It was ten years ago today that I had the honour of introducing A Hard Day's Night (1964) with Ben Mankiewicz on Turner Classic Movies. This was part of the TCM Fan Favourites series that the channel was doing in 2014-2015. In the Fan Favourites segments, TCM fans got to discuss favourite films with Ben Mankiewicz. The first batch of Fan Favourites segments aired in November 2014 and included Aurora--better known as Citizen Screen (who introduced Meet Me in St. Louis), TCM Party co-founder Paula Guthat (who introduced The Lemon Drop Kid), Miguel Rodriguez of the Horrible Imaginings Podcast (who introduced The Thing from Another World), and TCM Party regular Joel Williams (who introduced Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).
I was part of the second batch of Fan Favourites, which aired on April 11 2015. The day begin with Christina Rinaldi introducing Footlight Parade (1933), followed by myself introducing A Hard Day's Night. After me there was Donna D'Andrea with The Way We Were (1973) and Steve Zeoke wtih The Defiant Ones (1958). Steve and Christina and I would become friends following our appearances on TCM.
Anyway, It was in January 2015 that Turner Classic Movies announced in posts on Google+, Instagram, and Facebook that they were looking for four more fans for their next Fan Favourites segment. While the first time Turner Classic Movies asked fans to submit ten different films they would like to introduce, in January TCM asked fans to select one film and tell why they chose that film. In my case, I replied to their post on Google+ and explained why I would choose A Hard Day's Night (which should come to no surprise to those who know me well). Much to my surprise I was chosen as one of the four viewers for Fan Favourites almost immediately. Steve Zeoke always thought that TCM had wanted me from the very beginning, as I was one of TCMParty's original members. Anyway, those of us who took part in the Fan Favourite segments were sworn to secret until the month they were about to air. I cannot tell you how hard it was not to tell everyone I was going to be on Turner Classic Movies!
For those of you unfamiliar with the Fan Favourite segments, they were accomplished using video chat. That is, when we did my introduction, Ben was in TCM's studios in Atlanta, while I was at home. Before my chat with Ben, I had two practice chats with Courtney, Associate Producer at Turner Classic Movies, and Mardy, the sound engineer at TCM, to work out any technical difficulties. As to the actual shooting itself, the introductions were shot in the order in which they will appear, which meant that I went on second.
Turner Classic Movies sent each of us took part in my class of Fan Favourite segments a DVD with our segments. I never have watched mine as I cannot stand to look at myself in photos or in videos. If you are wondering why there are so few pictures of me, that is why. In the nearly ten years I have had the DVD, I have never watched it.
Sadly, I think TCM only did about one or two more Fan Favourites. I know my friends Annette and Meaghan introduced films in September 2015. I really enjoyed doing it myself. At the time I did worry about how I would come off on television, but all of my friends thought I did well and, most importantly, Vanessa still thought I was cute. I really wish they had continued with the segments, as I thought they were fun. I have always enjoyed seeing other fans talk about their favourite movies, and often the fans know more about their favourite movies than some of the experts. Introducing A Hard Day's Night on TCM will remain one of my favourite memories.
1 comment:
To take a page out of Goodfellas, "Being on TCM was . . . better than being President of the United States"
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