Robert Mailhouse Movies
East Coast native Robert Mailhouse studied acting at Catholic University, earning a B.F.A. and going on to work on a number of theatrical and television projects. In his spare time, he is also known as the drummer for the rock group Dogstar, which has another, slightly better known, thespian strumming on the bass guitar -- Keanu Reeves. ~ All Movie Guide- 2007
It's Christmastime, and all young Jesse wants this year is a new father. But while Jesse's mother Sarah knows the importance of having a male role model for her son to look up to, she just can't seem to muster the motivation to start dating again. Reluctantly agreeing to go on a series of dates as part of a nationally publicized contest, Sarah finds herself unexpectedly swept off her feet by the contest's official chaperone. But despite the fact that young Jesse already has his future father picked out, he's going to have to work extra hard to make his Christmas wish come true this year. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gail O'Grady, Greg Germann, (more)
Naomi Watts produces and stars in Ellie Parker, a semi-autobiographical story of an Australian actress struggling to make it in Hollywood. Ellie is young enough to still schlep to auditions back and forth across L.A., changing wardrobes and slapping on makeup en route, but just old enough that the future feels "more like a threat than a promise." She lives with her vacant musician boyfriend (Mark Pellegrino), who leaves her just about as dissatisfied as any other part of her life, and has a loose definition of the word "fidelity." Helping make sense of their surreal and humiliating Hollywood existence is her best friend Sam (Rebecca Rigg), another out-of-work actress trying her hand at design, who attends acting classes with Ellie to stay sharp. When Ellie gets into a fender bender with a guy who claims he's a cinematographer (Scott Coffey), her perspective on her work and the dating world starts to change. Chevy Chase also makes an appearance in this series of Hollywood vignettes, playing Ellie's agent. Watts, Coffey, and Pellegrino all worked together on David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, where Watts had her breakout performance, and Ellie Parker grew out of the friendship forged between Watts and director/screenwriter Coffey. It was shot on digital video over the course of five years, having begun its life as a series of shorts featuring Watts' character. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Naomi Watts, Rebecca Rigg, (more)
- 2003
In the slaughterhouse of the Meteor Meat Company, the arm of a murdered victim is found in a meat grinder. In the course of their investigation, Grissom (William L. Petersen) and Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) end up at the trendy restaurant where the victim had worked as a chef. Elsewhere, Warrick (Gary Dourdan) and Sara (Jorja Fox) try to determine if a disturbed young woman named Jill Damon slit her wrists in a suicide attempt -- or if she was murdered. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
In the tradition of Police Squad and Barney Miller comes this ensemble comedy about New York's wackiest police station. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Grillo, Justin Louis, (more)
- 1999
Sam Donovan (William H. Macy) -- the ratings consultant Isaac (Robert Guillaume) hired to help the show -- has everyone feeling on edge. After Dana (Felicity Huffman) and Sam both agree that the last couple of shows have been stilted, Sam suggests Dana do something provocative such as sexily whispering cues into Dan (Josh Charles) and Casey's (Peter Krause) earpieces. Insulted, Dana instead takes out her anger on Dan and Casey during the next commercial break. Sam decides that his presence is throwing everyone off and decides to leave the set -- but not before taking the script and turning off the teleprompter, forcing Dana to cue Dan and Casey via their earpieces. Also concerned about the show -- but not necessarily for the people who work on it -- is CSC network bigwig J.J. (Robert Mailhouse), who descends upon the studio with his own ideas for boosting the ratings. Insisting on meeting with the senior staff to go through his notes point by point, he proceeds to totally alienate everyone and quite nearly fires Dana -- who has been contemplating other job offers since Sam's arrival. Sam confronts J.J. during a break in the meeting and demands that the network let him do his job as he kicks J.J. and his lackeys out of the studio. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
Love, sex, fidelity, and the nearly endless variety of complications they can bring are played for laughs in this sophisticated comedy. Alan (Robert Mailhouse) is driving home on a dark and rainy night when he sees an attractive woman standing by the side of the road. He stops and offers her a ride; she accepts and immediately offers him fellatio for his troubles. Though Alan is married and has never cheated on his wife, he's not sure how to say no in this instance, but he doesn't get much of a chance to enjoy infidelity before he's interrupted by the police -- who inform him he's picked up a prostitute and he's under arrest. Several days later, Alan is trying to figure out how to get his wife Laura (Alison Eastwood) to take him back. His buddies Danny (Jonathan Silverman) and Brent (William Ragsdale) chide him for his naivete and advise him to stick by the old rationalization that oral sex isn't really sex. Meanwhile, Laura heads out for a night on the town with her friends Ally (Kimberly Williams) and Terianne (Jessica Lundy). Laura is thinking that adulterous turnabout might be fair play, Ally is mulling over her secret fantasy of becoming an exotic dancer, and Terianne is looking for a man who can help her with her problems in reaching an orgasm. The supporting cast includes Lauren Hutton as Laura's mother. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alison Eastwood, Robert Mailhouse, (more)
- 1999
The Sports Night crew returns to the studio from a bomb scare 15 minutes before the show goes on-air and naturally everyone is a little worked up. Casey (Peter Krause) and Dan (Josh Charles), however, can't seem to get over the fact that someone would try to blow up their building and they proceed to obsess about their near-death experience for some time to come. Dana (Felicity Huffman) has bigger issues to deal with, since Isaac's (Robert Guillaume) stroke has left her in charge of running the operations of the show in addition to her production responsibilities. The network sends J.J. (Robert Mailhouse) to talk with Dana about how to run the show and convinces her that Sally (Brenda Strong) is CEO Luther Sach's choice in assisting Dana, and not Natalie (Sabrina Lloyd). Still freaked out about his parents' divorce, Jeremy (Joshua Malina) makes the bizarre decision to break up with Natalie -- only Natalie calmly refuses to let him. Meanwhile, Rebecca (Teri Polo) tracks Dan down and accuses him of hiding from her and demands to know why. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
Vanessa Stewart (Janine Turner) has the soul of an artist, but her business tycoon father insists that she follow in his footsteps. As a result, Vanessa convinces herself that she wants to be a globetrotting executive, and also that she truly loves the man to whom she is engaged. But while in Venice on a business trip at the behest of her father, Vanessa meets and falls in love with adventurous Irish TV war correspondent Bill Fitzgerald (Paudge Behan). Deciding to kick over the traces, Vanessa is prepared to turn her back on her family obligations and plight her troth with Bill. But Fate, as it often does, takes a hand in matters when Bill is reported killed during a dangerous combat assignment. Based on a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford (as if the full title of this made-for-TV feature left any doubt), A Secret Affair first aired October 27, 1999 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Turner, Paudge Behan, (more)
In this comedy, teamwork takes on a new meaning when four friends fall in love with the same woman. Four guys with an interest in competitive rowing -- ad executive Scott (Jason Lewis), architect Michael (Chris Rydell), stockbroker Bob (Sean Astin), and college professor Walter (Robert Mailhouse) -- decide their crew needs some help. They learn that the daughter of an Olympic rowing champion lives in town, and she's no slouch at the sport herself. The four approach Kimberly (Gabrielle Anwar) and discover that she happens to be a very beautiful woman; for the sake of the team, all four make a solemn vow not to make any romantic overtures to Kimberly while they're in training, but predictably the flesh is weaker than the spirit and all four end up dating her at one time or another. The real dilemma comes when Kimberly becomes pregnant, and she isn't sure which one of the four men is the father. Rather than fight, all four take turns guiding Kimberly through pregnancy and childbirth as she continues to guide the rowing team. The supporting cast includes appearances by Patty Duke as a doctor and Molly Ringwald as Walter's significant other. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabrielle Anwar, Sean Astin, (more)
- 1999
The rumors continue to fly about Isaac's (Robert Guillaume) possible firing, which comes to a head when Isaac announces that tomorrow's Wall Street Journal will be featuring a story about his and CEO Luther Sach's ongoing feud. While the crew speculates what this will mean for Sports Night, Dan (Josh Charles) describes to Casey (Peter Krause) the beautiful woman named Rebecca (Teri Polo) he met on the elevator this morning and how Natalie (Sabrina Lloyd) said Rebecca thought he was nice and that he should call her. After accidentally running into Rebecca some time later, Dan learns Natalie was lying as Rebecca barely even remembers him -- while his ego takes a hit at the realization that he's not as much of a lady's man as he likes to think he is. After the article comes out the following morning, Isaac takes a meeting with network representative J.J. (Robert Mailhouse), who denies Mr. Sachs had any involvement with the story -- which leads Isaac to believe that perhaps J.J. may be complicit in this mess. Meanwhile, Dana (Felicity Huffman) begins to fret over her suspicions that Gordon is on the verge of dumping her, and Natalie suggests she go talk to Casey about her fears. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- 1998
- R
Melissa Behr and Sherrie Rose wrote, directed, and star in this offbeat road comedy about two women with a passion for motorcycles who meet while going through rehab. When they discover they've both longed to ride Captain America's red, white, and blue chopper from Easy Rider, they escape the rehab clinic and hit the highway in search of their dream bike. Me and Will features cameo appearances by Traci Lords and the band Dogstar, whose bass player is Keanu Reeves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melissa Behr, Sherrie Rose, (more)
- 1998
Kicking off the 45 episode ABC television series Sports Night was this pilot episode that originally aired on September 22, 1998. After two years together as co-anchors of the popular sports wrap-up show Sports Night, Casey McCall (Peter Krause) and Dan Rydell (Josh Charles) are hitting a difficult patch in their working relationship. Newly divorced, Casey is filled with uncertainties about his life that are clearly impacting his work performance -- a development that hasn't been lost on the network executives. Show producer Dana Whitaker (Felicity Huffman) and Dan take it upon themselves to get Casey back up to speed before the higher-ups feel compelled to intervene, or before Casey does something drastic like quit. In the meantime, associate producer Natalie Hurley (Sabrina Lloyd) has conducted a search for a new research analyst and has chosen the bright but quirky Jeremy Goodwin (Joshua Malina) for the job, whom she presents to the very thorough Dana for final approval. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Between Larry's (Garry Shandling) wining and dining of paramour Lori Loughlin, Hank's attempt to romance paralegal Michelle (Cecil Hoffman), and Phil's scheme to hold fake auditions in hopes of meeting an actress, it seems that nearly everyone involved with the show is feeling a bit lonely. Despite each desperate attempt at a little romance, however, strike one occurs when money turns up missing from Larry's wallet and the host hastily accuses Loughlin of theft. When Hank books Michelle's precocious son, Roger (Christopher Riccio), on the show in a desperate bid to impress, it's strike two when the plan backfires as the camera-shy boy freezes up on the air. When Phil is caught faking auditions by victim Jenette Robbins' manager, the jig is up, the inning is over, and any chance for romance is quickly dashed. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
