Harvey Frand Movies

One of the most popular television series of the late '70s science fiction boom gets a new look for the new millennium in remake, created as a made-for-cable miniseries. Four decades after the Cylon Wars, the Cylon robots (some of whom have since assumed human form) have launched a vicious nuclear attack, leaving only a few Colonial forces to lead the survivors to safety. Led by starship commander Adama (Edward James Olmos) and politician and possible presidential successor Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the crew of the Battlestar Galactica searches the galaxy for the mythic 13th Colony of Kobol (otherwise known as Earth), their destination and only hope for survival. Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries also stars Jamie Bamber, James Callis, and Grace Park. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Created by Steven Long Mitchell and Craig W. Van Sickle, the weekly, hour-long NBC fantasy adventure series The Pretender starred Michael T. Weiss as Jarod Russell, who had the ability to assume any personality and handle any job at a second's notice. A former child prodigy, Jarod was supposedly orphaned at any early age, at which point his fate was placed in the hands of the Centre, a secret facility in Blue Cove, DE. Here, the young Jarod (played in the series' frequent flashback sequences by child actor Ryan Merriman) was befriended by psychiatrist Dr. Sydney Green (Patrick Bauchau), who was dedicated to carefully cultivating and developing the special skills possessed by Jarod and other such "pretenders." Unfortunately, the people who ran the Centre -- headed by evil genius Dr. William Raines (Richard Marcus) -- intended to auction Jarod off to the highest bidder, and when he found this out he escaped, moving Fugitive-style from town to town, using his chameleon-like powers for good instead of evil.

Ever so gradually, Jarod learned the truth about his life before the Centre, and also found out that most of the "biography" fed to him by his captors was a lie -- especially the part about his parents being dead. Meanwhile, Jarod was pursued by Miss Parker (Andrea Parker), a glamorous paid assassin who likewise grew up in the Centre -- and when it looked as though Miss Parker would never be able to eliminate her quarry, a rival team of assassins, Brigitte (Pamela Gidley) and Bobby Lyle (Jamie Denton), was sent out to finish the job, leading to some fascinating "turf battles." Ultimately, Miss Parker discovered that she too had been a cruelly manipulated pawn of the Centre (for one thing, she'd never been informed that Bobby Lyle was her own brother), whereupon she shifted alliances and became Jarrod's friend and loyal aide -- just as she'd been when they were both children. Alas, they could not alert the authorities to the Centre's dirty work, thanks to the Sweepers, an ultra-efficient band of minions who meticulously "cleaned up" all evidence of the villains' skullduggery. Fortunately, Jarod and Miss Parker were able to rely on a handful of staunch allies, notably Broots (Jon Gries), the Centre's neurotic resident computer wonk. Also occasionally on hand was Angelo (Paul Dillon), a fellow "pretender" who'd been unhinged by the same brainwashing methods used on Jarod, and whose actions were, to say the least, unpredictable. Debuting September 19, 1996, The Pretender ended its weekly run on August 26, 2000. The plot strands left dangling when the series ended were neatly knotted up by a brace of spin-off TV movies, both of which starred Michael T. Weiss and Andrea Parker, and both of which were telecast in 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the few TV western series of the 1980s, The Young Riders was set in 1860, the year of the formation of the mail service popularly known as the Pony Express. Anthony Zerbe headed the cast as Teaspoon Hunter, a grizzled old campaigner with an unsavory past who ran a prairie station of the Central Overland Express, which spanned a distance from Missouri to California. Located first in Sweetwater, Wyoming and later in Rock Creek, Nebraska, Hunter's outpost employed several very young and very-good looking riders, several of whom would go on to either fame or notoriety in the post-Civil War West. Ty Miller played the lead rider, a hothead known only as The Kid (it was not-so-subtly hinted that he was actually Billy the Kid). His coworkers included Stephen Baldwin as Billy Cody, who would in the future affix the designation "Buffalo" to his first name; Josh Brolin as Jimmy Hickok, a fast gun who would one day achieve prominence as "Wild Bill" Hickok; and, when the service moved to Rock Creek, Christopher Pettiet as a 14-year-old fugitive from justice named Jesse James (Reality check: Though Buffalo Bill Cody did indeed ride with the Pony Express, the others listed above did not). In its efforts to invest a 1980s sensibility into the 19th century proceedings, the series tackled such issues as racial tolerance and feminism, as embodied by the other "Young Riders". Yvonne Suhor was cast as Lou McCloud, a feisty young girl who disguised herself as a boy in order to qualify for the Pony Express; Gregg Rainwaiter played Buck Cross, a half-Kiowa Indian with a pronounced streak of mysticism; Don Franklin was seen as Noah Dixon, a freeborn black; and Travis Fine was Ike McSwain, who had been rendered mute after witnessing the massacre of his family by outlaws. Serving as cook and mother confessor to the station was Melissa Leo as Emma Shannon, later replaced by Claire Wren as Rachel Dunn. Also in the cast were Brett Cullen as Emma's off-and-on beau, Marshal Sam Cain, and Don Collier as storekeeper William Tompkins. Created by Ed Spielman, the weekly, 60-minute The Young Riders was seen over ABC from September 20, 1989 through July 23, 1992--a considerably longer run than the actual Pony Express, which went out of business after a mere seventeen months. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After suffering a brutal assault, an attractive NYC attorney gains consciousness to find herself among a group of people living under the streets of the city--including the one who saved her; a kind and intelligent man/beast, Vincent. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Revived by CBS in a new, full-color, hour-per-week format, the classic fantasy/sci-fi anthology The Twilight Zone gets off to a terrific start with its first episode, which contains two short playlets, both directed by horror flick specialist Wes Craven: "Shatterday," written by the series' creative consultant, Harlan Ellison, and "A Little Peace and Quiet," a chilling doomsday piece in the tradition of Rod Serling's original Twilight Zone. Several later episodes would feature three playlets per show, including such marvelous vignettes as "Wordplay," in which an ad executive awakens to find out that everyone in the world is speaking what sounds like gibberish to him; and "Nightcrawlers," wherein the patrons of a lonely diner experience firsthand the horrible dreams of a Vietnam veteran. Among the longer playlets are "Teacher's Aide," or: how a teacher learns to handle her unruly class with the help of a friendly gargoyle; "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium," the story of a warehouse containing literally every lost item in human history; "The Misfortune Cookie," in which an arrogant food critic gets his comeuppance from a Chinese restaurateur; and "Her Pilgrim Soul," the saga of a misplaced and very confused time traveler. Although the series tended to avoid repeating episodes seen on the original Twilight Zone, there are two noteworthy exceptions. "Dead Woman's Shoes" is a gender-switch remake of the 1962 episode "Dead Man's Shoes," while "A Night of the Meek" is an updated revision of the 1960 Yuletide offering of the same name. Halfway through season one, Harlan Ellison left in high dudgeon, complaining about interference from the CBS standards and practices people. Fortunately, The Twilight Zone was still able to attract such top-rank talents as writers Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, and directors Joe Dante and Gerd Oswald -- not to mention such A-list performers as Bruce Willis, Robert Klein, Lorna Luft, Elliott Gould, Adrienne Barbeau, Helen Mirren, Jeffrey Tambor, Piper Laurie, Richard Mulligan, Sherman Hemsley, Mare Winningham, and Richard Kiley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This NBC detective show premiered about five years after Rock Hudson's hit program McMillan and Wife took its final bows (and on the same network), but experienced a much shorter run. As Hudson's final series, it starred the legendary actor as Brian Devlin, an independently wealthy playboy resting on his laurels from a long career as a successful private investigator, and working full time in a low-key position as director of the Los Angeles Cultural Arts Center. At the outset of the series, a 28-year-old man turned up named Nick Corsello (Jack Scalia), who indicated that he was Brian's long-lost son, and had grown up in New York in the care of his mom. Nick worked as a private eye - a very tough, hard-boiled private eye - and began pulling Brian from the world of Cultural Arts back into the throes of intense and difficult cases. Brian attempted to assist without Nick's knowledge, but father and son inadvertently ended up solving the cases in tandem. Leigh-Taylor Young starred as Lauren, Brian's glamorous and sexy assistant at the Arts Center. Alas, audiences didn't particular care enough to tune in, and the last episode ran on Christmas Day, 1982 - just shy of three months after its premiere. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi