Seth Isler Movies

Julia Roberts and Jean-Claude Van Damme appear in this episode, in which the gang pays a visit to Hollywood. Chandler (Matthew Perry) is less impressed by celebrities than by an old friend from the fourth grade who has gotten work in the Industry -- and who has an old score to settle. Joey (Matt LeBlanc) gets another in a long line of "big" breaks. And Ross (David Schwimmer) and Marcel the Monkey take a trip. Michael Lembeck won an Emmy award for his direction of this episode. Part two of "The One After the Super Bowl" originally aired in a 60-minute slot with part one, but was syndicated as a separate entity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No sooner has Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) launched his investigation of a millionaire's kidnapping than the Feds take the case out of his hands. A two-bit criminal (Paul Ben-Victor) who is no stranger to the precinct may hold a vital clue to the abduction. And, on his own, Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) extends a helping hand to the ailing ex-prizefighter (Brad Sullivan) who first got Bobby interested in raising pigeons as a hobby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As indicated by its title, this made-for-TV weeper was inspired by one of author Danielle Steel's innumerable best-sellers. The beautiful and talented Adrian (Polly Draper) is a writer for one of America's most popular TV soap operas. She is also pregnant, and when she refuses to abort her baby, Adrian's selfish husband (Kevin Kilner) deserts her. It falls to one of the soap opera's producers, the recently divorced Bill (John Ritter), to convince Adrian to give romance a second chance -- and, incidentally, to give her baby a new last name. Described at the time of its release as "a yuppie love story," Danielle Steel's 'Heartbeat' was originally telecast by NBC on February 3, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Schlesinger directed this upscale horror film about a landlord with the ultimate problem tenant. Patty Palmer (Melanie Griffith) and Drake Goodman (Matthew Modine) are a middle class couple who lie on their financial statement in order to buy an old Victorian house in San Francisco, planning to renovate it and rent it out. Unfortunately, they select as a tenant Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton), a psychotic real estate bargain hunter who plans to drive Patty and Drake into foreclosure proceedings and then buy the house cheap. Carter starts the ball rolling by refusing to pay his rent and driving out a couple who had rented the rear flat by hammering and sawing all night -- and then releasing a tidal wave of cockroaches. What follows is a psychological war between Carter and the Yuppie couple, with Carter succeeding not only in provoking Drake into more extreme means of eviction, but also causing a rift between Drake and Patty. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Based upon Patty Duke's bestselling autobiography, Call Me Anna details the Academy Award-winning actress's rise to stardom and her lifelong struggle with manic depression. Born Anna Marie Duke, the youngster from Queens embarked upon an acting career at an early age. Her manager, John Ross, essentially removes her from her family (including a depressed mother and alcoholic father) at the age of seven and tyrannically manages her career. While this effectively aids her professionally, his abuse takes a toll upon the sensitive young girl. She makes a name for herself when she lands the part of Helen Keller in the Broadway smash The Miracle Worker and gains national fame when her work in the film version earns her a coveted Oscar. She goes on to star in her own television series, and embarks upon a number of relationships, including ones with Desi Arnaz Jr. and John Astin (whom she marries). Eventually, Duke shows signs of mental illness, brought about both by her parents and her managers, and enters into therapy with a doctor, who is able to give her the help she desperately needs. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Tracey Thurman was a real-life Connecticut housewife who, throughout her marriage, suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of her husband. The beatings culminate in a single bloody night when Buck Thurman stabs his estranged wife 13 times. She survives--barely--and Buck is arrested. Having failed to get proper protection from the local police force, Tracey successfully sued the officers in 1989. The long-range result was the Thurman Law, which called for mandatory arrests in wife-beating cases in Connecticut and several other states. Nancy McKeon, who plays Tracey Thurman in A Cry for Help, starred in the film in the hope that it would prevent Buck Thurman's early release from prison. A Cry For Help: The Tracy Thurman Story first aired on October 2, 1989; Thurman was scheduled for release in 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When speaking of Laurel and Hardy's first feature film Pardon Us, Stan Laurel described it as "a three-story building on a one-story base"-in other words, a 2-reeler stretched and bloated into 6 reels. Much the same could be said of Blake Edwards's Blind Date, though one wonders if Stan Laurel could have even gotten two reels out of its wafer-thin premise. At the outset, yuppie Bruce Willis is warned not to let his blind date, southern belle Kim Basinger, drink anything stronger than lemonade. So what does Willis do the first chance he gets? That's right, kids; he plies poor Basinger with champagne. And then he wonders why his life rapidly goes to hell in a handbasket. In his first starring movie role, Bruce Willis manages to find all sorts of nuances in his one-note role, while Kim Basinger is very funny when she's blotto-at least, for the first five minutes or so. John Laroquette costars as a character straight out of a 1920s bedroom farce; he's also pretty good, even though his dialogue is numbingly unamusing. Blake Edwards is famous for his ability to make a lot out of a little...but there has to be a limit somewhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide