Julie Pop Movies

Drew (Drew Carey) begins to worry that he is a lousy prospect for fatherhood when his nephew Gus (Matthew Josten) begins actly badly whenever Drew is around--but never, ever at any other time (hence the Warner Bros.-cartoon inspired title of this episode: remember the plot of One Froggy Evening?). Meanwhile, Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and Lewis (Ryan Stiles), impressed by Mimi's romance with a wealthy widower named Gavin, begin scanning the daily obituary columns in search of rich and eligible widows. Originally telecast in tandem with "Baby Makes Stress", this episode is highlighted with a double-entendre line about "wrestling" which was later folded into a popular TV commercial. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

New ER boss Dr. Swift (Michael Ironside) requests (read: "demands") that Greene discuss the OR death of Jodi O'Brien death before a hospital conference. Deb's (Ming-Na) rush to pile up more procedures than Carter (Noah Wyle) results in serious error. Ross (George Clooney) grows ever closer to Diane (Lisa Zane). And Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) is unpleasantly surprised by her sister Chloe's (Kathleen Wilhoite) sudden return. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Celebrated indie filmmaker Eddie Israel (Harvey Keitel) heads to California to shoot his latest movie, Mother of Mirrors, an examination of a marriage in which the wife pressures her husband to abandon their formerly mutual sex-and-drugs lifestyle and seek the same kind of religious conversion she has experienced. Leaving behind his own wife Madlyn (Nancy Ferrara) and his young son, Eddie explains the impetus of his latest project in a series of behind-the-scenes interviews. Meanwhile, Sarah Jennings (Madonna), a TV actress, has taken the wife role in Eddie's film, and her first item of business on the set is to sleep with Francis Burns (James Russo), who is set to play her husband. Things go sour between the two players and their conflicts spill onto the set, adding even more tension to a shoot in which Eddie alternately bullies and cajoles his actors to elicit more authentic performances. Perhaps Eddie manipulates Sarah onscreen because he's ashamed of having bedded his "very L.A." star just minutes before his wife and son arrived early for a weekend visit. Eddie soon finds the existential dilemmas of his film seeping into his own life, forcing him to question the compulsive adultery he practices. One of the first movies overseen by the film arm of Maverick, the record label and media company Madonna founded in the early '90s, Dangerous Game was produced by the singer's longtime manager, Freddy de Mann, alongside Mary E. Kane, who produced several earlier Ferrara efforts. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Carly Arnold (Tanya Roberts) is happily spreading goodness and light as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa when she and her pal Melanie (Julie Pop) run afoul of the local, highly corrupt, justice system. Despite numerous bribes by her mother Ruth (Clare Marshall), the two girls receive an eleven-year sentence on phony charges of drug-peddling. They are sentenced to serve their time at a prison run by a dissolute warden (Hal Orlandini) who typically employs his better looking female prisoners as prostitutes. Melanie kills herself after being gang-raped by guards, and Carly, realizing she'll get no help from the U.S. Embassy, has no choice but to escape. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi