When cable television arrived in the 518 around 1973-4, WPIX's Sunday Morning Movie became a regular viewing destination at home with the folks.
Beginning in 1971, WPIX used the Sunday Morning Movie as a means of showcasing the collection of Abbott & Costello feature films. We've noted in the past how WPIX would lead into the movie with reruns of The Abbott & Costello Show or F-Troop on an alternating basis. At one point, the lead-in spot was filled with the Three Stooges after 'PIX reacquired rights to those classic shorts in the 80's.
It didn't matter how often we watched the same movies (i.e. "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein"). It was a means to kill time until football in the fall or baseball in the spring & summer.
I don't even know if the tradition continues today, but it would be a good thing if it did.
In Baltimore, Maryland, the 1 O' Clock Movie on WBFF Channel 45 was a staple for weekday afternoons for years. Of course, that was before channel 45 became a FOX affiliate in the 1990s.
ReplyDeleteWOR would have movies at 1, 4, and 8 pm weeknights, especially if there wasn't a Mets game during baseball season. WPIX also did nightly movies at 8 for years. Somewhere down the road, I'll tackle that subject.
ReplyDeleteThe ultra happy bonus to the cartoons of Saturday mornings of the 70's/80's was when WPIX would have Godzilla films or WNYW would have Hammer horror films in the early afternoon
ReplyDeleteI think 'PIX shared the Godzilla library with WOR, then.
ReplyDeleteLocally in Seattle-Tacoma, KSTW TV and KCPQ TV(before they became a Fox station, and even in their early Fox days before the network aired primetime series 7 days a week) would typically air movies at 1:00 PM, 8:00 PM, and in KCPQ's case, 10:30 PM...
ReplyDeleteOf course, that was if KSTW wasn't airing Seattle Mariners, or Sonics games; or if KCPQ was not running Pac 10 football, or basketball, college bowl games, or Washington and Washington State football and basketball.
KCPQ actually had a Dialing For Dollars movie in the late 1980s through at least 1992 or so also; there are a few clips of those particular segments on YouTube as well...
Dialing For Dollars was in Albany for a while in the early 70's, then disappeared.
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