Since you probably can’t afford to gas up the SUV and go anywhere this Independence Day weekend, you might as well stay home and watch TV, especially since it seems every cable channel is staging a TV marathon or two. The Interesting Pile blog has a pretty comprehensive list (hat tip to TV Barn) of the many marathons airing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. A couple I might veg out in front of watch intently: On July 4, HBO is rerunning its thematically appropriate John Adams miniseries (starring Paul Giamatti, left), which I didn’t catch enough of when it premiered earlier this year. Over at Turner Classic Movies, they’re celebrating on Friday night with a slate of "Americana" movies, including The Music Man (a backhanded tribute to John Philip Sousa), 1776 (more John Adams!), and Yankee Doodle Dandy. But before that, TCM is spending the day with movies directed by Hollywood’s favorite British invader, Alfred Hitchcock. The staples are all here (Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds), as well as the underappreciated Notorious (starring Ingrid Bergman, right). Because nothing is more patriotic than spying for America by agreeing to sleep with a fugitive Nazi war criminal.
Peruse the list, PopWatchers, and tell us all which of these marathons you’ll watch as they air and which you’ll DVR for after the fireworks. (Doink doink. Chung-chung.)
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I Love Lucy all the way. There is nothing in this world better than an I Love Lucy marathon. It’s tradition.
First thought going through the list: “Are ALL the Jaws films American Movie Classics?”
What I’ll be checking out:
The Revolution on History
How It’s Made on Science (So addicting)
And Top Chef on Bravo, because I can’t get enough of food porn and cursing.
I’d love to watch the Hitchcock-a-thon, but I don’t get TCM anymore. So it looks like The Twilight Zone is running uncontested for me.
And jcarla, I think AMC started ignoring the “classics” part of their name a long time ago. In fact, I don’t even think they refer to themselves as American Movie Classics anymore. They’re trying to just be “AMC.”
I know, I know…the channels have to play the hits. But every now and then could we see something that hasn’t been reran so, so many times.
Throw me something I haven’t seen in a while like “Get a Life” or “Sledgehammer” or “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” or “Ally McBeal” or “Northern Exposure” or “Evening Shade” or whatever.
(Okay, maybe a whole day of “Ally” might be a bit much, but I’d sit down tomorrow for 3 or 4 episodes if they were there on the cable.)
I think the list pretty much blows. I’ll be spending my weekend on my deck enjoying fresh salsa and drinking mojitos while watching the kids run around with sparklers. Happy Fourth!
I’ll watch a couple Hitchcock movies(even though I’ve seen almost all of them) and DVR some Twilight Zone for later, when all my family has finally gone home.
JAWS marathon on AMC! ‘Cause nothing is more of an American Movie Classic than Jaws The Revenge!
I have the 1st Season of Mad Men on DVD. Only seen the first 2 episodes but it is pretty entertaining so far.
I love me some “L & O” original flavor. For the sheer entertainment, “I love NY” – admit it, you love NY! And if you watched Tila tequila, this is MUCH better. I Love NY 2 even has a midget!
Burn Notice!
If I was going to be home, it would be Hitchcock for me.
All I got to say is that if you love great drama about real people and events then check out “John Adams.” Laura Linney’s portrayal of Abigail Adams alone is worth your time. She is spectacular and the rest of the cast defines the term “perfect casting.”
The Music Man!! My favorite…Now if only I can get out of going to New York…nah, I’ll just get it on DVD
I recommend “The Revolution” airing all day on the History Channel. Educational, entertaining, by far the most thematically appropriate marathon of the day, and, best of all, it looks great in HD.
“John Adams”!! That miniseries was brilliant!
Since it’s going to be 115 degrees here all weekend I appreciate this list! I’ll watch What Not To Wear or Arrested Development on hulu.
I’ll try to catch the USS Indianapolis part of Jaws – it’s just riveting; and I’ll probably DVR a bunch of Hitchcock movies from TCM. Can I just say how much I love TCM? Love, love, love that channel. I just watched The Women (I dvr’d it a few weeks ago), and I loved every minute of it. Happy 4th, peeps.
I’ll be creating my own marathon by either finishing “Bleak House”(which is excellent and those who love good bookd adaptations should watch it) or Battlestar Galactica (catching up on 2.5 since I’m a late-comer).
A Hitchcock marathon without North by Northwest just makes me sad.
Twilight Zone marathon on SciFi.
Law & Order always…. especially since my 11yr daughter is obsessed with this show.
Dirty Jobs on Discovery
Twilight Zone! My TV won’t be changing from Sci Fi until it goes off at 6 Am on Sat!
wow, the hitchcock marathon sounds enticing. although i do agree that NORTH BY NORTHWEST should be included; maybe in place of NOTORIOUS.
i’ll also be watching the wimbledon finals this weekend.
I’ll watch some of Dirty Jobs, a little I love Lucy, and a boatload of Hogan’s Heroes
Fox Movies ran a marathon of Independence Day all day today, and I caught it twice. Currently watching 1776 on TCM… it’s a classic!
Hitchcock.
If I still had cable it would have been “The Twilight Zone”.
But Hulu did add three seasons of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” so I spent the 4th watching episodes of that (I’d forgotten how much I like the show).