Briefs for February 9, 2024

I'm sorry to say that I haven't been paying quite as close attention to the upcoming TCM schedule as I probably should. There are a couple of movies that showed up in the past few days that I wouldn't have minded putting on my DVR but didn't notice aired until looking at the schedule this morning and seeing that they showed up over the past few days. I guess I'll have to open up the Watch TCM app (and sign in, since that one doesn't like to keep people logged in for more than a month or so, which is another story) to see if they're available.

The reason I looked up the TCM schedule is to see what TCM was showing tonight since it's Super Bowl Sunday here in the US. Specifically, I was wondering where there are enough Oscar-nominated movies about football for TCM to do a night of it in this year's 31 Days of Oscar format. Maybe, although I think fewer old movies about football actually got Oscar nominations. Crazylegs, which aired last year, got an editing nomination. And, of course, Walter Matthau won a Supporting Actor Oscar for The Fortune Cookie, which isn't even on this month's schedule. But Knute Rockne, All American? No Oscar nominations. Good News did get one in the original song category. But it all reminded me that back in the day, football wasn't really the subject of prestige movies. Boxing seemed to be a bigger deal, and TCM is doing a night of boxing movies on Wednesday.

For the record, tonight's TCM lineup is movies with trials, starting with To Kill a Mockingbird at 8:00 PM and including the always underrated Arthur Kennedy in Trial (2:45 AM).

I suppose TCM could have done movies in honor of somebody's birthday. Ronald Colman was born on this day in 1891. There's also Kathryn Grayson (born 1922), and among the living, Joe Pesci (turning 82) and Mia Farrow (turning 80). TCM seems to do well at getting the rights to Woody Allen's movies, but using those to honor Mia Farrow might be a bit of a touchy subject for some considering how their relationship ended.

My looks at the TCM schedule have been disproportionately looking at what's already on my DVR that's coming up again soon, since YouTube TV catches every showing of something you've put on your DVR until you tell it not to. The upcoming showings include America, America, tomorrow at noon; The Red Shoes at 5:30 PM Monday; and a couple of musicals on Wednesday, Easter Parade and Oklahoma. Several other recordings are on FXM, since they have a much more limited library.