Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.
This description that appeared on TCM in 1998 is one of the most infamous TV guide descriptions of all time. Written by Rick Polito it casts this family film in an even darker light. Forget melting witches, this is a film about a child psychopath that murders everyone she encounters. What makes it so brilliant is that the is more than a grain of truth in the description. Dorothy does kill the Wicked Witch of the East and goes on to be aided by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion in finding a way home, taking out the Wicked Witch of the West in the process. No one in Oz is safe when this girl is around. When the TV guide description resurfaced on the internet at the start of this year, Polito told Jim Romenesko.com, That line is going to follow me to the grave. It was just on Leno, it was a clue in a crossword puzzle, it showed up in Playboy, and people use it as their email sigs. TV guide writers having a sense of humour or genuine miscomprehension of what the films are about? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
A writer for Whatculture since May 2013, I also write for TheRichest.com and am the TV editor and writer for Thedigitalfix.com . I wrote two plays for the Greater Manchester Horror Fringe in 2013, the first an adaption of Simon Clark's 'Swallowing A Dirty Seed' and my own original sci-fi horror play 'Centurion', which had an 8/10* review from Starburst magazine! (http://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/eventsupcoming-genre-events/6960-event-review-centurion) I also wrote an episode for online comedy series Supermarket Matters in 2012. I aim to achieve my goal for writing for television (and get my novels published) but in the meantime I'll continue to write about those TV shows I love! Follow me on Twitter @BazGreenland and like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BazGreenlandWriter
