Made for TV Mayhem Show » podcast

Happy Holidays to one and all! Amanda recently recorded a "pilot" episode of sorts with Vinegar Syndrome extras producer extraordinaire Ewan Cant, and it's all about slashers. It's called the One by One cast, and for this intro episode, Amanda and Ewan discuss the recent VS release Don't Open Till Christmas, which they also provided a commentary track for. We're hoping to make this spinoff a regular thing (as regular as The Made for TV Mayhem Show is anyway!! But, most importantly we hope you enjoy it, and have a wonderful Christmas holiday as well!

The Made for TV Mayhem Show is B.A.C.K. And just in time for Halloween! On this episode we're talking about two Curtis Harrington classics: The Cat Creature (1973) and Killer Bees (1974). Dan and Nate also throw out some of their favorite scary movie horror moments in tribute of Shudder's new series, 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time (which I can be seen on!). Yay. We hope you enjoy this one. We've missed you!

We're back! Join Dan, Nate and Amanda for a discussion about Jeannot Szwarc's two stellar ABC Movie of the Weeks: Night of Terror (1972) and You'll Never See Me Again (1973). And we'll promise not to stay away so long this time. Thanks so much for your patience, and most of all thank you so much for listening! (*and extra thanks to Dan for editing this episode!)

I really, really wanted to get this next Trap-Cast online, since I'm covering the last two episodes that aired in 1979. Seemed fitting. So, for this show, I'm discussing The Surrogate and Who's Little Hero Are You? Enjoy (please!)!

The Made for TV Mayhem Show has returned to celebrate what would have been Charles Bronson's 100th birthday! To help us ring in this - the holiest of holy days - we invited James Newton of Newton Talks (https://jamesedwardnewton.com/) to discuss three of Bronson's lesser talked about small screen appearances: the pilot for Man with a Camera (1958), One Step Beyond's eerie entry The Last Round (1961) and the 1993 cop thriller TV movie Donato and Daughter! We had a lot of fun, although there were technical woes aplenty, so please be patient with any sound issues or choppy edits. We had to record in "chapters" because of several dropouts. But we gave all of our love to Bronson, and we hope you enjoy it! 

We're back! Well, we were back a while ago, but it took a long time to edit this because 2021 has shown no mercy. A big shout out to Dan for his help on getting this one edited! On this episode, you'll find Dan and Amanda palling around with Shawnee Smith and Tammy Lauren for this SS / TL twofer, Crime of Innocence (1985) and I Saw What You Did (1988). We're also hoping to get back on schedule and have some shows planned for the very near future. Thank you for your patience, and we hope you enjoy!

We're back with a very special episode! February 6th, 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of This House Possessed, which aired on this day in 1981. It's looking good at 40, and to celebrate, I sat down with Parker Stevenson to discuss the great little horror telefilm that keeps on going. After the interview join Dan, Nate and myself for a discussion of the film. And thank you, Parker Stevenson for being so kind and giving us a little background on This House Possessed. Hope everyone enjoys, and as always, thank you for listening!

Trapper John and his merry band of trouble-making do-gooders is back! Here is episode of five of the Trap-Cast. I discuss the season one episodes Taxi in the Rain and Licensed to Kill. Thank you for listening and I do hope you enjoy!

It hasn't even been a month, and we are back! We couldn't let the holiday season pass by without inviting our great friend Joanna Wilson of Christmas TV History back for our annual yuletide episode! We spend a little time stuck behind a forcefield with a lovable (but deadly) alien named Glim Gilm, who was a part of the Monsters TV series. And we play the holiday movie game, which is always fun. So grab your eggnog and celebrate the season in style. And a big thank you to everyone who stuck it out with us this  year. I know it hasn't always been consistent, but, like everyone else in the year 2020, we're doing our best. We appreciate all of you, and hope you have a wonderful end to a not-so-wonderful year! See you next year. It's gonna look a lot like the 1970s-1990s for us!

We are back with a brand new episode, and it turned out to be one of those marathon recordings... Just like the olden days of the show, which is a bit kismet since we're going back to the Old West as we take a look at two surreal and fascinating Horror/Western hybrid TV movies, Black Noon (1971) and Into the Badlands (1991)! We are joined by a very special guest, James Newton, who helps Dan and Amanda dissect Frontier living. (Spoiler: Life was difficult!) James, a podcaster, filmmaker and writer, is someone worth checking out. Please follow his social media on Twitter at @JamesEdNewton, visit his website (https://jamesedwardnewton.com/) and make sure you give his excellent podcast Newton Talks a listen. You can also watch some of James' amazing films on his YouTube page (might I suggest you start with Grace?). And, you can check out the trailer for Black Lizard Tales, which is currently playing fests, and see his latest short Man/Rabid as well! All links are available via his website, so dive in! We had so much fun talking with him about these haunting little films, and we hope you enjoy listening. Thank you again!

Happy Halloween! We're here to help you ring in the spookiest time of year with two supernatural telefilms: Midnight Offerings (1981) and The Sins of Dorian Gray (1983). We're joined by one of our favorite people on the planet, Justin Kerswell of both the website The Hysteria Lives and the companion podcast The Hysteria Continues! We do hope you have a safe and happy (and scary) Halloween!

Welcome back! We are a little late getting our head gear and Swatches in place, but we're here to help you go back to school with two CBS Schoolbreak Specials: Portrait of a Teenage Shoplifter (1981) and The Drug Knot (1986). Lots of illegal shenanigans to behold. We do hope you enjoy!

Welcome to a very special episode of Shades of Love. Amanda interviews Ken Atchity about his wonderful direct to video romance series Shades of Love. Then Amanda and Dan discuss two entries from the series, Echoes in Crimson and The Rose Cafe (both 1987). Ken was a wonderful guest and provides a lot of info about this great series where you will only want to speak of love. We do hope you enjoy!

Welcome back to episode 53, where all of our love is given to the amazing Aaron Spelling! Dan and Amanda are joined by Jon Larkin of Screaming Queenz to discuss The Old Man Who Cried Wolf (1970) and the Charlie's Angels pilot telefilm (1976). We had a blast, and we hope you do too! Thank you for listening!

I am back with episode 4 of the Trap-Cast! For this show I am talking about the Trapper John M.D. episodes What Are Friends For and One More for My Baby. I hope to be back soon with more Trap-Cast goodness, but for now, please enjoy. And thanks so much for toughing this out while I try to fit this spinoff into a regular thing!

Welcome to a very special minisode dedicated to Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. We talk about how QT's amazing film truly comes from the heart and pays a lot of respect to a golden era of television, as he presents TV as its own form of cinema. We hope you enjoy this one! Thanks for listening!

Welcome back! This is a very special episode for us because we got to talk about Shannen Doherty’s wonderful and underrated TV movie career. On tap: Satan’s School for Girls (2000) and Another Day (2001). We are joined by our great friend Erik Threfall of The Hysteria Continues, who just happens to be a huge […]

We're back with a special minisode for everyone with a little extra time on their hands. We resurrected the Name that TV Movie Game, and added a new segment! Hope you enjoy!

We're back with a new episode, and we had a great time recording it. We hope you enjoy hanging out with Dan and Amanda and their good friend Gore Blimey of the Trilogy Terror Podcast as we discuss the early 80s mini-series Goliath Awaits! We will be back very soon to celebrate Shannen Doherty's amazing TV movie career. As you may know, with the world in this kind of flux, it's been hard to concentrate on picking titles, getting everyone together, etc. So, please be patient. I do hope we can use this time to bring you more shows and hopefully a little respite from the uncertainties of our current day to day. Thank you all for every ounce of support. We'll be back soon!

Well, 2020 is looking promising! I got to episode three of the Trap-Cast! And I'm so happy to be here discussing Love is a Three Way Street and The Shattered Image. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays to one and all! We are back with our annual Christmas special. And no Made for TV Mayhem holiday extravaganza would be complete without our lovely annual co-host, Joanna Wilson of Christmas TV History. This year we're talking about the wonderful Dupont Show with June Allyson episode titled A Silent Panic, which features Harpo Marx in a rare dramatic turn. We also play the Christmas Game, where Joanna gives us a title of a holiday special and we guess who's in it and what it's about (and we're pretty much always wrong, but in a good way!). We had a lot of fun, and we really hope you do too. Have a great holiday everyone! We're taking January off, but we'll see you in February so Happy New Year too! *And a big shout out to Dan for editing this one! Much appreciated!

We poked around under the hood before we got down and dirty with Death Car on the Freeway and Gladiator! So, welcome to our Small Screen Car Porn episode. Try as we might, it wasn't as naughty as we thought it was going to be, but Dan and I had a lot of fun discussing these TV movies. We hope you enjoy!

The Made for TV Mayhem Show is so excited that Warner Archives has supplied us with a Blu-Rray double pack of Bad Ronald and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark to give away to one lucky listener! Like our Snowbeast contest, this involves listener participation. You can check out this short podcast episode we put together, which explains what you need to do.

We mean John Llewellyn Moxey! Pretty sure I just used that joke last week, but be kind... It's been an insane month. But we're here (thanks to Dan who edited this episode) and we've been joined by the wonderful Bill Ackerman of Supporting Characters podcast to give some well-deserved love to Mr. Moxey. We discuss a bunch of his films, but the main topic of conversation is A Taste of Evil (1971) and A Strange and Deadly Occurrence (1974). Bill brought no tricks but a ton of treats, so we hope you enjoy our special Halloween episode dedicated to the great John Llewellyn. We already miss him so.

Make sure you've got your Pee Chee folders and your No. 2 pencils, cuz the Made for TV Mayhem Show is going back to school again! This time we're talking about the other three Rs: Rock and Roll and Rad! We're talking about Ron Howard's sweet coming of age telefilm Cotton Candy (1978) and the TVPG teen sex dramedy Senior Trip (1981). Our guest on this outing is the wonderful Mike McBeardo McPadden, author of the equally wonderful Teen Movie Hell: A Crucible of Coming-of-Age Comedies from Animal House to Zapped! We had a great time recording and we hope you enjoy listening!

We're back (finally). So sorry for the delay. Especially with this episode, which is our love letter to some of Valerie Harper's best known genre TV movies. We recorded it just a couple of days before we lost one of the most vibrant women in the world. I wanted to get this out sooner, so we could mourn together. But, thanks to some recording issues and a crazy schedule, it was not to be. Valerie will always be loved and never forgotten, so now is as good a time as any, I suppose. If we'd recorded this after her passing, it might sound a little different, but for now, we hope you enjoy our discussions of Night Terror and People Across the Lake. We miss you and we love you, Valerie. Godspeed.

Well, I somehow got a second episode together! Thank you for your patience! On Trap Cast #2 I talk about the episodes Flashback and Deadly Exposure, and I manage to keep the love train for Dr. Riverside rolling! It's in my heart to do so. There were a couple of hiccups, and I'm still having trouble not talking fast. Like I said in the episode, we're all a work in progress! So, thank you for your interest and a double thanks you for listening!

We're taking on the small screen high seas in this episode of The Made for TV Mayhem Show, and we're talking about two amazing TV movie thrillers. So, slather on your best sunscreen, grab a Mai Tai and check out our discussions over Death Cruise (1974) and Cruise into Terror (1978). Enjoy, and thank you so much for listening! We're taking about six weeks off, but then we'll return to give Valerie Harper a lot of love when we talk about her cult TV movie thriller Night Terror (1977) and the insane late entry small screen slasher The People Across the Lake (1988). People is currently streaming on Amazon Video! So watch along and let us know what you think! See you in June!

We went undercover, guys. It was awesome. We took a look at two great detective pilot TVMs: The House on Greenapple Road (1970), which would lead to the short lived series Dan August, and we also watched the second Harry-O pilot, Smile Jenny, You're Dead (1944). We felt Marion Ord's pain and we fell in love with Zalman King! We hope you enjoy! And one last mention of the Rondos (I swear!). We're up for Best Multi-Media Site, and Amanda has also been nominated for best Live Event ("Big Scares on the Small Screen" lecture for the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, which was hosted by the Brooklyn Horror Film Fest), and Best Commentary (Last House on the Left). You can see all the nominations here, and you can send your ballot to taraco@aol.com. Lots of great people on that list, so we won't be mad if you want to vote for someone else. Just vote!

After threatening to do a podcast-spinoff dedicated to Trapper John M.D., Amanda finally sat down and did it! In the debut episode, Amanda discusses Trapper's pilot, it's connection to Medical Center and the beginning of TJ's dance with reverse psychology. There are some hiccups, but lots of soundbites and gratuitous use of the series' incredible score to make it a little more tolerable! Amanda will be updating this spinoff monthly. Hope you enjoy!

The Made for TV Mayhem Show was nominated for a Rondo!!! We weren't sure if we might be picking up a few listeners through that nomination, so we thought we'd get together and each suggest an episode we felt gave people a good idea of what we do. They are episodes that show us at our best... or at our least confused. Something like that. So, of course recording this was a bear. There are sound issues galore (thanks Skype for the bad reception and time lags), and choppy editing came about as I was trying to put it into something that was more coherent. Please be kind. We did this on the fly and on a day that was proving to be difficult. If you are new, welcome! If you are just listening cuz you like us... thank you so very much. We appreciate every download. Hope you enjoy! You can look at the Rondo Awards ballot at www.rondoaward.com, and you'll find our little podcast in the Best Multi-Media Site section. You can email your selections to taraco@aol.com. Amanda was nominated in three categories total. The other two are: Best Commentary: Last House on the Left (with Bill Ackerman) Top Event: ‘Big Scares on the Small Screen: A Brief History of the Made-for-TV Horror Film,’ at The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, NYC Put your votes where you must! And thank you so much for checking us out or sticking with us!

Yes, we're just a tad late, but we're only speaking of love yet again this February. We made it a twofer though. We're talking romantic comedies, and our double features two of our favorite small screen faces who are no longer here. Dan and Amanda discuss Every Man Needs One (1972), starring Ken Berry and More than Friends (1978), starring Penny Marshall.

We're kicking off 2019 with a retrospective on Michael Parks' interesting small screen career. We look at Escape from Bogen County (1977) and The China Lake Murders (1990)... and there's a bit of talk about Parks' thick, luxurious hair. Hey, it's how we do. Anyway, here you go! We hope you enjoy! We'll be back towards the end of February, and although we're missing Valentine's Day proper, we're still gonna keep love in the air with two romantic comedies featuring actors we love but lost recently. The films on tap: More Than Friends (1978), starring Penny Marshall, and Every Man Needs One (1971) with Ken Berry.

Happy Holidays! Here's our episode dedicated to Rich Little, Ebeneezer Scrooge, Wacky Wall Walkers and Truman Capote?! Yup, it's all here and we hope you enjoy our discussion on Rich Little's A Christmas Carol (as well as our talk on the weirder Christmas TV offerings)! Nate went all Bah-humbug on us and had to drop out at the last minute, but we're joined by our very good friend and holiday expert Joanna Wilson, and she helps me unwrap the LSD headtrip that Rich Little brought into our living rooms oh so long ago! Hope you have wonderful holiday, and we'll see you next year!

OMG! It's finally here! It's the Small Screen Vixens episode we recorded eons ago but which had to put on the backburner because life... how she gets in the way. If you don't remember, this is the episode where we cover Summer Girl (1983) and The Face of Evil (1996). Enjoy! Btw, Dan was kind enough to do the edits on this one. And he did a wonderful job. Thank you so much Dan!!! We'll be back shortly with our annual Christmas episode. Details coming...

We made it! It's the scariest time of the year, so the Made for TV Mayhem Show crew decided to talk about a couple of classic ghost story TVMs. Our latest episode dives into the otherworlds of The Woman in Black and The Haunting of Sarah Hardy (both 1989), and ghoulish times were had! Enjoy!

... and our winner is... Ralph Roullard! Hooray! And here's the episode were we read some of our Snowbeast vs. ? entries and draw the winner. We had a blast with these. Thank you to all who entered. You are brilliant and we love you!

We're back (finally) and we're enjoying the warm water and sandy beaches as we discuss Zuma Beach (1978) and The Hustler of Muscle Beach (1980)! Come along, catch some rays and Hang 10.

Here's all the details for our Snowbeast Blu Ray Giveaway Contest! Listen, participate! Thanks! Contest ends towards the end of August.

We're back (finally), and it's all about those TV movies that made you go hmmmm... we're looking at the two classic message movies Go Ask Alice (1973) and Mazes and Monsters (1982). Sorry for the delay. Hope you enjoy! We'll be back in July with two sun and sand adventures, Zuma Beach (1978) and The Hustler of Muscle Beach (1980). Send us some feedback via our contact us page!

We're back, and so soon (Amy, soon!). On this episode we give a lot of love to one of our favorite small screen leading ladies, Kathleen Beller and discuss No Place to Hide (1991) and Deadly Messages (1985). There's romance, twists and turns, gaslighting, betrayal, crimped hair and one damn nice pizza guy! Enjoy!

We're back with a very special episode dedicated to one of our favorite Queens of the TV Movie, Patty Duke! We're discussing the wonderful new book In the Presence of Greatness: My Sixty Year Journey as an Actress, which was written by Patty Duke and Bill Jankowski. Bill joins us to talk all things Patty and we had a blast! Enjoy!

