  (Clearly the solution involves funding for a new chair…but that’s a bit down the road a ways.)

America’s favorite (and still wacky) elderly couple—or “Los Parentes Yesteryear,” as Brandie of True Classics calls them—have both been experiencing some mild health concerns of late; it’s nothing too serious, just the usual complaints when you’re past the “spring chicken” stage…but nevertheless, it’s a situation that I’ve had to monitor closely.  As such, I felt it was better for all involved if I relinquished my position as associate editor at ClassicFlix in order to free up time for this, and so I tendered my resignation at the end of January.  I’ve not completely severed ties with CF; I will still contribute the occasional movie review and write their “Where’s That Been? (It Must Have Fallen Behind the File Cabinet)” column on a monthly basis—you can access those reviews by clicking on the ClassicFlix logo in the sidebar on the right, and I hope to also include links to these reviews in the “Movies” section of that sidebar before too long.

I included the above picture to show you that the ‘rents are still in the pink as they pose for a birthday snap (Dad's 82nd) with their favorite grandson.

I guess the big news around the House of Yesteryear is that in mid-January, the Entertainment Committee got together and voted to rid ourselves of CharredHer Cable…because my mother had grown weary of the expense (here’s where I make the old joke that the bill was large enough to be a William).  I was appointed head of a sub-committee to look into cheaper options (my fault, really—this is what happens when you leave the room to get a refill on iced tea) and our first choice was DirecTV…but when the competent DirecTV technician came out to install the dish, he informed us that it would not be feasible due to the large amount of “forest” surrounding the house.  (We do not live in B.F.E., by the way—it's just our neighborhood is rather heavily shaded, treewise.)

Being denied DirecTV wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because on the day the tech was coming out to install (or in our case, not install) the system, the word came down that DirecTV was no longer carrying The Weather Channel…a development that displeased my mother, because watching The Weather Channel is just something old people do.  The dispute, from what I have gleaned reading accounts on the Internets, is not unlike the recent kerfuffle between Charter and Atlanta’s WSB-TV; The Weather Channel is demanding a payment increase from DirecTV, and DirecTV has responded with sand and some pounding instructions.

That’s all well and good…but this doesn’t explain the brouhaha that’s going on between DirecTV and INSP: DirecTV has removed that station from its lineup despite the fact that INSP doesn’t charge them anything to carry the family-friendly programming cable channel.  (The fact that INSP has both The Virginian and The High Chaparral would seem to me having it available to your subscribers a must.)  If you’re a DirecTV subscriber, and you’d like to make your opinion known on this issue, the details are below (click to embiggen):

Well, since DirecTV was out…we had to go with Plan B, and on January 17 we welcomed AT&T U-Verse into our home.  I’ve heard mixed reactions to U-Verse (though admittedly more than a few of them are on those Comcast Xfinity commercials…and we don’t get Xfinity in our area) but we’ve not had any problems with it so far.  We sprung for the HD option, and to say that both parents have fallen in love with it would be a mild understatement; Mom has been raving about it ever since it was installed.  There are two big pluses with the U-Verse: 1) we’ve got a DVR now, which allows me to record movies that I’d like to watch without having to stay up later than normal or set my alarm for same, and 2) both televisions—the one in the living room and my room—get the same programming…which means The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ is now available for viewing in me boudoir.  (Oh, and we get both The Weather Channel and INSP…so suck it, DirecTV.)

There were a few sacrifices made: the U-Verse system doesn’t carry our Me-TV affiliate (I’ve had a couple of people tell me on Facebook and Twitter that it’s available on their systems but it’s not made it here yet), and I also lost Antenna TV and Movies!  But on the other hand, I watched those stations only because I couldn’t get Tee Cee Em in the back bedroom.  We’re also getting the Encore channels—which means my Gunsmoke habit has started up again via Encore Westerns, and we also have access to FX Movies, IFC and Sundance.  (Most of these, sadly, are now riddled with commercials, for which I can only say: boooooo.)

Several of my friends have successfully cut the cable umbilical cord, and I say more power to them; I would love to do likewise but the ‘rents have got a sports jones that constantly needs scratched and not having cable simply wouldn’t be an option for them.  (As for Father—well, he’s bummed because The Pentagon Military Channel isn’t available in HD.)  What we’ll probably do is keep U-Verse for a year…and then if we can’t make a deal with Monty Hall when the year is up we’ll go back to Charter…and then play one off the other the way people used to do by moving from apartment to apartment when the rent was due.  (Don’t try this at home, kids.)

So, I’m hoping to get some reviews of the movies I’ve been DVRing like a madman up soon, and also pick up where we left off on Serial Saturdays and Doris Day(s) in the bargain.  Working on some outside projects kept me from cobbling together a Coming Distractions in January…but it’s the usual 31 Days of Oscar programming on TCM, so you’ve not missed much.  I do want to mention that the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon is currently underway in the same time period (February 1-March 3), hosted by Once Upon a Screen, Outspoken & Freckled and Paula’s Cinema Club—I haven’t officially RSVP’d, but if all goes right I may put forth a post for that.

I have, however, committed to the Sleuthathon—a ‘thon that will doff our respective deerstalkers to the movie and TV detectives of yesteryear, and will be hosted by our good friend Fritzi at Movies Silently.  When I approached her about this on Twitter, I originally suggested doing a piece on my favorite small screen crime drama of all time, Naked City…and then a closer examination of the rules and regs revealed to me that the focus is just on detectives—cops is verboten.  So I had to change to an examination of the cult detective series Johnny Staccato, starring future auteur John Cassavetes.  The Sleuthathon gets underway on March 16th (it’s a two-day affair), so skate on over if you’re interested in participating.

Three other blogathons that I have not officially inked a deal with (okay, more like two) but will probably throw in once I see how my schedule looks include the Big Stars on the Small Screen Blogathon, which will be hosted at How Sweet It Was on March 20 and 21.  (Previously unknown trivia fact: the proprietress of How Sweet it Was and Once Upon a Screen are one and the same!  Think about it—have you ever seen a picture of them together?  I thought not…)

The Diamonds and Gold Blogathon, hosted by the gal reverently referred to here at Rancho Yesteryear as Our Lady of Great Caftan and the indestructible Rich from Wide Screen World, is scheduled to take place from April 12-13.  Caftan Woman’s subject is compelling in its simplicity: select an actor or actress who continued to work in films well into their twilight years…and ignore the fact that a good many of them probably had to, because 1) actors have to act and 2) some of them also have to eat.  I’ve told Her Caftaness that TDOY will review one of my very favorite silver screen Westerns, The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), which features a man who continued to want to perform even after they nailed his coffin shut: Harry Davenport.  (Okay, I may have made this last part up.)

Last—but only because I grouped these by date—and certainly not least is The Romantic Comedy Blogathon, hosted from May 1-4 by Carole & Co. and Backlots, a formidable pair of bloggers that nobody can deny (whoopee!).  The title is self-explanatory; it’s a tribute to the great romantic/screwball comedies of the movies, and I do plan to participate…I just need to nail down a topic.  It’s one that’s right up the ol’ Thrilling Days of Yesteryear alley.

So if you’ve been sitting around and staring at a blank blog, wondering what cinematic subjects you could possibly explore, you have no excuse for not participating in any of these fine events.  (Well, unless you’re trapped in a cave right now.  Or dead.  But we’ll need a note from your mother.)  Okay, my ass is now telling me that my fifteen minutes is up, so I’ll leave things where they’re at and get back to the blog soon.

Monday Night at the MOVIES!

Some of the goodies showing this week on the digital sub-channel affectionately capitalized as MOVIES! include the underrated cop thriller Warning Shot; Fools’ Parade (based on the novel by WV native Davis Grubb); and Jane Fonda’s marvelous comic turn in Fun with Dick and Jane…which also features a nice performance from Alpo salesman Ed “You are correct, sir!” McMahon.  Check out the schedule!

October 14, Monday

08:00am The Desperadoes (1943)

09:55am Sea Wife (1957)

11:40am Dead Men Tell (1941)

01:00pm Warning Shot (1967)

03:10pm Fighting Mad (1976)

05:05pm The Rose (1979)

08:00pm An Unmarried Woman (1978)

10:40pm Switching Channels (1988)

12:55am An Unmarried Woman (1978)

03:35am Switching Channels (1988)

05:50am The Parallax View (1974)

October 15, Tuesday

08:00am Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

10:15am C.C. and Company (1970)

12:15pm Red Skies of Montana (1952)

02:30pm The Young Lions (1958)

06:05pm Good Day for a Hanging (1959)

08:00pm High Noon (1952)

09:55pm Posse (1975)

11:55pm High Noon (1952)

01:50am Posse (1975)

03:50am Warning Shot (1967)

October 16, Wednesday

06:00am Denver and the Rio Grande (1952)

08:00am Experiment in Terror (1962)

10:40am The Osterman Weekend (1983)

12:50pm Underworld U.S.A. (1961)

03:00pm Walking Tall (1973)

05:40pm Walking Tall Part 2 (1975)

08:00pm The French Connection (1971)

10:15pm Uncommon Valor (1983)

12:30am The French Connection (1971)

02:45am Uncommon Valor (1983)

05:00am Back Door To Hell (1980)

October 17, Thursday

06:35am Backlash (1947)

08:35am Fools' Parade (1971)

10:45am Irreconcilable Differences (1984)

01:15pm Dear Brigitte (1965)

03:25pm Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)

05:40pm Stir Crazy (1980)

08:00pm Moscow on the Hudson (1984)

10:35pm First Monday in October (1981)

12:50am Moscow on the Hudson (1984)

03:25am First Monday in October (1981)

05:35am King of the Gypsies (1978)

October 18, Friday

08:00am J.W. Coop (1971)

10:25am Hanover Street (1979)

12:45pm The Elephant Man (1980)

03:25pm Jacob's Ladder (1990)

05:25pm The Bride (1985)

08:00pm Don't Look Now (1973)

10:20pm Die! Die! My Darling! (1965)

12:25am Don't Look Now (1973)

02:45am Die! Die! My Darling! (1965)

04:50am The Return of Mr. Moto (1965)

October 19, Saturday

06:30am Soup to Nuts (1930)

08:15am It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

10:00am Kids Programming (FCC-mandated)

01:00pm Jungle Man-Eaters (1954)

02:30pm Mr. Sardonicus (1961)

04:25pm The Return of the Fly (1959)

06:10pm Nadine (1987)

08:00pm Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)

10:05pm No Mercy (1986)

12:20am The Man I Married (1940)

02:00am Mr. Soft Touch (1949)

04:00am Vicki (1953)

05:55am Whirlpool (1949)

October 20, Sunday

08:00am The Chase (1966)

11:00am Murder By Death (1976)

01:05pm The Cheap Detective (1978)

03:10pm Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)

05:20pm Return to Peyton Place (1961)

08:00pm Places in the Heart (1984)

10:20pm Tender is the Night (1962)

01:40am Places in the Heart (1984)

04:00am Tender is the Night (1962)

Monday Night at the MOVIES!

We’ve got some good stuff on tap this week on MOVIES!, the aspiring Fox Movie Channel doppelganger that comes to us (well, those of us in the Atlanta area anyway) via WAGA’s digital sub-channel (2.2).  Some first-rate noir (Cry of the City, Underworld, U.S.A., The Burglar), Stooges fun (Soup to Nuts)…and Friday night, a double feature of two longtime TDOY faves: True Believer (1989) and The Parallax View (1974).  Enjoy!

October 7, Monday

08:00am Good Day for a Hanging (1959)

09:55am Back Door to Hell (1980)

11:30am Red Skies of Montana (1952)

01:40pm C.C. and Company (1970)

03:40pm Cry of the City (1948)

05:45pm The Naked Face (1985)

08:00pm Murder by Death (1976)

10:05pm The Cheap Detective (1978)

12:10am Murder by Death (1976)

02:15am The Cheap Detective (1978)

04:20am The Man I Married (1940)

October 8, Tuesday

06:00am I Deal in Danger (1966)

08:00am Two Rode Together (1961)

10:25am Posse (1975)

12:30pm Underworld U.S.A. (1961)

02:40pm Experiment in Terror (1962)

05:30pm The Detective (1968)

08:00pm The French Connection (1971)

10:15pm Serpico (1973)

12:50am The French Connection (1971)

03:05am Serpico (1973)

05:35am The White Dawn (1974)

October 9, Wednesday

08:00am Cowboy (1958)

10:00am Sea Wife (1957)

11:40am Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)

01:45pm The Psychopath (1966)

03:30pm The Seven-Ups (1973)

05:45pm The Osterman Weekend (1983)

08:00pm Walking Tall (1973)

10:40pm Walking Tall Part 2 (1975)

01:00am Walking Tall (1973)

03:40am Walking Tall Part 2 (1975)

October 10, Thursday

06:00am I Deal in Danger (1966)

08:00am Denver and the Rio Grande (1952)

10:00am King of the Gypsies (1978)

12:25pm The Rose (1979)

03:25pm Switching Channels (1988)

05:40pm Donovan's Reef (1963)

08:00pm Peyton Place (1957)

11:30pm Peyton Place (1957)

03:00am An Unmarried Woman (1978)

05:40am No Mercy (1986)

October 11, Friday

08:00am The Desperados (1969)

10:00am The White Dawn (1974)

12:25pm Backlash (1947)

01:50pm The Burglar (1957)

03:50pm White Line Fever (1975)

05:50pm Underworld U.S.A. (1961)

08:00pm True Believer (1989)

10:15pm The Parallax View (1974)

12:25am True Believer (1989)

02:40am The Parallax View (1974)

04:50am Back Door to Hell (1980)

