Omar Gooding

Five prisoners of war escape captivity in a Confederate prison camp only to land in an uncharted Pacific island where time stands still and dastardly pirates don't take kindly to strangers in director Russell Mulcahy's screen adaptation of fantasy author Jules Verne's literary classic. They thought they were on their way to freedom when they leapt into a balloon and took to the skies, but upon landing on an island where nothing is as it seems, these escapees are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. From bloodthirsty beasts to murderous pirates and a mad genius named Captain Nemo, treachery lurks behind every corner on this island, and if these five survivors have any hope of staying alive, they'll have to fight to their dying breaths to escape the island and get back to the modern world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Not to be confused with the sixth-season episode of the same title, this one concerns a talented minor-league baseball player named Ben McCloud (Omar Gooding) and his obsessive, hypercritical father Norm (Ernie Hudson). Not only is Norm living vicariously through Ben's athletic accomplishments, but he also hopes that his son will expunge the "shame" brought upon the family by Ben's own father Candy (Lee Weaver), a former Negro League ballplayer who in his later years was reduced to working as a baseball "clown". In order to convince Ben to stop pushing and start loving his son, Monica (Roma Downey)must find out if Candy's seemingly farfetched stories about his diamond career--including the claim that he once struck out Babe Ruth--might have a kernel of truth in them after all. The great Hank Aaron appears as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inasmuch as Hangin' with Mr. Cooper did not return to the ABC lineup in the fall of 1996, everyone assumed that the series had been cancelled with its 88th episode at the end of Season Four, leaving fans to ponder whether or not high school teacher Mark Cooper (Mark Curry) had finally persuaded his longtime platonic roommate Vanessa Russell (Holly Robinson Peete) to accept his marriage proposal. However, the producers needed to turn out a full 100 episodes in order to ship out the series for local syndication; thus Hangin' with Mr. Cooper was brought back in June of 1997 for 12 additional half-hours, in which it was revealed that, yes, Mark and Vanessa were officially engaged. And in a parallel development, the couple's third roommate, Geneva Lee (Saundra Quarterman) was seriously considering tying the knot with her boyfriend Ken (Kevin Jackson). However, just hours before the wedding of Mark and Vanessa in the series' 100th installment, actors Mark Curry and Holly Robinson Peete) abruptly drop character, turn to the camera, and cheerfully wave goodbye to the audience--and that's the end of the series! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Oakbridge High's favorite substitute teacher Mark Cooper (Mark Curry) continues to live platonically under the same roof as attractive Vanessa Russell (Holly Robinson Peete), music teacher Geneva Lee (Saundra Quarterman) and Geneva's 8-year-old daughter Nicole (Raven-Symone) as Hangin' with Mr. Cooper enters its third season. In the earliest episode, the roommates also share their digs with Mark and Geneva's boss, principal P.J. Moore (Nell Carter), but P.J. moves out soon thereafter to get married--only to be jilted at the altar, leading to a riotous wedding-rehearsal episode in which Mark is pressed into service as a "substitute groom". Though he'd had a chance to be promoted to head athletic coach at Oakbidge, Mark failed to answer any of P.J.'s phone calls during the summers, thus he remains subservient to the school's new coach, Mr. Corley (Steve White). Also added to the recurring cast this season is Steve White as Mark's college buddy Steve Warner, a sports reporter. Among the funnier episodes this year is "The Ringer", wherein Mark is forced to don female garb and pose as the batter of an all-girl baseball team. In the season's cliffhanging finale, it looks as though Vanessa and Mark are poised to go their separate ways when Vanessa accepts the proposal of her new boyfriend, who wants to relocate to New Guinea, and Mark lands a prestigious coaching position at Georgetown University. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With his career as an NBA player at an end, Mark Cooper (Mark Curry) returns to his home town of Oakland as Hangin' with Mr. Cooper inaugurates its first season. Through the intervention of his childhood friend Robin Dumars (Dawnn Lewis), now a music teacher, Mark is able to secure work as a substitute teacher and assistant coach at his old alma mater, Oakbridge High School, where he must answer to Head Coach Ricketts (Roger E. Mosley). Since their combined incomes don't amount to all that much, Mark and Robin decide to platonically share their living quarters, renting a rather sizeable house in a middle-class Oakland neighborhood. Moving in with the couple is Robin's friend Vanessa Russell (Holly Robinson Peete), who worked for a brokerage firm. Though Mark is clearly smitten by Vanessa, she keeps him at arm's length, saving herself for marriage--preferably a wealthy marriage to a better-looking fellow than Mark. Just as the three main characters saved money by living together, so too did the producers of Hangin' With Mr. Coopereconomize by using as its main set the same house previously occupied by the Seaver family on the recently cancelled sitcom Growing Pains. Rather than hope that the audience wouldn't notice this recycling, the writers deliberately drew attention to it by having Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) drop into the house in the first episodes to extend his best wishes to the new tenants! (And never mind that Growing Pains was set in New York rather than California!) Among the supporting characters introduced this season is Mark's student Earvin Rodman (Omar Gooding), an affable but oafish fellow who is in his sixth year of high school! And the episode "Miracle in Okinawa" features future series regular Marquise Wilson, not in his familiar role of wisecracking kid Tyler Foster, but instead as an anonymous youngster for whom Mark plays Santa Claus. In the season finale, the roommates break up when Mark decides to move into a new apartment--only to realize that he can't stand living alone. Growing Pains wrapped up its freshman season as the highest-rated new series of the year, tying for fourteenth place in the ratings with The Jackie Thomas Show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide