(well heck, I couldn't have used "Free Winona!", could I?)
Although this page is devoted to talking about all aspects of television, I would like to discuss a matter related to cable in this edition of TV Café. This subject matter relates to the very notion of sacrificing enjoyment and education for greed and opportunism.
The issue relates to a storm that is brewing about the new content of American Movie Classics, or A.K.A. AMC.We all know what AMC used to be like: old, classic movies, like "To Kill A Mockingbird" or "Out of the Past" coming on all hours of the day, un-cut and ready to please.
I was among those viewers, looking forward to seeing films that my mother and father actually saw in the movie theaters.Before certain movies on the channel would come on, my father would tell me his memories of what it was like to see such classics as "Spartacus" in Cinemascope, complete with popcorn and my mom (his girlfriend at the time). Memories of this type would fill my mind whenever I would eagerly look over the listings of what the cable channel would show next.
But, alas.I digress. There's more to this than meets the eye.
Recently, I had decided to watch "Roman Holiday", because Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn are among some of my favorite movie actors.I was getting set for a nice evening(knowing that commerical TV was going through its usual blathering of re-runs)and expected it to be magical--just like every time I saw the movie. But thistime, I was out-raged. Why?>
Because instead of the clean, un-cut film I expected from the AMC of old, the dreadful intrusion of commercials and blaring ads disturbed my movie experience. When I watch a good, classic film, I don't want to see disruptive breaks (or intermissions as the grand poobahs of the cable station declare). Intermissions, commericial breaks--I don't care whatever it is called--do not deserve to chop up a great film. But unfortunately, AMC has decided to forgo its blue chip standards to the most basest level--trying to appeal to that 18-to-34 age group with a disposable income with "hip, happening, current films"; and some of their peers talking about their favorite stars and directors.
Their answer? On the AMC website, a representative of programming stated that although the station has fewer interruptions than other cable channels, it has included advertising in order for better programming. Pardon my French, y'all, but that is a load of bull-crap. I don't like their "DVD Sundays" and their oft-repeated specials. I can't stand the bright colors which mock and tease the elegance of the classic films of the Golden Age of Hollywood. And I certainly don't like the fact that they feel that viewers would still enjoy AMC's product after blotching the film experience unlike the one film fans are used to
Well, okay. I know that most people wouldn't give a fig about this rant, but from reading the posts and e-mails connected with AMC, there are a lot of viewers who do care. And while I, the web mistress, tries to keep an even keel on the world of television as we know it, I find that I cannot be balanced in this issue. If you feel the way that I do about the true "preservation" of classic film on this channel, please either a)start a petition to ask AMC's programmers to change the atrocity on their channel; b)write a letter to the AMC channel to persuade them that this change is not what the viewers like; or c)at least post a message of support to my e-mail address or guest book. The more people who know about this, the more we, as viewers, can ask for and get the changes we want.
It's easy for a television viewer to live up to the stereotype of the couch potato by sitting on his or her can and doing nothing. But if this is an example, it is also as easy to fire an e-mail to AMC's message board or other official network boards to let them know when you are pleased or displeased about their content. And that is practicing true democracy.
“Free AMC!!!”@2003 by Ceci M.
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