The CBS Late Movie

"The CBS Late Movie" is a CBS television series (later known as "CBS Late Night") from the 1970s and 1980s, that ran in most American television markets from 11:30 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. or later, on weeknights. A single announcer (in the early years, CBS staff announcer Norm Stevens) voiced the introduction and commercial bumpers for each program, but there was no host per se, or closing credits besides those of the night's presentation. (The bumpers announcing the stars of the movie notably rotated names, two or three at a time, so more of the players would be mentioned.)

A memorable aspect to the show's commercial breaks was the frequent appearance of public service announcements, from the Ad Council and other organisations, that often dealt with "mature" topics such as venereal disease, sexual and violent crimes, and abuse of hard drugs. Announcements also ran in much greater proportion than during prime time.

1972-1976

First airing on Valentine's Day 1972, the series originally featured repeats of the network's made-for-TV movies, and occasional theatrical movies shown on CBS in prime time on earlier dates, or movies not well-suited for prime time due to content. (Violence was often the main factor, with true crime stories and police drama, and occasionally controversial subject matter, or strong suspense, horror, or sci-fi themes.) Among these were "The Abominable Dr. Phibes", "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde", "The Valley of Gwangi", "7 Faces of Dr. Lao", and "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave". The "Planet of the Apes" movie series was also featured, on successive nights.

1976-1984

After 1976, the show also featured back-to-back reruns of different one-hour television series, some popular ("Barnaby Jones", "Kojak"), some lesser known ("", "Black Sheep Squadron", "Dan August"), and some originally made for British television ("The Avengers" and "The New Avengers", "Return of the Saint", "The Prisoner"). Despite the designated time schedule, which was established in 1982 as the show became the lead-in to "CBS News Nightwatch", the programming block continued to air movies in their entirety with the overnight news program joined in progress. The "Late Movie" time slot was also at times taken over by tape-delayed sports events, such as NBA playoffs and finals games.

1985-1989

TV movies from other networks ("Cage Without a Key", "Something for Joey", "Birth of the Beatles") began to appear during the 1980s, and in 1985 the series was retooled as "CBS Late Night". The expansion of cable and satellite television during the 1980s took over much of the show's movie fare, and it became mostly a place for repeats of "Magnum, P.I." and other popular CBS shows. "Night Heat," a production of Canada's CTV network, also aired on "CBS Late Night", becoming the first Canadian-produced drama to appear on American television. "Adderly", "Hot Shots" and "Diamonds", other Canadian-filmed shows, later appeared.

1989-1993

In 1989, "CBS Late Night" was replaced by "The Pat Sajak Show". A year later, "CBS Late Night" returned after "The Pat Sajak Show" was shortened from 90 minutes to 60 minutes in February of 1990. CBS continued to show reruns of their primetime shows like "Wiseguy" and other network's show including FOX's "21 Jump Street" and NBC's "Stingray". There was also original programming on the line up. "Overtime... with Pat O'Brien", and "The Midnight Hour" were among them. In March 1991, CBS retooled their late night by airing original series under a new umbrella title of "Crimetime After Primetime". The timeslot was finally taken over by "Late Show with David Letterman" on August 30, 1993.

See also

*List of late night network TV programs

External links

* [http://home.hiwaay.net/~tfharris/pulpculture/columns/030724.shtml An article on "The New Avengers" being released on DVD, with mentions of the CBS Late Movie/Late Night (where the series originally aired in the US)]