Sundance Channel's Integrity Gone with the Wind?

I’ve been thinking lately about sending Robert Redford a letter about The Sundance Channel to ask "What in the world has been going on with your station?"  But I figured I'd actually get an answer if I went online to find out on my own.
Trying to find good movies on the Sundance Channel over the past year or more has become increasingly difficult, especially since they started playing their 6 or 7 reality series’ that have only a handful of episodes each, running them almost exclusively, day and night, in perpetual re-runs.  The few movies and documentaries they still show are being re-run over and over again also.  Only they don’t show them every day like they do with the reality shows.  It’s as if they don’t know what to do with programming so they’ve decided to do nothing.  Certainly no money is being spent on it.  Are they trying to get rid of viewers like me?  Maybe.
After IFC (Independent Film Channel) lost its integrity to commercials and TV show re-runs, the last bastion of good commercial-free Indie movies and thought-provoking documentaries for me was Sundance.   Now Sundance has lost its integrity too, only much worse.  At least IFC is showing a decent amount of movies in the mix.   According to DocumentaryTelevision.com, Robert Redford, Universal Studios and Showtime, who were the launchers of the Sundance Channel back in 1996, have sold it to Rainbow Media which acquired full ownership in 2008.  And—is anyone who has watched the decline of Sundance going to be surprised? —they also own IFC.
The article goes on to state that  “Under Rainbow’s management, Sundance has turned away from the founders’ vision of  ‘superserving’ it’s Indie niche with edgy movies, docs and culturally-forward series.”   They are aiming to get a “slice of the mainstream TV audience.” 
So much for culturally-forward Television.  
Conversely, the new owners say that their programmers seek “programs that add value to the lives of our audience.”  Rainbow’s tagline for Sundance is “Live your true life.”  And they ask, “Are you living your true life?  Dreamers.  Individuals.  Independents – they all have one thing in common:  they chase their passion and are true to themselves.  This is the core of our original programming – people that are living their true life or are on the chase for it.”  And they apparently think this audience is the mainstream that will watch these insipid, cheaply made reality show reruns.  I’m not saying the shows are completely uninteresting, it’s just that anything becomes that way when re-regurgitated daily.  From their statements, one could almost think that they would want to be running “culturally-forward TV.”  Their ideals are anything but iconoclastic.
I have basic cable that comes with my apartment, but also have a little bit extra that gives me EPIX, IFC, Sundance and Encore, which I will be stopping as soon as my bundle promo expires.
Say what you want about Netflix, but at least they have a wide variety of choices for me to choose from in all sorts of genres, including some of those series’ on Showtime I got hooked on before cancelling my service.  At $7.99 a month, that’s less than I paid when I was receiving DVD’s from them and it’s amazing how little it bothers me about not getting the DVD rentals anymore.  I am relatively new to Netflix, so maybe that’s why I still think it’s a bargain, especially when compared to paying the price for HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and the rest.  And with Netflix you can watch what you want when you want it.  You don’t have to wait around for it to come on a movie channel or wonder if it ever will again.   I know when I had them all it used to upset me to be paying all that money when I would scan through each one on a given day and not find anything new to watch.  They seem to be trading each other their re-run movies.  Once they’re gone from one movie channel, they pop up in another one.  Between Netflix and Basic cable (or even without it) why not just use more of what’s offered online like Hulu, to fill in the gaps.  It’s free or very low-cost and it sends a message to the big guys. 
Honorable mention:  TCM (Turner Classic Movies) on basic cable has not lost its own integrity, so far.  It’s still commercial-free and the quality of their programming has improved over the years.  Recently Robert Osborn has been on vacation, missing from the line-up for the past several months except for Thursday night’s “The Essentials,” with Alec Baldwin.  He is planning to return in December this year.
I appreciated the Original Sundance Channel’s narrowcasted niche reach.  I will miss it and its integrity and mourn the demise of yet another thing that worked well but was discarded for more of the same cheap, mindless cookie-cutter programming that’s already out there.

Are You Aware Of What You Are Missing...

If you enjoy watching movies and you don't sample the extensive variety of exceptionally good foreign movies available out there because of the sub-titles (and you might be amazed by how much you stop noticing them after just a short while), I hope I can be convincing enough to get you to give them a chance.  You won't be disappointed.
I have been sick in bed most of the week and the one good thing about it was being able to watch a few streaming movies on Netflix.  Netflix has a seemingly endless supply of what I call "new" foreign movies, because they are new to me. Can't say that about their English speaking or Hollywood movies. Once I started checking out their foreign movies I felt like I'd found a gold mine.  Here are 2 I found this week I really enjoyed:
"Buddy," a comedy/drama/romance from Norway that came out in 2003 is about two irresponsible and slightly dangerous-living friends Kristoffer and Geir who hang billboards for a living.  They move in with a guy named Stig Inge, who is the shy, stay-at-home type, in more ways than one, and they become fast friends. When Kristoffer's video diary ends up as a reality show on Norwegian national television, unedited secrets are aired and the notoriety that ensues threatens their relationships.  It may sound formulaic, especially given that it's a "Buddy" film, but it is intelligently written, well acted with good subplots and, oh yeah, romance.  Stig Inge is a character you won't forget.  His name is kind of cool too.  I'd recommend this movie to anybody who is willing to give foreign movies a chance.
Another good foreign movie I watched was "the Vanished Empire," from 2008.  The movie is about 2 friends in Russia starting out in college during the 1970's.  The plot and storyline were very good, but what was fascinating was to see what it looked like there and what it was like there during the times it was still the Soviet Republic.  It was a real eye opener and I had to check while watching this movie to see if it really was a current movie because it is filmed with a look that appears genuinely as if it must have come from that time.
Follow this link for some good reviews of this movie:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/07/10/movies/10vanished.xlarge1.jpg


This is my 2nd blog figuring in the 6 Degrees and it's been quite an eye opener when trying to work it with foreign movies.  What I thought would be easy (I mean, hey, what's the internet for anyway?) has become quite a challenge.  Hopefully it's just because I'm not feeling well, but translations of some of the more obscure or old films were out of my scope, at least for the time being. So I throw my hands up with this one and compromise:
The director of The Vanished Empire, Karen Sjakhnazarov produced a movie that a Yevgeni Sidikhin appeared in which also starred Stig Henrik Hoff, who appeared in a movie that was directed by Morten Tyldum, who directed "Buddy."

From Jeffrey Rush to Cary Grant in 4 Degrees

I like sharing movies I've enjoyed over the years and hope these 2 recommendations will please. 

The first video, "Harvey Krumpet," is a 22 minute short film done in claymation and narrated by Jeffrey Rush.  It tells the life story of a seemingly luckless man with Tourettes's Syndrome who emigrates to Australia at the beginning of World War II.  Hilariously clever and original, it is also touching and philosophical, even when Harvey decides to become a nudist late in life.  For someone who is not usually drawn to animated film,  I've found myself watching this movie several times over the past few years and can't seem to get enough of it.  The film was nominated for over 2o awards when it came out and one of its wins was an Oscar in 2003 for Best Animated Short Film.


Jeffrey Rush's 1st connection to Cary Grant is through Judy Davis, a fellow Australian who was in Rush's 1996 Film "Shine" and also in the 2003 released movie "Swimming Upstream." Judy Davis was in "A Woman Called Golda," a 1982 T.V. movie with Ingrid Bergman, who starred with Grant in the 1958 movie "Indiscreet."  Ta-da!
   
The second video is a movie clip from 1951's "People Will Talk," one of Cary Grant's more obscure movies, it has gained somewhat of a cult following.  The dialogue and subject matter are much more sophisticated than the norm for Hollywood movies during that period and it has been suggested that writer/director Joseph Mankiewicz was making a social commentary on the communist "witch hunt" going on in Hollywood at the time.

Grant stars as the unorthodox Dr. Praetorius, (FYI, he's a gynecologist) who's facing charges for misconduct at the University where he teaches.  It doesn't help matters that he keeps a large, mysterious fellow about him constantly named Shunderson and won't tolerate any questions about him when asked.  This film is oddball and different from anything out there from Cary Grant or Hollywood and it's a lot of fun to watch. Co-starring Jeanne Crain and Hume Cronyn, you'll also see, in a small role at the beginning of the film, Margaret Hamilton, who played the wicked witch in the "Wizard of Oz." This film has great dialogue and great acting.

I'm Under Construction

My blog is a work in progress as I learn how to make it look the way I want it.  I plan to get started writing this coming week with some good movie info.