Star Wars on Network Television

Originally Published October 24th, 2004

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When most people think about Star Wars, they understandably think about the big screen, not the small one. But the Star Wars franchise has branched out to television many times, beginning only months after the first film was released in theaters in May of 1977. Since then, an oft-maligned holiday special, two animated series and two made-for-TV movies have been shown on network television, plus the films themselves. Recently, Star Wars has returned to television on cable, and additional television shows are expected in the coming years. This article, however, is about the history of Star Wars on broadcast television.

When Star Wars was released in theaters on May 25th, 1977 it is unlikely that anyone could have foreseen what sort of media behemoth it would soon become. The Associated Press, in an article discussing how the success of Star Wars had caused 20th Century Fox's stock to skyrocket, reported that the film had made a $5.2 million in only twelve days -- an astounding figure considering it was only being shown in 45 theaters [1].

The overwhelming success of Star Wars led to a higher-than-usual number of merchandise spin-offs, including a novelization, a comic book series, calendars, not to mention posters, t-shirts and buttons. There was even a disco version of the film's soundtrack that sold 130,000 copies in a single week [2].

With anything and everything connected to Star Wars turning to gold, it was hardly surprising that, in late August of 1977, ABC announced it would broadcast an hour-long special entitled "The Making of 'Star Wars' as Told By C-3PO and R2-D2" (more commonly known as "The Making of Star Wars") at the start of the 1977-1978 television season.

Due to Star Wars mania, ABC was able to charge an impressive $175,000 per minute of commercial time for "The Making of Star Wars," compared to $140,000 per minute for the six-part miniseries "Washington: Behind Closed Doors" starring Jason Robards, Cliff Robertson, Stefanie Powers and Robert Vaughn, among others [3]. The special aired from 8-9PM on Friday, September 16th, 1977 opposite the premieres of Sanford Arms and Chico and the Man on NBC and the premiere of The New Adventures of Wonder Woman on CBS.

Ratings for "The Making of Star Wars" are unknown, but NBC won Friday evening overall, making it likely that "The Making of Star Wars" fared somewhat poorly in its broadcast debut [4]. The Star Wars franchise on television was off to a less than audacious start.

Roughly one year and two months later, the Star Wars franchise returned to the small screen, this time with a variety show entitled "The Star Wars Holiday Special." The two-hour extravaganza reunited the original cast of Star Wars (although Darth Vadar was seen only through cut footage from the film) as well as a slew of guest stars including Jefferson Starship, Art Carney and Bea Arthur.

The special aired Friday, November 17th, 1978 from 8-10PM opposite Diff'rent Strokes, The Rockford Files and the start of Hallmark Hall of Fame on NBC and The Love Boat and part two of Pearl (a miniseries about the attack on Pearl Harbor) on ABC. It is, at times, difficult to watch -- an all-singing, all-dancing variety extravaganza set within the Star Wars universe.

The story of "The Star Wars Holiday Special," and that's using the term loosely, sees Han Solo and Chewbacca trying to outrun Imperial forces so they can get home to Kashyyyk (the Wookie home world) in time to celebrate "Life Day" with Chewbacca's family: his father Lumpy, his wife Malla, and his son Itchy. However, the bulk of the special focuses on the family and not the beloved characters from Star Wars.

Aside from an introductory scene with Chewbacca and Han, followed by the opening credits, the first ten minutes of "The Star Wars Holiday Special" consists entirely of Wookies speaking in their lovely language ("Raaaar," "Uuuurgh," and "Aaaaar"). Anyone watching the special back in 1978 probably thought it could only get better.

Somehow, producers of "The Star Wars Holiday Special" were able to rope several "high-profile" guest stars into appearing in the special. Maybe they needed the money. Or maybe they didn't realize what they were getting into until it was too late. For reasons best known to them, Art Carney, Diahann Carroll, Harvey Korman, Bea Arthur and Jefferson Starship all appeared in the special.

Within the loose framework of "Life Day," the special is simply a slew of stand-alone segments, many of which feature the aforementioned guest stars. In one, Lumpy amuses himself -- and supposedly viewers -- by watching an instruction manual for a toy he is trying to put together. In another, a propaganda film for the Empire entitled "Life on Tatooine" is somehow broadcast directly into the Wookies' home. It runs an agonizing thirteen minutes.

As the special winds down, Wookies from far and wide gather along with the rest of the cast of the Star Wars gang (Luke, C-3PO, etc.) to celebrate "Life Day" and listen to Princess Leia belt out a song. Chewbacca then waxes nostalgic and recalls all the events of Star Wars.

The saving grace of "The Star Wars Holiday Special" is an animated segment, ten minutes in length, that introduces the beloved character of Boba Fett to the Stars Wars universe. It animated by Canadian Nelvana Studios, who were chosen for the job after George Lucas was shown a tape of their "A Cosmic Christmas" in May of 1977 [5].

Supposedly, George Lucas was heavily involved with "The Star Wars Holiday Special" at the start, although the finished product credits five writers and none of them are Lucas. For the animated segment, Nelvana was told to go for a "comic-book feel, very graphic rather than realistic" [6]. They certainly delivered in that regard, with rubbery and somewhat unrecognizable faces, especially on poor Han Solo.

Nielsen ratings for "The Star Wars Holiday Special" are unknown, but it did not rank in the top ten for the week it aired. Today George Lucas reportedly, and understandably, loathes "The Star Wars Holiday Special" and would rather it never see the light of day again. However, bootleg copies abound on the Internet and having been making the rounds on the convention circuit for decades.

It would be nearly six years before Star Wars once again graced network television, with George Lucas's first foray into scripted television drama, a two-hour telefilm entitled "The Ewok Adventure" (known internationally as "Caravan of Courage"). Initially offered to all three of the networks, it was announced in June of 1984 that "The Ewok Adventure" had found a home on ABC [7], [8].

Not a spin-off of Star Wars per se, "The Ewok Adventure" aired on Sunday, November 25th, 1984 from 8-10PM, opposite Murder, She Wrote, The Jeffersons and Alice on CBS and telefilm "The Vegas Strip War" on NBC. In the telefilm, after their family crashes on the moon Endor, Cindel and Mace Towani join with Wicket the Ewok to find their parents. It ranked second for the week with a strong 24.9 rating, behind only the second half of NBC's "Fatal Vision" telefilm [9].

A follow-up telefilm entitled "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor" aired a year later on Sunday, November 24th, 1985. Back again were Cindel and Wicket, this time battling the evil forces of a king and a witch. According to TV Guide, ABC planned to announce that this movie may not be suitable for all family members due to violent content [10]. This time around, up against a made-for-TV movie entitled "Doubletake" on CBS and the first installment of "Mussolini: The Untold Story" on NBC, the telefilm ranked 25th for the week [11].

On Saturday, September 7th, 1985, ABC premiered two half-hour animated series, entitled Ewoks and Droids, respectively, although they were often advertised as the "Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour." As was the custom with Saturday morning cartoons, only a limited number of episodes were produced and then rerun weekly for months. Droids was last aired on Saturday, September 6th, 1986; Ewoks on Saturday, September 5th, 1987.

An hour-long Droids special entitled "The Great Heep" was broadcast by ABC on Saturday, July 7th, 1986 at 8PM. It ranked a dismal 66th, dead last in the ratings for the week [12].

Beginning in September of 1982, Star Wars was shown on pay-per-view "subscription services" scattered throughout the country, despite the fact that only half a million households were wired for pay-per-view [13]. HBO showed the film during the winter of 1983 and was disappointed at the lack of interest, due to the earlier pay-per-view showings and the film's release on video cassette. Star Wars failed to rank amongst HBO's top ten most popular films [14].

By the time CBS got around to airing Star Wars for the first time on network television, the film had not only been shown on pay-per-view and cable and issued on video, it had also been re-released in theaters several times. CBS scheduled Star Wars on Sunday, February 26th, from 8-11PM, with a 22-minute "making of" feature to help fill the three hours. Due to the percieved over-exposure of the film, and the fact that ABC was airing the first part of its racy "Lace" miniseries, CBS admitted that it was not expecting out-of-this-world ratings [15].

Unfortunately, those predictions came true: Star Wars drew a 25.1/35, ranking fifth for the week, while the first part of "Lace" tied for first with a 28.2/39 [16]. Although a 25.1 rating may seem like a success, according to The Wall Street Journal, CBS was forced to give refunds to some advertisers [17]. The relatively poor showing of Star Wars was only the latest in a string of blockbuster feature films being beaten in the ratings by made-for-TV movies or miniseries.

When NBC premiered Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back on Sunday, November 22nd, 1987, it ranked 32nd for the week with a 14.5 rating [18]. Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, also on NBC, aired Sunday, March 19th, 1989 and ranked 31st with a 15.1 rating [19]. More than a decade later, on Sunday, November 25th, 2001, Fox premiered Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace; the film ranked 17th for the week with a 9.8 rating and was seen by almost 18 million viewers [20], [21]. On Sunday, May 22nd, 2005, Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones was only able to draw roughly 8.5 million viewers [22].

As of March 2008, Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith has yet to have its network broadcast premiere. When it does, most likely on Fox, it will probably not be a big hit.

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Last Updated June 26th, 2008