ABC Movie of the Week
Encyclopedia
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
network in various permutations from 1969
1969 in television
The year 1969 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1969.For the American TV schedule, see: 1969-70 American network television schedule.-Events:...
to 1975
1975 in television
The year 1975 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1975.For the American TV schedule, see: 1975-76 United States network television schedule.-Events:...
.
History
The series was the brainchild of young executive Barry DillerBarry Diller
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
, then head of prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
programming at ABC (and later a cofounder of the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
network). Operating on a small budget but featuring the work of talented producers like Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...
and David Wolper (both of whom later developed hit series of their own), the Movie of the Week helped energize the made-for-TV movie format with fresh story concepts, veteran TV actors and potent production values. The attention-grabbing opening titles were designed and animated by Harry Marks
Harry Marks
Harry Hananel Marks was a British politician and journalist, who founded the Financial News in 1884.-Early life:Harry Marks was born in London on 9 April 1855, a younger child of David Woolf Marks and his wife Cecilia...
using the same groundbreaking slit-scan process, or "stargate effect," that had been pioneered by Douglas Trumbull
Douglas Trumbull
Douglas Huntley Trumbull is an American film director, special effects supervisor, and inventor. He contributed to, or was responsible for, the special photographic effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner and The Tree of...
for 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
.
The Movie of the Week provided ABC (long a distant third in the ratings) with a bona fide hit and, along with Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
, helped establish the network as a legitimate competitor to rivals CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. The films themselves varied in quality and were often escapist
Escapism
Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life...
or sensationalistic
Sensationalism
Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are over-hyped to increase viewership or readership numbers...
in nature (suspense, horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
and melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
were staples), but some were critically well-received. For example, Duel
Duel (film)
Duel is a 1971 television film about a terrified motorist on a remote and lonely road being chased and stalked by the unseen driver of a tanker truck...
(1971), based on a Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
short story from Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, was director Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's first feature film, catapulting his career and enabling him to move from television to theatrical films.
The "alphabet network" earned five Emmys, a prestigious Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
and citations from the NAACP and American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
for an airing of Brian's Song
Brian's Song
Brian's Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the details of the life of Brian Piccolo , a Wake Forest University football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, told through his friendship with Chicago Bears running back teammate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale...
in 1972. The 1971-1972 season of the series finished as the fifth highest rated series of the year.
Original airtime
The opening for the Saturday Movie of the Weekend featured footage of a silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
d "rotating cameraman
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
" operating a 35 mm movie camera
Movie camera
The movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film which was very popular for private use in the last century until its successor, the video camera, replaced it...
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cckf1FHG-c). This footage would later be incorporated into the opening of ABC's New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
WABC-TV
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
's various movie umbrellas beginning around 1972-73
73
Year 73 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Domitianus and Catullus...
, including and especially their weekday afternoon movie showcase The 4:30 Movie
The 4:30 Movie
The 4:30 Movie was a television program that aired weekday afternoons on WABC-TV in New York from 1968 to 1981. The program was mainly known for individual theme weeks devoted to theatrical feature films or made-for-TV movies starring a certain actor or actress, or to a particular genre, or to...
.
During the 1973-74 season, ABC added another movie on Saturday nights to their schedule, this time titled the ABC Suspense Movie, and usually consisting of thriller, mystery and horror type films (some of which were reruns of movies which originally aired as Movies of the Week).
Theme music
The Movie of the Week theme music was an orchestral version of "Nikki", a song composed by Burt BacharachBurt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
and named for his daughter. The classic theme was arranged and performed by Harry Betts
Harry Betts
Harry Betts is a jazz composer and trombonist.-Background:Born in New York and raised in Fresno, California, he was active as a jazz trombonist and played with Stan Kenton's orchestra in the 1950s, among others...
.
TV series pilots
The series was often used as a platform to show pilotTelevision pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
s for possible series for the network. Shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
, Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...
, Longstreet
Longstreet (TV series)
Longstreet is an American crime drama series that was broadcast on the ABC in the 1971-1972 season . A 90-minute pilot movie of the same name aired prior to the debut of the series as an ABC Movie of the Week.-Synopsis:...
and Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...
premiered here.
End
The series proper ended in 1976. After that, ABC's made-for-TV movies were either aired as stand-alone specials or shown in series that included both original and theatrical movie presentations. The Tuesday Movie of the Week would later be incorporated as part of ABC Late Night, a replacement of ABC's Wide World of EntertainmentABC's Wide World of Entertainment
ABC's Wide World of Entertainment is a late night block of programs created by the American Broadcasting Company. It premiered on January 8, 1973 and ended three years later.-Program schedule:...
that ran from 1976 to 1982; the late-night version would mainly feature repeats of movies, both made for television and traditional theatrical releases, that were previously seen on ABC and other networks. The series was documented by Michael Karol in his 2005 book, The ABC Movie of the Week Companion, which was updated in 2008 (ISBN 1-60528-023-2).
Filmography
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Go Ask Alice Go Ask Alice is a controversial 1971 book about the life of a troubled teenage girl. The book continues its claim to be the actual diary of an anonymous teenage girl who became addicted to drugs, but this has been dismissed as false. Beatrice Sparks is listed as the author of the book by the United... (1973) Hijack (1973 film) Hijack is a made-for-television dramatic movie that first aired on ABC in 1973. It was filmed in the Antelope Valley of California.-Plot:Two desperate truck drivers, Jake and Donny, accept an assignment to haul government cargo. The men don't know what's in the cargo, but they find out another... (1973) Letters from Three Lovers Letters from Three Lovers is a 1973 made-for-tv drama film directed by John Erman. An ABC Movie of the Week and a sequel to The Letters , the film is co-produced by Aaron Spelling, written by Ann Marcus and stars Martin Sheen, Belinda Montgomery, Robert Sterling, June Allyson, Ken Berry and Juliet... (1973) Satan's School for Girls (1973 film) Satan's School for Girls is a 1973 made-for-tv horror film directed by David Lowell Rich, and produced by Aaron Spelling. The film has been named as one of the most memorable TV movies of the 1970s.- Plot :... (1973) Scream, Pretty Peggy Scream, Pretty Peggy is an American television movie directed by Gordon Hessler. The teleplay was written by Arthur Hoffe and Jimmy Sangster... (1973) She Lives! She Lives! is a 1973 made-for-television movie about a young couple, Andy and Pam who meet after Andy places a singles ad in his college newspaper. Pam advises him to put a response to her letter in the "Who's Next" album at a local record store. He does and they meet... (1973) The Girl Most Likely to... The Girl Most Likely to... is a black comedy with slight psychological thriller elements written by Joan Rivers and starring Stockard Channing and Edward Asner. The film was released on November 6, 1973 as a made-for-television movie broadcast on the ABC Movie of the Week... (1973) The Girls of Huntington House The Girls of Huntington House is a 1973 television film directed by Alf Kjellin. The film is based on the 1972 novel of the same name written by Blossom Elfman.- Plot :... (1973) The Man Without a Country "The Man Without a Country" is a short story by American writer Edward Everett Hale, first published anonymously in The Atlantic in December 1863. It is the story of American Army lieutenant Philip Nolan, who renounces his country during a trial for treason and is consequently sentenced to spend... (1973) The Picture of Dorian Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, printed as the July 1890 issue of this magazine... (1973) The Six Million Dollar Man The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI... (1973) Toma (TV series) Toma was a short-lived television series that ran on ABC in 1973 and 1974.-Overview:The series starred Tony Musante and Susan Strasberg and was based on the real-life story and published biography of police detective David Toma. Toma had compiled an amazing arrest record during his years on the... (1973) Get Christie Love! Get Christie Love! is a 1974 made-for-television film starring Teresa Graves as an undercover female police detective who is determined to overthrow a drug ring. This film is based on Dorothy Uhnak's crime-thriller novel, The Ledger... (1974) Houston, We've Got a Problem Houston, We've Got a Problem is a 1974 television film about the Apollo 13 spaceflight, directed by Lawrence Doheny and starring Ed Nelson in the role of NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz.... (1974) Killer Bees (1974 film) Killer Bees is a 1974 made for TV horror movie featuring Gloria Swanson that originally aired on ABC on February 26, 1974. The film, which was directed by Curtis Harrington, had a very small cast, including Kate Jackson, Craig Stevens, John Getz, and Edward Albert.-Plot:Madame von Bohlen , a... (1974) Planet Earth (TV pilot) Planet Earth was a science fiction television movie that was created by Gene Roddenberry, written by Roddenberry and Juanita Bartlett . It first aired on April 23, 1974 on the ABC network, and starred John Saxon as Dylan Hunt. It was presented as a pilot for what was hoped to be a new weekly... (1974) Pray for the Wildcats Pray for the Wildcats is a 1974 U.S. television film that originally aired as an ABC Movie of the Week. It is a thriller-drama about a psychopathic business executive chasing his workers on dirtbikes through the desert after he killed a young man. The film was directed by Robert Michael Lewis and... (1974) The California Kid The California Kid is a 1974 TV Movie starring Martin Sheen, Vic Morrow, Nick Nolte, Michelle Phillips, Gary Morgan, and Janit Baldwin.-Plot:... (1974) The Elevator (1974 film) The Elevator is a made-for-television suspense film that first aired on February 9, 1974 as an ABC Movie of the Week.-Plot:An elevator carrying a diverse group of people becomes stuck between floors in a high-rise office building. The tension inside the stalled elevator is exacerbated by one... (1974) The Last Angry Man The Last Angry Man is a drama film which tells the story of a television producer who profiles the life of a physician. It stars Paul Muni, David Wayne, Betsy Palmer, Billy Dee Williams , and Godfrey Cambridge.... (1974) The Mark of Zorro (1974 film) The Mark of Zorro is a 1974 television film and also a backdoor pilot for a TV series which ABC-TV declined to pick up. It was a remake of the 1940 film version of the story, with a teleplay based on John Taintor Foote's 1940 screenplay, and Alfred Newman's 1940 score with incidental music... (1974) The Stranger Within The Stranger Within is a 1974 science fiction film that premiered on ABC on October 1, 1974, as the ABC Movie of the Week. The film was inspired by Rosemary's Baby, but included a science-fiction twist.... (1974) Thursday's Game Thursday's Game is a television movie comedy written by James L. Brooks and directed by Robert Moore. Though filmed in 1971, it first aired in 1974 as an ABC Movie of the Week.... (1974) Where Have All The People Gone? Where Have All The People Gone? was a made for TV movie that was broadcast in 1974. It starred Peter Graves, Kathleen Quinlan, George O'Hanlon Jr., and Verna Bloom.-Plot:... (1974) Winter Kill Winter Kill is a 1974 U.S. made-for-tv movie directed by Jud Taylor and written by John Michael Hayes and David Karp. It stars Andy Griffith as Sam McNeill, the sheriff in a small resort town in the mountains of northern California... (1974) Wonder Woman (TV series) Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979.... (1974) Starsky and Hutch Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC... (1975) Hey, I'm Alive Hey, I'm Alive is a 1975 American television movie. It premiered on ABC on November 7, 1975.The film is based on the true story of two plane crash survivors who spent 49 days of winter in the Yukon before they were rescued.... (1975) Huckleberry Finn (1975 film) Huckleberry Finn is a 1975 American television film adaptation of Mark Twain's famous boyhood novel, Huckleberry Finn. The film stars Ron Howard as the eponymous lead.-Cast:* Ron Howard as Huckleberry Finn* Donny Most as Tom Sawyer... (1975) Matt Helm Matt Helm is a fictional character created by author Donald Hamilton. He is a U.S. government counter-agent—a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of the term as used in spy thrillers.-The character and the series:The... (1975) The Legend of Lizzie Borden The Legend of Lizzie Borden is a 1975 American television movie. It premiered on ABC on February 10, 1975.-Plot:The film, although based on fact, is a stylish retelling of the events of August 4, 1892 when the parents of New England spinster Lizzie Andrew Borden were found brutally murdered in... (1975) Trilogy of Terror Trilogy of Terror is a three-part made-for-television horror film, first aired as an ABC Movie of the Week on March 4, 1975... (1975) Brenda Starr (comic strip) Brenda Starr, Reporter was a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous female reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate.... (1976) Death at Love House Death at Love House is a 1976 made-for-tv horror film directed by E.W. Swackhamer. Part of the ABC Movie of the Week, the film stars Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson.- Plot :... (1976) |