Helaine Head Movies

One of the first feature-length productions from Black Entertainment Television's Arabesque Films, After All was based on the same-named novel by Lynn Emery. Having single-handedly yanked herself out of the ghetto, ambitious TV anchorperson Michelle Toussaint (Holly Robinson Peete) is determined not to let anyone or anything stop her upward climb in the important Los Angeles news market. Consequently, Michelle has put her own personal values and racial pride on hold, the better to succeed in a white male-dominated profession. But the heroine has not counted upon the return of her former sweetheart Anthony Hilliard (D.B. Woodside), now a TV cameraman and community activist. Egged on by Anthony, Michelle puts her career on the line by investigating public-housing corruption in her old South Central neighborhood -- and along the way champions the cause of a young activist who may have been framed for murder.After All made its American cable TV debut on December 3, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the opening episode of Touched by an Angel's second season, Heavenly caseworker Monica (Roma Downey) receives orders from On High to submit to an interview with Callie Martin (Dinah Manoff), who is contemptuously skeptical about angelic encounters. Monica tells Callie about her most recent assignment, wherein embittered heart-transplant surgeon Joe Pachorek (Gerald McRaney) was obliged to operate on Ethan Parker (Douglas Roberts)--the man who had killed Joe's children in a drunken-driving accident. Not only must Pachorek find it within himself to forgive Parker, but Callie must also learn a sobering lesson about making snap judgments. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Directed by Helaine Head, this critically acclaimed installment of the Emmy award-winning PBS television series The American Experience dramatizes the campaign for desegregation covered in Richard Kluger's renowned nonfiction book Simple Justice. The docudrama chronicles the long fight by the great African-American jurist Thurgood Marshall (played by Peter Francis James) to dismantle to the lawful segregation of public schools in the United States. Central to the drama is the relationship of Marshall to his mentor, Charles Hamilton Houston, dean of Howard University Law School, and the requirement that Marshall prove in court that segregation caused harm to school children. To achieve proof, the lawyer enlisted the help of social scientist Dr. Kenneth Clark. The program portrays how Marshall eventually won the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, KS, at the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954, after years of struggle. The Supreme Court's ruling led to the integration of public schools. Houston is portrayed by James Avery. The program also features performances by Samuel L. Jackson, Pat Hingle, Andre Braugher, and Giancarlo Esposito. ~ Steve Blackburn, Rovi