Well, it’s Saturday. The weeks seem to go by so quickly!
The rain has left – there wasn’t that much of it yesterday – and I think we’ll be rain-free until Tuesday.
We love TCM – Turner Classic Movies – but we didn’t have it for a couple of years due to our cable company changing their ‘packages.’ It’s too long a story to tell. I wrote about here on the blog at the time. Since we were streaming a lot of series, especially Nordic Noir, it was okay. But we’ve streamed just about everything we want to stream right now and we found ourselves missing old movies, which are our favorite thing to watch. So we added it to our package.
TCM has been purchased by Warner Brothers/Discovery and the guy who runs it – David Zaslow, a corporate guy through-and-through – recently let go of a lot of TCM’s creative staff. TCM already had a small staff. He was talking about letting it go. TCM has very loyal viewers and they were outraged by the cost-cutting. Stephen Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and others got involved and basically said, “You can’t mess with this channel. Leave it alone.” I know some staff have been rehired, but how many, I don’t know. I’m still nervous about it’s status, especially when the hosts now have to mention Warner Brothers a lot and even had to mention Shark Week on Discovery. Really?
Zaslow, by the way, spoke at Boston University’s graduation ceremony. I’m proud of those students, just as I was when I worked there – they chanted “Pay the writers!” throughout his speech. He earns millions and he somehow can’t pay the writers and actors what they should be paid.
Now he’s messing with TCM. He has backed off a bit since Spielberg, et al, requested a meeting with him.
In a world where Bravo, which used to be about the arts, now airs The Real Housewives of Whatever, and A & E (Arts and Entertainment) has virtually no more programming about the Arts – we need TCM.
Anyway, August has a daily focus on a certain actor and today it’s Doris Day. I’m watching Jumbo right now and tonight is one of my favorite movies ever – Pillow Talk.
Don just made me a cup of coffee (even though it’s my turn) so I didn’t have to miss this movie, which has always been a favorite, since I was around 12 or 13. Doris Day, Stephen Boyd, Jimmy Durante, and Martha Raye and a score by Rodgers and Hart – you can’t lose!
Now, he’s taking a walk.
I’ve got a great guy.
Hope you have the happiest of weekends.
Stay safe.
Happy Saturday.
Doris Day and coffee sounds like a great way to start a weekend. We haven’t been able to get TCM either for quite a while on our expanded cable package. A few years ago, my husband bought me Pillow Talk and a few others on DVD, so I could watch anytime…he knows me so well. Cuz…sometimes when you want a Doris Day movie, you just have to have a Doris Day movie!
Enjoy your Doris Day!! ;)
I have Pillow Talk on DVD, but somehow it’s more fun to watch it on TCM. Of course, our DVD player isn’t working, so there’s that!
Stay safe, Donnamae.
too bad about those changes at tcm … greed (as i see it about that situation) can do terrible things, especially when one has so much power to act on it.
glad you can watch doris day movies and have such pretty flowers and your own sweetheart to more than offset crummy parts of life. :)
sunny and cooler (high of 80 forecast) here. glad and grateful for that. and maybe we’ll see more of earl … 100+ degrees is especially hot for those in fur coats! hope you are staying comfy.
thanks to everyone who prayed for me regarding those radioactive scans. glad they are done (confirmed my claustrophobia). :o
waiting isn’t fun, either, but the clock keeps ticking and i will know soon enough. will let you know what i find out.
thanks very much for praying for my family … needed and appreciated.
hope you all stay safe and have a happy weekend.
kathy
Take care and have a good weekend, Kathy.
Stay safe.
People like Zaslow are parasites. They latch on to something, suck all the life out of it, throw it away when they’re finished, and move on to the next victim. They can’t build or make or create anything of their own. They just destroy. They follow artists (every kind of artist), because artists create. I could go on, but I choose to enjoy my morning instead. And Doris Day? One of my all-time favorites! She was that beautiful, funny, all-American girl next door.
Yes, to your comment about Zaslow.
I love Doris Day. She was an especially gifted commedienne, and timing like hers is rare.
Stay safe, Elizabeth.
Hope you’re enjoying your Doris movies. I have a brief indirect connection to Doris: my late husband once shared a plate of deep-fried zucchini with her, when both were at a Beach Boys concert. Day’s son, Terry Melcher, played with The Beach Boys for a short time. My late husband evolved from fan to friend of the band, so he was always back-stage, but on this particular day, he sat up front with Doris. He said what you saw on the screen was what she was like in person, warm and charming..
I named my vintage Singer sewing machine (manufactured in 1950) “Doris” after Doris Day.
Love that story, Wendy. She always struck me as very down to earth.
Stay safe!
Great way to start the weekend – with a classic movie. I actually had a friend who refused to watch black and white movies for some goofy reason. I cannot imagine life without the classic ’30’s and 40’s films, especially the musicals. If the house was on fire I think the first thing I’d grab would be the Astaire and Rogers DVD boxed set my kids gave me a few years ago.
Read a little bit how they wanted to mess with TCM. I’ve watched it ever since Ted Turner created it for all the movies he owned. Why, oh, why do the big shots always think they can mess with success?
Enjoy the relatively nice weather.
Take care,
Kay
I know of someone else who doesn’t like black and white movies. It’s mind boggling to me!
I have that boxed set, as well because I’ve always been a huge fan of Astaire. I have every book ever written about him, as well. I missed Fred Astaire day which was last weekend before we signed back on for TCM. Darn it!
Stay safe, Kay.
This is so strange but I had actually planned to watch Pillow Talk this evening as it was on the BBC a few days and I can see it on catch-up!
There’s a great independent channel called Talking Pictures set up in 2015 by a retired father and his adult daughter in his garden shed (only in Britain would this happen😂!) They show mainly black and white films such as Seance on a Wet Afternoon and my favourite Green for Danger with Alistair Sim alongside some American shows such as The Outer Limits. It’s free to view.
Happy Saturday
What a neat idea!
Big fan of Alastair Sim.
Stay safe, Dee Dee.
Wow, I love Doris Day movies. My favourite is the Hitchock movie “The Man Who Knew Too Much” where Doris intorduces the song “Que Sera, Sera” for the first time. All her movies are entertaining. Enjoy! Hugs, Elaine
I like that, as well, but for me Pillow Talk shows off her acting skill with her brilliant comedic timing. Rock Hudson, Day, and Tony Randall are at the top of their game.
Stay safe, Elaine.
I love Doris Day and will try to watch Pillow Talk tonight. Oh my, when movies were so clever and not as graphic. I hope TCM stays in support of good movies and art. Hugs.
Clever, for sure. Pillow Talk is so well written and very funny. I love the clip-clop sound of horses that occurs every time Hudson pretends to be a rancher – I think his fake name is Rex Stetson.
Stay safe, Linda.
If I hadn’t read your blog today, I wouldn’t have known about Doris Day’s movies. I’ll try to catch it tonight. I haven’t been on the blog as much as I’d like. Life has been changing here. My husband of almost 54 years has finally gotten in to be tested by a neurologist who specializes in cognitive testing, after a wait of eight months. That’s all I’ll say right now, but my life has been full of research, legal matters and socked-in-the-gut fear.
Oh, Linda! I’m thinking of you and your husband. I know you must be very stressed.
Sending a big hug.
Stay safe.
I didn’t know all that about TCM. Since I don’t have premium channels nor do I stream, I rely on the commercial-free movies offered by TCM. They’re such a treat so much of the time.
Maybe tonight will be the first night since last Sunday night that we can try to sleep together and not in shifts (being on alert) with the lights on (so that we don’t stumble in the dark running for cover). It’s been a hellish earthquake-aftershocks time where I live in Southern California. Days on end of being all clenched up; worried; scared. We’re still getting pops and snaps and crackling noises today but have finally had 24 hrs now of no significant aftershocks (the kind that send us diving under a table).
We’ve had it, though. So, have been coming up with new plans to leave California. After talking about it for eight years, going hot and cold on the subject of leaving, I think it’s really happening now. Won’t be easy, but we have more friends and family out of the state than IN the state, and we’ve gotten gracious invitations to get nearer to these loved ones. 2024 will be a big year for us; I don’t think anything or anyone can change our minds now (I am done with Calif earthquakes; as I keep saying, I can’t go thru another six days like we’ve just endured; I don’t have the mental fortitude for it, and we can’t afford earthquake insurance, nor can 70 percent of Californians).
In the meantime, nose to the grindstone, continuing harder than ever (focus; discipline!!) to declutter-downsize; because, once I do that, I’m free. Free to be more mobile; easier to relocate. I’m feeling pretty good about everything (in terms of the future talk); really motivated; looking forward to good change and new horizons. My life’s been on pause a long time (stagnating here!) and I feel like I’m fast-forward now, so it’s not all bad! I just know I’m going to be mega-busy in the months ahead.
Well, it sounds like this is the last straw. I suspect making the decision is somewhat freeing. Now you know what you have to do.
Good for you, Vicki. And your husband. It’s time.
Stay safe, my friend.
Thank you, Claudia. You (and the readers) over the years have heard me wax on/off about moving; thanks for the patience with the waffling. Yeah, absolutely the last straw; done. Most Californians will NOT uproot of course.
It’s so many factors besides the dangers of living here in terms of natural disaster but it’s also the cost of living and we know we can live elsewhere much more so within our means. We’re just looking for a safe, frugal, simple, quiet, retired life for the time remaining to us; no big ambition otherwise; just a gentle footprint. We won’t be able to buy another home; it will be a return to renting/leasing. Our eyes, again, are wide open. We’re well aware of all the plusses and minuses.
As we’ve spent hours and hours researching all of our notes on the different U.S. states again (much to consider in terms of what’s tax friendly, weather, senior services, hospitals and medical; cost of housing, politics-government; just a host of things), do you realize that upstate NY is one of the safest places to live? Yes, SNOW; but we’re not ruling it out. I know you’ve had too much rain and it was preceded by drought, but you don’t have some of the big-gun natural disasters. Am I really going to return to the area of NY where my Dutch immigrant ancestors lived in 1896? It just may be!
Lots of snow. I suspect you’re talking about the area of upstate NY that is further north. We live in an area that is also called upstate. That term seems to cover a lot of ground!
xo
you’ve been through so much!
glad that you and your husband have made a decision about something that has seemed from here to long feel imminent, necessary. hope that part feels good to you. one step at a time, things will become clearer still and you will find and make your new home. and it will be great!
i keep you and your loves and needs and wishes in my prayers.
and i hope if you get anywhere near iowa that you will let me know!
sending hugs and best wishes,
kathy
We started calling A&E “awful and excruciating.” My cable dropped TCM when they reset the packages. Now I have Hulu and it is on there and I’ve been enjoying it again. I hope they don’t dump it or mess with it too much. There aren’t a lot of stations I even follow anymore and you hate to see changes in ones you like.
Exactly. Quality seems to be lacking most everywhere, but TCM is quality.
Stay safe, Jeanie.