ABC After School Specials DVDs (1 Viewer)

[Greg_S_H]

Two releases, totalling 8 ABC After School Specials, are coming to DVD on October 12, according to TVShows. For me, the OMG! inclusion is:
I used to watch this as a kid, and I thought I was the only one who ever heard of it. If you had asked me the chances of it coming to DVD yesterday, I would have laughed. With this, truly anything is possible on DVD! So, has anyone here seen it besides me? BTW, not mentioned in the information above, Willie Aames has a pretty prominent role. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the first thing he ever did.

My only disappointment is that The Boy Who Drank Too Much, starring Scott Baio, is not included. I thought it was an ABC After School Special, but maybe it wasn't. Or, maybe it just didn't make this release. We watched that one in school, and I imagine mine wasn't the only district to screen the film.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2221

 

[Paul Miller]

What I really want is the ABC Weekend Specials from the late seventies/early eighties, hopefully with these afternoon specials being released all of the other stuff will eventually be released.


Paul

 

[Greg_S_H]

I didn't notice that the discs were arranged by year, so I guess if these releases are successful, there is a good chance it'll make it to the early-'80s specials. So, hope for that Scott Baio movie yet! I wonder if there's a website that lists all of the ASSes. LOL.

I do have to wonder about BCI Eclipse. Is that a known, quality DVD publisher?

Edit: Yikes. Looks like they're the ones who put out those cheap "10 Sci-Fi Movies!" packages I've seen around. That doesn't seem to bode well for this release, but we'll see.

 

[John*P]

This is neat news, but I'd much rather see the 80s Afterschool Specials.

 

[Tory]

Same here, Especially Miss Switch

As fow the afternoon specials, I always dreaded them.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Four more volumes have been announced, along with some killer packaging for the ones mentioned at the top of this thread:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2240

Still nothing on that Scott Baio movie, but maybe it wasn't part of the After School Specials.

 

[Tory]

Man, I want the boxes more than the specials.

 

[MaraKM]

Hee. Me too. Trapper Keepers?! What a flashback, I'd completely forgotten about those.

 

[Jeff Newcomb]

Those little Trappers are awesome! The one I want them to do is "Angel Dusted" with Helen Hunt. She smokes a PCP-laced joint and jumps out a second story plate glass window. Classic stuff!

 

[Greg_S_H]

It sounds like I'm the only one who wants these first discs for the content. Well, it's really just because I'm the only one in the world who ever saw that Hammerman episode, and I want that. Funny thing, I didn't see it on ABC. They actually played it on Showtime in the '80s, and I remember watching it right before the Man From Button Willow came on. I was too old to watch both, but I watched them anyway. Now, I'll watch at least one of them again.

 

[Joe Schwartz]

"The Wave" was the only Afterschool Special that made any impression on me:

http://www.xenutv.com/us/wave.htm

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Yeah, me too. I hated when these things came on, as I much preferred my local station's regular programming (such fare as Battlestar Galactica/Buck Rogers, Tom and Jerry, Warner Bros. cartoons, etc.).

Heck, I even preferred that station's reruns of "Carter Country" to these.

Still, good news for all you fans. Maybe someday we'll get some of the specials from the other networks (like CBS' Festival of the Lively Arts).

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I saw it when it first aired and I remember liking it.

 

[Brooke]

I remember one from the early 80s called "One Too Many" with Michelle Pfeiffer, Val Kilmer and Mare Winningham. I wouldn't mind seeing that again.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Just about every show that I'd really like to see, has been mentioned, but is still MIA.

The excellent Angel Dusted (with John Putch of The Wave) and The Boy Who Drank Too Much used to get plenty of play on Encore's True channel back in the mid-90s.

Would also love to see One Too Many and The Wave.

There's another Scott Baio telemovie, whose name escapes me, in which he plays a high school diving team star involved in an alcohol-induced car wreak. Anyone remember this one? I believe his character's name was Buddy.

How about The Killing of Randy Webster with future Fast Times stars Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Anthony Edwards alongside veteran stalwart Hal Holbrook? Not an afterschool special, but a riveting example of late 70s/early 80s televison filmmaking.

Breakdown:
The Boy Who Drank Too Much (w/Baio & Kerwin)
Angel Dusted (w/Putch & Helen Hunt)
One Too Many (w/Pfeiffer & Kilmer)
The Best Little Girl in the World (w/JJL)
The First Time (w/Jennifer Jason Leigh)
The Wave (w/Bruce Davison & John Putch)
Paper Dolls (w/ Daryl Hannah)
unknown Scott Baio title

The Killing of Randy Webster


-Jon

 

[Jon Martin]

That was a great one, only it wasn't an Afterschool Special. It actually played in prime time.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Another telemovie blast from the past, Dreams Don't Die with the lovely Trini Alvarado, Ike Eisenmann (Scotty's doomed nephew in Star Trek II), and Israel Juarbe (fondly remembered for his role as Freddy Fernandez in The Karate Kid).

This one did indeed play in primetime.

-Jon

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Anyone know if these will include ABC's bumpers? "And now back to the ABC Afterschool Special, The Boy Who Spanked Too Much"" or some such things, or will these just be the raw films themselves?

 

[Greg_S_H]

I was under the impression this was The Boy Who Drank Too Much. If not, the movie you described is the one I'm interested in.

Edit: Turns out I was misled by the first user comment on the IMDb's Boy Who Drank page. He was as confused as I. The movie we were thinking was called Stoned. Wasn't there a scene in Stoned where Baio almost jumps into an empty pool, or am I thinking of Happy Birthday to Me? I know it happens in that latter film.

I've always wondered how plausible that was. Even if it was pitch black--and most school pools probably wouldn't ever be that dark--wouldn't there be clues the pool was empty? The chlorine smell would be diminished, the sound quality would be totally changed. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like you would be able to tell something was wrong. But, it made for great suspense, and I, as a kid, was as afraid of jumping into an empty pool as "going back in the water" after Jaws.

 

[Rob P S]

Is that one when he's on the boat and smacks his brother in the head with an oar?

As long as we're waxing nostalgic about 80's drug movies, there was one called The Drug Knot with Dermot Mulroney and Sarah Jessica Parker (I think) when Dermot was hooked on cocaine and he comes home to find his little brother floating in the pool after getting into his stash. I also remember the teen suicide shows when Malcolm Jamal Warner commits suicide, and a different one when the older brother from E.T. and his bud make a pact to commit suicide by driving off a cliff.