James B. Sikking

As conceived, written, directed, and produced by Fred Ashman, this unabashedly patriotic, flag-waving film celebrates Americana and the elements of the United States that make it a unique and dynamic country -- from its ethnic, religious, and ideological tolerance to its peerless emphasis on educational opportunity. In addition to featuring picturesque American scenery and patriotic music on the soundtrack, the film interweaves five dramatic vignettes, each relaying the story of an extraordinary American citizen. The cast includes Marc McClure (Superman: The Movie), James B. Sikking (Made of Honor), Ken Howard (In Her Shoes), and Yakov Smirnoff (Brewster's Millions). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

During rehearsals with David Schwimmer for The Producers, Larry (Larry David) finds out that Schwimmer's father runs the Health-Glo mixed nut company. Larry has some ideas for the company, but Schwimmer advises him to "stay in your element." Later, Larry goes out to get some snacks with Steve (Patrick Bristow), the choreographer, and comes across some Health-Glo cashew-raisin packages that are pretty skimpy with the cashews. Naturally, he has to say something to Schwimmer about it. When Larry describes an attractive woman as "fierce," Jeff (Jeff Garlin) suggests that Larry has been spending so much time working on the show that he's turned into Steve, the gay choreographer. Larry's dirty locker, his mistaking a Norwegian club employee, Sven (Erik Stolhanske) for a Swede, and some truly questionable behavior at Leo Funkhouser's funeral combine to get him and Jeff ousted from their country club. Larry and Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) pretend to be right-wing Republican WASPs in order to get into a new country club, with Larry claiming that his hobbies are sailing and polo. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Even as security is beefed up in Australia in anticipation of the 2000 Olympics, someone manages to slip a deadly nerve gas device -- and a detonator -- on a 747 jet bound from Sydney to L.A. The authorities are uncertain as to whether the person responsible for this outrage is a terrorist or merely a lunatic; whatever the case, they scour the world in search of the perpetrator. Meanwhile, the 747 may well be unable to find a suitable landing place before the detonator goes off, forcing pilot John Prescott (Jack Wagner) and copilot Kim McGee (Christine Elise) to make some extremely tricky life-and-death decisions. As for the 300 passengers -- well, each one has his or her own story to tell, and the viewer hears practically all of them before the almost unbearably suspenseful denouement. The made-for-cable Nowhere to Land debuted March 12, 2000, on the TBS superstation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Devoted to the point of obsession to her brother, Jessica Wells (Jodie Bissett) is completely unhinged by the brother's death. When Jessica becomes schizophrenic, her family must deal with the grim necessity of institutionalizing the girl. Salvation comes from an unexpected source: a new, experimental drug, with which her doctors hope to restore Jessica to normalcy--and to repair her tattered romance with her loyal boyfriend Patrick (Jason Gedrick). Trouble begins when Jessica goes off her medication and transforms into what TV Guide writer Susan Stewart described as a "sexual carnivore." A young Chad Lowe plays a small but pivotal role in the fact-based, made-for-TV Dare to Love, which had its world premiere over ABC on December 17, 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This documentary is part of a three-volume set that looks at the effects of World War II on the American economy and society. In this episode, the film explores the impact of the war on the American psyche. Many did not want the United States to be involved in the European conflict. Others felt the country should enter the war on the side of Germany and as the war escalated, so did public opinion. Pearl Harbor settled that question, and as the world went up in flames, the sagging Depression economy suddenly leaped into high gear to fuel the war effort. The film contains interviews and archival film footage. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

