Kenneth Tigar Movies

In the first episode of a two-part story, Special Agent Angel Sam (Paul Winfield) makes an unannounced appearance, admonishing Tess (Della Reese) to be strong for "what is coming." Not long afterward, while carrying out her assignment to help workaholic David Satterfield (Charles Shaughnessy) reconnect with his neglected family and his ailing mother, Tess is suddenly struck down with Alzheimer's Disease. Can a tearful Monica face up to the dual challenge of coping with Tess' tragically degenerative illness while simultaneously reuniting the Satterfields? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Those intrepid LAPD detectives Chase McDonald (Wolf Larson)--the white, reckless one--and Austin Brooks (Steven Williams)--the black, sensible one--continue to dodge bullets, embark upon hectic car chases, and narrowly escape being blown to smithereens as the 60-minute action series L.A. Heat enters its second season. The two protagonists also try really, REALLY hard to avoid imitating Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, the stars of the series' blatant "role model", the Lethal Weapon films. This season's crop of 22 episodes begins with "Fangs", a Night Stalker derivation wherein McDonald and Brooks track down what appears to be a genuine vampire. The obligatory "hero is accused of murder" plotline is the basis of the season's second entry, "F is for Framed"; while another reliable plot hook, a vicious Neo-Nazi organization, figures prominently in Episode Three, "Burning Sanctuary." And of course, no cop show of the 1990s would be complete without the occasional drop-in of a bevy of nearly naked exotic dancers--as witness the season's fourth and fifth episodes, "Strip Show" and "Eyewitness". This last-named episode also serves to introduce Gary Hudson in the role of ruthless, "untouchable" criminal mastermind Bobby Cole, who would remain the detectives' most deadly adversary throughout the rest of the year. Arguably the season's most poignant episode is "Little Saigon", which probes deeply--perhaps too deeply--into the troubled past of Detective August Brooks. And one of the most harrowing installments is "Call of the Wild", in which a desperate Chase must hunt down and neutralize a serial killer before the felon is able to bump off both August and his wife Kendra. Other episodes worth noting include "Faces of Fear", with Chase taking a page out of Miami Vice by going undercover as infamous drug lord Jake Rheams; "In Harm's Way", featuring Tina Louise, of all people, as a homicidal bank robber; and "Legacy of a Buffalo Soldier", an elaborate flashback to the Old West in which Steven Williams plays the dual role of August Brooks and his namesake great-great-grandfather. The series comes to a rousing conclusion with "Vengeance", as McDonald and Brooks defy orders from their police superiors--and the FBI--to take down the elusive Bobby Cole for keeps! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the wife (Swoosie Kurtz) of televangelist Emmitt Chambliss (Gary Grubbs) is brought into the ER suffering the aftereffects of a recent face-lift, Chambliss draws up plans to telecast a fundraiser from the hospital. Elsewhere, Ross (George Clooney) and Carol (Julianna Margulies) put their careers on the line by performing an experimental treatment on six-month-old meth addict Josh McLean instead of returning the baby to his mother. Romano (Paul McCrane) reacts strongly to the relationship between Benton (Eriq La Salle) and Corday (Alex Kingston). And HIV-positive Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) may have contacted pneumonia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The animal movie Hollywood Safari features a case of mistaken identity. Kensho, a trained lion used on film sets, is mistaken for a mountain lion that has killed people after he becomes separated from his handlers and goes into the wild. Troy and Jane, the animal trainers who control Kensho, realize what is happening and must, with the help of their sons, stop an overly enthusiastic deputy from killing the wrong creature. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

With perhaps a slight nod towards Harry and the Hendersons, this family-oriented drama centers on a vacationing clan who run across a baby bigfoot and its mother. Realizing the near-mythical creatures are in great danger from the ruthless owner of a logging company who has sent hunters out to shoot them, the family does all it can to protect their furry new friends. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is given the opportunity to solve her 286th murder, this one connected with a San Francisco fine-arts radio station. The station's ruthless new manager has elected to boost ratings by changing the outlet's image and format, and by firing a number of employees who are deemed too old for a hard-rock audience. So just guess who gets murdered. . .just guess! "Death by Demographics" is an ironic title for the final hour-long episode of Murder, She Wrote, which had been cancelled by CBS after 12 seasons and 264 episodes because it "skewed old" in the ratings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joseph Merhi's thriller Rage concerns a young man named Alex Gainer who escapes from a science lab, but not until after he was injected by a new serum that causes a person to experience brutal fits of aggression. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Hoping to return a copy of Robocop 3 to Video Village, Paul (Paul Reiser) and Jamie (Helen Hunt) inadvertently send back a sexy "homemade video." As if this weren't embarrassing enough, the Buchmans' recorded bedroom shenanigans end up being delivered to the Family Cable Network in place of Paul's G-rated zoo documentary. Ryan Stiles makes his second appearance as an unnamed video guy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In My Life, Michael Keaton stars as Bob Jones, who has just been informed that his wife Gail (Nicole Kidman) is pregnant with their first child. However, he has also been told he has kidney cancer that has spread to his lungs; the longest Bob is expected to live is four months, which will deny him the joy of witnessing the birth of his child. Raging within, he visits a Chinese healer, Mr. Ho (Haing S. Ngor), who encourages him to let go of all the anger and fear he has kept trapped inside himself. Bob proceeds to videotape himself, on the advice of Mr. Ho, where Bob will talk to his unborn child and discuss what he has learned in life. In the process of the videotape sessions, Bob discovers that his anger resides in his past with his family, and Bob reveals secrets that he has kept hidden from himself and his wife through the years. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The Bankses welcome 1960s political activist Marge Smallwood (Peggy Blow) into their home. Before long, Marge has stirred up the dormant radicalism of Will (Will Smith) and Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro), to the extent that they fervently campaign for the reinstatement of a "misfit" teacher who was fired by Bel-Air Prep for arranging a field trip to a Robert Mapplethorpe art exhibit. Meanwhile, a shady-looking character begins hanging around the Banks home, making Marge unusually nervous. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The ongoing debate over parental rights in medical procedures comes to the forefront when a five-year-old girl dies from a relatively minor throat infection. The child's parents, Ted and Nancy Driscoll (Byron Jennings, Kaiulani Lee) are arrested, whereupon they argue that their religious beliefs compelled them to deny medical treatment for their daughter. Incidentally, the unfortunate youngster is played by an uncredited Michelle Trachtenberg, who later co-starred on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lethal Weapon 2 reteams Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as, respectively, "loose cannon" LA detective Martin Riggs and Riggs' partner, the cautious family man Roger Murtaugh. The villain this time is a South African diplomat (Joss Ackland) who doubles as a drug dealer. Though Riggs knows what's going on thanks to characterless character witness Joe Pesci, he can't touch the villain because of "diplomatic immunity." After perils too numerous to mention, Riggs and Murtaugh shoot it out with the heavies on the deck of a South African cargo ship. Lethal Weapon 2, of course, contains as one of its comic high-points a now famous suspense scene: Mel Gibson agonizingly attempting to extricate a terrified Danny Glover from a booby-trapped toilet seat. Gibson, Glover, Donner and Joe Pesci would be reunited three years later for Lethal Weapon 3 and in 1998 for Lethal Weapon 4. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide