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Some of the most watched films ever made were first shown on a small screen. On a night of November 1983, around a hundred million Americans watched the nuclear war of The Day After on ABC; in January 2006, more than seven million watched the first night of High School Musical on Disney Channel, and the songs of its gymnasium filled the charts within weeks. The film made for television has its own history, its own stars and its own rules, from the movie of the week of the 1970s to the holiday specials that families have watched every December for sixty years, the Christmas romances of the cable channels, the prestige dramas of HBO and the films that bring a finished series back for one last story. Trailers.to, whose old menu carried a link called Watch on TV, gathers 156 of these films and sorts them on twelve shelves, in three families.

Every film of the guide has an English synopsis, its cast and director and a Watch now button that opens it on JustWatch, where you can see the services that offer it in your country. The oldest film is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, of 1964, the puppet special of Rankin/Bass narrated by Burl Ives as a singing snowman, and the newest came out in 2023, from Teen Wolf: The Movie to Mr. Monk's Last Case. Together the films carry about 113,900 votes on TMDB, with an average rating of 6.63; the most voted is El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, of 2019, with about 5,900 votes, and the best rated is Steven Universe: The Movie, of 2019, with an 8.2. The guide Start with Trailers.to picks one film from each shelf, and the guide The TV movie follows the history of the form.

The first family, Kids' channels, holds the films of the children's networks: the musicals and pop stars of Disney Channel, its magic and monsters, the teen comedies of cable and the cartoons made for television. The second, Holidays and thrills, holds the films that television shows by the season: the Christmas romances, the holiday specials, the true crime and thrillers of Lifetime and its rivals, and the creature features and horror of the late night. The third, Prestige and classics, holds the films of quality: the true stories of HBO, the films of British television, the movies that continue a series and the classic TV movies of the 1970s and 1980s.

The name and the look

The Wayback Machine keeps trailers.to from December 2020 to January 2022, and later only the page of a domain for sale. The site of January 2022 was a dark and bright page of film trailers: a header bar of near black with its links in bold capitals, Watch on TV, Collections, Movies and TV Shows, each with Most Popular, Most Recent and Top Rated, a large slider that showed one film at a time with its date and genres in small capitals, its title, its synopsis, a Watch now button with a round yellow play circle and its score out of ten, and cards with a dark gradient over the image, a yellow badge in the corner and white text with a small calendar icon.

The look of this guide follows the stylesheet measured in that capture. The header is near black with a band of yellow below it; the page is a very light grey with white panels and soft shadows, the text is a deep navy, and the yellow of the old badges and play circles is the colour of every button. The introduction sits on a dark card edged in yellow like the old slider, and the board of the home page, called On the channels, lists the twelve shelves in three columns, each with a round play circle in yellow, amber or grey for its family. Each poster carries the rating on a yellow tag, the year on a dark tag and the tag of its shelf in white capitals on a dark gradient at the bottom, like the old cards. The guide The look of Trailers.to explains each detail.

How the channels work

Every film of the guide was made for television or first shown there, and almost all are listed by TMDB as TV movies; the holiday specials, many of them half an hour long, are here because they are the oldest films of television that audiences still watch every year. Most are films of broadcast and cable channels, and a few were made for streaming services, among them the Christmas Prince films of Netflix, El Camino and Bandersnatch. Each film sits on a single shelf, chosen by its channel or its kind, and each shelf keeps its thirteen most voted films and lists them by votes, so that the best known come first. 152 of the 156 films are in English, and the others in French, Japanese, Russian and Polish. The guide How the channels work sums up the rules.

The TV movie

The American networks began to make their own feature films in the middle of the 1960s, when the studios charged too much for their old films, and by the 1970s the movie of the week had become an institution, ninety minutes with breaks, shot in a few weeks on a small budget, often from a story in the news. It was a school for young directors: Steven Spielberg made Duel, of 1971, for ABC at the age of twenty-four, with Dennis Weaver as a salesman chased across the desert by a truck whose driver stays unseen, and its success in cinemas abroad launched his career; John Carpenter made Elvis, of 1979, with Kurt Russell, for the same network. The form gave the audience of its time some of its most shared nights, from Brian's Song, of 1971, to The Day After, of 1983, and its horror films, from The Night Stalker, of 1972, to Trilogy of Terror, of 1975, frightened a generation in its living rooms.

