Joanna Kerns Movies

Laid-back psychiatrist Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) is still conducting his business from his Long Island home as Growing Pains launches its second season, but Jason's wife Maggie undergoes a radical change of scenery when she leaves her job at the "Long Island Herald" behind to accept a post as TV reporter for local outlet Channel 19 -- appearing under her maiden name, Maggie Malone. The season opens with what must have once been a carved-in-stone requirement on TV sitcoms: a family vacation to Hawaii (taped on location on the island of Maui), which of course is plagued with all sorts of farcical misfortunes. In another standard-issue TV comedy device, the later two-part episode "The Obscure Objects of Our Desire" uses a spring-housecleaning session as an excuse for an economical "clip show," featuring highlights from seasons one and two. And still another two-parter "How the West Was Won," serves as a springboard for Growing Pains recurring character Coach Lubbock's (Bill Kirchenbauer) new spin-off sitcom Just the Ten of Us, introducing several of that series' future regulars. On the "Look who that is!" guest-star scene this season, Heather Graham shows up as Cindy, one of Mike Seaver's (Kirk Cameron) fellow students; Brad Pitt plays transfer student Jeffrey, for whom Mike's sister Carol (Tracey Gold) briefly ditches her erstwhile boyfriend Bobby (Kevin Gerard Wixted). And Gilligan's Island alumnus Alan Hale Jr. is seen as a mysterious cabdriver in a fantasy episode wherein youngest Seaver kid Ben (Jeremy Miller) imagines that he has been replaced in his own home by another Ben Seaver. Season three concludes with Mike graduating from high school -- and a disgruntled Carol losing a long-standing bet that he'd never make it! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As season five of Growing Pains gets under way, neither psychiatrist Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) nor his TV-journalist wife Maggie (Joanna Kerns) are pleased that their son Mike (Kirk Cameron) has become engaged to Julie (Julie McCullough), the young woman whom the Seavers had hired as nanny for their infant daughter, Chrissy. As it turns out, the elder Seavers had nothing to worry about -- after considerable rumination, Mike and Julie decide to break off the engagement. Later on, Mike will begin attending acting classes, where he will meet and fall for fellow student Kate Malone (Chelsea Noble). In other developments this season, a crisis developments when Maggie gets promoted to head of the Channel 19 news team, meaning that Jason won't be able to accept a job at a prestigious Manhattan clinic; Mike manages to land a small part on a popular TV show, but his euphoria is short-lived when his appearance is cut to virtually nothing; and after failing to qualify for a summer semester at Columbia University, Mike's sister Carol (Tracey Gold) takes a job with a publishing company -- which, ironically, may force her to bypass her second opportunity to attend Columbia. In the season finale, Jason seriously contemplates a radical change in his lifestyle when he inherits a mountain cabin in Colorado. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A new production staff is at the helm as Growing Pains launches its seventh and final season. The most significant development this year occurs when aspiring actor Mike Seaver (Kirk Cameron) returns to his family's Long Island home accompanied by 15-year-old homeless youngster Luke Brower, played by none other than Leonardo DiCaprio). Mike had met Luke while temporarily teaching at the inner-city Community Health Center, and felt that the boy could benefit by living in a loving and supportive family situation. Luke does his best to fit in with the Seavers, but he has serious honesty and behavior issues to deal with -- not to mention the unexpected return of his irresponsible father, George (Gary Grubbs). Mike himself has managed to land a role on the daytime soap opera "Big City Secrets," somewhat justifying his decision to pursue a show-business career to his doubting parents Jason (Alan Thicke and Maggie (Joanna Kerns) -- even though his TV character, "Strong Waverly," spends most of his time in a coma with no lines to speak. As for the other Seaver youngsters, 7-year-old Chrissy (Ashley Johnson) is now regularly attending school, making an effort to follow the rather dubious social and academic advice dispensed by her 16-year-old brother Ben (Jeremy Miller). Meanwhile, oldest daughter Carol takes leave of Columbia University to study abroad in London. This plot development was necessitated by the ongoing serious health problems of actress Tracey Gold, whose battle with anorexia had forced her to drop out of the series. Both Carol and Gold's absence were touchingly acknowledged in an episode wherein Ben cheers up his absent sister by sending her a family video that he has filmed. Of the season's guest stars, special attention should be paid to the actress playing the haughty Sasha Serotsky in the episode "Menage a Luke." Yes, it is Hilary Swank, long before either one of her two Oscar-winning film performances. The series ends with the two-part "The Last Picture Show," as the Seaver family prepares to move to Washington so that Maggie can accept a job as media-relations director for a prominent senator -- and in what is almost an afterthought, Mike finally proposes to his erstwhile girlfriend Kate Malone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inspired by the popular Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry movies, the weekly, hour-long NBC cop drama Hunter starred former NFL star Fred Dryer as the Eastwoodesque title character, LAPD detective sergeant Rick Hunter. Originally operating out of the Homicide department, Hunter spent the series' first season patrolling the mean streets of Los Angeles' less savory districts, partnered with the equally no-nonsense lady cop Dee Dee McCall (Stepfanie Kramer), aka "the Brass Cupcake." Using a Magnum revolver that he called Simon--as in "Simon says 'Freeze'!"--Hunter gave no mercy or quarter to the various thugs, pimps, pushers and lowlifes with whom he came in contact. And like Dirty Harry, our hero was given to pithy catchphrases, notably the oft-repeated "Works for me." Introduced with a two-hour TV movie on September 18, 1984, Hunter languished near the bottom of the ratings during its first season due to the stiff competition of CBS's Dallas. Things improved significantly when Roy Huggins took over as executive producer at the beginning of Season Two, primarily due to a softening of the previously grim and intractible characters of Hunter and Dee Dee, and the decision to move them to a more upscale section of LA to provide them with a wider variety of antagonists. Also, Hunter's unsavory past as the son of a mobster--and his checkered present with a slew of crooked relatives and former acquaintances--faded into the background and eventually disappeared altogether. During the first two seasons, Hunter went through several superior officers, each one of whom despised him and sought out any excuse to divest him of his badge. Finally in Season Three, the producers settled on Charles Hallahan as Charles Devane, who remained with the series for the remainder of its run. Though not much more fond of Hunter than his predecessors, Devane was at least willing to cut his most contentious cop a little slack due to the results he'd gotten with his strongarm methods. At the end of Season Six, Dee Dee McCall left the department to get married. The following season, both Hunter and Devane were moved out of Homicide and into the department's elite Metro Division, focusing on cases that warranted extra-special attention. Hunter's new partner was Officer Joanne Molinski (Darlanne Fluegel) who unfortunately was killed halfway through the season. In the series' final months on NBC, Hunter developed a romantic relationship with Sgt. Chris Novak (Lauren Lane), a former girlfriend and presently the single mom of a cute little girl named Allison (Courtney Barella). Ending its network run on August 30, 1991, Hunter was briefly revived four years later in the form of a TV movie, The Return of Hunter: Everyone Walks in L.A., then again in 2002 with another feature length episode, Hunter: Return to Justice. This last project led to a brief weekly revival of the property, reuniting Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer, which ran from April 12 through May 10, 2003 on NBC. Created by Frank Lupo, Hunter was a Stephen J. Cannell pro ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a one-night stand that should have stayed that way has unexpected consequences, the reluctant odd couple attempts to transform their tentative relationship into a lasting love in this conception comedy. Twenty-four-year-old entertainment journalist Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl) is on the fast track to the big time, but an alcohol-fueled hookup with responsibility-shirking slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) finds her professional priorities taking a back seat to having a baby. Now, as overgrown kid Ben attempts to assume the responsibilities of fatherhood, he makes the brave decision to stand by Alison. In order to make things work between the pair, however, there's going to have to be some compromise, and when Allison and Ben decide to take a shot at love, they quickly find that building a relationship from scratch isn't nearly as easy as making a baby. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Vietnam veteran Taylor Hurst (Robert F. Lyons) hires Magnum (Tom Selleck) to locate his missing girlfriend. It turns out, however, that the girl is only peripherally connected to Hurst's hidden agenda, which involves a complex and very lethaly scheme for revenge. Honolulu's famous Punchbowl National Cemetery (that's the one with the huge "Columbia" statue, as seen in the opening credits of Hawaii Five-O) is prominently featured in a key sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV movie, a wedding photographer learns the secrets of marriage while working at several ceremonies. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Larry Shaw's adaptation of Robin Cook's Mortal Fear stars Joanna Kerns as a doctor working at a prestigious big city hospital. When patients start dying at an alarming rate, she must use all of her wits to defeat the personal at the hospital she begins to suspect are behind the mystery. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

The second of three TV-movie spinoffs of the long-running series The Waltons, Mother's Day on Walton's Mountain marked the return of actress Michael Learned in the role of Olivia Walton, a part she had relinquished when her contract expired one year before the original series' cancellation in 1981. Still consigned to a tuberculosis sanitorium, Olivia has only a few scenes in the film, though she does return to Walton Mountain in time to help her daughter Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) weather a crisis. It appears as if Mary Ellen, newly wed to longtime beau Jonesy (Richard Gilliland) will be unable to have children, thanks to an auto accident; meanwhile, the rest of the Walton clan has problems of their own, including son Ben's (Eric Wilton) efforts to restore harmony between himself and his own wife Cindy (Leslie Winston). Of the original Waltons cast, only Richard Thomas, Ellen Corby and the late Will Geer were absent from the proceedings. Mother's Day on Walton's Mountain debuted May 9, 1982, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV shocker was inspired by a true story which occurred in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Housewife Jessica Rayner (Joanne Kerns) becomes the latest in a long line of victims when she is attacked in her own home by a vicious serial rapist and murderer who preys on blondes. The difference is that Jessica manages to survive the attack--the first victim to do so. Despite Jessica's testimony and a trail of clues, the police seem incapable of tracking down her assailant, forcing Jessica's husband Dan (Anthony John Denison) to militantly guard his wife round the clock. But it is ultimately Jessica herself who must devise the trap that will bring her attacker to justice. No One Could Protect Her debuted February 11, 1996 on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In an episode obviously inspired by the death of Bruce Lee, Quincy's assistant Sam (Robert Ito) takes it personally when his cousin Tad Kimura, a martial-arts movie star, dies mysteriously while filming his latest picture. As Quincy (Jack Klugman) prepares to perform an autopsy, Sam begs him not to do so, since such an operation would be against Tad's religious beliefs. So adamant is Sam on this point that he quits the Coroner's Office, putting Quincy on the outs with LA's Japanese community and forcing him to chart a brand new course in his investigation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pragmatic businesswoman Gail Metzger (Joanna Kerns) has never seen eye to eye with her eccentric sister Renee (Debrah Farentino), a bad situation made worse when the two women butt heads over a real estate deal. Later on, Renee turns up dead, an apparent suicide. But as more "facts" come to surface, the police change their minds about Renee's demise--and Gail is suspected of murder. In her efforts to find out what really happened, Gail is enveloped in a frightening atmosphere of suspense and mysticism. Adapted fromBarbara L. Parker's novel Suspicion of Innocence, the made-for-TV Sisters and Other Strangers made its initial CBS network appearance on May 6, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide