William B. Davis Movies

Introduced in the first-season episode "Stray," Ryan Kelley (Ryan James), a teenager gifted with the ability to read minds, is reunited with his friend Clark Kent (Tom Welling). Upon finding out that an unscrupulous scientist (Martin Cummins) is conducting experiments on Ryan, Clark vows to shield the boy from further exploitation -- thereby bringing the scientist's wrath down upon the Kent family. And in another development, former X-Files regular William B. Davis (aka "Cigarette-Smoking Man") guest stars as Smallville's crooked mayor, with whom Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) has a tense confrontation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this made-for-TV movie, shown on the E! network, Richard Breggs (Harland Williams) is a super-swell guy. An aspiring actor, he drives a taxi so that he can afford to buy his girlfriend Maggie (Elizabeth Berkley) a set of window shades for their apartment. All is dandy until Richard's friend Nick informs him that his niceness is the source of his career problems, and that he'll only be able to get ahead as an actor if he becomes a class-A jerk. Richard decides to give Nick's advice a try, and four years later he wakes up with amnesia to discover that he's the star of a monstrously popular TV show called, appropriately enough, "Dick." Living in a mansion, he is informed by his butler Edward (Robert Wagner) that yes, he has become a bonafide schmuck. This news horrifies Richard, who sets about trying to find Maggie and mend his wicked ways. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Upon returning from India with her friend Xena (Lucy Lawless), Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) is accosted by Zehra (Jennifer Ward-Leland), "Queen of the Cons." In league with another sharpster named Milo (Mark Hadlow), Zehra persuades Gabrielle to write a play about Xena's exploits, to be given a lavish and expensive world premiere. What Zehra doesn't reveal is that she intends to pull a "Max Bialystock," producing a sure-fire flop so that she won't have to pay back the play's many wealthy investors. In addition to its Mel Brooks trappings, this episode also features such esoterica as "Buffus the Bacchae Slayer" and "Dustinus Hoofmanus." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A virulent virus erupts aboard a cruise ship. The government wants to blow it up, but a scientist is determined to find a cure or at least a way to contain the deadly disease. He must hurry, for time is short and the government is getting impatient. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A shipwreck deposits Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) on the shores of Atlantis. Here he meets the fortune-telling Cassandra (Claudia Black), whose efforts to tell the warmongering King Panthius (James Beaumont) that Atlantis is doomed have fallen upon deaf ears. Both Cassandra and Hercules are thrown into prison, where Hercules discovers that Panthius was not only responsible for destroying his ship, but has enslaved thousands of shipwrecked sailors to mine the crystal necessary for the king's deadly, high-powered cannon. This episode was originally aired as the finale of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' third season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Now five years into their partnership, FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) have developed a bond deep enough to contend with the conspiracy they're faced with both inside and outside their professional lives. Unfortunately, between Scully's cancer and Mulder's guilt regarding his role in her condition, any potential romance is shelved while Mulder searches to find a cure, and Scully, while unsuccessful, comes closer than anyone to proving the government's role in hiding their knowledge of extraterrestrial involvement on Earth from the people of the world. In addition to addressing some of the series' very early mythology, the vast alien cover-up continues to build; ultra-clairvoyant Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka) is introduced, as well as Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright), Agent Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), and Mulder's former flame, Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers). Despite all the doom and gloom, The X-Files: Season Five nonetheless included some lighter fare, including a much-needed retrospective on Mulder's relationship with The Lone Gunmen, a town obsessed with talk-show host Jerry Springer, and a tale of vampirism as told from Mulder and Scully's wildly differing perspectives. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Just when it seemed as though the conspiracy couldn't get any weirder, The X-Files: Season Four brought FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) even more nefarious government escapades with which to contend. In addition to the discovery of the Consortium, an elite international shadow government that includes the mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) among its membership, the bureau investigators are now privy to highly dangerous Alien Bounty Hunters, virus-carrying bees, and a cruel Russian experiment involving the extraterrestrial black oil. While Mulder is infected with the oil, Scully finds herself with her own potentially fatal affliction when the neck implant she had removed after her abduction appears to have caused the onset a rare form of cancer; several other alleged abductees, all female, are in the same deadly predicament. Meanwhile, the already small group of people Mulder and Scully trust outside one another continues to dwindle in size -- even the motives of steadfast Assistant Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and Mulder's own mother are in question. In the midst of the cover-up, Mulder and Scully are still faced with their other assignments, which include a strange case of human inbreeding, past lives, shape shifting, and the ability to make oneself invisible. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

The conspiracy spiraled even further in the third season of The X-Files, which picks up with FBI Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) on a desperate search for her missing partner, Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). Though Mulder was left for dead after having suffered serious bodily harm in a train explosion, a group of Navajo Indians nursed him back to health and offered what help they could to the agents' quest to find the ever-elusive truth. Considered one of the strongest seasons of The X-Files, the 24 episodes in the third season contain some of the most complex and integral aspects of the series' far-reaching mythology, including a heavily encrypted digital tape which may hold the key to government knowledge of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and perhaps even insight into Scully's own abduction. Alien life does, indeed, make an appearance on this season, though not in the form of a little green man. Rather, an insidious, ancient, and alien black oil is unearthed, leaving Mulder and Scully to question its potential impact on humankind, and what the government may already know. Of course, The X-Files wouldn't be complete without its stand-alone, or "monster-of-the-week," episodes, and this season is no exception -- from evil spirits to astral murder and killer cockroaches, The X-Files: Season Three has more than its fair share of earthly, if bizarre, occurrences to its name. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Some parents are faced with a difficult decision in this dramatic made-for-TV movie. Based on a true story, parents (Bruce Greenwood and Michelle Greene) of an ill infant decide to donate their brain-damaged baby's heart to help save the life of another newborn in need. The film was nominated for a Humanitas Award. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

With Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) firmly established as the believer and the skeptic, respectively, the second season of The X-Files picks up where the first left off -- with the X-Files closed and both agents in FBI-style exile, forced to work on tedious, non-paranormal assignments. Of course, this doesn't last long; some of the series' most pertinent characters are introduced, such as the seemingly omnipresent Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis), a shadowy informant known only as X, and the double-timing Agent Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea). The second season also marks the true launch of the complex X-Files mythology, and is home to one of the milestones of the series itself, namely, Agent Scully's own abduction and its far-reaching consequences, including the infamous "Purity Control." Mulder, meanwhile, continues to search for answers regarding his sister's abduction and finds several disturbing clues through visits to his father. Complicating issues further is the existence of a seemingly indestructible -- and quite possibly not of this world -- bounty hunter. Luckily, there are also plenty of monster-of-the-week episodes to turn to when the conspiracy gets too deep. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

In a 1991 episode of Jake and the Fatman, Dick Van Dyke guest-starred as Dr. Mark Sloan, who couldn't seem to keep his nose out of a murder investigation. Diagnosis of Murder is the two-hour TV-movie spin-off of that episode. This time, Dr. Sloan tags along with his police-sergeant son (Barry Van Dyke, the real life son of you-know-who) on another homicide case. The victim is a powerful business magnate whose questionable ethics have given plenty of people plenty of motive for the killing. Somehow or other, Dick Van Dyke finds time between his hospital rounds and his clue-hunting to perform a brief soft shoe. Diagnosis of Murder was the pilot for a potential series, which was sold under the slightly truncated title Diagnosis Murder. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi