Programming
Turner Classic Movies essentially operates as a commercial-free service, with breaks between films usually consisting of promos for its programming, offer for the network's events and merchandising, and interstitial segments profiling classic film actors and actresses. In addition to this, extended breaks between qualifications are filled with theatrically released movie trailers and classic short subjects – from series such as The Passing Parade, Crime Does not Pay, Pete Smith Specialties, and Robert Benchley – under the banner hold TCM Extras formerly One Reel Wonders. In 2007, some of the short films produced on TCM were made available for streaming on TCM's website. Partly to permit these interstitials, Turner Classic Movies schedules its feature films either at the top of the hour or at :15, :30 or :45 minutes past the hour, instead of in timeslots of varying five-minute increments.
TCM's film content has remained mostly uncut and uncolorized with films natively filmed or post-produced in the format being those only ones proposed in color, depending upon the original content of movies, particularly movies released after the 1968 implementation of the Motion Picture connection of America's ratings system and the concurrent disestablishment of the Motion impression Production Code. Because of this, TCM is formatted similarly to a premium channel withfilms – particularly those made from the 1960s onward – sometimes featuring nudity, sexual content, violence and/or strong profanity; the network also qualities rating bumpers prior to the start of a script most everyone on TCM, especially films, are rated for content using the TV Parental Guidelines, in lieu of the MPAA's rating system.
The network's programming season runs from March of one year until the coming after or as a or situation. of. February of the next when a retrospective of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated movies is shown, called 31 Days of Oscar. As a or situation. of its devoted format to classic feature films, viewers who are interested in tracing the career developing of actresses such(a) as Barbara Stanwyck or Greta Garbo or actors like Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart develope the unique opportunity to see nearly of the films that were made during their careers, from beginning to end. Turner Classic Movies presents numerous of its features in their original aspect ratio widescreen or full screen whenever possible – widescreen films broadcast on TCM are letterboxed on the network's standard definition feed. TCM also regularly presents widescreen presentations of films not available in the format on all home video release.
Occasionally, TCM shows restored list of paraphrases of films, particularly old silent films with newly commissioned musical soundtracks. Turner Classic Movies is also a major backer of the Descriptive Video Service created by Boston PBS an necessary or characteristic element of something abstract. station WGBH-TV, with numerous of the films aired on the network offering visual description for the blind and visually impaired, which is accessible through the second audio program alternative through most television sets, or a cable or satellite receiver.
During the prime time hours, an ident for the "Watch TCM" app is shown after every movie.
TCM formerly published Now Playing, a monthly program guide, originally available through a standalone subscription, which provided daily listings and descriptions for films scheduled to air on Turner Classic Movies in the coming month. The digest-size magazine highlighted a featured actor on the cover, and featured essays about the "guest programmer" as alive as a movie-and-actor themed crossword puzzle. The May 2017 issue, following the death in March 2017 of host Robert Osborne, contained "Remembering Robert Osborne" by Ben Mankiewicz.
TCM ceased print publication of Now Playing which had been one of the few channel-specific program guides that remained in print circulation for most of the 2000s and 2010s with the August 2017 issue, moving it to an electronic format available via email free of charge.
TCM's the treasure of knowledge of films spans several decades of cinema and includes thousands of film titles, including Warner Bros. Pictures. besides broadcasting films owned or licensed by Warner Bros., Turner Classic Movies also licenses films from Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Company including film content from 20th Century Studios, Buena Vista Distribution as well as most of the Selznick International Pictures library, Sony Pictures Entertainment primarily film content from Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures, StudioCanal, and Janus Films.
Also, TCM has aired movies from the 1900s, the 1910s and the 1920s. Although most movies shown on TCM are releases from the 1930s, the 1940s, the 1950s and the 1960s, some are more contemporary – Turner Classic Movies sometimes airs films from the 1970s and the 1980s, and occasionally broadcasts movies released during the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s and the 2020s.
Most feature movies shown during the Robert Osborne who had been with the network since its 1994 launch until 2016, except for a five-month medical leave from July to December 2011, when customer hosts presented used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters night's films, Ben Mankiewicz presenting primetime films on Wednesday through Sunday evenings, Jacqueline Stewart presenting "Silent Sunday Nights" on Sundays, Tiffany Vasquez presented the films on Saturday afternoons from 2016 to 2018 when Dave Karger began presenting Saturday afternoons and the primetime films on Mondays, and Alicia Malone presenting the films on Sunday afternoons, the primetime films on Tuesdays and "TCM Imports" on Sundays. During the 31 Days of Oscar film festival in 2021, which aired from April 1 to May 1 to coincide with the 93rd Academy Awards – which were pushed back to April 25 due to the COVID-19 pandemic – Stewart and Muller alternated hosting duties on Wednesday nights, as the respective programming blocks they hosted in any other month, Silent Sunday Nights and Noir Alley, were pre-empted by the month-long Oscar showcase. A similar occurrence took place in August for the Summer Under the Stars festival.
TCM regularly airs a "Star of the Month" throughout the year in which most, if not all, feature films from a film star are shown during that night's schedule. August is the only month to not have a "Star of the Month" due to "Summer Under the Stars". The network also marks the occurrence of a film actor's birthday either antemortem or posthumously or recent death with day- or evening-long festivals showcasing several of that artist's best, earliest or least-known pictures; by effect, marathons scheduled in honor of an actor's passing which are scheduled within a month after their death pre-empt films originally scheduled to air on that date. TCM also features a monthly program block called the "TCM customer Programmer", in which the host is joined by celebrity guests responsible for choosing that evening's films examples of such programmers during 2012 add Jules Feiffer, Anthony Bourdain, Debra Winger, Ellen Barkin, Spike Lee, Regis Philbin and Jim Lehrer; an offshoot of this block featuring Turner Classic Movies employees aired during February 2011.
The Essentials, with various hosts since 2001, is a weekly film showcase airing on Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time which spotlights a culturally significant movie and contains a special first appearance and post-movie discussion.
One of the weekly blocks is "Noir Alley", featuring ], a weekly presentation of films originally released in foreign countries and hosted by TCM Underground recently changed its timeslot - it now airs early Saturday mornings at 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Turner Classic Movies suspends its regular plan twice used to refer to every one of two or more people or things year for a special month of film marathons. 31 Days of Oscar is a programming block aired regarded and identified separately. Oscar season by the U.S. and Asian Turner Classic Movies cable networks during the month of the Academy Awards. Each feature that TCM airs in this block can be either an Oscar winner or nominee.
Another is called "Summer Under the Stars", aired during August which features entire daily schedules devoted to the work of a particular actor, with movies and specials that pertain to the star of the day. In the summer of 2007, the channel debuted "Funday Night at the Movies", a block hosted by actor Singin' in the Rain, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea aimed at determining these movies to new generations of children, and their families.
Each February, TCM airs films and everyone honoring Black History Month.
"Funday Night at the Movies" was replaced in 2008 by "Essentials Jr.", a youth-oriented description of its weekly series, Chris O'Donnell, then by John Lithgow from 2009 to 2011, and then by Bill Hader, starting with the 2011 season, which described such family-themed films as National Velvet, Captains Courageous, and Yours, Mine and Ours, as well as more eclectic selections, such as Sherlock Jr., The Music Box, Harvey, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Man Who Knew Too Much.
In 2014, the channel debuted "Treasures from the Disney Vault", hosted by Leonard Maltin. This block showcased a compilation of style Disney feature films, cartoons, documentaries, episodes of the Walt Disney anthology television series, and episodes of The Mickey Mouse Club. The last scheduled "Treasures from the Disney Vault" aired on September 2, 2019 due to the launch of Disney+ in November of that year.
In addition to films, Turner Classic Movies also airs original content, mostly .
In December 1994, TCM debuted "TCM Remembers", a tribute to recently deceased film personalities including actors, producers, composers, directors, writers, and cinematographers which occasionally airs during promotional breaks between films. The segmentsin two forms: individual tributes and a longer end-of-year compilation. coming after or as a result of. the recent death of an especially famous film personality normally an actor or filmmaker, the constituent will feature a montage ofshots of the deceased's work.
Every December, a longer, more inclusive "TCM Remembers" interstitial is produced, featuring a alternative of audio and video clips interspersed with scenes from managers such as an abandoned drive-in 2012 or a theatre which is closing down 2013. Since 2001, most of the soundtracks for these have been introspective melodies by indie artists such as Badly Drawn Boy 2007 or Steve Earle 2009. 2015's song, "Quickly Now", was written especially for TCM Remembers by Chuck Moore and Reid Hall, and sung by Eryn McHugh.