From the 1990s the cable channels took the form over. HBO made the TV movie respectable, with stars of the cinema and true stories of politics, medicine and crime; Disney Channel made its own pop stars, from Hilary Duff and the Cheetah Girls to Zac Efron, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato; Syfy and the studio The Asylum made the creature feature a joke shared on social media with Sharknado, and the channels of Hallmark and Lifetime filled every December with Christmas romances. The guide The TV movie tells the story.

Kids' channels

The first family, Kids' channels, gathers 52 films of the channels for children and teenagers, with about 50,300 votes, the most of the three families, and an average rating of 6.68. Most of them are Disney Channel Original Movies, the films that the channel premiered on a Friday night several times a year, often with the stars of its own sitcoms, and the rest come from Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and the studios of animation. The guide Kids' channels sums up the family.

Pop stars and musicals

The shelf Pop stars and musicals holds thirteen films from 2003 to 2015 of the musicals of Disney Channel and its rivals. Its most voted film is High School Musical, of 2006, by Kenny Ortega, with Zac Efron as the captain of a basketball team and Vanessa Hudgens as a shy new student who discover at a karaoke party on New Year's Eve that they love to sing, and who join the school musical against the wishes of their friends, rated 6.5 with about 4,900 votes; its sequel, High School Musical 2, of 2007, set in a country club during the summer holiday, was watched by more than seventeen million viewers on its first night, a record for cable television. Kenny Ortega, the choreographer of Dirty Dancing, directed both, and also The Cheetah Girls 2, of 2006, in Barcelona.

The rest of the shelf made the stars of the channel singers. Camp Rock, of 2008, and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, of 2010, gave Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers a summer camp of music; Starstruck, of 2010, rated 7.0, a girl who meets a pop star in Los Angeles; Lemonade Mouth, of 2011, by Patricia Riggen, five teenagers in detention who form a band, the best rated film of the shelf, at 7.4; Teen Beach Movie, of 2013, and Teen Beach 2, of 2015, two surfers swept into a beach musical of the 1960s. The Cheetah Girls, of 2003, with Raven-Symoné, and its sequels, The Cheetah Girls 2 and The Cheetah Girls: One World, of 2008, in India, follow a girl group of New York; Jump In!, of 2007, with Corbin Bleu and Keke Palmer, the competitions of double Dutch, and Radio Rebel, of 2012, with Debby Ryan as a shy girl who becomes a secret voice of the school radio. Paul Hoen, the most prolific director of the guide, with eight films, directed three films of this shelf. The guide The Disney Channel movie follows the channel.

Magic and monsters

The shelf Magic and monsters holds thirteen films from 1998 to 2022 of witches, wizards, zombies and villains, and it is the best rated shelf of the family, with an average of 7.13. Its most voted film is Descendants, of 2015, by Kenny Ortega, in which the children of the villains of Disney, the daughters of Maleficent and the Evil Queen and the sons of Jafar and Cruella de Vil, played by Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Booboo Stewart and Cameron Boyce, are sent from their island prison to the school of the heroes' children, rated 7.2 with about 2,600 votes; Descendants 2, of 2017, and Descendants 3, of 2019, rated 7.7, complete the trilogy. Its best rated film is The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex, of 2013, the special that followed the end of the series of Selena Gomez, at 7.8, after Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, of 2009, which took her family of wizards to the Caribbean.

The older witches of the shelf belong to Halloweentown. Halloweentown, of 1998, the oldest film of the shelf, with Debbie Reynolds as a grandmother who takes her grandchildren to a town of witches and monsters on Halloween night, rated 6.8, began a series of four, and Return to Halloweentown, of 2006, is the last; Twitches, of 2005, gives the twins Tia and Tamera Mowry the roles of two witch sisters separated at birth. The zombies came later: Z-O-M-B-I-E-S, of 2018, by Paul Hoen, a cheerleader and a zombie footballer in a town divided by a wall, with Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim, followed by Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2, of 2020, with werewolves, and Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3, of 2022, with aliens. Avalon High, of 2011, a high school where the legend of King Arthur is reborn, and My Babysitter's a Vampire, of 2010, a Canadian film that became a series, close it. The guide The Halloween of Disney follows the witches.

