At one time, the big three networks - ABC, CBS and NBC - looked at late summer the same way that kids look ahead to Christmas in November. There was hope, excitement, and nervousness that they would get all that they wanted.
The Fall TV Season used to be a major deal. It was when the "big three" debuted all the shows that they hoped would catch on with viewers and become their next big hit, and also when those big hits returned from summer hiatus, and sometimes springtime cliffhangers.
TV Guide even devoted an entire issue (one of their thickest of the year) to the Fall Preview.
Cable TV, home video, and now streaming has made the excitement and anticipation behind the Fall TV season a thing of the past. But networks used to be so behind the season that they would create big, splashy campaigns that played as "teasers" during the summer and really ramped up in late August.
These would be a catchy slogan and jingle, with images of the stars of the network's shows hanging out together like one big family party.
Last year, I looked at some of these network promos, and as nostalgia for the ol', new TV seasons sets in, here is a "Part 2," looking at some other Fall network campaigns of the past.
"Now is the Time ABC is the Place," 1981
The new fall shows forty-five years ago on ABC soared over urban and city landscapes like an early-80s neon comet, with people down below surprised and excited about what they were seeing. Mixed in among the many looking up to the sky were stars of ABC shows at the time, like Henry Winkler, John Forsyth and Ted Knight, to name a few.
And, this came with an oh-so-catchy jingle we were singing all summer long. Check it out below:
"The Look is CBS" 1991
"The look of America is CBS" was how this jingle went when that network was promoting their new fall lineup thirty-five years ago. Against MTV-like quick cuts and early-90s neon colors, stars like Candace Bergen, William Shatner, and Annie Potts mouthed the words to the song.
Check it out here:
"Come Home to NBC" 1986
Forty years ago, this promotion showed images of everyone rushing home from school and work to tune in to NBC, interspersed with scenes from the network's biggest shows of the time, like The Cosby Show and Family Ties. As the jingle played, stars of the various shows stood in front of the peacock logo, beckoning us to "come home to NBC."
Watch it here:
Ah, the fall TV seasons that once were, when an age of streaming anything we wanted to watch at the push of a button was unimaginable, and the big three networks ruled all.
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"Forget about frying an egg on the sidewalk; this kind of heat would fry an egg inside the chicken." — Chill Factor by Rachel Caine.
Yup. It's been another hot and steamy summer. no matter where you live. Once again, it seems as if no one is safe from those dreaded "three H's": Hot, Hazy, and Humid.
To that, add another "H," for Hollywood. Through the years, filmmakers have used heat waves as the backdrop for many films.
During the heat of summer 2022, I wrote about some of them (Steamy Cinema Part I), and as we see a weather rerun this year, it seemed like an appropriate time to take a look back as some other examples of "Steamy Cinema."
The Naked City (1948)
Set during a sweltering summer in the city, a woman is found drowned in her Manhattan bathtub, and a veteran homicide detective, Lt. Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald), and his young partner, Det. Jimmy Halloran (Don Taylor), lead the investigation through New York's crowded streets and tenements.
The film is a fascinating look at what a hot New York summer actually looked, sounded, and felt like during another era, as it was filmed on location in the city in 1947. The Naked City is set against a backdrop of apartment windows open for air, residents out on stoops, and a city living outdoors during the summer months in a way that changed considerably once air conditioning became part of our lives.
The Window (1949)
Another murder mystery, set against the backdrop of summers of another time in New York City.
Nine-year-old Tommy Woodry, a boy who "cries wolf" quite a bit with his wild stories, decides to sleep on his family's fire escape one hot summer night to escape the heat and winds up witnessing his upstairs neighbors murder a man in their apartment.
Tommy is portrayed by child star Bobby Driscoll, who was loaned to RKO by Walt Disney (as the opening titles inform us), and his innocence in the film is a fascinating juxtaposition to the dark plot. Plus, realizing that sleeping on fire escapes in summer was once "a thing" is mind-blowing in today's world.
Soylent Green (1973)
This iconic science-fiction film is set in a dystopian New York City "future" of 2022, which is now overpopulated, resource-depleted, and, thanks to years of ruining the environment, trapped in a perpetual heatwave.
Charlton Heston portrays a police detective who, thanks to help from his friend (played by Edward G. Robinson, in his final film role), uncovers an awful secret that the government has been hiding...revealed in one of the most shocking endings and lines of dialogue in film history.
Weekend at Bernie's (1989)
Yes, it's the famed black comedy from the 80s, where two low-level insurance employees (Jonathan Silverman and Andrew McCarthy) discover financial fraud being committed by their boss, Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser). They're invited to his Hamptons beach house for what they think is a reward — only to find Bernie murdered by the mob associates. Fearing they'll be blamed for the murder, the two decide to prop up Bernie's corpse and pretend he's still alive.
While the majority of the film, set over Labor Day Weekend, is set in the Hamptons (and filmed in the Carolinas), the film begins in the stifling heat of New York City (once again). Unrealistic, ghoulish and, yes, funny. It's no wonder it's become a cult classic.
Barton Fink (1991)
The Coen Brothers' bizarre tale of the title character, an idealistic New York playwright who accepts a Hollywood Studio offer to write a screenplay. He takes up residence to the shabby Hotel Earle to work, where he develops writer's block, in the odd hotel that includes residents like his neighbor, a traveling insurance salesman (John Goodman).
The heatwave in Barton Fink only adds to the oppressive feeling of the film, as the title character seems to descend into a Hell that he's created.
Falling Down (1993)
A recently laid-off defense engineer (Michael Douglas) snaps and abandons his car in Los Angeles traffic, in the middle of a heatwave, determined to walk across the city to reach his estranged ex-wife's house in time for his young daughter's birthday party.
Like the Coen Brothers, director Joel Schumacher sets this story against a heat wave, as a metaphor for the main character and society reaching a boiling point. This is an underrated 90s gem that's still relevant today.
Just a few of the many heat wave movies out there. So, stay in, turning the air conditioner up - WAY up- and enjoy one or all of these Hollywood heat wave films.
Stay cool, everyone...and remember this article when we are all complaining about the cold in six months!
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As the summer movie season of 1976 began, it had been almost a year since Jaws had made its debut. Steven Spielberg's iconic film changed movie-making and moviegoing forever by creating the summer movie blockbuster and, in turn, the summer movie season.
Even though it had been a year since Jaws, the movie industry was trying to figure out this whole new time of year, dubbed the summer movie season, when May of 1976 began. What followed were those warm-weather months fifty years ago, as America was about to celebrate the big Bicentennial, and Hollywood released a string of movies that looked to recapture some of that Jaws glory (and box office). Such success would come again the following summer, in 1977, with Star Wars (another game-changer).
But that didn't stop Hollywood from trying during the summer of '76. As patriotism flew high, a string of hopeful hits came to theaters, each one a reflection of the time, and most could only have been produced in the 70s.
Fifty years later, here's a look at what was playing "at a theater near you," during the summer of 1976:
Summer began with a Jaws carbon copy called Grizzly, about the titular bear attacking campers. It didn't keep people out of the woods, the way Jaws kept people out of the water. Then there was Hawmps!, a comedy supposedly based on the true story of the U.S. Cavalry using camels in place of horses, and Mother, Jugs and Speed, a dark comedy starring Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch, and Harvey Keitel in the respective title roles as ambulance drivers.
There was also Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (a real title), a take-off on Rin Tin Tin and other celebrity canines, which featured such cameos as Dorothy Lamour, Henny Youngman, and Tab Hunter.
Then there was Mel Brooks' Silent Movie, his parody of the silent era of filmmaking, presented as an actual silent movie. Fresh off his back-to-back hits, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, this was another success for the comedy legend.
Speaking of legends, this summer also saw Clint Eastwood in his iconic Western, The Outlaw Jose Wales, as well as the legendary horror movie, The Omen, starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick and directed by a pre-Superman Richard Donner.
There was also plenty of parodies, including Murder By Death, writer Neil Simon's send-up of every mystery from Agatha Christie to Sam Spade, and The Big Bus, which skewered disaster movies and pre-dates Airplane! by four years.
Also, looking for something to scratch that 70s itch? The science-fiction cult classic Logan's Run hit theaters in the summer of '76, and The Food of the Gods, based on an H.G. Wells book about an attack by giant, killer rats (you read that correctly).
And, nothing was more 70s than Sensurround, the theater sound system that turned up the bass and shook seats to make you feel a part of the action. First used in 1974's disaster movie Earthquake, it was used again this summer in the WWII movie, Midway.
In addition to Sensurround, the 70s were also a time of the family-friendly Disney live-action film, and this summer had two of them - the comedy Gus, about the football-kicking mule, and The Treasure of Matacumbe, an adventure about two kids seeking pirate treasure (filmed partially at Walt Disney World). Both were part of this year's Disney Summer Film Festival, a summer-long series of double-features at New York-area theaters (but that's an article for another time).
There was also The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars& Motor Kings, starring Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, and Richard Pryor, about a Negro Baseball Team in 1939, and in Lifeguard, Sam Elliot starred as the title character, a womanizing California Lifeguard who re-examines his life after attending his high school reunion.
The sequel Futureworld continued Michael Crichton's sci-fi story from Westworld, focusing on a theme park featuring ultra-realistic audio-animatronics. Fresh off of his role as Quint in Jaws, Robert Shaw starred in the pirate adventure Swashbuckler, and Burt Reynolds, one of the biggest box-office stars of the time, made his directorial debut with Gator, as an ex-con who is recruited to work for a government agency. And The Gumball Rally had shades of Reynolds' own Cannonball Run (released in 1981) about a cross-country car race.
And so, the summer movie season of 1976 stands as a moment, and a portal back, in time, when the movie industry was at a turning point. The summers that would follow for the next decade and a half would bring some of the biggest movies of all time, not just with Star Wars, but also Grease, The Empire Strikes Back,Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.:The Extra Terrestrial, Back to the Future, and Batman, just to name a few.
But just before summer blockbusters became a hope for studios and an expectation for audiences, there was the Bicentennial summer of 1976, filled with plenty of 70s-era cinema and fond, “misty water-colored,” nostalgic movie memories.
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This coming Monday is "Star Wars Day" - May the Fourth be with You. The fact that a date can be turned into a play on words to provide a reason to celebrate a movie franchise is reason enough to realize just how popular and enduring that movie franchise has become.
Since debuting in May of 1977, George Lucas's space opera has changed the movie landscape (for both the industry and moviegoers), become part of our lexicon, and is now stitched into our collective pop culture.
Star Wars has indeed done what few movies have, and in the almost fifty years since its debut, part of its immense popularity has come from commercials for an array of products.
In honor of "Star Wars Day," what follows is a video flashback to just some of those commercials from eras far, far away, but that still feel like just yesterday.
The First Star Wars Movie Trailer:
It's easy to forget that even though Star Wars wasn't set in any specific time and place, it was produced in the 70s, and the first commercials for the film have an air that's oh-so of that decade.
The Star Wars Early Bird Certificate:
All fans know the story, Star Wars massive success took everyone by surprise and toys weren't ready for Christmas of '77, so Kenner scrambled and created what was, essentially, an empty box for parents to place under the tree.
The Empire Strikes Back Burger King Glasses:
This glassware, which was sold at Burger King in promotion with the first Star Wars sequel, is featured in a meme that reads: "We're having company, go get the fancy cups." They were indeed, and this commercial seemed to play nonstop during the summer of 1980.
C3POs Cereal:
The first Star Wars-themed cereal not only featured "double O" shapes but also C-3PO in the commercial.
Star Wars: The Special Edition:
Oh, the excitement in early 1997 when the original trilogy returned to theaters with enhanced and added scenes, paving the way for the prequels that would bow just two years later.
Star Wars: Episode I KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell:
A new Star Wars movie in the summer of 1999 was so big that three fast-food giants and their spokes characters got together for a promotional tie-in.
Volkswagen Passat "The Force":
Airing during the Super Bowl in 2011, this memorable commercial featured a pint-sized Darth Vader.
And, there were so many more - enough to fill multiple galaxies. These are just some Star Wars commercials that live on in the nostalgic minds of multiple generations, as squarely as the Star Wars movies themselves.
May the 4th be with You.
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Let's face it, there aren't a lot of Easter movies to choose from. Think back four to five months, to the Christmas season, when there were so many movies you almost had to start watching them before Halloween to get them all in (and some people did).
Come Easter season, take away Biblical epics and the MGM classic Easter Parade and there's a bit of a drought when it comes to seasonal movies, especially newer ones.
Thank goodness for Hop, an entertaining live-action/animated comedy that brings the Easter Bunny into our modern world and looks to put a Tim Allen/The Santa Clause-like spin on the holiday icon.
When it was released on April 1, 2011, Hop came with a slew of merchandise and other product promotions (in fact, 92 companies were involved in the film's marketing).
Generating $37.5 million in its opening weekend, it topped the box office for two weeks and became a hit for Universal.
Since then, it’s become a seasonal favorite on home video and streaming, and it's also featured in annual TV showings. As it celebrates its 15th anniversary this Spring, it's worth looking back at this genial movie.
Hop tells the tale of E.B., a young rabbit set to take the reins of the family business and become the next Easter Bunny. Wanting more from his life and harboring a passion for becoming a drummer, E.B. leaves Easter Island (home of the Easter Bunny and his factory, of course) and goes to Hollywood.
Here, E.B. meets out-of-work “slacker” Fred O’Hare, and they strike up an unusual friendship. Fred helps E.B. realize his dream as a drummer by auditioning for the TV show “Hoff Knows Talent” (hosted by David Hasselhoff), and E.B. allows Fred to finally find a job, filling in for him as the Easter Bunny.
Russell Brand voices E.B., with James Marsden as Fred O’Hare, who delivers a likable performance and does solid work alongside the computer-generated bunny and the other CGI characters.
Director Tim Hill does amazing work blending live-action and animation throughout Hop in a seamless way. It's some of the film’s best examples of this since 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
The senior animation supervisor for the film was the talented Chris Bailey, who had directed the immensely entertaining Mickey Mouse short, Runaway Brain in 1995. He and his team employ great visual imagination in Hop in bringing the Easter Bunny’s factory to life with a wondrous, Willy-Wonka quality.
When Hop opened in 2011, film critic Nick Schager in The Village Voice said that the film was “…just demented enough to deliver a fleeting sugar rush.”
A perfect summation, as Hop is a worthy heir to a small list of Easter movies.
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Growing up in Long Island, New York, in an Irish-American community, the weeks leading up to Saint Patrick's Day were almost like a "mini-Christmas season." For three to four weeks leading up to March 17th, green decorations would adorn stores and restaurants (many would offer appropriate food specials like, yes, corned beef and cabbage), houses would place paper and plastic shamrocks on their doors, towns would jockey schedules for each weekend to host their Saint Patrick's Day parade and subsequent celebrations, supermarkets would boast displays of Guiness pints and Irish soda bread, and the big parade in New York City on the 17th pre-empted regularly scheduled programming to be shown live, on Channel 11 that day (hosted by local legend, Jack McCarthy).
In fact, I was fortunate enough to be part of the Parade when I marched with my Uncle Pat and the Ancient Order of Hibernians on several Saint Patrick's Days in the late 70s. That lovely bagpipe music still fills my mind, along with the memory of the crowds, excitement and green bagels from Lenders that were given out.
Now, living in Florida, I have traded summer days in the spring for all of that. Saint Patrick's Day here is a day, maybe a weekend, where local restaurants and nationwide chains revamp their menus to offer corned beef and cabbage quesadillas, and beer dyed green that will no doubt have quite the adverse effects on digestive systems.
When I visited New York six years ago in early March (just before COVID shut down the day, the parade, and the world shortly thereafter, sadly), I was reminded of Saint Patrick's Day being a season, and the movies and shows that have become as attached to the holiday for me as Rudolph and It's a Wonderful Life for Christmas.
If you'd like to add them to your seasonal rotation, here they are:
Darby O'Gill and the Little People(1959)
First discovered as a kid, during the summer of 1977, on a double bill with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, this Disney live-action fantasy about the title character (Albert Sharpe), who is the only one in his town in Ireland who can see leprechauns, is true magic. Not only a perfect Saint Patrick's Day movie, but it is also one of the best Disney live-action films.
Here is the 1977 re-issue trailer:
The Jackie Gleason Show: "The Curse of the Kramdens" (1966)
In the 1960s, Jackie Gleason moved his show to Miami Beach and produced hour-long episodes of The Honeymooners...that were musicals. One episode had them all traveling to Ireland to defeat a family curse. As a Honeymooners fan, I discovered this late, but it is pure '60s variety-show, brightly colored goodness... with a whole lot of Irish dancing and a catchy song called "Hospitality."
The episode is very difficult to find outside its DVD release, but here is how Gleason's Miami shows opened each week...
The Brothers McMullen(1995)
From writer/director/star and Long Islander Edward Burns came this Sundance Festival favorite about three adult brothers from an Irish-American family, all forced to live together under the same roof. As a fellow Irish-American/Long Islander, this has hit all the right notes since I first saw it in theaters thirty-one years ago.
Here is the original trailer...
The Lawrence Welk Saint Patrick's Day Show (1979)
Full confession: I bought this for $1.00 on VHS at a charity sale, and after watching it, my wife, Michelle and I discovered that The Lawrence Welk Show airs on PBS every Saturday evening, and we watch it each week.
It’s filled with the feeling of an era where people stayed home on Saturday nights to watch variety shows. Outdated? Sure. Filled with songs that have "faded" a bit? Yeah. But, pure innocence from another time that we sorely need right now? ABSOLUTELY.
The Saint Patrick’s Day episode is chock full of such standards as "It's a Great Day for the Irish," "Galway Bay," and "I'm Lookin' Over a Four Leaf Clover," among many...
Here's the whole show...
The Wearin' of the Grin(1951)
This classic Warner Bros cartoon, directed by the legendary Chuck Jones, features Porky Pig meeting up with some mischievous (and somewhat scary) Leprechauns, and comes full of after-school childhood memories.
Here are just a few minutes...
Waking Ned Devine(1998)
My Dad's favorite Saint Patrick's Day movie, and one he watches each year. It's an underrated comedy gem. A small town in Ireland bands together to collect the winnings from the lottery after the lucky ticket holder passes away. Full of charm, heart, and a devilish wit.
Here is the trailer...
The Fugitive(1993)
If there can be an ongoing fight about Die Hard being a Christmas movie, then I make the case for The Fugitive being a Saint Patrick's Day movie. After all, in one scene, Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) makes his escape by joining the Chicago Saint Patrick's Day Parade.
Enjoy the scene here...
The Quiet Man(1952)
The greatest Saint Patrick's Day movie and one of my all-time favorite films. Director John Ford's story of American Sean Thornton (John Wayne), who returns to his family roots in the small town he grew up in in Ireland, is a perfect reflection of the country and its culture.
WPIX, good ol' channel 11 in New York, would show this on or around Saint Patrick's Day each year, and the day just wasn't complete without it.
