I never really watched the weekend specials because the opening to them freaked me out (the book opening by itself.) But what were the difference between them? I heard that the Weekend Specials were for kids and I know the afterschool specials were for teenagers. But are there any more differences?
shareThe Afterschool special was a series that had shot movies about intended to be viewed by adolescents running from 1972-1996.
ABC Weekend Special was a anthology series for children feature animation along with horror stories for kids running from 1977-1997
Both are something that need to come back to TV.
Not only those, we desperately need a return of all those types of shows. Even "Weekend Movie"-type shows, or "Late Night Features". All those were great, back in the day. Now, it's rare you get non-cable channels that even play movies anymore. All of that needs to make a comeback. I remember, sometimes, there's be original movies that would come on Saturdays that were good for the whole family to watch. And late night movies, particularly the ones with horror hosts, would show campy horror movies and sci-fi flicks. There's be specials like "Sunday Night Mystery Theater", that focuses on crime dramas. I miss those days!
shareAnyone remember any of the Saturday Afternoon Specials that had a creepy red room, and another one (maybe the same, some kid lost his baseball and it turn into metal when he went in to look for it? I was way young back then,
shareCouldn't agree more. Infomercials and channels all having parent companies have ruined what used to make tv fun. There is little to no niche programming anymore and it's all about numbers. No late night movies much anymore, no movie host shows, no old rare tv shows or anything like that anymore. I remember when A&E used to show cool rare things you couldn't see anywhere and now it's just reality shows just like all the other channels. I miss those days too.
shareI completely agree with an earlier post on this board. The After-school Special sadly got over-ruled by the influx of the daytime talk show splurge, in the early 90's. And even more sad - never again to be successfully resurrected.
So many former 70's/80's "teen idols" jump-started their careers in them: Melissa Sue Anderson, Jodie Foster, Michael J Fox, Trini Alvarado, Lisa Welchel... Just to name a few.
About 1998, ABC attempted to "resurrect" the idea, but got trumped once again by the talk shows - not to mention the new influx of cable programming. Long gone they are, but thankfully (!) many are now available online.
www.ovguide.com appears to be one such website. I know also, youtube offers them in segments - similar to watching a soap.
I AGREEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
Bring these gems back into existance, but keep that creepy aura that the 1970's early 1980's episodes had...love them so much!!!
I was closin in on another BarBarian!
Great thread. I agree so much. I don't subscribe to cable or a dish because TV is nothing like it once was. Oh, there's some good shows here and there. But not enough for my dollar. I'll just buy what I want... and with that said...
Shout! Factory or a similar company should release both these shows, and others like it (CBS Storybreak, I think it's called), to DVD for us. We have stuff like Shelly Duvall's shows (Fairy Tale Theater, etc), Storybook International, etc.... Those are great. But stuff like this is in short supply these days. I bought all the Afterschool specials that were released (not the school bus packaging, but the individual sets) and those are wonderful. But there needs to be more since this stuff doesn't age badly, the lessons are still there. For me, an old guy now, the stuff is so nostalgic I crave it like a junkie craves drugs. I'll buy ALL official releases.