On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles's radio play "The War of the Worlds" accidentally provokes mass panic.On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles's radio play "The War of the Worlds" accidentally provokes mass panic.On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles's radio play "The War of the Worlds" accidentally provokes mass panic.
- Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 1 win & 3 nominations total
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Meredith Baxter
- Linda Davis
- (as Meredith Baxter Birney)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaCBS made numerous 'disclaimers' during the broadcast, which is why no one ever successfully sued the network or Welles, despite numerous lawsuits.
- GoofsThe announcer introducing the Mercury Theatre on the Air's production of "The War of the Worlds" names Orson Welles and Howard Koch as the writer. While Koch did write the script, he was not named in the introduction to the original broadcast.
- Quotes
Ora Nichols: [to her assistant, assessing the Mercury Theater's show] Looks like another big night for Charlie Mc Carthy.
- Alternate versionsPremiered om ABC-TV at two hours (with commercials). A subsequent network rebroadcast was cut to fit a ninety-minute time slot. Both versions later turned up in syndication.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Familiar Faces: Return of the Top 13 Weirdest Halloween Specials (2017)
Featured review
The night the Martians attacked
On October 30th, 1938, exactly 70 years ago tomorrow, the Martians attacked.Or at least many people thought they did.A radio broadcast by Orson Welles took place that night.The radio version of H.G.Wells' The War of the Worlds was being played on the radio and they made it as realistic as possible.People, who hadn't heard the beginning of that play took it all seriously.They really thought the Martians had invaded the Earth.Joseph Sargent's The Night That Panicked America is a made-for -television movie from 1975.There are some known names in this movie.Tom Bosley,as remembered from Happy Days playing Howard Cunningham, plays Norman Smith.Meredith Baxter, as remembered from Family Ties playing Elyse Keaton, plays Linda Davis.John Ritter, who we lost way too soon, plays Walter Wingate.Michael Constantine plays Jess Wingate.Eileen Brennan is Ann Muldoon.Paul Shenar plays Orson Welles.This movie gives a very good portrayal of those events.Something like this couldn't probably happen today.We know too much now.Our world is filled with knowledge, I could say even too much.If we didn't have all the knowledge, we'd all be escaping the Martians.
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- Petey-10
- Oct 29, 2008
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- Also known as
- The Night the Martians Landed
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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Top Gap
By what name was The Night That Panicked America (1975) officially released in Canada in English?
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