Bored by the same old selections on the shelves of your local video store or on that cable on-demand line-up? Searching for thrilling cinematic expeditions that can’t be found elsewhere? Look no further than right here. The following is my recommended cable viewing list for May 2008, of films unavailable on video – and it marks an unusual month, with the broadcast appearance of a fascinating Michael Powell film forgotten for forty years, a deeply moving and heartfelt documentary by a twentysomething tyro that checks in as one of the top three or four nonfiction films of the past decade, and oh, so much more. So as always: keep your remote handy and fire up your glitter box. We’re going channel surfing.

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As we return to cable screenings of movies that are unreleased on video, the coming month demonstrates a particularly strong emphasis on famous Hollywood features that have mysteriously evaded ancillary distribution (i.e., very few documentaries and shorts on the list, this time around). April 2008 is packed with exciting highlights for the discerning viewer, and my top two picks are sure to stop all film buffs in their tracks: a rare cable screening of Bernardo Bertolucci’s wild incest drama Luna from 1979, and a documentary portrait of one of the most exciting and innovative filmmakers of the past 50 years: the brilliant Canadian documentarist Allan King, whose efforts Warrendale and A Married Couple forever changed the way that audiences look at nonfiction cinema. So hit your easy chair, keep your popcorn bowl and your king-sized universal remote nearby, and as always: fire up that glitter box.

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Snacking on some lunch and checking out the latest links over at Neatorama, I stumbled across a curious little short film by the mute illusionist most folks know as the shorter half of long-time comedy/magic duo Penn and Teller. Of course anyone familiar with their cable television series Bullshit or their popular Las Vegas act knows that the man they call Teller isn’t exactly the outspoken type, so it’s just about as disconcerting to hear him talk as it is to see him taunting the living dead.

At a time when the zombie trend once again seems to have run its course (Day of the Dead remake, anyone?), perhaps this melancholy little short is a fitting epitaph for the lurching sub-genre.

& Teller

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The recent DVD re-release of Newhart Season One (a series for which I carry very fond childhood memories) , struck a nostalgic chord, given the recent deaths of co-star Tom Poston and his off-camera wife, series finale-capper Suzanne Pleshette, and coincided rather neatly with the 25th anniversary of the program’s first year. It inspired me to begin working my way through this three-disc set over the past week, and in re-watching the old episodes, I continually felt amazed by the degree to which American situation comedies have matured, developed, and expanded the scope of their ambitions over the past few decades. Watching this three-camera sitcom after years away is akin to opening a time capsule of early ’80s Reaganite pop culture – and occasionally, but far from often, a pleasurable experience.

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As we return to the hidden treasures of non-video-released cable movies, March ‘08 marks an exciting month indeed. Among other developments, this month witnesses Turner Classic Movies ditching their 31-day Oscar retrospective and returning to the roots of long-forgotten Hollywood melodramas, such as The Great Sinner from 1949 and The October Man from 1948. The most thrilling occurrence, however, is the Encore Love Stories channel’s screening of Albert Finney’s drama Charlie Bubbles - a fascinating little picture that turns up on cable once in a blue moon – plus one of my own personal favorites, Shock Treatment (1964). This macabre drive-in comedy returns to The Fox Movie Channel once again, beckoning unacquainted viewers to discover its charms. So, as always - keep your remote handy and fire up that glitter box.

1. Big-Hearted Herbert (1934) – Guy Kibbee headlines this long-forgotten farce as the title character, a working-class plumber who scores his big break when he moves into manufacturing bathroom fixtures – and finds himself wealthy for the first time. He comes to prefer the welcome company of a bunch of slightly arrogant misers who feel and behave exactly as he does, only to have his priorities dramatically challenged when his wife needs surgery. At a breezy 60 minutes, this winsome slice-of-life comedy is packed with a surprising number of real laughs. Runs on Turner Classic Movies, Thursday 3/6/08 at 7:15am

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The Kung Fu Flicks series at National Amusements theaters is well underway, and moviegoers are having a hell of a good time at the local multiplex. The projected video (occasionally VHS in origin) has been at best poor-to-adequate, the dubbing atrocious, and the action ridiculous… and the viewers can’t seem to get enough. On the heels of their successful “Attack of the B Movies” series in the summer of 2007, programmers at National Amusements were looking to keep the spirit of the drive-in alive on local screens by expanding the scope of their series’ to include some of the strangest kung-fu movies ever committed to celluloid. Whether you’re into kung-fu or not, one would be hard pressed to deny that they’ve accomplished their goal with this series featuring a truly gonzo programming schedule and a nifty little selling gimmick.

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Combine the flavor of the old Brian Winston Reads TV Guide cable-access program (minus the pretentious social commentary), a taste for obscure movies, and an admittedly snobbish level of viewing discretion, and what do you get? Nathan’s Recommended Cable Viewing List. It is my opinion that the advent of DVD has made television viewing much less interesting; but with the presence of such wonderful networks as Encore, TCM, Sundance, IFC and Flix, that doesn’t have to be the case. (Yes, these channels still screen pictures that aren’t available on video). Here is my top-ten list of recommended features, documentaries and shorts airing on major cable stations for the week of February 3-9, 2008 – all four-star films that are not yet available on video. So sit back with me, pour yourself a glass of Chateau de Pommes 1975, and fire up that glitter box.

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An adaptation of Bari Wood’s cult novel A Doll’s Eyes, Neil Jordan’s In Dreams is a surrealistic, gothic thriller that received a harsh critical drubbing when it first bowed 9 years ago this month. Watching it on home video, I found it neither as pretentious nor as cliched as most critics did; in fact, I regard it - though not 100% successful - as one of the most interesting and underrated horror films of the ’90s. Adventuresome genre lovers might want to give this one a look.

The story concerns children’s book illustrator Claire Cooper (Annette Bening) a woman who moves to a farmhouse near a local reservoir with her young daughter Rebecca (Katie Sagona) and airline pilot husband Paul (Aidan Quinn).

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