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Atelevision film, alternatively known as atelevision movie,made-for-TV film/movie,telefilm,telemovie orTV film/movie, is afeature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to atelevision network, in contrast to theatrical films made for initial showing inmovie theaters, anddirect-to-video films made for initial release on home video formats. In certain cases, such films may also be referred to and shown as aminiseries, which typically indicates a film that has been divided into multiple parts or a series that contains a predetermined, limited number of episodes.
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Precursors of "television movies" includeTalk Faster, Mister, which aired on WABD (nowWNYW) in New York City on December 18, 1944, and was produced byRKO Pictures,[citation needed] and the 1957The Pied Piper of Hamelin, based on the poem byRobert Browning, and starringVan Johnson, one of the first filmed "family musicals" made directly fortelevision. That film was made inTechnicolor, a first for television, which ordinarily used color processes originated by specific networks. Most "family musicals" of the time, such asPeter Pan, were not filmed but broadcast live and preserved onkinescope, 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 ofvideotape.
Many television networks were against film programming, fearing that it would loosen the network's arrangements withsponsors andaffiliates by encouragingstation managers to make independent deals with advertisers andfilm producers.[1]
Conversely, beginning in the 1950s episodes of American television series would be placed together and released asfeature films in overseas cinemas.[citation needed]
Television networks were in control of the most valuableprime time slots available for programming, sosyndicators of independent television films had to settle for fewertelevision 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 theUnited States in the early 1960s as an incentive for movieaudiences to stay home and watch what was promoted as the equivalent of afirst-run theatrical film. Beginning in 1961 withNBC Saturday Night at the Movies, aprime 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 ofmovie studio product. The first of these made-for-TV movies is generally acknowledged to beSee How They Run, which debuted onNBC on October 7, 1964.[2] A previous film,The Killers, starringLee Marvin andRonald 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'sThe Hanged Man, was broadcast byNBC on November 18, 1964.[2]
These features originally filled a 90-minute programming time slot (includingcommercials), later expanded to two hours, and were usually broadcast as a weeklyanthologytelevision series (for example, theABC 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 (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, andthe WB), 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 resembleB 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]
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ABC'sBattlestar 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 wasABC'sThe Day After, which premiered on November 20, 1983, to an estimated audience of 100 million people.[6] The film depicted America after anuclear war with theSoviet Union, and was the subject of much controversy and discussion at the time of its release due to its graphic nature and subject matter. TheBBC's 1984 television filmThreads earned a similar reputation in theUnited Kingdom as it followed two families and workers ofSheffield 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'sDuel, written byRichard Matheson, directed bySteven Spielberg and starringDennis Weaver. Such was the quality and popularity ofDuel that it was released to cinemas inEurope andAustralia, and had a limited theatrical release to some venues in the United States and Canada. The 1971 made-for-TV movieBrian's Song was also briefly released to theatres after its success on television, and was evenremade 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 includeThe Legend of Lizzie Borden,Helter Skelter,Prince of Bel Air andSpectre.
Many television movies released in the 1970s were a source of controversy, such asLinda Blair's 1974 filmBorn Innocent and 1975'sSarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic, as well as 1976'sDawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway and its 1977sequel,Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn, which were vehicles for formerBrady Bunch actressEve Plumb. Another significant film wasElizabeth Montgomery's portrayal of a rape victim in the dramaA Case of Rape (1974).
My Sweet Charlie (1970) withPatty Duke andAl Freeman Jr. dealt with racial prejudice, andThat Certain Summer (1972), starringHal Holbrook andMartin Sheen, although controversial, was considered the first television movie to approach the subject ofhomosexuality in a non-threatening manner.If These Walls Could Talk, a film which deals withabortion in three different decades (the 1950s, the 1970s and the 1990s) became a huge success, and wasHBO's highest rated film on record.
If a network orders a two-hourtelevision 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 moviesequel after ending its run. For example,Babylon 5: The Gathering launched thescience fiction seriesBabylon 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 ofBattlestar Galactica began as a two-partminiseries that later continued as a weekly television program. Another example is theShowtime movieSabrina, the Teenage Witch, which launched thesitcom 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 inReturn to Mayberry andA Very Brady Christmas. They can also be a spin-off from a TV series includingThe Incredible Hulk Returns,The Trial of the Incredible Hulk andThe Death of the Incredible Hulk.
Occasionally, television movies are used as sequels to successful theatrical films. For example, only thefirst film inThe Parent Trap series was released theatrically.The Parent Trap II,III andHawaiian Honeymoon were produced for television, and similarly, theMidnight Run sequels have all been released as made-for-TV movies despitethe first having a strong run in theaters. These types of films may be, and more commonly are, releaseddirect-to-video; there have been some films, such asThe Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (a prequel to the film version ofThe Dukes of Hazzard) andJames 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 theHigh School Musical series, which aired its first two films on theDisney 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 secondHSM 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 duringsweeps season. Such offerings now are very rare; asKen Tucker noted while reviewing theJesse StoneCBS television movies, "broadcast networks aren't investing in made-for-TV movies anymore".[9] The slack has been taken up by cable networks such asHallmark Channel,Syfy,Lifetime and HBO, with productions such asTemple Grandin andRecount, 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 beThe People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, and these are most often seen on cable networks and streaming services such asNetflix.
In a 1991New 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 involvingJoey Buttafuoco andAmy Fisher were in 1993.
The stories are written to reach periodic semi-cliffhangers coinciding with the network-scheduled times for the insertion ofcommercials, 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 ofdamsel in distress storylines). The movies tend to rely on smaller casts, one such exception being those produced forpremium cable, such asBehind the Candelabra (which featured established film actorsMichael Douglas andMatt Damon in the lead roles) and a limited range of scene settings and camera setups. Even Spielberg'sDuel, 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 expensivespecial effects. Although a film's expenses would be lessened by filming usingvideo, as the movies were contracted by television studios, these films were required to be shot on 35 mmfilm. Various techniques are often employed to "pad" television movies with low budgets and underdeveloped scripts, such asmusic video-style montages, flashbacks, or repeated footage, and extended periods of dramaticslow 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 seldomrerun. RaconteurJean 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 asThe Diamond Fleece, a 1992Canadian TV film directed byAl Waxman and starringBen Cross,Kate Nelligan andBrian Dennehy. It earned Nelligan the 1993Gemini Award for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series".[13]
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 filmedsingle-camera setup even if the television series is videotaped using amultiple-camera setup, but are written to be easily broken up into individual 30- or 60-minute episodes forsyndication. 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 ofStar Trek: The Next Generation,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine andStar Trek: Voyager. Most of these are made and shown duringsweeps period in order to attract a large television audience and boostviewership 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 theCSI,NCIS andChicago franchises, along with betweenMurder, She Wrote andMagnum, P.I.,Scandal andHow to Get Away with Murder, andAlly McBeal andThe 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.
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