# Remember when it was a big deal to see movies on broadcast TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419 "2009-04-08T19:40:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/21 "2009-04-09T14:14:16Z")
> [@](#): > > remember one of the networks, pretty sure it was ABC, used to make a bit of a splash every time they’d show one of the James Bond movies. And Diamonds Are Forever was considered one of the better ones. It was really big deal when they first ran a Bond film on TV. It was **Goldfinger** , and I think it was back in 1974. Shortly after that they all started showing up on TV (and I’d had to go to theaters to try and catch up on the Bond films before that). Heck, I remember when they first showed **Gone With The Wind** on TV. People were still saying in my lifetime that “they’d never put that on TV”. Now they show it about once a year on a cable channel, and I think it’s pretty much ignored. _Sic Transit Gloria Mundi_. I don’t remember **Jurassic Park** being a big deal when it showed on TV. The last film I remember making a big splash was way’s back in 1982, when they showed **The Deer Hunter** on network TV, uncut and without commercials. And, yeah, I remember watching New York’s (well, Secaucus NJ’s) WOR’s [NB]Million Dollar Movie\*\*, which used to run the same film twice in a row early Saturday morning. It confused me about exactly where some movies started. And it’s forever connected in mmy head with the theme from “Gone with the Wind”, much more than that movie. I expect to see a clapboatrd rise up over the silhouette of Manhattan every time I hear that. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/22 "2009-04-09T14:20:00Z")
Sometimes I’ve still heard them advertise a movie as making it’s network TV debut! As if that means anything anymore. I remember when it did. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/23 "2009-04-09T16:44:17Z")
> [@Ataraxy](#): > > Sometimes I’ve still heard them advertise a movie as making it’s network TV debut! As if that means anything anymore. Yeah, about the only time the broadcast networks run a movie anymore is for that “broadcast premiere”, and even then, it’s usually only a movie that did big box-office (such as the Star Wars prequels, Harry Potter movies, etc.) And, they’ll almost never run a movie more than once anymore, as repeat showings of a movie, no matter how big, are now the province of the cable channels. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/24 "2009-04-09T16:51:29Z")
I remember watching Star Wars on the TV, and it was a big deal for me. I also remember watching old John Wayne movies, where they did live commercials from the local aluminum siding company (this was Tulsa in the 80s). > **[Star Wars on Network Television - Television Obscurities](https://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/starwars_tv/)** > > Star Wars has a long association with network television, dating back to a September 1977 special on ABC. Also: the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. > [@](#): > > Beginning in September of 1982, Star Wars was shown on pay-per-view “subscription services” scattered throughout the country, despite the fact that only half a million households were wired for pay-per-view [13]. HBO showed the film during the winter of 1983 and was disappointed at the lack of interest, due to the earlier pay-per-view showings and the film’s release on video cassette. Star Wars failed to rank amongst HBO’s top ten most popular films [14]. > > By the time CBS got around to airing Star Wars for the first time on network television, the film had not only been shown on pay-per-view and cable and issued on video, it had also been re-released in theaters several times. CBS scheduled Star Wars on Sunday, February 26th, from 8-11PM, with a 22-minute “making of” feature to help fill the three hours. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/25 "2009-04-09T17:11:30Z")
I remember watching the “Disney Sunday Movie” and the ABC Sunday Night Movie. I’m sure my parents still have a box of VHS tapes somewhere with all the crap we taped off the tv, including Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Romancing the Stone, and various Disney features. Good to have on hand for snow days and sick days. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/26 "2009-04-09T17:15:37Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > The annual broadcast of “The Ten Commandments” (which continues to this day) was an event at our house. Gosh yes. That was my first husband’s favorite movie. I liked it as long as Yul Brynner was on the screen – what a powerful actor he was. One of my **least** favorite TV movie memories is the kids settling down to watch _The Muppet Movie_. Their dad came home half-schnockered and made them go to bed because they hadn’t cleaned their rooms. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/27 "2009-04-09T17:27:18Z")
When my brother and I were kids, we considered the showings of The Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as Special Days, equivalent to birthdays or Easter. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/28 "2009-04-09T17:34:02Z")
FOX STILL shows Jurassic Park at least once a year, usually on Sunday nights. Back when I still watched the Simpsons, I really started hating that movie. Network TV & basic cable movies were the lowest-brow way of seeing something. Even when I was a kid, I wouldn’t bother…between the censorship (and scenes removed for time), pan&scanning and the commercials, it was like a chore just to watch. My family had a VCR before we had cable (one of those flip-up VCRs which you could also plug a camcorder lens into), so I could rent movies for as long as I could remember anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/29 "2009-04-09T17:37:53Z")
I remember when the “New Season” issue of TV Guide (back when TV had an annual season) would list what major movies the networks were going to broadcast in the upcoming year. I remember “made-for-TV” movies (some of which were quite good). I remember the Four O’Clock Movie on Channel 11. I remember my local PBS station having classic movie marathon weekends during pledge weeks and having to figure out which movies I should stay up late for. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/30 "2009-04-09T17:40:35Z")
I remember watching _Silver Streak_ (still a favorite) and _What’s Up, Doc?_ (not so much) every time CBS ran them on the Friday Night Movie. Probably twice each all through my childhood, but it feels now like I saw them dozens of times. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/31 "2009-04-09T17:40:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Network TV & basic cable movies were the lowest-brow way of seeing something. Even when I was a kid, I wouldn’t bother…between the censorship (and scenes removed for time), pan&scanning and the commercials, it was like a chore just to watch. That’s just it. Watching movies on TV may have been a poor second to watching them in theatres but there was no third choice. When I grew up we didn’t have cable or VCR’s - you had to watch a movie when and where you had a chance to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/32 "2009-04-09T17:45:43Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Does anyone remember back in the days before VCRs became ubiquitous when it was a big deal to see a movie on network TV? When I was a kid “The Wizard of Oz” was a major television viewing event, because if you missed it you basically blew your chance to see it for an entire year. Ah yes, I remember fondly that every year, on one of the major holidays (Thanksgiving or Easter I think), “the Wizard of Oz” would be broadcast. While the extended family were gathered at one relatives’ house for dinner, the assembled youngsters would be running around screaming and carrying on. Finally, all the mothers would gather us together and say "Hey kids! Do you want to watch “the Wizard of Oz”? And we’d excitedly say yes, so they’d heard us into a back room, turn on the TV, and shut the door. It never occurred to me at the time why our parents (who normally complained that we watched too much TV) would WANT us to watch TV. Years later, as an adult, I discovered that this was part of a large-scale plot! The movie always came on just a little after dinner, so the parents could round us up, plant us in front of the boob tube, and forget all about us while they had their cocktail hour and get licquored up. I can’t believe the networks weren’t in on this little scheme… ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/33 "2009-04-09T18:04:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > And, yeah, I remember watching New York’s (well, Secaucus NJ’s) WOR’s [NB]Million Dollar Movie\*\*, which used to run the same film twice in a row early Saturday morning. It confused me about exactly where some movies started. And it’s forever connected in mmy head with the theme from “Gone with the Wind”, much more than that movie. I expect to see a clapboatrd rise up over the silhouette of Manhattan every time I hear that. New York was a great place for catching movies on TV. They had WABC’s 4:30 movie on weekday afternoons when they showed the cheesy movies. I remember John Garfield’s “Between Two Worlds” and “A Summer Place” and “The Dumwich Horror”. I think it was either ABC or CBS that had movies on Saturday nights at 11:30 after the news. And there was Chiller Theater that played the horror movies and the the opening with the 6 fingered monster hand rising up out of the swamps. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/34 "2009-04-09T18:05:36Z")
Yes fond memories and also trauma. I remember waiting weeks for a cool movie to finally show up on TV only to be preempted by a sporting event. Now I hate sports anyway so imagine you waited weeks to see 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea only to have half the movie lost due to a fucking football game in over time! In the old days, early 70s once the film was gone you were out of luck. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/35 "2009-04-09T18:39:42Z")
Growing up in the 70s before VCRs I remeber all of these. Especially ones like Roger Moore James Bonds. Most guys my age are immediately familiar with Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes. And it sure wasn’t from seeing them at the theatre or watching them on VHS/DVD. We all saw them once a year on TV growing up. Same goes for Wizard of Oz, James Bond, MelBrooks movies, Disney movies, etc. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/36 "2009-04-09T18:57:05Z")
> [@](#): > > New York was a great place for catching movies on TV. They had WABC’s 4:30 movie on weekday afternoons when they showed the cheesy movies. I remember John Garfield’s “Between Two Worlds” and “A Summer Place” and “The Dumwich Horror”. I think it was either ABC or CBS that had movies on Saturday nights at 11:30 after the news. And there was Chiller Theater that played the horror movies and the the opening with the 6 fingered monster hand rising up out of the swamps. The ABC movie uased to be “The Big Show” before it became The 4:30 Movie. It was a crapshoot what you’d get – sometimes it’d be a blockbuster like “The Agony and the Ecstacy” vcut into parts. Or it might be a bad print (often edited, to boot) of a Harryhausen classic like “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” or “Jason and the Argonauts”. Or it might be Godzilla Week. Or a real loser like “The Killer Shrews” or “From Hell it Came”. Chiller Theater seemed to own a short library of awful films that it showed over and over: **The Ape Man The Cape Canaveral Monsters The Black Sleep Attack of the 50 Foot Woman The Cyclops The Neanderthal Man Voodoo Island Killers from Space Plan Nine from Outer Space** Before they had the animated six-fingered hand, they used a montage of scenes from the movies: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7CafM97ifNc/hqdefault.jpg "Chiller Theatre") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CafM97ifNc) The six fingered hand came later: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ux3laLkueZk/hqdefault.jpg "The original Chiller opening!!!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3laLkueZk) (By the way, Zackerley (John Zacherle), the host who cut himself in for (long pre-MST3K) comments, used to do the same thing for CBS TV’s Late Show before he went to WPIX. WNEW Channel Five had **Creature Feature** , which ran the classic Universal movies like **Dracula** , as well as newcomers like **The Monster that Challenged the World**. WOR, besides running **Million Dollar Movie** (“Brought to you by Miller High Life, the Champagne of Bottled Beer”) also ran **Supernatural Theater**. The show’s opening featured clips from Forbidden Planet, which wasn’t Supernatural (and I don’t recall seeing there). They showed films like **Carnival of Souls** and **The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus** , both of which freaked me out as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/37 "2009-04-09T19:32:38Z")
When I was a kid, I remember the other big annual TV event besides Oz was the Mary Martin version of “Peter Pan”. I was pretty young when they stopped showing that. A few years back, I rented it… it was kind of an interesting experience. I remembered almost no specific content from it, but it did produce an odd sensation, like a memory of the _feeling_ of watching it… a little like when you wake up from a dream and can’t remember anything but a feeling. I also remember that it was always a big deal when one of the Disney animated features was shown on “Wonderful World of Color”. As the various Christmas specials proliferated, the “classic” ones also became big deals, of course. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/38 "2009-04-09T23:06:51Z")
Oh, yeah – another Chiller Theater staple was **The Four Skulls of Janathan Drake**. Haven’t seen that one in decades. And **The Monster of Piedras Blances**. Kinda low-rent Creature From the Black Lagoon. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/39 "2009-04-10T00:28:07Z")
We considered ourselves blessed in Chicago because we had lots of UHF stations (plus WGN) that would show old movies mixed in among the pro wrestling. I remember the buzz that would go around my high school when a cool movie like The Great Escape or Psycho was going to be on Channel 32 that night. Miss it, and you’d have to wait a year or 18 months until they felt like showing it again. ---
**Author:** ![2\_Fat\_Cattle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/838e76/32.png) [@2\_Fat\_Cattle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_Fat_Cattle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419/40 "2009-04-10T00:45:07Z")
I seem to remember that _The Sound of Music_ was aired yearly for a long time, perhaps it still is. As a child in the 70s and early 80s _The Wonderful World of Disney_ was one of the highlights of my week. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-when-it-was-a-big-deal-to-see-movies-on-broadcast-tv/492419.md?page=3)