The Golden Age of Made-For-Television movies

The years from 1970 to 1974 are considered by many to be the GOLDEN AGE OF MADE-FOR-TELEVISION films that covered suspense, gothic suspense and horror, gothic mystery, science fiction, etc. Some of the best tv movies were mystery and suspense like, SEVEN IN DARKNESS, or fooled you with plots that appeared to start off as supernatural gothic suspense but turned, a la, Scooby Doo, to be man-made or contrived to appear so, like, WHEN MICHAEL CALLS.

Yet I would say that the golden age of made-for-television movies started in 1969 with ABC paving the way. The made-for-television movie was an instant success. CBS and NBC quickly followed suit with their own movies of the week.

Film students the world over should research this period. I recommend the book, "Television Fright Films of the 1970s", by David Deal, 2007. This book provides concrete proof that economically budgeted movies didn't have to be crappy movies. These movies didn't rely on expensive sets and special effects, or at least used just what was needed. Director Aaron Spelling was one of the pioneers who simply used existing outdoor scenes and buildings, to film suspense, mystery, gothic, horror, etc. These tv films succeeded in casting almost every known actor and actress of the time period. Many did it for the money. Many did it because they recognized a good story that could only add to their acting resume. I read somewhere that these tv movies could really be filmed on a shoestring budget, sometimes for as little as $50,000 in 1973 dollars. Yet the studios could put out a quality product. The tv movies didn't look like 50K productions.

This seems to have been a deliberately forgotten art. Either a movie has to have a mega-million dollar budget or it's a crappy, direct-to-dvd film today. Sometimes I wish I should have majored in film directing and production at schools like USC. I would loved to have produced a quality, economically budgeted movie of my own. Wait till I win the lottery.