Gilda Radner: It's Always Something (2002) TV Movie

TELEVISION REVIEW; Remembering the Laughs, Succumbing to the Tears

BY NEIL GENZLINGER
Who knows what emotion ABC was hoping to stir in the audience with tonight's made-for-television movie about Gilda Radner, the comedian who shone so brightly on "Saturday Night Live" and died of ovarian cancer at 42. Perhaps sympathy. Perhaps nostalgia. Almost certainly not annoyance. Yet annoying is the word that best describes this clumsy biography, "Gilda Radner: It's Always Something," based on Radner's autobiography. A story that should have power and pathos instead seems like just one long cliché, drenched in saccharin and syrupy music.

Gilda Radner: It's Always Something (2002) TV Movie

Cast: Jami Gertz, Tom Rooney, George Wyner, Eric Siegel, John Viener, Danilo Di Julio, Patrick Fischler, Marcia Bennett, Maureen Ross Neilson, Jennifer Irwin, Dixie Seatle, Kathryn Winslow, Ari Cohen, Lisa Messinger, Mather Zickel

Good Advice (1993) TV series 1993-1994

Marriage counselor Susan DeRuzza winds up sharing office space with divorce attorney Jack Harold and sparks fly.

AVAILABLE EPISODES

Season 1, Episode 6

Turning Thirteen

7 May 1993

Good Advice (1993) TV series 1993-1994
Cast: Shelley Long, Ross Malinger, Treat Williams, George Wyner, Teri Garr

Man of the People (1991) TV series

Meet Jim Doyle. He's got all the qualifications to be a successful politician... And he's just been appointed City Councilman. He's a con man. He brings lots of "con" fidence to everything he does. He's a gambler. He likes a good race, especially if it's run by competitors with four legs. He's a hustler. Not necessarily one who'll make 12 campaign stops a day. Jim Doyle's a hustling politician who's been around the block...from the Pool Hall, all the way to City Hall. "If the race can't be won, fix it." - Jim Doyle In his time, Jim Doyle has done it all. Now, thanks to a bizarre turn of events, he's about to add City Councilman to a resumé that includes big-time pool player and "small-time grifter." Jim's past also included a failed marriage to a crusading city councilwoman who was beloved by the entire community. With her unexpected death, City Hall suddenly needed a suitable replacement. Someone with just the right background, which in political terms meant someone they could control. Jim Doyle seemed like the perfect choice, or so they thought. It turns out, Jim's been around enough unsavory characters to know when he's being hustled, and he's enough of a betting man to welcome a good challenge. So against his better instincts, and with the reluctant help of his ex-wife's loyal personal assistant, he accepts the position of City councilman. Almost instantly, he wins the people over, playing politics his own special way. In the weeks and months ahead it becomes increasingly apparent that whoever said "you can't beat City Hall" never met Jim Doyle. (NBC)

AVAILABLE EPISODES

Season 1, Episode 1

Pilot

15 September 1991

Season 1, Episode 3

The Pool Hall

29 September 1991

Season 1, Episode 4
Here's to You, Mrs. Lawrence

6 October 1991

Season 1, Episode 5

Of Cars and Kids and Cads

13 October 1991

Man of the People (1991) TV series

Cast: James Garner, Corinne Bohrer, George Wyner, Romy Windsor, Taylor Nichols, Kate Mulgrew

Hail to the Chief (1985) TV series

Julia Mansfield is the first woman to be elected President of the United States.

Weird, ahead of it's time show with an impotent ("You're my Commander in Chief!") ex-astronaut husband played by the legendary Ted Bessell, a gay personal secretary and other quirks. Fun to hear the word "Homo" on TV, really pricks the ear. This is a Susan Harris show, similar to "Soap" or "Benson", even the theme music is the same lilting type ditty. One funny note, during the first episode the Prez (Patty) says to her husband, "I didn't intend to be President but the law says when the President can't fulfill his obligation the Vice-President takes over". Get it? She wasn't a popularly elected President, she came in through the side door. Read into that what you will. One nice touch was the artistic hand drawn frames used in the title sequence. Very classy, like they don't do no more.
 
AVAILABLE EPISODES 
Season 1, Episode 1
9 April 1985

Hail to the Chief (1985) TV series
Cast: Alexa Hamilton, Burton Gilliam, George Wyner, Glynn Turman, Herschel Bernardi, Joel Brooks, Pat Hingle, Patty Duke, Richard Paul, Ricky Paull Goldin, Rose Marie, Ted Bessell