RETRO: Like classic films? Check out TCM this September!

by Steven B. Combs, Ph.D.

We received our monthly Turner Classic Movies (TCM) Now Playing magazine for September. I think Nikki and I need to take a month’s worth of vacation from work so we can enjoy what is an amazing collection of classic cinema.

Check out these monthly highlights:

• Kim Novak – collection of films from the great actress
• Future Shock – 16 great Sci Fi Friday films
• Sunday’s with Hitch – 43(!) Hitchcock films spread over every Sunday in September

On top of those great monthly highlights are three of my favorite ways to explore unknown cinema; TCM Underground, TCM Imports and Silent Sunday Nights.<

If you are not a subscriber or viewer (TCM is part of our basic package), you should be. Watching TCM is the equivalent of participation in a college film class that never ends. Your Professors are the great Robert Osborne and the very entertaining and knowledgeable Ben Mankiewicz. They even have a guest lecturer drop by on occasion.

If you want the full-on educational experience, check out their textbook, Now Playing magazine. Full of articles from the hosts and guests like Martin Scorsese, the magazine got a bit of a refresh in September. Want to visit their campus as a guest student? Attend a Turner Classic Movie Cruise (on our bucket list)! Now that’s a campus.

This is probably the only channel that keeps me from cutting ties with my local cable provider. If I could only subscribe to one channel on cable, this would be it. My only request would be the ability to watch live or time shifted on my iPad mini or iPhone. I would pay for this service as I do my Netflix subscription. Allow me to stream this content on my Chromecast and “good-bye cable!”

{UPDATE - May 3, 2014: TCM now offers an iPad app that allows live streaming and video on demand movies. It does require cable company authentication, but is sure is great to have access to TCM on the go!}

Give TCM a try this month and I’m sure you will be hooked. There’s nothing like a good classic film when there are 300 other channels of reality television. Gotta run now. Need to clear off some recordings from the TiVo to make room for what is sure to be an amazing month of entertainment. If you are a TCM watcher, sound off in the comments below.