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47-568: Ronald Wilby ( Scott Jacoby ) is a socially inept, awkward high school youth with budding artistic talent and a predilection for fantasy, who is often ridiculed for his behavior and mannerisms. His overprotective mother, Elaine ( Kim Hunter ), needs surgery and plans for Ronald to become a doctor and cure her illness. Ronald's father has not been heard from in years, having divorced his mother and agreeing to terminate his parental rights in exchange for not having to pay child support. One afternoon, while asking out Laurie Matthews (Shelley Spurlock), Ronald

94-512: 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. 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 , and the 1957 The Pied Piper of Hamelin , based on the poem by Robert Browning , and starring Van Johnson , one of

141-527: 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

188-575: 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

235-417: 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. Often a successful series may spawn

282-419: 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,

329-399: A heart attack from the shock; fearing the police will blame him, Ronald buries her too. Mr. and Mrs. Wood make plans to go out of town for a couple of days, leaving the girls on their own. Ronald confronts Babs when she is alone in the house and tells her she is his princess. She flees to Mrs. Schumacher's house next door (unaware of her demise), but Ronald locks her in the basement and forges

376-528: 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

423-406: A note for her sisters to find, claiming she has run away. Both Ellen and Althea are skeptical of the note, but the police refuse to do anything. Ronald later attacks Duane when he is alone in the house. He knocks him out, binds and gags him, and hides him in his hidden living space. The police now suspect something is wrong and advise Ellen and Althea to check into a hotel; they refuse. Shortly after

470-497: 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 ,

517-545: 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,

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564-424: 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

611-577: 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

658-477: Is found after escaping from Mrs. Schumacher's basement, and Duane is found in the living space, both shaken but not seriously harmed. In his book What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History , author David Hofstede ranked the movie at #90 on the list. It has also been noted as one of professional wrestling manager Jim Cornette 's favorite movies. The film was released on VHS in

705-469: Is generally acknowledged to be See How They Run , which debuted on NBC on October 7, 1964. 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. The second film to be considered a television movie, Don Siegel 's The Hanged Man , was broadcast by NBC on November 18, 1964. These features originally filled

752-568: Is of Jewish descent. He is married to Lyn Jacoby and they have two children. Television film 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

799-405: Is rejected and then ridiculed by her friends. As he returns home, he accidentally knocks over her younger sister Carol (Angela Hoffman). Carol, like Laurie, taunts Ronald. He pushes her over, inadvertently killing her when she strikes her head on a concrete block. He buries the body and confesses to his mother. Fearing the police will not believe that it was accidental, Ronald and his mother wallpaper

846-565: 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). Due to

893-616: 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

940-455: The Broadway musical Golden Rainbow , which starred Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé , for the category Best Featured Actor in a Musical at the 22nd Tony Awards , held on April 21, 1968. By the early 1970s, an editorial questioned whether Jacoby was "a new Mickey Rooney ". He began his television career playing the role of "Hubcap", who was a friend of Josh Hall ( Laurence Fishburne ) on

987-513: The Jesse Stone CBS television movies, "broadcast networks aren't investing in made-for-TV movies anymore". 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

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1034-442: 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. 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

1081-470: 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. 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

1128-405: 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

1175-424: The 1980s and reissued on DVD in August 2009, as part of the manufacture-on-demand Warner Archive Collection . It was later released on Blu-ray on October 9, 2018. Scott Jacoby (actor) Scott Bennett " Scotty " Jacoby (born November 26, 1956) is an American former actor. He appeared in the 1972 television film That Certain Summer , for which he won an Emmy Award . He is also known for playing

1222-407: The 1993 Gemini Award for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series". 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

1269-536: The ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live . He also had a recurring role on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls as Michael Zbornak, the musician son of Dorothy Zbornak ( Bea Arthur ). In 2001, Jacoby co-directed Rage: 20 Years of Punk Rock West Coast Style . Jacoby is the eldest of five acting siblings, including half-brothers Billy Jacoby (now Billy Jayne, born in 1969), Bobby Jacoby (now Robert Jayne, born in 1973), and sisters Laura Jacoby and Susan Jacoby. Jacoby

1316-552: 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

1363-585: 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

1410-454: The door frame to the downstairs bathroom and convert the closed-off space to a living quarters for Ronald, with a concealed trapdoor in the pantry through which Ronald can escape in an emergency. The plan is for him to hide in the room until the incident blows over. Mrs. Wilby tells the police that Ronald ran away. Ronald's mother pays attention to what neighbors, particularly the nosy Mrs. Schumacher ( Linda Watkins ), and others are saying about

1457-466: 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

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1504-403: The girl's disappearance and tells Ronald that when it's safe, he can return to a normal life. One afternoon, she is taken into a hospital for gallbladder surgery, from which she unexpectedly dies. In the meantime, Ronald has created a fantasy world in his head consisting of a prince and a princess that live happily until an evil duke appears and a struggle begins. Shortly after Mrs. Wilby's death,

1551-506: The house is sold to the Wood family, consisting of a mother ( Pippa Scott ), father ( Dabney Coleman ) and three teenage daughters: Babs ( Cindy Fisher ), Althea (Cindy Eilbacher) and Ellen ( Lisa Eilbacher ). As Ronald needs food and begins to crave human interaction, disappearances of food and odd noises are experienced by the new family. Babs, the youngest of the Wood daughters, becomes identified with Ronald's princess and he identifies himself as

1598-533: The lead role in the made-for-TV film Bad Ronald (1974). He is also known for his recurring role as Dorothy 's son, Michael Zbornak, in a few episodes of the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls . Jacoby was born in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois , and his family moved to Queens in New York City when he was ten years old. At the age of eleven, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of Ally in

1645-450: 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

1692-562: The made-for-television movie". Network-made television movies in the United States have tended to be inexpensively-produced and perceived to be of low quality. 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

1739-502: 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. 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

1786-569: 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

1833-478: 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 . In a 1991 New York Times article, television critic John J. O'Connor wrote that "few artifacts of popular culture invite more condescension than

1880-555: 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 . Conversely, beginning in the 1950s episodes of American television series would be placed together and released as feature films in overseas cinemas. Television networks were in control of

1927-439: The police leave, the girls hear noises downstairs as Duane tries to free himself and fights with Ronald. Althea notices one of the many peepholes Ronald has drilled. When she approaches it, she sees Ronald's eye staring back at her and screams in terror as Ronald breaks through the wall. The police, who have been watching the house, hear the screams and rush back. Ronald is captured as he tries to flee, crying out for his mother. Babs

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1974-430: 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

2021-477: The prince. Duane Matthews ( Ted Eccles ) (who is well liked by the family), oldest daughter Ellen's boyfriend and brother of the Matthews girls, becomes identified with the evil duke that threatens their happiness. Ronald's goal is to "regain" his princess and remove anything, including the members of her family, that stops his dream from becoming reality. During this time, neighbor Mrs. Schumacher sees Ronald and dies of

2068-480: 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

2115-413: The six largest American television networks at the time (CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, and UPN ), averaging a 7.5 rating. By 2000, only 146 TV movies were made by those five networks, averaging a 5.4 rating, while the number of made-for-cable movies made annually in the U.S. doubled between 1990 and 2000. In several respects, television films resemble B movies , the low-budget films issued by major studios from

2162-596: Was ABC 's The Day After , which premiered on November 20, 1983, to an estimated audience of 100 million people. 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

2209-543: 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

#1998