Janine Turner Movies

His life seemingly spiraling out of control with no means of pulling out of the earthbound dive, a Dallas powerbroker follows his daughter's punk rock boyfriend for a wild night of youthful mayhem that may just bring him back around if it doesn't kill him first. There was a time when Max Hagen (Tom Wilkinson) had it all, but somewhere between a heart attack, an impending third divorce, and being kicked out of his lavish mansion by his soon-to-be ex-wife Barbara (Janine Turner), everything fell apart. Now faced with the arduous prospect of pulling himself up by the bootstraps and attempting to re-claim his ever shrinking lot in life, Max finds an unlikely ally in the form of his daughter's renegade boyfriend Raff (Nick Stahl), a free-spirited rock-and-roller who may just hold the key to teaching this old dog a few new tricks. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

No Regrets opens as architect Alex Wheeler (Robert Merrill) is reunited with his college sweetheart Suzanne (Lari White) at the same time that Alex's wife, Cheryl (Janine Turner), is reunited with her college love Phil. But wait a minute! That isn't the real Cheryl, nor the real Suzanne, nor the real Phil. The real Alex (Edward Albert) is a movie director, trying to work out his personal and romantic problems by making a movie about his situation, with actors portraying the people in his life. As the "love story with two happy endings" progresses, reality and fantasy alternately merge and intersect with breathless rapidity -- and few are more confused by the piling on of fact and fiction than Alex's real-life wife Cheryl (Jennifer Hetrick), and actual mistress, Suzanne (Kate Jackson). Initially filmed for theatrical release and test-shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 2004, writer/director Curt Hahn's No Regrets received only minimal exposure before it was picked up for cable TV play by Lifetime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second season of Lifetime's feminist medical series Strong Medicine begins with the episode "Donors", which includes a characteristic ethical clash between Rittenhouse Women's Health Clinic directors Dr. Lu Delgado (Rose Blasi) and Dr. Dana Stone (Janine Turner) over treatement of a girl who tries to pay for her eduction by selling her eggs to a fertility clinic, and a tense confrontation with a husband who'll stop at nothing to find a heart donor for his ailing wife. Elsewhere, the romantic relationship between Dana and egocentric resident Dr. Nick Biancavilla (Brennan Elliott) hits the first of several snags, culminating with a "big chill when Nick balks at the notion of marriage, just as Dana suspects that she's pregnant. Meanwhile, Lu has a fling with Harry (Don Michael Paul), who says he's divorced but isn't. In other developments, Lu's son Marc is booted out of school after he is caught cheating; Rittenhouse chief of staff Dr. Jackson (Philip Casnoff) begs Dana to give his wife preferential treatment when a new, experimental anti-MS drug is made available; Dana discovers that her ex-fiance has terminal cancer; Lu has a violent run-in with radio shock jock over medical ethics, and later faces the loss of her license when she inadvertently makes public the plight of a staunch pro-life advocate who is faced with the choice of saving her own life or that of her unborn child; and long-hidden hostilities are yanked kicking and screaming into the forefront when Rittenhouse's nurses go on strike. The last three episodes of the season comprise a tense story arc in which Lu is raped by a trusted colleague, surgeon Rand Kilner (Gregory Harrison), who claims that he'd merely indulged in consensual sex. The residue of this incident culminates in Lu's son Marc swearing vengeance, Dana being forced to deal with the devil when she needs Kilner for a particularly delicate operation, and an emotional tailspin for Lu that very well may cost her her job. Guest stars during Season Two include real-life MS victim Teri Garr as a good-humored woman who is diagnosed with the disease in the episode "Control Group"; and singer Mary J. Blige as "herself" in "History", wherein Lu flashes back to the establishment of her own storefront clinic with her colleagues, receptionist Lana (Jenifer Lewis) and male nurse/midwife Peter (Josh Coxx). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A technological nightmare becomes a terrifying reality in this sci-fi-thriller. When a group of computer experts and executives from a high-tech firm based in Seattle die suddenly and unexpectedly during a conference call, Samantha Craig (Janine Turner), a government agent who specializes in disease tracking, is brought in to investigate. Craig finds herself having to work alongside Dr. Nick Baldwin (Antonio Sabato Jr.), a local physician trying to live down a professional disgrace, and together they make a shocking discovery: a deranged genius has developed a computer virus that has evolved from destroying databases into an organic virus that can claim human lives. But who would create such a contagion, and how can it be stopped? Fatal Error also stars Robert Wagner and Malcolm Stewart. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Having walked out on her cheating husband Jeff (Esai Morales), Terry Silva (Janine Turner) moves in with her best friend Elaine Greer (Joanna Cassidy). This set-up proves most untenable when Terry finds out that Elaine is Jeff's longtime mistress! Vowing to exact revenge on both Jeff and Elaine, Terry fakes her own death--intending to frame her husband and her faithless friend for murder! Yet another variation on the old Diabolique formula, the made-for-TV Circle of Deceit was clearly conceived to showcase the versatility of Northern Exposure star Janine Turner, who also served as one of the project's producers. The film first aired over ABC on January 29, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, the made-for-TV Stolen Women, Captured Hearts takes place in Kansas in 1868. In retribution for the genocidal attacks of General George Armstrong Custer, a band of Lakota Sioux kidnap a pair of white women, Anna Brewster Morgan (Janine Turner) and Sarah White (Jean Louisa Kelly). At first terrified of her captors, Anna eventually falls in love with the noble, honorable Sioux warrior Tokalah (Michael Greyeyes). After a year's captivity, Sarah is returned to her own people--and now she must choose between her new life with Tokalah and her previous existence as the wife of farmer Daniel Morgan (Patrick Bergin), a man she hardly knows. Stolen Women, Captured Hearts made its CBS network bow on March 16, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The opening episode of Northern Exposure's fifth season is even more surrealistic than usual, which is saying quite a lot considering the quirky goings on in the Alaskan village of Cicely. Said opener is "Three Doctors," in which the town's New York-bred doctor, Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), aspiring Native American filmmaker Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), and newlywed Shelly Tambo-Vincoeur (Cynthia Geary) find themselves enmeshed in a cosmic game of hide and seek. Other memorable season five episodes include "Jaws of Life," in which everyone's nerves are on edge in anticipation of the annual visit by the dentist (Jay O. Sanders); "A River Doesn't Run Through It," wherein sexy 31-year-old mail pilot Maggie O'Donnell (Janine Turner) is asked to be the local high school's homecoming queen (and as a bonus, one of the students is played by Jack Black!); "Rosebud," featuring director Peter Bogdanovich in a story built around Cicely's first film festival; and "A Cup of Joe," in which Shelly's husband, Holling (John Cullum), and storekeeper Ruth-Anne (Peg Phillips) discover that one of their grandparents ate the other one during the "Blizzard of '97." And there's more! The town's resident gay couple, Ron (Doug Ballard) and Erick (Don R. McManus) decide to get married; Shelly gives birth to a daughter named Miranda, who is promptly designated Cicely's 844th citizen; the whole town conspires to cure the redoubtable Walt Kupfer (Moultrie Patten) of his galloping depression; and in the season finale, "Lovers and Madmen," eternal outsider Joel finally resigns himself to the fact that he is a true Son of Cicely. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Northern Exposure was an unusually intelligent and witty hour-long comedy-drama set in a fictional Alaskan town that is filled with a quirky ensemble of residents. In this memorable episode, independent-minded but neurotic pilot Maggie O'Connell, who seems to be romantically cursed to have all of her lovers each die in a bizarre way, is freaked out about her upcoming 30th birthday. Her dead lovers weigh heavily upon her mind and she decides that the best way to deal with it is to head out into the wilderness and celebrate with a ritual. Meanwhile, back in town, laid-back, taciturn Marilyn, the Native American receptionist of Dr. Fleischman, wants to learn to drive. Loquacious, pseudo-intellectual deejay Chris decides to teach her, while pompous town autocrat and former astronaut Maurice drives everyone crazy trying to write his memoirs. Displaced New Yorker Doctor Fleischman gets involved when he figures out that part of the reason that Maggie has been so upset has to do with an appendicitis. Sure enough, out in the wilderness, she succumbs, and in her delirium has a strange picnic with all her dead amores, including Rick who died when a satellite fell upon his head. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The overwhelmingly positive response (including a handful of Emmy nominations) to the first limited season of Northern Exposure in the summer of 1990 prompted CBS to commission seven more episodes, which were seen in the spring of 1991. In the eight months between the first batch of episodes and this new manifest, New York-born doctor Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) had become accustomed to his enforced four-year stay in the miniscule Alaskan village of Cicely, though he still yearned to chuck it all and return to the Big Apple. In the course of season two, local air-transport pilot Maggie O'Connell endured the loss of another boyfriend to "Maggie's curse," whereby all of her past sweethearts had met with bizarre but mildly chucklesome deaths. In this instance, poor Rick Pederson (Grant Goodeve) was killed by a falling satellite. Tavern owner Holling Vicoeur (John Cullum) continued to postpone his promised wedding to his teenaged sweetie Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary), though he did reluctantly acquiesce to Shelly's insistence that he be circumcised. Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin), the ex-astronaut who owned Cicely, felt that his manhood was threatened when a gay couple, Ron Bantz (Doug Ballard) and Erick Hillman (Don R. McManus), purchased one of his choice real-estate lots; eventually, however, Maurice warmed up to his new tenants, especially when he discovered that he had much in common with them (except their sexual preferences, of course). And as quirky KBHR DJ Chris Danforth (John Corbett) persisted in trying to unravel the mysteries of his own past, Maurice's Native American assistant Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows) contemplated what the future held for him. In addition to the aforementioned Doug Ballard and Don R. McManus, another semi-regular was added to the series: William J. White as Sam, the largely non-speaking cook at Holling's establishment. Still another, more prominent recurring character was introduced during season two: Diane Delano as brusque, officious state trooper Barbara Semanski, to whom Maurice was irresistibly attracted. Gathering an even bigger audience for its second complement of seven episodes than during its eight-week tryout in 1990, Northern Exposure was finally picked up by CBS for a full-season run that kicked off in the fall of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spring fever hits Cicely big time as the townsfolk await the annual breakup of the winter freeze. The seasonal madness includes the traditional "running of the bulls" -- only they aren't really bulls. Meanhile, the ever-bickering Joel (Rob Morrow) and Maggie (Janine Turner) are suddenly and passionately attracted to each other. Holling (John Cullum) is spoiling for a good fight -- with anyone. Shelly (Cynthia Geary) develops an insatiable appetite for classic literature. And Maurice (Barry Corbin) becomes fascinated by visiting state tropper Barbara Semanski (Diane Delano), in town to investigate a series of quirky petty thefts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Northern Exposure made its first appearance as an eight-week Thursday-night "tryout" on CBS in the late summer of 1990. With swift, sure strokes, the series' producers quickly established that 27-year-old Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), freshly graduated from Columbia University Medical School, was required to spend four years working in Anchorage, AK, to pay off 125,000 dollars in student loans. Though Joel had seldom strayed off his native Manhattan Island, he took a deep breath and prepared for his journey northward (the alternative was a 10,000-dollar fine and/or 18 years in jail). Upon arrival in Anchorage, Joel discovered that his services were no longer required -- but there was an opening in the tiny (population 815) Alaskan village of Cicely, whose only doctor had just died. Throughout the eight episodes of Northern Exposure's first season, Joel bemoans his "exile," desperately tries to pull strings to get out of his contract...and slowly, almost imperceptably becomes adjusted to his new life in Cicely.

Just as the series wasted no time in establishing its locale and premise, so too did the writers vividly bring the other characters to life with efficiency and economy. During season one, the viewer was introduced to Joel's attractive landlady Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), the local air-taxi pilot, whose love life was complicated by an inexplicable "curse" whereby all of her boyfriends were doomed to die under bizarre but undeniably amusing circumstances (her latest beau, fellow pilot Rick Pederson (Grant Goodeve), knew he was living on borrowed time, but managed to survive the series' first season). Also seen for the first time were worldly ex-astronaut Maurice J. Minnifield (Barry Corbin), who owned Cicely lock, stock, and barrel, and entertained dreams of transforming the remote community into the "Alaskan Riviera"; Maurice's best friend, the aggressively masculine tavern owner Holling Vicoeur (John Cullum); Holling's 18-year-old fiancée, Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary), former "Miss Northwest Passage"; Maurice's Native American assistant, Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), an orphan with a murky past and an overwhelming desire to gain fame as a big-bucks moviemaker; and Chris Danforth (John Corbett), the quirky, poetic morning DJ on Cicely's radio station KBHR, who functioned as the series' combination narrator and Greek chorus. Also seen in these formative episodes were Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips), no-nonsense proprietor of the local general store, and Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), a poker-faced Eskimo who worked as a nurse in Joel's medical office.

By the end of season one, the series had introduced at least two of the peripheral characters who would add to the funkiness and eccentricities of Cicely from time to time. The first was Adam (Adam Arkin), a shaggy, sociopathic brute who happened to be a "damn good" gourmet cook; and the second was Bernard (Richard Cummings Jr.), a peripatetic African-American who turned out to be the rootless Chris Danforth's half brother. Although Northern Exposure set no fires in the ratings, the word-of-mouth buzz about the series was sufficiently encouraging for CBS to give it another limited-run tryout in the spring of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide