TVSquad

Alec Baldwin is a very complicated, very smart, and very talented guy. In two interviews just a month or so apart this fall, he was complaining about his career, contemplating other things he wanted to do with his life ... and that was all before winning the Emmy for 30 Rock.

Whatever he envisions for a professional life away from acting, if that's to be the case, Alec Baldwin has signed on to co-host Turner Classic Movies' The Essentials, a weekly analysis of a classic movie with co-host Robert Osborne. The show, which airs every Saturday at 8 p.m., most recently featured actress Rose McGowan, and before her Carrie Fisher and Molly Haskell shared the duties with Osborne.

It's one of my favorite TCM programs, giving the hosts a chance to set up a great movie, offer commentary and stimulate conversation. Considering the fact that Alec is very opinionated and pretty funny, he should add a lot to The Essentials.

While the Republicans are gathering in St. Paul for their national convention to confirm the candidacy of Senator John McCain as presiden,t and Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, Turner Classic Movies is presenting a night of alternative politics.

The cable channel going to present five movies about politics, and if you want to see how the world of running for public office has changed in the 20th century, these films are a fantastic reflection of the times.

On Wednesday, September 3, starting at 8 PM ET, the night begins with The Last Hurrah, and includes The Candidate (10:15 PM), The Best Man (12:15 AM), Nashville (2 AM) and The Dark Horse (1932).

Like I said, these pictures are all really interesting choices. The Candidate, released in 1972, for instance, is not so different from today's campaign pitting Senator Barack Obama versus Senator John McCain.

It's a young candidate espousing change, up against an experienced, wizened establishment candidate. Robert Redford plays Bill McKay, the up and comer, while Don Porter is the popular, long-time incumbent senator. Check out these photos, because Porter even looks like McCain!

Sally Field is a two-time Oscar winner, a three-time Emmy winner -- including last year at Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for Brothers and Sisters -- and she's bound to be in the running again this year when the nominations are announced on July 17.

Now she's taking on a new role; she'll be guest programmer at Turner Classic Movies in July, and having gotten a look at her choices, I have to say to Sally, "I like you, I really like you" -- at least your taste in movies.

Sally will be joined by TCM host Robert Osborne introducing and discussing her four films. The Field four are Love With a Proper Stranger, The Awful Truth, All About Eve and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, and every one of them features great performances by women.

To those of you who aren't movie buffs, here's a bit more information about these films -- why I like them, and I mean, I really like them.

Way back in the early 1970's, when I was a kid (I'm not that old!), I remember seeing some amazing movies on the CBS Children's Film Festival. It was on either Saturday or Sunday afternoons and I vaguely recall my mother encouraging me to watch. Kukla, Fran and Ollie introduced the movies and to this day, I can still remember seeing classic foreign films that were made for children like The Red Balloon (French), Hand in Hand (British) and Skinny and Fatty (Japanese). I think those movies may have been the first that really got be interested in film.

Turner Classic Movies seems to be providing a similar service for kids today, albeit by presenting great classics from Hollywood's golden era. TCM started a new series called Essentials Jr. Grey's Anatomy star Chris O'Donnell (Scent of a Woman) co-hosts with Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). Together, they provide introductions and discuss the films, movies that are picked to be just right for kids. According to TCM, "The chosen films are ones that any cinema-literate child should know about and be able to enjoy with family and friends including grown-ups."

Recently, I wrote about why I respect, admire, and -- yes -- love Turner Classic Movies. Well, today they've done something else to reinforce my feelings. On June 2, TCM will air a salute to director Sydney Pollack, showing four of his films. The Oscar-winning director, who was also an actor and producer, passed away on Monday following a short bout with cancer. It was only a few months ago that the word spread in Hollywood that he was seriously ill. Film critic Joseph Morgenstern wrote a salute to him on February 2 in the Wall Street Journal, honoring the man before his death.

Sadly, the cancer that fell Sydney Pollack was one that didn't respond to treatment.

On Monday, TCM will show Sydney Pollack's directorial debut in features, 1965's The Slender Thread starring Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft. In the same year, he won an Emmy for directing The Game, part of the Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater anthology series. On TV, he'd also done Ben Casey and The Fugitive episodes, learning his craft.

As much a I love TV -- and I do -- I'm also a real movie fan. I used to have a button that read "Movie Buff," and I actually wore it! So, it's without a bit of irony that I declare here and now that I love Turner Classic Movies. TCM is the definitive film fan destination on the entire cable/satellite/broadcast dial. Here's five reasons to back up my claim -- see if you don't agree.

1) Choice - Name another channel that you can watch from daybreak till midnight and not have to reach for the remote. TCM has thousands of movies, and as many as I've seen since I started really watching, they broadcast films that are new to me (and believe me, I've logged hudreds of hours watching films). The Turner library is stuffed with classics, A-movies, B's, two-reelers, shorts, silents ... MGMs, Warners, RKO's, and more -- they cover the spectrum. Ted Turner knew what he was doing when he created the channel in 1994. TCM promised to be "uninterrupted, uncolorized and commercial-free!" In 14 years they've stuck by the creed.

I am now one of you. No longer will I be shunned at social events, ignored by family, and laughed at by world leaders. That bleak and dark time of my life is now over. Why, you ask? Well, as of a few short months ago I became one of the 24 million households that owns a flat-screen HDTV. Utopia is now within my reach.

I had no interest in purchasing one at first. It was the re-carpeting of our family room that actually planted the seed.

In an effort to change how viewers perceive the network, Turner Classic Movies has unveiled a collection of original programming that they are readying for 2007. Rather than being seen as the network for old movies, they want to be known as "a dynamic television destination for movie lovers of all ages", as General Manager Tom Karsch puts it.

The network has ordered a pilot for Idols, though that name isn't a sure thing yet. The series will feature actors interviewing the people that influenced them. The first episode finds Alec Baldwin interviewing Gene Wilder. Yeah, that one surprised me, but it should make for an interesting conversation.

Also in the works is a series of documentaries. One of those is Spielberg on Spielberg, a 90 minute look at his film career. There are also plans for a look back at the career of Marlon Brando through interviews with James Caan, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, and Martin Scorcese.