David Noroña Movies

According to the NBC publicity department, the creators of the weekly, hour-long series Inconceivable, Oliver Goldstick and Marco Pennette, had drawn inspiration from their own lives, in which surrogate parents and in vitro fertilization had been utilized to expand their families. The weekly, 60-minute series was set at Family Options Fertility Clinic, headed by Dr. Rachel Lu (Ming-Na). Although she had had her own baby through the in vitro process, she was a "strictly business" type, never allowing her emotions to dictate her work. In sharp contrast, Lu's partner, Dr. Malcolm Bower (Jonathan Cake), was driven by his gut instincts -- not only on the job, but also in his life choices, especially when it came to romantic relationships. Also on hand was rebellious, headstrong fertility doctor Nora Campbell, played by former Law & Order co-star Angie Harmon (an eleventh-hour addition to the series, replacing actress Alfre Woodard, who'd signed as a regular on Desperate Housewives). The other staffers at Family Options included Scott (David Noroña), Patrice (Joelle Carter), Marissa (Mary Catherine Garrison), and Angel (Reynaldo Rosales). The plots dealt not only with the efforts to provide infertile couples with viable conception options, but also with the unintended ramifications of such procedures; in the opening episode, for example, a white couple is outraged when they find out that their baby will be black. In an intriguing example of "life imitates art," Angie Harmon had just given birth before filming started, while her co-star Ming-Na became pregnant not long after production got under way. Inconceivable was first brought into the world on September 23, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Created by West Wing writer Lawrence O'Donnell Jr., the weekly, 60-minute political drama Mister Sterling was a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington for the 21st century. Josh Brolin starred as William Sterling Jr., the idealistic young "reformist" son of a popular retired California governor (James Whitmore). Selected by his state's political machine to fill out the term of a dead Democratic senator, Mister Sterling arrived in the nation's capitol with a naïvely altruistic agenda -- and with no party ties, since he was a registered Independent (though in West Wing tradition, he tended to veer toward the left). Doing their best to educate Sterling to the facts of life about Washington, and sometimes expressing amazement at how much smarter he was than the "established" politicos, were his chief of staff, Jackie Brock (Audra McDonald); his legislative director, Tommy Doyle (William Russ); and resident techno-geek Leon (David Noroña). Mister Sterling was elected to office on January 10, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Niles (David Hyde Pierce) succeeds Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) as president of their wine club when Frasier finds himself swamped with work as resident wine expert on Gil Chesterton's (Edward Hibbert) gourmet talk show. Unfortunately, in the course of one broadcast, Frasier breaks the club's bylaws by imparting "delicate" information -- whereupon Niles retaliates by ordering the other club members to boycott Gil's program. As the feud escalates, Martin (John Mahoney) is having problems of his own keeping up with his health-nut lady friend. Jane Leeves was on maternity leave during filming of this episode, and does not appear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It is surprising to note what doesn't change when the story of Dickens's novel Oliver Twist moves from the criminal underground of 19th-century London to the world of American gays in the 1990s. In this movie, Lee (Keivyn McNeill Graves) is a homeless young orphan boy who gets taken into the lives of a group of colorful, decadent men. Their friendships and jealousies, as well as their disagreements about Lee's upbringing, carry the familiar story along. Billy Porter's performance as Shiniqua, a feisty street-hardened drag queen, stands out. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide