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CBS Movies

2004  
 
Add Survivor: Season 09 to Queue Add Survivor: Season 09 to top of Queue  
The ninth season of the CBS competitive reality show Survivor takes place on an island in the South Pacific's Ring of Fire where there is more volcanic activity than in any other place on Earth. Hence the "official" title of this season's 15 episodes, Survivor: Vanuatu - Islands of Fire. This year, 18 contestants ranging in age from 21 to 59 participate in the many exhausting challenges leading to the selection of the sole survivor, who in turn will walk home with one million dollars after enduring 39 days on the island. Outside of the cast of the previous year's Survivor: All-Stars, this is the largest number of players ever seen during a single season -- two more than the standard 16. As in Survivor: The Amazon, the contestants are divided into tribes by gender, with the women formed into the Yasur tribe, and the men comprising the Lopevis. Departures from the usual Survivor format during season nine include the participation of local natives in the various challenges; the presence of a contestant (Chad Crittenden) with a prosthetic leg; and the fact that two of the female players are lesbians. Also, for only the second time in Survivor history, a natural disaster -- in this case an earthquake -- figures into the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Jeff ProbstChris Daugherty, (more)
 
2005  
 
Add CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Season 06 to Queue Add CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Season 06 to top of Queue  
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a fast-paced drama about a passionate team of forensic investigators trained to solve crimes the old-fashioned way - by examining the evidence. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is on the case 24-7, scouring the scene, collecting the irrefutable evidence and finding the missing pieces that will solve the mystery.

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Starring:
William PetersenMarg Helgenberger, (more)
 
2004  
 
Add NCIS: Season 02 to Queue Add NCIS: Season 02 to top of Queue  
With the inauguration of its second season, this popular "procedural" series streamlines its title, forsaking the cumbersome Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service for the more familiar NCIS. Joining series regulars Mark Harmon (Leroy Jethro Gibbs), Shana Alexander (Kate Todd), Michael Weatherly (Tony DiNozzo), Pauley Perrette (Abby Sciuto) and David McCallum ("Ducky" Mallard) is former guest actor Sean Murray as MIT-educated lab tech Tim McGee, who is invited to join the NCI team by head man Gibbs himself. Amidst such story elements as kidnappings, serial killers, serial rapists, crop circles, mob hits, transsexuals, disembodied eyeballs and bikini contests, this season permits the viewer to learn just a tiny bit more about the clouded past lives of Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard; we also meet for the first time Ducky's 96-year-old mother, played by Nina Foch (actually 80 years old at the time, and only nine years older than her "son" David McCallum!) And given the world climate, it isn't surprising that the Season Two episodes would make numerous pointed references to the Iraq War and the general unrest in the Middle East. Episodes of note include "Call of Silence", with Charles Durning in the Emmy-nominated role of a highly decorated marine who confesses to committing murder in the heat of battle--60 years earlier; "Doppelganger", which per its title amusingly featutres a team of Virginia law-enforcement officers who are virtual clones of the familier NCI-ers; and "SWAK", wherein team member Tony is among the victims of a bio-terrorist attack. The devastating season finale "Twilight" marks the return of the team's most formidable adversary, Hamad/Mossad double agent and terrorist Ari (Rudolf Martin), who among other acts of villainy coldbloodedly murders one of NCIS' most popular leading characters! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Mark HarmonMichael Weatherly, (more)
 
2005  
 
Add CSI: Miami: Season 04 to Queue Add CSI: Miami: Season 04 to top of Queue  
Join lead criminalist Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and his state-of-the-art forensics team as they investigate hot and steamy Miami crimes using cold hard facts. The CSI: Miami Season 4 Complete DVD Collection features 25 episodes of riveting and shocking mysteries. The evidence leads into seedy nightclubs, privileged suburbs and explosive family secrets. The stakes are higher than ever before, because this time it's personal.

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Starring:
David CarusoEmily Procter, (more)
 
2005  
 
Add Ghost Whisperer: Season 01 to Queue Add Ghost Whisperer: Season 01 to top of Queue  
Ever since she was a young girl, Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has been able to see and talk to dead people--earth bound spirits who have yet to cross over to the other side and who seek her help in communicating and resolving unfinished business with the living. Melinda sometimes has a hard time accepting her "gift," especially now that she's a newlywed and looking forward to starting her new life with her husband, Jim Clancy (David Conrad), a paramedic. Her friend and business partner in the antique store, Andrea Moreno (Aisha Tyler), is fascinated by Melinda's talent. Although Melinda embraces her unique "abilities" as a blessing and sometimes a curse, she always helps her clients--alive or dead--find emotional closure.

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Starring:
Jennifer Love HewittDavid Conrad, (more)
 
2005  
 
Add CSI: NY: Season 02 to Queue Add CSI: NY: Season 02 to top of Queue  
CSI: NY, the third incarnation of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation franchise and the spin-off of CSI: Miami, is a crime drama about forensic investigators who use high-tech science to follow the evidence and solve crimes in The Big Apple.

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Starring:
Gary SiniseMelina Kanakaredes, (more)
 
2005  
 
Add Numb3rs: Season 02 to Queue Add Numb3rs: Season 02 to top of Queue  
NUMB3RS is a drama about an FBI agent who recruits his mathematical-genius brother to help the Bureau solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles. The two brothers take on the most confounding criminal cases from a very distinctive perspective. Inspired by actual cases, the series depicts how the confluence of police work and mathematics provides unexpected revelations and answers to the most perplexing criminal questions. A dedicated FBI agent, Don Eppes (Rob Morrow), couldn't be more different from his younger brother, Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz), a brilliant mathematician who, since he was little, yearned to impress his big brother. As a seasoned investigator, Don deals in hard facts and evidence, whereas Charlie, a math professor at a California university, functions in a world of mathematical probability and equations. Now, despite their disparate approaches to life, Don and Charlie are able to combine their areas of expertise and solve some killer cases.

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Starring:
Rob MorrowDavid Krumholtz, (more)
 
2006  
 
Add The Unit: Season 01 to Queue Add The Unit: Season 01 to top of Queue  
They are The Unit, a covert Special Forces team operating outside the usual military chain of command. Whether stateside or aboard, these heroes are on the frontlines protecting U.S. citizens and foreigners alike, slipping in under the radar and risking their lives to save the day then leaving just as quietly without any well-deserved credit or thanks. Starring Dennis Haysbert and Scott Foley, this riveting, action-packed drama is as realistic and pulse-pounding as it gets.

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Starring:
Dennis HaysbertRegina Taylor, (more)
 
2005  
 
Add Survivor: Season 10 to Queue Add Survivor: Season 10 to top of Queue  
Set in Palau, a cluster of independently governed islands near Micronesia, the tenth season of Survivor is described at the outset by series host Jeff Probst as "a season of firsts." And indeed it is. For the first time, 20 contestants -- two more players than ever before -- are whisked off to the exotic locale that will serve as the series' backdrop for 39 days. For the first time, three people are voted off the island in the initial episode -- and one of these is the first African-American contestant to be eliminated after only three days. For the first time, no new tribe is formed when the remaining members of the original tribes are merged. And those are but a few of this year's "firsts." One of the season's "stars" turns out to be Coby Archa, an extremely vocal gentleman whose constant complaints and bursts of anger (described by TV Guide as "high school frustration") place him on the same lofty level as the "whiner supreme" from season one, the unforgettable Susan Hawk. That Coby doesn't make it to the final four is no surprise, though those who do make it are surprising in their own right. After the final episode of Survivor: Palau, the memorabilia from the season is auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS foundation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Jeff Probst
 
2003  
 
Add NCIS: Season 01 to Queue Add NCIS: Season 01 to top of Queue  
Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service was the somewhat redundant official title of this popular "procedural" series during its first season on the air. Mark Harmon tops the cast as the rule-bending, intensely private Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the head of an elite NCI team specializing in solving baffling crimes related to US Navy personnel. Gibbs' cohorts during this season include tough, outspoken Caitlin"Kate" Todd (Shana Alexander), former Baltimore homicide detective (and flagrant womanizer) Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), caffeine-addicted, goth-girl technogeek Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette); and all-knowing, long-winded chief lab technician Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum). Though the two-part pilot episode was filmed for the military-legal series JAG, it was not shown until several weeks after NCIs proper premiered with its debut episode "Yankee White" (in the pilot, Robyn Lively is seen as Viv Blackadder, the character that eventually morphed into Abby Sciuto). Its plot involving a mysterious death during a flight of Air Force One, "Yankee White" introduces several recurring characters: Alan Dale as NCIs director Tom Morrow, Joe Spano as FBI agent Fornell and Pancho Demmings as Ducky's assistant Gerald Jackson. Another frequently seen character, Special Agent Paula Cassidy, first shows up in "Minimum Security", while Gerald Jackson's ultimate replacement Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen makes his bow in "Split Decision". Finally, "Sub Rosa" marks the initial appearance of MIT-educated lab tech Tim McGee (Sean Murray), who would join the cast as a regular in Season Two. The series' second episode, "Hung Out to Dry", is something of a crossover, with Patrick Labyorteaux appearing in his JAG characterization of Lt. Bud Roberts. "My Other Left Foot" is a reunion of sorts for onetime St. Elsewhere regulars Mark Harmon and Bonnie Bartlett. And "Bete Noire" introduces the series' most vicious antagonist, Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin)--Hamad/Mossad double agent, terrorist, master of disguise, and ultimate assassin of one of the show's best-loved characters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Mark HarmonMichael Weatherly, (more)
 
2005  
 
Add Numb3rs: Season 01 to Queue Add Numb3rs: Season 01 to top of Queue  
FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) recruits his mathematical genius brother Charlie (David Krumholtz) to help the Bureau solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles. The two brothers take on the most confounding criminal cases from a very distinctive perspective. Dr. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) is Charlie's friend and colleague who urges Charlie to focus more on his university studies than on FBI business. Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch), is pleased to see his two sons working together, but fears their competitive nature will lead to trouble.

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Starring:
Rob MorrowDavid Krumholtz, (more)
 
1994  
 
Add The Nanny: Season 02 to Queue Add The Nanny: Season 02 to top of Queue  
Moving from Wednesdays to Mondays, The Nanny begins its second season on CBS, with Fran Drescher as the title character. Offering 26 episodes this season (up from the previous year's 22), the series provides ample time and space for abrasive, down-to-earth Fran Fine (Drescher) to gleefully upset the decorum of the posh town house owned by her widowed employer, Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). Despite Fran's million-and-one social gaffes, Maxwell could never bring himself to fire her as the family's nanny, especially since his children, Maggie (Nicholle Tom), Brighton (Benjamin Salisbury), and Grace (Madeline Zima), dote upon our heroine. Even the Sheffields' haughty butler, Niles (Daniel Davis), has warmed up to Fran, if for no other reason than she provides a potential threat to Niles' sworn enemy: Maxwell's bitchy, predatory business partner C.C. Babock (Laura Lane) -- who has been trying to manipulate Maxwell into marriage for years. This season, the possibility begins to arise that the relationship between Fran and Maxwell will eventually blossom into something more than "strictly business." The first clue occurs in the season opener, "Fran-Lite, in which Fran encourages Maxwell to re-enter the dating scene, only to have him go out with a woman who is exactly like her! Other episodes of note include "Everybody Needs a Bubby," in which Fran's freewheeling grandmother Yetta (Ann Morgan Guilbert) briefly moves into the Sheffield household (and now it's Fran's turn to go into the "snob" act!); "A Star Is Born," in which Fran finds herself on-stage playing Juliet, with Fran Drescher's then real-life husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, as Romeo; and the season finale, "Fran Gets Mugged," which not only offers a delightful spin on an old urban legend, but also sets up a situation whereby Fran and Maxwell come very, very close to exchanging their first romantic kiss. As in the previous season, The Nanny exploits the fact that Maxwell Sheffield is supposed to be a major producer by featuring several celebrity guest stars, cast as "themselves": Bob Barker, Sally Jessy Raphael, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Shari Lewis, and Billy Ray Cyrus, to name but a few. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Fran DrescherCharles Shaughnessy, (more)
 
2003  
 
Add Survivor: Season 07 to Queue Add Survivor: Season 07 to top of Queue  
As originally conceived, the seventh season of the popular CBS "reality" game show Survivor was to have been an "all-star" exravaganza, with the winners of the previous seasons' competitions, together with the most popular players, reuniting for another round of challenges and elimations. However, Survivor: All Stars was temporarily shelved to make way for a brand-new competition, set in the Pearl Islands, a chain of 100 islands off the coast of Panama that were once infamous for their confluence of pirates and buccaneers (season seven was initially titled "Survivor: Panama," but this title had already been used by the British version of the series). In keeping with the "pirate" motif, the 16 contestants were divided into the "Drake" and "Morgan" tribes. Also, the competition involved acts of larceny, with significants objects being stolen from one tribe by the other and vice versa. And, of course, there was a mad scramble for a buried treasure with selected players holding sections of the treasure map in their hot little hands. This aspect of the game was one of several "firsts" occurring throughout Survivor: Pearl Islands. Other examples include the first player to voluntarily quit the game without being voted off the island (Osten Taylor), and the first time in which six people previously eliminated were offered the opportunity to return to the game. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Jeff Probst
 