Teen comedies of cable

The shelf Teen comedies of cable holds thirteen films from 2002 to 2019 of the schools, families and adventures of the teenagers of Disney Channel and its Canadian partners. Its most voted film is Princess Protection Program, of 2009, with Selena Gomez as an ordinary girl of Louisiana and Demi Lovato as a princess hidden in her home after a coup, rated 6.6 with about 1,800 votes. The stars of the later Disney sitcoms fill the rest: Zapped, of 2014, with Zendaya as a girl whose phone app controls the boys of her school; Frenemies, of 2012, with Bella Thorne and Zendaya; Geek Charming, of 2011, with Sarah Hyland as a popular girl filmed by a young documentary maker; Cloud 9, of 2014, with Dove Cameron as a snowboarder; Adventures in Babysitting, of 2016, a remake of the comedy of 1987 with Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson, the best rated film of the shelf, at 7.2.

The older comedies of the shelf belong to the first decade of the century. Cadet Kelly, of 2002, with Hilary Duff as a free spirit sent to a military academy; Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, of 2006, with Brenda Song as a girl who learns she is the reincarnation of a warrior; Cow Belles, of 2006, with the sisters Aly and AJ Michalka running a dairy; Read It and Weep, of 2006, a girl whose diary becomes a novel; Minutemen, of 2008, three teenagers who build a time machine, and Bad Hair Day, of 2015, with Laura Marano. Kim Possible, of 2019, the live version of the cartoon of the agent and cheerleader, is the newest of the shelf and the lowest rated, with Cow Belles, at 5.5.

Cartoons on television

The shelf Cartoons on television holds thirteen films from 1993 to 2020 of animation made for the small screen, and it holds two of the best rated films of the guide. Steven Universe: The Movie, of 2019, by Rebecca Sugar, a musical in which the half-human boy of the series and the Crystal Gems face a gem who wants to erase their memories, is the best rated film of the guide, at 8.2, and the French Miraculous World: New York, United HeroeZ, of 2020, the two young heroes of Paris on a school trip to New York, follows at 8.1. We Bare Bears: The Movie, of 2020, rated 7.8, and Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, of 2006, rated 7.9, come from Cartoon Network; Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension, of 2011, rated 7.1, Leroy & Stitch, of 2006, which closed the series of Lilo and Stitch, and Tangled: Before Ever After, of 2017, from Disney.

The most voted film of the shelf is Open Season 2, of 2008, the sequel made for home video and television of the bear and deer of Sony Pictures Animation, rated 5.9 with about 1,350 votes, followed by its own sequel, Open Season 3, of 2010. Ocean Waves, of 1993, is the only film of Studio Ghibli made for television, a story of two school friends and a girl from Tokyo in the town of Kōchi, made by the young animators of the studio. The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, of 2016, the son of Simba and his guard of the Pride Lands; Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild, of 2005, the mouse in a forest; and Family Guy Presents: It's a Trap!, of 2010, the parody of Return of the Jedi by the family of Seth MacFarlane, complete it. The guide Animation on the small screen follows the cartoons.

Holidays and thrills

The second family, Holidays and thrills, gathers 52 films that television shows by the calendar and late at night, with about 28,900 votes and an average rating of 6.21. It holds the Christmas romances that fill the channels from November, the specials that every family knows by heart, the true crime films of Lifetime and its rivals, and the creature features that Syfy made a cult. The guide Holidays and thrills sums up the family.

Christmas romances

The shelf Christmas romances holds thirteen films from 2011 to 2020 of the most predictable and the most loved genre of television: a woman of the city, a small town or a small kingdom, snow, a handsome stranger and a kiss on Christmas Eve. Its most voted film is A Christmas Prince, of 2017, with Rose McIver as a young journalist sent to cover the coronation of a prince of Aldovia, who takes a job as the tutor of his little sister to get her story, rated 6.6 with about 1,500 votes, followed by A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding, of 2018, and A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby, of 2019, all three made for Netflix by the Motion Picture Corporation of America, which also made The Princess Switch: Switched Again, of 2020, with Vanessa Hudgens in three roles, rated 6.8, and Operation Christmas Drop, of 2020, set on an American air base in Guam.

Royalty is the great theme of the shelf. A Princess for Christmas, of 2011, with Katie McGrath as a young aunt invited with her niece and nephew to the castle of their grandfather, a duke, and Sam Heughan as his son, rated 7.0, the best rated film of the shelf with The Spirit of Christmas, of 2015, a lawyer and the ghost of an inn, at 7.0 too; A Royal Christmas, of 2014, with Lacey Chabert, a seamstress of Philadelphia whose boyfriend turns out to be a prince, and Chabert again in A Wish for Christmas, of 2016. The others play with the calendar: 12 Dates of Christmas, of 2011, with Amy Smart reliving the same Christmas Eve; 12 Gifts of Christmas, of 2015, a personal shopper, and two Canadian films of the director Justin G. Dyck, Christmas Wedding Planner, of 2017, and Christmas with a View, of 2018. The guide The Christmas movie follows the genre.

Holiday specials

The shelf Holiday specials holds thirteen films from 1964 to 2016, most of them half an hour long, the specials that television has shown every Christmas, Halloween and Easter for decades. Its most voted film is How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, of 1966, by Chuck Jones, from the book of Dr. Seuss, with Boris Karloff as the narrator and the voice of the Grinch, rated 7.5 with about 1,200 votes. The Peanuts of Charles M. Schulz have two specials: A Charlie Brown Christmas, of 1965, the best rated of the shelf, at 7.7, in which Charlie Brown directs the Christmas play and chooses the saddest little tree, to the jazz of Vince Guaraldi, and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, of 1966, in which Linus waits all night in a pumpkin patch, rated 7.5.

The puppets and drawings of Rankin/Bass gave television its other classics: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, of 1964, the oldest film of the guide, in stop motion, rated 7.4, and Frosty the Snowman, of 1969, with Jimmy Durante as the narrator. The studios of animation of the 2000s made their own: Shrek the Halls, of 2007, the first Christmas of the ogre; Toy Story of Terror!, of 2013, a night in a motel for the toys of Pixar, rated 7.3; Kung Fu Panda Holiday, of 2010, at 21 minutes the shortest film of the guide, and two specials of Ice Age, Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas, of 2011, and Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade, of 2016. The live specials complete it: A Christmas Carol, of 1984, with George C. Scott as Scrooge, rated 7.5; A Very Murray Christmas, of 2015, by Sofia Coppola, with Bill Murray stuck in a hotel during a blizzard, and The Star Wars Holiday Special, of 1978, a variety show on the home world of Chewbacca that its makers hid away for decades, the lowest rated film of the guide, at 3.4. The guide The holiday special follows the specials.

True crime and thrillers

The shelf True crime and thrillers holds thirteen films from 2010 to 2021, many of them made for Lifetime, the channel that made the true crime film a genre of its own. Its best rated film is Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey, of 2018, with Katie Douglas as a girl of Florida who survived her abduction by a serial killer in 1984 and was disbelieved by the police, rated 8.0; Girl in the Basement, of 2021, directed by the actress Elisabeth Röhm, draws on a case of Austria in which a father held his daughter prisoner for twenty-four years, rated 7.6; Cleveland Abduction, of 2015, with Taryn Manning as Michelle Knight, one of the three women held captive in a house of Cleveland for ten years, rated 7.3, and Gone Mom: The Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, of 2021, a mother of Connecticut who vanished in 2019, rated 7.8.

The most voted film of the shelf is Heist, of 2015, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a croupier who robs the casino of Robert De Niro to pay for his daughter's treatment and takes a city bus hostage, rated 6.1 with about 1,000 votes. The thrillers of the rest of the shelf: Flowers in the Attic, of 2014, from the novel of V. C. Andrews, with Heather Graham and Ellen Burstyn, four children hidden in the attic of their grandmother; Spinning Man, of 2018, with Guy Pearce as a professor of philosophy suspected of the disappearance of a student and Pierce Brosnan as the detective; two films called Cyberbully, the American film of 2011, with Emily Osment, and the British film of 2015, with Maisie Williams; The Client List, of 2010, with Jennifer Love Hewitt; Bad Sister, of 2015; Wander, of 2020, with Aaron Eckhart, and Vengeance: A Love Story, of 2017, with Nicolas Cage. The guide The Lifetime movie follows the genre.

Creature features and TV horror

The shelf Creature features and TV horror holds thirteen films from 1990 to 2021, the films made to frighten or to amuse the audience of late night, and it is the lowest rated shelf of the guide, with an average of 5.32, which is exactly its charm. Its most voted film is Sharknado, of 2013, by Anthony C. Ferrante, for Syfy and the studio The Asylum, in which a hurricane throws sharks over Los Angeles and Ian Ziering and Tara Reid fight them with chainsaws, rated 3.9 with about 1,750 votes; its premiere became a sensation on social media, and Ferrante made five sequels, three of them on this shelf, Sharknado 2: The Second One, of 2014, in New York, the third film, of 2015, in Washington and Orlando, and Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, of 2017. The Asylum made Megalodon, of 2018, and Megaboa, of 2021, too, and two films of the snakes, Anaconda 3: Offspring, of 2008, with David Hasselhoff, and Anacondas: Trail of Blood, of 2009, came from Syfy.

