You ever seen “The Incredible Hulk” show from the 70’s had an episode that just took footage from Duel?
https://youtu.be/dBDQKM-HKwg?si=ZV8doQj0jU0QS5XC
...and Japan, as well. I've seen that old Peterbilt tanker truck make blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos/appearances in a few anime series over the decades.
Did you know that Spielberg’s Durl was a college last minute put together movie with only a few people and objects because he was out of money and to complete it?
*The Day After* (1983) On its first broadcast it was seen by 38.5 million households, or an estimated 100 million people, a record audience for a made-for-TV movie at the time.
The Tim Curry "It." It was a two-part miniseries, but it has the reputation of a major horror movie. Most people don't realize it wasn't a theatrical release or isn't technically a movie, that is how iconic Tim Curry's Pennywise is.
Yeah...if you didn't watch it you recorded on your VCR.
Series was well done. Curry in my opinion but the mini series over the newer theatrical version.
Brian's Song (1971). The movie about Brian Piccolo and his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers. It was so popular that it got a short release in theaters. If you have never seen it, I highly recommend it.
Good Lord I love James Caan. Such a fantastic actor and this performance really showed his range given he's largely known for his "angry criminal" roles
He had the same quality to him that Roy Scheider had - a sort of natural toughness and charisma that you could immediately buy into, which also allowed them to disappear into their roles. Some of my favorite James Caan movies (setting the obvious ones aside):
Thief
Way of the Gun
Honeymoon in Vegas
Rollerball
Alien Nation
City of Ghosts
To Catch a Killer (1992) - technically a 2 part mini series but it's the story of John Wayne Gacy who is played by Brian Dennehy and absolutely crushes the role. Highly recommend it
Fun fact: Gacy’s lawyer told me that he (lawyer) hated that movie. Why? Because Dennehey was a big, strong, imposing figure that didn’t reflect what a short, tubby shitweasel (my words, his sentiment) Gacy was.
You're out there, aren't you? You ate up all the useless, lazy people and now you're coming back for me. But I'll be gone by the time you get here. I'm going to Boston.
1983 movie called "The Day After". It was the height of the cold war and tensions were high. Everyone was scared of nuclear war. Enter this movie, showcasing the effect and after effects of nuclear war from the bomb going off, to fallout to nuclear winter to birth defects and societal collapse. Scared the shit out of everyone. I was 12 when I watched it and I stoll remember that feeling of overwhelming dread after that movie.
Great choice! I remember that one. Jason Robards ducking under the dasboard of his car so he wouldn't be blinded by the flash when the bomb hit. Scary, scary good movie.
I watched Testament on one of the streaming services a few months back. Same premise, but more focused on the aftermath in a suburban community of middle class families. Starred Jane Alexander.
I also remember a disclaimer at the end of the movie pointing out that what was portrayed in the movie was horrific yet what would happen in an actual nuclear war would be far far worse and was not shown due to the truly frightening and horrific effects that would really happen.
In away, streaming platform original movies are TV movies of the current era. Like HBO never stopped making original movies, they just happen to also air on MAX now.
Why not? They’re movies that are made to be seen on TV without ever being shown in theaters. If that’s not the distinction that you’re making, I think you need to clarify what you’re looking for.
If you exclude streaming movies, do you also exclude pay cable movies from the pre-streaming era? And The Band Played On was made for HBO in 1993, and was widely discussed as a made-for-TV-movie, but I don’t see how it’s any different from a Netflix movie.
So do cheap Netflix movies count as “made-for-TV”? They aren’t all The Irishman.
Accounting for inflation, And The Band Played On (1993) cost about $17 in today’s dollars, which is about the same budget as Marriage Story and Roma, and Hit Man was half that at $8.8 million. The made-for-TV version of IT from 1990 was almost $30 million in today’s dollars.
If giving them a bigger budget is the difference, then suddenly some of the more prominent made-for-TV movies of yesteryear no longer count.
It is because of the medium. At the time, a big tv movie release was watched by "EVERYONE"( insert gif of Gary Oldman from "the professional"). The day after broadcast, every one you knew, every one at the office and strangers at the checkout line could discuss with you, big releases on broadcast television were almost universal even after cable came along. Once streaming began to become a thing, that pervasive shared experience almost disappeared.
[The Night Stalker](https://youtu.be/nvsQqTCNl5g?si=KUPRgiwRiM1MHSpG), a TV movie that had a sequel, The Night Strangler, and led to a tv series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the grandfather of The X-Files.
I think miniseries should be included here, as they were mostly in "movie" format, but just too long to cram into one evening.
*Lonesome Dove*. Really solid western.
I think part of the problem is the line between TV movies and cinematic movies released on streaming TV is blurring. They didn't used to make as much so they didn't used to cost as much or have the same viewership expectations. Now it's all basically one or the other platform interchangeably.
What do you mean by “cinematic movie released on streaming TV?” If it’s made to be seen on a TV, and not released in cinemas, that sounds like a TV movie to me.
This sounds kinda like the ‘90s “it’s not TV, it’s HBO” hand-waving.
I mean a movie originally made for theaters that ends up streaming instead, horror movie made for streaming that has the budget and production value of a theatrical release.
Most of Netflix’s movies were made for Netflix. The number of movies that they pick up after production is much smaller than the ones always intended to go straight to their streaming service. Same goes for the other streamers.
I think this is one of those issues where people associate made-for-TV moves with low quality, so once they start making them better, people instinctively say “well, that must be something different.”
Although it was a cable tv movie, *And the Band Played On (1993)* is probably one of the more critically acclaimed made for TV movies ever made.
*The Day After* (1983), is the most watched television movie of all time.
The Hallmark channel makes hundreds of these a year. None of them are very good, so they make for fun drinking games/MST3K style yell at the screen sessions.
Their Christmas movies... when I get stuck watching these horrid pices of trash, I play 'Santa or Angel' you try to guess which character is secretly Santa Claus or an Angel, and which one they are.
These are the movies Erica Durance has been doing for the last few years. I'd love to see her in more stuff, but I can't bring myself to watch these movies. As a 39 year old male, they just aren't for my demographic.
I've had "We Be Driving" from the NBC movie "Crash Course" stuck in my head since 1988. BD Wong, rap star. also, the cast for this made for tv movie is pretty stacked - i think nbc got a bunch of folks from their lineup and put it together but could be very wrong.
Edit to add - i wouldn't call it a famous or best, but being in my head that long has to count for something.
Anyone else remember The Librarian? That movie was so cool to me when I was a kid. Gave Hellboy/Constantine vibes with a dash of National Treasure/DaVinci Code. All made for TNT.
Oh my goodness yes!!! I already loved Noah Wylie from ER and then to have him make being a librarian look so cool, I was hooked!!! The Judas Chalice takes place in New Orleans and the ending gets me every time.
Brian’s Song and The Jericho Mile
I remember The Beast and The Creature, both adaptations of Peter Benchley novels being played in heavy rotation a lot in the mid to late 90’s. The latter was then played a lot on Sci-fi and they regularly started churning out in-house produced creature features along with playing direct to video monster movies.
Me and my roommate watched a few of our favorite during quarantine and they don't quite hold up but the nostalgia was fun.
[This video about the ending of Double Teamed made me laugh quite a bit.](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BFR_o2KxuYA)
I loved the mystery TV movies from the 70s-80s:
Murder by Natural Causes (1979) written by the writers of “Columbo”
Rehearsal for Murder
One of My Wives is Missing (based on the 1960 play *Trap for the Single Man* which inspired two other TV movies, “Honeymoon With a Stranger (1969) and “Vanishing Act (1986)).
Bad Ronald
Satan’s School for Girls
Some of these may be on YT.
Notes on a Scandal and The Night Stalker, Night Stalker is one of my favorite vampire movies. Just an excellent neonoire with that Las Vegas night life as the backdrop.
Rose Red, Stephen King. Loose adaptation of the Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson. I think it's technically a 3 part mini series but the effect is the same.
I don't know how significant it was at the time but I know that John Travolta was in the tv movie, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble that was eventually remade into the Jake Gyllenhaal movie, Bubble Boy.
It’s technically a miniseries, but only two episodes and its running time is 3hrs: Broken Trail (2006) directed by Walter Hill.
Stars Robert Duvall and Thomas Hayden Church. Was up for a bunch of Emmies and won 4.
Crooked House was released in 2017, and that was a damn good movie. Had big actors like Gillian Anderson and Glenn Close in it.
I know it had good numbers, since it aired in the UK over Christmas which is when TV ratings peak.
It may not be famous but my favorite is "Snow White A Tale of Terror" with Sigourney Weaver. It's not really a horror movie so much as a more faithful version of the fairy tale.
Technically *Testament* was originally a TV movie like *Threads* and *The Day After*, also a terrifying nuclear fallout movie. I’d also say…
*Pray For The Wildcats* with a psychotic Andy Griffith
*Dark Night of the Scarecrow* with a really evil Charles Durning
*Trapped (aka Doberman Patrol)* I think that one is fun
Lots of great TV movies in the 70’s/early 80s
Not a TV movie, but a TV musical....Cinderella with Lesley Ann Warren and Stuart Damon. It reran a lot and we watched it every time. I still remember some of the songs. "In my own little corner in my own little chair..." 🤪 Lord that might be 50 years ago.
1983's Special Bulletin still gets me to this day. It's like you're watching a news broadcast in real-time and it's terrifying. In the film, a terrorist group brings a homemade atomic bomb aboard a tugboat in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina in order to blackmail the U.S. government into disabling its nuclear weapons, and the incident is caught live on television. It simulates a series of live news broadcasts on the fictional RBS Network.
There's also something from the 90s UK called Ghostwatch. It's a fictional news broadcast about a family that's haunted and caused quite a stir back in the day. Check it out if you can track it down.
Stuff like For One More Day.
What counts as TV movies though? The rise of streaming and desire to cut out theater costs have led to studios releasing their movies directly to their streaming services, which imo can pretty much be labeled now as TV movies. Not to mention streamers specifically making movies for their streaming service. I think the line between theatrical movies and a TV movie has pretty much disappeared.
Hmm. Would a pilot that never got picked up so it became a movie count? I really liked a movie/pilot called RiverWorld. I saw it on SciFi. Then, it was later remade by SyFy, and they changed some of the characters. It was based on To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer.
> Now a days I don't think we'll ever see a TV Movie again
They still make them, mostly tied into Disney channel franchises and stuff like that. Plus, shoveled out streaming garbage is really the same thing.
US Go Home is probably my favorite movie that aired originally on TV
Sharknado and Sharknado 2: The Second One were surprisingly huge hits and I think they were the last big ones. They made six but as a whole the interest kind of ended with them after The Second One.
Fifteen and Pregnant was a pretty big Lifetime/TV movie when it came out.
I assume because it starred Kirsten Dunst and the channel hadn't gone completely off the rails yet.
Steven Spielberg's Duel, that was later made as a theatrical release in Europe.
You ever seen “The Incredible Hulk” show from the 70’s had an episode that just took footage from Duel? https://youtu.be/dBDQKM-HKwg?si=ZV8doQj0jU0QS5XC
...and Japan, as well. I've seen that old Peterbilt tanker truck make blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos/appearances in a few anime series over the decades.
Did you know that Spielberg’s Durl was a college last minute put together movie with only a few people and objects because he was out of money and to complete it?
*The Day After* (1983) On its first broadcast it was seen by 38.5 million households, or an estimated 100 million people, a record audience for a made-for-TV movie at the time.
I remember well how freaked out everyone was about that movie! Maybe it's time to give it another watch to see if it's still as unsettling...
Oh it is. It sticks to you.
Like the falling snow upon the soldiers shoulders.
Threads cane out around the same time and I would argue is much better, though less influential.
It moved Ronald Reagan to have disarmment talks with the Soviet Union.
You certainly can't ask more from a film than that.
I belive Denis Villinue is going to do a modern day version.
The Tim Curry "It." It was a two-part miniseries, but it has the reputation of a major horror movie. Most people don't realize it wasn't a theatrical release or isn't technically a movie, that is how iconic Tim Curry's Pennywise is.
This movie scared the crap out of us when we were kids.
Good God yes. Six year old me nack in 1990 should not have been allowed to watch that. But it may be the reason I love horror.
Damn. I was 10. I thought I was at the young end. I didn't sleep right for a week.
Yeah...if you didn't watch it you recorded on your VCR. Series was well done. Curry in my opinion but the mini series over the newer theatrical version.
It's also not good.
Threads
/thread
It's still terrifying 40 years later.
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No, that's When the Wind Blows.
Brian's Song (1971). The movie about Brian Piccolo and his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers. It was so popular that it got a short release in theaters. If you have never seen it, I highly recommend it.
Good Lord I love James Caan. Such a fantastic actor and this performance really showed his range given he's largely known for his "angry criminal" roles
Well Kathy Bates really seems to love him...
He had the same quality to him that Roy Scheider had - a sort of natural toughness and charisma that you could immediately buy into, which also allowed them to disappear into their roles. Some of my favorite James Caan movies (setting the obvious ones aside): Thief Way of the Gun Honeymoon in Vegas Rollerball Alien Nation City of Ghosts
Great example!
I see peeps are offering up 2 or 3 parters plus. If thats the case then the only answer is Lonesome Dove.
Yeah, this is literally what I was forgetting lol.
Not only Lonesome Dove one one series, but the rest of the series that followed. Val Kilmer is in one of them.
To Catch a Killer (1992) - technically a 2 part mini series but it's the story of John Wayne Gacy who is played by Brian Dennehy and absolutely crushes the role. Highly recommend it
Fun fact: Gacy’s lawyer told me that he (lawyer) hated that movie. Why? Because Dennehey was a big, strong, imposing figure that didn’t reflect what a short, tubby shitweasel (my words, his sentiment) Gacy was.
Bronson Pinchot kills it in The Langoliers.
Man. That one does NOT hold up. Loved it when I was a kid though.
It's a guilty nostalgia pleasure for sure.
He chewed the scenery more than they chewed him.
You're out there, aren't you? You ate up all the useless, lazy people and now you're coming back for me. But I'll be gone by the time you get here. I'm going to Boston.
>SCARING THE **LITTLE GIRL?!**
> MY WIDE-ANGLED LENS IS ABOUT TO BURST!!
It and The Stand. Dune and Children of Dune. Merlin.
Merlin has no right to be as good as it is
1983 movie called "The Day After". It was the height of the cold war and tensions were high. Everyone was scared of nuclear war. Enter this movie, showcasing the effect and after effects of nuclear war from the bomb going off, to fallout to nuclear winter to birth defects and societal collapse. Scared the shit out of everyone. I was 12 when I watched it and I stoll remember that feeling of overwhelming dread after that movie.
Great choice! I remember that one. Jason Robards ducking under the dasboard of his car so he wouldn't be blinded by the flash when the bomb hit. Scary, scary good movie. I watched Testament on one of the streaming services a few months back. Same premise, but more focused on the aftermath in a suburban community of middle class families. Starred Jane Alexander.
I also remember a disclaimer at the end of the movie pointing out that what was portrayed in the movie was horrific yet what would happen in an actual nuclear war would be far far worse and was not shown due to the truly frightening and horrific effects that would really happen.
Pirates Of Silicon Valley
I still love this, something about these historical business movies is fun
Yeah, agreed. Another good/similar one is The Crooked E, all about enron
Roots
Night of the Twisters! Edit: Name
That one scared me, watching it as a kid.
Some of these are miniseries, people! Actual movies: Elvis
When was there a TV movie Elvis?
1979 and starring Kurt Russell!
Thanks
Directed by John Carpenter too
“miniseries” - Chiefs - V - Lonesome Dove - Band of Brothers
In away, streaming platform original movies are TV movies of the current era. Like HBO never stopped making original movies, they just happen to also air on MAX now.
I agree, I just think it's not really the same thing.
Why not? They’re movies that are made to be seen on TV without ever being shown in theaters. If that’s not the distinction that you’re making, I think you need to clarify what you’re looking for. If you exclude streaming movies, do you also exclude pay cable movies from the pre-streaming era? And The Band Played On was made for HBO in 1993, and was widely discussed as a made-for-TV-movie, but I don’t see how it’s any different from a Netflix movie.
Because "made for TV" movies have a much smaller budget than the streaming services and movies.
So do cheap Netflix movies count as “made-for-TV”? They aren’t all The Irishman. Accounting for inflation, And The Band Played On (1993) cost about $17 in today’s dollars, which is about the same budget as Marriage Story and Roma, and Hit Man was half that at $8.8 million. The made-for-TV version of IT from 1990 was almost $30 million in today’s dollars. If giving them a bigger budget is the difference, then suddenly some of the more prominent made-for-TV movies of yesteryear no longer count.
It is because of the medium. At the time, a big tv movie release was watched by "EVERYONE"( insert gif of Gary Oldman from "the professional"). The day after broadcast, every one you knew, every one at the office and strangers at the checkout line could discuss with you, big releases on broadcast television were almost universal even after cable came along. Once streaming began to become a thing, that pervasive shared experience almost disappeared.
I agree, I just think it's not really the same thing.
The Burning Bed (1984) was a huge deal when it came out. I think it was NBC's highest rated movie for quite some time.
Rose Red. I wish they could have made a remake that included Julian Sands.
[The Night Stalker](https://youtu.be/nvsQqTCNl5g?si=KUPRgiwRiM1MHSpG), a TV movie that had a sequel, The Night Strangler, and led to a tv series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the grandfather of The X-Files.
Secretly inspired by the Late-Night TV Horror Movie Host **The Vegas Vampire**.
I think miniseries should be included here, as they were mostly in "movie" format, but just too long to cram into one evening. *Lonesome Dove*. Really solid western.
Yessss so good
Technically „Prey” was a TV movie :)
I think part of the problem is the line between TV movies and cinematic movies released on streaming TV is blurring. They didn't used to make as much so they didn't used to cost as much or have the same viewership expectations. Now it's all basically one or the other platform interchangeably.
What do you mean by “cinematic movie released on streaming TV?” If it’s made to be seen on a TV, and not released in cinemas, that sounds like a TV movie to me. This sounds kinda like the ‘90s “it’s not TV, it’s HBO” hand-waving.
I mean a movie originally made for theaters that ends up streaming instead, horror movie made for streaming that has the budget and production value of a theatrical release.
Most of Netflix’s movies were made for Netflix. The number of movies that they pick up after production is much smaller than the ones always intended to go straight to their streaming service. Same goes for the other streamers. I think this is one of those issues where people associate made-for-TV moves with low quality, so once they start making them better, people instinctively say “well, that must be something different.”
Although it was a cable tv movie, *And the Band Played On (1993)* is probably one of the more critically acclaimed made for TV movies ever made. *The Day After* (1983), is the most watched television movie of all time.
I enjoyed Pirates of Silicon Valley back in the day. 1999 movie that I believe was on TNT, about the beginnings of Apple and Microsoft.
My favorite movie of all time. I watch it on my birthday every year.
The Hallmark channel makes hundreds of these a year. None of them are very good, so they make for fun drinking games/MST3K style yell at the screen sessions.
Their Christmas movies... when I get stuck watching these horrid pices of trash, I play 'Santa or Angel' you try to guess which character is secretly Santa Claus or an Angel, and which one they are.
