YouTube Spotlight: "The Terry Fox Story" was on a lot!

On this week's HBO podcast, I note that while The Terry Fox Story was the first original HBO movie to air on the channel, Right of Way was produced first. That movie stars Jimmy Stewart and Bette Davis, and I don't know if many people remember it today. The full film is available online, but here is part 1 if you want a taste:

I had no memory of this before working on the podcast, but I did remember The Terry Fox Story. I didn't remember the movie itself so much as it being on or at least promoted all the time. This promo from our YT playlist for the episode is from 1985, a full two years after the premiere, and HBO is still running (no pun intended) the thing:

Was it really on ALL the time? No. Was it on a lot? Well, let's take a look! The YT channel and website HBO Database posted a countdown of the 50 most-aired movies on HBO in the Eighties, Here is the full video:

I love that this uses data and gives the number of screenings and the screening dates!

Spoiler alert if you haven't watched the clip yet:

The Terry Fox Story is "only" third, with 54 screenings from 1983-1987, but it ties with #2, so I am counting it as second!

The other number two, The Cannonball Run, surprises me; and number one surprise me--number two because I associate it with network TV, and number one because it's a concert movie (Hint: It stars The Cos).

Right of Way was on 44 times! I guess I just never took notice of it.

There are some other ones that make total sense. The Man from Snowy River was another HBO original, so of course they are gonna play the heck out of it. I associate Superman: The Motion Picture with ABC, but as a Warner Brothers movie, it makes sense it got heavy airplay here.

The Four Seasons? Yep, that was on all the time. I'm actually stunned that The Incredible Shrinking Woman was on only 40-some times. 9 to 5 and Finnegan Begin Again--Yes, absolutely.

Then there are the ones that surprise a bit more, mostly forgotten theatricals from the early part of the decade: Dirty Tricks? Threshold? St. Helens?

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-3: The Kid with the Broken Halo (1982)

*The listeners spoke and decided we should cover this Gary Coleman TV movie, but fear not, we mention The Kid from Left Field and The Kid with the 200 IQ on the podcast as well. There is plenty of talk of what we affectionately call "The Kid Triology!" Thanks to all who voted in our poll.

*The Kid with the Broken Halo premiered Monday, April 5, 1982 on the NBC television network. Diff'rent Strokes was finishing its fourth season at the time. Halo is the second of the Kid Trilogy, following Left Field (1979) and preceding 1983's IQ. Also preceding this one: 1980's Scout's Honor.

*Robert Guillaume was starring in the third season of Benson on ABC when this movie premiered. Kim Fields was in the third season of The Facts of Life. Bosom Buddies with Thelma Hopkins had aired its final episode about a week earlier!

*The Paper Moon series Mike mentions starred Christopher Connelly (Not that one) and Jodie Foster (That one) and lasted a mere 13 episodes on ABC in 1974.

*Coleman was born February 8, 1968 and died May 28, 2010.

*Perhaps the upcoming Peacock original documentary, Gary, premiering August 29, will be that definitive biography we ask for on the podcast.

*As we mention, Hanna Barbera's The Gary Coleman Show cartoon ran a mere 13 episodes on NBC in first run in Fall 1982.

*Here is the archival UPI note on We Dare You!:

'We Dare You' is the title of a brand new 30-minute freak show anchored upon what the network calls 'a great American tradition -- the practical joke.' A joke it is. Practical it will never be.The show's premise is a clumsy cross-pollination of 'You Asked for It' and 'Candid Camera' in which hosts Terry McGovern and Jon Bauman - the 'Bowser' of Sha-na-na -- go around the country daring people to do stupid things to each other and filming them on the sly.It was funny when Alan Funt did it years ago -- but he did it and did it and did it. ABC really doesn't have to do it. But ABC is going to do it Monday from 8-8:30 p.m. None will den all.

*"Man proposes, but God disposes," is from Proverbs 19:21.
*Enjoy author Jeff Pearlman's ruminations on the great Rudy Desautel here.
*Among June Allyson's notable films are Good News, Two Girls and a Sailor, The Opposite Sex, and The Glenn Miller Story.
*Enjoy our discussion of Poor Devil from Season 8 here!
*Here's an example of those era Spalding comic book ads:

*The 1981 Cleveland Browns lost their last 5 games to finish 5-11 and last place in the AFC Central. It was a disappointing season after a playoff appearance in 1980.

*Ratings info:
Left Field  was #15 for the week with a 21.4 rating. I couldn't find specific info for the other two.

