"How can you put on a meaningful drama when, every fifteen minutes, proceedings are interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits with toilet paper?" Rod Serling talking about television.

Hello kiddies. It's your old friend Halloween Jack. MrHalloweenJack@gmail.com

As I hear the crickets singing their song outside of the Haunted Theatre, it brings my mind to an ending and what lies ahead.

No this is not going to be another long diatribe about summer, but about movies. Not just movies on TV, the ones that we drooled over when we saw them featured in the weekly TV Guide, those movies that were basically shown during the weekends.

And not the ones like the "4:30 movie" aired. The show that featured "themes" such as Vincent Price week. Sword and Sandal week...etc. The true stand out was "Godzilla" week. As a matter of fact, the first color television we had, arrived at my house on a Wednesday afternoon, right smack in the middle of a week's worth of the Big G. The first epic that I was able to view in my own home, in living color, was "Godzilla vs The Sea Monster. I was in kaiju heaven.

Wait. What was I talking about? Godzilla always makes me lose my train of thought.

Oh yeah. What I'm getting at here is not the established films that made their way from the big screen to the small screen, but the ones that were made specifically for the small screen. I am of course talking about the "made-for TV-movie."

Now all the major networks had them, but ABC was the pioneer and actually had the "other two" stand up and take notice, causing them to produce films specifically for the television market.

ABC always seemed to run far behind CBS and NBC in the ratings. They were referred to as "that third" or "other network." Yes this was long before Fox came around and took that "other" title. But the "Movie Of The Week" turned that all around for them. Their knack for using up-and-coming as well as older established talent, filming on low budgets, and presenting quality over quantity, made for some very interesting film fare. Ok, not all of them were masterpieces and some bordered on the melodramatic, but there were many diamonds among the coal.

The show aired on Tuesday nights at 8:30 and ran for 90 minutes. There was a Saturday version that often repeated the same films, for those less fortunate and of lesser age who could not stay up during the week. It seemed that the more interesting of the films ran in the fall/winter months and ran far too late for the smaller viewing audience.

There were many off beat stories and premises that made for original TV viewing. At the time, television was changing and becoming more daring. Producers were taking more risks. The age of the mindless sitcom was disappearing (well maybe not disappearing. Good things like that never go away) and nothing better reflected that than the ABC Movie of the Week, or MOW as I will refer to it from here on in just to save my typing fingers.

One of these whacked out tales was entitled "Shirts/Skins" which boasted a television all star cast including Bill Bixby, Ron Glass, McLean Stevenson, his M*A*S*H co-star, Loretta Swit and John Karlen of "Dark Shadows" fame. A group of friends, all business men, who meet up to play B Ball once a week, decide to up the ante and hide two basketballs in the city, in plain sight. Simply, the first team to find the opposing team's ball, wins. Without giving anything away, let's just say that it doesn't turn out to be quite that simple.

MOW was also the launching pad for many a TV series. For those of the computer age that may not know, a "pilot" was a movie put together to gauge if the subject matter was good enough to carry it as a show. If the ratings warranted, the show would be "picked up." If not, it didn't go any farther than that and was dropped like a lead balloon. Some of the ones that did pass the bar...

"The Six Million Dollar Man" which became a very popular series and spawned another, "The Bionic Woman."

"Toma" which starred Tony Musante ("The Bird With The Crystal Plumage") as real life New Jersey (yea) Detective "David Toma." It went on to become a series but after one season, Musante decided he didn't want to be tied down, so he quit. Robert Blake was approached to replace him, but Blake wanted a name change, thus "Baretta" was born.

"The Immortal" which was about a man, played by Christopher George" who because of a rare blood type was just that, immortal. A dying billionaire gets wind of it and decides he wants George's blood to keep himself alive. This became a series, but it strayed so far away from the original concept that it only lasted 15 episodes.

"Starsky & Hutch" which was the epitome of the cop "buddy" show.

"Wonder Woman" which starred Kathy Lee Crosby as a blonde(?) super heroine, that had very little to do with the original character. Thankfully, this was not picked up as a series and was finally done right by CBS two years later.

"Marcus Welby MD" which co-starred a young, pre "Amityville Horror" James Brolin, portraying "Welby's" assistant, who made house calls on his motorcycle. This was so successful, it lasted for seven years.

OK, I know, the banner on the marquee says Horror History. I'm getting to that.

MOW's strong point was it's horror based movies. Some of them were really out there! Here I have included just the notable ones and a few of my personal favorites. Just so I have room for what we are really here for, I'll keep this brief, or as brief as I am capable of. You all know how I like to run off at the fingers.

"Daughter Of The Mind" which aired December 9 1969. It starred Ray Milland as a "Professor" who believes his dead daughter is communicating with him from beyond the grave This was the first MOW I had ever seen and I remember it creeping me out immensely. Something I did not expect from a TV movie.

"The House On Green Apple Road" January 11 1970. Even though this was more of a murder mystery than a horror flick, the opening scene grabbed me. A little girl (played by Eve Plumb of "The Brady Bunch") comes home from school, and has her yells of "Mom" go unanswered. She heads to the kitchen for a snack, oblivious to the blood strewn room. This film starred Janet Leigh, Edward Asner, Julie Harris, Lynda Day George and once again, Christopher George (Lynda's real life husband) who played "Lieutenant Dan August." The character received his own show, this time played by Burt Reynolds, but this too lasted for only one season. Wonder if it would have made it further with Christopher George kept on as the lead.

"How Awful About Allan" September 22 1970. This one starred everyone's favorite psycho, Anthony Perkins, as "Allan." He accidentally sets a fire that kills his father and scars his sister. He develops hysterical blindness and goes to a mental institution. After coming home to live with his sister, he is able to see blurry images. Couple that with a mysterious tenant who rents a room from his sister, a tenant that speaks in whispers because of a throat condition and...well, you'll just have to see it. It has shown up on a few DVD compilations.

"Night Slaves" September 29 1970. This stars James Franciscus and Lee Grant as a husband and wife who become stranded in a small town. At night, the residents all rise in a somnambulistic state (now including his wife) and head to the edge of town. All except him. Why? Well, if you have not seen this film, then you'll have to, just to discover the answers. It is worth hunting it down.

"Five Desperate Women" September 28 1971. Ok, you think they couldn't get much out of a story where there are only five women (five potential victims) stranded on an island with just two guys (almost sounds like the makings of a porn flick), one of whom is a psycho killer, but this film really does work. Plus one of the potential nuts was Robert Conard who starred on one of my all time fave shows, "The Wild Wild West." Worked for me.

"Duel." November 13 1971. ahhhh...I don't think any other film actually had me on the edge of my seat, breaking out in a cold sweat, biting my nails as this one did. It was based on a short story by Richard Matheson and was directed by Steven Spielberg, who up to this point had done a few shorts and some TV episodes. Carey Loftin who played the psychotic truck driver, was one of the best Hollywood stunt drivers of all time. This movie was chilling enough, but something I had discovered later made it all the more so. The license plates on the front of the truck were other drivers that our lunatic 18 wheeler had killed. He wanted to kill a driver in each state. Brrrr. And speaking of Matheson, we come to the granddaddy of them all....

"The Night Stalker" January 11 1972. Again, what can I say about this that already hasn't been said? It was the record holder of the biggest audience for a TV movie of it's time and is still one of the highest rated television movies ever made. Even the preview that I had seen the week before it aired scared the hell outta me.

"Satan's School For Girls." September 19 1973. A guilty pleasure if I had ever seen one. Plus it had Kate Jackson in it. Nuff said. They remade this in 2000 with Shannon Doherty but she was basically sleepwalking through the role. Or was that an episode of "Scare Tatics?"

"Isn't It Shocking" October 2 1973. Another of my all time favorites. A slice of Americana is rattled to it's core when a killer shows up in a sleepy small town. Alan Alda does a great job as the small town sheriff of said small town, who is thrown into a tumult, dealing with something the likes he has never seen. He does a wonderful job in separating the character of "Sheriff Dan Barnes" from that of "Hawkeye Pierce." But kudos go to Louise Lasser of "Mary Hartman" fame, who plays "Blanche, " the Sheriff's right hand woman, secretary and voice of reason.

"Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark." October 10 1973. Kim Darby and Jim Hutton are a couple who inherit a home from her grandmother. They find the fireplace bricked up and she decides she wants it open. Can't say that I blame her. BUT, she is warned to leave well enough alone. She unleashes these small creatures that seem to want to make her their bride? Well, who knows what they wanted, they just wanted her. The worse part? No one believes her about the whispers she hears or the things she sees darting around out of the corner of her eye. Not til it's too late.

"Bad Ronald" October 23 1974. Have you called your exterminator lately? You never know what could be living behind your walls. Roaches, mice, rats, a teenage boy. Huh? Scott Jacoby plays "Ronald," a disturbed youth who kills a neighborhood child and then is hidden by his mother in a secret room in their house. Problem is, his mother dies and he is left on his own...until another family buys the house. After spending all this time alone, you can imagine how much further into insanity "Ronald" has gone. Another one of those MOW best seen with the lights on.

And that finally brings me to, last but not least...

"Trilogy Of Terror" March 4 1975. I remember seeing this after coming home from being out that night. I should have stayed out a while longer! I only saw the last story in the trilogy, "Amelia," and not to say the other two weren't good...but damn! I know I didn't sleep that night, or a few more later on. Again, not much I can add to what has been said, but it goes to show that after it's debut in 1969, MOW was still churning out the hits and the chills.

There were many more films of honorable mention like "Scream Of The Wolf," "Moon Of The Wolf ," "Crowhaven Farm," "Scream Pretty Peggy," "Killdozer," but I could never do them justice and I would be here forever if I covered them all. Besides, I was working from memory, so I might not be completely accurate. If you find it hard to believe that the films I just described really do exist, or if you want to get a better idea of what MOW was all about, I suggest you pick up the book "The ABC Movie Of The Week Companion" by Michael Karol. It's available on Amazon.com.

BTW, NBC and CBS both had their share of genre related TV movies, the most note worthy..."Something Evil" with Darren McGavin, "Gargoyles" and "Dark Night Of The Scarecrow" all on CBS and "The Dark Secret Of Harvest Home" on NBC, but no one did the TV Movie like ABC, earning them a dark place in my dark heart and in Horror History.