Thu 5 Mar 2015
A Sci-Fi Movie Review by Mike Tooney: THE MONOLITH MONSTERS (1957).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[47] Comments
THE MONOLITH MONSTERS. Universal-International, 1957. Grant Williams, Lola Albright, Les Tremayne, Trevor Bardette, Phil Harvey, William Flaherty, Harry Jackson, Richard H. Cutting, Linda Scheley, Dean Cromer, Steve Darrell, William Schallert. Writers: Norman Jolley (screenplay) and Robert M. Fresco (screenplay); Jack Arnold (story) and Robert M. Fresco (story). Director: John Sherwood.
The Monolith Monsters came near the end of the ’50s Giant Stompers film cycle that basically began with The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953; pace, Ray Bradbury) and continued with Them! (1954), Godzilla (1954), Tarantula (1955), The Giant Claw (1957), Beginning of the End (1957; Peter Graves’ salad days), and a host of similar Big Critter films, with most of them escaping from Universal Studios.
What distinguishes The Monolith Monsters from those other movies isn’t the acting (not much there) or the production values (an obviously low budget, signalling the studio’s lack of faith in the project). No, the best part of this film is the sheer inventiveness of the underlying premise.
I can think of only one other science fiction movie that dared to bring novel IDEAS to the audience, namely Forbidden Planet (1956). The concept that ordinary, dumb, and inert ROCKS could constitute a threat to anybody comes perilously close to being a joke — but thanks to writers Jack Arnold and Robert M. Fresco and the straight-faced, earnest underplaying by the actors, the thing works.
The Monolith Monsters is one of those ambitious little movies that you find yourself wishing had a bigger budget — but then upon reflection you realize that more money would have turned it into an empty special effects extravaganza and ruined everything. Note to anybody considering a remake: Keep it small; it works better that way.
Grant Williams’ greatest role was his smallest as The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), but he did have a regular gig on Hawaiian Eye (1960-63; 49 episodes).
Most of us baby boomers remember Lola Albright for her 84 appearances as Peter Gunn’s steady (1958-61).
Les Tremayne, English by birth, did quite well in American radio, TV, and the movies; science fiction fans know him from his small but memorable role in The War of the Worlds (1953).
Even more ubiquitous in American entertainment from the ’30s through the ’60s was Trevor Bardette, who, as IMDb notes, “took on just about any role offered him,” thus racking up an impressive 239 film and TV credits, including a regular role as Old Man Clanton in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (34 episodes; 1959-61).
If you’ve never seen Monolith Monsters, watch it first and be kind; then resort to IMDb’s “Goofs” page, where more than one of the movie’s shortcomings is adduced.
March 5th, 2015 at 11:25 pm
Les Tremayne was a character actor on screen, on radio he was a star, playing a little bit of everything, including Nick Charles in THE THIN MAN. His voice had been a star whether his face ever was or not.
Of course Lola Albright’s Edie was her best known role, and if, like me, you saw her first in PETER GUNN just as puberty was peaking around the corner she was much more. Her beauty and distinctive voice meant she always stood out, and some of her cult films are worth catching including her turn as a stripper and another in a menage a trois with Alain Delon and Jane Fonda.
In a time where women in films tended to be either blousy cartoon sex symbols, foreign bombshells, or professional virgins, Albright always seemed to play mature sexual women with a bit more to them. Though she was seldom a big part of the PETER GUNN episodes she was in, her presence was always important. The relationship between Peter and Edie was one of the more intriguing ones on television with a little implying a lot. When Gunn finds her in his apartment wearing nothing but one of his dress shirts and doing his ironing you got the feeling it wasn’t that uncommon, and in television in that era such relationships were rare even on the big screen.
For all its flaws and short comings, MONOLITH MONSTERS is one of the better big monster movies of the age cleverly done and with Williams and Albright altogether more appealing leads than John Agar and whomever in so many others. I agree that better special effects and budget wouldn’t really help this and might hurt it.
This is one of the few of these after THEM! you can still watch as entertainment and without having to park your brain in low gear. It’s short fast, to the point, and as said it has an intriguing premise that could have gone terribly wrong and descended into belly laughs actually generating some suspense and a few ideas.
We can only hope no one remakes it. It’s perfect for what it is, a Saturday morning popcorn movie that adults can watch with minimal guilt or embarrassment and no need to pretend they are watching it satirically or as camp.
March 6th, 2015 at 4:44 am
Considering all the cheap dreck that was foisted off on us kids at the neighborhood theaters in those days, the Universal product was consistently polished and often intelligent… or at least smarter than the rest of the class.
