Charles Rosin Movies
- 1998
Flush with success from writing the hit film Scream, Kevin Williamson created the teen drama Dawson's Creek for the fledgling WB network. The series was quickly embraced by a large teen following. A rating success from the outset, Dawson's Creek never earned much critical praise. However, spawning hit songs and film careers for the four lead performers, the show left an indelible mark on the pop culture of its time. In the course of five seasons, the show saw Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek), Joey (Katie Holmes), Pacey (Joshua Jackson), and Jen (Michelle Williams) fall in and out of love with each other and with new additions to the gang. The show occasionally courted controversy by including an affair between Pacey and his high-school English teacher, and by showing television's first ever onscreen kiss between two gay teens, but the squeaky-clean image of the cast always managed to deflect any serious protests. Owing more than a little to the '70s series James at 15, Dawson's Creek may remain a Generation Y pop culture touchstone for a very long time. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Dawson (James Van Der Beek) is confronted with his feelings of inferiority when Jen's (Michelle Williams) ex-boyfriend Billy (Eion Bailey) comes to visit and convinces Jen to ditch school to spend the day with him. Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and Joey (Katie Holmes) have a discussion about her feelings for Dawson. Meanwhile, life in the Leery household is tension-filled, as Gail (Mary-Margaret Humes) and Mitch (John Wesley Shipp) are having a rough time trying to rebuild their marriage. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, (more)
- 1998
This short-lived TV drama series is set in Hawaii where the surfing Connolly clan, headed by widow Ciel Connolly (Bo Derek), has to contend with evil millionaire developer Gardner Poole (Lee Horsley), who's hated by his rebel daughter Kate (Jacinda Barrett). Land-grabber Poole has his eye on Ciel and also on her struggling cattle ranch. Meanwhile, Ciel's surfer sons Cole (William Gregory Lee) and Kelly (Brian Gross) chase after waves and women. Cinematographer John Aronson is responsible for the impressive Hawaiian location shots. The series premiered October 17, 1998 on NBC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bo Derek, Lee Horsley, (more)
While coming of age in the inner city, Darryl Crawford (Amir Williams), a young African-American man with a tremendous sense of familial loyalty, happens to witness a gang-related bloodbath and is horrified to discover that his beloved older brother Sly (Richard Chevolleau) is one of the perpetrators, in Bruce Pittman's made-for-cable urban dramaBlood Brothers. Primarily, Darryl grapples with his conscience over informing on Sly -- but this fear becomes second-string when the remaining gang members close in on both brothers and threaten their lives. Blood Brothers features acclaimed black character playerBill Nunn (Regarding Henry) in a key supporting role as the boys' father. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Johnson, Mia Korf, (more)
- 1990
Strange things always happen in Cicely during the Aurora Borealis, and those "things" are even stranger in this final episode of Northern Exposure's first season. Lost in the woods, Joel (Rob Morrow) is rescued by a legendary sasquatch-like creature named Adam -- who turns out to be a human being, a sociopath, and a damned good gourmet cook. Elsewhere, Chris gives up his radio job to construct a towering sculpture and along the way forms a symbiotic relationship with an African-American stranger named Bernard (Richard Cummings Jr.), who has motorcycled into Cicely on a mission...and who is no stranger after all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Northern Exposure made its first appearance as an eight-week Thursday-night "tryout" on CBS in the late summer of 1990. With swift, sure strokes, the series' producers quickly established that 27-year-old Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), freshly graduated from Columbia University Medical School, was required to spend four years working in Anchorage, AK, to pay off 125,000 dollars in student loans. Though Joel had seldom strayed off his native Manhattan Island, he took a deep breath and prepared for his journey northward (the alternative was a 10,000-dollar fine and/or 18 years in jail). Upon arrival in Anchorage, Joel discovered that his services were no longer required -- but there was an opening in the tiny (population 815) Alaskan village of Cicely, whose only doctor had just died. Throughout the eight episodes of Northern Exposure's first season, Joel bemoans his "exile," desperately tries to pull strings to get out of his contract...and slowly, almost imperceptably becomes adjusted to his new life in Cicely.
Just as the series wasted no time in establishing its locale and premise, so too did the writers vividly bring the other characters to life with efficiency and economy. During season one, the viewer was introduced to Joel's attractive landlady Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), the local air-taxi pilot, whose love life was complicated by an inexplicable "curse" whereby all of her boyfriends were doomed to die under bizarre but undeniably amusing circumstances (her latest beau, fellow pilot Rick Pederson (Grant Goodeve), knew he was living on borrowed time, but managed to survive the series' first season). Also seen for the first time were worldly ex-astronaut Maurice J. Minnifield (Barry Corbin), who owned Cicely lock, stock, and barrel, and entertained dreams of transforming the remote community into the "Alaskan Riviera"; Maurice's best friend, the aggressively masculine tavern owner Holling Vicoeur (John Cullum); Holling's 18-year-old fiancée, Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary), former "Miss Northwest Passage"; Maurice's Native American assistant, Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), an orphan with a murky past and an overwhelming desire to gain fame as a big-bucks moviemaker; and Chris Danforth (John Corbett), the quirky, poetic morning DJ on Cicely's radio station KBHR, who functioned as the series' combination narrator and Greek chorus. Also seen in these formative episodes were Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips), no-nonsense proprietor of the local general store, and Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), a poker-faced Eskimo who worked as a nurse in Joel's medical office.
By the end of season one, the series had introduced at least two of the peripheral characters who would add to the funkiness and eccentricities of Cicely from time to time. The first was Adam (Adam Arkin), a shaggy, sociopathic brute who happened to be a "damn good" gourmet cook; and the second was Bernard (Richard Cummings Jr.), a peripatetic African-American who turned out to be the rootless Chris Danforth's half brother. Although Northern Exposure set no fires in the ratings, the word-of-mouth buzz about the series was sufficiently encouraging for CBS to give it another limited-run tryout in the spring of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Just as the series wasted no time in establishing its locale and premise, so too did the writers vividly bring the other characters to life with efficiency and economy. During season one, the viewer was introduced to Joel's attractive landlady Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), the local air-taxi pilot, whose love life was complicated by an inexplicable "curse" whereby all of her boyfriends were doomed to die under bizarre but undeniably amusing circumstances (her latest beau, fellow pilot Rick Pederson (Grant Goodeve), knew he was living on borrowed time, but managed to survive the series' first season). Also seen for the first time were worldly ex-astronaut Maurice J. Minnifield (Barry Corbin), who owned Cicely lock, stock, and barrel, and entertained dreams of transforming the remote community into the "Alaskan Riviera"; Maurice's best friend, the aggressively masculine tavern owner Holling Vicoeur (John Cullum); Holling's 18-year-old fiancée, Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary), former "Miss Northwest Passage"; Maurice's Native American assistant, Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), an orphan with a murky past and an overwhelming desire to gain fame as a big-bucks moviemaker; and Chris Danforth (John Corbett), the quirky, poetic morning DJ on Cicely's radio station KBHR, who functioned as the series' combination narrator and Greek chorus. Also seen in these formative episodes were Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips), no-nonsense proprietor of the local general store, and Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), a poker-faced Eskimo who worked as a nurse in Joel's medical office.
By the end of season one, the series had introduced at least two of the peripheral characters who would add to the funkiness and eccentricities of Cicely from time to time. The first was Adam (Adam Arkin), a shaggy, sociopathic brute who happened to be a "damn good" gourmet cook; and the second was Bernard (Richard Cummings Jr.), a peripatetic African-American who turned out to be the rootless Chris Danforth's half brother. Although Northern Exposure set no fires in the ratings, the word-of-mouth buzz about the series was sufficiently encouraging for CBS to give it another limited-run tryout in the spring of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Morrow, Janine Turner, (more)
- 1985
In this family drama, adoptive parents engage in a legal battle with the biological mother of their child. The mother had been a teenager when she gave up her baby. Now she wants her back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lindsay Wagner, Nancy McKeon, (more)
