31 Days of Oscar

31 Days of Oscar is a programming franchise aired each Oscar season by the U.S. and Asian Turner Classic Movies cable networks during the month of the Academy Awards. However, even though the 2006 Oscars were broadcast in early March, TCM chose to run the festival at its usual month of February (the Oscars are now generally held in February, but moved to March 2006 to avoid conflict with the Winter Olympics).

Premise

The criteria for films that air on TCM during the festival is that each feature that TCM airs can either be an Oscar winner or nominee. Films that air, of course, are those that TCM holds the broadcast rights to at the time, but mostly they come from the classic Warner/Turner/MGM library.

360 Degrees of Oscar

In years past, the "31 Days of Oscar" festival has been centered on certain themes, such as "A to Z" and categorized days. For the 2006 offering, the theme was "360 Degrees of Oscar" (based on the theoretical game of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon", and in turn inspired by the film Six Degrees of Separation). TCM determines an actor who has played a significant role in Oscar history, and builds its entire schedule around him, with each film linked to another actor, actress, director, or producer. In this case, the 2006 festival was centered on Austrian actor and Oscar nominee Eric Pohlmann, with him starring in both the first and last films to air in the "31 Days" festival.

A similar tactic was used for a later campaign, in which the "31 Days/360 Degrees" festival was centered on Oscar winner Jane Wyman, whom TCM determined was the actress who played the most significance among all actresses in Oscar history.

The 2010 edition will again use this theme, only this time it will revolve around the man who originated the "Six Degrees" game, Kevin Bacon.