A television film (also known as a TV film, television movie, TV movie, telefilm, telemovie, made-for-television film, movie of the week (MOTW or MOW), feature-length drama, single drama, and original movie) is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to many films explicitly made for showing in movie theaters.
Though not exactly labelled as such, there were early precedents for "television movies", such as the 1957 The Pied Piper of Hamelin, based on the poem by Robert Browning, and starring Van Johnson, one of the first filmed "family musicals" made directly for television. It was made in Technicolor, a first for television, which ordinarily used color processes originated by specific networks. (Most "family musicals" of the time, such as Peter Pan, were not filmed but broadcast live and preserved on kinescope. A kinescope is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor). This was the only way to record a television show until the invention of videotape).
Delta Ramona Leah Burke (born July 30, 1956) is an American television, stage and film actress, comedian, producer and author.
Burke best known for role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS comedy series Designing Women (1986-1991), for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. In subsequent years she returned to television with a string of short-lived sitcoms, such as Delta (1992-1993), Women of the House (1995) and DAG (2000-2001). She has also produced and played roles in made-for-TV movies, appeared on movies like What Women Want, performed on Broadway productions and guest starred on television series, including Saturday Night Live, Boston Legal and many more.
Delta Ramona Leah Burke was born in Orlando, Florida to a single mother, Jean. Frederick Burke, an Orlando realtor, adopted her after marrying her mother; she has never met her biological father. She graduated from Colonial High School in 1974, and won the senior superlative "Most Likely to Succeed." In 1972 she won the Miss Flame crown from the Orlando Fire Department and went on to become State Miss Flame. In her senior year of high school, she won the Miss Florida title for 1974; she was the youngest Miss Florida titleholder in pageant history. She was subsequently paired with Miss Georgia, Gail Nelson, in the 1975 Miss America pageant. Burke won a talent scholarship from the Miss America Organization, allowing her to attend a two-year study program at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Swoosie Kurtz ( /ˌswuːsi ˈkɜrts/, SWOO-si) (born September 6, 1944) is an American actress. She began her career in theater during the 1970s and shortly thereafter began a career in television, garnering ten nominations and winning one Emmy Award. Her most famous television project was her role on the 1990s NBC drama Sisters. She has also appeared somewhat sporadically in films from the late 1970s up until today, including prominent roles in such films as Dangerous Liaisons, Citizen Ruth, and Liar Liar among others. Throughout her career she has remained active in theater, earning five Tony Award nominations and winning two over the last three decades. Kurtz currently portrays Joyce Flynn on the hit CBS sitcom Mike & Molly.
Kurtz was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the only child of author Margo (née Rogers) and Air Force Colonel Frank Kurtz, Jr., a much-decorated WWII American bomber pilot. She got her unique first name "Swoosie" (which rhymes with Lucy, rather than woozy) from her father. It is derived from the sole surviving example, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, of the B-17D Flying Fortress airplane, named "The Swoose" or simply "Swoose"—half swan, half goose—which her father piloted during World War II. As a military brat, Kurtz moved frequently. Kurtz attended the University of Southern California where she majored in drama. She then attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was a woman in New England who was tried for killing her father and stepmother with an axe on August 4, 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts. The murders, subsequent trial, and ensuing trial by media became a cause célèbre. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, no one else was ever arrested or tried and she has remained a notorious figure in American folklore. Dispute over the identity of the killer or killers continues to this day. Lizzie's life before the murder trial was quite mundane. When Lizzie Borden was at the proper age she went to the Morgan Street School where she had her primary and grammar training. She had a relatively religious upbringing and was a regular face at the Central Congregational Church. After graduating high school she became more involved with her church as means to escape her uncomfortable home life. She taught Sunday school class to immigrant children and became the secretary-treasurer of the Christian Endeavor. Lizzie Borden also became involved with the politics and social problems of her day and became active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
I woke up last night shaking from a dream,
For in that dream I died
My wife rolled over and told me
That my life would be immortalized
Not in some major motion picture
Or great american novel you see
They're gonna make a TV Movie out of me
It's one two three you take the money
It's as easy as A, B, C
They're gonna make a TV Movie out of me
They can change my name or they can leave it
They can change my story too
Or they can make me black or Chinese
And do things that I never did do
They're gonna give my life a whole new ending
And put me in prime time first-run
And when it's over what I did there will be what I done
Now I don't want my name in a history book
Nobody's ever gonna see
They're gonna make a TV Movie out of me
It's one two three you take the money
It's as easy as A, B, C
They're gonna make a TV Movie out of me
Well I'm a shoe-in for a sponsor
Goodyear blimp and radial wheels
Somebody had a meeting somewhere
Somehow somebody made a deal
I was one of them kinds of stories
That everybody liked to see
They're gonna make a TV Movie out of me
Now I don t want no inscription on my grave stone
No long soliloquy
They're gonna make a TV movie out of me
It's one two three you take the money
It's as easy as A, B, C
Without you my life has become a hangover without end.
A movie made for TV: bad dialogue,
bad acting, no interest.
Too long with no story & no sex.
Is it a kind of weakness
to miss someone so much?
To wish the day would go away?
Like you did yesterday.
Just like you did yesterday.
& I can't think of a way to get through this pain:
To be happy again to make it all alright & I know it must be bad
'cos sitting here right now,
all I know is I can't even think,
I can't even think of anything clever to
say, to say
So I say why pretend any longer?
'Cos I need you here with me.
It's obvious that I miss you so much
so please say you're gonna stay.
So please say you're gonna stay.
So please say you're gonna stay.
The night is getting darker
now and there's nothing on TV
but I'll sit tight 'til morning light.
Yeah, I'll wait until the day.