Steven Weber

Notorious "shock jock" Max Hudson (Steven Weber) is at the radio studio in middle of his daily broadcast when his wife Jeannette is killed at home. Though the police are persuaded that Jeannete's death was accidental, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) suspects that Max is a murderer, despite his "perfect" alibi. In his efforts to break Max down, Monk agrees to guest on his radio show--where he nearly becomes a murderer himself when Max begins cracking cruel jokes about the detective's late wife Trudy. As it turns out, the key to mystery is in the paws of an extremely well-trained dog. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the two NBC series debuting in the fall of 2006 which took place backstage at a Saturday Night Live-style comedy show (the other was 30 Rock), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was the brainchild of The West Wing's Aaron Sorkin. This weekly, hour-long dramedy concerned itself with the million-and-one intrigues behind the hallowed walls of the fictional "NBS" network, where ambitious new president Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet) was determined to pump fresh blood into the network's anemic Prime Time schedule. Over the objections of imperious NBS chairman Jack Rudolph (Steve Weber), McDeere rehired writer Matt Albie (Matthew Perry) and director Danny Tripp (Bradley Whitford), who had been fired from the staff of the network's weekly ensemble-comedy offering "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" two years before. It was hoped that Albie and Danny could save the flagging property from cancellation, a formidable task in that "Studio 60" was already collapsing from within thanks to a surfeit of egotism and ill-will. For head writer Matt Albie, the challenge was doubly difficult: it so happened that "Studio 60"'s star Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson) was his former lover. Fortunately, Matt and Cal worked together so harmoniously that it would seem that Jordan McDeere's strategy for rescuing her network from oblivion was sheer brilliance. . .maybe. Other regulars included D.L.. Hughley and Nathan Corddry, respectively, as popular "Studio 60" cast members Simon Styles and Tom Jeter. Filled to overflowing with smart-and-savvy inside references to the state of network TV in the first decade of the 21st century (many of the "jokes" were at the expense of the series' host network NBC), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip premiered September 18, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dario Argento's contribution to the first season of Showtime's Masters of Horror, Jenifer is based on a story by Bruce Jones which appeared in Creepy Magazine and illustrated by the legendary Berni Wrightson. Steven Weber, who wrote the script, also stars in the episode as Frank, a depressive cop who has a life-changing encounter one fateful afternoon. He comes upon a man (Kevin Crofton) brandishing a meat cleaver, who looks like he is about to murder a young woman. When Frank draws his gun and orders the man to stop, the man refuses. "You don't know what she is," he tells Frank, pleadingly. "You have no idea." Frank is forced to shoot the man to save the young woman (Carrie Fleming), who turns out to be hideously deformed from the neck up. She also can't speak, but appears very grateful to Frank. Frank goes home to his wife, Ruby (Brenda James), and his son, Pete (Harris Allan), but he can't get the deformed woman off his mind. The next morning, he finds out that the dead man's family won't claim him, and that he had a note that read "Jenifer" in his pocket. He finds out the woman was brought to the mental hospital at Watkins Island. He goes to visit her, and when she sees him, she races out of the shower to tearfully embrace him. Unable to leave her in such a place, he brings her home. Ruby is horrified, and Pete is inappropriately amused. "She's awesome," he exults. "She's got a great rack...for a Morlock." Threatened, Jenifer bites Ruby and runs out of the house. Still, Frank cannot get past his obsession with her, and things only get worse when she eats the family cat. But Frank strangely finds himself willing to sacrifice everything to protect the strange girl. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

A suburban homeowner becomes obsessed with the secretive family next door in this independent drama. Norman (Steven Weber) is an airline pilot who one day discovers he has new neighbors when he hears them moving into a nearby house during the dark of night. While Norman soon learns that Dr. Peoples (Eriq La Salle) is a psychiatrist, he can't figure out much else about him, beyond the fact he only mows his lawn after the sun goes down. Eager to uncover the enigma of the folks next door, Norman becomes friendly with Maria (Nia Peeples), the doctor's wife, and reaches out to their phobic son, Obert (Tyler Posey), but Dr. Peoples himself remains a mystery. As time goes on, Norman also discovers he's not the only one in the neighborhood eager to know more about the mysterious new arrivals. Inside Out was the first feature film for writer and director David Ogden. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Eight loosely connected city dwellers find their lives intersecting through their sexual proclivities in director Ken Kwapis' screen adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's enduring play La Ronde. As the revolving set of bedroom doors spin ever faster, the hopes, fears, truths, and heartaches of those longing to make a meaningful connection surface to offer a revealing look at modern sexuality. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The made-for-cable musical satire Reefer Madness is based on the award-winning play of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the notorious -- and deliciously awful -- 1936 anti-marijuana film originally titled Tell Your Children. A smarmy lecturer (Alan Cumming in the first of his three roles in the film) arrives in a typical small town of the late '30s to warn the populace of the dangers of the "evil weed," bringing along a lurid propaganda film to dramatize his message. In broad, unsubtle, and hilarious strokes, the movie-within-a-movie shows how even a squeaky-clean pair of highschoolers named Mary Lane (Kristen Bell) and Jimmy Harper (Christian Campbell) can become hopeless dope addicts by succumbing to the lure of marijuana. Reefer Madness is not only a savage skewering of the original black-and-white movie (some of the musical's campiest lines are taken directly from the earlier script!), but also a devastating attack on what playwrights Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney consider to be the real reason that the 1936 movie was made: to frighten the public out of their wits in order to keep them under the thumb of an oppressive government. Thus, the musical manages to take a number of not-so-veiled swipes at xenophobia, racism, McCarthyism, the Bush Administration's Homeland Security policy, and even the recent FCC clampdown on "offensive" TV fare (one of the film's highlights is a garish nightclub number featuring Jesus Christ). The ebulliently staged songs include "The Stuff," "Down at the Ol' Five and Dime," "Lonely Pew," "Listen to Jesus Jimmy," "Mary Jane/Mary Lane," "The Brownie Song," "Tell 'Em the Truth," and the title number. Officially titled Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical, this film first aired April 16, 2005, on the Showtime cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michael O'Connell ran several video stores in Denver, CO, before taking up screenwriting, and the endless stream of direct-to-video thrillers that littered his shelves inspired his script for this satiric black comedy. Hutch Rimes (Steven Weber) runs an insurance company, and even though he's married, he's developed a bad habit of getting involved with his secretaries. Hutch's latest Girl Friday, Holly (Nina Siemaszko), is also married, but often finds herself being used as a punching bag by her loutish husband Cotton (Gregg Henry). Holly persuades Hutch to help her kill Cotton, but things don't go as planned, and Cotton pulls a gun on Holly; Hutch manages to escape just before Cotton kills his wife. Ten years later, Cotton is released from prison just as Hutch begins receiving a series of anonymous letters from someone who wants to kill him. But since Hutch is having an affair with his stenographer Olivia (Gail O'Grady), he's not sure if the angry party is Cotton or Olivia's husband, Dewey (Stephen Tobolowsky). Things get even stickier for Hutch when Olivia decides she wants out of her relationship with Dewey -- and asks Hutch to help murder her husband. Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes also features Swoosie Kurtz as Binny, one of Hutch's few female employees that he never gets around to sleeping with. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Biblical story of Joseph comes to life in this animated feature from the creators of The Prince of Egypt. Adventure and music set the stage for this tale of a boy named Joseph (voice of Ben Affleck) whose dreams bring him powerful visions of the future. Joseph's abilities to prognosticate win him a favored position with the Pharaoh of Egypt, but only inflames his contentious relationship with his brothers. Featuring the same top-notch artwork and animation that impressed audiences in The Prince of Egypt, Joseph: King of Dreams also features several original songs sung by Maureen McGovern and Jodi Benson. The film was released directly to home video in the United States, but enjoyed a theatrical release in Europe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

New York architect Amy Benic (Mira Sorvino) meets blind masseur Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer) and falls in love. As she learns his lifelong blindness may be curable through experimental surgery, she convinces him to undergo the operation. Virgil then learns vision may not quite be what he expected. At First Sight is directed by Irwin Winkler and also stars Bruce Davison, Nathan Lane, and Kelly McGillis. At First Sight is a romance adapted by writer Steve Levitt based upon the story To See and Not See from noted writer Dr. Oliver Sacks' collection, An Anthropologist on Mars. Dr. Sacks' work is also the basis for the Penny Marshall film Awakenings, starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams and the opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Michael Morris with music by Michael Nyman. In his original story, Dr. Sacks tells of receiving a call in October 1991 from a retired minister in the Midwest. His daughter was about to marry a fifty-year old man, Virgil, who had been blind since early childhood. He had thick cataracts and been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease which slowly eats away the retinas. As he could still make the distinction between light and dark, it was found he was misdiagnosed and simple cataract extraction could possibly restore his sight. While surgery was a success, Virgil, like his cinematic counterpart, found he would have to learn to use his vision much like an infant would, even though he was adept at relating to the world through touch. In his A New Theory of Vision, written in 1709, George Berkeley concluded there was no necessary connection between a tactile world and a sight world; a connection between them could be established only on the basis of experience. This same story was also adapted into the play Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide

After over a decade of a viral epidemic nearly destroying all humankind, the world is ruled by the Code, which, to maintain law and order, forbids any outward display of emotion regarding those who died of the virus. Rogue doctor Nathan Seward (Joel Grey) is an illegal trafficker in Essence of Life, a drug which allows the user a brief emotional reunion with the loved ones who were lost in the epidemic. Assigned to track down Seward, Code agent Dan Kagan (Daniel Baldwin) ends up sampling the Essence of Life himself in order to be reunited with his late wife -- and soon becomes as "hooked" as any other junkie. "Essence of Life" first aired on July 23, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kiefer Sutherland and Bridget Fonda star in this thriller with Fonda playing an abused housewife who is forced to deal with a constant stream of lies and violent confrontation from her psychotic husband. Things only get worse when she discovers dead bodies are appearing at their home, a large sum of money is missing, and it becomes obvious her husband's bad side runs deeper and more dangerous than she imagined. The supporting cast includes Steven Weber, Penelope Ann Miller and Tippi Hedren. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The old Pandora's Box legend is given a new and terrifying spin on this Outer Limits episode. The story is set in motion by a missing package containing valuable and potentially dangerous secrets. Naturally, there are quite a few people who'd like to get their hands on that package. Some of these people are motivated by good intentions -- but others have only dollar signs in their beady little eyes. Produced for the series' fourth season, "Black Box" first aired in Canada on December 11, 1998, and in the United States on May 10, 1999 -- well into Season Five. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide