TV Movie Night!

The Oscars have come and gone, but TV Movie Night is celebrating the toast of Tinsel Town in the month of March as we discuss made-for-TV movies featuring Best Actor or Best Actress winners! First up, from 1991, it's "Driving Miss Daisy's" Jessica Tandy in "The Story Lady." Tandy stars as Grace, a retiree who becomes an overnight sensation for her incredible talent: reading public domain children'...

Mark and Andrew round out February (and early March) with their final true crime look, with NBC's "Love's Deadly Triangle: The Texas Cadet Murder." Sometimes called "Swearing Allegiance," this tale of teenaged terror was billed as the movie THEY didn't want you to see. And that's mainly because its accusatory take aired smack-dab in the middle of jury voir dire, causing some Texas affiliates to ba...

True Crime February continues with "Beauty's Revenge," sometimes called "Midwest Obsession." Mark and Andrew craft up their finest hot dish and delve into the world of murder, mystery and dairy princesses in this pulpy tale of revenge. "Melrose Place's" Courtney Thorne Smith and "Growing Pains" Tracey Gold square off over the love of one dumb cowtown hunk, but can it really be about the Midwest if...

February kicks off our look at love gone wrong true crime made-for-TV movies. We start with a 90s star-studded affair in "No One Would Tell," based on a true story of a deadly high school romance. Starring "The Wonder Years" Fred Savage and "Full House's" Candace Cameron, "Tell" follows Stacey as her friends and family fail to tell, and later, convince her that her boyfriend, Bobby, is a real stin...

Our look at afterschool specials ends this week with a critically-acclaimed look at how easy it is to gas up a group of high schoolers in ABC's "The Wave." This Emmy-and-Peabody Award winner follows Mr. Ross as he teaches his students about how easy fascism can be spread by doing it in the most effective way: unethical (and possibly illegal) experimentation. Listen in, how about? ABOUT TV MOVIE NI...

Grab your picket signs and giant inflatable rats, cause we're on strike with the ABC's after school special "Mom's On Strike." Mark and Andrew saddle up to the negotiation table, as an overworked mom tells her family it's time for some changes around here. On the other side, her daughter Yeardley Smith and the rest of her family hope to keep the status quo of quiet desperation in tact. Both sides...

Mark and Andrew are back for 2025 and they are learning lessons they failed to grasp in 2024 via after-school specials, our topic for January! First up, a tale of censorship, artistic integrity and smoking hot songwriting in ABC's "It's Only Rock and Roll." Debuting in 1991, "Roll" focuses on Hallie and her band, who make such an explicit song about smooching on someone (that can be performed on a...

In the year's final TV Movie Night, Mark and Andrew get to the bottom of Mr. St. Nick, starring Kelsey Grammer and Charles Durning. Premiering on ABC in 2002, Mr. St. Nick sees Grammer try and live up to his Santa family name by being a rich layabout in Miami. But, when it comes time to take on the Santa mantle, does he have what it takes, other than gobs of money that aren't explained where they...

Andrew and Mark continue their look at the Santa family this month with the delightful musical "Mrs. Santa Claus." Debuting on CBS in 1996, Mrs. Santa Claus stars Angela Lansbury as a wayward but plucky Mrs. Claus, who sets out to show the North Pole that she's more than just the wife of Santa. Combine that with a memorable Jerry Herman score and choreography from Chicago's Rob Marshall, and you'v...

Christmastime is here and we're digging into all your favorite Xmas films about Santa and his layabout family. During December 2024, we're focusing on made-for-TV movies about the other members of Santa's clan. First up, from 2006, it's "Santa Baby," starring 90s it-girl Jenny McCarthy. Did you ever wonder if Christmas could be more efficient by cluttering it up with do-nothing consultants? And wh...

Politics month comes to a merciful close with an ABC made-for-tv feature from 1999 called "Swing Vote" (not the Kevin Costner one). Stop me if you've heard this one, but in this film, Roe vs. Wade is overturned and newly appointed justice Andy Garcia is the crucial swing vote on deciding what happens to a woman's right to choose now that individual states are deciding what's legal and what isn't....

November '24 continues with a look inside an infamous Beltway figure with HBO's "Citizen Cohn." Mark and Andrew learn all about the world of dirty tricks and McCarthyism, with James Woods' portrayal of notorious DC fixer Roy Cohn, a name that you'd think shouldn't be relevant today, but, well, 2024 continues to keep on surprising us. And hey! Joe Don Baker is here as Joe McCarthy, who somehow isn'...

