After seeing the movie "Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession," a few months ago, I was thrilled this week to spot the film critic F.X. Feeney dining at House of Pies on Vermont. My family subscribed to the Z Channel starting in 1981 and it was one of the few bright spots of my angst-ridden teenage years. Each month the Z Channel Magazine would arrive and I'd end up reading it cover to cover. The reviews were primarily written by F.X. Feeney and someone who signed their reviews J.L. The reviews were super informative and interesting.
The Z Channel turned me on to the movies of John Cassavetes, Buster Keaton, Monty Python, and Henry Jaglom. I saw mind-blowing movies I never would have heard of, such as The Wicker Man, Witchcraft Through the Ages, Head, A Safe Place, The Boyfriend (director's cut), The Tin Drum, and Wild Strawberries. We didn't know how good we had it. There was never such a great television station before or since.
The documentary about the Z Channel and its main programmer Jerry Harvey brought back such bittersweet memories of the 80's for me. Of course the story is extremely sad in that Harvey's psychiatric problems led him to murder his girlfriend (or was she his wife?) and commit suicide. F.X. Feeney is endearing and melancholy in the film. There is a quote he says by Goethe that was very moving.
I accosted him at House of Pies to tell him I was a fan of his Z Channel reviews. I'm happy to report he was very gracious and nice. He washed his hands before shaking my hand so he wouldn't give me his cold.
Pretty much all my time as an adolescent was spent doing schoolwork and sponging up movies on the Z Channel. It was not a very healthy existence, but at least the movies were alive.
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