How Did You Become A Movie And TV Buff?

For me, I've always loved a good movie but, the show At The Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert really made me a movie fanatic. They were great and I went to see a ton of movies I never would have chosen on my own. They really expanded my horizons because Roger Ebert would champion a lot of art house films and his enthusiasm for a good movie was contagious. Some of these movies were unintelligible but some are still my favorites. I wish there were something like this show today. They tried but they just couldn't repeat their chemistry. Sometimes I see A O Scott on Charlie Rose's show and I wish he had a review show. Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin had those review books which I would scour through trying to find movies I wanted to see. That's why I was so grateful for IMDb and the message boards because up until then, there wasn't a good source for all those little details that movie lovers want.

I was a neglected child myself. In the 80's I remember my favorite movie was "Adventures in Babysitting". Ironically.

I was about 8 when Jaws came out, about 10 when Star Wars & Close Encounters came out...that pretty much sealed my fate :)

I watched a lot of tv when I was young. I'd sift through the tv guides to find the most gnarly things I could find on basic cable. I got my first job around 13 years ago, and I spent my first paycheck on dvds. Universal monster movies, 80s classics, slasher flicks, whatever. I built up a dvd collection up until about 2 or 3 years ago, when I lost interest in that endeavor in favor of other viewing methods.

Now, I just work at a movie theater, so I'm always surrounded by it.

It just happened

I think it was watching Robert Osborne on TCM that helped me appreciate movies more. He was the first person I saw who presented behind-the-scenes information or shared some of the challenges in getting a movie made, for example. I started to appreciate how important casting is, getting the right director, etc.

I also give a lot of credit to technology because it provided access. I grew up during the time when there were just three or four TV stations to choose from, and your only movie choice was whatever was playing at the local theater. But cable TV and VCRs, followed by the internet, DVDs, streaming via YouTube, Netflix, etc. created a revolution of choice. Viewers now get to decide what to watch and when. How lucky we are that studios opened their vaults and made so much available. Folks who are old enough may remember the thrill when they bought their first VHS movie - you actually OWNED a copy that you could watch anytime, anywhere. It was pretty amazing.