Christopher Jacobs

Host Courtney Hansen and famed hot-rod reconditioner Chip Foose uses a variety of clever ploys and scams to "steal" old cars and completely renovate them to their delight of their owners in Season One of Overhaulin'. In the debut episode, a high-schooler's hand-me-down 1988 Chevy pickup is magnificently restored--after it is "impounded" for parking tickets that the poor kid never knew he had. Subsequent installments include "Museum Worthy", essentially a guided tour of LA's Petersen Automotive Museum; "Surfer Kid", wherein the title character's 1977 El Camino is given "the works"; and "School's Out", focusing on the salvation of a rusty old 1958 Bel Air. In addition, at least one celebrity is "tricked" and his car "tricked out": Ian Ziering, who is pleasantly shocked when his 1968 Camaro is dolled up and slicked down! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A human bone found in the desert leads to the discovery of several other bone fragments. Working on the theory that the skeleton was sliced up with a saw and scattered all over a mountain, Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) and Grissom (William L. Petersen) literally have their work cut out for them. Meanwhile, Warrick (Gary Dourdan) and Sarah (Jorja Fox) investigate the murder of a male stripper during a wedding party. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A would-be filmmaker comes up with an exciting new way to finance his first feature film -- kidnapping -- in The Party Crashers, an independent black comedy. The writer (Phil Leirness, who wrote and directed this film) keeps getting rejection slips for his latest screenplay, but rather than compromise his creative vision, he and two of his friends -- his bisexual lover, who is an aspiring actor (Burt Bulos), and a mutual friend (Josh Randall) -- hatch a scheme to crash a party being thrown by some upscale Hollywood types and stage a robbery. By the time the three get to the bash, the plan has gotten more ambitious; they grab Carolyn (Shawnee Smith), knowing her parents are wealthy, and tell them they're holding her hostage, demanding $5 million for her safe return. However, most of the guests at the party hardly pay any attention to the uninvited guests, the ones that do are too ineffectual to do much about them, and Carolyn seems more amused than upset at the prospect of being kidnapped -- not to mention that she doesn't get along well with her family, so they're in no hurry to pay up. The supporting cast includes B-movie stalwart (and one-time U.S. Ambassador to Mexico) John Saxon as Carolyn's father. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A stranger pulled into a deadly scheme races against time to save his daughter in this thriller. Gene Watson (Johnny Depp) is an accountant who comes to L.A. with his ten-year-old daughter Lynn (Courtney Chase) to attend a funeral. On the street, Gene and Lynn are pulled aside by Mr. Smith (Christopher Walken) and Ms. Jones (Roma Maffia), who flash what look like police badges and usher them into a van. Gene soon discovers that he's been kidnapped, and his captors have an unusual demand -- if Gene does not murder Gov. Eleanor Grant (Marsha Mason) within 75 minutes, his daughter will be killed. Gene now has just an hour and a quarter to tip off the authorities, spare Gov. Grant, and find out what Smith and Jones are trying to do, along with saving his daughter's life. He finds a much-needed ally in one-legged shoe-shine man Huey (Charles S. Dutton). Most of the action in Nick of Time occurs in "real time," meaning that the passage of time on screen matches that of real life, as the frequent shots of clocks and watches will attest. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide