According to The Hollywood Reporter, TCM‘s newest interns are named Marty and Stevie. The result of backlash to Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav gutting the beloved network of its core programming team, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg have committed to helping the movie-focused channel. This comes after an emergency Zoom call between Zaslav, Scorsese, Spielberg, and Paul Thomas Anderson set up to stem the bleeding inflicted by the short-sighted CEO.
At the very least, it seems like TCM has been given a lifeline provided by the very same filmmakers that Zaslav so desperately wants to convince of his company’s pro-filmmaker stance.
To solidify the changes to the channel, it’s now being overseen by Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy at Warner Bros. Pictures. They said in a statement, “TCM is a cultural treasure, and we are honored to help steer the future direction of this beloved brand with the partnership of three of the most iconic filmmakers of our time.”
However, this, like Zaslav’s previous statements proclaiming to love TCM even as he was immolating it, is just talk. The company has taken action to bring back one of the hearts of the channel, programmer Charles Tabesh, after his departure last week following the decision to massively cut the channel’s budget. It’s a smart move, but a lot of damage has already been done, and it’s unclear whether TCM can survive (or if Zaslav even really wants it to).
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
