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

Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, A: The Annette Funicello Story (1995) TV Movie

This made-for-television biography paints a moving portrait of the extraordinary life of Annette Funicello, a former Mouseketeer who grew up to be America's sweetheart and Queen of the Beach Blanket movies of the 1960s. The story not only covers her professional rise to stardom both as an actress and a recording star, but also provides a look into her private life, notably her romance with Paul Anka, her two marriages, and her life after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1980s. Eva LaRue Callahan plays Funicello. The subject herself also makes a cameo appearance along with former co-star Frankie Avalon. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

 A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story (1995) TV Movie

Cast: Eva La Rue, Len Cariou, Frank Crudele, Jack Gilardi, David Lipper, Don S. Davis, Louis Ferreira, Andrea Nemeth, Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Linda Lavin

On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story (1990) TV Movie

As indicated by the title, this made-for-TV movie charts the rise and fall of Olympic figure skater Tai Babilonia. Partnered since childhood with Randy Gardner, Tai skated her way to the 1979 World Championship. Her hopes for Olympics success in 1980 are scuttled when her partner Gardner suffers a groin injury and is unable to compete. Tai responds to this disappointment by descending into drug abuse, culminating in an attempted suicide. The plucky skater recovers from all this, and the film ends on a hopeful note. "On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story" stars Rachel Crawford as Tai and Charlie Stratton as Randy, but that's the real Babilonia and Gardner recreating their classic routines in the long shots. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story (1990) TV Movie
Cast: Charlie Stratton, Chuck Shamata, Denise Nicholas, Michael Phillip Edwards, Nicole Lyn, Rachael Crawford, William Daniels

Delphi Bureau, The (1972) TV Movie

Delphi Bureau was the pilot film for a short-lived TV espionage series. Lawrence Luckinbill plays an operative for a secret agency that answers only to the US President. His current mission is to locate an entire fleet of obsolete Air Force planes that have vanished without a trace. Very ordinary cold-war fare, The Delphi Bureau contains one or two neat touches, notably the cryptic poems that appear on-screen just before the commercial breaks. Celeste Holm, playing the Washington social leader who acts as Luckinbill's contact, was replaced by Anne Jeffreys when this TV movie graduated to a weekly series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Delphi Bureau (1972) TV Movie
Cast:  Bob Crane, Bradford Dillman, Cameron Mitchell, Celeste Holm, Dean Jagger, Joanna Pettet, Laurence Luckinbill, Pamelyn Ferdin

Beauty (1998) TV Movie

This made-for-television romantic fantasy is based on author Susan Wilson's novel-length, updated version of Beauty and the Beast. The beauty is talented painter Alix Miller. Her father Alexander was scheduled to paint a family portrait for the reclusive author Lee Crompton, but he fell ill and could not. Alix decides to take his place. Much to her shock, Lee is horribly disfigured. Still, she has an obligation and so continues with the painting. As time passes, she finds herself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic Lee, who in spite of his own fears, finds himself equally interested in her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Beauty (1998) TV Movie

Cast: Janine Turner, Jamey Sheridan, Linden Ashby, Shirley Broderick, Malcolm Stewart, Kevin McNulty, Hal Holbrook, Lossen Chambers

Submerged (2001) TV Movie

On 12 May, following a yard overhaul, Squalus began a series of test dives off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After successfully completing 18 dives, she went down again off the Isles of Shoals on the morning of 23 May at 42°53′N 70°37′W. Failure of the main induction valve caused the flooding of the aft torpedo room, both engine rooms, and the crew's quarters, drowning 26 men immediately. Quick action by the crew prevented the other compartments from flooding. Squalus bottomed in 243 ft (74 m) of water.

Submerged (2001) TV Movie

Cast: Sam Neill, Shea Whigham, Emily Procter, Hugh O'Conor, Raymond Waring, Jenna Harrison, James Sikking

Fifth Corner, The (1992) TV series

A man with no recollection of his identity whatsoever learns that he may be a deep-undercover special agent.

AVAILABLE EPISODES 
Trio (1)

Season 1, Episode 1
17 April 1992

Trio (2)

Season 1, Episode 2
17 April 1992

Eva

Season 1, Episode 3
24 April 1992

The Fifth Corner (1992) TV series

Cast: Alex McArthur, Anthony Valentine, J.E. Freeman, James Coburn, Kim Delaney

Hollywood Fashion Machine, The (1995) TV Documentary

Documentary chronicling the impact of Hollywood on the fashion world. Or is it; Documentary chronicling the impact of the fashion world on Hollywood?

The Hollywood Fashion Machine (1995) TV Documentary

Host: Jacqueline Bisset

Images of the 80s (1990) (TV)

The ABC perspective of how went the 80s. Told through smug narrative combined with the vast archives of the ABC news machine.






Images of the 80s (1990) (TV)
Host: Peter Jennings

Frostfire (1994) TV Movie

After the suicide of a snowboarder friend, his brother, Brandon, takes the depressed Nelson Nagarauk home to their tradition-conscious Inuit family at 69 degrees north.

Frostfire (1994) TV Movie

Cast: Mosha Cote, Wendy Crewson, David Quamaniq

Freedom Fighter (1988) TV Movie

The made-for-TV "Freedom Fighter" is set in the divided Berlin of 1961. Tony Danza plays an idealistic American GI whose sweetheart is among those stranded in East Berlin by the erection of the Wall; he vows to help as many Easterners as possible escape to the freedom of the West. Other cast members include Sid Caesar as a philosophical holocaust survivor and David McCallum as a martinet Communist military officer. The film was lensed in West Berlin, one year before the Wall was bulldozed into oblivion. The script for "Freedom Fighter" was loosely based on "The Berlin Wall", a book by Pierre Galante. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Freedom Fighter (1988) TV Movie

Cast: Colette Stevenson, David McCallum, David Robb, Sid Caesar, Tony Danza

First You Cry (1978) TV Movie

NBC correspondent Betty Rollin's book about her own mastectomy was adapted for television by Carmen Culver. Mary Tyler Moore plays Ms. Rollins, who discovers after her breast surgery that her "loving" husband (Anthony Perkins) is a cad who can't withstand the pressure of living with a woman in dire need of emotional support. Thankfully, Ms. Rollins is able to begin a new life with the tender, compassionate man (Richard Crenna) who's loved her all along. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is just as simplistic as its romantic angle. Despite Mary Tyler Moore's consummate performance, First You Cry (originally telecast November 8, 1978) is better read than seen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

First You Cry (1978) TV Movie

Cast: Mary Tyler Moore, Anthony Perkins, Jennifer Warren, Richard Dysart, Don Johnson, Patricia Barry, Antoinette Bower, James A. Watson Jr., Richard Crenna

Face of Fear, The (1990) TV Movie

The TV-movie thriller Face of Fear is a real cliffhanger--or rather, skyscraper-hanger. Lee Horsely plays a psychic mountaineer who's been afraid of heights ever since stumbling off Mt. Everest. Pam Dawber costars as Horsely's patient fiancee. Less patient is neo-Nazi leader Kevin Conroy, who for reasons dictated by the plot chases Horsely and Dawber around and up a 40-story building. The climax finds hero and heroine dangling by their fingertips, and Conroy all prepared to do a little prying loose. The only people watching Face of Fear upon its September 30, 1990 airing were those who'd had their fill of David Lynch's Twin Peaks--which was resolving a cliffhanger of its own for its second-season opener on a rival network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Face of Fear (1990) TV Movie

Cast: Bob Balaban, Kevin Conroy, Lee Horsley, Pam Dawber, Vance Davis, William Sadler

Topper (1979) TV Movie

This updating of the screwball classic about two brand new angels, a carefree rich couple on earth who have a devil of a time getting into heaven stars Kate Jackson and her then-husband Andrew Stevens (who also were the film's executive producers) in the roles played in the 1937 original by Constance Bennett and Cary Grant. It also served as a pilot to a prospective new "Topper" series (the earlier one with Anne Jeffreys and husband Robert Sterling as the invisible twosome ran from 1953 to 1956).

Topper (1979) TV Movie

Cast: Andrew Stevens, Charles Siebert, Estelle Omens, Fred Karlin, Jack Warden, James Karen, Kate Jackson, Lois Hamilton, Rue McClanahan

To My Daughter (1990) TV Movie

Laura Carlson is a well-to-do matron whose oldest daughter dies. The girl was always Laura's favorite; the remaining children, though not unaffected by the loss, hope that now their mother will pay some attention to them. Instead, Laura's grief threatens to shatter her already shaky relationship with her younger offspring. She virtually shuts the kids out of her life in order to finish her older daughter's uncompleted book. To My Daughter was unofficially based on the career of real-life writer Nancy Lynn Schwartz, who did indeed die before completing her history of the Screen Actors' Guild, obliging her mother to finish the job.

To My Daughter (1990) TV Movie

Cast: A.J. Stephans, Ellen Blake, George Coe, James Avery, Jeff Corey, Jennifer Lynn McComb, Noah Blake, Rue McClanahan, Samantha Mathis, Tanya Howard, Tom Irwin

Together Alone (1991)

Brian and Bryan are strangers who hook up for an evening of uninhibited and unsafe sex. Afterward, the two spend the entire evening talking, arguing about everything from sexual identity to gay life to bisexuality to philosophy. Ultimately, AIDS becomes the prime topic of the evening. Though all of the sex occurs off screen, the sex-oriented discussions between the two are quite explicit.