I managed to get an episode up in a timely manner! And just in time for Valentine's Day. On this episode, Dan and I discuss small screen romance... with a supernatural twist! Titles on tap are the 1971 remake of Death Takes a Holiday and the 1995 Lifetime Original Movie Deadly Love! Spoiler: They are awesome. Enjoy and remember to only speak of love! Our next episode will be devoted to the lovely Kathleen Beller and we'll be looking at No Place to Hide (1981) and Deadly Messages (1985). Remember to send feedback!

I can't believe I got this online. My computer hates me... But we're here with episode 31 and it's all about winter-set scares as we discuss the classic Snowbeast (1977) and the not-a-classic-but-pretty-dang-fun Ski Lift to Death (aka Snowblind, 1979). So let's hit the slopes! We'll be back so very soon with a new episode (recording either February 7th or 8th), and again, as we did last year, we'll only speak of love. But this time it's supernatural love, as we watch and discuss Death Takes a Holiday (1971) and Deadly Love (1995). Send feedback!

Thanks to a crazy schedule, a long term sickness, the holidays and other chicanery, our male strippers episode had to get in the back seat (ha!) for a while. But it's edited (sorta) and ready for your ears. So now what was originally supposed to be episode 29 is episode 30, ya dig? There's some popping in the background on this one, and issues overall with the general quality of the show. But I could spend forever tooling with this, so I finally bit the bullet and got it online. We're discussing For Ladies Only (1981) and Ladykillers (1988) and some of it won't make sense, some of it will. Be kind.

Well, it's that time of year again! And does anything say holidays like a kid with a shotgun... I thought so... We welcome back Christmas television expert Joanna Wilson to discuss the 1971 (maybe) holiday thriller A Little Game, and then we play a little game ourselves. We had a great time recording (even though there was a crapload of technical issues), and we hope you enjoy listening! Thank you for making 2017 an incredible year for the gang at the Made for TV Mayhem Show and Happy Holidays!

Happy Tofurkey day! Because I wasn't able to get our next full episode online, I thought I'd put together some old podcast TV trivia segments I created for the Movies About Girls Show. I grouped the segments by topic and decided to make the first one all about small screen actresses! Hope you enjoy! Please keep in mind that I was not great at this, and I talk a little fast and the sound isn't perfect. Who am I kidding, it's uncomfortably awkward. But my heart was there, and BOY did I research the stuffing out of these! I also ended with a little tribute to David Cassidy, whom we lost this week. We love you DC!

Just in time to celebrate the scariest day of the year, The Made for TV Mayhem Show returns, and we've turned the insane asylum over to the patients! We asked listeners to program their own Halloween TV movie marathon and we got a wonderful response back! Listen as we go through the lists and discuss the titles. And Dan, Nate and Amanda even picked out three telefilms each too! What a world!

We're back with a back to school themed episode dedicated to the ABC Afterschool Special! We, as we are wont to do, made it a twofer, and chose two episodes starring one of our favorite actors, Lance Guest! The episodes we discuss are Please Don't Hit Me, Mom, and Two Loves for Jenny (aka Between Two Loves)! And if that wasn't enough to get you all excited about chalkboards and backpacks, I interviewed Lance Guest about working on this program, as well as some of his other small screen awesome. You can read that interview on my blog (www.madefortvmayhem.com)! Hooray, and a big thanks to Mr. Guest, who flashed a lot of that charm that made us all fall in love with him in the first place... oh, and he gave some great insight too! Enjoy the podcast and the interview! By the way, the essay I was referencing at the beginning of this episode is titled Premature Adulthood: Alcoholic Moms and Teenage Adults in the ABC Afterschool Special by Amanda Keeler. Great stuff!

We’re back and we’re witchy! Check out the latest episode where we talk evil kids, covens and Pamela Sue Martin in awesome clothes! Listen to us gab about the classic (and rightly so!) Crowhaven Farm (1970) and the not-so-classic (and rightly so!) Bay Coven (1987)! And please enjoy!   iTunes Stitcher We’ll be back later […]

We sat down with Jeff Nelson of Shout! Factory to discuss their upcoming Blu-Ray release of the classic 1977 telefilm The Spell! This is a non-spoilery behind the scenes look of what went into making the release, as well as a spirited conversation about why TV movies are important, and of course, why we all love The Spell. Enjoy! As many of you know, I supplied the commentary track for this upcoming release, and Shout has also added an intriguing interview with The Spell's screenwriter, Brian Taggert! You can pre-order The Spell through Shout's website, and you will receive it before its September 5th street date. Go buy it!