Misplaced Pages

#885114

48-447: Almost two decades after the original Maverick series, and a few years after his appearance in the 1978 TV movie The New Maverick , Bret Maverick has put down roots in the frontier community of Sweetwater, Arizona Territory where he is now the silent partner of the Red Ox saloon that he won in a card game. Maverick's still a gambler, and is not above running various con games to help make

96-527: 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

144-575: 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

192-457: A cheater, in which case Maverick would scheme to get his money back through his own methods of cheating and deceit. In the Bret Maverick series, however, Bret is somewhat more of a conman and hustler, and one who doesn't only target crooked gamblers. Also, several costumes and hairstyles, particularly of series regular Darleen Carr, reflected the style of the 1980s and not the old west in which

240-417: 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

288-419: 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,

336-528: 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

384-497: 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 ,

432-425: A series revival inspired by this TV-movie, for the 1981-82 season. Garner wrote in his memoir that the film "didn't quite make it," calling it "a near miss." This article related to an American TV movie is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . TV movie A television film , alternatively known as a television movie , made-for-TV film/movie , telefilm , telemovie or TV film/movie ,

480-495: 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 the first filmed "family musicals" made directly for television . That film

528-545: 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,

SECTION 10

#1732870150886

576-424: 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

624-522: A ten-foot bronze statue of James Garner as Bret Maverick was unveiled in Garner's hometown of Norman, Oklahoma , with Garner present at the ceremony. On April 22, 2014, Warner Bros. released Bret Maverick: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time, via their Warner Archive Collection . This is a manufacture-on-demand release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in

672-577: 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

720-417: 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

768-469: 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

816-565: 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

864-616: 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

912-513: 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

960-442: 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

1008-470: 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

SECTION 20

#1732870150886

1056-405: 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

1104-401: The 1971–1972 series Nichols , appears in a recurring role as crooked Native American Philo Sandeen; Jack Garner , James's brother and a frequent Rockford Files bit player, plays the role of Jack, the Red Ox's bespectacled bartender; and Luis Delgado , Garner's longtime stand-in , and Officer Billings on Rockford , plays Red Ox employee Shifty Delgrado. Semi-regulars included Tommy Bush as

1152-407: 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

1200-552: 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

1248-585: 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

1296-706: The United States. The series has rerun on Encore Westerns since fall 2008. On December 30, 2018, American TV network getTV started rerunning the series. Currently, it airs on getTV on the weekends. The New Maverick The New Maverick is a 1978 American Western television film based on the 1957–1962 series Maverick starring James Garner as Bret Maverick . The New Maverick also stars Charles Frank as newcomer cousin Ben Maverick (son of Beau Maverick ), Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick , and Susan Sullivan as Poker Alice Ivers . James Garner and Jack Kelly had been 29 and 30 years old, respectively, at

1344-553: The aging but feisty foreman of Maverick's ranch; Ramon Bieri as prosperous local banker Elijah Crow; Darleen Carr as Mary Lou "M.L." Springer, the fetching owner, editor, and photographer of the local newspaper; David Knell as Rodney Catlow, M.L.'s young assistant; and John Shearin as Mitchell Dowd, the town's arrogant and ineffectual sheriff. Also seen frequently are three actors who were carryovers from Garner's previous series The Rockford Files : Stuart Margolin , who played Angel on The Rockford Files and appeared with Garner in

1392-465: The beginning of the original series and were 50 and 51 while filming The New Maverick . The TV-movie was a pilot for the series Young Maverick , which featured Frank and only lasted a few episodes. Directed by Hy Averback and written by Juanita Bartlett , the movie was filmed while Garner's series The Rockford Files was on hiatus. Garner would later star in Bret Maverick , another attempt at

1440-413: The inept but friendly Deputy Sturgess, and Marj Dusay as Kate Hanrahan, the town's madam. Despite respectable ratings, the show was canceled by NBC at the end of the first season, airing only eighteen episodes. Writer/producer Roy Huggins, original creator of the title character but otherwise unconnected with this series despite Garner's request that he come aboard mid-season, speculated that one reason

1488-474: 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

Bret Maverick - Misplaced Pages Continue

1536-450: 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

1584-562: 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

1632-719: The money he needs to keep his businesses afloat. Because of this, he is viewed with suspicion by many of the town's more prominent citizens, especially the town's newly appointed sheriff. Bret's business partner is Tom Guthrie ( Ed Bruce ), the town's former sheriff and co-owner of the Red Ox Saloon. (Actor Ed Bruce, a noted country singer, also co-wrote and performed the show's theme song.) Bret's penchant for organizing cons and money-making schemes of questionable legality means that he and ex-sheriff Guthrie are often at odds with each other, although they still remain friends. Also seen as series regulars are Richard Hamilton as Cy Whitaker,

1680-502: 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

1728-569: 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

1776-483: The new show didn't quite work was that Maverick, traditionally a drifter, had settled down in one place. Huggins and others also noted that this iteration of Bret Maverick was also more of an 'operator' than the 1950s version. While the earlier version of Maverick was certainly a gambler, his code of ethics was unshakable and as a consequence he played cards and other games absolutely fair and above-board—unless and until his opponent had unquestionably proven themselves to be

1824-478: 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

1872-430: 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

1920-480: 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

1968-407: The show was set. Jack Kelly , who had alternated the lead with Garner and later Roger Moore in the original 1957–62 Maverick series, had been slated to return as Bret's brother Bart Maverick in the second season, and briefly appeared at the very end of the only season. A number of scripts for the following season had been written and presented to Kelly, according to subsequent interviews; Bart

Bret Maverick - Misplaced Pages Continue

2016-413: 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

2064-452: The unusual step of rerunning the episodes two additional times - in the summer of 1988 to help provide 'new' programming during a writers strike, and in the summer of 1994 to play off publicity surrounding the Mel Gibson movie remake of the original Maverick series also featuring Garner. As a tribute to the character featured on this television series and on Maverick , on April 21, 2006,

2112-596: 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

2160-554: Was appointed to a government position as an inspector of bars and hotels throughout the Arizona territory, where he promised to remain a thorn in Maverick's side. The 2-hour first episode was eventually trimmed and repackaged as a TV movie for rerunning on local stations under the title Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace . Additionally the series' only two-part episode was similarly repackaged as Bret Maverick: Faith, Hope and Clarity . NBC took

2208-493: Was going to look after the saloon in Arizona while Bret ranged across the West, thereby making this series closer in conception and tone to the original Maverick . The series' final episode also included a number of other changes to the series set-up: notably, Tom Guthrie was re-elected as sheriff, and sold his interest in the Red Ox to Kate Hanrahan, who immediately reinvented the establishment as an upscale brothel. As well, Mitchell Dowd

2256-470: 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

2304-543: 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

#885114