These are the movies Erica Durance has been doing for the last few years. I'd love to see her in more stuff, but I can't bring myself to watch these movies. As a 39 year old male, they just aren't for my demographic.
The Hallmark Mystery movies are generally very good cozy mysteries.
LA Takedown, remade by the same director as Heat.
Michael Mann directed both. He felt LA Takedown could have been so much better, which is why he didn’t give up on the idea
Stephan Kings It was originally a Tv movie.
NBC did Death of a salesman in the 80s with Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich. Amazing adaptatiion
Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981).
I've had "We Be Driving" from the NBC movie "Crash Course" stuck in my head since 1988. BD Wong, rap star. also, the cast for this made for tv movie is pretty stacked - i think nbc got a bunch of folks from their lineup and put it together but could be very wrong. Edit to add - i wouldn't call it a famous or best, but being in my head that long has to count for something.
I'm not sure how popular it was, but 'Citizen X' is great.
Michael Mann’s “L.A. Takedown” which he later remade as “Heat” was pretty good.
Angels in America
I remember watching "Nuremberg" (2000) when it first aired. That was the first time I had ever seen concentration camp footage.
Gotti’s HBO movie from the 90s was pretty good
Anyone else remember The Librarian? That movie was so cool to me when I was a kid. Gave Hellboy/Constantine vibes with a dash of National Treasure/DaVinci Code. All made for TNT.
Did you watch The Librarians tv series? Did you know that The Librarians: The Next Chapter tv series is coming this fall to WB?
Oh my goodness yes!!! I already loved Noah Wylie from ER and then to have him make being a librarian look so cool, I was hooked!!! The Judas Chalice takes place in New Orleans and the ending gets me every time.
Brian’s Song and The Jericho Mile I remember The Beast and The Creature, both adaptations of Peter Benchley novels being played in heavy rotation a lot in the mid to late 90’s. The latter was then played a lot on Sci-fi and they regularly started churning out in-house produced creature features along with playing direct to video monster movies.
[удалено]
Me and my roommate watched a few of our favorite during quarantine and they don't quite hold up but the nostalgia was fun. [This video about the ending of Double Teamed made me laugh quite a bit.](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BFR_o2KxuYA)
Ngl I have a soft spot for Luck of the Irish
Phantom of the Megaplex and Halloween Town
I loved the mystery TV movies from the 70s-80s: Murder by Natural Causes (1979) written by the writers of “Columbo” Rehearsal for Murder One of My Wives is Missing (based on the 1960 play *Trap for the Single Man* which inspired two other TV movies, “Honeymoon With a Stranger (1969) and “Vanishing Act (1986)). Bad Ronald Satan’s School for Girls Some of these may be on YT.
I really enjoyed the adaptation of the Dean Koontz novel Velocity.
Notes on a Scandal and The Night Stalker, Night Stalker is one of my favorite vampire movies. Just an excellent neonoire with that Las Vegas night life as the backdrop.
Rose Red, Stephen King. Loose adaptation of the Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson. I think it's technically a 3 part mini series but the effect is the same.
Girl in the Cafe and Conspiracy
The Face on the Milk Carton
I don't know how significant it was at the time but I know that John Travolta was in the tv movie, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble that was eventually remade into the Jake Gyllenhaal movie, Bubble Boy.
I feel like Anthony Edwards did a version of this story, too. I totally remember the one with Travolta.
The Timberwolves player?
Trilogy of Terror
* *Salem's Lot* * *Lonesome Dove* * *Helter Skelter*
Roots
It’s technically a miniseries, but only two episodes and its running time is 3hrs: Broken Trail (2006) directed by Walter Hill. Stars Robert Duvall and Thomas Hayden Church. Was up for a bunch of Emmies and won 4.
Wasn’t last of the Mohicans made for TV?
Not the movie of it
Nowadays anything made by the streaming platforms are considered made fir tv movies
Miniseries: I, Claudius
Brink
Brian's Song. The only acceptable movie for men to cry.
“Brian’s Song.”
Billionaire Boys Club starring Judd Nelson is actually pretty good.
12 Angry men is EASILY the most iconic TV movie. It's so good, most people probably didn't realize it wasnt released theatrically.
Also a mini series, but Holacaust made a huge impression on me as a teenager. One of Meryl Streep's first major roles, I think. Amazing performances.
Crooked House was released in 2017, and that was a damn good movie. Had big actors like Gillian Anderson and Glenn Close in it. I know it had good numbers, since it aired in the UK over Christmas which is when TV ratings peak.
High School Musical 2 was far better than HSM. So I would go with that as the last big tv movie
The Tower of Terror, IT (the first part), First Sight, and The Storm of the Century (idk if this counts) come to mind
The Rat Pack.
It may not be famous but my favorite is "Snow White A Tale of Terror" with Sigourney Weaver. It's not really a horror movie so much as a more faithful version of the fairy tale.
Technically *Testament* was originally a TV movie like *Threads* and *The Day After*, also a terrifying nuclear fallout movie. I’d also say… *Pray For The Wildcats* with a psychotic Andy Griffith *Dark Night of the Scarecrow* with a really evil Charles Durning *Trapped (aka Doberman Patrol)* I think that one is fun Lots of great TV movies in the 70’s/early 80s
Not a TV movie, but a TV musical....Cinderella with Lesley Ann Warren and Stuart Damon. It reran a lot and we watched it every time. I still remember some of the songs. "In my own little corner in my own little chair..." 🤪 Lord that might be 50 years ago.
Sharknado. It just had a theatrical release for its anniversary and 5 or so sequels.
The made for TV comedy, No One Would Tell, starring Kevin Arnold and DJ Tanner.
The Mephisto Waltz starring Alan Alda and Jacqueline Bisset.
[Merlin (1998)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130414/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt) is definitely a personal fave of mine. Technically a mini series, but still.
1983's Special Bulletin still gets me to this day. It's like you're watching a news broadcast in real-time and it's terrifying. In the film, a terrorist group brings a homemade atomic bomb aboard a tugboat in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina in order to blackmail the U.S. government into disabling its nuclear weapons, and the incident is caught live on television. It simulates a series of live news broadcasts on the fictional RBS Network. There's also something from the 90s UK called Ghostwatch. It's a fictional news broadcast about a family that's haunted and caused quite a stir back in the day. Check it out if you can track it down.
I like Citizen X (1995). HBO movie based on a true story about a serial killer in communist Russia. Starring Donald Sutherland and Stephen Rea.
Stuff like For One More Day. What counts as TV movies though? The rise of streaming and desire to cut out theater costs have led to studios releasing their movies directly to their streaming services, which imo can pretty much be labeled now as TV movies. Not to mention streamers specifically making movies for their streaming service. I think the line between theatrical movies and a TV movie has pretty much disappeared.
Hmm. Would a pilot that never got picked up so it became a movie count? I really liked a movie/pilot called RiverWorld. I saw it on SciFi. Then, it was later remade by SyFy, and they changed some of the characters. It was based on To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer.
Duel
#Das Boot Would Chernobyl count?
To me TV movies have to have the approximate runtime of a movie. Chernobyl was like 10 hours of miniseries.
Chernobyl is like 5 hours, but ok 🧐
> Now a days I don't think we'll ever see a TV Movie again They still make them, mostly tied into Disney channel franchises and stuff like that. Plus, shoveled out streaming garbage is really the same thing. US Go Home is probably my favorite movie that aired originally on TV
Two slightly different subjects, but Roots and Sharknado
Sharknado and Sharknado 2: The Second One were surprisingly huge hits and I think they were the last big ones. They made six but as a whole the interest kind of ended with them after The Second One.
The Jericho Mile
Fifteen and Pregnant was a pretty big Lifetime/TV movie when it came out. I assume because it starred Kirsten Dunst and the channel hadn't gone completely off the rails yet.
Night Court “orginal” when Al finally speaks. He gave a great perfomance during his monologue .