November 2024 rolls on in the world of TV Movie Night, as we take a look at made-for-tv movies set in Washington D.C. This week, Andrew and Mark take in a heartstring puller in "A Child's Wish." "Veep's" Anna Chlumsky struggles with a devastating sickness, all while her family struggles with the crushing gears of the American healthcare system. But, it's set in 1993, so that's all ancient history...

It's the election surprise we were all waiting for: Mark and Andrew are back again with some brand-new TV Movie Night for 2024! In November, the fellas are watching movies set in the Beltway, starting with 1987's "Stillwatch." "Wonder Woman's" Lynda Carter has a big scoop about the next Vice President, but also has a scoop on a true crime story: her own parents' murder. Let it not be said that TV...

March madness continues, with Andrew and Mark exploring the wild world of World War 3. This week is for the ladies with UPN's "The Last Man on Planet Earth." In a world where men are outlawed after WW3, Modern Family's Julie Bowen must shepherd a dumb-dumb science experiment named Adam, while the audience must shepherd themselves from getting weirded out by this bizarre, misogynistic and incredibl...

Mark and Andrew delve into the world of World War III in the month of March, starting with a star-studded affair. One of the last Cold War adjacent offerings, HBO's "By Dawn's Early Light" has an incredible battery of stars: Martin Landau, James Earl Jones, Rebecca De Mornay and Powers Boothe. But, does it also have all the grab-ass and towel spanking you'd ever want in an end of days made-for-tv...

Mark and Andrew round out the shortest month with a long review of the most recent film to date on the pod, 2021's "My Husband's Killer Girlfriend." Lifetime brings to the small screen the exciting story of hidden identities, lax doctor-patient AND lawyer-client confidentiality rules, and the largest and ugliest sterile McMansions that a pandemic-era location scout could find. It's our last love g...

Andrew and Mark dig into a love gone wrong February with a bit of true crime, in the form of NBC's "Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story." Based on a true story, Bewitched's Elizabeth Montgomery plays Taylor-Moore, who has a nasty habit of attempting to murder her husbands and lovers. But, Dr. Stephen Root is on the case to get to the root of the problem (I understand his name is ir...

Mark and Andrew are back for one last look at 2002 and no look at television movies of the time would be complete without gazing into the hellish abyss of "I Was a Teenage Faust." Combining the literary experience of an episode of "Wishbone" with the cutaway gags of a Season Five episode of "Family Guy," "Faust" centers on the what if of "What if Faust happened in, like, Indiana? But also, like, t...

Mark and Andrew look back on another 20-year-old film this month with creature feature "The Rats." New York City is swarming with rats. At least more than usual, and it's up to Twin Peaks' Madchen Amick and Law and Order: SVU's Vincent Spano to tame the pests. And that will involve rat geysers and other creepy things that prompts Mark to call this his most upsetting film we've done on the podcast....

Mark and Andrew start the year off right by looking back into the past, twenty years to be specific. January is all about movies from 2002, and we begin with a white-knuckle thriller from TBS called "Atomic Twister." Starring NYPD Blue's Sharon Lawrence and Saved by the Bell's Mark-Paul Gosselaar, "Twister" sees a frantic race to stop a tornado-caused meltdown. But, the more frantic race involves...

It's the last TV Movie Night of the year, and with Christmas Eve approaching, no better time than now to look at NBC's "Christmas Eve." Loretta Young is on her way out and wants to see her grandkids one final time. Only thing is, she's being sued by her son and she's hired one crappy PI to track everyone down. Will the grandkids show up before Christmas? Will Loretta Young have any character flaws...

Mark and Andrew continue their crusade to save some amount of holiday cheer, this time via CBS' 2002 effort, "The Man Who Saved Christmas." Jason Alexander plays AC Gilbert, creator of the Erector set, as he sells toys in the midst of the Great War. With the war effort happening, Christmas is threatened, which means AC can't sell toys, make children happy or belittle his unathletic son. And really...

It's Christmas time again and the happiest elves this side of the North Pole, Andrew and Mark, are back at it, looking at made-for-tv merriment. To start us off, Santa Art Carney is looking to avoid getting blown up by oilmen in ABC's The Night They Saved Christmas. You ever want to see a movie give a thousand different options on how to solve a character's problems, and decide to use none of them...

Mark and Andrew finish their questionable November with the afterschool special "Can a Guy Say No?" Starring Beau Bridges, this made-for-tv movie takes a long look at the idea of maybe not having sex during high school. A wild idea, to be sure, one that Mark and Andrew could never, ever, ever fathom. Ever. Not even hypothetically, so don't even ask, okay? Anyway, it's our final question to answer...