"Heat" - Did Michael Mann intend it to be a TV series? (1 Viewer)

[Chris Baucom]

I saw something I had not seen before over the weekend. Perhaps this has become common practice and I am just behind the times, but it sure is a step in the wrong direction in any event.

Saturday afternoon, I turned on the TV and saw that "Heat" was on our local UPN station and started watching it. At about the midway point, right after Vincent (Pacino) realizes that Neil (DeNiro) is casing them at the shipyard, the words "To Be Continued" come on the screen, followed by commericals. After the commercials, scenes from the next "episode" of it are shown!! No mention of when the rest of the film will be shown is given. Credits roll.

So Sunday afternoon, I check and sure enough, the end of the movie is shown in the same time slot.

Anyone else seen this sort of thing before? I know that sometimes epic movies like Gone with the Wind has been broken up over two nights before on a major network prime time showing, but usually those types of things are promoted heavily and billed as a two night event. This "Heat" thing seemed really strange. Plus, to stretch the movie into two hours over two days, there were a ton of commercials. I guess this is why we all love our DVD's, right?

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Yes, they do this to longer films all the time in their off-network runs, especially on local stations, since their schedules are so rigid. Since you mention that they always have a two-hour movie slot on Saturday and Sunday on your station (and they probably have syndicated programs come on after), it's much easier to schedule a 3 hour film such as Heat over two 2-hour slots rather than one 4-hour slot.

 

[Marc Deslauriers]

Didn't Michael Mann request his name be taken off the TV version of Heat?

 

[Raasean Asaad]

The TV series was called Robbery Homicide Division

 

[James T]

Didn't Michael Mann request his name be taken off the TV version of Heat?

Probably. I know he doesn't like his movies being butchered so that it can be broadcasted on tv. I think he's credited as a different name for his movies when shown on tv