On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 10:49 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
> The obit lists "Smash-Up on Interstate 5" amongst his credits. For > those who missed this movie of the week, it was an entirely > character-driven drama with a cast of veteran character actors, among > them Robert Conrad (who was a much more convincing CHP than Ponch or > John). One would think there would be a market (maybe a high-numbered > cable channel) for MOWs from the 70s and 80s. Not the chick-flick MOWs > produced by Hallmark and Lifetime (both DO have their own channels), > but the more experimental movies. Heck, even the teen-romp movies > featuring sitcom kids running a summer camp might have kitsch value. > > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110112/ap_en_ce/us_obit_david_nelson > I second Kevin's motion for a "TV Movie of the Week" Channel. The wikis have what looks like a pretty good article on the formal MOW series (which ran from 1969 - 1976). They list 255 movies. Some were crap, some were cheap thrills, some were pilots for series that later became famous, some were failed pilots, some were standard but entertaining melodramas, and some were just damn fine films, including, of course, "Duel". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Movie_of_the_Week The day after Thanksgiving family and friends were at a reception at a country club standing around eating free food and waiting for their Santa Claus to visit. We took up station next to the guy playing background Christmas music on the piano. I suddenly became aware that he was playing the theme to "Brian's Song" - my brother, my two friends and myself stopped talking and leaned on the piano, and when he finished I asked him if that was considered a Christmas song. He said no, but he ran out of Christmas songs, and he just loved Brian's Song and liked to play it. By then about 5 other middle aged men had drifted over, and almost as one the 8 of us said that it was the first movie that had ever made us cry, or realize that films can lead to genuine emotion. "Brian's Song" was also a MOW, and was what led me to go search for the Wiki article a few weeks ago. According to the wiki's, "Smash-Up" was not formally part of the official "Movie of the Week" series, that ended in 1976; instead it was one of the first of a series of movies of the week that aired on ABC either as stand-alones, or as part of a movie series that included theatrical as well as made for tv movies. The wikis also have an article on all movies made for ABC from 1958 to 2005: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_films_produced_for_American_Broadcasting_Company This does include "Smash-Up on Interstate 5", and would be an additional source for a MOW channel. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
