TVSquad

If we lived in a world where we could only watch five TV networks on our televisions (I don't know what type of world that would be but it sounds like one of those bleak futures you often see in sci-fi movies), I would definitely choose Turner Classic Movies as one of those networks. That's a no-brainer. I think I'd have a harder time choosing which major networks(s) I'd want on that list too.

The movie network has announced that they're doing a classic film festival in April 2010.

If I were to enroll at TCM University, I think I'd major in film noir.

I'll get my chance to enroll at such a school this February, when Turner Classic Movies presents its annual "31 Days of Oscar" film schedule (there aren't 31 days in February - maybe it leaks into March?). This year the festival will be devoted to a "classroom" of 350 different films, hosted by Robert Osborne. Each day Osborne will introduce each movie theme and tell us a little bit about the theme and the movies.

The "courses" include Mass Media, Nuclear Physics, Farm Planning and Management, Military Law, Reproductive Biology, and other courses that will be represented by classic Oscar-winning movies, from My Fair Lady and The China Syndrome to Hannah and Her Sisters and The Caine Mutiny. Other movies will include Network, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Casablanca, Poltergeist, and The Great Escape.

They should hold classes in Space Exploration and Technology and show Plan 9 From Outer Space.

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.

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.

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.