Harper Valley PTA question
 

Was Harper Valley PTA a theatrical release or a made for TV movie? I was just wondering because the DVD is presented in widescreen like it is a theatrical release but it just feels like a made for TV movie, complete with freeze frames after certain scenes as if to cue for a commercial break. So either I got a TV movie with the top and bottom lopped off to make it look widescreen, or I got a theatrical movie edited for TV. I suppose it could be that it was just made that way for a theatrical release, but it does seem edited if it was a theatrical release.

According to IMDB, it was a theatrical release. I remember they later made a TV series out of the original movie.

Definitely a theatrical release. I saw it in high school at the drive-in.

Did it have anything in it that would be edited out of a TV airing? There is no nudity or swearing in the movie at all, though it does seem it would fit into a few scenes.

And did it have those freeze frame moments after Barbara Eden punked the PTA members?

I remember it being pretty tame when I was a kid. I noticed stuff like that back then and I don't remember that movie being very bad. I think it was a PG for some of the suggestive stuff.

I didn't see it in theaters, but I did see it on broadcast TV and there was one brief nude scene. It was not in the NBC airing, but our local Fox affiliate had a more lenient print. When Barbara Eden (or was it Nanette Fabray?) kicks John Fiedler out of the hotel room, you briefly see his bare backside, (he soon covers himself with a fire hose).

I never think of male nudity from the back as out right nudity. But I can see why they wouldn't want to air that on TV 20-30 years ago. And some might not even air it today!

I saw it at the drive-in too.

When NBC aired the film shortly after, the ratings were huge and a series version followed, also starring Barbara Eden and much of the cast from the film.

After half a season, the series was retooled and the title was changed to just "Harper Valley". It didn't last very long (about 30 shows total). TV Land shows the reruns once in a while.