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Favorite Cable Channels
American Movie Classics (and Turner Classic Movies)
First, let's get something straight. I'm not a fan of old movies in the sense that I moan about how today's movies just aren't as good. There were real stinkers in the old days, just as now, and if you doubt me, all you have to do is watch one of these cable channels over a long period of time. Because, while they make interesting choices, not everything they show is a particularly good movie. Indeed, sometimes you can be stunned at how bad the writing is, or how wretchedly a great star of the past can do when cast in the wrong part.
But the fact remains that when I'm insomniac and playing computer games while listening to television, outside of primetime and talk-show hour I flip almost exclusively between these two networks. The commentary before and after the films is interesting, and while the movies are often obscure, the obscure ones are often surprisingly good, or have good bits that make it worth the time to watch them. They avoid run-of-the-mill genre films — no mindless musical revues, only a few well-chosen westerns — and the focus seems to be on strong story, which is music to me, I'll tell you! TCM even runs some silent movies and "one-reel wonders", while AMC's "Remember WENN" is a slow- paced, low key tv series that grows on you. One thing that surprises me is how often, even in some of the weaker films, the writing is genuinely witty. The characters are allowed to talk. These days Hollywood seems to panic at the sight of a few pages of dialogue uninterrupted by action, and the result is that the grunting action hero seems to be the star of romantic comedy as well, and as for screwball comedy, the closest we come is the "wit" of Jim Carrey and the Saturday-Night-Live alums. Watching the old movies will rekindle your taste for clever dialogue. (But do we have any actors left who can deliver lines like that? Check out Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney in One Fine Day!)
I only hope that boneheaded cable carriers don't decide that they only need one black-and-white movie channel. Every cable system should have both!
Arts and Entertainment
For most of every day, they could just as easily call this "The Mystery Channel," as we see reruns of old mystery tv series. At nadir, this means Quincy and McMillan and Wife, every episode of which makes me shudder to think that these were once highly-rated shows. But at its best, this means Columbo and the entire run of Law and Order, as well as many a fine British import.
A&E earns its stature, though, through its special events and the Biography series. Biography, night after night, is a creditable summary of somebody's life. Sometimes the lives aren't worth summarizing, but ... that's a matter of taste. They earn points for being forthright and even-handed, hard to do with some of the controversial characters they deal with.
But here's my confession: While I sometimes get hooked on a Biography, what brings me back again and again are the mystery shows.
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