"It was on September 8, 1954 that the first made for television feature film aired called Black Forest . It starred Peggy Ann Garner and was broadcast first in New York City on WCBS-TV, Channel 2 on The Late Show . It would be another ten years before TVmovies would become a regular part of the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) schedule with such programs, as The ABC Movie of the Week and NBC Sunday Night at the Movies. Over 6,000 titles were broadcast by the three networks until basic cable also jumped on the bandwagon to produce their own movies. These include the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Lifetime and the Hallmark Channel. But with changing economic times and the race for ratings, the networks gradually dropped made-for-TV movies while basic cable embraced the format, especially the Hallmark Channel (with its numerous Christmas-themed movies) and the Syfy Channel with its array of shark attack movies and other things that go bump in the night. From the dwindling down days of broadcast movies to the influx of basic cable TV movies, it is all covered here in a single volume that covers the networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, Ion, and NBC) and such basic cable stations as ABC Family, Disney, Fox Family, Freeform, Hallmark, INSP, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Syfy,TBS and TNT"--
For the major broadcast networks, the heyday of made-for-TV movies was 20th Century programming like The ABC Movie of the Week and NBC Sunday Night at the Movies. But with changing economic times and the race for ratings, the networks gradually dropped made-for-TV movies while basic cable embraced the format, especially the Hallmark Channel (with its numerous Christmas-themed movies) and the Syfy Channel (with its array of shark attack movies and other things that go bump in the night). From the waning days of the broadcast networks to the influx of basic cable TV movies, this encyclopedia covers 1,370 films produced during the period 2000-2020. For each film entry, the reader is presented with an informative storyline, cast and character lists, technical credits (producer, director, writer), air dates, and networks. It covers the networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, Ion, and NBC) and such basic cable channels as ABC Family, Disney, Fox Family, Freeform, Hallmark, INSP, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Syfy, TBS and TNT. There is also an appendix of "Announced but Never Produced" TV movies and a performer's index.
