Summer Under the Stars 2018 Preview

Hi! I hope you enjoyed the last few posts I put out; the #ATVCelebrates series has been a lot of fun so far and both of those posts are things I am proud of. Maybe it sounds dumb, but I am. I was also very excited to bring back the Insta Inspo series, and you'll be seeing another of those this month. Between the new design, the new series and the more relaxed style of posting (believe it or not), I feel like it's freshened things up around here a little bit and I think ATV needed it. I know I did. As much as I miss the routine from back in the day, it was also very difficult for it not to get monotonous and repetitive. Even though I'm sure the lack of consistency with other posts hurts my stats, I've felt a little more freedom to create other posts that are still true to the vintage theme and it's given the entire blog a little kick as a result. That little kick makes me appreciative of the longtime staples and now signatures of this blog, which brings me to today's post, which is this year's SUTS lineup preview.  Even though I'm one of many bloggers covering this promotion every year and I have absolutely no part in it other than picking a movie and watching it, it's still an exciting time for both me personally and for the blog because SUTS means so much to me. And now that I have my shit together when it comes to prepping for this series every year, it's no longer the clusterf*ck it usually is and now I can actually watch the movies I pick for Daily Cinema rather than letting them collect dust on my DVR (which by the way, after 6 beautiful years of loyalty, commitment and 1% of free space, formally ended our relationship in April.). Figuring out a way to work without overwhelming myself when it comes to month-long series has made things so much easier for me, both because it helps me to be able to actually enjoy Summer Under the Stars, and because it gives me more time to prep for Octoberfest. Get your shit done ahead of time is the lesson to be learned here. Anyway!  I got the lineup a bit earlier than I usually do (which I got from the TCM forums, per usual) so I'm happy to report that this post was pre-scheduled a couple of weeks ago. Unlike last year's lineup, there aren't a ton of overlaps with previous TNTs and Daily Cinemas, which is a relief. We do have a rare quadruple Previous TNT Alert, but that isn't until the last day of the promotion. Other than that, it looks like an entire month of new movies to watch for us and I'm excited to check out the names that are new to me. After this long covering the SUTS promotion, I think I got to a point where I felt it would be hard for me to find new actors or actresses whose work I hadn't seen. This year was full of names who I may have heard before but never seen anything from so I'm pretty excited for this year's lineup. Here's who TCM decided to feature this year, in order:  1: Frank Sinatra

2. Myrna Loy

3. Lionel Atwill

4. Clint Eastwood

5. Katharine Hepburn

6. Audrey Totter

7. Harold Lloyd

8. Jeanette Macdonald

9. Walter Matthau

10. Dorothy Malone

11. Gary Cooper

12. Doris Day

13. George Brent

14. Lupe Velez

15. Peter Finch

16. Miriam Hopkins

17. Barbra Streisand

18. Clark Gable

19. Judy Garland

20. Stewart Granger

21. Anita Louise

22. Dana Andrews

23. Virginia Mayo

24. Peter Lorre

25. Carroll Baker

26. Anthony Quinn

27. Agnes Moorehead

28. Lew Ayres

29. Lauren Bacall

30. Marcello Mastroianni

31. Joan Crawford

Are there any new names on the list for you, any returning names you'd been wanting to see? For me the new name I'm excited to check out is Lupe Velez; although I've read about her several times over the years I've never seen any of her movies. The returning name I was excited for was Joan Crawford; she's one of my favorite actresses and even though I thought I'd seen a lot of her films, I realized there were still quite a few I hadn't seen. Another returning name I'm ready for is Lauren Bacall and while I'm a little disappointed that How to Marry a Millionaire isn't on the lineup this year, I know it's often on the lineup when she or her costars are featured in something so it was time to give it a rest.  I'm going to try to squeeze in one last Insta Inspo before SUTS hits but I'm not making any promises; by the time you see this post I should be working my way through prepping the series so we'll see. I'd like to do one more before August as I won't have the time after that until after Octoberfest wraps up. I'm going to try. Anyway, I've definitely blabbed for long enough today. See you soon!