I have no idea exactly when it happened but something called "The Reelz Channel" recently snuck its way into my TV channel lineup. I have DirecTV, which runs it on Channel 225 and it's supposed to also be on Channel 299 over at The Dish Network. It may even be on your local cable feed. The Reelz Channel website is urging everyone to "contact your cable or satellite provider and demand that they connect you to the ultimate movie information resource" and usually, the word "demand" would suggest they haven't made a load of progress in that area. But I found one online article that says they've made deals with Time-Warner Cable and Comcast Cable so it may be on your set before you know it. In my case, it was.
So far, The Reelz Channel doesn't look like the ultimate movie information resource but hey, it's early. The network only started a little more than two weeks ago…on September 27. It consists of a lot of shows about movies and they seem to repeat endlessly throughout the week.
This is good because it means you'll have hundreds of thousands of chances in the next seven days to catch the first episode of Secret's Out, a half-hour program hosted by my pal — and a man who is the ultimate movie information resource — Leonard Maltin. Someone has been wise enough not only to give him a show but to allow him to cover something other than what's opening this weekend. The premise, as the title suggests, is to cover great undiscovered and forgotten films. A great idea. When was the last time you saw a program that covered movies and ran a segment on the version of David Copperfield that starred Freddie Bartholemew and W.C. Fields? Heck, when was the last time you saw a program that covered movies that predated Rob Schneider?
A new Secret's Out debuts each Friday and then repeats over and over and over until the following Friday. Those of you who TiVo your television should be aware that it is not humanly possible to get a Season Pass that will record each episode once. I just tried it and it wanted to record the show twenty times this week. Set up a manual recording to snag one specific broadcast per week. You'll enjoy it.
I'm posting this because if I didn't, it might be a long time before you learned of this new channel and this fine new show. I'd never heard a peep about either until yesterday when Leonard told me about both of them. I can't believe this is the extent of their publicity campaign. They must have at least a couple of viewers who didn't find out that the channel was on their sets because Leonard Maltin told them.