The horror films of television are older and more serious. Psycho IV: The Beginning, of 1990, by Mick Garris, made for Showtime, with Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates for the last time and Henry Thomas as the young Norman; Omen IV: The Awakening, of 1991, a girl adopted by a lawyer who carries the mark; Body Bags, of 1993, by John Carpenter, who also plays the coroner who presents its three stories; Carrie, of 2002, with Angela Bettis, a version of the novel of Stephen King, and The Bad Seed, of 2018, directed by and starring Rob Lowe, with the young Mckenna Grace as a girl who kills, the best rated of the shelf, at 7.1. The guide The creature feature follows the sharks.

Prestige and classics

The third family, Prestige and classics, gathers 52 films of the quality television of every age, with about 34,600 votes and an average rating of 7.00, the best of the three families. It holds the true stories that won HBO its Emmy Awards, the films of the BBC and of the other British channels, the films that bring a series back for one more story and the classic TV movies of the American networks. The guide Prestige and classics sums up the family.

HBO and American true stories

The shelf HBO and American true stories holds thirteen films from 1995 to 2017, and it is the best rated shelf of the guide, with an average of 7.33. Its most voted film is The Normal Heart, of 2014, by Ryan Murphy, from the play of Larry Kramer, with Mark Ruffalo as a writer of New York who fights for the recognition of AIDS in the early 1980s, with Matt Bomer and Julia Roberts, rated 7.7 with about 940 votes, and its best rated is Prayers for Bobby, of 2009, made for Lifetime, with Sigourney Weaver as a religious mother whose gay son takes his own life, and who becomes an activist for the rights of gay people, rated 8.1. Something the Lord Made, of 2004, rated 8.0, with Alan Rickman as the surgeon Alfred Blalock and Yasiin Bey as Vivien Thomas, the Black technician who invented with him the surgery of the blue babies, and Temple Grandin, of 2010, rated 7.9, with Claire Danes as the autistic scientist who changed the farming of cattle, follow.

The others tell the stories of the powerful and the famous. Gia, of 1998, with Angelina Jolie as the model Gia Carangi; Behind the Candelabra, of 2013, by Steven Soderbergh, with Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his young lover; The Wizard of Lies, of 2017, by Barry Levinson, with Robert De Niro as the swindler Bernie Madoff; Game Change, of 2012, with Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in the campaign of 2008; Pirates of Silicon Valley, of 1999, made for TNT, the rivalry of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates; Conspiracy, of 2001, with Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich at the meeting of Wannsee of 1942, rated 7.3, and Citizen X, of 1995, the hunt for the Soviet killer Andrei Chikatilo. Two films of plays close it: The Sunset Limited, of 2011, directed by Tommy Lee Jones from Cormac McCarthy, two men in a flat in New York, and 12 Angry Men, of 1997, by William Friedkin, with Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott, rated 7.7. The guide The HBO film follows the shelf.

British television films

The shelf British television films holds thirteen films from 1984 to 2019 of the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and their partners. Its most voted film is Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, of 2018, by David Slade, the interactive film of the series of Charlie Brooker in which the viewer chooses the actions of a young programmer of 1984 who adapts a novel into a video game, rated 6.8 with about 4,300 votes, and the second is Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, of 2016, the special in which Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman play Holmes and Watson in the London of 1895, rated 7.8. Cumberbatch returns as the strategist Dominic Cummings in Brexit: The Uncivil War, of 2019, made for Channel 4.

Doctor Who has five films on the shelf: Doctor Who, of 1996, the American and British film with Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor, rated 6.2, and four specials of the series, Doctor Who: The Next Doctor, of 2008, and Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars, of 2009, with David Tennant, rated 7.9, and Doctor Who: The Snowmen, of 2012, and Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor, of 2013, with Matt Smith, rated 8.1, the best rated film of the shelf. Threads, of 1984, by Mick Jackson, the nuclear war seen from the city of Sheffield, rated 7.6, is still one of the most frightening films ever shown on British television; Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1974, of 2009, with Andrew Garfield as a young reporter of Yorkshire, opens a trilogy of crime; An Inspector Calls, of 2015, with David Thewlis, adapts the play of J. B. Priestley, and two films of Jane Austen of 2007 close it, Northanger Abbey, with Felicity Jones, and Persuasion, with Sally Hawkins. The guide British television follows the shelf.