Embroiled in an affair with Thomas Callahan (Sam Shephard), her alcoholic professor, precocious 24-year-old Tulane University law student Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) writes up an insightful theory about the recent murder of two Supreme Court justices, one of whom, Abraham Rosenberg (Hume Cronyn), served as Callahan's mentor. When Callahan shares this so-called "Pelican Brief" with buddy Gavin Verheek (John Heard), an FBI lawyer, the document makes its way to White House flack Fletcher Coal (Tony Goldwyn), who believes it could topple the current administration. When Callahan is murdered and the President (Robert Culp) convinces the FBI to hold off on investigating Darby's theory, the resourceful student must go into hiding, stalked by relentless assassin Khamel (Stanley Tucci). Her only hope of escaping Callahan's fate and proving her theory lies in Washington investigative reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington), who's already had one confidential source back out of sharing information about the assassinations. This John Grisham adaptation is fairly faithful to the best-selling novel, but the book's interracial romance between Shaw and Grantham was left out of the script (or at least the finished product), leaving many progressive viewers annoyed at Hollywood's conservatism. Fans of HBO's Sex and the City will notice one of its future stars, Cynthia Nixon, in a small role as one of Darby's New Orleans classmates. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV drama, a New England family's secrets all come tumbling out at once as they spend a weekend together to celebrate the engagement of their youngest son. Lisa Carter (Bibi Besch) and her military husband, Phil (James B. Sikking), couldn't be happier when their youngest son, Matt (William McNamara), brings his rich bride-to-be, Allison (Lori Loughlin), home from Yale. Col. Carter views Matt as the perfect son, especially given the way his other children have turned out. Tim (Jim Carrey) has sunk into alcoholism after dropping out of college, while Karen (Jayne Brook) must support her husband, Tom (David Byron), a struggling art photographer who wants to start a family despite his father-in-law's financial misgivings. As Allison gets acquainted with the Carter clan and its dysfunctions, her fiancé's artfully constructed facade of perfection begins to crumble, ultimately threatening his family's reputation, his impending nuptials, and his very life. Doing Time on Maple Drive debuted March 16, 1992, as a "Fox Night at the Movies" feature on the Fox network; it was later nominated for several Emmy awards. Directed by thirtysomething star Ken Olin, the film features a number of additional television staples among its cast, from Loughlin, star of Full House, to Carrey, then best known as Fire Marshal Bill on In Living Color. Two additional TV personalities from the cast -- Hill Street Blues actor Sikking and Northern Exposure actress Besch -- both share the distinction of being Star Trek vets, Besch in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Sikking in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Season Three proves to be a year of transition on Doogie Howser M.D.. Figuring that he has reached his majority at age 18, child prodigy Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris), America's youngest practicing physician, decides to move out of his family's house and into a bachelor apartment, sharing the digs with his best pal Vinnie (Max Casella), who is now attending college as a film major. While Doogie is still fond of his teenaged sweetheart Wanda (Lisa Dean Plenn), she has left town to attend art school and as such is largely incommunicado. As a result, Doogie drifts away from Wanda, transferring his affections to attractive nurse Michele Faber (Robyn Lively)--with time out for a lengthy relationship with a woman named Cecilia, who "forgets" to inform him that she has a 4-year-old son. And in another development, Doogie finds himself short one colleague when his fellow resident Dr. McGuire leaves his post at LA's Eastman Medical Center. While most of the Season Three episodes maintain the series' delicate balance of comedy and drama, several are played strictly for laughs. Case in point: "Mummy Dearest", wherein Doogie and his fellow physicians ruminate over the possibility of being cursed as they examined the remains of a centuries-old mummy! On a more serious note, the episode "My Father, My Self" details a schism in the relationship between Doogie and his doctor father David (James B. Sikking) when the latter asks a stranger to join his medical practice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Narrow Margin directed by Peter Hyams and loosely based on the classic film noir of the same title, tells the story of a resourceful District Attorney who must return a witness to San Francisco alive so she can testify in a trial. Carol (Anne Archer) is in the bathroom of the hotel room of her blind date when he is murdered by mobsters for stealing money. Knowing she is the only witness, Carol flees to an isolated Canadian mountain home to hide out. She is followed by Caulfield (Gene Hackman) who knows that she is a witness and wants to make her testify. When the mobsters track Caulfield to the cabin, Carol must join him in a run for her life on a Canadian train. This film, while it is somewhat uneven, is a tour de force for director/writer/cinematographer Peter Hyams, who delivers a fast-paced, action-packed chase through the Canadian mountains, stunningly photographed and well acted by both Hackman and Archer. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Although 16-year-old prodigy Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris) is America's youngest physician, he still has a lot to learn in the maturity department, as amply demonstrated during Season One of Doogie Howser, M.D.. Doing his appointed rounds as second-year resident at Eastman Medical Center in L.A., Dr. Howser has earned the (sometimes grudging) respect of Chief of Services Dr. Canfield (Lawrence Pressman), fellow resident Dr. McGuire (Mitchell Anderson) and Nurse Spaulding (Kathryn Layng), in his own home our hero is generally treated like the shy, awkward youngster he truly is, especially by his strict but loving mom Katherine (Belinda Montgomery). While Doogie can rely upon his doctor father David (James B. Sikking) to keep him abreast of the latest advances in medical science and technology, his main conduit to his "own" world--that is, the world of pimply-faced, hormone-driven teenagers--is his best pal Vinnie (Max Casella),who regularly delivers reports from the high-school front in his weekly visits to Doogie via the bedroom window. The pilot episode firmly establishes the strange dichotomy in Doogie's life, as he passes his driver's exam and enjoys his first kiss with girlfriend Wanda (Lisa Dean Ryan) while struggling to cope with a tragedy involving a young, critically ill patient. The eternal inner struggle between Doogie the typical teen and Doogie the boy genius is further illustrated in the famous episode wherein he and Wanda are out on a date when she suffers a sudden appendicitis attack--and he is forced to give her a rather intimate examination just before she undergoes emergency surgery (this is the one in which a jealous Vinnie asks Doogie: "Did you put your hand on her conundrum?") One of the more fascinating first-season episodes is "Use a Slurpy, Go to Jail", in which Doogie and Vinnie find themselves in the middle of a botched convenience-store holdup. The ill-tempered gang member who tries to pull off the heist is one Raymond Alexander, played by Markus Redmond. Beginning with the series' second season, Raymond Alexander would be a Doogie Howser MD regular, hired as an orderly at Eastman Medical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Badlands Justice is another in a series of Desperado feature films made exclusively for television. Alex McArthur returns as cowboy Duell McCall, who wanders the wide frontier in search of the one man who will clear him of a murder charge (What price Fugitive?) Once more, McCall finds himself in a corruption-ridden mining town. Since no one knows his true identity, he is able to establish a modicum of law and order, despite the concerted efforts of greedy land baron John Rhys-Davies. It is only a matter of time, however, before McCall will be forced to move on to other adventures. Well photographed and consummately acted, Badlands Justice premiered December 17, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second episode of a three-part story, Hunter (Fred Dryer) continues his search for a serial killer who preys on authority figures, beginning with a phy-ed teacher at a violence-ridden high school. Meanwhile, a mysterious neighborhood vigilante has been targetting those whom he regards as criminals who have slipped through the cracks of justice. And while working undercover as a teacher, McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) is exposed by the leader of a teenage gang which uses high-tech weaponry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide