Midi Onodera

Movie of the Week (2009)

As a V.2 television baby, (version 2: Colour TV) I was deeply influenced by the pop culture living room entertainment of my youth. Way back in the early 1970s, ABC took the concept of big screen entertainment and repackaged it for the prime time TV audience. These made-for-TV movies ran the gamut from science fiction to cop dramas to historical fictions. Some of my all-time favorite movies of the week were the pilot episodes for “Marcus Welby, M.D.”, “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “Get Christie Love!” By far the best movie of the bunch was “The Girl Most Likely to…” starring Stockard Channing as an “unattractive women” who survives a horrible car accident and undergoes radical plastic surgery, becoming “gorgeous” in the process. After her transformation she takes revenge on all the men who tormented her in her past.

But no matter what the movie of the week was, it was opening title sequence with the stunning soundtrack by Burt Bacharach that set the tone for this popcorn-eating television extravaganza. For 2009 I’ve decided to pay tribute to this golden age of TV and make my own movies of the week. In contrast to the larger than life entertainment moments, my versions are designed for today’s ipod audiences, quick, easy to consume and hopefully a tiny distraction from our everyday routines and obligations.