TVMovie/Miniseries Trivia

[FranklinPangborn]

THE GIRL MOST LIKELY TO?

 

Stockard Channing and writen by Joan Rivers

[flashback42]

Down at 37 Views, Mr. P. 6 Nov 1973 TVM. My clearest memory of the story: After recovery, plastic surgery, sudden beauty and revenge setup: Lures one of her tormenters into skydiving. Shoves him out without his chute. His exit line. "But I'm a first-round draaaft choooooiiiiice!"

 

FranklinPangborn's thread.

[FranklinPangborn]

I'll leave it up for grabs.

[allaboutlana]

 

An Oscar-winning actress is the mother and an Emmy-winning actor is the father in this 1977 TVM about coming home for the holidays and especially about the father who faces his last Christmas. Name the actors and the TVM.

 

 

[lavenderblue19]

The Gathering Maureen Stapleton and Ed Asner ???

[allaboutlana]

Yes. Your turn.

[lavenderblue19]

OK, as long as we're thinking about the holidays,

 

A made for TV movie that starred an Emmy winner and 2 Oscar winners. A sweet version of a holiday classic.

[lavenderblue19]

1970's made for tv movie.

[flashback42]

?:| Does this story trace back to a Truman Capote short story or memoir? :x

[lavenderblue19]

:x Back to you, but that's not it. This was a tv remake of a classic XMAS film, that much to our disappointment TCM doesn't air.

 

[flashback42]

My only shot here: *It Happened One Christmas*, aired 11 Decimber 1977, which reuses the *It's a Wonderful Life* plot almost point by point, except the protagonist is a woman. The town is still Bedford Falls, and the villian is still Mr. Potter.

 

Marlo Thomas is the suicidal real-estate executive. Cloris Leachman is the wingless angel and Orson Wells is Mr. Potter.

 

:0 ???

 

Edited by: flashback42 on Dec 1, 2011 12:20 PM

[lavenderblue19]

Your shot hit the mark. Right on all counts. It Happened One Christmas , Marlo Thomas, Orson Welles (as Mr. Potter) and Cloris Leachman. Emmy and 2 Oscar winners.Your thread, flash

 

Edited by: lavenderblue19 on Dec 1, 2011 11:50 AM

[flashback42]

Ooookaaay, thanks. Let's see how different this one is. Late 1990s TVM. Variation on a traditional Xmas story, again with a male protagonist changed to female. Some mental visits to the past, and a soured personality eased somewhat.

 

???

 

Oh -- To maybe save someone some time, this is not It's a Bundyful Life, in which ghost Sam Kinison demonstrated to Al Bundy how much better Peg and the kids would have had it without him. Another story entirely.

 

???

 

[flashback42]

(5,593)

The woman at the center of the story follows a Scrooge pattern, but the "ghost" feature is handled differently.

[flashback42]

This lead character winds up in a dialogue with her adolescent self, an actress about age ten. For some scenes, she interacts with other characters, with the little girl present, perceived only by her and the audience. Together, they visit past Christmases.

[thestick]

Ms. Scrooge with Cicely Tyson?

[flashback42]

Not *Ms. Scrooge*. The star of this 1999 TVM has a fine set of comedy chops, but for some reason most of the works I've seen her in were action/drama. She had a series in the late ninties as a Federal agent with special talents. In a more recent series she did a 2-season arc in a support role as a crooked federal officer. Then a failed 1-season gig as a bodyguard.

[flashback42]

Some misinformation in the last clue. The star's recent one-season series was on Cable, and she played a Los Angeles Homicide cop who was also a single mom.

[flashback42]

Approaching 150 Views, pretty much a nonstarter. *If You Believe* first aired 6 December 1999. The star, Ally Walker' has a solid background in series drama. Title character as an FBI agent in *Profiler*. Then a croocked Federal Agent for two years on *Sons Of Anarchy.*

 

*If You Believe* is likely to show up any day now on either the Lifetime Channel, or on LMN.

 

Open thread.

[flashback42]

Early 1970s TVM. Pilot for a series that did not materialize. A homicide, charges, some courtroom stuff, but a lot more going on in the corridors and conference rooms of the courthouse. Messy death of a sports figure. The Public Defender lawyer for one of the defendants finds his client has more to fear from the other Defense lawyers than from the Prosecution.At a time when Perry Mason and The Defenders were the TV standard, this was a better and more realistic portrayal of the process.

(5,821)

[flashback42]

Pro footballer has died in a messy drug-involved scenario; One of his championship rings turned up in evidence from the crime scene. Defense Attorney for all but one of the defendants pulls an underhanded deal to rope in the other defendant. (It involved a deal with the young man's mother.) His actual aim is a lucrative book deal. The Public Defender who had lost his client approaches the mother with an outright bribe. She walks into the visitation room where her son is held, immediately walks back out, accepts her money and tells the PD that he has his client back.

[flashback42]

The Public Defender is played by a very competent character actor with a starring role ahead of him in a popular sitcom that has a long run. His spaced-out client is early in his career, with both bigscreen and TV roles coming his way. Also some real-life pharmaceutical problems. They are both still in the business.

[flashback42]

The druggie defendant's story is that he, as instructed, went around to several people and told them the where-and-when of an upcoming party. "When (that guy) tells you to do somethin', you do it!" He then zonked out and did not attend the party itself.

 

His Public Defender tries a little game with the client. Shows him a series of photographs. "Pretend I'm a Martain, don't know anything." They go through several photos: a landscape, a guy just standin' there, then: "Hey, that ain't nothin but chimblys. Where is that?" "It's Paris." The last photo is from the crime scene, in the aftermath of the event. The client claps his hand over his mouth and just barely makes it to the trash can. The PD is sure now that the client has never seen that before. "You wouldn't shuck a Martain, whould you, buddy?"

[flashback42]

(6,026, at over 200 Views)

The Public Defender is called aside by the attorney for the other defendants, and is asked about the possibility of having his client testify for the others. Then he (the PD) realizes -- the prosecutors have looked over the case and have dropped the charges against his client. "And you knew it before I did!" The other atty wants to prevent having the PD's client testify against the real killers.

 

The actor in the drugged-out client role is currently seen frequently as a celebrity commentator on that "reality" show about dumb criminals.

[flashback42]

The actor in the PD role -- In a later decade in a bigscreen epic about an alien invasion, he portrayed a well-informed oldster who tipped off the US President about the existance of "Area 57".