Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004 TV Movie)

F.X. Feeney: Self - Film Critic

Quotes 

• F.X. Feeney : Z Channel had what they call a "zero churn rate" which means that nobody would cancel the service.

• F.X. Feeney : HBO, Showtime, The Movie Channel, all of us are at this big convention in some hotel. Big table. Dais. Pitchers of water. Nameplates. Jerry's down at the other end. And everbodies like going down the list, talking about how many committees they've got, how may market research. "We hire this firm from New York." "We've got this firm from Chicago." Bop-bop-bop-bop. "Jerry, how many firms do you draw on to, you know, choose your programs?" "Well, I don't consult anybody. I just, you know, I just see movies. I just show good movies." "Yeah, but, you're decision-making process - whose your committee?" "I don't have a committee. It's just me. I just, you know, I mean, we have people in the office. We talk, you know. We like movies. But, you know, basically it's just whatever we want to see."

• F.X. Feeney : Jacqueline Bisset is so much a figure in Z Channel, I think, because her great beauty - her great beauty led itself to "Day for Night" by Truffaut, it led itself to wonderful film called "Le Magnifique" - which was the quintessential Z movie. That is to say, a European movie that few people knew about, stateside, but, which had a great deal of American style entertainment value built into it.

• F.X. Feeney : "1900" was a very jinxed film. You know, in the sense that Bertolucci had spent too much money on it. The Grimaldis were unhappy with him for spending too much money on it. And so, his version was under lock and key for many years - almost in a fit of pique. Jerry insisted to the Grimaldis, for five years, that they had an uncut "1900". You know, a five hour version of "1900". They insisted, "No, no, it no longer exists. Maybe it existed once, but, it no longer exists." But, he pressed them and pressed them and eventually managed to get it released. And so we showed it on Z Channel and there you could see in all it's splendor what Bertolucci had intended.

• F.X. Feeney : One interesting aspect of "Das Boot", you know, it had - it had a career as a film in theaters where it really wowed audiences around the country. But, then, we discovered that it had been a mini-series in Germany. That it was actually six hours long and that there were six hour long episodes. It makes sense. We showed it.

• F.X. Feeney : If we ran it, even certain foreign films, would end up running on the other places. They would have to be pretty sexy, usually. Our Night Owl films tended to show up a lot on Movie Channel and Showtime and HBO - just because it's like - well, tits and ass.

• F.X. Feeney : My objectivity breaks right the fuck down when I think of those Night Owl films; because, those girls - the women in those films were so pretty. I mean, they always found, you know, even in the *lamest* of the Night Owls, you know, even in the one that has like no plot or its just like why am I watching this - I know I'm only watching this till the next nude scene; but, I'm going to stay in there, you know. You know, the "Lady on the Bus" I remember. Someone like Laura Antonelli or Sônia Braga would hit it big with a respectable film, but, their backlog was full of all kinds of early nudie kind of film. And we would get them all. So, basically we would have, you know, Laura Antonelli festivals that had *every* last movie she made, you know, with all the nude scenes.

• F.X. Feeney : Much to my surprise when I asked Jerry what was the most successful aspect of our programming, he said, "The Night Owl Series". I said, "You got to be kidding." He said, "No. We're killing Nightline. We're killing the 11 o'clock news.