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Pamela Kosh Movies

1987  
 
Angela Lansbury once again essays the dual role of Maine-based mystery writer Jessica Fletcher and her colorful cousin, British music-hall headliner Emma MacGill. This time around, Emma is suspected of murder when her fiancé, Viscount Geoffrey Constable (Richard Johnson) expires after consuming some poisoned herring. With the same cunning and finesse as cousin Jessica, Emma turns sleuth to clear her name and expose the guilty party. The episode is highlighted by Angela Lansbury's rendition of Jerome Kern's rousing ditty "Spoon With Me", which the actress had previously performed (with a dubbed voice!) in the 1946 theatrical film Till the Clouds Roll By". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1995  
 
In the conclusion of a two-part story, former antagonists Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Kate Costas (Mercedes Ruehl) are now enmeshed in a torrid romance. In fact, "torrid" hardly covers it: The two can't keep their hands off each other, either in or out of the office. When they end up "doing it" in the radio booth, the action is inadvertently broadcast all over Seattle -- and soon the city is abuzz as to the identity of the mysterious "dirty girl." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1996  
 
Murphy (Candice Bergen) decides to convert part of her townhouse bedroom into an office--a move that not only proves to be an architectural atrocity, but may well be against the law. Though Jim (Charles Kimbrough) warns Murphy that she will need a permit to proceed with her new office, she blithely ignores him until it's too late. The problem now is to wangle a permit from her much-despised neighbor Old Man Swenson (welcome back, Tom Poston). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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2006  
 
EMPz is the nickname the residents of a Toronto suburb have given to their neighborhood, a community largely populated by low-income African-Canadians who struggle against the crime and violence that has become commonplace in their town. Brian Harvey is a community activist who works with at-risk youth in EMPz, setting up tutoring programs, after-school activities, free breakfasts for lower-income children and other programs in an effort to make a better life for young people, though he emphasizes that teenagers have to change their own minds about guns and gangs before their problems can begin to resolve themselves. Many young people in EMPz, however, feel they're engaged in a losing battle to reclaim their neighborhood given the attitudes of police and city officials about their community (several talk about being pulled over by traffic cops for "driving while black"). Veteran documentary filmmaker Allan King brought his camera crew to the EMPz during 2005, described as "the year of the gun" by the Canadian news media, and followed the efforts of Harvey and his compatriots to make a difference in a community that many in the city of Toronto had given up on. EMPz 4 Life received its world premier at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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2007  
 
Much against his will, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) checks into a hospital to be treated for a bloody nose. His mortal fear of being left alone in a hospital room is only exacerbated when Monk stumbles upon the body of a doctor who has been bludgeoned to death by an oxygen tank. The weapon belongs to an elderly patient who couldn't possibly have arisen from his sickbed to commit the crime, but he's the only suspect the police have. In his efforts to solve the murder, Monk not only learns the true significance of the old adage "physician heal thyself", but also ends up at the mercy of a killer who is fully prepared to "medicate" our hero into the next world. This is the final episode of Monk's fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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