The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Past chats with our guests.
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Jezebel38
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by Jezebel38 »

Hi Charlie - thanks for stopping by! I was going to ask you how you came into your programmer job, but I see that's already been answered. But you do say you have a staff? How many? Do they have to pass a written test of classic film knowledge to make the the team? :P
I also wanted to thank you for scheduling all the British fims this past year or so, and ask where you obtain some of them, especially the Gainsborough films. Like Coffee Dan, I'd sure like to see Captain Hates The Sea, and I'm looking forward to Claude Rains too, but didn't see Crime Without Passion scheduled - maybe sometime latter? BTW, a big thank-you to you or whomever on your staff for scheduling Ken Russell's Valentino during Leslie Caron month!
tcmprogrammr
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by tcmprogrammr »

ChiO - no, we've never done any sort of research at all on what festivals or films we want to play. We've done some marketing research here and there to see how the brand is doing but never anything to help determine what to play. As for the "typical" TCM viewer, I think we have two primary audiences: 1. older people that remember a lot of these films from when they were younger and have a nostalgic feeling for them, and 2. hardcore film fans, people that just love movies, a group that spans all ages; of course this doesn't capture everyone and there's a lot of overlap between them, but that seems to be a broad description of the TCM fans. As for festivals I've always wanted to do, there are several. Filmlover (from the TCM message boards) had suggested a festival devoted to filmmakers that immigrated and came through Ellis Island, something that I've always thought was interesting. I'd like to do Iranian films at some point because they have such a rich film heritage that isn't seen here very much; comprehensive festivals of some Fox stars would be great (Monroe, Power, Grable, etc.); a festival devoted to revenge in the movies; there are a whole lot, those are just a few off the top of my head and I'm sure we will get to some or all of them in the future. There's just only so much space for all of the great possibilities.
tcmprogrammr
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by tcmprogrammr »

moirafinnie - we are playing more of both Universal and Paramount, maybe not as much as a lot of people would like, but definitely a lot more than we have in the last few years. As I said in an earlier reply, we are limited in the number that we can play but at least we do have some access, more than we've ever had before. As for the quality of the films that we play compared to dvds, in almost every circumstance we should be able to get the same version that's been released on dvd. There have been times that we've made a mistake by not ordering the upgraded version. And there are very rare circumstances when one company has the television rights and another has the dvd rights and the television company can only send us the version that they have. But this is very rare because we can usually still access the version from the company that has a better version on dvd. I do remember a film recently for Underground that the rightsholder felt that what was out on dvd was illegally being distributed and so we couldn't access it. And there was the time that Paramount wouldn't supply us with the Photoplay version of "Wings" and Photoplay couldn't provide it to us without Paramount's permission. But those situations are very rare, the truth is a lot of times it's our fault that we missed the fact that something better was created - we do try and stay on top of that, though.
tcmprogrammr
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by tcmprogrammr »

Joe, of course I remember you. It was a pleasure to meet you and your daughter. I also remember obtaining a play of "Angel in My Pocket" at your request (I am remembering that correctly, aren't I?). I will make sure to put this down as a request also, I do think it's a film we will be able to play at some point.
tcmprogrammr
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by tcmprogrammr »

Jeffrey, you simply know much more than I do about the condition of many of these films, but I will just say that we pay attention to your suggestions and try to do what we can. And I think we're close to being able to play "Bardleys the Magnificent."
tcmprogrammr
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by tcmprogrammr »

Nancy, other CharlieT and coffeedan - thanks for the suggestions. The only caveat I have is that some films are unavailable due to materials. I'm not saying that's the situation with any of those that you requested, but that's a possibility. But we can look into the situation for each one (we do have a deal with Sony that provides us with great access to the Columbia library, but materials can be an issue).
tcmprogrammr
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by tcmprogrammr »

MichiganJ - thanks for the comment, but believe it or not we don't consider ratings when making programming decisions. In fact, we don't even get ratings information from Nielsen. At one point we did some special reports from them just to see what movies had the biggest audience and who was watching, but that wasn't ever something we did to determine what to play. Having said that, we're definitely aware that a lot of people time shift, I know I do.
tcmprogrammr
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by tcmprogrammr »

Jezebel38, there's a staff of 5 in the programming department, including me. Everyone is very knowledgeable about movies (and several people in other departments are incredibly knowledgeable as well), but nobody had had to take a specific movie test - that sort of comes up in the interview process. I think everyone knows how lucky we are to have the jobs that we do.
tcmprogrammr
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by tcmprogrammr »

Jezebel38 - on "Crime Without Passion" the issue was materials from Universal (which owns the Paramount library). We're trying to work with them as much as possible to create quality video masters for a lot of their films but it's a long process. I am confident that someday we will be able to bring in more films like that.
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movieman1957
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by movieman1957 »

Do you have any other special festivals or anniversary plans coming. I love the anniversary microsite. It is nice to see some of the old "fillers." (Jezebel stole my question about staff.)

As one who won a programming challenge and received a gift with a note from you let me say how much I appreciate the fact that you pay attention to those contests. The fact that we do them for fun and yet you still find time to check in on them makes it all the more interesting for us. It is wonderful that you have felt some worthy of using.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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ChiO
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by ChiO »

no, we've never done any sort of research at all on what festivals or films we want to play.
Then, if anarchy is the code and the market be damned, I suggest that one 6-hour slot each week be devoted to Timothy Carey Movies -- or, as we affectionately refer to it -- TCM.

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Alan K.
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by Alan K. »

Hi Charlie,

So nice of you to come on to answer questions. Here's mine:

1. Are all or most of the films shown by TCM presented in digita-beta format transferred from a 35mm print ?

2. What about the films in the voluminous Warner library that haven't seen the light of day for eons particularly many Allied Artists and Monogram titles including the Bowery Boys series, Loophole (1954) and The Cruel Tower (1956)?

3. Does Warners strike new prints or make new transfers of films for viewing on TCM or do you have to simply have to program what you are told is available?

4. When will TCM screen some of the 1940's Universal Sherlock Holmes titles such as THE SCARLET CLAW and THE PEARL OF DEATH that have been remastered by UCLA instead of the PD Holmes films such as THE WOMAN IN GREEN and SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON that are regularly shown using transfers of extremely poor quality?

5. I thought the best thing TCM ever did was the SUMMER OF DARKNESS film noir series . Any chance of repeating this in a similar format? I would love to co-program it with you!

Keep up the good work!
"First is First and second is nobody"
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Lzcutter
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by Lzcutter »

Charlie,

Again, thank you for taking the time this week to join us!

Being in the City of the Angeles (as well as hanging out with film types from my college days as well as archivists), I am aware of the ten hour documentary on the history of the studios and moguls coming next year to TCM, is there anything you can tell us about this documentary? As I understand it, it's a co-production with TCM.

Also, do you have any say in who gets asked to be a guest programmer?
Lynn in Lake Balboa

"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."

"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese

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The Ingenue
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by The Ingenue »

Dear Mr. Tabesh,

Like Birdy, I want to thank you for TCM's frequent birthday salutes to lesser known actors and actresses. Is there any chance of seeing a salute to Anita Louise this coming January 9?

Also, has TCM the rights to show Patrick the Great (1945)? The film is a remake of Deanna Durbin's It's a Date (1940)--which was shown during the much-appreciated Kay Francis month last year--and therefore a predecessor of Nancy Goes to Rio (1950). I'm holding out hope...

Thank you for giving us so much of your time this week, and for the wonderful work you do at TCM.

Sincerely,
Carrie
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TikiSoo
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Re: The Forum for Questions for Charlie Tabesh

Post by TikiSoo »

Hi Charlie!
I too was interested in your career "road to TCM", thanks for sharing.
Since you've worked for several commercial stations, I'd like to know your observations of the differences in working for a non commercial station like TCM.
•Can you explain just how you can continue broadcasting a station not funded by commercials? Why can't/won't other stations do it?

I think most viewers appreciate TCMs "integrity" more than anything; no editing, no cropping, no interruptions. We all enjoy the creative openings and "fillers" like Word of Mouth.
•Are these done in house, or subcontracted out? How much of the "look" is dictated by TCM?

I realize neither of these subjects are programming per se, but hoped you'd have an opinion.
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