TCM Underground
TCM Underground is a weekly late-night cult film showcase airing on Turner Classic Movies. Developed by former TCM marketing director Eric Weber, it was originally hosted by industrial rock/heavy metal musician and independent filmmaker Rob Zombie. The movies were programmed by Eric Weber until 2007 when TCM programmer Millie De Chirico took over the role.
The series was launched in an attempt to attract more young viewers to Turner's older-skewing audience.[1] TCM began airing a new program titled Friday Night Spotlight and, in effect, TCM Underground was moved from its Friday time slot to Saturdays beginning April 6, 2013 (a TCM broadcast day runs from 6am-5:59am EST the following day, making Underground, in fact, airing on Sunday).[2] Promotional bumper material and opening credit sequences were created by Raygun.[3] The series is periodically pre-empted by special month-long or seasonal scheduling themes, such as February's "31 Days of Oscar" film series and the month-long "Summer Under the Stars".[4] When it does not conflict with a special theme, TCM Underground airs in its usual slot early on Sunday morning.
The cult films featured in TCM Underground belong to a number of genres, including but not limited to blaxploitation films (Coffy, Darktown Strutters, The Mack), horror, slasher, and giallo films (Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Black Christmas, Hatchet for the Honeymoon), and counterculture films (An American Hippie in Israel, Ciao! Manhattan, Blue Sunshine).
List of films featured in the TCM Underground block
See also
References
- ↑ Dempsey, John. "TCM digs deep for database". Variety. 2005-10-23. URL retrieved 2006-12-02.
- ↑ http://news.turner.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=6338
- ↑ "Raygun Goes Underground With Turner Classic Movies (TCM)". Yahoo! Finance. 2006-12-12. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
- ↑ "TCM 2006-2007 Programming Slate". TCM Movie News. 2006-12-01. Retrieved 2006-12-09.