Osborne, Haskell Are 'Essential' Hosts

Turner Classic Movies has gone in-house, at least partly, for new film pickers in its The Essentials film series, tapping longtime TCM host Robert Osborne, joined by film critic Molly Haskell (New York Times, Vogue).

Peter Bogdanovich fronted the series in 2005, in which the host gets to pick and talk about 25 "essential" films.

Osborne and Haskell collaborated on their 30 picks, which include The Hustler, From Here to Eternity, and The Manchurian Candidate. So, what if their picks are the same as Peter Bogdanovich the season before?  "The program department provides suggestions, and, of course, it is limited to movies in TCM's library, but the ultimate pick from that library is the host's," said a TCM spokeswoman.

The new series starts Saturday, March 11, at 8 p.m. The show repeats Sunday at 6 p.m.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.