Why Is TCM Showing Noir Alley So Late on Saturday Night?

Ever since it first began airing on Turner Classic Movies, I have been a huge fan of Noir Alley, the programming block dedicated to film noir. While Noir Alley originally only aired at 9:00 AM Central on Sunday, they eventually began showing it at 11:00 PM Central on Saturday as well. Given I am not a morning person, I have preferred watching Noir Alley on Saturday night ever since TCM started doing so. Indeed, I am usually just waking up at 9:00 AM on any given day of the week!

Unfortunately, of late TCM has been showing Noir Alley later than 11:00 Central on Saturday night. Three out of the four airings of Noir Alley in July did not begin until 11:30 PM Central. Last week, once again, Noir Alley did not air until 11:30 PM on Saturday. This week is even worse. Noir Alley won't air until 12:00 Midnight Central. While I am willing to stay up late those times when TCM shows Noir Alley at 11:30 PM on Saturday, 12:00 Midnight is a bit late even for me. My choices seem to be either to DVR it or get up early Sunday morning to watch it.

I know for a fact that I am not the only person who doesn't like it when Noir Alley airs later than 11:00 PM on Saturday, as I have seen others complain about it on Twitter as well. And, going by the number of TCMParty participants on Twitter, I think they might well have more viewers for the Saturday night showing of Noir Alley than they do the Sunday morning showing. The TCMParties for Noir Alley are always bigger on Saturday night than they are on Sunday morning, sometimes much bigger. I would think that TCM would then want to take advantage of the huge audience for noir on Saturday night and air Noir Alley consistently at 11:00 PM Central.

Of course, as displeased as I am with TCM airing Noir Alley late on Saturday night, I know much of why they have been doing so. Quite simply it is the fact that TCM has been showing two movies over 120 minutes regularly on Saturday night. For instance, this Saturday they are showing To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) followed by The Hustler (1961). Because both films clock in at over two hours, that pushes Noir Alley back to a much later time slot. While I love both To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hustler (To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favourite movies of all time), I would much prefer TCM only showed one of the two movies on Saturday night and followed it with a shorter movie so that Noir Alley begins on time. If TCM wants to show two big movies back to back, they can always do so on another night of the week when there is no regularly scheduled, late night programming that will be disrupted.

Anyway, I hate complaining about TCM and I often think we should be thankful that we have it at all. That having been said, airing Noir Alley late seems to have become a regular occurrence of late and it is starting to grate on my nerves. When Noir Alley only aired on Sunday morning, I sometimes missed it because I overslept. It would be much easier if I could simply tune in at 11:00 on Saturday night and watch it before I go to bed as I usually do.