TV Movies/Miniseries

[MikeSellari 0]

Taking off from the conversation a few episodes back about seeing if there are TV movies that are worthy of being in the canon. The exhibition of a piece of film does not take a way from something being considered. ELEPHANT (2003) won the Palm d'Or, BEHIND THE CANDELABRA (2013) was shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. ELEPHANT should definitely be talked about at some point on the show and is technically a TV movie for HBO as is CITIZENFOUR (2014) - also should be discussed- which won both an Academy Award and Primetime Emmy.

 

Other TV movies worth discussing also include AND THE BAND PLAYED ON (1993), 61* (2001), BRIAN'S SONG (1971), THE DAY AFTER (1983), DUEL (1971), and GAME CHANGE (2012).

 

There also are those miniseries that have transcended what a movie and a miniseries is that should be considered canon worthy. A good example of this is IT (1990) is still shown in syndication and is presented as a movie when done so. People still talk about Tim Curry's performance as Pennywise as being one of the scariest movie villains. Even with a new version being made now all the trades always reference this miniseries, Curry's performance, and the fact that it is a remake.

 

I guess I'm saying is that these should still be up for consideration despite where they aired. Thoughts?

[RobertBoberts 62]

Since we regard Netflix series as TV, does that mean that Netflix original movies should be regarded as made-for-TV? I thnk I'm on board with considering HBO movies to be real films so why not Netflix and Amazon? Maybe it's the network restrictions on content that make me think of broadcast TV movies as somehow not real films. But maybe this concept is not as clear in an era of digital films going straight to video since it's more difficult these days to get distribution in theaters.

[ZZZ 63]

We already inducted Chi-Raq which I'm pretty sure was produced by amazon. It's definitely something to consider. Media is produced across many different platforms and I agree there are things worthy of consideration I don't know if I want to open the scope that wide but, I wouldn't be vehemently against it.

[RobertBoberts 62]

It was produced by Amazon but had limited release in theaters and wasn't even on Amazon yet when it was inducted. But for most of us, it's strictly straight to VOD. But I have no problem with considering such a movie. I mean it's Spike Lee. Just wish they had waited until people had a chance to see it.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Might it be worth merging this thread with the existing TV movie thread (halfway down the page)?

[bri-witched 60]

If this means Angels in America has a chance to get in, then I'm down.

[CharlieWork 4]

I don't see a reason to differentiate between a movie made for television and any other movie. I'd say they're already viable. As far as miniseries go, this is a podcast about cinema. Television that exists in feature length versions such as Bergman's Fanny and Alexander or Kieslowski's The Decalogue also already should be viable, but television is a separate beast and better reserved for consideration on their own rather than in comparison to film.