Once a staple on all three major networks -- supporting a robust independent filmmaking community that generated close to 250 projects a year -- the Sunday-night movie officially breathed its last in 2006, when CBS finally eliminated its weekly edition.
Yet, just as forgotten genres like variety and gameshows resurfaced in primetime, the made-for-TV movie is gradually reconstituting itself -- albeit on cable, for fewer dollars and on Saturdays. Think of it less as a happy ending than a not-so-steamy new chapter.
Hallmark Channel, Lifetime and Sci Fi Channel all showcase their own Saturday-night movie -- with Hallmark alone ordering 32 soft-focused, family-friendly originals a year. Lifetime also skews toward women, albeit with more thematic variety and edge, while Sci Fi offers cheesy action fare for guys as a pitstop en route to DVD.
Several movies and miniseries, meanwhile, will crop up elsewhere over the next few weeks, from CBS' latest Hallmark Hall of Fame entry to TNT's "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story" -- a Johnson & Johnson-sponsored vidpic starring Cuba Gooding Jr. -- to a rare network multi-part pic, "The Da Vinci Code"-lite adventure "The Last Templar" on NBC. HBO also continues to dabble in prestige movies, from the Sundance selection "Taking Chance" in February to the flashier Jessica Lange-Drew Barrymore combo "Grey Gardens" this spring.
These signs of life hardly represent a full-throated TV movie renaissance, but a minor rebound -- still about a quarter the volume of its peak years -- after longform programming was pretty much left for dead. That said, the form's creative ambitions, as well as its financial model, have clearly been altered. It's no accident the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors has subtitled a planned panel on the topic, "Movies of the week are alive and well ... but boy, how they have changed!"
Hallmark prez-CEO Henry Schleiff is unabashed about the fact that his channel's movies are meant to be creatively predictable and tonally reassuring -- the perfect balm, he suggests, for unpredictable times.
The sameness of these movies also fits into a broader strategy that avoids a past pitfall. Broadcasters complained that made-fors weren't viable in part because they couldn't promote titles individually. Hallmark surmises that if the films are similar enough, viewers will show up without necessarily knowing the details.
"I'm not sure movies are the way to go these days unless you can fashion something that really shouts your brand," Schleiff says. "The dirty little secret of our success ... is that our 'series' is these movies."
Cable networks are also capitalizing on broadcast webs' decision to turn their Saturday lineups into rerun theater, motivated by low HUT (homes using TV) levels. Given their modest expectations and dual revenue stream, Hallmark or Lifetime can make a business from movies with a relatively small audience, with Hallmark running each title four to seven times. The channel is coming off a record fourth quarter ratings-wise, and because movies retain audience longer -- provided you can hook them -- boasts about having the highest "length of tune" level in primetime.
TV movie economics nevertheless remain challenging. The particulars vary, but suppliers are forced to cobble together a workable financing plan through a combination of domestic cable-network license fees (often less than $2 million now), international sales and a DVD release.
"It's never going to be 'Spider-Man,' but it's not expected to be 'Spider-Man,'" says Helen Verno, exec VP of movies and miniseries at Sony Pictures Television, one of the few studios to stay active in this arena. Verno says Sony has become a "safe home" for producers, with plans to produce about 10 movies during its fiscal year.
The frustration for producers is that passion projects seldom fit within these narrow network profiles. Occasionally a little gem can sneak through -- Lifetime's latest, "Prayers for Bobby," starring Sigourney Weaver, comes to mind -- but those are an exception. At the same time, RHI Entertainment and its octogenarian showman, Robert Halmi Sr., keep cranking out expensive movies and miniseries -- including "The Last Templar," though most wind up on the little-seen ION network -- employing a business template that mystifies competitors.
Because there is interest in U.S. made-for-TV movies abroad (a central element of RHI's approach), hope lingers within production circles that the genre might expand. Veteran producer Gerry Abrams, for one, proposes a comeback on the major networks by citing a rationale near to their hearts -- namely, the cost efficiency of movies, which can generally be made for less than two hours of dramatic series, increasing a network's scripted presence while saving money.
"A TV movie night gives them a middle road, and if the cast and the concept are right, people will come," Abrams says. "There's a huge opportunity for the networks to rethink this and try this format again."
Until then, the once-formidable Sunday-night movie has a standing comfort-food date with cable ... on Saturday night.
Contact Brian Lowry at
brian.lowry@variety.com