The Essentials is an American weekly film-focused television program broadcast on Turner Classic Movies, with TCM hosts and special guests introducing and discussing some of the best movies ever made.
Overview
For a sixteen-year period from 2001 to 2017 excepting 2016, the program aired each Saturday night at 8:00 PM Eastern Time from March to January of the following year. For the first five seasons, a single individual hosted the program; for the remaining seasons, a main host would be paired with a guest.
For the balance of the program's broadcast, a full decade from 2006 to 2015, a guest host was paired with the principal host of TCM, Robert Osborne. The program was suspended in 2016 due to the poor health of Osborne, and continued following the death of Osborne in 2017, having Alec Baldwin paired with a sequence of guests.
The program was not programmed by the network after the sixteenth season ended in January 2018. It was revived in May 2019 with new host Ben Mankiewicz.
Hosts
For the program's first five seasons, a single individual hosted the program. From 2006 to 2015, a guest host was paired with the principal host of TCM, Robert Osborne.
Rob Reiner (2001−2003) Sydney Pollack (2004) Peter Bogdanovich (2005) Robert Osborne (2006−2015) Molly Haskell (2006) Carrie Fisher (2007) Rose McGowan (2008) Alec Baldwin (2009−2011; 2017) Drew Barrymore (2012−2014) Sally Field (2015) David Letterman (2017) Tina Fey (2017) William Friedkin (2017) Ben Mankiewicz (2019–present) Ava DuVernay (2019) Brad Bird (2020)
Films featured on The Essentials
2001 season
Citizen Kane (1941) The Producers (1968) North by Northwest (1959) In the Heat of the Night (1967) Giant (1956) The Maltese Falcon (1941) A Night at the Opera (1935) Gaslight (1944) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Elmer Gantry (1960) Witness for the Prosecution (1957) From Here to Eternity (1953) Casablanca (1942) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Dr. Strangelove (1964) White Heat (1949) Singin' in the Rain (1952) Inherit the Wind (1960) Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) Dial M for Murder (1954) The Bank Dick (1940) Paths of Glory (1957) Top Hat (1935) Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) Some Like It Hot (1959)
2002 season
High Noon (1952) West Side Story (1961) Sweet Smell of Success (1957) Annie Hall (1977) Spartacus (1960) Fail Safe (1964) American Graffiti (1973) To Be or Not to Be (1942) The Night of the Hunter (1955) The Caine Mutiny (1954) Ninotchka (1939) The Defiant Ones (1958) The Lost Weekend (1945) Paper Moon (1973) Duck Soup (1933) Jaws (1975) Sullivan's Travels (1941) The Asphalt Jungle (1950) A Face in the Crowd (1957) The Searchers (1956) I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) Mildred Pierce (1945) Double Indemnity (1944) Rocky (1976)
2003 season
The Philadelphia Story (1940) Bonnie and Clyde (1967) The Wild One (1953) Guys and Dolls (1955) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) It Happened One Night (1934) Champion (1949) A Star Is Born (1954) The Shop Around the Corner (1940) Bringing Up Baby (1938) On the Waterfront (1954) Stagecoach (1939) Wuthering Heights (1939) The Magnificent Seven (1960) Touch of Evil (1958) Force of Evil (1948) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) Pillow Talk (1959) Strangers on a Train (1951) Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Notorious (1946)
2004 season
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) An American in Paris (1951) Rear Window (1954) Annie Hall (1977) Singin' in the Rain (1952) The Day of the Jackal (1973) The Red Badge of Courage (1951) Spellbound (1945) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Doctor Zhivago (1965) Citizen Kane (1941) Casablanca (1942) Bringing Up Baby (1938) On the Waterfront (1954) High Noon (1952) Dr. Strangelove (1964) Random Harvest (1942) Tootsie (1982) Papillon (1973) The Quiet Man (1952) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Some Like It Hot (1959) Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
2005 season
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) The Lady from Shanghai (1947) Adam's Rib (1949) The Band Wagon (1953) North by Northwest (1959) His Girl Friday (1940) La Grande Illusion (1937) Out of the Past (1947) Swing Time (1936) To Have and Have Not (1944) Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Gaslight (1944) They Were Expendable (1945) The Lady Eve (1941) The Big Sleep (1946) Vertigo (1958) Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) White Heat (1949) It Should Happen to You (1954) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) The Merry Widow (1934) Fort Apache (1948) The Shop Around the Corner (1940) The Awful Truth (1937) Some Came Running (1958) Mogambo (1953)