# Memories of movies on local TV stations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2016, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443 "2016-05-23T06:53:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443/61 "2016-06-02T17:40:53Z")
> [@JpnDude](#): > > Also on KHJ during the 80s [Elvira, Mistress of the Dark](https://elvira.com/) and her **Movie Macabre** program featuring mostly B-grade horror flicks. 😃 I remember her hosting _Attack of the Killer Tomatoes_ but have no idea where. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443/62 "2016-06-02T18:16:26Z")
> [@IllinoisBoy](#): > > The stand-out program is Son of Svengoolie, a pre-MST2K type show with the local host in costume cracking wise before and after commercial breaks. Rich Koz, now known simply as [Svengoolie](http://svengoolie.com/), is still around. If you have MeTV, he can be seen every Saturday night at 10:00 pm Eastern. These days he’s mostly showing stuff from the old Universal horror catalog, with the occasional awful 70s horror film slipped in. In Indiana, where I grew up, our local horror host was [Sammy Terry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Terry) (a play on “cemetery,” though most kids I knew didn’t get that), on WTTV in Indianapolis. He hosted “Nightmare Theater” on Friday nights, and if you were able to stay up past midnight, he usually showed two movies, going well into the wee hours. I can still remember eagerly scanning the TV listings every week to see what movies Sammy Terry would be showing. Bob Carter, the original Sammy Terry, died a few years ago, but his son has taken over the role and is appearing sporadically in one-off TV showings, and making appearances at places like state and county fairs, drive-in theaters, restaurant openings, and that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443/63 "2016-06-02T18:54:53Z")
Link to an earlier post: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18314407&highlight=oscar+pizza+zorro#post18314407](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18314407&highlight=oscar+pizza+zorro#post18314407) I have lots of other memories, but no time to post them now. Later… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443/64 "2016-06-02T19:02:06Z")
> [@JpnDude](#): > > Also on KHJ during the 80s [Elvira, Mistress of the Dark](https://elvira.com/) and her **Movie Macabre** program featuring mostly B-grade horror flicks. 😃 The week they showed _ **Dr Black and Mr Hyde** _, she did a hilarious interview with Arsenio Hall (!) as the founder and treasurer of the NAACP (Negroes’ Alliance Against Crappy Pictures). I believe that clip is on YouTube. On another occasion, they showed a European horror flick that bordered on softcore porn. Just before they cut to the first commercial, Elvira came on screen and asked “What is it they call women who like other women in Portugal? Lis-be-ans?” 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443/65 "2016-06-02T20:24:02Z")
The local movie I remember most was one channel that used to play **A Christmas Carol** every Christmas Eve at 10:30 after the local news. Pretty sure it was the one with Alastair Sim from the early 50’s. When we were little kids, my sisters and I would swear that we were going to stay up to watch it every year. I don’t think we ever got past the first ghost… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443/66 "2016-06-02T20:51:49Z")
My parents once let my sisters and me stay up 'waaaay too late for a Dracula movie on local TV - maybe the Christopher Lee one, I can’t remember. We were all too young and very scared, but loving every minute of it. In the scene when Dracula was talking to Harker about finding someplace to live in England, my dad added, in a pretty good vampiric accent, “Preferably somewhere near an _orphanage_,” and we all laughed/screamed in horrified delight. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443/67 "2016-06-02T20:59:59Z")
Yeah I have a station called 'movies, on 296 on Comcast and up to a few weeks ago there were some good movies on . Not anymore ! Now there is crap on and no movies , they need to get a new name b/c there are no movies to be seen ! There is nothing but junk on TV and the more people watch the damn reality shows more crap is put on TV ! ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443/68 "2016-06-02T21:11:19Z")
Channel 8 in Indianapolis always had “the Early Show” movie every afternoon at three. My elementary school self found the movies every bit as boring as the soap operas that preceded them. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443/69 "2016-06-02T21:17:43Z")
I lived in Chicago as a young child (early 1970s). What I remember from then: - WLS showed serial movies on Sunday mornings, particularly Charlie Chan films. - WLS also seemed to have had a weekday afternoon movie slot; I remember it being a big deal when they ran “King Kong” in around '73 or '74, because the film hadn’t been shown for a long time. - WGN had “[Family Classics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Classics)”, which ran on Sunday afternoons (though apparently it had originated on Friday evenings). The Wikipedia entry gives a huge list of films that ran on this show. In 1975, we moved up to Green Bay. Movie shows I remember from then: - WLUK (at that time the ABC affiliate) ran a movie show on Friday nights called “TJ and the ANT”. TJ stood for “Television Jockey”, and ANT for “All Night Theater”. At that time, all of the stations in Green Bay would sign off at midnight or so, and not resume broadcasting until 6 or 7 the next morning. TJ and the ANT ran all night, showing old movies, interspersed with patter from “TJ”, who was sitting in the control room of the station; you were led to believe that he was the only one in the station, and that the camera was fixed in position. - WFRV (at that time the NBC affiliate) had a weekday afternoon movie (which ISTR also had the “Dialing for Dollars” format); it was hosted by the father of a friend of mine, who was an announcer at the station. - WFRV also ran a movie on Saturday nights, after the late local news (i.e., starting at 10:30pm). They’d go in cycles on these movies – for instance, they would spend a month or two showing Errol Flynn films, then move on to John Wayne, etc. The station resisted showing “Saturday Night Live” for at least the first two seasons of that show; station management was convinced that the Green Bay audience would rather watch old movies than a bunch of unknown comedians. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memories-of-movies-on-local-tv-stations/755443.md?page=3)