Rain Pryor Movies
- 1998
This TV comedy series, an attempt to find humor in 1990s self-help, rehab and recovery programs, focuses on hard-drinking, former actress Billie Frank (Sherilyn Fenn), once the teen queen of primetime soaps, who now works for lowlife "B"-movie producer Harve Schwartz (Richard Lewis). Johnny (Michael Rapaport) is only one of an unending parade of predatory males standing in line to hit on Billie, and viewing the world through an alcoholic haze, she often has to check on the identity of the man next to her when she awakens. Matching Billie, drink for drink, is her mother Trudy (Lynn Redgrave). Sitcom segments are separated by onscreen titles, such as "Mother's Milk -- 80 Proof" and "Going Down -- This Time in the Elevator." Friends intervene to show Billie where she's headed, but their efforts go nowhere. Finally, the "rude awakening" happens when Billie drinks and drives -- and then collides with a fire hydrant. The next step is the first of 12, as she attends an Addictions Anonymous meeting, where Dave (Jonathan Penner) tries to score with her, and she encounters a wild lesbian, Jackie (Rain Pryor). Episodes titled "Lucky for Me Her Breast Exploded," "Three Dykes and You're Out," and "Vagina" followed the August 1, 1998 premiere on Showtime. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sherilyn Fenn, Lynn Redgrave, (more)
- 1990
By rights, Head of the Class should have ended its run at the end of its fourth season, with the departure of series star Howard Hesseman. However, ABC decided to film a fifth and final season as a back-up, in case any of their new programs of the 1990-1991 season should be prematurely canceled. As it turned out, the network's new sitcom Baby Talk was not quite ready for prime time in September, thus Head of the Class was hastily inserted into the schedule until the production problems on the other series could be ironed out. In the season opener, it was explained that Hesseman's character, Fillmore High School substitute teacher Charlie Moore, had quit his job to pursue a full-time acting career. Thus, the genius-level students in Moore's Individual Honors Program now had a new teacher, a flamboyant Scotsman named Billy McGregor (played by Hibernian comedian Billy Connolly). Like Moore, Mr. McGregor was dedicated to instilling in his brilliant charges the emotional maturity and social skills that they would need when finally released into the real world. Unlike Moore, McGregor conducted his classes as though he were performing a monologue at the local comedy club. He also tended to become more involved than your average teacher in the students' off-campus lives, notably in the episode "Viki's Torn Genes," in which he helps student Viki Amory (Lara Piper) locate her birth mother -- with surprising results. Occasionally, his unorthodox methods backfired disastrously, notably in the two-part episode in which, after McGregor lectures the kids on the proper way to protect themselves from being mugged, nerdish Arvid (Dan Frischman) is inspired to purchase a gun! Head of the Class was canceled mid-season on January 15, 1991, only to return on May 28 with five new episodes, all of them leading up to the series finale when the IHP class finally graduates -- not so much because it is high time that they did so (which of course it is), but because Fillmore High is about to be demolished. In the last episode, the two-part "It Couldn't Last Forever," the IHP kids try to figure out who among a classroom full of geniuses will be chosen to deliver the valedictory speech. This terminal episode marks the brief return of former regular Tannins Valelly in the role of child prodigy Janice Lazarotto. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Connolly, William G. Schilling, (more)
- 1989
There is quite a cast turnover in season four of Head of the Class, with three of the gifted students in Fillmore High School's Individual Honors Program (IHP) having moved on in life. Overachiever Maria has transferred to the High School of Performing Arts, Indian émigré Jarwarhal has gone to California with his family, and child prodigy Janice has been accepted at Harvard. Among the new students of the IHP's "permanent substitute" teacher Charles Moore (Howard Hesseman) are aspiring filmmaker Aristotle (De'voreaux White), drop-dead-gorgeous Viki (Lara Piper), and smooth-talking Alex (Michael de Lorenzo). Later in the season, the class welcomes another newcomer, the shy, parent-dominated Jasper (Jonathan Ke Quan). Also, after a year of hard work and persistence, former remedial student T.J. (Rain Pryor) finally qualifies for the IHP. She manages to win this honor all by herself, despite a rare foray into fantasy when T.J. almost enters into a deal with the Devil (Richard Libertini) to improve her grades! Among the season's more noteworthy episodes is the third of Head of the Class' musical outings, the two-part "From Hair to Eternity," in which the students stage a production of Hair despite the protests of one of Fillmore High's more prudish teachers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard Hesseman, William G. Schilling, (more)
- 1988
"Permanent substitute" teacher Charlie Moore (Howard Hesseman) continues to instill the genius-level students of Fillmore High's Individual Honors Program (IHP) with the sort of things one can't find in a book -- such as emotional maturity, personal responsibility and a genuine sense of self-worth -- in season three of Head of the Class. New to the series this year is Rain Pryor, daughter of Richard Pryor, as the street-smart T.J. Jones, a remedial student who is "slow" mainly because of a bad and overly defensive attitude, but who is determined to earn the right to join the IHP kids. This is the season that Head of the Class carved its niche in the annals of television history. The hour-long episode "Mission to Moscow," originally telecast November 2, 1998, was the first American prime time comedy series episode ever to be filmed in the Soviet Union. Other season highlights include "Let's Rap," featuring future King of Queens regular Leah Remini in a one-line bit part; "First Date," wherein tough-guy Eric (Brian Robbins) and budding poetess Simone (Khrystyne Haje) go out together for the first time; "I Am the King," which sets up Charlie Moore's eventual exit from the series when he is hired as a commercial spokesman for an appliance store; and "King of Remedial," in which fat, wisecracking science geek Dennis (Dan Schneider) surprises himself by becoming the role model for a group of special-education students. Finally, season four offers the second of the series' musical episodes with the two-part "Shop Til You Drop," wherein the IHP class stages a production of "Little Shop of Horrors." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard Hesseman, William G. Schilling, (more)
