These made everything so much more epic and important, and you felt like you were going to a different place with all those tunnel effects. Brilliant stuff, huge nostalgia feels.
Hi Michael, would you by any chance be related to the great woodwinds player Ronnie Lang? (Among much more he also played the iconic sax solos on the movie "Taxi Driver"). My late father, Milt Holland, played with him on various sessions including an early 50's TV series by John Cassavetes called "Johnny staccato". On an episode called "The Parents" where they are pictured numerous times playing jazz as quote "beat next", ha ha, very campy but also very well played and recorded. Luckily you can now find those episodes on RU-vid. That would be a huge coincidence because at 00:14 in this video here my father is heard playing the Tablas!
Last week, CBS showed "Star Trek Into Darkness" on TV - no promos, no intros. My sister said she tried to watch, but too many commercials at the wrong time, and the annoying banners for other shows runnig acorss the bottom. Both CBS & Star Trek are owned by Paramount - so they just dump stuff with no panache, no flair, no thought to make it an event. TBF - Into Darkness was not very good. But it shows you how little care goes into broadcast television now. For Gen X guys like me - broadcast TV bound a diverse country together. Not everything was memorable. But when it was memorable, you would get 10s of millions of people all watching the same thing at the same time.
I have such happy memories of these, born in 71 I remember many of them. The music really comes right back! I remember before my family had a vcr and cable. When a good movie came on network tv, it was just awesome! Hard to explain, but life as a kid back then was so completely enjoyable! So much fun.
Boy! at 00:14 have I been looking for this forever! Our dad, the late Milt Holland plays Tablas (he studied them since the late '50s but did so very intensively with the great Tabla Master Pandit Chatur Lal in India from 1963 until the untimely death of his teacher.) I think there might have been some other versions so if anyone happens to see/hear them please post a reply here! Thanks for posting this!!!
the more late modern ones are lacking something. maybe its not from my childhood? I don't know but they seem to have less flare than the early 80s ones.
I was explaining to a younger friend, that from animation, clever photography to virtual. Machines that took up whole buildings to basically a smart phone.....times have changed.
From wikipedia: For many years, until the early 1980s, the announcer for all of ABC's movie shows was network staff announcer Joel Crager.[6] Afterwards, the duties would be handled first by Ernie Anderson, and then others, including Gary Owens (with the announcer depending on the film's tone; Owens would do so for comedies). Another wikipedia article credits announcer Dick Tufeld (largely known as the robot voice on Lost in Space). I'm confident that's his voice at 1:53.
Having coffee. Morning coffee. Reminds me of better days. My grandparents. Popcorn or ice cream. Top talent. Often not so great but good enough. Summers were hot. We had one fan. No ac. Cold winters, just a small wood stove. We went from black n white to color. We worked graduated and moved out. Time. I miss that great generation. My parents in the 80s now. Media sucks today. Like a water turd in the lawn. That the state of media. No responsibility to the public. Coffee and the good memories today.
He did this to? In the Tuesday movie of the week there was a movie that I haven't seen since it first aired. I think 🤔 it was called The Girl Most Likely To.
This is great! When I heard the music I stepped back in time when I watched great movies with my family on the old b&w Philco, or various color televisions . You've made this 58 year old happy and nostalgic Mr Brandon. Thank you.
I am watching the Poseidon Adventure, and I believe it was an ABC Movie of the week feature in the 70's, so I searched and found this site. Brings back fond memories of my family all watching TV together.
I just turned 50 and remember all the ones from 4:30 onwards. The star tunnel is the one I most remember (Superman - The Movie, all the James Bond films, Alien, etc.)
I know I watched a lot of abc growing up. They had the best shows and movies. They literally were my favorite network. So much so that I even tried to draw the logo. I was a nerd
My favorite intros were for The Movie of The Week with its slit-scan effects, the Sunday Night Movie from 1971 and the 1980's intros with the star-shaped tunnels, one of the first CGI intros. In today's age of streaming anything on demand, it must seem weird and hilarious to imagine waiting all week to watch a movie at a fixed time on analog linear television. And yet we still do that for modern movie theaters. 😏
A rarity, that Wed. one was (it was for Dreams Don't Die in '84, IIRC). Not only that, but there was also one for a Saturday broadcast in 1986 (that one apparently represented here).
World premiere of an original motion picture?! Wow, we’re talking Oscar material here. LOL. Definitely oversold, but we still loved it. Best part was the Bacharach intro music...beautiful.
When I hear and see the 1978 abc movie intro it takes me back to 1978. My life's dream then was getting a new John Deere 4440 tractor I was 19 years old then. All the neighbors had them it would be over 40 years till I got my dream tractor. This is one of the many memories that intro takes me back to.
1:38 is the slit scan that started in 1969...interesting about the early to mid-60s versions...I remembered a lot of TV stuff from back then but not the movie intros before '69...great collection!!! 4:31 is the star field and is my favorite...that started 1975 and ran until 1981 (too bad an impostor voiced that one because Joel Crager is the real person)...just gorgeous!!! 6:59 is the star tunnel that started in 1981 and is memorable also
@veronicaa.1416 1:39 This _ABC Movie of the Week_ title sequence was designed by Harry Marks and animated by Douglas Trumbull using the slit-scan process that he had created for _2001: A Space Odyssey_ . The accompanying theme music was an orchestral version of "Nikki", a song composed by Burt Bacharach and named for his daughter (born 1966), who had Asperger syndrome. The theme was chosen by Marks and arranged by Harry Betts.
The grandeur of these intros reminds us that there was a time when TV movies could be important, even cultural events - not just cookie-cutter holiday fodder on Lifetime or Hallmark.
This is a great compilation! Um, not that anybody asked, but in case someone was wondering, I think the slit-scan one with Burt Bacharach music [1:42] is out of sequence with the silhouette one [2:19]. The reason I know this is because I'm very old, and I was alive when ABC switched from the slit-scan one to the '80s neon star marquee [2:36], and I remember it being unsettling because of how abruptly it happened. Overnight, my world changed from that really dramatic and adult Burt Bacharach music to the more glamorous and triumphant star marquee theme. (Yes, even back then, I lived for this kind of stuff.)
Understand, that many of these uploads are converted from consumer-based analog videotape systems. As such, they are prone to a variety of hiccups (slow tape speed, twisted tape, particulate builup on the heads, unshielded interference, mal-aligned tape heads, etc.). Certainly, the quality posted here will have some obvious technical matters. It's amazing to me that so many media artifacts even exist among armatures.
I Definitely remember watching ABC Tuesday and Wednesday Movie 🍿🎥 of the Week in the 1970s. As well in the 80s with the Sunday Movie 🍿🎥 of the Week. Great 😃👍 Memories
I think the 1980 logo with the shooting stars is my favorite of all of it accompanied with the NBC filmstrip intro.....its colors fit very well and it might even fit the colors on the USA flag and union jack as well
"I think the 1980 logo with the shooting stars is my favorite of all of it" I would happen to agree with that (albeit that sequence actually started in 1981)-- I think the colors and animation were meant to imply that this was the American Broadcasting Company having a movie broadcast (because of the colors of our Stars and Stripes).
1:39 This _ABC Movie of the Week_ title sequence was designed by Harry Marks. The accompanying theme music was an orchestral version of "Nikki", a song composed by Burt Bacharach and named for his daughter (born 1966), who had Asperger syndrome. The theme was chosen by Marks and arranged by Harry Betts.
@@RaymondHng Unfortunately, she took her own life at the age of 40, which haunted her Dad to his grave. Very little was known about Asperger's back in those days. All he and Angie knew was she had a behavior problem. She was also very sensitive to sounds, especially lawn equipment and kept threatening to kill herself. Burt wrote in his book "Anyone Who Had a Heart" that he thought she was "crying wolf", because she didn't carry it out---until she finally did. His guilt over her death must have been unbearable.
LOL-- I thought many of these were in black and white because I didn't have a color set until 1982 -- especially the slit scan one and the mosaic one with John Wayne's image.
My earliest memory is of the first 2001-inspired starfield intro. Off-the-wall nostalgia right now remembering watching these as a family. There were some actually very good made-for-TV movies with A-list talent back then. Though I still rejoiced when we got HBO in 1980 and NO MORE COMMERCIALS!
Amazing! However, I could almost SWEAR they also did the MUSIC from the "star tunnel" 80s intro with.... the GRAPHICS of the "late 70s" intro-the one they did just prior to that! At least, for a short time. Or, maybe not and it's just the way my head chooses to remember it. But, it would be cool for someone to create that.(I'd also probably label it as "not one of the true ABC Movie themes" if I had the ability to do it. But again, I would almost swear ABC was doing like that for a short time around 1980-81. Well, maybe I'm wrong.) Otherwise: EXCELLENT! Took me back. And the mid-70s one stuck an ever-so-faint chord with me. I JUST-ABOUT remember one or two of them.... But only ever-so-slightly. I was a bit too young to really remember those well.
@@devares2006 I agree, but really, why? Networks produced great programs while they ruled the airwaves. Why can't they do it any longer? Hallmark produces more made for TV movies than NBC did during their Mystery Movie days. Why extra money does HULU have that CBS doesn't for new shows that can be syndicated overseas?
How often this meant you were finally about to watch some awesome Sean Connery or Roger Moore James Bond film you didn't get to see in the movie theater.
I remember all the nightime made for tv movies. When michael calls. Creepy when your 10. Lol. Helter skelter was more chilling than most horror movies in theatres.
Intro was always followed but some corny narration: Tonight.. Michael Landon plays a devoted husband with Aids who is framed for the murder of his wife...
I feel a mix of emotions , this brings to my mind the wonderful time when i lived at home , my parents were alive & all my sisters were at home (i was the the only boy in the family). I ache for that time again. It was a time of pure bliss. This video also has me felling a grate big feeling of melancholia sadness. Best way to push away those feelings is to live in the present.
Milt Holland (On the fantastic Tabla solo clip starting at 00:14 ) is the first to introduce Tablas to the ears of the widespread USA television audience, (and therefore the majority of US North Americans), 2 years before The Beatles used them and were heard only by the more 'adventurous' adults but much of the youth of the world. Milt's teacher at the time was the great Table master Pandit Chatur Lal (who passed in 1965). He studied with him in India for a number of years. I'm one of the sons of Milt (I used to help him practice by keeping time - the best musical education of my life!)
@@deborahkallgren2236 That’s wonderful to hear Deborah! Did you hear it for the first time back when it was broadcast? When you did hear it was that the first time you’d heard those kinds of drums?
Tique, if I remember correctly, this theme aired starting like 1966 (?), when I was 7. I was up late after Disney and Sullivan and heard this for the first time. It immediately got my attention, so I'd try to catch it every week and stay up late just to hear it. When ABC stopped airing it, I had to rely on my memory all these years. So thrilled to find it here. I always thought it was congas, but now you've explained, it's unmistakably tabla. There's another video here that's has this one theme by itself. It takes me back to my childhood. Such a great performance.
@@deborahkallgren2236 Thanks so much Deborah! That makes sense for the timing of it, and later you might have started to hear tabla on the Beatles’ records. As kids we also used to get a thrill from hearing this, it was so modern also for its time even the visuals, the montage of different movie stars and such. I guess I was around 12 or 13 at the time if it first came out in 66. Also if you enjoy tabla drumming I highly recommend looking up Pandit ChaturLal on RU-vid, thankfully there’s a lot more material now than there was not that many years ago. He’s now gaining more very deserved acclaim than he might have over the years.
Thanks, Tique. I am a big Beatles fan; George is my favorite, so I've also heard a lot of Ravi and Anoushka Shankar. I got to thinking more about this, and remembered I actually recorded it when I got a cassette recorder for Christmas 1968. So the theme was still being aired then. That tape of odds and ends wore out long time ago, but it had some classic TV stuff, plus my parents and grandparents voices from that Christmas Day. Funny how these things jog the memory. I, too, thought the montage fit the music so well. So modern, so creative. Will check out the other music, for sure. Thanks for the background.
Yours wasn't the only area that had ABC Movie broadcasts on one station, and then another-- those in Charm City (Baltimore) had them on WJZ from 1963-1995, and then on WMAR from 1995-2010.
I love these interstitials. They evoke in me feelings of both excitement and reassurance from my childhood. I miss those days of the big three networks. I recommend the intro to the CBS late night movie from the late 70’s - early 80’s.
1:39 This _ABC Movie of the Week_ title sequence was designed by Harry Marks. The accompanying theme music was an orchestral version of "Nikki", a song composed by Burt Bacharach and named for his daughter (born 1966), who had Asperger syndrome. The theme was chosen by Marks and arranged by Harry Betts.
Oof… I’ve seen this one. This is someone’s home made voice over on this intro. This whole compilation is made from the different abc movie intros posted on RU-vid. None of them belong to this poster
I grew up with a black & white television during the 70s and early 80s (my family eventually brought a color tv and vcr by the 1985). Boy, you can imagine how my eyes would pop out when my family visited relatives or friends who had color tv and we stayed over to watch a movie. Just they bumpers alone made my sister and I realize what we were missing. But I'm grateful. I miss our small black&white.
These intros bring back memories: settling down with my many siblings and my mom and dad to watch the movie of the week. Dad bringing out some popcorn that he'd just popped in a cast iron Dutch oven. Our big family gathered together rather than each person hunched over an individual device. That music - lots of horns, lots of strings. Good times.
