The Beat Made For Television Movies of All Time

[Megotastrophe]

Simple rules. One movie. Best made for tv movie you can think of. You can agree with one already posted or you can argue against someone else’s choice. Some mft movies were released in theaters in other countries like the BSG pilot, the Ewok movies, Buck Rogers etc. Some later became series like Six Million Dollar Man and Man From Atlantis and Wonder Woman so they sort of became pilot episodes. I think these count. Let’s have an old fashioned thread.

[Megotastrophe]

My vote: Salem’s Lot. Scariest movie I had ever seen at that time and still pretty darn scary.

[LonnieFisher]

My vote: Salem’s Lot. Scariest movie I had ever seen at that time and still pretty darn scary.

I hated Salem's Lot. I was bored out of my mind. I was thirteen and was more a fan of the Hammer Dracula style vampire movies.
Off hand without really thinking about it, I think my favorite TV movie was The Lathe Of Heaven. I thought it was a really great story and read the book after seeing the movie.

[Megotastrophe]

I still have the occasional dream of fingernails on glass and a child’s voice pleading Let Me In

[Megotastrophe]

So tell us about Lathe of Heaven?

1980 or 2002?

[Obibob]

The Night Stalker hands down. Honorable Mentions: The Dark Secret of Harvest Home and Kill Dozer

[Obibob]

For the comedy genre Evil Roy Slade and Murder Can Hurt You

[J.B.]

Salem's Lot. Read the novel recently and was disappointed. Felt the TV miniseries was much better; especially the Straker and Barlow characters.

"Face the Master!"

[Werewolf]

Gargoyles (1972)

[warlock664]

Salem's Lot. Read the novel recently and was disappointed. Felt the TV miniseries was much better; especially the Straker and Barlow characters.

"Face the Master!"

Please tell me you’re joking.
I liked the TV adaptation but it pales in comparison to the novel.

[RonnyG]

Its hard to choose just one, but the one made for TV movie I've re-visited over and over again through the years is "The Legend of Lizzie Borden." I just love everything about the movie. I love Elizabeth Montgomery's performance, and the production values and storytelling. It was shocking in its day. I still remember the kids at school talking about it the next day. Its tame compared to what they show nowadays, but the ending still packs a wallop and I get chills every time I watch that scene. Montgomery really shattered her cute Bewitched image with this role.

[J.B.]

Please tell me you’re joking.

I'm not joking. Aside from my opinion that those two characters were much better represented in the miniseries than the novel, the Danny Glick window scene still haunts me to this day. Nothing in the novel came close to that.

[sprytel]

The movie snob will tell you it is Spielberg's "Duel"... however, the *correct* answer is "Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas".

Jugband.JPG

[LonnieFisher]

So tell us about Lathe of Heaven?

1980 or 2002?

I love the 1980 movie. Didn't like the one from 2002. It's the story of a guy that changes reality with his dreams, and the doctor that takes control of what he dreams. Pretty cool story. It just happens to take place where I was born and live, Portland, Oregon. Just thinking about it makes me want to watch it again.

[Megotastrophe]

I remember watching Emmett Otter when it came out and I think it followed the John Denver Muppet Christmas Special. I don’t think it’s long enough to count as a Made for Television Movie but it is definitely one of the best holiday programs made.