Feature film produced for a TV network
"Telefilm" redirects here. For the Canadian government's film and television funding agency, see
Telefilm Canada
.
"Movie of the week" redirects here. For the American weekly television movie series, see
ABC Movie of the Week
.
A
television film
, alternatively known as a
television movie
,
made-for-TV film/movie
,
telefilm
,
telemovie
or
TV film/movie
, is a
feature-length film
that is produced and originally distributed by or to a
television network
, in contrast to theatrical films made for initial showing in
movie theaters
, and
direct-to-video films
made for initial release on home video formats. In certain cases, such films may also be referred to and shown as a
miniseries
, which typically indicates a film that has been divided into multiple parts or a series that contains a predetermined, limited number of episodes.
Origins and history
[
edit
]
Precursors of "television movies" include
Talk Faster, Mister
, which aired on WABD (now
WNYW
) in New York City on December 18, 1944, and was produced by
RKO Pictures
,
[
citation needed
]
and the 1957
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
, based on the poem by
Robert Browning
, and starring
Van Johnson
, one of the first filmed "family musicals" made directly for
television
. That film was made in
Technicolor
, a first for television, which ordinarily used color processes originated by specific networks. Most "family musicals" of the time, such as
Peter Pan
, were not filmed but broadcast live and preserved on
kinescope
, a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor ? and the only (relatively inexpensive) method of recording a television program until the invention of
videotape
.
Many television networks were against film programming, fearing that it would loosen the network's arrangements with
sponsors
and
affiliates
by encouraging
station
managers to make independent deals with advertisers and
film producers
.
[1]
Conversely, beginning in the 1950s episodes of American television series would be placed together and released as
feature films
in overseas cinemas.
[
citation needed
]
Television networks
were in control of the most valuable
prime time
slots available for programming, so
syndicators
of independent television films had to settle for fewer
television markets
and less desirable time periods. This meant much smaller advertising revenues and license fees compared with network-supplied programming.
[1]
The term "made-for-TV movie" was coined in the
United States
in the early 1960s as an incentive for movie
audiences
to stay home and watch what was promoted as the equivalent of a
first-run
theatrical film. Beginning in 1961 with
NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
, a
prime time
network showing of a television premiere of a major theatrical film release, the other networks soon copied the format, with each of the networks having several
[Day of the Week] Night At The Movies
showcases which led to a shortage of
movie studio
product. The first of these made-for-TV movies is generally acknowledged to be
See How They Run
, which debuted on
NBC
on October 7, 1964.
[2]
A previous film,
The Killers
, starring
Lee Marvin
and
Ronald Reagan
, was filmed as a TV-movie, although NBC decided it was too violent for television and it was released theatrically instead.
[3]
The second film to be considered a television movie,
Don Siegel
's
The Hanged Man
, was broadcast by
NBC
on November 18, 1964.
[2]
These features originally filled a 90-minute programming time slot (including
commercials
), later expanded to two hours, and were usually broadcast as a weekly
anthology
television series
(for example, the
ABC Movie of the Week
). Many early television movies featured major stars, and some were accorded higher budgets than standard television series of the same length, including the major dramatic anthology programs which they came to replace.
In 1996, 264 made-for-TV movies were made by five of the six largest American television networks at the time (CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, and
UPN
), averaging a 7.5 rating.
[
clarification needed
]
[4]
By 2000, only 146 TV movies were made by those five networks, averaging a 5.4 rating,
[4]
while the number of made-for-cable movies made annually in the U.S. doubled between 1990 and 2000.
[4]
In several respects, television films resemble
B movies
, the low-budget films issued by major studios from the 1930s through the 1950s for short-term showings in movie theaters, usually as a double bill alongside a major studio release. Like made-for-TV movies, B movies were designed as a disposable product, had low production costs and featured second-tier actors.
[5]
Examples
[
edit
]
ABC
's
Battlestar Galactica: Saga of a Star World
premiered to an audience of over 60 million people on September 17, 1978.
The most-watched television movie of all time was
ABC
's
The Day After
, which premiered on November 20, 1983, to an estimated audience of 100 million people.
[6]
The film depicted America after a
nuclear war
with the
Soviet Union
, and was the subject of much controversy and discussion at the time of its release due to its graphic nature and subject matter. The
BBC
's 1984 television film
Threads
earned a similar reputation in the
United Kingdom
as it followed two families and workers of
Sheffield City Council
in the run up and aftermath of a nuclear war. The two are often compared on aspects such as realism.
Another popular and critically acclaimed television movie was 1971's
Duel
, written by
Richard Matheson
, directed by
Steven Spielberg
and starring
Dennis Weaver
. Such was the quality and popularity of
Duel
that it was released to cinemas in
Europe
and
Australia
, and had a limited theatrical release to some venues in the United States and Canada. The 1971 made-for-TV movie
Brian's Song
was also briefly released to theatres after its success on television, and was even
remade
in 2001. In some instances, television movies of the period had more explicit content included in the versions prepared to be exhibited theatrically in Europe. Examples of this include
The Legend of Lizzie Borden
,
Helter Skelter
,
Prince of Bel Air
and
Spectre
.
Many television movies released in the 1970s were a source of controversy, such as
Linda Blair
's 1974 film
Born Innocent
and 1975's
Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic
, as well as 1976's
Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway
and its 1977
sequel
,
Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn
, which were vehicles for former
Brady Bunch
actress
Eve Plumb
. Another significant film was
Elizabeth Montgomery
's portrayal of a rape victim in the drama
A Case of Rape
(1974).
My Sweet Charlie
(1970) with
Patty Duke
and
Al Freeman Jr.
dealt with racial prejudice, and
That Certain Summer
(1972), starring
Hal Holbrook
and
Martin Sheen
, although controversial, was considered the first television movie to approach the subject of
homosexuality
in a non-threatening manner.
If These Walls Could Talk
, a film which deals with
abortion
in three different decades (the 1950s, the 1970s and the 1990s) became a huge success, and was
HBO
's highest rated film on record.
If a network orders a two-hour
television pilot
for a proposed show, it will usually broadcast it as a television movie to recoup some of the costs even if the network chooses to not order the show to series.
[7]
Often a successful series may spawn a television movie
sequel
after ending its run. For example,
Babylon 5: The Gathering
launched the
science fiction
series
Babylon 5
and is considered to be distinct from the show's regular run of one-hour episodes.
Babylon 5
also has several made-for-TV movie sequels set within the same fictional continuity. The 2003 remake of
Battlestar Galactica
began as a two-part
miniseries
that later continued as a weekly television program. Another example is the
Showtime
movie
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
, which launched the
sitcom
of the same name that originally aired on ABC, and used the same actress (
Melissa Joan Hart
) for the lead role in both. The term "TV movie" is also frequently used as vehicles for "reunions" of long-departed series, as in
Return to Mayberry
and
A Very Brady Christmas
. They can also be a spin-off from a TV series including
The Incredible Hulk Returns
,
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk
and
The Death of the Incredible Hulk
.
Occasionally, television movies are used as sequels to successful theatrical films. For example, only the
first film
in
The Parent Trap
series
was released theatrically.
The Parent Trap II
,
III
and
Hawaiian Honeymoon
were produced for television, and similarly, the
Midnight Run
sequels
have all been released as made-for-TV movies despite
the first
having a strong run in theaters. These types of films may be, and more commonly are, released
direct-to-video
; there have been some films, such as
The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning
(a prequel to the film version of
The Dukes of Hazzard
) and
James A. Michener's Texas
, which have been released near simultaneously on DVD and on television, but have never been released in theatres.
Made-for-TV movie musicals have also become popular. One prime example is the
High School Musical
series
, which aired its first two films on the
Disney Channel
. The first television movie was so successful that a sequel was produced,
High School Musical 2
, that debuted in August 2007 to 17.2 million viewers (this made it the highest-rated non-sports program in the history of basic cable and the highest-rated made-for-cable movie premiere on record).
[8]
Due to the popularity of the first two films, the second
HSM
sequel,
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
, was released as a theatrical film in 2008 instead of airing on Disney Channel;
High School Musical 3
became one of the highest-grossing movie musicals.
Television movies traditionally were often broadcast by the major networks during
sweeps
season. Such offerings now are very rare; as
Ken Tucker
noted while reviewing the
Jesse Stone
CBS
television movies, "broadcast networks aren't investing in made-for-TV movies anymore".
[9]
The slack has been taken up by cable networks such as
Hallmark Channel
,
Syfy
,
Lifetime
and HBO, with productions such as
Temple Grandin
and
Recount
, often utilizing top creative talent.
High-calibre limited programming which would have been formerly scheduled solely as a two-hour film or miniseries also has been re-adapted to the newer "limited series" format over a period of weeks (rather than the consecutive days usually defined by a miniseries) where a conclusion is assured; an example of such would be
The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story
, and these are most often seen on cable networks and streaming services such as
Netflix
.
Production and quality
[
edit
]
In a 1991
New York Times
article, television critic John J. O'Connor wrote that "few artifacts of popular culture invite more condescension than the made-for-television movie".
[10]
[11]
Network-made television movies in the United States have tended to be inexpensively-produced and perceived to be of low quality.
[
citation needed
]
Stylistically, these films often resemble single episodes of dramatic television series. Often, television films are made to "cash in" on the interest centering on stories currently prominent in the news, as the films based on the "Long Island Lolita" scandal involving
Joey Buttafuoco
and
Amy Fisher
were in 1993.
The stories are written to reach periodic semi-
cliffhangers
coinciding with the network-scheduled times for the insertion of
commercials
, and are further managed to fill, but not exceed, the fixed running times allotted by the network to each movie "series". In the case of films made for cable channels, they may rely on common, repetitive tropes (Hallmark Channel, for example, is notorious for its formulaic holiday romances, while Lifetime movies are well known for their common use of
damsel in distress
storylines). The movies tend to rely on smaller casts, one such exception being those produced for
premium cable
, such as
Behind the Candelabra
(which featured established film actors
Michael Douglas
and
Matt Damon
in the lead roles) and a limited range of scene settings and camera setups. Even Spielberg's
Duel
, while having decent production values, features a very small cast (apart from Dennis Weaver, all other actors appearing in the film play smaller roles) and mostly outdoor shooting locations in the desert.
The movies typically employ smaller crews, and rarely feature expensive
special effects
. Although a film's expenses would be lessened by filming using
video
, as the movies were contracted by television studios, these films were required to be shot on 35 mm
film
. Various techniques are often employed to "pad" television movies with low budgets and underdeveloped scripts, such as
music video
-style montages, flashbacks, or repeated footage, and extended periods of dramatic
slow motion
footage. However, the less expensive digital 24p video format has made some quality improvements on the television movie market.
Part of the reason for the lower budgets comes from the lack of revenue streams from them; whereas a theatrical film can make money from ticket sales,
ancillary markets
, and syndication, most television films lacked those revenue streams, and the films are seldom
rerun
. Raconteur
Jean Shepherd
produced several television films in the 1970s and 1980s before realizing that the proceeds from his first theatrical film,
A Christmas Story
(released in 1983), far exceeded anything he had ever done in television.
[12]
Nonetheless, notable exceptions exist of high production quality and well-known casts and crews that even earned awards, such as
The Diamond Fleece
, a 1992
Canadian
TV film directed by
Al Waxman
and starring
Ben Cross
,
Kate Nelligan
and
Brian Dennehy
. It earned Nelligan the 1993
Gemini Award
for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series".
[13]
Movie-length episodes of television shows
[
edit
]
Occasionally, a long-running television series is used as the basis for television movies that air during the show's run (as opposed to the above-mentioned "reunion specials"). Typically, such movies employ a filmed
single-camera setup
even if the television series is videotaped using a
multiple-camera setup
, but are written to be easily broken up into individual 30- or 60-minute episodes for
syndication
. Many such movies relocate the cast of the show to an exotic overseas setting. However, although they may be advertised as movies, they are really simply extended episodes of television shows, such as the pilots and the finales of
Star Trek: The Next Generation
,
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
and
Star Trek: Voyager
. Most of these are made and shown during
sweeps period
in order to attract a large television audience and boost
viewership
for a show.
Crossover
episodes containing a number of episodes of the characters of individual series interacting with characters across different shows (as has been done with the
CSI
,
NCIS
and
Chicago
franchises, along with between
Murder, She Wrote
and
Magnum, P.I.
,
Scandal
and
How to Get Away with Murder
, and
Ally McBeal
and
The Practice
) also play as films, encouraging tune-in among all the series crossed over to effectively create a multiple-hour plot that plays as a film when watched as a whole.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics
, William Boddy, University of Illinois Press, 1992,
ISBN
978-0-252-06299-5
- ^
a
b
Michael McKenna. (August 22, 2013). Page xviii.
The ABC Movie of the Week: Big Movies for the Small Screen
. Scarecrow Press. Accessed on December 31, 2013.
- ^
Combustible Celluloid.com, "Hemingway-esque", review by Jeffrey M. Anderson, paragraph 3
- ^
a
b
c
"The Death of the Network TV Movie-of-the-Week"
. Passaic, New Jersey: The Herald-News. June 3, 2001. p. 41
. Retrieved
July 26,
2023
.
- ^
Hall, Lucinda M. (19 May 2023).
"Research Guides: Film Genres: B movies"
.
Dartmouth Library
. Retrieved
2023-06-07
.
- ^
"War of the Worlds Revisited: The Effect of Watching "The Day After" on Mood State"
.
JDC.jefferson.edu
.
- ^
Kim, Albert (July 8, 1994).
"Pulp Nonfiction"
.
Entertainment Weekly
. Retrieved
December 6,
2008
.
- ^
Kissell, Rick; Schneider, Michael (August 18, 2007).
"
'High School Musical 2' huge hit"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
2007-08-18
.
- ^
Why do we like Tom Selleck so much?
- ^
O'Connor, John J.
"A TV Movie With a Familiar Ring"
.
The New York Times
. 1 January 1991.
- ^
Justin, Andrew.
"????????????"
. Retrieved
16 October
2023
.
- ^
Sharbutt, Jay (August 6, 1988).
"Jean Shepherd's Midwest in 'Haven of Bliss'
"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
2010-08-21
.
- ^
Human Cargo
,
CBC.ca
. Accessed April 29, 2008.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Marill, Alvin H.
Movies Made for Television, 1964?2004
. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2005.
ISBN
0-8108-5174-1
. (Vol. 1: 1964?1979; Vol. 2: 1980?1989; Vol. 3: 1990?1999; Vol. 4: 2000?2004; Vol. 5: Indexes.)
- Marill, Alvin H.
Movies Made for Television, 2005?2009
. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2010.
ISBN
0-8108-7658-2
.
- Marill, Alvin H.
Main Title: Big Pictures on the Small Screen: Made-for-TV Movies and Anthology Dramas
. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 2007.
ISBN
0-275-99283-7