October 12, Saturday

06:20am The Return of Mr. Moto (1965)

08:15am The Return of the Fly (1959)

10:00am Kids Programming (FCC-mandated)

01:00pm It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

02:50pm Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

05:15pm Return to Peyton Place (1961)

08:00pm Cactus Flower (1969)

10:15pm Pal Joey (1957)

12:35am Vicki (1953)

02:30am Moontide (1942)

04:35am The Burglar (1957)

October 13, Sunday

06:40am Dead Men Tell (1941)

08:00am Jungle Man-Eaters (1954)

09:30am Soup to Nuts (1930)

11:00am Dressed to Kill (1941)

12:40pm The Return of Mr. Moto (1965)

02:15pm Mr. Moto’s Gamble (1938)

03:50pm Whirlpool (1949)

05:55pm Die! Die! My Darling (1965)

08:00pm Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

10:45pm The Chase (1966)

01:40am Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

04:25am The Chase (1966)

Sunday Monday Night at the MOVIES!

Apologies for not having this up yesterday—I was preoccupied with some eBay-related doin’s, and I completely forgot about putting together this week’s schedule for the Fox Movie Channel wannabe MOVIES!  (I also forgot to assemble a timely Coming Distractions for October, which starts tomorrow.  Sadly, I have become tres slack in recent weeks.)

Anyway, I’ve decided to start the MOVIES! feature on Mondays from now on, where it will share the blog spotlight with Doris Day(s) once I get back on track doing those write-ups.  So here’s what you can look forward to this week:

September 30, Monday

08:00am The Bounty Killer (1965)

10:00am Hostile Guns (1967)

12:00pm The Assassination Bureau (1969)

02:20pm Rio Grande (1950)

04:35pm Hatari! (1962)

08:00pm Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

12:55am Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

05:45am The Osterman Weekend (1983)

October 1, Tuesday

08:45am J.W. Coop (1971)

11:05am Two Rode Together (1961)

01:30pm Uncommon Valor (1983)

03:45pm The White Dawn (1974)

06:05pm Fighting Mad (1976)

08:00pm The African Queen (1951)

10:15pm Stalag 17 (1953)

12:55am The African Queen (1951)

03:10am Stalag 17 (1953)

05:50am The Last Wagon (1956)

October 2, Wednesday

08:00am Hangman's Knot (1952)

09:45am Last of the Comanches (1953)

11:40am I Deal in Danger (1966)

01:40pm Don't Look Now (1973)

04:00pm White Line Fever (1975)

06:00pm Assassination (1987)

08:00pm Death Wish (1974)

10:00pm Death Wish III (1985)

12:05am Death Wish (1974)

02:05am Death Wish III (1985)

04:10am The Psychopath (1966)

05:55am The Desperados (1969)

October 3, Thursday

08:00am The Last Wagon (1956)

10:10am Sea Wife (1957)

11:55am Backlash (1947)

01:20pm Hanover Street (1979)

03:40pm A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988)

05:40pm Donovan's Reef (1963)

08:00pm From Here to Eternity (1953)

10:35pm Phone Call From A Stranger (1952)

12:40am From Here to Eternity (1953)

03:15am Phone Call From A Stranger (1952)

05:20am An Unmarried Woman (1978)

October 4, Friday

08:45am The Desperadoes (1943)

10:40am Cowboy (1958)

12:45pm Fools' Parade (1971)

02:55pm Irreconcilable Differences (1984)

05:30pm Moscow on the Hudson (1984)

08:00pm Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)

10:15pm Stir Crazy (1980)

12:40am Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)

02:55am Stir Crazy (1980)

05:20am Walking Tall (1973)

October 5, Saturday

08:30am Jungle Man-Eaters (1954)

10:00am Kids Programming (FCC-mandated)

01:00pm The Return of the Fly (1959)

02:45pm The Tingler (1959)

04:30pm Dead Men Tell (1941)

05:50pm Dear Brigitte (1965)

08:00pm Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

10:30pm Funny Face (1957)

12:50am Cry of the City (1948)

02:55am Backlash (1947)

04:20am The House on 92nd Street (1945)

October 6, Sunday

06:20am Dressed to Kill (1941)

08:00am A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

11:00am Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938)

12:35pm Warning Shot (1967)

02:50pm Irreconcilable Differences (1984)

05:20pm An Unmarried Woman (1978)

08:00pm The Rose (1979)

10:55pm Nadine (1987)

12:50am The Rose (1979)

03:45am Nadine (1987)

05:40am King of the Gypsies (1978)

Oh, goody…a night of Death Wish movies on Wednesday.  I know someone’s mother will be very pleased.  (I will not reveal her identity, because it could be embarrassing for me…er, her son.)