Bury the Hatchet-Job Movie

Time just flies. Sometimes I see a movie on cable and think that the movie was just in the theater down the street. It's probably been months, but it still feels like yesterday.

That whole concept of compressed time got me thinking. And we all know that's dangerous. I wondered which theatrical film had the shortest period of time between its US theatrical and primetime network debuts.

Just a few rules.

• The movie had to be released in theaters. No straight-to-video movies like Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, which aired on TV just seven months after its home vid release.
• No negative time. The movie had to be in theaters first and then on TV; so The Stalking Mooon isn't considered since it was on the telly about 15 months before its theatrical debut.
• Only consider the US primetime network premiere. I wanted to know how long someone in the US had to wait for a movie to go from theaters to cable to video to free TV.

Here is the list of films having no more than 325 days between its US theatrical release and its US primetime network premiere:

(Update on 9 Jul 2007, 9:39PDT: An astute reader found an error in the list. The Long Way Home on 1 March 1988 on CBS was a TV movie and must be removed from the list. I apologize for the error.)

• 163 days: The Long Way Home (1997)
• released in US theaters: 19 September 1997 (source: IMDb)
• US primetime network debut: 1 March 1998 on CBS
• 170 days: Sharks' Treasure (1975)
• released in US theaters: 10 September 1975 (source: NYTimes)
• US primetime network debut: 27 February 1976 on CBS
• 207 days: Survive! (1976)
• released in US theaters: 4 August 1976 (source: IMDb)
• US primetime network debut: 27 February 1977 on ABC
• 213 days: Nora's Hair Salon (2004)
• released in US theaters: 25 May 2004 (source: IMDb)
• US primetime network debut: 24 December 2004 on UPN
• 226 days: Golden Needles (1974)
• released in US theaters: 17 July 1974 (source: IMDb)
• US primetime network debut: 28 February 1975 on CBS
• 303 days: The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
• released in US theaters: 15 December 2000 (source: IMDb)
• US primetime network debut: 14 October 2001 on ABC
• 307 days: Moonshine County Express (1977)
• released in US theaters: 1 June 1977 (source: IMDb)
• US primetime network debut: 4 April 1978 on CBS
• 325 days: Showdown (1973)
• released in US theaters: 21 November 1973 (source: IMDb)
• US primetime network debut: 12 October 1974 on NBC

Note: Survive and Showdown were released earlier in Mexico and Finland, respectively.