Movies of the series

The shelf Movies of the series holds thirteen films from 1993 to 2023 that bring a television series back for one more story, to close it, to continue it or to start it again. Its most voted film is the most voted of the guide, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, of 2019, written and directed by Vince Gilligan, the creator of the series, in which Aaron Paul returns as Jesse Pinkman in the hours after his escape from the gang of the last episode, rated 7.1 with about 5,900 votes. Teen Wolf: The Movie, of 2023, rated 7.4, brought back the cast of the series of MTV; Deadwood: The Movie, of 2019, closed the western of HBO thirteen years after its last season, with Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane, and Psych: The Movie, of 2017, and Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie, of 2023, gave the comic detectives of USA Network a final case.

The science fiction of the shelf continued its series beyond their end: Stargate: The Ark of Truth, of 2008, which closed the story of Stargate SG-1, and Stargate: Continuum, of 2008, a story of time travel with the same team, both rated 7.1; Battlestar Galactica: Razor, of 2007, rated 7.2, the story of the battlestar Pegasus, and Highlander: The Source, of 2007, the film of the immortals of the series, the lowest rated of the shelf, at 4.0. Bonanza: The Return, of 1993, the oldest of the shelf, brought the Cartwright family back to the Ponderosa twenty years later; Looking: The Movie, of 2016, closed the series of HBO about gay friends of San Francisco, and the two live films of Ben 10, Ben 10: Race Against Time, of 2008, and Ben 10: Alien Swarm, of 2009, both by Alex Winter, put the boy with the alien watch of Cartoon Network in the flesh. The guide The finale movie follows the series.

Classic TV movies

The shelf Classic TV movies holds thirteen films from 1971 to 1989 of the golden age of the movie of the week and of the television of Europe. Its most voted film is Duel, of 1971, the first feature of Steven Spielberg, rated 7.4 with about 2,200 votes, and its best rated is the Polish Decalogue I, of 1989, the first of the ten films that Krzysztof Kieślowski made for Polish television from the Ten Commandments, in which a father who trusts his computer more than anything lets his son skate on a frozen pond, rated 8.1. The Day After, of 1983, by Nicholas Meyer, the nuclear war seen from Lawrence, Kansas, watched by some hundred million Americans on its first night, rated 6.8, and the Soviet The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!, of 1976, by Eldar Ryazanov, a comedy of New Year's Eve in which a man of Moscow wakes in a flat of Leningrad identical to his own, which Russian television shows every New Year's Eve, at 192 minutes the longest film of the guide, are the other great events of the shelf.

The horror of the shelf comes from the producer Dan Curtis: The Night Stalker, of 1972, with Darren McGavin as the reporter Carl Kolchak on the trail of a vampire in Las Vegas, the most watched TV movie of its time, and Trilogy of Terror, of 1975, with Karen Black in three roles and the doll of a Zuni warrior that chases her across her flat. John Carpenter made Elvis, of 1979, with Kurt Russell as the King, at 168 minutes; Lucasfilm made two films of the Ewoks of Star Wars for ABC, The Ewok Adventure, of 1984, and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, of 1985; the hero of Marvel arrived on television in Spider-Man, of 1977, with Nicholas Hammond; and the British and American productions of the time gave the shelf Little Lord Fauntleroy, of 1980, with Alec Guinness, and two films of war, All Quiet on the Western Front, of 1979, with Ernest Borgnine, and Escape from Sobibor, of 1987, with Alan Arkin and Rutger Hauer, the true story of the escape from a death camp of 1943. The guide The movie of the week follows the shelf.

The faces of television

Television has its own stars, and the guide shows them. Dove Cameron and Sofia Carson are the daughters of Maleficent and the Evil Queen in the three Descendants films, and Carson also leads Adventures in Babysitting; Selena Gomez appears in three films, the two Wizards films and Princess Protection Program, with Demi Lovato, who leads the two Camp Rock films. Rose McIver is the reporter of the three Christmas Prince films and appears in The Princess Switch: Switched Again; Ian Ziering and Tara Reid fight the sharks of four Sharknado films; Matt Smith and David Tennant are each the Doctor in two films, and Benedict Cumberbatch is Holmes and Cummings in two British films. The voice actor Dee Bradley Baker is heard in seven films, from The Lion Guard and Phineas and Ferb to Family Guy and the two Ben 10 films. Among the directors, Paul Hoen made eight films of the guide, from Jump In! and Read It and Weep to the three Z-O-M-B-I-E-S, and Kenny Ortega six, the two High School Musical films, The Cheetah Girls 2 and the three Descendants. The guide The stars lists the actors who appear most often.

