The Origin of Nightline: 444 Days of America Held Hostage

[Ivan Seeking]

I often hear little tidbits about the tv world that I find interesting. This is one that I heard last night that caught me by surprise.

Do we have any former Nightline fans? I watched that show for years back when Koppel was the anchor, but I never realized how it got started. It makes sense now, looking back. The show had its origins as America Held Hostage, which was a news, special edition, of sorts, dedicated to the Iranian Hostage crisis, from late 1979, to early 1981. The crisis lasted 444 days. It lasted so long the show became a permanent fixture, eventually being renamed, Nightline.

 

[BobG]

One of my coworkers had a little sister born the day the hostage crisis started. Thanks to the nightly broadcast, they always knew exactly how many days old her sister was.

 

[vorcil]

nightline is the news in my country, running at 2130

on another note, i had wheatbix for breakfast

 

[BobG]

nightline is the news in my country, running at 2130

on another note, i had wheatbix for breakfast

That's a pair of random thoughts, not trivia.

I remember Richard Dreyfus and Emilio Estevez having a movie trivia contest in the movie "Stakeout".

Emilio Estevez's quote for Richard Dreyfus was, "This was no boating accident!"

To which Richard Dreyfus replies, "No idea".

Estevez responds, "Man, you suck at this."

That's an ironic statement since Estevez actually got the quote wrong.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

During the making of Jaws, they had so much trouble with the mechanical shark that it nearly killed the movie. The other problem mentioned was that, if they actually showed the shark directly, it often "looked like a big gray turd". This forced Spielberg's hand, leading to many scenes in which the shark was present, but never actually seen. In the end, this led to a sense of mystery that many claim made Jaws the success that it was.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Gilligan was a pot head and Mary Ann was his supplier!

 

[BobG]

Gilligan was a pot head and Mary Ann was his supplier!

She also sold her clothes. The gingham blouse and shorts she wore on Gilligan's Island sold for $20,700.

I don't know why she was so hard up for money. She was the only one who received royalties from all of the syndicated reruns and had the most successful career after the show ended, most of it in theatre instead of TV.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Other than interesting differences between movies and the books that they were based on I can not think of much other than the old standard Indiana Jones tidbit.

A couple movies have been made based on Ursula Leguin's Earthsea cycle. She has not liked any of them. In particular she was rather upset that the live action movie cast the main character as white when he was specifically described as "dark skinned" in the books.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I've been watching the Biography Channel on a semi-regular basis, for quite some time now. Over the last year or two, they have discussed many of the tv stars from the time of my youth. They do come up with a few surprises. Take for example, David Cassidy. While I did like a few of his songs, he was always considered to be somewhere between pop, and bubblegum. It turns out that while stuck with the pop star image and sound, he was playing Black Sabbath in his dressing room. He was a complete hard rocker stuck in a teen idol's body. In the end, in spite of the endless "money and women" [Danny Bonaduce's words] he couldn't take it anymore and got out. His other passion is serious dramatic acting. He never wanted to get trapped in a TV sitcom - The Partridge Family.

When the show ended, Susan Dey [be still my heart] informed Cassidy that she had been in love with him all along. But, alas, David broke poor Susan's heart.

And I knew it all along: Greg and Marcia were messing around behind the scenes.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

There is a show running about the making of Jaws - not sure what network, but it's on one of the cable channels. By chance I finally caught the entire show. It is quite interesting; at least for those interested in the art of movie-making. It is esp interesting, I would think, for those who remember when the movie came out.

I never knew that Spielberg named the shark, Bruce. It was named after his lawyer.

Something else that I thought was funny: Many involved in the making of the movie were left with a lifetime fear of sharks. To this day, Spielberg himself refuses to go into ocean water. He says the sharks know who he is and he's marked for life!

I remember when that movie came out. For the first time in my life, one could go to just about any beach in S. California, and find almost no one in the water. I was virtually raised in the water, and even I was not immune to the effects of the movie. I remember hanging on my board in the deep water, one day, while waiting for a good wave. A large fish ran into my leg and I about jumped out of my skin! While it was rather unusual for this to happen, it had happened before and I had barely thought about it.

It was a bit strange to see the "babe" who was eaten in the first scene of the movie. She looks old! Given that she is an unknown, we haven't had the chance to watch her age, so that made it a bit surprising to see her as she is now. In my mind, she will always be that beautiful naked woman running into the water.

I loved hearing Spielberg talk about watching the first public screening. When the boy on the raft is eaten, someone got up and started heading for the door. Spielberg panicked at the first sign of walkouts. He thought he had gone too far. Then he noticed that the guy started running. At that moment, Spielberg knew that they had a winner - "It wasn't our first walkout. It was our first runnout!". The now running movie viewer vomited before making it to the restroom. That was music to Spielberg's ears.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The movie, All That Jazz, which is one of my absolute favorites, is based on the real-life experiences of the movie's director, Bob Fosse. In fact, it was such an accurate portrayal of Fosse's experiences that the characters originally carried the real names of the people they respresented. Eventually their names were changed to protect the guilty.

The beautiful Ann Reinking played the part of Fosse's mistress. Turns out, she really was his mistress.

That guy had some nerve. I bet his wife really loved that one!

FMC is running the movie tonight and keyed in with some history on the project.

 

[Danger]

The gingham blouse and shorts she wore on Gilligan's Island sold for $20,700.

I'd pay twice that much if she was still in them.
My parents extended my bedtime by an hour on Wednesday nights so I could watch my favourite show, which maybe 1% of you have ever heard of: "Coronet Blue".

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I'd pay twice that much if she was still in them.
My parents extended my bedtime by an hour on Wednesday nights so I could watch my favourite show, which maybe 1% of you have ever heard of: "Coronet Blue".

All guys our age know there are two kinds of [straight] men: Ginger men, and Mary Ann men.

The name "Coronet Blue" sounds vaguely familiar but I don't recognize anything from the description at wiki. Originally, only 11 episodes aired! Two more episodes were made that were shown in reruns.

 

[Danger]

All guys our age know there are two kinds of [straight] men: Ginger men, and Mary Ann men.

The name "Coronet Blue" sounds vaguely familiar but I don't recognize anything from the description at wiki. Originally, only 11 episodes aired! Two more episodes were made that were shown in reruns.

Yeah, but those 11 episodes, plus reruns, lasted me through the school year. (I think that it was grade 5, but I get mixed up when time is involved.)
And I was definitely a Mary Ann man. Well, "man" isn't exactly the right term. I was 11 years old when it went off the air.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

And I was definitely a May Ann man. Well, "man" isn't exactly the right term.

Better than being a Gingerman.

 

[Danger]

Better than being a Gingerman.

Or wickerman...?