Holiday Film Festival was a Thanksgiving Day science fiction film series, aired annually from 1976 to 1985 on WOR-TV Channel 9 in the Tri-State Region. For most of these broadcasts the two sponsors were a local electronics chain, Crazy Eddies, and a toy store Play World. Play World's level of sponsorship was such that, for at least the 1979 line-up, in addition to the many ads they ran for the store itself, they also sponsored a "TV crossword game" during commercial breaks, in which viewers could win a shopping spree or gift cards.
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History
These WOR-TV Thanksgiving programs started on Thanksgiving Day 1976. On this occasion, Channel 9 broadcast Mighty Joe Young (at 1:00 pm), King Kong vs. Godzilla (at 3:00 pm), and Son of Kong (at 5:00 pm). The ratings of the 1976 Thanksgiving marathon were good enough for WOR-TV to include the day after Thanksgiving (Friday) into the monster movie line up.
Over the next few years the same movies were aired on Thanksgiving Day, but the movies that were broadcast the day after were changed. Several times the movies Godzilla vs The Cosmic Monster, Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster and Godzilla vs. Megalon were aired on the day after Thanksgiving.
Shortly after the 1985 program, WOR-TV lost the broadcast rights to the RKO library and Mighty Joe Young, King Kong, and Son of Kong could no longer be broadcast. This was due to parent company RKO General agreeing to sell Channel 9 to MCA Inc. in 1986 (sale was finalized in 1987).
Later years
These films then appeared on cable television's American Movie Classics while the broadcast rights to the Godzilla films were also lost by WOR-TV but began appearing on other local New York stations. All these movies turned up a couple of more times in the local New York City area until 1989. They became staples on cable television's SCI-FI Channel during the 1990s, but have seldom been broadcast on either local or cable television since 2000.
Typical schedule
Thanksgiving Day November 18, 1977
The Day After Thanksgiving November 19, 1977