The channels and their studios

Behind the films of the guide stand a handful of channels and studios, each with its own style. ABC Circle Films, the studio of the network ABC, made The Night Stalker, Trilogy of Terror and The Day After; Rankin/Bass made the puppets of Rudolph and the drawings of Frosty; HBO Films made the true stories of the prestige shelf, from Gia and Temple Grandin to The Normal Heart and Game Change, and BBC Cymru Wales, the studio of the BBC in Cardiff, made the four specials of Doctor Who. Disney Channel and the companies that worked for it, from Salty Pictures to Bad Angels Productions, made most of the films of the kids' channels, and Cartoon Network Studios made Steven Universe, We Bare Bears and the two live films of Ben 10. The Motion Picture Corporation of America made the Christmas Prince films and The Princess Switch: Switched Again for Netflix, Lifetime produced its films of true crime, and The Asylum, a small studio of California famous for its cheap copies of blockbusters, made the Sharknado films for Syfy, with Megalodon and Megaboa. The guide The channels lists the studios of the guide.

Trailers.to in figures

The 156 films of the guide carry about 113,900 votes on TMDB, with an average rating of 6.63; seven of them reach 8, from Steven Universe: The Movie, at 8.2, to Decalogue I, Prayers for Bobby, Miraculous World and The Time of the Doctor, at 8.1, and the collection Rated 7.5 or more gathers the 24 films rated 7.5 or more, best first. By decade, the guide holds five films of the 1960s, eight of the 1970s, eight of the 1980s, eleven of the 1990s, 38 of the 2000s, 74 of the 2010s and twelve of the 2020s, the decade of the cable channels being the richest by far, and the busiest year is 2015, with twelve films. The collection Before 1990 gathers the 21 films made before 1990, oldest first, from Rudolph to Decalogue I, and the collection The 2000s gathers the 38 films of the years 2000 to 2009.

Together the films last 13,808 minutes, more than 230 hours, or nearly ten days in front of the set; the longest is The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!, with 192 minutes, followed by Escape from Sobibor, with 169, and Elvis, with 168, and the shortest is Kung Fu Panda Holiday, with 21. The United States is the first country of production of 111 films, Canada of 21 and the United Kingdom of seventeen, and Canada is the great hidden studio of the guide, where many of the Disney Channel films and the Christmas romances were shot. The most voted films are El Camino, High School Musical, Bandersnatch, High School Musical 2 and Descendants, and the lowest rated is The Star Wars Holiday Special, at 3.4. The guide The figures gathers every number.

Where to begin

For a first evening in front of the set, take one film from each family: High School Musical for the kids' channels, A Charlie Brown Christmas for the holidays and Duel for the classics. Then follow your mood. For a true story, Temple Grandin, Something the Lord Made and Conspiracy; for a fright, Threads, Trilogy of Terror and The Night Stalker; for a laugh with friends, Sharknado; for a family December, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and A Christmas Prince; for the fans of a series, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride and Deadwood: The Movie. The guide Start with Trailers.to picks one film from each shelf.

How to use Trailers.to

The home page opens with an introduction on a dark card edged in yellow and the board On the channels, with the twelve shelves in three columns, one per family, each with a round play circle, yellow for the kids' channels, amber for holidays and thrills and grey for prestige and classics. Each tile shows the family, the shelf and its number of films, and leads to its row. Each row sits in a white panel with posters and a yellow See all button that opens the full shelf. The menu in the header leads to the three families, and the search box finds any film by its title; the guide Search tips explains how.

Each poster shows the year on a dark tag, the TMDB rating on a yellow tag and, on a dark gradient at the bottom, the tag of its shelf, for example Musical or Classic; under the poster come the title, the first genre and the running time. The film page has the English synopsis, the cast, the director and the genres. The Watch now button opens the film on JustWatch, which shows the services that offer it in your country, and the list button keeps it in My list, stored in your browser. The guide How to use Trailers.to explains each part, and the guide The Watch now button explains how JustWatch works.

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