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Americans had a lot of choices about what to watch on TV the night of Nov. 20, 1983.

On CBS, they could enjoy an evening of sitcoms, beginning with Alice, then moving onto The Jeffersons and Goodnight, Beantown, finally wrapping up their prime time viewing with an episode of Trapper John, M.D.

Across the dial on NBC, there was part one of Kennedy, a five-hour mini-series in which Martin Sheen put on a thick-as-chowder Bahston accent to portray, for a change, a president not named Bartlet.

But most people — a staggering 100 million — chose to tune into ABC, where they watched the end of the world.

Next to the moon landing, it’s hard to think of a TV moment that had a bigger impact on the collective psyche than The Day After, ABC’s white-knuckle drama depicting the aftermath of a nuclear strike on the United States. Its airing 40 years ago...

Directed by Nicholas Meyer, The Day After disturbed a generation of TV audiences in 1983. On the 40th anniversary of its first airing, we look back at its immediate and lasting impact.

“If you can, take a quick look out of the window,” said TV host Ted Koppel immediately after the first airing of The Day After on the 20th November, 1983. “It’s all still there. Your neighbourhood is still there. So is Kansas City. And Lawrence. And Chicago, San Diego, Moscow and Vladivostok…”

Koppel’s words of reassurance were a sign of how nervous the ABC Network was about airing its multi-million dollar, two-hour feature about the nuclear destruction of the United States. The company had reason to be on edge: aside from the expense, the film had alienated advertisers, angered the political right, and left ABC executives fearing that audiences would switch off their televisions – all before the film had even aired.

Edward Hume, the Emmy-nominated writer of “The Day After” and creator of “The Streets of San Francisco,” has died, his rep confirmed to Variety. He was 87.

Hume was known for his work on the critically acclaimed, 1983 sci-fi TV movie “The Day After,” which was nominated for a total of 10 Emmys and won two. The nuclear war-centric film is regarded as the most-watched TV movie of all time, being seen by over 100 million U.S. viewers. It notably was the first American film to be released in the Soviet Union, launching in 35 countries in 17 languages.

“There can be no doubt about the size of Earth’s debt to Edward Hume,” said Nicholas Meyer, the director of “The Day After.”

Hume was born in Chicago, Ill., on May 18, 1936. Throughout the course of his career in Hollywood, he was often recognized for his passion for storytelling, winning the Humanitas prize in 1990 and the...

‘Teach your children well’ they say, but Sondra Locke’s young girl in this show is the victim of parenting so bad it verges on criminal … John Lewis Carlino’s adult murder mystery has excellent imagery courtesy of director William A. Fraker and cameraman László Kovács. But the studio ‘made changes,’ removing explicit adult content and selling the show as horror even though it’s PG and has little to shock an audience. That leaves us with a carefully underplayed drama courtesy of Robert Shaw, Mary Ure, Sally Kellerman and Signe Hasso — and a twisted sex mystery that seems obvious from the get-go. The HD transfer restores Fraker’s elaborate imagery, making us wonder what his intended version might have been.

A Reflection of Fear

All-Region Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 84

1972 / Color / 1:85 / 89 min. / Street Date October 27, 2021 / available from Amazon.au / 34.95

Starring: Robert Shaw, Sally Kellerman, Mary Ure, Sondra Locke, Signe Hasso,...

In the age of streaming, the phrase “TV-movie” has been rendered all but meaningless. It now encompasses everything from a Disney Channel musical like “Zombies 2” to “My Dinner with Hervé” to “Mank.” But 30 or 40 years ago, the phrase “TV-movie” meant something specific — a two-hour drama made for one of the big three networks (who were the only game in town), and it also meant a “movie” that had a certain cheesy overexplicit cardboard quality. Not to be a snob about it, but a TV-movie wasn’t cinema; it was…TV. (This was back when pointing that out wasn’t insulting an art form.)

To be sure, there were a small number of great TV-movies, like “Brian’s Song” or Spielberg’s “Duel” or the Sally Field tour de force “Sybil.” But most of the time the form was decidedly declassé. And on Nov. 20, 1983, when ABC aired “The Day After,” its...

A hundred million viewers tuned in to ABC back in ’83 to find out if the world would end with a bang or a whimper. Edward Hume and Nicholas Meyer’s daring docudrama reacquainted Americans with their status as hostages in a global game of nuclear roulette. Gruesome nuclear annihilation visuals complement fine performances led by Jason Robards. The tense, thoughtful show is presented in separate TV and theatrical versions.

The Day After

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1983 / Color / 1:78 widescreen & 1:33 flat TV / 122 & 127 min. / Street Date August 7, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, Jim Dahlberg, John Lithgow, Bibi Besch, Lori Lethin, Amy Madigan, Jeff East, Georgann Johnson, William Allen Young, Calvin Jung, Lin McCarthy, Dennis Lipscomb.

Cinematography: Gayne Rescher

Film Editor: William Paul Dornisch, Robert Florio

Original Music: David Raksin

Special Effects: Robert Blalack

Written by Edward Hume

Produced by Robert A. Papazian

Directed by Nicholas...

This made-for-television film, based on Nathaniel Benchley's book "Welcome to Xanadu", is a gem among the recently released films from the Warner Brother's archives.

The Setup

Stranded when her truck breaks down, 17-year-old Doris Mae (Linda Blair) accepts a ride from Leonard Hatch (Martin Sheen), unaware he’s an escaped mental patient. Held against her will, Doris Mae is taken to Leonard’s ramshackle hideout, a cabin nestled deep within the woods. Frightened at first, she soon finds her captor to be a kind and caring soul.

Director: Lee Philips

Writer: Edward Hume

Stars: Linda Blair, Martin Sheen and Jeanne Cooper

I was initially skeptical of 'Sweet Hostage' after having recently seen 'Badlands' and wondering how close the two films would actually be to one another -- but I was pleasantly surprised to find myself captivated by this character driven, simple story.

Leonard (Sheen) escapes from a Boston asylum...