Creature Features

[Zodiac]

Hi folks, this one is a trip down memory lane for me.  When I was a kid, the highlight of my week was a little show broadcast on Saturaday Nights all around the country entitled "Creature Features."  It gave me my first exposure to the Universal Monsters, as well as King King, Hammer and all the giant monster movies, too.  Here is a history of it for those who have been deprived of it!

[Zodiac]

[Zodiac]

Creature Features
250
Title for WNEW Channel 5's Creature Feature
Genre    Horror
Presented by    Various
Country of origin    United States
Production
Location(s)    Various; see article
Running time    2-3 hours
Broadcast
Original channel    WNEW, WGN, WTOG, KTVU, WDCA, KMTV, WQAD-TV, Cinemax
Chronology
Related shows    Chiller Theatre, Fright Night, Creature Double Feature

[Zodiac]

Creature Features normally showed all the classic Universal Horror movies from the 1930s and 1940s, like Dracula, Frankenstein and others. Plus several old RKO films like King Kong, Son of Kong, and the original Mighty Joe Young. They also aired all the movies produced and distributed by American International Pictures. This included all the Roger Corman B-movies of the 1950s and 1960s like The Raven, and The Terror, plus most of the Japanese "monster movies" produced by Toho Studios, and Daiei Motion Picture Company (famous for their Godzilla and Gamera movies).

They also broadcast all the best British horror films by Hammer Film Productions, like The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, The Phantom of the Opera, The Curse of the Werewolf, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Later, during the 1970s, Amicus Productions, and Tigon British Film Productions produced such films as Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, and The House That Dripped Blood, which became popular.

[Zodiac]

But what became most well known about Creature Features is the airing of all the "nuclear monster" and "space alien" science fiction movies. Created in the 1950s these movies were based on the idea of giant mutant monsters or aliens from outer space terrorizing Earth. These included Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Amazing Colossal Man, Them!, Tarantula, The Thing from Another World, It Came from Outer Space, The War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet.

[Zodiac]

Air times

Creature Features usually aired either on Friday night or Saturday night, around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. In some cities it aired on Saturday afternoons alternating with Kung Fu Theater. Because it aired after the traditional Saturday morning cartoon time block, it introduced many teenagers to classic monster movies.

[Zodiac]

Later history

TV horror shows of this sort started becoming more scarce during the early and mid-1980s; partly because acquiring broadcast rights for these films became considerably more expensive in the new era of cable television. Another considerable reason for their decline is the change in Friday and Saturday night viewer demographics as young people are increasingly less likely to stay home on those nights.

[Zodiac]

Broadcast cities (USA)

These are the major metropolitan areas of the United States in which Creature Features was seen:

    * Northeast
          o New York Metropolitan Area
          o Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
          o Greater Boston Area
          o Delaware Valley
    * South
          o Tampa Bay Area
          o South Florida
    * Midwest
          o Detroit metropolitan area
          o Chicago Metropolitan Area
          o Kansas City Metropolitan Area
          o Omaha Metropolitan Area
          o Quad Cities
          o South Bend Metro Area
    * West Coast
          o San Francisco Bay Area

Creature Features can be said to be one of the most popular horror shows in the United States. In all Creature Features was televised in almost 100 cities nationwide, throughout the 1960s to the 1990s, with more than 6,000 broadcasts aired, and more than 4,500 movies shown. This makes the program the most prolific horror show in U.S. television history.

[Zodiac]

WNEW-Channel 5 (New York City)

Creature Features was also broadcast in the New York Metropolitan Area, on WNEW, Channel 5 (Metromedia Broadcasting). It was hosted by Lou Steele (The Creep), who became familiar to Channel 5 viewers as the guy who started off the 10 o'clock News by asking: "It's 10 p.m.; do you know where your children are?"

Creature Features first aired from July to August 1969 on a test run, and was found to be a hit. It was continued on the air from November 1969 to August 1973, but was cancelled due to poor ratings and competition from WPIX's Chiller Theatre. Over the next six years the show would be rebroadcast periodically, but never with great success. It was re-broadcast in 1979-1980, but cut due to poor ratings again.

[Zodiac]

WKBG-Channel 56 (Boston)

Creature Double Features was the name of a show broadcast by WKBG Channel 56 in the Greater Boston area. In 1972 WKBG, a station in the Kaiser Broadcasting chain, aired its collection of Godzilla movies on Saturday under the title, The 4 O'Clock Movie.

Shortly thereafter, they started calling it Creature Feature and then Creature Double Feature. The show quickly became a staple of the station's Saturday programming schedule during the 1970s and early 1980s. The final show was sometime in 1983.

[Zodiac]

WKBS-Channel 48 (Philadelphia)

In the Philadelphia area, another Kaiser/Field station, WKBS Channel 48, aired this program between 1976 and 1979 after the success the show had in Boston. Two of the most popular films included Attack of the Mushroom People and Tourist Trap.

[Zodiac]

WGN-Channel 9 (Chicago)

Creature Features was introduced into the Chicago metropolitan area on Chicago's WGN Channel 9 in the fall of 1970. Hosted by Carl Greyson, and later Marty McNeely, this version of Creature Features ran until 1976.The show used the theme music of Henry Mancini's Experiment in Terror.

[Zodiac]

WTOG-Channel 44 (Tampa/St.Petersburg)

Creature Feature was also shown from 1973 until 1995 on WTOG Channel 44 in the Tampa Bay Area. Its host was Dick Bennick Sr., performing under the name "Dr. Paul Bearer". The show created a large fan-following, and was recognized as the longest-running Creature Feature in America [1]. The show was canceled after Bennick died following open heart surgery in 1995.

[Zodiac]

WCIX-Channel 6 (Miami/Ft. Lauderdale)

Creature Feature was shown Saturday mornings[when?] on WCIX, at the time an independent station broadcasting out of southern Dade County.

[Zodiac]

KTVU-Channel 2 (San Francisco)

Creature Features ran on KTVU in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1971 to 1984, hosted by Bob Wilkins, and later by John Stanley, who took over in 1979. Wilkins had been hosting a similar program on KCRA in Sacramento from 1966, Seven Arts Theater. Wilkins showcased many classic horror and sci-fi movies; the classic low budget Plan 9 From Outer Space, produced and directed by Ed Wood Jr. and which features the last footage of Bela Lugosi, was first televised in the Bay Area on Creature Features. He also interviewed many sci-fi and horror movie personalities on the show, including Ray Harryhausen, Christopher Lee, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, John Landis, Douglas Adams, William Marshall, Forrest J Ackerman, and several Star Wars performers.