2005  
 
Add The Amazing Race: Season 07 to Queue Add The Amazing Race: Season 07 to top of Queue  
Season seven of The Amazing Race finds a team of celebrities competing in the series' traditional round-the-world challenge race: Amber Brkich and Rob Mariano, both alumni of another popular reality show, Survivor. Seeing as how Amber had already won that show's grand prize of a million dollars through an alliance with Rob, they were not a popular team on The Amazing Race, to say the least. Rob's overconfidence, rudeness, and frequent insistance on bending the rules almost to their breaking point also added to other teams' comtempt for them. Without saying any more, though, it can be noted that Amber and Rob do not walk away with Amazing Race's million-dollar prize. That honor goes to another of the 11 teams competing this season, which include Uchenna & Joyce Agu, Ron Young & Kelly McCorkle, Gretchen & Meredith Smith, Lynn Warren & Alex Ali, Greg & Brian Smith, Deana Shane & Ray Housteau, Susan & Patrick Vaughn, Debbie Cloyd & Bianca Smith, Megan Baker & Heidi Heidel, and Ryan Phillips & Chuck Horton. Also noteworthy is the fact that elderly couple Gretchen & Meredith Smith were the oldest team to ever make it to the final four, surpassing the record of Don and Mary Jean St. Claire from the previous season. The season-seven stopovers include such exotic locales as Peru, Chile, Argentina, South Africa (Johannesburg), India, Turkey, Jamaica, and even Abbey Road in London (and not a barefooted Beatle in sight!). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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2004  
 
Add CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Season 05 to Queue Add CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Season 05 to top of Queue  
As season four of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation drew to a close, it appeared as though a contract dispute would rob the series of two of its most popular characters, Las Vegas PD forensic specialists Sara Sidel (Jorja Fox) and Nick Stokes (George Eads). At the last moment, however, a suitable financial arrangement was worked out, and both characters -- and the actors who played them -- were retained for the whole of season five. Reiko Aylesworth stars in the first episode ("Viva Las Vegas") as Chandra Moore, a dedicated, no-nonsense lab tech who is to replace Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda) when Greg is promoted to CSI field duty. Both Chandra and Greg prove to be worthy of their new responsibilities, though both are somewhat nonplussed by being dropped head-first into a whole new world of investigation. (Aylesworth's character was dropped after Fox and Eads resolved their contracts.) In a major mid-season development, a storm of controversy attending the apparent bungling of a murder investigation prompts CSI boss Ecklie (Marc Vann) to split the forensics bureau into two teams, with senior officer Gil Grissom (William L. Petersen) heading one team, and his former assistant Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) heading another. The arrangement is hardly to the liking of either party, especially when the efficiency their investigations is compromised by radical and often arbitrary budget cuts. Other demons plaguing the CSIers this season include the return of a particularly vicious (and brilliant) serial killer from the earlier episode "The Execution of Catherine Willows," the revelation that a man with whom Catherine flirted in a bar is the prime suspect in a high-profile murder case, and the unpleasant childhood memories of Sara Sidel. The Grissom and Willows teams are reunited for the season's unbearably suspenseful finale, "Grave Danger" (a two-parter directed by Quentin Tarantino) as the combined officers search for their colleague Nick Stokes (George Eads), who has been buried alive in a casket filled with red ants by a maniacal murderer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
William PetersenMarg Helgenberger, (more)
 
