History Creator / TurnerClassicMovies

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is a [[LongRunner long-running]],[[note]]launched April 14, 1994[[/note]] commercial-free cable television network owned by Creator/WarnerMedia and dedicated to airing classic movies, most of them from the Creator/WarnerBros, Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer (the pre-1986 library owned by Warner Bros & the post-1986 library owned by MGM themselves), Creator/UnitedArtists, Creator/{{RKO}}, and [[Creator/TheCriterionCollection Janus]] film libraries. TCM daily airs many familiar classics (mostly released prior to 1980 and often pre-1970), along with tons of foreign films and obscure rarities that would otherwise likely never see the light of day -- including stuff that nobody would think about, like trailers and even two-reel live-action comedies. The network shows no outside commercials, although between (never ''during'') films they will show old film trailers, short commercials for the network's merchandise, and other interstitial material.

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Turner Classic Movies is a [[LongRunner long-running]],[[note]]launched April 14, 1994[[/note]] commercial-free cable TV network owned by Creator/WarnerMedia and dedicated to airing classic movies, most of them from the Creator/WarnerBros, Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer (the pre-1986 library owned by Warner Bros & the post-1986 library owned by MGM themselves), Creator/UnitedArtists, Creator/{{RKO}}, and [[Creator/TheCriterionCollection Janus]] film libraries. TCM daily airs many familiar classics (mostly released prior to 1980 and often pre-1970), along with tons of foreign films and obscure rarities that would otherwise likely never see the light of day -- including stuff that nobody would think about, like trailers and even two-reel live-action comedies. The network shows no outside commercials, although between (never ''during'') films they will show old film trailers, short commercials for the network's merchandise, and other interstitial material.

* PanAndScan: TCM aired a cropped version of ''Film/ANewHope'' using the TBS 2011 Special Edition master in July 2019.

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TCM (nominally short for ''Turner Classic Movies'') is a [[LongRunner long-running]],[[note]]launched April 14, 1994[[/note]] commercial-free cable TV network owned by Creator/WarnerMedia and dedicated to airing classic movies, most of them from the Creator/WarnerBros, Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer (the pre-1986 library owned by Warner Bros & the post-1986 library owned by MGM themselves), Creator/UnitedArtists, Creator/{{RKO}}, and [[Creator/TheCriterionCollection Janus]] film libraries. TCM daily airs many familiar classics (mostly released before 1980 and often pre-1970), along with tons of foreign films and obscure rarities that would otherwise never be able to see the light of day -- including stuff that nobody would think about, like trailers and even two-reel live-action comedies. The network shows no outside commercials, although between (never ''during'') films they will show old film trailers, short commercials for the network's merchandise, and other interstitial material.

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** Amusingly, there's a small (but vocal) minority of viewers who assert that TCM has decayed for a myriad of reasons that seem ridiculously arbitrary to other fans of the channel; it's been charged that TCM now airs too many "modern" films, or that it shows [[ButNotTooForeign too many foreign films]], or that it's been "taken over" by Creator/TheCriterionCollection, and so on. A 2016 petition that demanded the network only show films made prior to 1960 was [[http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/111024-petition-asking-tcm-to-re-focus-on-pre-1960-films/ ripped apart by the denizens of the network's forum]].

** ''The Essentials'', a weekly presentation of a selected film which airs on Saturday evenings, has featured a celebrity guest host (or co-host with Osborne) since it debuted in 2001. Hosts have included Creator/RobReiner, Creator/SydneyPollack, Creator/PeterBogdanovich, Molly Haskell, Creator/CarrieFisher, Creator/RoseMcGowan, Creator/AlecBaldwin, Creator/DrewBarrymore, and Creator/SallyField. Following Osborne's death in 2017, Baldwin took over as the primary host and is now paired with a different special guest each week.

* Creator/TheCriterionCollection: TCM airs many of its titles, and in 2016 launched a joint venture with Criterion to create a subscription online streaming service called [[http://www.filmstruck.com [=FilmStruck=]]].
* FilmNoir: Is naturally featured in the channel, including the weekly ''Noir Alley'' series hosted by "Czar of Noir" Eddie Muller.

TCM (nominally short for ''Turner Classic Movies'') is a [[LongRunner long-running]],[[note]]launched April 14, 1994[[/note]] commercial-free cable TV network owned by [=WarnerMedia=] and dedicated to airing classic movies, most of them from the Creator/WarnerBros, Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer (the pre-1986 library owned by Warner Bros & the post-1986 library owned by MGM themselves), Creator/UnitedArtists, Creator/{{RKO}}, and [[Creator/TheCriterionCollection Janus]] film libraries. TCM daily airs many familiar classics (mostly released before 1980 and often pre-1970), along with tons of foreign films and obscure rarities that would otherwise never be able to see the light of day -- including stuff that nobody would think about, like trailers and even two-reel live-action comedies. The network shows no outside commercials, although between (never ''during'') films they will show old film trailers, short commercials for the network's merchandise, and other interstitial material.

** The black-and-white clips used in ''[[https://youtu.be/rVttlzU2y9E TCM Late Night]]'' -- passenger on a bus, a woman in a corset in front of a changing mirror, a man in a ticket booth (Richard Conte) wearily selling tickets -- are from Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''The Wrong Man'', and his ''Strangers on a Train'', and Creator/StanleyKubrick's second feature, ''Film/KillersKiss''. And the whole thing ends up with a NighthawksShot that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_df2eXP2_FA Hopper's art]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql76eTG2jDk turns up a lot]] in TCM promos.

* NighthawksShot: One of the interstitials that TCM runs to introduce programs is a live-action shot staged to look just like the "Nighthawks" painting.

** The black-and-white clips used in ''[[https://youtu.be/rVttlzU2y9E TCM Late Night]]'' -- passenger on a bus, a woman in a corset in front of a changing mirror, a man in a ticket booth (Richard Conte) wearily selling tickets--are from Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''The Wrong Man'', and his ''Strangers on a Train'', and Creator/StanleyKubrick's second feature, ''Film/KillersKiss''. And the whole thing ends up with Edward Hopper's painting "Nighthawks". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_df2eXP2_FA Hopper's art]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql76eTG2jDk turns up a lot]] in TCM promos.

* SilenceIsGolden: ''Silent Sunday Nights''. Most every Sunday, TCM shows a silent film at midnight Eastern, 9 pm Pacific.

* {{Letterbox}}: They sometimes show [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m1-pP1-5K8 an educational short]] explaining to non-cinephiles how {{aspect ratio}}s work and why letterboxing is a good idea. Also notably, they almost always run the films they air in their original aspect ratio (the ''very'', ''very'' rare exceptions come with extremely obscure titles, in which case they may not have anything better than a TV print available), completely uncensored. This even occurs on the HD feed, whereas TBS and TNT will stretch out films across if they only have the pan and scan standard def version on their HD channels.

Turner Classic Movies, or TCM, is a [[LongRunner long-running]],[[note]]launched April 14, 1994[[/note]] commercial-free cable TV network owned by [=WarnerMedia=] and dedicated to airing classic movies, most of them from the Turner Entertainment and Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer, Creator/UnitedArtists, Creator/{{RKO}}, Creator/WarnerBros and [[Creator/TheCriterionCollection Janus]] film libraries. TCM daily airs many familiar classics (mostly released before 1980 and often pre-1970), along with tons of foreign films and obscure rarities that would otherwise never be able to see the light of day -- including stuff that nobody would think about, like trailers and even two-reel live-action comedies. The network shows no outside commercials, although between (never ''during'') films they will show old film trailers, short commercials for the network's merchandise, and other interstitial material.

On March 4, 2019, it was announced that Creator/WarnerBros would take over operations of Turner Classic Movies, along with sister Turner networks Creator/CartoonNetwork, Creator/{{Boomerang}} and Creator/AdultSwim, effectively breaking off the four channels from Turner Broadcasting, whose assets were dispersed to other [=WarnerMedia=] units.

Compare and contrast to Creator/{{AMC}}, which was once much like TCM (with genial host Bob Dorian) before it experienced NetworkDecay. This was partially because TCM had gained the rights to so many of the classic movie catalogs, and partially as a way to appeal to younger audiences through the use of more recent movies and original dramas like ''Series/MadMen''.

On March 4, 2019, it was announced that Creator/WarnerBros would take over operations of Turner Classic Movies, along with sister Turner networks Creator/CartoonNetwork, Creator/{{Boomerang}} and Creator/AdultSwim, effectively breaking off the four channels from Turner Broadcasting, whose assets were dispersed through other [=WarnerMedia=] units.

On March 4, 2019, it was announced that Creator/WarnerBros would take over operations of Turner Classic Movies, along with sister Turner networks Creator/CartoonNetwork, Creator/{{Boomerang}} and Creator/AdultSwim, effectively breaking off the four channels from of Turner Broadcasting.

Turner Classic Movies, or TCM, is a [[LongRunner long-running]],[[note]]launched April 14, 1994[[/note]] commercial-free cable TV network owned by Time Warner and dedicated to airing classic movies, most of them from the Turner Entertainment and Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer, Creator/UnitedArtists, Creator/{{RKO}}, Creator/WarnerBros and [[Creator/TheCriterionCollection Janus]] film libraries. TCM daily airs many familiar classics (mostly released before 1980 and often pre-1970), along with tons of foreign films and obscure rarities that would otherwise never be able to see the light of day -- including stuff that nobody would think about, like trailers and even two-reel live-action comedies. The network shows no outside commercials, although between (never ''during'') films they will show old film trailers, short commercials for the network's merchandise, and other interstitial material.

** Amusingly, there's a small (but vocal) minority who believe that TCM has decayed for a myriad of reasons that seem ridiculous to other fans of the channel: Some of the charges bandied about are that TCM now airs too many "modern" films, or that it shows [[ButNotTooForeign too many foreign films]], or that it's been "taken over" by Creator/TheCriterionCollection, and so on. A 2016 petition that demanded the network only show films made prior to 1960 was [[http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/111024-petition-asking-tcm-to-re-focus-on-pre-1960-films/ ripped apart by the denizens of the network's forum]].

** Amusingly, there's a small (but vocal) minority who believe that TCM has decayed for a myriad of reasons that seem ridiculous to other fans of the channel: It doesn't show enough films from before an arbitrary year, or that it shows [[ButNotTooForeign too many foreign films]], or that it's been "taken over" by Creator/TheCriterionCollection, and so on. A 2016 petition that demanded the network "only" show films made before 1960 was [[http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/111024-petition-asking-tcm-to-re-focus-on-pre-1960-films/ ripped apart by the denizens of the network's forum]].

The late Robert Osborne was the primary on-air [[TheHost Host]] for the channel from 1994 to 2016. Ben Mankiewicz (grandson of [[Film/CitizenKane Herman J.!]]) joined in 2003, handling daytime and weekend airings while Osborne continued to introduce films in prime time during the week. After Osborne's death in 2017, Mankiewicz took over as the primary host. Tiffany Vazquez served as Saturday daytime host from 2016 to 2018; since then, Alicia Malone and Dave Karger have rotated to host the slots Mankiewicz doesn't do. (They're occasionally joined by others; see GuestHost, below.)

Compare and contrast to {{Creator/AMC}}, which was once much like TCM (with genial host Bob Dorian) before it experienced NetworkDecay. This was partially because TCM had gained the rights to so many of the classic movie catalogs, and partially as a way to appeal to younger audiences through the use of more recent movies and original dramas like ''Series/MadMen''.

** In 2013 TCM introduced a new ''Friday Night Spotlight'' feature, with a guest host joining Osborne to present films based around a given subject or theme. Music/{{Cher}} was the first guest host for the program.

** TCM also has an occasional "guest programmer" feature, in which a special guest (usually, though not always, a celebrity) chooses a lineup of films for a given night and pairs with Osborne to introduce them.

* FilmNoir: Is naturally featured in the channel, including the weekly Saturday-night ''Noir Alley'' series hosted by "Czar of Noir" Eddie Muller.

* FilmNoir: Is naturally featured in the channel, including the weekly dedicated Sunday-morning ''Noir Alley'' series hosted by "Czar of Noir" Eddie Muller.

The late Robert Osborne was the primary on-air [[TheHost Host]] for the channel from 1994 to 2016. Ben Mankiewicz (grandson of [[Film/CitizenKane Herman J.!]]) joined in 2003, handling daytime and weekend airings while Osborne continued to introduce films in prime time during the week. After Osborne's death in 2017, Mankiewicz took over as the primary host. Tiffany Vazquez took over as Saturday daytime host in 2016. (They're occasionally joined by others; see GuestHost, below.)