Tune in Tonight: Is Hollywood History Repeating Itself?

TCM continues its look at MGM's history as the studio celebrates its 100th anniversary. Although few fans turn to old silent films, the history and practices of these old entertainment factories run by moguls can teach us a lot about contemporary pop culture.

Patrick Stewart hosts the 1992 documentary “MGM: When the Lion Roars: 1946-1986” (10 p.m., TCM, TV-MA), a look at the once-dominant studio as it adapted to the harsh realities of the post -Second World War. America, a time when movie studios had moved from their golden age to a much harsher environment, facing congressional hearings on communist subversion and fatal competition from a little company called television.

As more households purchased televisions, movie theater attendance plummeted. MGM and other studios also faced antitrust laws that barred them from owning movie theater chains, breaking up a lucrative and convenient monopoly.

In some ways, the power of old studios to produce and distribute films at will would not be matched again until the rise of streamers like Netflix and its imitators. As in the days of the old Hollywood moguls, these big companies have the power to create entertainment and distribute it exclusively how and where they want.

Prime Video's recent reboot of “Roadhouse” (an MGM production) sparked a particular reaction. Many thought it wasn't as bad as it could have been, and some lamented that it wasn't shown in movie theaters, where audiences could boo and scream at the absurd proceedings with their Fellow fans, once described as “all those wonderful people in the dark” of Norma Desmond in “Sunset Blvd.” »

Some claim, or rather fear, that Amazon spent a fortune on the film with the express intention of preventing people from seeing it together in theaters and continuing to break the movie-going habit that had been undermined by COVID restrictions.

Increasingly, streamers and giant studios are wielding powers not seen in Hollywood for decades. Since the advent of video cassettes and then DVD box sets, the public has enjoyed the freedom to “own” films and series and watch them at will.

As streaming becomes the only option, entertainment companies have greater power to simply make parts of their catalog disappear.

Another strange habit is to make projects disappear before they are even reviewed. In recent years, studios have teased fans at San Diego Comic-Con and other showcases with news of massive projects and spent tens of millions of dollars on their productions, only to abandon them at the last minute, often for accounting and tax reasons. -offs. Very expensive distractions like “Coyote vs. Acme” and “Batgirl” vaporized this way.

Movie moguls are hardly in the business of making movies that no one sees, but there are few better ways to project their absolute power and authority. This is nothing new in Hollywood.

Produced by Joseph P. Kennedy, directed by Erich von Stroheim and starring Gloria Swanson, the lavish 1929 epic “Queen Kelly” was infamous for never being screened in the United States. But clips from that film would later appear in scenes from “Sunset Blvd.” ”, the savage 1950 Hollywood satire, starring Swanson as a faded star and Von Stroheim as his butler.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF TONIGHT

— “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) has been renewed for a seventh season.

— Vance makes advances toward his ex-son in the “Thousand Yards” episode of “NCIS” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG), the 1,000th episode in the franchise's history.

— “Antiques Roadshow” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) visits the North Carolina Museum of Art.

— A Marine is killed during a training exercise on “NCIS: Hawai’i” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).

— “The Interrogation Tapes: A Special Edition of 20/20” (10 p.m., ABC) looks at the murder of a pregnant woman and her two children.

CULT CHOICE

Facing competition from television, MGM produced a big-budget musical about another transitional period, the move from silent to “talkies” in the 1952 favorite “Singin' in the Rain” (8 p.m., TCM, TV-G). In another massive shift in Hollywood standards, director Stanley Kubrick used the film's title song to emphasize “ultraviolence” in his 1971 adaptation of Anthony Burgess' novel “A Clockwork Orange.”

SERIES NOTES

“The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14)… “MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG)… “American Idol” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG)… A potential buyer is emerging for “Bob Hearts” Abishola” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG)… “So You Think You Can Dance” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14)… “Deal or No Deal Island” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).

LATE AT NIGHT

Jimmy Fallon hosts Jennifer Lopez, Alan Ritchson and Gary Clark Jr. on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r)… Kristen Stewart, Walton Goggins and Aric Improta visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 p.m., NBC, r )…Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS).