In the mid-1980’s, prime time soaps like Dynasty and Dallas were still big news. I can see the meetings on this potential series in my mind: what if we took some Dark Shadows, a little bit of Satanic panic and then mixed them all in with the greed of the Me Decade? The potential for a series was here, […]

Much like Trilogy of Terror, Dead of Night is made up of tales written by Richard Matheson (the first segment is based on a Jack Finney story) in a portmanteau format. Originally airing on March 29, 1977, this TV movie is not as well remembered. There are three stories: “Second Chance,” where Ed Begley Jr. buys a […]

Here’s the IMDB description of this TV movie/pilot: “A road warrior vigilante avenges his brother’s death at the hands of a crazy motorist by using his souped-up pickup to apprehend drunken drivers and others who abuse their driving privileges.” Sounds like a Mad Max clone, right? But what if I told you that it starred Ken […]

Originally airing on May 7, 1977, The Possessed is the kind of movie where you say, “This would be a good series.” That’s because it’s a back door pilot for a show that never happened. I really wish that it would have. Kevin Leahy (James Farentino) is a Catholic priest who has fallen from his faith. He […]

Sammy Davis Jr. battled racism throughout his career, even from the wings of the stage as his Rat Pack cohorts would call him racist names like smokey. In an interview with Roots author Arthur Haley in Playboy, the entertainer talked about the first time he came up against his race: in the Army. He was beaten for looking […]

Occult investigator Norliss has disappeared but left behind a series of tapes (get it?) that tell the stories of his many adventures, like when he met a widow and her undead artist husband. Originally produced as a series pilot by NBC, it ended up airing as a TV movie on February 21, 1973. Written by William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run, Trilogy of […]

Originally airing on May 22, 1977, this attempt at a weekly series comes from director Paul Wendkos (The Mephisto Waltz, Secrets, Haunts of the Very Rich) and Hammer veteran Jimmy Sangster (The Legacy; Scream, Pretty Peggy; Horror of Dracula; The Revenge of Frankenstein). I was really excited about the potential of this one, which promises from its Amazon listing that […]

Believe it or not, there was once a time when Star Trek wasn’t a movie franchise and its stars had to find other projects. For Leonard Nimoy, that meant plenty of TV movies, including this pilot for a British show that wasn’t bought. Race car driver Tom Kovack (Nimoy) begins to see psychic visions, causing him […]

Originally broadcast on January 15, 1972, this film emerged at the tail end of the superspy craze to present a truly insane idea for a weekly series that was never to be: Bette Davis as a villainous vixen who commands an army beneath the Scottish highlands to do her bidding. Imagine if Dr. Evil were […]

Originally airing on January 20, 1979, the pilot called Salvage debuted to high ratings — and was brought to us by Harve Bennett, who previously gave us The Six Million Dollar Man. It was an intriguing start to a series. Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith) and his Jettison Scrap and Salvage Co. have a dream, as stated […]