Here is a WPIX commercial...
And so, there are some memories of shows and movies that have made Saint Patrick's Day special to me over the years. As I watch each one now, I can still smell Aunt Peg's corned beef and cabbage cooking in the kitchen and the distant echo of the voices of family members that I once shared the day with.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all...and here is one more memory...
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Choosing the right movie for Valentine's Day is like searching for that perfect Christmas film on December 25th. The choices are overwhelming. Romantic drama? Romantic tearjerker? Romantic period piece? Or, the good ol' "rom com?"
To assist with winnowing down your choices for this Valentine's Day, consider one of these films that not only celebrate love, but also celebrate anniversaries this year.
The Philadelphia Story (1941) 85th Anniversary
Classic Hollywood movies don't get more classic or Hollywood than this one. Three of the silver screen's most shining stars - Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart - star in this sophisticated, comedic love triangle.
From director George Cukor (and based on the play by Phillip Barry), it tells the story of a socialite (Hepburn) who finds herself falling for both a journalist (Stewart) and her ex-husband (Grant).
All of the stars are luminous (and Stewart won the Oscar), as they work with rapid-fire dialogue. The silver screen has never shimmered so brightly.
High Society (1956) - 70th Anniversary
Ironically, the musical remake of The Philadelphia Story also celebrates an anniversary this year.
Here, Grace Kelly (in her last performance before becoming Princess of Monaco) plays the socialite, Bing Crosby as the ex-husband, and Frank Sinatra as the journalist. Wall-to-wall with iconic songs from Cole Porter, and musically narrated by Louis Armstrong, this isn't just movie musical magic, it's pure joy.
And, Crosby and Sinatra's duet of "Well, Did You Evah?!' could be watched over and over.
Any Wednesday (1966) - 60th Anniversary
A lesser-known romantic comedy, this is so much a product of its time, but that makes it all the more fun. Jane Fonda is a young woman living in Manhattan who is having an affair with a married businessman (Jason Robards) and falls for one of his clients (Dean Jones, best known for many Disney live-action classics).
With perspectives around infidelity and women that are squarely of the era, and cringy today, this is still a bright, breezy, and easy-to-take comedy.
A Star is Born (1976) - 50th Anniversary
After the 1937 version of this story, starring Janet Gaynor and Frederick March, and the 1954 version starring Judy Garland and James Mason, but before the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper version, came this version starring Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.
This variation on the tale of a self-destructive singer (Kristofferson) who discovers an unknown singer (Streisand) whose career takes off, while his declines comes with gritty, 70s realism, as well as the heartfelt (and heartbreaking) performances of the two stars, which rightfully made this film a hit.
And the movie's Oscar-winning song "Evergreen" (by Streisand and Paul Williams) is still one of the loveliest ballads in movie history.
Pretty in Pink (1986) - 40th Anniversary
Nobody captured teen angst better than John Hughes, and this was his most angst-ridden movie. Directed by Howard Deutch (from Hughes' script), it tells the story of a high school senior (Molly Ringwald), who is falling for one of the most popular boys in school (Andrew McCarthy), while her longtime friend (Jon Cryer) pines for her.
With less humor and more thoughtful moments that resonate with the pain of high school, this is a plunge into the "full 80s," but still relatable today.
Only the Lonely (1991) - 35th Anniversary
Another Hughes film, this time as producer, with Chris Columbus writing and directing, this film was released just six months after the duo's iconic smash Home Alone.
John Candy is a lifelong bachelor who falls in love with a shy woman in the neighborhood (Ally Sheedy), and they must both pass the approval of his controlling mother, played by Maureen O'Hara, who came out of a 20-year retirement to play the role, which would be her last screen appearance.
A funny and touching film, crafted with just the right touch by Columbus, with O'Hara displaying why she was one of Hollywood's greats and walking away with the movie.
So, there you have it, every one of these eclectic choices can help provide some "reel" romance to your Valentine's Day.
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