William Shockley Movies

In this lurid sci-fi actioner a psycho LA police chief has surgeons implant a device into the spines of wounded officers that turns them into lunatic killers who are then assigned to his Scum Quelling Urban Assault Division (SQUAD). After cleaning the streets of slimy crooks, the officers are programmed to destroy themselves. When hard-nosed cop Arliss Ryder is wounded, he too receives the deadly implant, but unlike the others, he and his gal Kristin, a master kickboxer, figure out the plan and work to defeat the villain to save himself and his fellow officers. The film inspired considerable controversy when it first came out because the part of the S&M-loving police chief was played by convicted-conspirator G. Gordon Liddy of Watergate fame. After the film was completed Liddy refused to promote it to the public and later after the story made the national news withdrew all opposition. This bought the film more time in theaters, before it went to video, than it may have actually deserved. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this thriller, a suburban housewife begins playing detective after she overhears a neighborhood conspiracy to kill someone on her baby's intercom. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This police story chronicles the true story of two partners who started out as best friends and later became the bitterest of enemies when one of them becomes corrupted. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) and Sully (Joe Lando) come to the rescue of Zack (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a mentally challenged youth who has suffered ill treatment at the hands of his guardian. The rest of the community shuns Zack, not only because he is "simple-minded," but because he is apparently the son of a prostitute. Only Brian (Shawn Toovey) is willing to befriend Zack -- thereby tapping the boy's hitherto unrecognized artistic abilities. This poignant episode ends with a startling revelation regarding Zack's parentage. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While hiking with Sully (Joe Lando), Brian (Shawn Toovey) impulsively jumps out of a tree and sustains what at first seems to be a minor head injury. Already angry at Sully for allowing this to happen, Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) is beside herself with rage and grief when Brian lapses into a coma. With only minimal aid, Mike must perform delicate brain surgery on her adoptive son -- a tense situation that exacerbates the already-raging argument amongst the townsfolk over who will build the community's new schoolhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Matthew (Chad Allen) wants to marry Swedish immigrant girl Ingrid (Jennifer Youngs), but Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) thinks that he is much too young. To prove his adoptive mother wrong, Matthew talks Sully (Joe Lando) into letting him participate in a grueling four-day Cheyenne ritual. Sully agrees, causing a rift between himself and Dr. Mike. But all this intrigue may mean nothing: It is highly possible that asthmatic Ingrid is not healthy enough to get married. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After a raid on Black Kettle's Cheyenne settlement, the imperious and sadistic General Custer (Darren Dalton) insists that Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) treat all of his injured soldiers before even looking at the more seriously wounded Indian prisoners. To make sure that Dr. Mike follows his orders, Custer threatens to execute captured Cheyenne medicine man Cloud Dancing (Larry Sellers). Elsewhere, Loren (Alan Young), Horace (Frank Collinson), and Jake (Jim Knobeloch) display their hitherto untapped musical talents at Miss Olive's (Gail Strickland) new Hurdy Gurdy, and the relationship between Matthew (Chad Allen) and Ingrid (Jennifer Youngs) blossoms into romance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

John Schneider guest stars as Red McCall, an impoverished cowboy who is reduced to robbing Loren's (Alan Young) store in order to provide for his half-breed baby. Realizing he can no longer care for his child, Red leaves the baby with Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) -- who, in turn, is unable to find a proper new home for her charge. As this drama plays itself out in the background, danger rears its ugly head in the form of a rampaging rabid bear. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sully (Joe Lando) reluctantly agrees to guide Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) to the high mountain stream that she believes is the source of mercury poisoning. Despotic mine owner Craig Harding (Michael Cavanaugh) captures Sully and Dr. Mike as trespassers and refuses to allow them to return to Colorado Springs. Things take an ironic turn when Harding's own son (Jared Rushton) is poisoned by the polluted water. Meanwhile, back in town, Grace (Jonelle Allen) takes an important step in affirming her equality with her white neighbors. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Irascible storekeeper Loren Bray (Orson Bean) holds his former son-in-law, Sully (Joe Lando), responsible for the early death of Loren's daughter Abigail. Thus, when he realizes that he still holds the mortgage to Sully's homestead -- now also the home of Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) -- Loren jumps at the chance to foreclose. The situation takes an unexpected turn when the vengeful Loren develops a potentially fatal hernia. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jane Wyman guest stars as Elizabeth Quinn, the wealthy Bostonian mother of Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn (Jane Seymour). Summoned to Colorado Springs by Sully (Joe Lando), the snobbish Elizabeth makes no secret of her disapproval of her daughter's profession and surroundings. The gap between mother and daughter is widened when Elizabeth refuses to provide the funds to transform an abandoned boarding house into a permanent medical clinic -- even after young Robert E. (Henry G. Sanders) is severely injured in a fire. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Enjoying astonishing (and well-deserved) popularity at a time in TV history when dramatic programs trafficking in "family values" were few and far between, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was also one of the last of that hardy breed known as the "TV Western." Set in Colorado Springs, CO, in the years just following the Civil War, the weekly, 60-minute series starred Jane Seymour as Michaela "Mike" Quinn, one of a handful of women doctors west of the Mississippi (or anywhere else!) during the second half of the 19th century. After the death of her father and medical partner, Dr. Mike left her hometown of Boston to set up practice in the hardscrabble village of Colorado Springs. Not surprisingly, she encountered much hostility and mistrust from the townsfolk, but gradually won them over not only because of her medical brilliance, but because she was almost unerringly "in the right" at all times. When one of her first patients, Charlotte Cooper (Diane Ladd), died of a snakebite, Dr. Mike inherited the woman's three children, who at the outset of the series ranged in age from 10 to 17. Oldest son Matthew Cooper (Chad Allen) grew up to become the town's sheriff, and later went off to study law; daughter Colleen (played by Erika Flores from 1993 to 1995, thereafter by Jessica Bowman) eventually followed Dr. Mike's footsteps by pursuing a medical career, and ultimately married her foster mother's young assistant, Dr. Andrew Cook (Brandon Douglas); and youngest Chandler boy, Brian (Shawn Toovey), got into many a scrape -- some of them near-fatal -- in the course of the series.

Also in the cast was Joe Lando as taciturn mountain man Byron Sully, who spent most of his time communing with nature (including his pet wolf) and commiserating with the local Cheyenne Indian tribe. In the early episodes, Sully was merely the man who owned the house rented by Dr. Mike and her "instant" family; later on, he and Mike fell in love, got married, and had a daughter named Katie. The huge, rotating cast of recurring characters included curmudgeonly (and, initially, downright nasty) storekeeper Loren Bray (Guy Boyd in the pilot episode, Orson Bean thereafter); Bray's sister-in-law, Dorothy Jennings (Barbara Babcock), editor of the town newspaper; Grace (Jonelle Allen), a black woman who owned the town diner; telegraph operator Horace Bing (Frank Collison) and his bride, Myra (Helene Udy), a former saloon girl; Myra's ex-boss Hank (William Shockley), owner of the local "sporting house"; Rev. Timothy Johnson (Geoffrey Lower), who functioned as the town schoolteacher until Teresa Morales (played first by Michelle Bonilla, then by Alex Meneses) took over; Loren Bray's conniving buddy, barber Jake Slicker (Jim Knobeloch); Sully's old pal, wealthy ex-prospector Daniel Simon (John Schneider); and the much-maligned Cheyenne medicine man Cloud Dancing (Larry Sellers), whose persecution at the hands of the U.S. military aroused the fire-breathing activism of pioneering feminist and humanitarian Dr. Mike.

Our heroine also fought tirelessly for the rights of blacks, Hispanics, battered wives and practically everyone else who suffered under the weight of bigotry and misunderstanding in the Old West. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was far and away CBS' most successful and beloved Saturday-night series throughout its five seasons on the air, and has remained an audience favorite on cable and in syndication. ~ Rovi