2004  
 
Add CSI: Miami: Season 03 to Queue Add CSI: Miami: Season 03 to top of Queue  
The opening episode of CSI: Miami's third season represents the final series appearance of Rory Cochrane as Tim Speedle, streetwise member of the Florida-based CSI unit headed by the mercurial Horatio Caine (David Caruso). Speedle is killed during the investigation of a combination kidnapping and jewel theft, though it would not be until the following episode that the viewers would know which of the team members lost his (or her) life. Fortunately, the remainder of the unit -- including detectives Yelina Salas (Sofia Milos), Calleigh Duquesne (Elizabeth Procter), and Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez) -- are alive and well, still solving crimes by combing through the most microscopic of forensic evidence. Also on hand in an increasingly recurring role is Rex Linn as Detective Frank Tripp, while Jonathan Togo as Ryan Wolfe makes the transition from recurring to regular. This season, the unit's cases include a murderer who acts as his own lawyer (and is damn good at it!), an e-mail "flash message" that leads to a death on a golf course, a baseball player accused of murder whose defense team members may be accessories after the fact, a gang-related killing that is sparked by the proverbial woman scorned, a search for a counterfeiting ring that is complicated by a sudden and enormous influx of tourists, and a fire in the Everglades which might or might not have been set as a literal smokescreen for a serial killer. ~ Rovi

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Starring:
David CarusoEmily Procter, (more)
 
2004  
 
Add CSI: NY: Season 01 to Queue Add CSI: NY: Season 01 to top of Queue  
Introduced in May 2004 as an episode of CSI: Miami, the CBS "procedural" cop drama CSI: NY launches its first full season with 22 hour-long episodes. The opener, "Blink," finds NYC Crime Lab head Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and his team of brilliant, iconoclastic forensic specialists hunting for a serial killer using clues provided by the perp's only surviving victim -- who has lost virtually all powers of communication. Later investigations involve a hungry rat who has swallowed vital evidence, a skeleton found by a tourist which may or may not be a hoax planted to throw the police off the trail of a real crime, and a grisly robbery-murder in Brooklyn in which the victims were systematically shot and smothered to death. Also, a police terrorist-response drill compromises the CSI's efforts to rescue a kidnap victim; a police horse may have to be put to sleep to retrieve an important clue as to the murder of the horse's rider; Mac's protégé Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) gets a bit too up-close and personal while hunting down a gang of young punks who kill for sport rather than profit; the team tries to determine if a somnambulist committed murder while asleep; three murders occurring simultaneously in three different boroughs might be connected; and the CSIers are forced to turn a mirror on their "own" when the chief investigator in a police-corruption case is murdered before making his findings public. The season ends with the episode "What You See Is What You See," in which Mac must choose to save the life of a shooting victim or immediately chase after the shooter -- a decision that triggers tortuous memories of the death of Mac's own wife during the 9/11 terrorist attack. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Gary SiniseMelina Kanakaredes, (more)
 
2001  
 
Add The Amazing Race: Season 01 to Queue Add The Amazing Race: Season 01 to top of Queue  
The first season of the elaborate reality/adventure series The Amazing Race finds 11 teams, each consisting of two "related" players, competing throughout the world for a one-million-dollar prize -- all the while racing against the clock and staying within the tight budgets established in the first episode. Among the teams this season are Rob Frisbee & Brennan Swain, Frank & Margarita Mesa, Bill Bartek & Joe Baldassare, Drew Feinberg & Kevin O'Connor, Nancy & Emily Hoyt, Lenny Hudson & Karyn Jefferson, Paul Alessi & Amie Barsky, and David & Margaretta Groark. The first leg of the race takes the teams from New York to South Africa, thence through France, Tunisia, the Sahara, Italy, England, India, Thailand, China, and Alaska. In episode nine, the couple who seem to be the "sure winners" are eliminated for deliberately avoiding one of their physical tasks. Without revealing any more, it can be noted that the first team to arrive at the final pit stop in Flushing Meadows, NY -- and, in so doing, winning the million-dollar grand prize -- consists of two males. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1993  
 
Add The Nanny: Season 01 to Queue Add The Nanny: Season 01 to top of Queue  
Season one of The Nanny begins as the cheerfully abrasive Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) is fired from her job at her ex-fiancé's bridal store in Queens. Taking a new job selling cosmetics door to door, Fran ends up in the foyer of the lavish Manhattan town house owned by British-born Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). Mistaking Fran as an applicant for the job of nanny, Sheffield's haughty butler, Niles (Daniel Davis), escorts our overwhelmed heroine into the house -- and before you can say "Oy gevalt!," Fran has accepted the nanny position, tackling the not inconsiderable task of caring for Maxwell's children: 14-year-old Maggie (Nicholle Tom), ten-year-old Brighton (Benjamin Salisbury), and six-year-old Grace (Madeline Zima). Although both Maxwell and Niles are aghast at Fran's manners -- or lack of same -- Niles would rather have Fran in the house than Maxwell's bitchy, predatory business partner C.C. Babcock (Laura Lane). Quickly establishing the series' predilection for guest stars, season one of The Nanny finds Cloris Leachman cast as Maxwell's former governess in the episode "The Nanny-in-Law," Andy Dick in a dual role in "Maggie the Model," Rita Moreno as the title character in "The Gym Teacher," and even Fran Drescher's real-life mother, Sylvia Drescher, who shows up in family home movies in "I Don't Remember Mama." Also, allowing for the fact that Maxwell Sheffield is a major showbiz mover-and-shaker, a handful of celebrities appear as themselves during The Nanny's maiden season, among them Carol Channing and Patti LaBelle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Fran DrescherCharles Shaughnessy, (more)
 
2001  
 
Add Survivor: Season 02 to Queue Add Survivor: Season 02 to top of Queue  
After its spectacularly successful first season, Survivor returned on January 28, 2001 (right after CBS' coverage of Super Bowl XXXV), with 16 new contestants -- Americans all -- and an exotic and potentially dangerous new locale: the Australian Outback. More specifically, the 16 "castaways" were flown by members of the Royal Australian Rescue Team to Goshen Station, a eucalyptus-laden cattle ranch some 1500 miles north of Sydney. Although not exactly desolate, Goshen Station was nonetheless treacherous, especially for anyone accustomed to the niceties of urban civilization. Particularly vexing was the possibility of snakebite, with no fewer than ten deadly serpentine species to choose from. Distinguishing this Survivor season from the previous one, which took place off the coast of Borneo, were several factors. For one, the site of the weekly Tribal Council was designed in a different fashion, with a local cliff transformed into a Stonehenge-like edifice, festooned with "ancient" Aboriginal artifacts (which were largely products of the producers' imaginations). Also, the various and sundry challenges were much tougher this time out as exemplified by the "Tuckered Out" challenge, wherein the castaways were required to eat such delicacies as cow intestines. Finally, the "final four" castaways were expected to endure no fewer than 42 days in the Outback, as opposed to the 39 days spent in the first season's Pulau Tiga island. As before, the 16 contestants were divided into two tribes: the Kucha (from the Aboriginal word for kangaroo) and the Ogakor (the native word for freshwater crocodile). And, adhering to formula, both tribes eventually merged into the single Barrumundi tribe, with one castaway per episode being voted off the settlement on both sides of the merger. While none of the contestants was quite as venerable as the first season's Rudy (72 years young), there was still quite an age range with contestant Rodger Bingham topping the chart at age 53. Ultimately, the race did not go to the youngest but the swiftest: The person who ended up winning the one-million-dollar grand prize on Survivor: The Australian Outback turned out to be a 40-year-old nurse; however, the season's most memorable moments were provided by one of the early "losers," castaway Michael Skupin, who in one episode cheerfully slaughtered a pig in full view of his companions -- and in his farewell episode fainted face-first into a smoldering campfire. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Jeff Probst
 
2003  
 
Add CSI: Miami: Season 02 to Queue Add CSI: Miami: Season 02 to top of Queue  
Although Horatio Caine (David Caruso) is still in charge of a super-efficient team of forensic criminologists during season two of CSI: Miami, one of those team members, former CSI head Megan Donner, is conspicuous by her absence -- as indeed she had been since halfway through season one. According to the plotline, Megan had quit the unit because she could not shake her memories of her husband's violent death. According to Hollywood rumor, however, the actress who played Megan, Kim Delaney, was unable to establish a rapport with series star David Caruso. Whatever the case, the unit has a new member this year, Detective Yelina Salas (Sofia Milos). Also added to the cast is the CSI's new DNA tech, Valera (Boti Ann Bliss). Throughout the season, the taciturn Caine will be drawn emotionally to Salas. This however, does not compromise either team member's ability to solve crimes by piecing together the tiniest bits of forensic evidence. CSI's assignments this year include the investigation of a model's death by deliberate vehicular homicide; the probe of a murder by spear gun; a closer examination of the death of a man who was supposedly killed in a hurricane (he wasn't); and Caine's ongoing campaign to locate the murderer of his brother. One of the final episodes of season two, "MIA/NYC -- NonStop," represents a crossover between CSI: Miami and its sister series, CSI: NY, allowing David Caruso to compare notes with his CSI: NY counterpart, Gary Sinise. ~ Rovi

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Starring:
David CarusoEmily Procter, (more)