Patricia Gage

Although Highlander: The Raven was a spin-off of the long-running sci-fi adventure series Highlander, it actually bore scant resemblance to its "parent" show. Top-billed Elizabeth Gracen, a former Miss America, reprised her Highlander role as the beautiful Amanda Darieux, a reformed cat burglar, who like her ex-lover Duncan MacLeod (played in the original series by Adrian Paul), was an "Immortal" -- though she certainly didn't look like she was 1,200 years old! Foresworn to uphold Duncan's values and fight against evil and injustice throughout the world (provided she could avoid being beheaded, the only way that an Immortal could be permanently killed), Amanda was teamed with detective Nick Wolfe (Paul Johanssen), whom she had met after being "reborn" when Nick shot down his crooked partner. Quitting the force due to ethical disagreements with his superiors, Nick became a private detective, circumventing proper legal procedure whenever it suited his purposes. He also carried a torch for his partner Amanda, and shared the secret of her immortality, as did Amanda's middle-aged companion, a con artist named Lucy Becker (Patricia Gage). As often as possible, Nick and Amanda did leg work for ex-federal agent Bert Myers (Hannes Jaenecke), who ran a security organization. In the tradition of Highlander, Highlander: The Raven filmed the first half of its debut season in Canada, and its final episodes in Paris, where Amanda and Bert had relocated to set up a new private-eye agency, with Nick handling exclusively European cases. Added to the cast at this time was Robert Cavanah as Amanda's platonic roommate and confidante, Father Liam Riley. Debuting in American syndication on September 26, 1998, Highlander: The Raven lasted 22 hour-long episodes, the last of which was "open-ended" enough to warrant a revival somewhere down the line (Nick discovered that he himself was an Immortal, and was a bit uncomfortable about his new status!). ~ All Movie Guide

In 1988, Marlene Moore, the first woman to be designated a "dangerous offender" by Canada's legal system -- even though she had never committed a serious crime -- killed herself in a Kingston, Ontario federal woman's prison. The Canadian TV movie seeks to explain the circumstances that brought the unfortunate Moore to this tragic turn of events. As played by Brooke Johnson, Marlene is shown to be an awkward, withdrawn young girl, cruelly maligned and sexually abused by family and peers alike, and never afforded the moral support or mental-health treatment she deserved. Under these circumstances, Marlene's subsequent self-destructive, sociopathic behavior seems almost predestined, and her many years behind bars for various minor crimes a logical extension of her miserable upbringing. The climactic efforts by her dedicated lawyer to prevent Marlene from being entombed in prison for an indefinite term are heartrending, and Moore manages to evoke audience sympathy almost in spite of herself by the final fade-out. The film earned two Gemini Awards (the Canadian equivalent of the Emmies) for both Brooke Johnsonand supporting actress Jayne Eastwood (as Marlene's mother). Originally telecast by the CBC, Dangerous Offender was first seen in America via the Lifetime network on November 7, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This lively and off-beat Canadian comedy tells the tale of a regular Joe whose life is turned topsy turvy when he teams up with a strange restaurateur who convinces the fellow to invest in his latest project: an Italian restaurant with operatic waiters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Canadian filmmaker Kevin Sullivan once more graces the small screen with a warm, deeply personal effort, this one titled Looking for Miracles. Set in 1935, the film details a sometimes painful family reunion. Two brothers, separated by the exigencies of the Depression, meet once more to compare life experiences and revitalize their relationship. Comic actor Joe Flaherty, a Second City TV veteran, scores in an unexpectedly touching supporting role. Looking for Miracles was first seen in the US over the Disney pay cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Writer Susan Isaacs and director Frank Perry of Compromising Positions re-team for this unsuccessful resurrection fantasy comedy. Shelley Long plays Lucy Chadman, the accident-prone wife of plastic surgeon Jason Chadman (Corbin Bernsen). When she chokes to death after eating a South Korean chicken ball, a funeral is held and she is mourned, but then everyone goes on with their lives and forgets about her. Everyone, that is, except her sister Zelda (Judith Ivey). Zelda runs an occult bookstore and as she peruses one of her books of incantations, she discovers a magical chant that can raise the dead. Obeying the rules of the incantation -- it has to be performed a year after the person dies and the resurrected person must find love within 30 days or the person will die again -- she brings back Lucy to life. Lucy immediately proceeds to her husband's home and finds that he is married to her best friend Kim (Sela Ward). She now has to deal with the changed circumstances of her husband, along with a burgeoning love affair with Kevin Scanlon (Gabriel Byrne), the emergency-room doctor who had tried to save her life. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The scene is Canada in the 1940s. Fledgling reporter Harry Barnes (Stuart Gillard) finds his dreams of journalistic fame dampened by the disillusioned older journalists surrounding him. Harry never does get that "big scoop," but he does excel in the romance department. After a brief assignation with the publisher's wife (Patricia Gage) he thrills coworker Julia Martin (Tiiu Leek) by becoming a firebrand leader of the newspaper union movement (never mind that he's drunk at the time). Why Rock the Boat? is a 1974 release of the National Film Board of Canada. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide