It's a bit disconcerting when you personally know the subject of a documentary. It's even stranger when that subject was a murder victim."Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession" chronicles the ups and (many) downs of a deceased Los Angeles film buff named Jerry Harvey. If you think you're obsessed with movies, you have nothing on Harvey. In the movie, Harvey's ex-wife tells how he once literally spoke of nothing but Stanley Kubrick's movie "Dr. Strangelove" for 24 hours.Harvey began as a programmer for a movie theater but made L.A. history when he joined The Z Channel, an independent cable-TV channel that began broadcasting in 1974. In the prehistoric days of cable before HBO, Z gained its reputation and cache by showing uncut movies of all kinds, 24 hours a day.After Harvey wrote several letters of complaint to Z about their informational errors and lack of range, Z decided to hire him as a full-time programmer. Harvey went to town on movies, showing everything from obscure European art films to "Star Wars." In the movie, several major filmmakers and stars, including Robert Altman and James Woods, rave about how their more obscure movies received a second life via broadcast on Z. (Although Woody Allen's long-time producer Charles Joffe is interviewed, strangely unmentioned is how it's believed that Z's frequent broadcasts of "Annie Hall" helped to win the unsung comedy several Oscars, including Best Picture.) Along with Harvey's successes, the movie chronicles his checkered family history and his life-long battle with depression. When cable channels such as HBO muscled in on Z's territory, Z's owners looked more to the bottom line and decided to run sports events along with movies. The movie's final half-hour covers the sad decline of both Z and Harvey, whose depression finally moved him to shoot and kill his second wife and then himself.The documentary is well-done and extremely engrossing. Yet it almost serves as a cautionary tale, a "Taxi Driver" for movie buffs, showing how a singular obsession–-even with something as artistically worthwhile as film–-can have negative consequences.(My personal connection with the story: Harvey's murdered wife, Deri Rudulph, was my employer for the brief time that I lived in L.A. She was one of the most generous, wonderful people I've ever met. Ten days after I returned to Jacksonville, I received the sad news about her murder. I was asked to be interviewed for this movie but could not make it to L.A. in time.)

It's true. The question can be asked: Is it a film about an early cable TV mad genius impresario, or the station's impact on the film & cable industry, or simply an exposure and homage to the kind of films that brought the man and his Channel Z their well deserved success.Of course it is all of the above and thank god for it.Probably about as good a treatment of the subjects as you could ask for. Studios & "suits" are the bad guys. Film critics are almost as bad. But for those that love the art of film, like these people do, we can join in the celebration. I was never that impressed with the films of Sam Peckinpaw, but now I must take another look. Six hours of Das Boot? Now I know why.It's also an instructional story of marketing. How to find a niche. How to defy conventional wisdom and find the "uncommon denominator" that brings success. Is there a market for this or that? There is always a market for things that are produced by people simply following their passion.

I wanted to ask if anyone knew anything about another small channel.This channel was called "Showbiz" and we got it in rural San Diego county because cable did not reach us back then. Showbiz was available as a pay service but it was broadcast locally.It reminds me of Z channel because it showed odd little films and felt like there was a "DJ" picking out films to show me that I would never have thought to see.This channel's programing introduced me to Austrailian films, which in the late 70's and early 80's were very interesting.If someone can respond with a URL or other data I would be most appreciative.

For the movie buff in us all, whether casual or die-hard, the story of Jerry Harvey, who pioneered independent pay-TV services, is the story of the tragic hero, whom for the people who subscribed to his Z channel got the best of the best in international cinema, and then some. He started out booking films into theaters, usually obscure titles and films people should (but don't) seem to care about. Then he moved his ambitions to television, where he and a small office of support created the Z Channel, a kind of dark horse alongside the up and coming HBO and Showtime and Cinemax. All they showed were movies, mostly foreign films or westerns or crime films (Harvey, we learn, was a great friend of Sam Peckinpah, as well as Michael Cimino), and were also profitable in showing the 'Night Owl' films (which today over-run Cinemax). He brought films like Once Upon a Time in America, Heaven's Gate, and the Leopard in their fully uncut, realized glory, helped usher in films that got over-looked, and for his time until the end of Z channel in 1989, he had his own underground dominion.But the film doesn't shy away from personal details either, details I dare not go into here. He had a troubled childhood, which spread as we learn in the film into his adult years. In between his movie deals and such he had peaks and valleys of depression and anxiety and anger issues, finally coming to a head when he murdered his wife, then himself. Though the film doesn't sugar-coat the details, some more surprising than others, it doesn't make him out to be a bad person. More than anything, director "Xan" Cassavetes (daughter of the director John) gives a fully realized human dimension to this man, at times a little eccentric, but very intelligent, and at the core someone who sought his salvation, entertainment, and enlightenment in great cinema. As other filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino, and Alexander Payne recant their recollections of what the channel had to offer them, the memories of discovering movies for the first time thanks to Harvey and the channel, it brings to mind something crucial that is a part of cinema.In a way, Harvey, in his limited resources (unfortunately, after Harvey's death Z channel went nowhere, never making it to the reputable, corporate heights of HBO and Showtime), did something that every movie buff needs- a friend to bring good, or great films to light, to recommend and turn people on to art that may not get shown on the Sunday afternoon movie. Through all of his flaws, mostly not of his fault to start with, he was a kind of independent pioneer in Pay-TV television, paving the way for a channel like IFC (which premiered the film, by the way), and for a larger group, that films should be seen without studio's censors and scissors, that the director's vision is paramount for a film fan. This documentary brings to light that, and as an extra bonus shows numerous, beautiful, and strange clips from films. Only thing missing are some archival clips from the actual Z channel itself, or Harvey in a TV interview.