So what's on tonight?

When TCM came out with the December schedule a couple of months ago, there was a blank spot on the schedule for December 13. Well, not quite blank; it says TBA. That spot is still there, and nobody's been able to find any information publicly released as to what's going to go into that slot.

Now, I'll admit I'm writing this a bit early (evening on December 12 for publication early on the 13th), but there's not even anything on the TCM website that they're going to have some sort of surprise in the prime time schedule for the 13th.

The box guide doesn't have anything either. The set-top guide has "Movie" from 8:00 PM to 4:00 AM, followed by "Movie" from 4:00 AM to 6:00 AM, and then the 1959 Ben-Hur at 6:00 AM. (Everybody agrees on this.) Titan TV (which may use a different listings service from my set-top box guide) has two "TCM Presents" blocks to kick off the evening, followed by three "Movie" slots, and TCM's own daily schedule still has just the one long TBA slot. So, whoever came up with the idea of having a mystery lineup has done a good job.

My first guess would have been something Backlot-related, although I find it hard to think how enough people could have kept a secret for it to be that. At any rate, I guess we'll find out in a few short hours. Now to clear enough from the DVR to record it if there is anything interesting....

Edit: It turns out tonight's lineup is a salute to movies added to the National Film Registry this year, with Carla Hayden from the Library of Congress sitting down with Leonard Maltin to discuss the movies aired. The night is going to kick off with a documentary about film preservation at 8:00 PM, These Amazing Shadows. I'm interested in that and the short about The Sinking of the Lusitania which, from the 1918 date given on the TCM schedule page, is the Winsor McCay short, at 2:00 AM.