K'Sun Ray
- 2007
Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is outraged by the news that his longtime rival Harold Krenshaw (Tim Bagley), the "pet" patient of Monk's psychiatrist Dr. Kroger (Stanley Kamel), is actually the Frisco Fly, a masked daredevil who has become a folk hero by clambering around the San Francisco skyscrapers. Especially vexing is the fact that Harold is deathly afraid of heights--and that if he is indeed the Frisco Fly, it would prove that he's been making more progress with his phobias than Monk has. But as it turns out, Harold has been set up as a (literal) fall guy by the person who has murdered the real "Frisco Fly"...a murder which Monk happens to be investigating even as we speak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Another Americanization of a popular British TV series, Life is Wild was inspired by the BBC comedy-drama Wild at Heart. D.W. Moffett headed the cast as New York-based veterinarian Danny Clarke, who on little more than a whim relocated himself, his second wife Jo (Stephanie Niznik) and their four children (two from his first marriage, two from hers) to a new home in South Africa. The Clarke family reconnoitered at the Blue Antelope, a game preserve and safari lodge run by Danny's crusty father-in-law Art (David Butler) (his daughter was Danny's late first wife). Though the kids thought that Danny was crazy, wife Jo did her best to be supportive, using her skills as a lawyer to help rebuild the Blue Antelope into a thriving concern, despite stiff competition from a newer, more tourist-friendly lodge owned by Art's rival Colin Banks (Jeremy Sheffield). The rest of the characters included Danny's level-headed daughter Katie (Leah Pipes) and his frisky son Chase (K'sun Ray; Jo's rebellious son Jesse (Andrew St. John) and sports-nut daughter Mia (Mary Matilyn); Colin Banks' twin children, handsome-hunk son Oliver (Jeremy Sheffield) and drop-dead-gorgeous daughter Emily (Tiffany Mulheron); Tumelo (Atandwa Kani), a local teenager who aspired to become a veterinarian himself; and singer-bartender Mbali (Precious Kofi), for whose attentions Jesse and Tumelo carried on a friendly competition. Filmed on location in South Africa, Life is Wild debuted October 7, 2007 on CW, in the Sunday-night timeslot formerly occupied by Seventh Heaven. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leah Pipes, D.W. Moffett, (more)
- 2006
Executive-produced by ER and West Wing veteran John Wells, the weekly serialized drama series Smith focused on a group of highly skilled professional thieves, who covered their tracks by living normal, above-suspicion lives between heists. There was actually no character named "Smith"; this was the designation given by the Feds to the mysterious leader of the criminals, whom the audience knew to be Bobby Stevens (Ray Liotta), who maintained a respectable veneer as a sales representative for a paper-cup company. Ever so often, Bobby would make up an alibi for his dental-assistant wife Hope (Virginia Madsen) and his family, travel to another city, don new clothes and a new identity, and mastermind a high-profile theft with his accomplices, all of whom resided in different, far-flung cities. Bobby's "team" included womanizing hit man Jeff (Simon Baker), Vegas showgirl Annie (Amy Smart), parolee Tom (Johnny Lee Miller), and versatile utility man Joe (Franky G.). Dogging the thieves' trail with Javert-like diligence was the ruthless and sometimes unscrupulous federal agent Dodd (Chris Bauer). Debuting September 19, 2006 on CBS, Smith was among the first casualties of the 2006-2007 season, lasting only three episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, (more)
In a 1950s-era alternate universe where domesticated zombies play a functional role in society by delivering the milk, carrying the mail, and even helping out with household chores, one boy is about to find out just how big of a personal responsibility "pet" ownership truly is. When the Earth passed through a cloud of space dust and the dead arose from their graves to devour the flesh of the living, it first seemed that all hope for humanity was lost. Society's rapid slide into chaos, however, was soon halted when scientists at a company called ZomCom created a special collar that turned the rampaging animated corpses docile. Now, thanks to ZomCom, everything is under control -- or is it? Timmy Robinson (K'Sun Ray) isn't quite convinced. Quiet and withdrawn, the skeptical young boy spends so much time locked away in his room that he's almost become invisible around the household. His mother Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss) has recently purchased a zombie to help keep things tidy around the house though, and when the creature attempts to engage the curious youngster in a game of catch, a friendship is forged between boy and zombie that finds the amiable gut-muncher nicknamed Fido (Billy Connolly) practically becoming a part of the family. Things take a turn for the worse however, when Fido's collar malfunctions and Timmy's neighbors begin dying in droves. When ZomCom's top zombie control specialist Mr. Bottoms (Henry Czerny) moves in across the street from Timmy, the increasingly complicated situation threatens to place a serious stumbling block in the path of human-zombie relations. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Kaye, Jan Skorzewski, (more)
Ambitious young advertising man Phillip Fielder (Chad Lowe) has no time for relationships, and seems to have affection only for his creature comforts -- a source of great dismay for his erstwhile girlfriend, Holly Ford (Marin Hinkle). When his orphaned nephew, an autistic eight-year-old named Zachary (K'Sun Ray), comes to live in Phillip's lavish apartment, Phillip wants no part of surrogate fatherhood and tries to pass the youngster along to his cousin Rose (Miriam Flynn), who happens to live near a group home for special children. But Zach nixes this idea and insists upon living with Phillip, thus throwing together two extremely self-absorbed, obsessive-compulsive characters under one roof. This being a Hallmark Channel presentation, Fielder's Choice will undoubtedly work its way toward a happy and heartwarming finale, though it definitely takes some doing! The film made its TV bow on June 18, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
