NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
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NBC Saturday Night at the Movies was the first TV show to broadcast in color relatively recent feature films from major studios.[1] The series premiered on September 23, 1961,[2] and ran until October 1978, spawning many imitators. Previously, television stations had been only been able to show older, low-budget, black-and-white films that wouldn't be shown at movie theaters. In the late 1970s, competition from cable television and home video led to a decline in viewership.
History
Background and early history
During the early days of television, the major studios were hesitant to release their films on TV. The movies that did make it to television were usually low-budget
During the early 1970s, there was a significantly longer period of time between when a movie was initially shown in theaters and when it was first broadcast on television. This delay was more pronounced compared to previous years, indicating a shift in the distribution and consumption of films during that time. Perhaps, this change in release schedules was due to a growing demand for films on TV or the emergence of alternative modes of film distribution. Regardless of the reason, it highlights the evolution of the film industry and its response to changing audience preferences. Between 1954 and 1972, a theatrical motion picture (even a relatively recent one) had to wait as many as 12 years (as in the case of the 1959 Ben-Hur)[4] before it turned up on the home screen.
A short-lived
For its 1961–62 television season,
The three major commercial networks did not show worn-out 16mm prints of films, as was then the usual practice on local TV stations. The films which aired on the network movie anthology series (as well as annually-telecast specials such as The Wizard of Oz) were 35mm prints, invariably in excellent condition. With the advent of cable television, VHS, and DVD, the idea of always showing films – even very old ones – in pristine, remastered condition on television has become the norm; but aside from films shown on the three major networks, this was simply not done before the 1980s. Up until then, local stations had to settle for inexpensive 16mm prints of such relatively recent films as Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957) or Prince Valiant (1954), rather than good "theater-quality" prints as seen on the networks.[7]
The birth of the "made for TV movie"
The demand for televised movies increased during the 1960s.
Although there had been filmed feature-length television specials—such as
Influence on other networks
Saturday Night at the Movies attracted sufficient ratings so that NBC and its competitors added more movie series to the prime time schedule. ABC, then a distant third in the ratings, immediately added another movie series, Hollywood Special, as a mid-season replacement; however, the series, under its new title The ABC Sunday Night Movie, did not become a regular television program until 1964.[5] CBS was leading the other networks in the ratings at that time and did not immediately add a prime time movie series. However, over the next few years, each of the three networks added weeknight movies to the schedule; and by 1968, there was a prime time network movie for every night of the week:[12]
- The ABC Sunday Night Movie
- The NBC Monday Movie (originally titled NBC Monday Night at the Movies)
- NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies
- The ABC Wednesday Night Movie
- The CBS Wednesday Night Movies
- The CBS Thursday Night Movies
- The CBS Friday Night Movies
- The CBS Saturday Night Movies
- NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
- The CBS Sunday Night Movies
- NBC Friday Night at the Movies
- Fox Presents[13]
- Fox Saturday Late Night Movies[14]
The popularity of these movie broadcasts also provided a windfall profit to the movie studios, since competitive bidding for popular movies raised the price for broadcast rights. This, in turn, made it cost-effective to produce
Announcers
As with the other movie anthology series of the time, there was no host for the program. Although an announcer's voice was heard at the beginning, the program itself simply consisted of the showing of the film and perhaps a
For years,
Decline and later years
This section, except for one footnote, needs additional citations for verification. (May 2013) |
NBC broadcast Saturday Night at the Movies until October 1978. Several other movie series were canceled by the end of the decade. However, some continued well into the 1980s and beyond.[16] Changes in television viewing habits, though, seemed to spell the end for many of these series. Loss of ratings for them has been attributed to increased competition from cable television, especially pay movie channels that were able to show movies uncut and without commercial interruptions. Other factors that led to the decline of the TV network movie presentations include the advent of home video and video rental, pay-per-view, and video-on-demand.[17]
Current-day status
The
As of 2020, it is known as NBC Movie Night, and has Chick-fil-A as the film's presenting sponsor. Still very occasional on the network's Saturday night schedule, and are almost always connected to an NBCUniversal property's vertical integration involving an upcoming theatrically-released film; in 2020 for instance, the eighth installment in the Fast & Furious franchise, The Fate of the Furious aired to connect to the later-delayed release of F9, with Trolls airing in March to promote the upcoming release of Trolls World Tour (which would eventually be released as a premium home rental due to the COVID-19 pandemic). In May 2022, Jurassic World aired to promote the June 10 release of Jurassic World Dominion.[18]
References
- ^ NBC Color Movies (since 1961). This page, however, contains an inaccuracy - "NBC Monday Night at the Movies" premiered in 1963, not 1968.
- ISBN 978-0-312-37659-8.
- ISBN 978-1-317-92914-7.
- ^ "Happy 50th, "Ben-Hur"". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
- ^ ISBN 978-0415726627.
- ^ Jay, Robert (2010-02-23). "Broadcast Log for NBC Saturday Night at the Movies, Season 1". Television Obscurities. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-0654-8.
- ^ "September 23, 1961…"NBC Saturday Night At The Movies" Debuts". Eyes Of A Generation. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
- ^ "BBC World News - Reagan's Last Movie". BBC. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
- ^ "15 Memorable ABC Movies of the Week". MentalFloss. 2014-09-15. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
- ISBN 9780918432858.
- ^ Jay, Robert (2010-08-18). "NBC Movie Nights of the 1960s and Beyond". Television Obscurities. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
- ^ "Fox Movies (FOX)".
- ^ "Fox Movies (FOX)".
- ^ Jay, Robert (2017-11-10). "NBC Saturday Night at the Movies Opening Credits Resurface". Television Obscurities. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
- ^ http://www.getty.net/texts/tv-67-83.txt (Cached by the Internet Archive)
- ISBN 978-1-933237-39-8.
- ^ Burnett, Caleb (May 23, 2022). ""Jurassic World Night" Tonight on NBC!". Jurassic Outpost. Retrieved June 20, 2022.