Thursday, October 25, 2012

TCM Guest Programmer: Jim Lehrer

I'll admit that I haven't been watching quite as much TCM in recent weeks, but I haven't seen one promo for this month's TCM Guest Programmer, PBS news host Jim Lehrer. (Does anybody actually watch the News Hour any more?) Lehrer is responsible for tonight's TCM lineup, which is as follows:

All The King's Men at 8:00 PM;
It Happened One Night at 10:00 PM;
My Fair Lady at midnight; and
North By Northwest at 3:00 AM.

There's nothing particularly obscure here, and I'm sure that's bound to tick off those people who think you have to prefer the obscure stuff to be a true movie fan. I've always thought of the Guest Programmers as a way of drawing new eyeballs to the channel: people who don't necessarily know so much about the movies, but might be interested in seeing a famous celebrity. The only problem this month is that it's Jim Lehrer. If some twentysomething had picked this lineup, then great. Promo it someplace where the other young folks will see it, and maybe they'll learn that old movies and -- gasp! -- black and white films don't have to be threatening. Indeed, I think all four of Lehrer's selections are the sort of movie that are good for introducing neophytes to various genres of movies. But Jim Lehrer doing it?

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