Raised by Cable TV's Women in Peril
In the early 90s I grew up watching made-for-TV thrillers on USA Network that regularly featured Women in Peril. Think Kathleen Quinlan in Trapped, Morgan Fairchild in Writer's Block , and Jane Seymour in Are You Lonesome Tonight? These were substitutes for the R-rated movies I couldn't yet see in theaters. Every week I studied TV Guide and drooled over the black-and-white ads for the various "Movies of the Week" (MOW) that attempted to lure in viewers with their provocative imagery and ridiculous taglines ("He was calling for a good time. It might be his last.") Suffice to say, this wasn't your average media diet for an 11-year-old at the time. And of course, I was well aware of the other MOW offerings from the big broadcast networks that were usually "based on a true story," with other women in other forms of peril – long before "true crime" was coined. But there was something about USA's TV movies that felt more danger...
