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TV Tidbits: Turner Classic to honor Paul Newman with 24-hour marathon

By Tim Clodfelter | Journal Reporter

Published: October 10, 2008

Turner Classic Movies will pay tribute to Paul Newman on Sunday with a 24-hour marathon of his films, including some of his most popular works including Hud and Cool Hand Luke.

The marathon will start at 6 a.m. with the 1956 film The Rack, written by Rod Serling, in which Newman plays a Korean War veteran on trial for treason.

Also in the marathon are Until They Sail (8 a.m.), Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (10 a.m.), Exodus (12:15 p.m.), Sweet Bird of Youth (3:45 p.m.), Hud (6 p.m.), Somebody Up There Likes Me (8 p.m.), Cool Hand Luke (10 p.m.), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (12:15 a.m.) and Rachel, Rachel (2:15 a.m.). The marathon will wrap up with The Outrage (4 a.m.), a remake of the Japanese classic Rashomon, with a cast that also includes Edward G. Robinson and William Shatner.

Newman died on Sept. 26.

Time Warner Cable has recently added another sports channel. The Big Ten Network is a 24-hour channel focused on Big Ten Conference sporting events and related programs, including live telecasts of football, basketball and baseball games.

But will many people in the Triad care about games from Midwestern states?

"This was a deal that was reached at the corporate level," said Melissa Buscher, the director of media relations for Time Warner's Carolina Region. "As part of the agreement to carry it in Big Ten states, we could carry it here in the Carolina Region as well. We know there are graduates of these schools who now live in the Carolinas and are excited about the new channel."

The new channel is found in two places on Time Warner's digital tier, as Channel 189 in standard definition and as channel 571 in high definition.

Xbox 360 users are now able to download episodes of some PBS programs using the "Xbox Live" feature. The shows currently available are Wired Science, Carrier, Scientific American Frontiers, Nova, and Ken Burns' documentaries Jazz, America and American Lives. Individual episodes are $1.99, but prices vary on such longer programs as Nova and the Ken Burns documentaries.

Based on how well those titles sell, more titles may be available on Xbox Live in the future, a PBS spokesman said.

Even before Tina Fey began her dead-on impersonations of Sarah Palin, she had proved her comedy skills, first on Saturday Night Live and then on the acclaimed sitcom 30 Rock.

30 Rock is a surreal blend of general absurdity and a spoof set behind the scenes of a popular NBC sketch-comedy show (what could Fey have possibly based that on?). It started its first season competing with a higher-profile drama that had nearly the same premise, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, from famed producer Aaron Sorkin. But Studio 60 flopped, and 30 Rock soared.

The second season came to DVD this week, loaded with laugh-out-loud moments and plenty of behind-the-scenes material, including audio commentaries, deleted scenes, a table read and a live stage performance of the show.

The third season will start Oct. 30. Based on a preview sent out by NBC, the show is still one of the funniest programs on television.

For fans of reality television, this week's new DVD releases include the first seasons of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane, and the second volume of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

Also on DVD this week: the second season of Showtime's drama Brotherhood, about two brothers on opposite sides of the law; the third season of How I Met Your Mother, including a memorably "awesome" guest appearance by Britney Spears; and the fifth seasons of the long-running espionage drama Mission: Impossible and the popular sitcom Martin.

■ Tim Clodfelter can be reached at 727-7371 or at tclodfelter@wsjournal.com.