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Over the last few months I've noticed a real decline in his posture and presentation on TCM. I just watched CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE and his slurred words and clumsy gait were more noticible than ever. I wish him well, but I think it's time for him to retire.
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I've notice some physical problems, and enunciation problems, but I don't get any sense that he doesn't still have all his mental faculties. Are you sure the word you want is "senile"?
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Posted: |
May 21, 2011 - 10:26 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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.....Over the last few months I've noticed a real decline in his posture and presentation on TCM. I just watched CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE and his slurred words and clusy gait were more noticible than ever. I wish him well, but I think it's time for him to retire.....
Osborne is certainly not a young man, and I suspect he's had some health problems over the last few years, but I also sense that this occasional slurring of speech is not a regular thing. He does endless intros and interstitials in any given month and I feel certain they are done in very tight shooting schedule blocks all within a short few days or a week for the entire month. I suspect that he becomes very tired at the end of the day. He is also doing writing for the monthly TCM magazine, hosting chores at film festivals and acting as a goodwill ambassador for TCM at other events. Does he still have his column in Hollywood Reporter, too? He's probably overworked at times for a man of his age.
But let's assume they retire him soon.
One wonders who is currently in the public limelight, and has the depth, knowledge, agreeability with the public, bearing, and stamina to hold this position---and to be willing to do it as a full-time job---giving up most all other career positions for decades to come. Remember.....Osborne has been doing this for 15 years now.
Do you really want the Eve Harrington who is waiting in the wings---Ben Mankiewicz????
Mankiewicz is, I suspect, the favorite protegee of Tom Brown, one of the chief execs of TCM. In several filmed interstitial pieces done for the network you see them riding around together in a convertible in Hollywood---visiting sights of interest, chatting with locals in iconic venues, talking up the magic of the movies with a slightly backhanded bow to the past. They're just like "good old boys" out for a ride.
Do you really want Ben Mankiewicz---with so little warmth and charmth  ---taking over? Ben Mankiewicz---who doesn't know quite what to do with his hands when he talks, and has a video spiel on TCM promoting a TCM iPhone APP with the words, "How cool is that?" Ben Mankiewicz---who seems to parrot the concepts and teachings of his film school teachers?
Ben Mankiewicz---who really doesn't KNOW, or seem to care about, many of the old films in the TCM library? This IS in end, an "Old Films" channel, not a "New Films" channel.
For myself, I'm not a great Alec Baldwin fan, but I have been tremendously impressed with Baldwin's bearing and the obvious love and tremendous knowledge of old movies he's displayed in his chats with Bob Osborne, when they introduce "The Essentials" movies each week. In the past, TCM tried a whole number of people with Osborne in this position, and now seem to have stuck with Baldwin for a quite a few blocks of the shows. In other news sources, Baldwin has expressed a desire to "retire" from acting. Personally, I hope this might lead to HIM becoming the new overall spokesperson for TCM---and the new Robert Osborne.
As for age and infirmity, I frankly always enjoyed Lionel Barrymore, bent over and acting most of his films from a wheelchair, than I did a young, hunky Marlon Brando acting on his feet.
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Posted: |
May 21, 2011 - 11:30 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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.....You mean to tell me that you guys actually still watch TCM?
All of you should own your own dvds or blu-rays of the entire TCM
library by now. Slacking off, eh? Get with it! NOW!!!!!......
I don't know about all the others, but I HAVE to keep burning DVD-Rs because TCM might introduce a new, improved transfer of the film---print-quality-wise, or aspect-ratio-wise, or sound-wise---without ever announcing it first.
Also, the more copies you have, the more chance one copy will survive---digital deterioration, scratching, incompatible playability, or the Rapture.
So, I reserve the right to have OCD, right to the end!
To paraphrase Margaret O'Brien: "I'm taking ALL my DVDs with me---even the dead ones!"
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Since I've switched to FIOS and they do not have TCM HD, I've pretty much stopped watching the channel. However, I'll take a slurred Osborne over the tedious Alec Baldwin, any damn day of the week. I'll take Ben over Alec, too. I've always hated that they got some celebrity to talk movies on that channel. I loved it when they had actual viewers on, and wished they had kept that up. Far more interesting, to hear real people share their movie memories and opinions.
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A few weeks ago at the TCM Festival here in L.A., a friend and I attended a late-night showing of SHALL WE DANCE, hosted by Ben Mankiewicz. He was tired, and he had to vamp for a while before his guest showed up for the introductory interview. Both my friend and I came to the same pleasantly surprised conclusion, that in the absence of the video-taping camera and the obligation to follow a script, Mankiewicz was more relaxed than we'd ever seen him be on TCM. He was funny, he was cool, and yes, he even displayed a modicum of charmth and warmth.
If he DOES end up taking over for Mr. Osborne, I think Ben might just surprise everybody, himself included -- IF, that is, he can let himself relax and have fun with the gig, and, if he has the strength of character to not let himself be "handled" to a fare-thee-well and allows his own personal gifts to rise to the surface.
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As for the next host for my favorite TV channel? Besides the aforementiond ex-AMC hosts, not really sure.
Alec Baldwin could do it! Seems like he's being primed for it (The Essentials plus the Gene Wilder interview he did a couple years ago).
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Ron's statement in profoundly preferring