Robin Bartlett Movies

With lots of time on her hands, Jamie (Helen Hunt) begins writing letters to her baby daughter, Mabel, to be opened on Mabel's 18th birthday. Before long, Paul (Paul Reiser) has been caught up in the letter-writing mania, as have Ira (John Pankow) and Joan (Suzie Plakson). Trouble is, the words don't quite come out as planned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mel Brooks makes another unbearably funny appearance as Uncle Phil, here about to face trial for coupon fraud. Meanwhile, three-week-old Mabel is placed on a long waiting list for preschool, and Jamie (Helen Hunt) and Ira (John Pankow) have a strange adventure. Listen carefully for the Grand Great-Uncle Lullaby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After innumerable false alarms, it looks as though Jamie (Helen Hunt) is going to have her baby. This expected blessed event coincides with the unexpected film-festival triumph of Jamie's husband, Paul (Paul Reiser) -- who'da thunk that "Buchman" would win an award over a Michael Moore project? Originally telecast as the hour-long finale of Mad About You's fifth season, this episode has since been divided into two half-hour installments for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not surprisingly, most of Mad About You's sixth season was built around little Mabel Buchman, newborn daughter of leading players Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt). Many longtime fans of the series felt that the introduction of Mabel was the "jump the shark" moment, in which the quality of the writing began sliding downhill. Conversely, the series garnered a whole new crop of fans, else why would NBC cease its "football" treatment of the property, uncharacteristically allowing Mad About You to remain in the same (Tuesday night) time slot for two consecutive seasons? (For the record, its competition included CBS' JAG, ABC's Soul Man, FOX's Tuesday-evening movie package, and UPN's Clueless.) The series "new" regulars this year out were not all that new. Graduating from recurring character status, Robin Bartlett was now seen on a weekly basis as Paul's gay sister, Debbie; likewise, Louis Zorich's and Cynthia Harris' appearances as Paul's parents, Burt and Sylvia, became more frequent. Also, Paxton Whitehead, who had played the Buchmans' snooty British neighbor, Hal Conway, during season one, returned to the role, which for the last several years had been essayed by Jim Piddock. Still an Emmy Award "magnet," Mad About You earned Helen Hunt her third Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and Mel Brooks his second statuette for his recurring guest appearances as Paul Buchman's philosophical Uncle Phil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With Jamie (Helen Hunt) incapacitated, Paul (Paul Reiser) must wait on her hand and foot. His already difficult job is complicated by the lack of heat in the Buchmans' apartment -- and by an unscheduled kidnapping. At one point, it appears as though this episode should have been titled "Her Houseboy, Wolfgang Puck." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While being interviewed on film by Paul (Paul Reiser), great-uncle Marty (Shecky Green) ruins the shot by dropping dead. Marty's garbled final words ("Hummus?" "Cow Moos?" "Hey Miss?") touches off yet another crisis in the Buchman family. Amidst a veritable smorgasbord of famous guest stars, episode director David Steinberg garners some of the biggest laughs in the role of a long-winded rabbi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having played a cop for several seasons on NYPD Blue, Kim Delaney shows up as a cop's wife in the made-for-TV All Lies End in Murder. Content to bask in the popularity of her highly respected detective husband Daniel (Jamey Sheridan), Meredith Scialo (Delaney) is totally unprepared to confront the possibility that Daniel is up to his neck in corruption. But the evidence is irrefutable, and Meredith is forced to do something about it--if she can convince Daniel's fellow cops to help her, AND if she can live long enough to do so! Originally seen over CBS on January 19, 1997, All Lies End in Murder has since been retitled Behind Every Good Man for cable-TV play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt) have decided to hold off telling everyone that Jamie is pregnant until the couple can make a formal announcement at their Thanksgiving dinner. This plan is undermined by a number of "security leaks" in the office of gynecologist Joan Golfinos (Suzie Plakson). The ending offers six degrees of surprises thanks to an unheralded guest star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Determined to have a baby, Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt) carefully arrange a romantic afternoon at precisely the right day of the month. Alas, the couple's best-laid plans repeatedly go awry thanks to the interruptions of Paul's family. On top of that, Paul's sister Debbie (Robin Bartlett) has chosen this day for her own "coming out party" -- out of the closet, that is. ~ All Movie Guide

Season five of Mad About You begins with Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt) happily reconciled, thanks to Jamie's impending pregnancy. With their regular gynecologist, Mark, in Europe, the Buchmans need a new doctor to handle the preliminaries. Paul's gay sister, Debbie (Robin Bartlett), recommends her current girlfriend -- thereby introducing Suzie Plakson to the cast as Joan Golfinos. As for the title of the episode...well, take a look at the character played by John O'Hurley. ~ All Movie Guide

In this drama, a school teacher discovers that it takes more than the ABCs to get through to a class of "uneducatable" kids. When Lou Anne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer), a nine-year veteran of the Marine Corps with a degree in education, begins a new job at an inner-city school in California, the principal (George Dzundza) warns her that her class will be the "rejects from Hell" -- kids with severe social problems and no interest in education. While at first her African-American and Latino students scoff at Lou Anne, she ultimately gets them to open up to learning and literature, through a combination of bribery (candy bars) and intimidation (her karate training from the Marines comes in handy), and she's able to reach out to the students who need her the most: Callie (Bruklin Harris), a bright girl who believes she's thrown away her future when she becomes pregnant; Emilio (Wade Dominquez), a macho bully whose violence is stifling his academic potential; and Raul (Renoly Santiago), the brightest kid in the class, who is afraid to show his intelligence. Dangerous Minds was adapted from a memoir by Lou Anne Johnson entitled My Posse Don't Do Homework. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Connie Sellecca portrays another 1990s woman in peril in this made-for-television thriller. Sellecca stars as Sharon Blake, a successful career woman who has a passionate affair with a possessive man (Gregory Harrison). When she tries to break off the relationship though, she uncovers the dark side of her former lover, who starts stalking and harassing her. Harrison (Trapper John, M.D.) is effectively creepy as the obsessed, spurned ex-lover. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Based on a story by Richard Lupoff (a short filmization of the same story earned an Oscar nomination for 1990), 12:01 centers on a member of the personnel department in a science lab, who discovers that the world has become somehow trapped in a strange time warp that causes the same 24-hour period to repeat itself. During the course of that endlessly repeated day, Barry Thomas, the only one who seems to be aware of what's happening, must somehow figure out how to put time back on its normal course and solve the murder of a physicist, Lisa Fredricks (Helen Slater) with whom he is infatuated. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide