2015 Honorary Oscars announced

The Oscars announced today on Twitter that this years Honorary Awards will be going to only three recipients: Director Spike Lee, Actress Gena Rowlands, and for Humanitarian efforts Debbie Reynolds, who also has a legacy of enduring film performances spanning 65 years.

I recently watched two more films starring Gena Rowlands, and will have reviews of them posted soon.

Details about each honoree can be found here at the New York Times and People.com

July 13 1991: Do The Right Thing aired on CBS TV

Twenty years ago today, July 13, 1991, it was a Saturday night: Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing aired on CBS tonight. It was the film's network TV debut, and it aired from 8 to 10:30 p.m. The film was edited for television and the network issued a viewer-discretion advisory before the movie started.

I had seen the movie before in early 1990 when it was released on VHS videotape, and wanted to watch the TV airing. I was curious to see how it was edited for television.  Instead of "MF" (the F word was used about 200 times in the film) the minced oath "Mickey Fickey" was dubbed in, an odd choice it seems; a clip of this can be found here on the BET site. It sort-of worked because the words matched the lip movements. Even though the film's profanity had to be cleaned up, it was still an intense film.

After the movie aired, the local news featured a story about one of the weekend's new movies opening at the box-office: Boyz N The Hood, which like the movie airing tonight, was another film about an inner city black neighborhood. Boyz N The Hood faced some controversy because it was about gang violence and some theaters in Los Angeles cancelled showings of the films. The local newscast brought cameras down to some local theaters and reported from outside the theaters.

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Additional Source:

CBS Is Said to Get 10 Films To Show Before Cable TV
By GERALDINE FABRIKANT
Published: April 09, 1990

Universal Pictures has agreed to license 10 films that were released in 1989 to CBS for about $55 million, industry executives said.

Generally, after films have completed their theatrical run and been released on videocassette, they become available to cable channels like Home Box Office and Showtime. But under the CBS deal, the movies will air in the 1990-1991 season, about two years earlier than they usually would have been shown on the networks.

The movies covered by the agreement include ''Born on the Fourth of July,'' ''Sea of Love,'' ''Field of Dreams,'' ''Do The Right Thing,'' ''Uncle Buck,'' ''Canine,'' ''Fletch Lives,'' ''The Wizard,'' ''Renegades'' and ''Shocker.''

CBS and MCA Inc., the parent of Universal, have reportedly been in talks for some time. It is unclear whether CBS is paying a premium to get the films and whether Universal will receive enough money to offset the money it forfeited by not selling the films to pay television.

Universal and CBS executives declined to comment on the agreement.