*And here is this week's video playlist! Click below for promos, a look at other 1982 shows and the work of the supporting cast, commercials, and a whole lotta Gary Coleman! We include the video we watched of the movie, too.
And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

Inside the Guide: TV Guide 40 years ago this week (April 28-May 4, 1984) Part 5: Tootsie on HBO

I believe the tradition of "world television premieres" of theatrical films on HBO started in the Nineties, but it feels like it has been even longer than that. It amuses me, then, to see the hype for the week's big movie debut in May 1984. It begins with this ad on Sunday:

May was only a couple days away! The actual premiere for the acclaimed flick Tootsie is not on the following Saturday, but on Thursday, May 3, and HBO has a big ad for that day, too.

In her column previewing the week's movies, Judith Crist says "hoorahs are in order" for Tootsie, calling it a delight. "It's not only a delicious comedic perception of bisexual humanism," (Note: I am not sure I know what that means) "but also a knockout farce that made Dustin Hoffman, in the title role, a prime candidate for Best Actor Oscar and Best Actress."

Rex Reed on "Three Amigos"

I am not a fan of "Three Amigos," but Rex Reed's self-satisfied takedown of it raises my eyebrows. In the clip below, he claims that everyone at his press screening walked out, leaving only himself and the projectionist--and the projectionist was snoozing!

He's full of it here, right? He doesn't make it clear he's joking. The projectionist part is obviously meant to be a punchline, but the rest of it...?

He makes it sound like a bunch of professional critics found "Three Amigos" so reprehensible that virtually all of them violated their codes of conduct and departed the screening before it was over.  Actually, he doesn't say professional critics, just critics, so maybe he has some wiggle room here. The main thing Reed wants to do is be funny and trash the movie, and I have to admit he does it in a way that gets my attention.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: The more I see the Siskel & Ebert imitators, the more I appreciate the originals and how they could pan even popular movies but still be likable.

(For what it's worth, in their print columns, Ebert gave the movie one star, and Siskel called it boring, but neither claimed to have attended a critic screening at which everyone else left early.)

YouTube Spotlight: Fistful of Dollars

Those of you who watch the playlist on a device and not the web, and/or those who don't see/read the video descri0ptions by the uploaders, may be puzzled why I included a clip from Fistful of Dollars this week. I mean, yes, it was one of the viewing options on August 27, 1977, but why not a trailer or a promo instead of this:

I thought it was interesting that, as per the uploader, this was extra footage for the broadcast, an extended beginning directed by Monte Hellman designed to alleviate concerns over the film's violence. Harry Dean Stanton is talking to a stand-in for Clint Eastwood!

According to Wikipedia, this was done for a 1975 TV showing, but other sources indicate it only ran before a 1977 broadcast. Here's what I think about "contextualizing" the violence in the movie with this tacked-on scene:

In that 1977 TV Guide, critic Judith Crist mentions the ABC broadcast of the movie and says it's on its third run. She calls it "the 1964 Italian-German-Spanish rip-off of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. it introduced an obviously waiting world (the film earned millions) to the immutable squint of Clint Eastwood and the flavor of the sadomasochistic blood-red sauce that soaked this spahgetti-spatzle-paella Western. Enough said,"

Inside the Guide: A classic double feature on ABC

 From 1981, here's a half-page display ad touting a Sunday night double feature on ABC:

What a combo! Benji and Bond! That's a natural double feature, right? And I must have been too young in 1981 to appreciate that the original Benji was the most entertaining family picture of the time. I bet the dads who sat through Benji just might have appreciated the entertainment value of Live and Let Die.

The Champ TV Spot

You know what kind of commercial we don't see anymore? An ad for a movie or a play that consists of a bunch of "civilians" outside the theater raving about what they just saw.  Spots like this one for the 1979 film The Champ:

It's even better with a movie because you know they could show actual scenes from it but instead choose to show moviegoers telling us how good it is. I want to see more of this kind of thing.  Instead of trying to wow us with spoilers of all the cool shots and stunts in a big Marvel movie. just have ham-and-eggers outside the multiplex, literally wide eyed, declare, "It's the best one yet!"  "I've never seen anything like it!"  "I can't wait to see it again!"

After all, elite Hollywood types will try to snow-job us, but real people who pay for the movie won't let us down, right?

YouTube Spotlight: Two great American heroes team up on Showtime!

Talk about a dream team! Check out this clip from this week's video playlist:  A promo for a Showtime airing of the 1988 film White Ghosts starring William Katt and Reb Brown!

That's right, Ralph Hinkley and Steve Rogers team up in this action movie filmed in Zimbabwe but set in Vietnam. No, the movie doesn't get great reviews, but William Katt and Reb Brown! It is currently available for streaming free with ads on Tubi TV.

This Day in TV History: Mister Jerico!

On this day 50 years ago, ABC ran Mister Jerico at 9:00 EST following a Mod Squad rerun.  Jerico, according to Wikipedia, was released theatrically in the United Kingdom despite being made for TV. In fact, ABC had already aired this same movie a mere 5 months ago.

Marty Allen?

This great write-up of the movie says it was a failed pilot. I guess ABC was really getting as much mileage as it could, burning off another screening here in the middle of summer.

Check out the movie's swinging theme song by Lulu!

What is wrong with this "Munster, Go Home" promo?

Watch this Family Channel promo for an upcoming showing of Munster, Go Home, then be prepared to answer a simple question about why it's an example of poor marketing.


OK, you ready? Here is the simple question: What is wrong with this?

Well, the promo shows us that this movie reunites The Munsters. It shows us that it's in color.  It promises laughs and maybe some comical monster chills.

What doesn't it show?

That's right, it doesn't show Robert Pine!

The inaugural Genius Award winner in his early days

Our favorite Genius is the male love interest for Marilyn in the movie, and he even gets to use a British accent! He's a key player in the film--OK, maybe not as important as Fred Gwynne or Al Lewis, but he is conspicuous by his absence in this promotion.

Genius at work

It's only a 15-second spot, you may think, so they didn't have enough time to show everyone.  I counter that if you only have 15 seconds, you had better get the important stuff in there!

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that The Family Channel might still be around and thriving in this incarnation if the in-house marketing team had properly hyped this screening.

Fellas, this is the kind of look you get when you treat your date to a steak and a Lowenbrau

If you're interested in reading more about the movie itself, may I recommend this blog post by yours truly?

Bobby Pine keeping an eye out for Family Channel weasels

Realizing he isn't in the promo

Fred Gwynne realizing he is co-starring with--no, actually this is just a funny screencap

The Challenge (1970)

Yesterday we looked at the network prime-time schedules of 50 years ago and saw a rerun of The Challenge.  The 1970 TV movie is available at the Internet Archive, and here is the uploader's description.

All-out war between the United States and an Asian country is averted when the two sides agree to settle their differences by each choosing a single soldier as champion and having the two men fight to the death on an isolated island.

Premiering February 10 as an ABC Movie of the Week, its director took his name off it, leading to the classic Alan Smithee credit.  How bad can it be, though, with this cast:

Darren McGavin
Broderick Crawford
Mako
James Whitmore
Sam Elliott

The premise is ridiculous, awesome, or maybe both.  Check this out from the excellent review of the movie from Shock Cinema (via Wikipedia):

The US's unorthodox candidate is court-martialed Jacob Gallery (McGavin), a tough, arrogant scumbag currently working as a Biafra mercenary! Heavily-armed Gallery is dumped onto this rock, convinced it's going to be a cakewalk, because one lone guy from some insignificant Asian country couldn't cause much damage to an American, right? Yep, it's a heavyhanded Vietnam analogy, but I'm still surprised that this made it onto prime-time TV in the midst of the war. The remaining hour is a battle of wills, and as these two warriors cautiously track each other about Craphole Island (which often looks about as Asian as an episode of MASH, with rubbery jungle foliage that could've been leftovers from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND), Gallery quickly discovers that his foe, Yuro (Mako), is equally clever and determined. 

Please read the rest of Steven Puchalski's lively take on the movie. It's an entertaining read that will make you want to see the flick yesterday.

On this Day in (sort of) TV History: The Wrath of Khan!

On this day in 1982, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan premiered. It's considered one of the best TV-to-feature film efforts and spotlights not only the cast of the original Trek, but also small screen icons like Kirstie Alley and, of course, Ricardo Montablan!

Here are a few original TV promo spots for the movie:

This Day in TV History: ET gets a movie critic

According to IMDB, May 28, 1982 was when Leonard Maltin joined Entertainment Tonight as movie reviewer; Wikipedia says May 29. We're going with Friday, May 28, because why wait another day to celebrate?

Unfortunately, clips of Maltin's review segments are hard to find online, but here's one from 1985:



Maltin's segment was the highlight of the show for me. I liked his 1-10 scale, which I think was uncommon for critics back in the day, and it was great when he did that slight pause before announcing his rating for a movie.

The Naked Gun premiered on this date in 1988

People don't really look at it this way, but is this the best TV-to-film adaptation of all time?




Of course The Naked Gun is based on the 6-episode Police Squad! series that aired on ABC in 1982.

Fatal Vision premiered on this date in 1984

NBC had a smash hit with its two-night adaptation of Joe McGinniss' book Fatal Vision, which was based on the case of Jeffrey MacDonald and the murder of his family. MacDonald believed the book would exonerate him and cooperated with MacDonald, but the author became convinced he was guilty.



The miniseries features a stellar cast headlined by the great Gary Cole as MacDonald along with Eva Marie Saint, Andy Griffith, Barry Newman, and Karl Malden (who won an Emmy). Part one was the number-one-rated program on TV the week it debuted.

YouTube Spotlight: He's Fired, She's Hired (1984)

Remember when the career gender-based role reversal gimmick was a big deal? I seem to remember the 1983 feature film Mr. Mom as the pioneer here. So naturally, CBS gets in on the action a year later with this bizarre-looking TV movie co-starring Wayne Rogers and Karen Valentine. You can see a vintage promo for this on this week's MASH-centric YouTube playlist, or you can check it out below:



Maybe "bizarre" is the wrong word--no, wait. after seeing Karen Valentine's hairstyle, I think it is. The movie looks comfortably mediocre but refreshingly retro. Imagine it being a thing with the hubby losing his job and coaching his wife into being the bread winner.

Unfortunately, this is the only trace of the movie I see on YouTube, though I do note the presence of a 10/10 review (!) on IMDB calling this "feature film quality." Judging by the promo, I think I lean to the other review: "  Of the bland comedies made on the subject matter during this period, "He's Fired, She's Hired" is probably blander than most and rather typical of the genre. "

However, why take the word of two IMDB reviewers when the contemporary review of The New York Times' John O'Connor is online?

My favorite lines from the review:

Alex Grier, played by Wayne Rogers with what appears to be a vocal impersonation of Peter Falk

That brings Annabelle into the world of Madison Avenue, which, in this version of agents and clients, is rather heavily weighted with homosexuals.

The head of the agency is Freddie Fox, portrayed with weary ferocity by Elizabeth Ashley. When not on her exercycle, Freddie is looking in a mirror and moaning, not without reason, ''I look like an old muppet.''

Not without reason!

Anyone else kind of want to see this?

The best thing about the 1990 Captain America movie

Say what you will about the Cap feature film, but it has one big thing the 1978 TV movies lack: a laugh-out-loud piece of political propaganda at the end of the credits. How often have you seen something like this in any movie, let alone a cheesy superhero movie?

We are not making any commentary for or against The Environmental Protection Act of 1990, but it is funny seeing it pop up at the end of a DVD, and it must have been a scream to see this in a theater, assuming you stuck around long enough.

Captain America 1990 vs. Captain America 1979

In our episode looking at the 1970s Captain America TV movies, we made a brief mention of the 1990 feature film starring Matt Salinger. I actually came across the DVD at the local library and watched it for comparison purposes. Allow me to borrow the "Tale of the Tape" gimmick used so well by Nick Bakay to compare the 1990 one with the 1979 versions (for simplicity, we'll combine the two 1970s TV  movies since we talked about both on our podcast).

Star's life before playing Cap:
1979: Reb Brown played football at USC
1990: Matt Salinger played "Burke" in Revenge of the Nerds
Edge: 1979

Main villain:
1979: Christopher Lee being a bad-ass
1990: Red Skull in bad makeup
Edge: 1979

Directed by:
1979: The great Rod Holcomb and Ivan Nagy
1990: Albert Pyun
Edge: 1979

Setting:
1979: Sun-dappled 1970s West Coast America
1990: Europe and, of course, Cap's wartime hometown of...California?
Edge: 1979

Does it have Ned Beatty and Darren McGavin?
1979: No.
1990: Yes, it has both!
Edge: Finally one for the motion picture. Gotta give this to 1990.

Followed by:
1979: The Paper Chase, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas
1990: A drive back home from the theater made longer by the knowledge that you spent upwards of 20 bucks on tickets and concessions to see it.
Edge: 1979

When you break it down, it's clear that the original Cap movies are the best. However, there is one big edge (apart from McGavin and Beatty, natch)  that the 1990 theatrical version has. We will talk about that one tomorrow because it deserves its own post.

CHiPS Movie Update

We mentioned after our CHiPs episode that Dax Shephard had a feature film version in production at Warner Brothers. Well, it's really happening, and the trailer is here:

To summarize, here is some of what the trailer contains:

*Explosions
*Erections
*Jokes about erections
*Dax Shepherd's flesh
*A Tupac song
*Attempted yuks

Here is what the trailer does NOT contain:

*Actual yuks
*Roller disco
*Robert Pine
*The series theme song

I think my mind is already made up, but let's ask Erik Estrada. Actually, let's not. His official Twitter account retweeted someone calling the new movie pure trash, and The Wrap ran an "article" (this post is more substantial) essentially quoting that tweet and claiming Estrada himself called the movie trash.

Then Estrada called The Wrap's "article" fake news and said he hadn't seen the movie yet. Well, neither have I, but the lack of roller disco alone could make a reasonable person conclude the film is trash.

Head to your local theater March 24 and judge for yourself...or spend a few extra bucks and get one of the DVD sets of the original series.