posted
Since it was on over the weekend, and since it was a major staple of 80s TV, it makes sense to bring this up here and now, but it's worth noting that this month marks the golden anniversary of the beginning of the film's legendary run on network TV (November 3 was the exact date, so I'm a little behind schedule, but better late than never, I figure). While it was well remembered from its original showing in theaters, television made it the masterpiece it's considered today. It almost didn't get this exposure, as CBS intially requested Gone With the Wind from MGM's library, but for unknown reasons took Oz instead. Ratings were immediately high, but it didn't run again until 1959, when it became standardized as an annual event, initially as a Christmas special of sorts, but eventually shifting back to be more of an Easter special. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I first caught it on TV for the 1988 airing, one of the first times my parents let me watch something beyond 9 o'clock (I'd already seen it the previous year for kindergarten recesses). There is admittedly something special about watching it at home, I don't know quite what, but there is (not bad for a film that went through 4 directors and hundreds of writers besides the 3 listed in the credits)
Some more Oz airing info:
-it's believed the switch from Christmas to Easter began with its premption in 1963 from Kennedy's assassination
-the inital airing was as the final segment of the ford Jubilee Theater
-during its initial CBS run from 1956-1967, the network would have formal hosts (including Red Skelton, **** Van Dyke, and Danny (@*&*$#$) Kaye) in wraparound segments introducing the film, as in the days before infinite commercials it didn't quite meet the 2 hour time frame
-NBC bought the rights from 1968-1975, eliminating the hosting segment (it would be revived only once more for the film's 50th anniversary in 1990 with Angela Lansbury). Ratings were lower during this period, which allowed CBS to buy it back for 1976. An agreement was signed with Turner after they bought the MGM library that gave them the rights once CBS's contract ran out in 1999, and thus why TBS at Christmas and Turner Classic Movies on the 4th of July now run it)
-from roughly 1968-1980 the film suffered from the dreaded compression techniques to make it fit the time frame; fortunately all airings today show it in its proper length with no edits (roughly 2 hours 15 minutes)
-1989 marked the return of the Kansas scenes to their original theatrical sepia tones (it had gone to simple black and white for the film's 1948 theatrical re-release and had stayed that way through the beginning of its TV run
-1991 was the first time it was shown twice in the same year, foreshadowing the present's multiple airings
What are your memories of watching The Wizard of Oz on TV?
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posted
Originally posted by Chris the CandyFanMan:
quote:[snip]...What are your memories of watching "The Wizard of Oz" on TV?
Chris, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore!
I remember seeing the movie back in the late 60's with a neighborhood friend on NBC-TV. It was never a particular favorite movie of mine, perhaps because everything seemed too weird and not "cool".
You are correct that repeated showings of the movie made it a hit. Actually, "The Wizard of Oz" was a box-office disappoinment when it first came out in 1939. But that was a year that movie historians would later claim to be one of the best movie years ever during the so-called "Golden Age of Hollywood" (the 30's through the early 50's) since "Gone With The Wind", John Ford's "Stagecoach" (with John Wayne), "Ninotchka", "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame", "Mr. Deeds Goes To Washington", "Wuthering Heights", "Of Mice And Men", "Dark Victory", "Love Affair", "Gunga Din", and many others. And I guess it also may have suffered from the promotional super-hype that was being given to MGM's other big production, "Gone With The Wind". "Oz" may have been a little too ahead for its time, I guess.
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