Together Alone (1991)

Cast: Todd Stites, Terry Curry

To My Daughter with Love (1994) TV Movie

TV REVIEWS : 'To My Daughter' Is Rigorously Candid
January 24, 1994|RAY LOYND

"To My Daughter with Love," starring Rick Schroder as a newly widowed dad, is pretty unblinking in its depiction of the rigors of single parenthood (tonight, Channel 4, 9 p.m.).

It's also unusually lachrymose and downbeat for a movie presented under the banner of Disney Family Classics. Sure, it's predictably heartwarming at the fade-out, but the rest of the story is too rigorously candid to be cheerful. Sentimentality takes a holiday in a script (by Michael de Guzman) that almost feels autobiographical.

Schroder, now in his early 20s and no longer Rick-y, is still boyish enough to mirror a husband and father who's barely out of boyhood himself when his life takes a tragic turn. His almost-perfect wife (Megan Gallivan) suddenly dies, leaving him classically ill-prepared to cope with a young daughter in primary school grappling with great adjustments of her own.

Schroder's character, a construction worker with few prospects who likes to go bowling with the boys, is in over his head merely making his daughter's peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches or arriving for appointments on time.

But his major struggle is the girl's over-solicitous grandparents ("Dallas's " Linda Gray and Lawrence Pressman) who live in a big cozy house and weave an agenda to bring up the little girl themselves.

The girl (Ashley Malinger) is wisely directed by Kevin Hooks to be not so much cute and sweet as a real troubled little girl painfully missing her mom and quick to hurt everybody around her.

Lending dimension is Gray's elitist grandmother, a snobbish figure chillingly rendered, and Khandi Alexander as another single parent who befriends the fast-maturing Schroder character without, refreshingly, becoming a romantic interest. It's rare enough in movies to find an eligible, not to mention attractively interracial couple who are happy just being platonic buddies.

Choosing not to be saccharine, the movie opts to be tougher than expected.

To My Daughter with Love (1994) TV Movie

Cast: Ashley Malinger, Eric Hull, Joseph Burke, Khandi Alexander, Lawrence Pressman, Linda Gray, Nealla Gordon, Rick Schroder

Too Good to Be True (1988) TV Movie

Remake of the 1945 classic starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain and Vincent Price. Unfortunately, taking a black & white classic feature film and converting into a TV movie will leave results that some fans of the original will not appreciate. Taken as a stand-alone contemporary product, it's not that bad. I have to admit laughing out loud when Doogie pulls out his crutches in an obvious and heavy-handed attempt to gain sympathy from the audience. If you're a fan of the great Loni Anderson this will hit the spot.

Too Good to Be True (1988) TV Movie
Cast: Loni Anderson, Patrick Duffy, Glynnis O'Connor, Larry Drake, Neil Patrick Harris, James Sikking, Julie Harris, Daniel Baldwin, Ted Gehring

Five of Me, The (1981) TV Movie

Historically, most multiple-personality cases have been women. Based on the autobiographical book by Henry Hawksworth, "The Five of Me" centers on a rare male victim of this bizarre syndrome. David Birney plays Hawksworth, who for his first 36 years lived with four separate personalities. When a fifth manifested itself, the other four displayed reactions ranging from petulant to sadistic. Dee Wallace co-stars as Hawksworth's wife Ann ("Ann is married to five men!" screamed the insensitive ad copy for this film). Made for television, "The Five of Me" was first broadcast on May 12, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Five of Me (1981) TV Movie
Cast: David Birney, Dee Wallace, Mitch Ryan

Fear on Trial (1975) TV Movie

William Devane stars as John Henry Faulk, a popular radio and TV entertainer of the 1950s. In 1956, Faulk is blacklisted on the basis of an attack from the self-appointed anticommunist group AWARE. Fired by CBS, Faulk decides to sue AWARE for libel. His attorney Louis Nizer (George C. Scott) warns him that such a case will take several years to get to court, thus Faulk reluctantly takes a series of low-paying jobs to sustain himself during his "down period". In 1962, the case is finally brought before a judge, with several witnesses pointing out the idiotic iniquities of the Blacklist mentality (one child actor was prohibited from working because he had a name that sounded like that of an adult blacklistee). Appearing as themselves during the courtroom scenes are actress Kim Hunter, herself a blacklist victim, and producers David Susskind and Mark Goodson. Faulk wins his case, though his original award of $3.5 million in damages is later reduced to $550,000, and he is never able to completely return to his pre-blacklist prominence. Like several other filmic recreations of the "witch-hunt" era, Fear on Trial was first presented in the mid-1970s (October 2, 1975, to be exact), long after the most zealous of the 1950s anti-Red groups had fallen by the wayside. The film earned an Emmy award for screenwriter David Rintels. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Fear on Trial (1975) TV Movie

Cast: George C. Scott, William Devane, Dorothy Tristan, Allan Miller, Paul Hecht, Lois Nettleton, John Houseman, Judd Hirsch, David Susskind