TVSquad

Movies are great, and Encore Western has feasted on showing lots of theatrical features and shorts. However, the premium channel has wisely veered from its bread and butter, by mixing in TV shows. The channel will soon be adding to the TV fare when Gunsmoke, Rawhide, and Have Gun Will Travel join Encore Westerns.

These are three classic TV westerns that had significant long runs and big name stars. They'll be a nice addition to shows like Cheyenne and Maverick currently on the net, as well as the Roy Rogers and Gene Autry programmers that run through the day.

So it's Monday afternoon and you're just in the mood to watch a movie where viking women battle big sea monsters or one where a girl gets involved with the men who race souped-sports cars (and one that doesn't have "fast" or "furious" in the title). What are you to do?

Well, AMC has come to the rescue! Besides putting great original shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad on TV, AMC's web site is now streaming old B sci-fi, monster, biker, western, horror, comedy, and crime flicks.

Of course, every week is a great week to watch Turner Classic Movies. If you're not a regular viewer of TCM, you're really missing out.

But looking over their schedule for tomorrow, I noticed several movies are playing that you really must see, especially if you haven't seen them before. In fact, two of the movies are ones I haven't seen before myself, though I've always wanted to. Many of these movies aren't shown on TV that often, and when they are it's only on TCM, another reason to watch the channel regularly.

Once upon a time, in the 1960's, the TV landscape was rife with westerns. In the 1970s, it was detective shows. Nowadays, the same can be said for reality shows, and it seems there's no end in sight to the genre. Today, CBS reported two new reality programs in development. Splitsville, which was previously announced, is now going into production. The marital-based series, which comic Jamie Kennedy is executive producing, is not about happy unions. It sounds more like Divorce Court meets Let's Make A Deal, with divorcing husbands and wives battling over their belongings in a series of competitive challenges. Hmm...can't wait to root for those people!

"Boom-Boom BOOMTOWN!"

I'm not sure if that makes any sense to anyone who grew up outside of New England, but it's the battle cry of many an adult who was a kid between 1956 and 1976. It's from Boomtown, the classic kids show hosted by Rex Trailer on WBZ-TV. Brings back a lot of memories of sitting in my pajamas on Saturday and Sunday mornings, eating breakfast, watching the show. Kids went crazy on that show. I'm talking TRL crazy. I don't really remember Pablo, but I do remember Sgt. Billy.

Trailer is alive and still going strong! He's 78 and appears in parades and at special events, teaches at Emerson College, and has a video production company and television training center. He's currently on a "Rex Trailer 50th Anniversary Tour," and there was a film about him and his show released last year.

He has a web site, where you can not only buy a DVD for the show but also music, postcards, and posters of the reunion tour.