Updates for June 4-5, 2016

So I made a point of tuning in to TCM last night to see if Robert Osborne was on. Last night was the first night of an every-Friday-in-June salute to director Billy Wilder, and it was being presented by... Madeleine Stowe. So yet again no Robert Osborne. I have no idea if he's going to be back for The Essentials tonight.

I missed the opening movie this afternoon, presented by new TCM host Tiffany Vazquez, but made it a point to tune in for the second movie. I wish TCM could have recycled the old weekend afternoon intro that they had for Ben Mankiewicz, the one with the man running through the streets with a reel of film to get to the projection room on time. But, I can't remember if that was in high-definition or not. If it was only in 4:3, then of course they had to come up with something new. It's more that I don't care so much for the intro they did come up with. It's a kaleidoscope-type design, which I personally found visually uncomfortable for some reason I can't quite explain.

As for Tiffany the presenter, she came across like a lot of people who aren't professional broadcasters; that is, a bit nervous and doing a less-than-perfect job of using her voice to sound spontaneous or displaying the proper emotions with her voice. I think I mentioned when blogging about The Bellboy many years ago about the presence in the cast of Bob Clayton. Clayton was an announcer on game shows, something which requires you to use your voice not just to announce the contestants and host, or to describe prizes, but also to to sound enthusiastic without sounding over the top. It's a skill that serves Clayton well in his scenes with Jerry Lewis, and a skill that's difficult to acquire. Pretty much anybody can read words off sheets of paper (if, say, you're in radio like I was at college) or a teleprompter. But doing it and sounding right is hard, and Tiffany was, I think, not there yet. (Not that I ever got anywhere close to that.)