Alley Mills Movies

Destitute Las Vegas performer Jack Satin (Hamilton vonWatts) sets his sights on Atlantic City after fate deals him an unkind hand, and learns that sometimes we find belonging in the last place we would expect after his car breaks down in the sleepy town of Lost Springs. Now, without a dollar to his name or a set of wheels to keep moving, Jack strikes up a friendship with Doc Bishop (Robert Guillaume), a former jazz great and Lost Springs' best mechanic. Meanwhile, Jack's budding romance with local bar owner Lauren Wells (Melissa Joan Hart) soon leads him to realize that life is defined by much more than sold out shows and laughing crowds. But later, just when Jack starts to think that he's left Las Vegas behind, his shady past returns with a vengeance. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The detectives investigate when a man claims that his current house guest has been robbing gas stations and slashing the attendants. In another case, Diane (Kim Delaney) and Jill (Andrea Thompson) go after a band of gypsies who've been scamming elderly people. But the episode's biggest development (and the one that will mold the direction of the rest of NYPD Blue's seventh season) occurs when Diane again crosses paths with disingenuous drug task-force officer Denby (Scott Cohen) -- whom she sees conversing with a man who looks exactly like Jill's deceased ex-husband, drug trafficker Don Kirkendall. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The wedding plans of teenagers Greg (Corbin Allred) and Jill (Mercedes McNab) may be scuttled by their overbearingly "perfect" mothers Liz (Alley Mills) and Candice (Karen Austin), who have despised each other ever since their high school days. It turns out that Candice had long ago stolen Liz's boyfriend, and that Liz had spitefully agreed to keep Candice's youthful promiscuity a secret from her daughter Jill on condition that Jill never marry Liz's son Greg. It is up to angels Monica (Roma Downey), Tess (Della Reese) and Andrew (John Dye) to help Candice and Liz overcome their mutual animosity, selfishness and guilt feelings for the sake of their children. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this hour-long episode of clips, a fortune teller (played by John Goodman) tells little Jackie and little Roseanne what their future holds. Meanwhile, an adult D.J. recalls his youth during a therapy session. The clips are introduced by the "Sitcom Moms Welcome Wagon," including famous sitcom moms Barbara Billingsley, June Lockhart, Isabel Sanford, Alley Mills, and Patricia Crowley. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

This made-for-television drama is based on the true story of a mother's attempts to get her daughter out of the deadly world of prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Raquel Welch plays a writer working on a project about children who are genetically predisposed for violence--specifically, homicide. To gather real-life examples, she focuses on finding the daughter of a woman who murdered her own parents. The girl also happens to have a twin brother who did the same to his adoptive parents. Introduced in the curvy plot are two adoptive daughters of two separate families living in the same neighborhood; one of whom is the daughter in question. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

This true story tells of the loving adoption of a Down Syndrome boy by a volunteer following the decision of the boy's parents to not allow a life-extending operation. ~ Rovi

To Heal a Nation is the true story of Jan Scruggs (Eric Roberts), a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. In 1979, Scruggs, employed by the US Department of Labor, becomes obsessed with the dream of erecting a monument to those who died in Vietnam. In pursuit of this dream, Scruggs and his fellow fundraisers run up against bureaucratic indifference and public hostility-not to mention the reservations of certain veterans who disapprove of the monument's "radical" design. On November 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is erected in Washington DC-an intensely emotional moment, vividly recreated by combining dramatizations with actual news footage. Originally presented as GE Theater TV production, To Heal a Nation debuted May 29, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Atlanta Child Murders is a five-hour, two-part dramatization of one of the most tragic and controversial homicide cases of the past twenty years. From 1979 through 1982, some 28 African-American children and young adults disappeared from Atlanta--some without a trace, but others to later turn up as murder victims. Part One (which debuted February 10, 1985) details the beginning of the manhunt conducted by the Atlanta Chief of Police (James Earl Jones). Screenwriter Abby Mann uses the actual events as a springboard for his thesis that the case and its outcome revealed many uncomfortable truths about the still-fragile state of race relations in the New South. Both parts of The Atlanta Child Murders were later combined into one 245-minute "feature film."

The second part of the five-hour TV docudrama The Atlanta Child Murders originally aired February 12, 1985. After 28 African-American children and young adults have either disappeared or been murdered, the Atlanta police finally have a suspect in custody: Small-time show business entrepreneur Wayne Williams (Calvin Levels). Scriptwriter Abby Mann utilizes actual court transcripts of Williams' trial, which results in a conviction on one count of murder. This decision in essence leaves the cases of the other 27 victims unresolved--and in so doing, Mann opens the door to speculations that Williams, a black man, was a "convenient" suspect, who might possibly have been railroaded in the authorities' haste to find a solution to the sordid case. Whatever Mr. Mann may have felt concerning Williams' guilt or innocence, the fact remains that the murders and disappearances stopped cold once Williams was in custody (as of this writing, Williams persists in his efforts to reopen the case, claiming that he was framed by the white power structure). Morgan Freeman served as narrator for both installments of The Atlanta Child Murders. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Columbo creators Richard Levinson and William Link give crime-solving a rest in their script for the made-for-TV sci-fier Prototype. Christopher Plummer plays a curmudgeonly but basically kindly Nobel Prize-winning scientist, who builds an equally kindly (but much handsomer) humanoid named Michael (David Morse). The government-subsidized Plummer has created Michael on behalf of his sponsors, but has second thoughts when he finds out that the government plans to build an army of robot warriors, using Michael as their model. Plummer sneaks into the pentagon and "kidnaps" Michael, triggering a film-length chase. Prototype had its television premiere on December 7, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi