The ABC Monday Night Movie
| ABC Monday Movie of the Week | |
|---|---|
| Genre |
Comedy Drama |
| Starring | various |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 20 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 120 minutes+ |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format | 480i (SD), 720p (HD) |
| Audio format | 5.1 Surround Sound |
| Original release | Fall 1981 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | ABC Saturday Movie of the Week |
The ABC Monday Night Movie (styled ABC Monday Movie of the Week since 2004) is an anthology series on the ABC television network. It is part of ABC's Movie of the Week format. It began as an extension of The ABC Sunday Night Movie. Airing from 1981 until 2004 as a series, it has since run as a series of specials styled ABC Monday Movie of the Week.
Origin
Airing movies on Monday nights was far more common during the time in which ABC held rights to Monday Night Football, which occupied four months of ABC's prime time schedule and required any scripted series on Monday night to be a midseason replacement. ABC transferred its Monday Night Football rights to ESPN in 2006, clearing the Monday night time slot for regular scripted programming. (ABC now has a similar strategy with the ABC Saturday Night Movie, which airs after the end of the Saturday Night Football college package.)