Jimmy Baio Movies

In this comedy drama, three exuberant high-school graduates finally find a direction in life when they decide to fix-up a ramshackle Catskill resort and turn it into a little slice of rock & roll heaven for teens. They work hard to make the repairs and pay the over $8,000 in back taxes. When locals hear of their plans, they misunderstand and try to stop the young men as do wicked industrialists and the corrupt president of the town council who want to use the locale to dump toxic wastes. The lively soundtrack features songs by Phil Collins, Julian Lennon, Arcadia, and Pete Townshend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The death of Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) was the big shocker at the end of Soap's third season. So imagine everyone's surprise when, as the series launched season four, Jessica was brought back to life -- following a brief stopover in Heaven to commiserate with all her ex-lovers! In another dangling plot strand resolved by the fourth-season opener, Jessica's son, Billy Tate (Jimmy Baio), is rescued from the bullet fired by his scorned lover, Leslie Walker (Marla Pennington). Additionally, the Tates have acquired a new butler named Saunders (Roscoe Lee Browne), replacing their former retainer Benson (actor Robert Guillaume had of course left Soap to star in his own sitcom, titled -- you guessed it -- Benson). The many subplots wending their way through the series' final network season include the election of Jessica's brother-in-law, Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan), as sheriff leading to Burt's run-in with mob-connected hooker Gwen (Jesse Welles) -- with whom Burt's stepson, Danny (Ted Wass), becomes enamored. Also highlighted are the long-delayed wedding of Jessica's daughter, Eunice (Jennifer Salt) and ex-convict Dutch (Donnelly Rhodes); the long, anguished search by Danny's brother, Jodie (Billy Crystal), for his missing daughter; and Jessica's abduction to South America, where she falls in love with revolutionary leader El Puerco (Gregory Sierra), culminating in her divorce from Chester (Robert Mandan). As in previous years, season four of Soap ends with a cliffhanger as Jessica Tate faces a South American firing squad. This time, however, there was to be no resolution -- the series had been canceled! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The cliffhanger that brought season one of Soap to a climax is resolved in season two when Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) is cleared of the murder of her lover (and step-nephew!) Peter Campbell. Jessica's husband, Chester (Robert Mandan), confesses to the crime whereupon he is convicted and sent to prison. Later on, Chester escapes with fellow con Dutch (Donnelly Rhodes), who, while holding the Tate family hostage, sleeps with Jessica's far-from-unwilling daughter, Eunice (Jennifer Salt), leading to an elopement. As for Eunice's daughter Corrinne (Diana Canova), she marries defrocked priest Father Tim (Sal Viscusco), with whom she has a child -- who, alas, is possessed by Satan!. Still later, Chester loses his memory and wanders westward, ultimately getting a job as a fry cook. To find her missing husband, Jessica hires Detective Donahue (John Byner), with whom she falls in love! Meanwhile, Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal), the gay son of Jessica's sister, Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon), opts to give women a try and to that end moves in with Carol David (Rebecca Balding) -- who happens to be carrying Jodie's baby. Later on, Jodie will have a fling with a sucidal lesbian named Alice (Randee Heller). Elsewhere, Jodie's mobster brother, Danny (Ted Wass), forced into a relationship with Mafia daughter Elaine (Dinah Manoff), tries to figure out various ways of getting rid of her. But when Elaine is kidnapped and subsequently killed, a heartbroken Danny swears vengeance. And what of Danny and Jodie's stepfather, Burt (Richard Mulligan)? Well, he has his hands full trying to convince his family that he has seen a UFO. As season two rushes to a close, Jessica Tate is compelled to choose between hubby Chester and Detective Donahue, Billy Tate (Jimmy Baio) is being held captive by a religious cult called the "Sunnies," and befuddled Burt is abducted by those "non-existent" aliens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The endless intrigues (sexual and otherwise) involving the Campbells and the Tates are already up and running as the satirical sitcom Soap launches its first season. By the time episode one has faded from view, the audience is aware that blowhard businessman Chester Tate (Robert Mandan) is cheating on his wife, Jessica (Katherine Helmond); that Jessica herself is fooling around with studdish tennis instructor Peter (Robert Urich), who in turn is sleeping with Jessica's daughter, Corrinne (Diana Canova); that Corrinne's brother, Billy (Jimmy Baio), is nervously anticipating his first score -- er, first date; that Billy's other sister Eunice (Jennifer Salt) is the only member of the family who isn't sex-obsessed; and that Jessica's senile father, "The Major" (Arthur Pierson), is still reliving the horrors of WW2 -- with a bit of prodding from the family's sneering butler, Benson (Robert Guillaume). Meanwhile, Jessica Tate's sister, Mary Dallas Campbell (Cathryn Damon), is having troubles of her own with her blue-collar second husband Burt Campbell (Robert Mulligan) and her sons, mobster Danny Dallas (Ted Wass) and homosexual Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal) (it is revealed that Mary's first husband officially committed suicide, but that Mary "helped" his demise along). In future episodes, we learn that tennis pro Peter is the son of Burt Campbell; that a contract has been taken out on Burt, and Danny is to be the hit man; that Jodie is contemplating a sex change operation; and that Corrine is having an affair with an ex-priest. We are also introduced to "mob daughter" Elaine Lefkowitz (Dinah Manoff), whom Danny is forced to marry if he wants to save his skin. Season one ends on a cliffhanger with Jessica being arrested for, and convicted of, the murder of Peter Campbell -- but the series' narrator assures us that she didn't do it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide