I’m sending my Tivo into overdrive on Turner Classic Movies this Friday — the channel will be broadcasting an entire day of short films with its Behind The Camera: The Shorts Circuit fest. They’ll be showing a few brand new films, but of course I’m going to be checking out the cool vintage stuff (which has been divided into hourlong programmes grouped by director). For example — scheduled during the George Sidney segment, 1939’s Hollywood Hobbies follows Joyce Compton and Sally Blaine as a couple of silly tourists on the lookout for celebrities in Hollywood. The film exists as a pleasantly goofy sampling of how the big studios promoted their stars. Clark Gable’s favorite hobby was whitewashing fences, apparently.

Now that I’m on it, TCM has a lot of intriguing delights on their October schedule. That month will see the premiere of TCM Underground, a weekly showcase of cult horror/exploitation films hosted by Rob Zombie. This particular development has a lot of diehard TCM fans quaking in their boots, but I say bring it on. I love variety and personally can’t wait to see, for example, the pair of Russ Meyer flicks they have scheduled for Oct. 20 (Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Mudhoney, neither of which I’ve seen). Best. Channel. Ever.