This marks the launch of a new Scratchbomb series called A Very Special Television Event, where I take a look at forgotten boob tube content of yesteryear, focusing on TV movies, miniseries, short-lived series, and one-off specials.
One of my favorite leisure activities is watching compilations of old commercials. I believe there are very few activities that can give you a better sense of the flavor of a certain time than watching its advertising. Sure, someone who lived through that decade can give you their impressions of what the 1990s were like, but you will get a much clearer view of The Clinton Years by watching a collection of Must See TV promos and a buffet of ads telling you to dial 17 digits just to save money on long distance calls. (Seriously, if you were not alive then you have no idea how huge that industry was. How serious? They even got George Carlin!)
Not too long ago, I was viewing a commercial compilation from 1995 when I was stopped dead in my tracks by this teaser for a TV movie starring Andy Griffith as a sinister kidnapping grandfather. Now here was a perfect distillation of what TV in 1995 was all about.
The made-for-TV movie has been part of the boob tube landscape since the invention of the medium. In its early days, this was the platform for renowned screenwriters penning prestige work; Rod Serling’s Requiem for a Heavyweight and Paddy Chayevsky’s Marty both began their lives as teleplays prior to their Hollywood adaptations. This pedigree continued through the 1970s and 1980s, when TV movies were often the preferred format in which to discuss Serious Issues: child abuse, homosexuality, substance abuse, adult illiteracy, and similar fun topics. By the 1990s, however, TV movies had become a salacious format, leaning heavily on quickie adaptations of tabloid fodder (think “Homer S: Portrait of an Ass Grabber”) and other lurid fare, With its threatening premise (“what if your grandfather was a violent nut?”), Gramps looked like it was very much a TV movie of the 90s, and I decided I must watch it immediately.
Luckily we live in a world where no copyrights are honored (thanks, Sam Altman!), certainly not for 30+ year-old TV movies, and I found the entire thing free to watch on YouTube. I expected it to be something very much of its time, along with Pearl Jam, baggy jeans, Fruitopia drinks, and deindustrialization. What I got instead was a view of something timeless, or perhaps out of time, as something produced by an alien civilization might seem to mere humans.
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