March 6th, 2015 at 2:16 pm
I admit to being totally attracted to the charms of Edie Hart in PETER GUNN. I think I would watch Lola Albright in anything she was in, and I don’t mean only in a dress shirt.
I will have to see how easily it will be to find a copy of this movie on DVD.
LATER. Not difficult at all. There’s a box set of ten Universal Sci-Fi films, mostly from the 50s, that contains this one. Here’s the full list:
Tarantula (1955, 81 min.)
An experiment to create a growth formula that could end starvation evolves into a nightmare when a contaminated spider grows gargantuan – with an appetite to match!
The Mole People (1956, 78 min.)
Deep below the surface of the earth, three scientists stumble upon a tyrannical tribe of albinos who have enslaved a mutant – and dangerous – race of mole people.
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957, 81 min.)
After encountering a mysterious radioactive mist, an ordinary businessman finds his physical size diminishing as his ordinary household becomes a terrifying trap of doom. By the way, who keeps a cat in the house with a six inch tall husband around?
The Monolith Monsters (1957, 76 min.)
In a desperate race against time and nature, a geologist and a scientist must find a way to stop effects of killer outer-space rocks that are literally petrifying people with fear!
Monster on the Campus (1958, 76 min)
Terror sweeps a college campus after the discovery of a prehistoric fish that turns animals and humans that come into contact with it into bloodthirsty monsters.
Dr. Cyclops (1940, 78 min) in COLOR!
A brilliant but deranged physicist shrinks his enemies to one-fifth of their normal size when they begin to challenge his unconventional experiments.
Cult of the Cobra (1955, 80 min)
Vengeance is sworn against six American GI’s after they witness a clandestine ceremony worshiping beautiful women who can change into serpents.
The Land Unknown (1957, 79 min)
When a navy expedition crash-lands in a crater thousands of miles below sea level, they encounter a hot, tropical landscape of prehistoric terror filled with ferocious dinosaurs.
The Deadly Mantis (1957, 79 min)
A paleontologist teams up with the military to battle a huge praying mantis when it goes on the attack in metropolitan cities after being released from an Arctic iceberg.
The Leech Woman (1960, 77 min)
Determined to recapture her beauty, a woman discovers a compound that will restore youth – but only when it’s combined with fluid taken from bodies of the newly dead.
From the descriptions, I have a feeling that some are better than the others.
March 6th, 2015 at 4:06 pm
I think the list you posted, Steve, looks like the films that have been airing recently on Svengoolie on MeTV. I sort of wondered where they were finding them! Instead of Svengoolie I’ve been watching Murdoch Mysteries that is airing on the CW in some areas.
March 6th, 2015 at 4:40 pm
Randy – THE MURDOCH MYSTERIES isn’t half bad provided you watch it from the beginning; the show is basically a soap opera with occasional detectival interruptions, reminiscent of MONK, a comedy with excursions into sleuthing. In both cases, we’re meant to pay more attention to the characters than the plots.
March 6th, 2015 at 5:03 pm
Steve,
That’s a good DVD. Shrinking Man, Monolith, Dr. Cyclops are all excellent. Land Unknown, Tarantula and Deadly Mantis not bad (the latter with Craig Stevens and William Hopper and Unknown despite the fx). Cult of the Cobra is more a suspense film than monster, with American soldiers returning home from Southeast Asia only to find they incurred the wrath of a cobra cult and its priestess. Marshall Thompson, Jack Kelly, and David Jansen are among the victims.
Mole People and Leech Woman depend on your tolerance for shockly fifties horror and sci fi. But three very good, three pretty good, and only two questionable is a good deal for any DVD collection.
March 6th, 2015 at 5:50 pm
Murdoch Mysteries are ‘politically correct’ sanctimonious soap operas with a true agenda — and anyone who knows me, knows I do not favor the producer’s bias. Also, mediocre production, at least in the early episodes.
March 6th, 2015 at 9:54 pm
Well, for what it’s worth (and probably not much) I began the Murdoch Mysteries on the recommendation of a friend who gets them from her local library and has to race through them due to the line of would be viewers. I started with the trio of 90 minute films and then began the first season of the regular series through Netflix. It was purely accidental that I discovered the CW was syndicating them from the beginning … and I had come in to that sequence about 4 episodes into the second season. I filled in the gap with the help of Netflix. So far, I am enjoying what I am seeing.
March 7th, 2015 at 12:08 am
I find Murdoch Mysteries to be an oddly likable series. Oddly, because I find the mysteries weak and the episodes predictable. The only character I like is the female coroner (Barry and I, I suspect, are political opposites). Murdoch is an interesting character with some human flaws. The series tries to have some social content but lack the depth of talent to pull it off. One episode ended the romance between the coroner and Murdoch in a surprising way that showed more respect for both sides of abortion issue than usual for TV. Few main characters on TV are as strong of a conservative religiously as Murdoch.
I think why I like it is the series tries, tries to tell stories honestly, tries to use the time period in an interesting way.
It is not on my must see list, but it can be a nice way to spend an hour.
March 7th, 2015 at 12:35 am
Somehow while I wasn’t looking, this comments section has been hijacked in a totally different direction.
Not that I mind, mind you, but from Monster Monoliths to Murdoch? Totally unexpected!
March 7th, 2015 at 11:54 am
Steve (#10) – I guess I’m to blame (see #5). In the latest season of THE MURDOCH MYSTERIES, according to my wife, they’ve finally jumped the shark into full-blown political correctness, inserting early 21st-century issues into the show’s early 20th-century milieu. To be fair, they’re doing what mystery writers have done all along – inserting social and political commentary into their narratives. Nothing wrong with that, as long as the writer/producer doesn’t get too heavy handed with it. The problem with the PC crowd is that they don’t seem to know what subtlety is.
March 7th, 2015 at 1:16 pm
It is always interesting where a comment thread can go. Mike, Murdoch Mysteries is still a successful Canadian series on CBC and in its eight season.
March 7th, 2015 at 2:14 pm
Steve, That just shows you what can happen when you leave this on auto-pilot!
March 7th, 2015 at 4:51 pm
I’m just happy that for once someone other than me derailed it.
MURDOCH is an attractive looking series I dip into once in a while despite its flaws. Social anachronisms aside, it is no more or less inaccurate regarding the social conscience of its characters than RIPPER STREET, COPPER, or any other including the highly praised Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes which was hardly consistently faithful to Doyle or Holmes anymore than Rathbone before him or Robert Downey Jr. now (Benedict Cumberbatch’s SHERLOCK may be the first series to portray Holmes as the unrepentant high handed pain in the butt he is in the stories).
Political correctness to the left or the right has been a part of entertainment since Homer had to please his Greek audience and made the Trojans the villains of the piece despite portraying their nobility. Complaining that these type programs are not accurate in the social views expressed is about like complaining that cartoons defy the laws of physics.
Hollywood and creative communities by their nature are generally going to be progressive to outright anarchic. It’s the nature of creativity to defy the perceived social order. At the same time these so called liberal shows almost never really question injustice at its worst. At the other end corporate and the money are conservative.
When is the last time LAW AND ORDER SVU actually followed through on how they destroyed the life of the innocent person they regularly arrest and accuse of sexual crimes in the first half hour of the program? They never give it more than lip service nor do they ever allow their police or prosecutors to admit to a rush to judgment and destroying lives with legal bills they can’t pay and breaking up their family and making them social pariahs? They don’t and they won’t. The police and the prosecutors must always be right in that series no matter how wrong they are. If you don’t like that don’t watch — I don’t watch.
If you look you will find your own dearly held political beliefs trampled on by some show. It you watch with a political agenda you will find your toes stepped on about something.
If you find something you agree with support it. If you don’t create your own and try to sell it in that free market the right is always on about. The only real conspiracy is trying to please sponsors and draw and audiences between 18 and 35. Beyond that most of their political views have dollar signs on them.
Even with cable and internet and the brave new world of entertainment you are not going to find true political incorrectness in mass media entertainment. It’s the almighty dollar, not the political views of creative people that drive that. Television will always find something nice about the biggest villain. Even JR Ewing loved his family while betraying them.
March 7th, 2015 at 7:57 pm
I’m almost ashamed to admit I have enjoyed the show!
March 7th, 2015 at 8:10 pm
Randy, you are not alone. According to Wikipedia (and why would they lie) there were plans to end the series with the fifth season but was instead brought back for a sixth season and has been renewed for a ninth.
It has passed the 100 episode mark that means so much to old school TV. There is a large and vocal fan base.
It may have weak writing, but it has something that every successful TV series has – charm, good actors, and most importantly characters the audience care about and consider friends.
March 7th, 2015 at 8:30 pm
I have never seen this series, largely due to hearsay from people who have pointed out its flaws to me. Eight seasons and going on nine means something, though, and I may have to stop resisting. On the other hand, I have stacks and stacks of DVDs already on hand that need attending to. A dilemma!
March 8th, 2015 at 1:04 pm
My favorite character is Constable George Crabtree who cracks me up. I like the addition of historic figures who come to Toronto, like Nikola Tesla, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Harry Houdini. It’s a fun show whether or not it has flaws. No show is perfect. The last I looked life wasn’t perfect either.
March 8th, 2015 at 4:06 pm
Randy, the movies, and/or television are like life without the lousy parts. Hitchcock said something similar but used the word boring. Same difference.
March 8th, 2015 at 5:16 pm
Hitch had a way with words, didn’t he?
March 8th, 2015 at 5:43 pm
My response is the same as Randy’s.
Constable George Crabtree is my favorite character too.
And liked two episodes in which famous people visited:
THE PRINCE AND THE REBEL
HOUDINI WHODUNIT
Both written by Alexandra Zarowny.
March 8th, 2015 at 6:24 pm
George’s innocence and open-mindness to the world, especially with the supernatural, makes a funny contrast to Murdoch’s humorless rational thought.
Mike, I thought George was best used in THE PRINCE AND THE REBEL, but I do wish George would grow some and learn from his past (and Murdoch would learn some open-mindedness from George).
The show’s writers can get lazy (or rushed) in one episode the subplot featured George’s search for the Mother who had abandoned him. Subplots are the writers way of involving any regular cast member not in the main plot. This one had George unbelievably place an ad in the local paper seeking the woman who had left him at an orphanage. Two women show up. Thus one of the two must be his Mother. Huh? No thought of neither being Mom. No time to develop either into real female characters with depth. It came off false and annoyingly stupid.
It is the lack of logic (like Mom is still alive and living in the same city where she abandoned a child) that flaws the stories and often the mysteries.
But it is the appeal of George (and for me Dr Ogden) that makes the series fun to watch.
March 8th, 2015 at 6:54 pm
That is the essential George Crabtree. It may be unrealistic, but who cares?
March 10th, 2015 at 1:42 pm
Speaking of lack of logic, did anyone see the episode of NCIS called “The Admiral’s Daughter” in which the teen-aged daughter turns out to be a spy for the US?
March 10th, 2015 at 1:48 pm
No, and I guess I don’t need to, now. 🙂
Though of course I’m so far behind on watching this series (Season 8 maybe), I doubt that I’ll remember.
March 10th, 2015 at 2:36 pm
It aired toward the end of last season (no. 11). Depending on how you are watching the series it will take you awhile to get to it and by then you may not remember.
March 10th, 2015 at 2:55 pm
NCIS is currently in its 12th season. This spinoff from the CBS series JAG has been the number one rated drama on TV for the last few seasons, including this season.
March 10th, 2015 at 5:00 pm
For various reasons I have been buying and watching the DVD sets and am already looking forward to watching season 12 on DVD. Yes, it remains the number one drama. Will it go for 13? Stay tuned.
March 10th, 2015 at 9:45 pm
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. anyone?
March 10th, 2015 at 9:52 pm
Randy, the problem with the Marvel shows is there is so much fan service no one bothers with a decent story.
March 11th, 2015 at 11:22 am
Michael,
Maybe that explains why I have so much trouble the next day remembering anything I have seen on television.
March 11th, 2015 at 1:16 pm
Randy, I am sure Steve doesn’t mind us using this place to have a virtual email exchange:)
I remember back in the 70s when I memorized the TV schedule and made sure to watch every show at least once.
Now I rarely watch TV series on TV. I find my favorites and buy season pass at iTunes. Many of the new series offer the premiere episode for free there so I pay less and less attention to what is on TV tonight. At the moment I am considering either Netflix or Hulu to add to Acorn for streaming TV series so I can watch whatever I want to watch depending on my mood.
There is some great stuff on TV today no matter what your taste. I buy season passes for BLACKLIST, JUSTIFIED, PERSON OF INTEREST (speaking of comic books), and SHERLOCK (whenever its on). I watch regularly ARCHER, DOCTOR WHO, and VENTURE BROTHERS (whenever it is on). Acorn gives me a better and more up to date British fix than PBS and BBC America. YouTube offers me the past. I just finished watch season one of MR ROSE and now am watching ADAM ADAMANT. My TV offers me
sports and the El Rey network.
TV has never been better…I just don’t watch much of it on my TV.
March 11th, 2015 at 4:29 pm
Michael,
While I still watch some TV shows on TV I have found that I am able to enjoy them more fully on DVD. The lack of commercial breaks helps me to concentrate on the story.
March 11th, 2015 at 6:39 pm
I have DVDs as well, heck I have three DVD players, one with a VCR. I did have to adjust to the lack of commercial breaks, especially if the show aired on the Big 4. Shows that air on commercials networks are written differently from movies or those on networks such as HBO. Every commercial break demands a mini climax and tease to hook you and get you to stay and wait for the show to return. Even without the breaks on the DVD the story still has them. The TV shows on networks with no commercials can tell a story with a pace and structure that increases the drama rather that make artificial stops to keep the audience from straying. It is one of the seldom mentioned and lesser reason shows such as GAMES OF THRONES work better on HBO and suffers if copied by any major commercial network.
March 12th, 2015 at 9:48 am
I have also discovered that I can fall asleep just as easily in front of a TV show as a DVD film.
March 12th, 2015 at 9:49 am
Maybe that should read “in front of a DVD story as a TV show.”
March 12th, 2015 at 6:30 pm
Michael, I’ve been working my way through the 1966-71 Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows via Netflix. I guess you certainly can’t call it a decent story and the acting is only so-so. Steve was once tempted by a deal for getting the entire series in one chunk. If he succumbed we haven’t heard about it.
I watch a few episodes and then take a break.
March 12th, 2015 at 10:10 pm
I remember DARK SHADOWS. i grew up in a neighborhood of about a dozen and a half kids my age. One summer we would all run inside to watch DARK SHADOWS. Then school demanded our time again and I never saw another DARK SHADOWS.
Binge viewing, watching multiple episodes of the same TV series, is nothing new. We did it with VCRs and once holiday TV marathons (such as Thanksgiving of TWILIGHT ZONE) became popular. But it seems so easier on streaming. It really gives you the feel and rhythm of the series that you miss waiting a week or more between episodes.
March 12th, 2015 at 10:58 pm
I was really a fan of Dark Shadows in its day, but I could only see it during vacations and breaks from the college where I worked. One of the first episodes I saw was the one that introduced Barnabas Collins and I also remember the very last episode where they lampooned the show with the final voiceover that said that investigation proved this was no werewolf after all, but just a wild animal.
I saw a few episodes when it was syndicated and I remember seeing a few of the VHS copies of episodes and thinking that to collect those was madness because there were more than 1,200 episodes. Then came DVDs and I came upon a collection of the very first episodes before Barnabas Collins and bought it thinking it might be fun to see how it all began.
At some point I came to my senses and realized that to get all of the dvds would be expensive and (as my brother said) I might not want to watch them more than once. So I started subscribing to Netflix. Each disc has 10 episodes and that’s enough. I need frequent breaks because I lose track of the story, even with the aid of good episode guide.
March 13th, 2015 at 9:48 am
Michael,
I should probably add that I turned 30 when Dark Shadows began so there was none of this “running home from school to watch” that I read about so much. I started watching mainly because one of the actresses was from my state of Minnesota and would be mentioned in the entertainment column of one of the Twin Cities newspapers. I tried one episode and was not impressed, but the one I tried sometime later that ended with a hand reaching out of a coffin to grip Willie by the neck was memorable!
You mentioned SHERLOCK in number 32. The Brits don’t beat a good thing to death and there have been only 3 series with 3 episodes each. (I think another series is planned.) It’s fun to see how they will twist elements from the original stories to fit the 21st century.
March 13th, 2015 at 2:42 pm
Much has been made about the difference between the e-book and print, but in reality it has not changed the basic way we read a book – words, sentences, chapters, etc.
The digital world has changed how we watch TV. And more is coming. From days of limited choices to a possible future that will offer us an unlimited number choices much like books do, from days when you had to adjust your schedule to fit your TV watching to days when you can watch nearly any TV series from any year whenever you fell like it. From small black and white only pictures to 60inch TV screens with Ultra HD 4K (and beyond). TV entertainment itself has changed from Ad agency run TV shows to independently made shows airing on YouTube.
The future of publishing has settled in and while the e-book will become an increasing popular format, print will survive.
It is the future of the visual medium, TV and film that are in chaos. How will viewers enjoy the visual programs of the future remains unknown.
March 13th, 2015 at 7:45 pm
And what will be the next new thing?
March 13th, 2015 at 9:33 pm
Too many possibilities to be sure. Mobile and streaming seems to be where the money is heading.
A la carte cable will fail. One the political clout of the huge multi-corporations that own the networks (such as Comcast) will slow the process until the companies will be able to find a profit with that system or control its replacement system (most likely streaming which is cheaper). Two, why spend money for one network if you only watch one program? Logically the next step for cable providers if it wishes to survive is find a way to offer programs not networks in its packages.
The networks were created as a distributor of programming. It is a function not necessary anymore. This is why the corporations that own the networks (and CBS) are involved in cable networks and their own production studios. And why they, especially CBS, are interested in their own streaming services.
What will probably happen is the content providers will drop the middle man and sell directly to the viewer. Watch what happens to HBO Go and the CBS streaming that will start soon. It could be an early sign of the future demise of cable.
Free TV future is really hard to predict. The broadband its on is worth a fortune. Politically, it would be unwise for free TV to vanish – the poor and those who don’t want to pay for TV would be upset as well as the rich powerful people who own and run your local TV station. I see free TV following the example of free radio with nearly all live programming.
Who would have guessed what the cellphone did to the land phone?
The discussions I have read see the future home with a large 60 inch+ TV screen in the home’s living room. It will be connected to a box such as Apple TV which will connect you to all your mobile devices including video games and the single desktop computer you have in your bedroom. You will attach a sound system such as Bose for theatre like sound.
Programs will stream into the main TV or your mobile devices. Pictures will become more and more lifelike but will still try to keep the feel of film. Film will be like LP, where a small but supportive group keeps the format alive.
Movie theaters will survive, people will always need a place to go, but it needs to find some solutions to the major problems it faces. It needs to find a way to make a profit while lowering costs to the moviegoer, not only for the ticket but the popcorn and drinks as well.
There will be fewer theaters and bigger ones. The movie house needs to return to being an event (see today’s IMAX) and because of that the studios will continue to focus on the huge blockbusters and send its smaller movie stories to the local household via TV and streaming.
The technology can do all of this and more if the big money and politicians let it.
March 13th, 2015 at 9:48 pm
It’s still a bit of a case of 99 channels and nothing’s on.
Regarding landline phones, I called on someone at his apartment complex and pushed the buttons beside his name at the door to tell him I was there and heard the voice tell me the number was not in service. I say down and waited and he soon came out to tell me the device didn’t work because he doesn’t have a landline phone.
I was watching the special features on a DVD and all the behind the scenes stuff. PBS makes specials out of this sort of thing to promote the new seasons and raise money. Sometimes the interviewees pat themselves on the back a little too much, but they certainly wouldn’t bad mouth their bread and butter.
March 13th, 2015 at 10:32 pm
Randy, looking for something to watch in this possible TV future will offer more choices than a library has books. I have heard people tell me there is nothing to read, so you could be right.
March 14th, 2015 at 12:22 pm
Lots of choices require much thought and decision, maybe more than we have time to decide. Shows will be available in so many venues just like movies. You used to have to wait for a movie to show up on TV so you could see it again, then wait until it would be available on VHS then DVD. I remember someone telling me the waiting time between versions would someday be non existent and the DVD would be released along with the film premiere (maybe on the way out of the theater). Have we reached the point where a TV show could be launched and canceled in the same breath?
March 14th, 2015 at 4:09 pm
Steve, you might want to add comment 46 and this one to the other post.
Randy, movies and TV programming will remain separate as long as there are movie houses. The economic system of the two is different.
But I am sure you remember the direct to video movies of the past. Those are not as successful as in the past. Why, I am not sure, it may be caused by the increase in piracy. Why buy a cheap rip-off of the current hit film in the theaters when you can download the hit film itself.
The time between films and released on DVD and streaming has shorten perhaps due to piracy.
TV shows today are available to download on iTunes a day or two after the episode aired. It is one of the reasons the networks have pushed Nielsen to find a way to count us computer TV viewers.
For example, I buy a season pass at iTunes for TV series I would have bought the DVD. I bought the season pass for PERSON OF INTEREST shortly before the season premiered. Every week a day or so after the newest episode aired I am emailed letting me know it is ready to watch. If I were to wait for the DVD I would have to wait months after the season had ended.
TV programs have been cancelled after one episode. One of the most famous was TURN-ON (February 5, 1969 ABC). Tim Conway was the host and has joked the series was cancelled midway through the first episode.
Today, the Big Four networks are trying the direct to series route for some. MICHAEL J FOX SHOW was the most famous where no pilot was done and a full season of episodes were ordered.
Now a few of those such as Fox’s HIEROGLYPHICS that received a full season order was cancelled during filming without every reaching the air.