Topic: TCM's "Moguls and Movie Stars"

[Boid Brain]

For those who have been missing it: It's a 7hr Documentary spanning the 1st 70 years of movies. It airs on Mondays at 4:00 PM eastern.

Tonite will be about the 30's, the best era of all.

[metaldams]

It's actually 8:00 PM ET, not 4:00, but yeah, this series is definitely worth checking out. I have watched the first three parts so far.

Part 4 is premiering 8:00 PM tonight and will be showing again sporadically throughout the week (including 11:00 PM ET when I'll be watching), but you can also catch a repeat showing of part 3 (about the 20's) at 7:00 PM ET. 

[FineBari3]

This series has been very good so far, and I feel it is written for a TCM audience that knows their stuff. I mean, it isn't dumbed down for idiots. It's a quality documentary so far.

They usually show the previous episodes before the current one. The current episode also repeats at 10 pm EST on Wednesdays.

[Dog Hambone]

I agree; it's very intelligently done.

I got hooked on this show, too. I love those old movies, but I am far from being an expert. And I've heard all the names of the moguls & actors they've mentioned, but knew little or nothing about many of them.

I also like being able to watch it on TCM with no commercial interruptions. 

[Boid Brain]

I'm looking forward to stuff about Universal's Carl Lemmle and M.C. Cooper...but there is so much from the 30's; GWTW, Mutiny on the Bounty, Wuthering Heights, Oz....and so much more!

And I'm sure Selznick will get pleny of time.

[Boid Brain]

Well, the 30's episode was a let down! Not a single word about "King Kong", a movie that rocked the country and saved RKO and carried them for a decade! And not a word about Universal Horror, the saving grace of that studio. How can the Frankenstein monster, the most iconic charactor in all the history of film not be mentioned?

But at least they mentioned Colombia's "It happened one Night", a film that validated a studio.

Also ignored in the 20's episode: Laurel and Hardy. Nary a word.

I'm through with this Documentary! It looks like the writers went to Wikipedia for their sources!

[Dog Hambone]

You can hardly blame TCM for wanting to appeal to the largest possible audience. I'll bet there were a lot of viewers who thought they spent too much time on comedians like Chaplin, Keaton, & Lloyd.

One point of interest for me in the 1930s installment was the mention of Columbia (home of the Stooges) & how it was considered the cheapskate, low prestige studio.