Remember the good ol' days when movies like Mothra & Rodan were on tv regularly?

[Silverlaldy]

I am a child of the 1950's, and I remember in the late 50's and early 60's watching movies like Mothra, Beast from 20,00 fathoms, Godzilla, Rodan, The Thing, Forbidden Planet, etc. and many others on regular tv.  I remember tv's in those days had to WARM UP and there were only 13 channels to chose from.  These classic b&w sci movies were regular features on MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE which started about 5 o'clock in the afternoon on channel 9 in the New York viewing area.  An added plus was the movies would also run continuously for a few hours with each showing.

I can still remember trying to do my homework and watch tv at the same time, but the movie would win out every time!


Nowadays, it's rare to find them on tv at all!  Anyone else recall good ol' days?

[Cthulhu]

I'm a kid of the 90s, but I wish I could've seen these movies on TV. TCM sometimes airs classics like The forbidden planet, but it's few and it's far between.

[Jack]

Thirteen channels?  We used to get 2!  And we had a big box on top of the TV - you'd turn the dial and it would rotate the antenna on the roof to aim it at the other channel.  It was the pinnacle of high technology!    Once in a while we got one UHF channel, but it was barely watchable even on a really good day and would invariably fade away completely as soon as you got interested in something.  I used to shoot that UHF antenna with my slingshot.  Man I was a rotten kid.

But yeah, they used to show a lot of great old movies on TV.  The made-for-TV stuff from the '70s was awesome.  There was a certain vibe to them I still love today.  If I can find one starring Peter Graves or David Janssen I'm in heaven.  I remember when they showed Planet of the Apes on TV, all the kids at school were talking about "Are you gonna watch it?  It might be too scary."  Then there was USA's Up All Night, they'd show bad old movies sometimes hosted by Gilbert Gottfried.  Ah, the memories.

[Silverlady]

I am a child of the 1950's, and I remember in the late 50's and early 60's watching movies like Mothra, Beast from 20,00 fathoms, Godzilla, Rodan, The Thing, Forbidden Planet, etc. and many others on regular tv.  I remember tv's in those days had to WARM UP and there were only 13 channels to chose from.  These classic b&w sci movies were regular features on MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE which started about 5 o'clock in the afternoon on channel 9 in the New York viewing area.  An added plus was the movies would also run continuously for a few hours with each showing.

I can still remember trying to do my homework and watch tv at the same time, but the movie would win out every time!


Nowadays, it's rare to find them on tv at all!  Anyone else recall good ol' days?

[The Burgomaster]

Saturdays were big events when I was a kid.  You could usually catch horror movies on TV in the afternoon and at night.  I remember "Chiller Theater," which was on Saturday afternoons.  Then at night (on a different channel) they had "Creature Feature" followed by "Tales of the Unknown."  Eventually, they got rid of "Tales of the Unknown" and replaced it with "Double Creature Feature."  For a short period of time, they also had "The Ghoul Movie" (the host was Boston's rip-off version of Ghoulardi).  I remember watching movies like THEM, THE BEGINNING OF THE END, THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, GOG, GHIDRAH THE THREE HEADED MONSTER, and WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS in these Saturday time slots.  There was also an out of state channel (from Rhode Island maybe) that showed THE BLOB about once a month on Saturdays.  We didn't get great reception on that channel, but I watched the snowy picture anyway.

[lester1/2jr]

my friend taped some ultraman movie off a uhf channel.  we must've watched that a thousand times.

"aim for his ears, they are radar receivers!"

"increase in size and go to the harbor!"

I've seen it around but with subtitles and letterboxed.  baah

[Rev. Powell]

But nowadays we can watch almost any of those we like, whenever we want, without commercials.  I'm spoiled by Mill Creek 50 packs.  I can't watch movies on TV with commercials anymore. Today's regime definitely has its advantages. 

[The Burgomaster]

my friend taped some ultraman movie off a uhf channel.  we must've watched that a thousand times.

I bought all the original Ultraman shows on DVD.  They aren't nearly as exciting now as when I was 6 years old!

[trekgeezer]

I spent quite a few Saturday afternoons hiding behind the couch when Chiller was on.  What I really miss is the late show.  I remember begging to stay up to watch something like Forbidden Planet or The Magnificent Seven  on the Late Show. Channel 11 always played a Mr. Magoo cartoon right after the news every night (something else I would beg to see only sometimes I couldn't stay awake that long). 

Damn the infomercial is what I say !!

[HappyGilmore]

I'm a kid of the '90s, but we had a tv station here that would show movies like that.  It was a local UHF style station, indepentantly owned, that would show a variety of programming.  Weekday afternoons saw syndicated programs like Hawaii Five-O, Matlock, Perry Mason, Family Feud, People's Court, etc.  But I loved it on the weekends: they'd show syndicated pro-wrestling shows in the late morning and early afternoon, then about 3PM-9PM: older movies like Mothra, Godzilla, old Lugosi flicks, Ed Wood flicks, Nosferatu, etc. 

Not just those flicks either.  They'd also show cheaply made, direct to video style flicks, Bruce Lee Martial Arts flicks, Claymation movies, etc.

[skuts]

I remember Million Dollar Movie, Chiller Theater, Supernatural Theater, The Late Show, the Late Late Show is where I got my weekly dose of B sci-fi. Now I don't watch TV at all.

[Flick James]

Good stuff. I grew up in the 70's, when there was plenty of great B-fair on the few channel options available. Some of the gems I caught in the 1970's on t.v.:

Bad Ronald (1974)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
SSSSSSS (1973)
Psychomania (1971)

Not to mention many 50's/60's classics like The Incredible Shrinking Man and Empire of the Ants.

[Jim H]

I'm a kid of the 90s, but I wish I could've seen these movies on TV. TCM sometimes airs classics like The forbidden planet, but it's few and it's far between.

I was born in '83, and TNT used to show stuff like Godzilla and 50s monster movies regularly.  Now, almost no one does.  Instead we get crappy STDVD junk.

[retrorussell]

My sisters and I used to watch a lot of Monster Matinee on Saturday afternoons back in the late '70s/early '80s at my Grandma's house.  Rodan, Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera and the like.

[joejoeherron]

I'm a child from the 80's and I remember the saturday afternoon movies. They were usually on the abc network. Thats's where I first saw "Killdozer" and the original "The blob". I belive on saturday nights, the local station out of indianapolis showed "Sammy Terry" the cool ghoul and his sidekicks to host a horror or sci fi movie. I remember in the mid to late 80's, USA network would have captain USA on saturday mornings showing some older horror films. I remember watching "The Hearse" on there.  Nowdays, I just watch old vhs movies.