Mark A. Burley Movies

Produced for cable's Showtime service, the half-hour Weeds starred Mary-Louise Parker as suburban housewife Nancy Botwin, whose comfy, affluent existence was shattered by the unexpected death of her husband. With no other readily available source of income, Nancy decided to service an ever-growing consumer demand -- by selling marijuana to other white-bread suburbanites. Purchasing her pot from streetwise dealer Conrad Shepard (Romany Malco) and his aunt, supplier Heylia James (Tonye Patano), Nancy set up her new business enterprise using a bakery as a front, with the assistance of city councilman Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon) -- all the while keeping her activities a secret from her snooty, traditionalist best friend, PTA president Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins). Also in the cast were Alexander Gould and Hunter Parrish as Nancy's sons, Shane and Silas; Justin Kirk as her overgrown-slacker brother-in-law, Andy; Andy Milder as Celia's feeble husband, Dean Hodes; Allie Grant as the Hodes' overweight daughter, Isabelle; and Martin Donovan as Peter, a single dad whom Nancy fell for -- and who turned out to be a DEA agent. The series' ironic theme music was the Womenfolk's "Little Boxes," a satiric paean to split-level conformity. One of those series invariably described as "smart and sexy" by in-the-know critics, the Golden Globe-winning Weeds debuted August 7, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three years after the cancellation of her popular series Murder She Wrote, Angela Lansbury returns for the first of several TV-movie followups to that selfsame series. Once again, Lansbury is cast as Jessica Fletcher, best-selling mystery writer and amateur sleuth. As indicated by the film's title, Hitchcock references abound in the plotline, beginning when a lady vanishes on the train that Jessica is taking to El Paso to deliver a lecture. Helpful Jessica accepts a message for the mystery woman, whereupon she is attacked by an assailant in search of "it." Our heroine is rescued by a journalist who may not be a journalist, then when attempting to ascertain the missing woman's whereabouts Jessica is warned to mind her own business by a guy identifying himself as an FBI agent. Inasmuch as such warnings have never stopped Jessica in the past, she follows the trail of clues to the desert town of Agua Verde, Arizona, adopting a few aliases alng the way. The climax is an echo of Hitch's The 39 Steps, wherein Jessica not only solves the mystery but also unmasks the Least Likely Suspect (or in this case, Least Likely Suspects). Produced and directed by Angela Lansbury's sons, Murder She Wrote: South by Southwest first aired November 2, 1997 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Angela Lansbury shows off her gifts as a singer and dancer in this holiday-themed ade-for-TV \musical. Near the turn of the century, Stanta Claus (Charles Durning) is busy getting ready for his annual toy delivery -- in fact, he's so busy he hasn't had much time for his wife, Mrs. Claus (Angela Lansbury), and his spouse has developed a case of cabin fever. Determined to get away and have some some fun on her own, Mrs. Claus hitches up the reindeer and takes them out for a quick spin around the world; however, she has reindeer trouble over New York City, and is forced to make an emergency landing. Stuck in New York for a week as her deer heal, Mrs. Claus's desire to help others quickly comes into play when she befriends a handful of children working in a sweatshop, as well as a group of women who've embraced the cause of sufferage for all. Mrs. Santa Claus first aired on December 8, 1996. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Veteran character actor Turhan Bey makes a rare TV appearance in this episode, set in Cairo, Egypt. Having arrived in the Land of the Pharoahs as part of a cultural exchange program, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) soon becomes involved in a perplexing case involving the theft of a priceless Egyptian relic, a gang of smugglers, and the CIA. And as usual, she helps to extricate an old friend from a murder charge. Also showing up in this installment is Jeri Ryan, still a few years removed from her costarring stint as Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Ten of Murder, She Wrote concludes as a small-time carnival pitches its tents just outside Cabot Cove. The troupe's arrival coincides with a series of mysterious burglaries which plagued the town. Then, the carnival's larcenous magician Carl Dorner (Bradford Dillman) is murdered--and that's when Jessica (Angela Lansbury) stars performing a bit of verbal prestidigitation in order to figure out which of Dorner's many enemies perpetrated the deed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two men, a fisherman and banker, have both died of carbon monoxide poisoning while sailing in the waters around Cabot Cove. At first this seems to be merely a coincidence--but then the fisherman's daughter gains access to her father's logbooks and charts. Suddenly, a link develops between the two men, forged by an illegal sale of surplus defense-corporation components--and Jessica (Angela Lansbury) begins to take interest in the situation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) swings into action when entrepreneur Max Teller (Steve Forrest), who had recently converted a former western mining town into a tourist attraction, is murdered. The killing may have been linked to the legendary lost treasure of a notorious stagecoach robber. Graham Greene of Dances with Wolves fame guest stars as the town's Native American sheriff Sam Keeyani, whom Jessica assists in his investigation of the murder (or is it the other way around?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide