Dan Castellaneta

Remembering the devastating effect that pollution had had on his home planet Melmac, ALF writes several angry letters to a huge corporation that he feels is destroying the environment. But when the corporation's lawyers come calling with subpoenas in hand, it is Willie (Max Wright) who is hauled into court. Dan Castellaneta, better known as the voice of Homer Simpson, is seen as Steve Michaels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Christina Applegate stars in this convoluted comedy that comes across as a teen fantasy combination of Home Alone and Working Girl. The premise is all in the title -- when the mother (Concetta Tomei) of a sniveling group of surly kids goes on a much-deserved summer vacation, she leaves her kids under the charge of an elderly distaff granny (Eda Reiss Merin). When granny ups and dies, the kids load her dead body in a trunk and deposit the package on the steps of the local funeral home. The kids are ecstatic thinking that with the big wad of cash Mom has left, they can have a summer of consumer madness. But when they find out that the money has been buried with the baby-sitter, the kids have to fend for themselves to make ends meet. Dream teen Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate) tries working at a fast food restaurant but she can't stand the grease. So, she puts together a false resume and, posing as a twenty-eight-year old, she applies for a job as a receptionist at a garment manufacturing company. The company vice president, Rose (Joanna Cassidy), is so impressed by her resume that she hires her on the spot as her executive assistant. Her deception looks to be working out great -- Sue Ellen manages to hold off the office lady killer Gus (John Getz), avoids exposure by the embittered receptionist, borrows money from the company's petty cash box for household incidentals, and continues her relationship with restaurant employee Bryan (Josh Charles). But suddenly, the clothing firm is set to go under, and Sue Ellen must use her teen fashion sense to save the company and her job . . . and she has to get the rest of the brood involved. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Ross (David Schwimmer) discovers that Marcel the Monkey has become a popular TV commercial star (next step to superstardom: "Virus II"). Fortune also smiles upon Joey (Matt LeBlanc) during his tenure on Days of Our Lives -- or at least he thinks so until meeting his unbalanced "number one fan." And Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) finds that her songs may not be suitable for all ages when she plays for a group of library kids. Michael Lembeck won an Emmy award for his direction of this episode. Part one of "The One After the Super Bowl" originally aired in a 60-minute slot with part two, but was rebroadcast and syndicated as a separate entity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The story that began in Bender's Big Score concludes as a massive rift in space and time unleashes a cosmic terror of epic proportions and the citizens of planet Earth discover a strange new religion. A revolting, planet-sized alien has taken control of Fry, transforming our time-sleeping hero into the Pope of a new religion that encourages mankind to abandon planet Earth. With no more humans to get in the way, robots the robots will finally be free to take over. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A tech-savvy teen schemes to make a mint by making his dysfunctional family internet superstars in this comedy that proves there's always something worth watching online. Colby Bellinger (Matthew Botuchis) has secretly installed nanny-cams throughout his family's suburban home, and when he turns them on, the whole world tunes in. The Bellinger family is about to become the talk of the internet, and when Colby reveals that they'll be taking home a cool $17 grand a week, his parents (Beau Bridges and Rosanna Arquette) become convinced that dysfunction sells. But who cares about the parents; the video stream with the most hits comes from the camera stealthily placed in the bedroom of Colby eighteen year old step-sister Audrey (Baelyn Neff). Audrey may not realize it at the moment, but she's about to become the star attraction on the internet's most popular new show. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

James Belushi stars in this cop actioner about a loner narcotics officer who has to break in a new partner. The twist here is that the new partner is barely housebroken, but he's still sharp and keeps his nose close to the ground. Dooley (Belushi), who works on the San Diego narc squad, is an eccentric guy who has pizzas delivered to his car and likes a good steak. He is working on a stakeout of a local drug dealer when he barely escapes with his life as a helicopter blows up his car. When he asks the department for a new car, they give him a new partner instead --a police dog called Jerry Lee (Jerry Lee the Dog). Jerry's good at sniffing out the criminals but Dooley doesn't really hit it off with his new partner until the pooch saves his life. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Playwright Neil Simon got his first big break in the early '50s as a staff writer on Sid Caesar's fabled television series Your Show of Shows, and this comedy (adapted by Simon from his play) takes a fictionalized look at the backstage chaos that went into producing one of the landmarks of television's golden age. Max Prince (Nathan Lane) is the star of The Max Prince Show, a popular comedy-variety series with ratings that have begun to slip; Prince's show is still a major hit on the East Coast, but network executive Cal Weebs (Colin Fox) insists that it's too sophisticated for the Midwest, and urges Prince to dumb down his act. Prince has also become the whipping boy of newspaper columnist Walter Winchell (Frank Proctor), and between the tensions of producing a hour of top-quality comedy each week and being pestered about his ratings, Prince is beginning to unravel. His relationship with his wife Faye (Sherry Miller) and their children is falling apart, and stress is eating him alive. Prince's brother Harry (Richard Portnow) is Max's assistant, and his last line of defense against both the network and his writing staff, which spend its days coming up with business for the show while hurling humorous invective at each other and anyone else within earshot. (The actors playing Max's writers include Mark Linn-Baker, Victor Garber, Dan Castellaneta, Saul Rubinek, Peri Gilpin, and Zach Grenier.) Laughter on the 23rd Floor received its world premiere at the 2001 Palm Springs Film Festival and was scheduled for showings several months later on the Showtime premium cable network (who co-produced the feature). The film was directed by Richard Benjamin, who previously teamed with Mark Linn-Baker for another comedy inspired by the career of Sid Caesar, My Favorite Year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

To save the Buchmans' family store, Ira (John Pankow) offers to give away a new car to the customer who can keep his or her hands on the vehicle the longest. But Ira is reluctant to pony up, so he rigs the contest in the store's favor. Things get more complicated when Ira's temporarily sightless cousin, Paul (Paul Reiser), and Dr. Mark Devanow (welcome back, Richard Kind) are brought in as "ringers." ~ All Movie Guide

Peg (Katey Sagal) starts going to Marcy's (Amanda Bearse) dance hall, where her perennial partner is a handsome and elegant gentleman named Andy (Sam McMurray). Though Peg's hubby Al is cool with this, he doesn't quite know what to make of the news that Andy is married--to a "husband" named Pete! The latter character is played by Dan Castellaneta, one year into his long run as the voice of Homer Simpson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Who would want to decapitate a kindly professor? That's what Simone (Jimmy Smits) and Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) are determined to find out. Sipowicz is also anxious to learn the secret being withheld from him by his son Andy Jr. (Michael DeLuise), who is supposed to be in the Air Force. And Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) arouses the ire of Adrianne (Justine Miceli) when he tries to help a former porn star (Vanessa del Rio) who has been getting threatening phone calls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Matt Groening helped produce this animated adaptation of the popular children's book written by J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh. Olive (voice of Drew Barrymore) is a little dog who is very excited about the upcoming Christmas holidays, and wishes she could somehow help Santa Claus (voice of Edward Asner) with his work. Word begins to circulate that one of Santa's reindeer has hurt his leg and won't be able to make the trip, and when someone mentions "all of the other reindeer," Olive mistaken thinks they've said "Olive, the other reindeer," and is convinced Santa wants her to come to the North Pole to help pull the sleigh. Dan Castellaneta, Peter MacNichol, Diedrich Bader, and Tim Meadows also contribute to the voice cast; Michael Stipe from the band R.E.M. voices one of the characters and contributes a song to the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The biggest babies in the entertainment business take their act to Europe in this sequel to the surprise-hit animated feature The Rugrats Movie. Chuckie (voice of Christine Cavanaugh) has been fretting over his father Chas (voice of Michael Bell) and his status as a single father, as he wants to have a mommy like all of his friends. Chas and his father Stu (voice of Jack Riley) were hired to create a bevy of electronic critters for the newly opened Euro-Reptarland theme park, but the robots are acting up, and park manager Coco La Bouche (Susan Sarandon) is hopping mad. So Stu and Chas are flown to Paris to do some repairs, with Chas bringing Chuckie and all his friends along. Their visit to the City of Lights proves to be one adventure after another, as Chuckie tries to find a suitable mother (with Coco leading the pack) and Tommy (voice of Elizabeth Dailey) somehow gets behind the wheel of the giant Reptar robot. Rugrats in Paris: The Movie features original songs from T-Boz from TLC, The Baha Men, and Mylene Farmer, while John Lithgow, Debbie Reynolds, and Mako contribute to the voice cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The huge success of the video games featuring animated Italian plumbers the Mario Brothers led to this $42 million live action movie. The two brothers (Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo) live in Manhattan and are chasing Princess Daisy (Samantha Mathis), who wears a necklace made from a meteor fragment. Its powers can free a race of reptilian creatures from the city's sewers. The villainous ruler of the creatures, who are descendants of dinosaurs, is King Koopa (Dennis Hopper). Koopa has kidnapped Daisy and taken her to the underworld of Dinohattan, which is rat-infested and strewn with garbage. The Mario Brothers must overcome many obstacles, just as they do in video games, to free the princess. The film spares no expense with its use of animatronic monsters and high-tech special effects. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide