Posted on 10/29/2022 5:44:32 PM PDT by Rummyfan
Nowadays, when the best TV series on streaming services are better than almost anything in the theatres, it's hard to remember when made-for-TV movies were unmistakably second rate – the second to last destination for over-the-hill actors before their first guest shot on The Love Boat. But in the heyday of the TV movie, there were flashes of brilliance available to watch on prime time, just before the nightly news.
In the last hot flush of the Cold War, two films – The Day After (1983) on ABC, and Threads (1984) on the BBC – were both topical and popular. And an ambitious young TV director named Steven Spielberg caught the attention of the public and the movie studios with a stark action thriller, Duel (1971).
But the biggest blockbuster ratings success in the history of the made-for-TV movie came with The Night Stalker, an ABC Movie of the Week that pulled in a phenomenal 33.2 rating when it aired on January 11, 1972. (By comparison, the only program that beat it was All in The Family, then at the zenith of its popularity with a 33.3 rating, with a guest appearance by Sammy Davis Jr. that season. Brian's Song had been the biggest TV movie hit until then, just over a month previous, and The Night Stalker "blew it out of the water," as producer Dan Curtis later bragged.)
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
remember it all like it was yesterday, what i had for breakfast, not so much...
The two things I remember about Darren McGavin were his role in A Christmas Story and his wife, Kathie Browne. She was one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood.
The Night Stalker was great. The simple narration seemed like it was breaking the fourth wall. At the time, almost no one was breaking the fourth wall.
MeTV...every Sunday Morning at Midnight (Saturday night at Midnight? You choose).
Tonight is Mr. Ring.
Does anyone know if The Night Stalker is streaming anywhere? I remember the original movie and have tried to find it before, but all I find is the series.
Yep, see what I mean? Lovely, lovely girl back in the sixties.
I bought the series as a dvd set a while back, might still be available in that format. As Steyn notes in his article, Chris Carter has all but said, without Kolchak: The Night Stalker, there would have been no X-Files.
I caught McGavin in a 1966 episode of “Gunsmoke” this afternoon.
I watched every episode, then again I watched the X-Files too. BITD I knew what was on every channel, at what time. I was the families TV Guide. Saturday Night at the Movies, the announcer was Donald Rickles.
One of my favorite (mis?)-remembered lines is, "If it happened, it's real."
This is Darren McGavin CGI'd into a scene from the reboot series as a tribute.
I thought that was a nice thing for them to do.
Looks like four episodes will air tomorrow...well, now today...starting at 1 PM Pacific.
The original movies The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler have been shown on Creature Feature (CF), a late night horror host show out of California that’s available on Roku and YouTube. I think that both movies (The Night Stalker, Episode 06-259 of CF and The Night Strangler, Episode 06-266 of CF) run complete on the show, although you’ll need to fast forward through the horror host segments if you’re just interested in the movie. Each movie is also available for purchase on Amazon.
I remember watching the original movies as a child (I was crazy about monsters) as well as the follow on TV series. The novelizations are terrific as well and are among my “go to” audiobooks when I travel.
I think so. Check YouTube first and see, they have a lot of the old TV stuff on there free to watch.
well, wi a name like Lovecraft, i can see why... 8^)
Thanks.
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