David Nutter Movies

Based on the phenomenally popular Terminator movie franchise, the Fox network's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was NOT a sequel to the third theatrical film in the series, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines--nor could it have been, since (SPOILER ALERT!) that particular epic ended with the destruction of civilization and the death of the heroine. Instead, the Fox TV series picked up the action where the second of the three films, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, left off, going its merry way as if Terminator 3 never existed. After the reprogrammed T-800 Model 101 Terminator (the role played in the second film by Arnold Schwarzenegger) had sacrificed itself to save humanity, Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) and her 15-year-old son John (Thomas Dekker)--who was destined to grow up and lead a resistance movement against the rulers of post-apocalyptic Earth--were stalked by the futuristic agents of the covert US government project Skynet. Just as the titular robotic villain of the original 1984 Terminator movie had sent been back into time to kill Sarah Connor so that John would never be born, so too had the bad guys travelled backward to 2007 to knock off both John and Sarah. Fighting fire with fire, the Connors became fugitives from the law, dedicating themselves to preventing Skynet from being created--and, ultimately, from devastating the earth in a nuclear holocaust. They were aided by Connor's mysterious classmate Cameron Phillips (Summer Glau), who was actually a "good" reprogrammed Terminator dispatched from the Future to protect Sarah and the teenage John Connor by the "grown-up" version of John. Unfortunately, evil Terminators continued popping up everywhere, notably a "substitute teacher" named Mr. Cromarite (Owain Yeoman in the pilot episode, Garret Dillahunt thereafter), who in the pilot episode set the series' plot in motion. Also in pursuit of the fugitive Connors was human FBI agent James Ellison Richard T. Jones. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles debuted January 13, 2008. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Another of the many serialized adventure shows created in the wake of such similar efforts as 24 and Lost, ABC's Traveler starred Matthew Bomerand and Logan Marshall-Green as Jay Burchell and Tyler Fog, a freewheeling pair of graduate students who have fallen under the spell of an inveterate--and highly secretive--prankster calling himself Will Traveler (Aaron Stanford). For two years, Traveler had been goading Jay and Tyler into performing a variety of prankish stunts, climaxed by a roller-blading excursion in the vicinity of a famous museum. Almost on cue, the museum is blown up, and the boys were suspected of being terrorists. Seeking out Will Traveler to provide them an alibi, the unlucky duo not only found out he had completely disappeared, but also that there was no evidence that he ever existed! Hotly pursued by FBI agents Naj Marlow (Viola Davis) and Fred Chambers (Steven Culp), Jay and Tyler embarked upon a country-wide odyssey, hoping to track down the elusive Traveler and clear their names. As was often the case in such series, there was a vast and sinister conspiracy pulling the plot strings, and also a few "rotten apples" amongst the federal authorities. Traveler was introduced with a limited eight-episode run beginning May 10, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Following his shooting at the hands of Uncle Junior, Tony finds himself in a comatose dream state. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

As the search for their father begins, Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles) encounter a hitchhiking ghost that kills men who are unfaithful to their partners. ~ Rick Toy, All Movie Guide

In the aftermath of a tragic airplane crash in Miami, Julia attempts to find out if her mother was onboard as Christian, Sean, Julia, and Liz tend to the traumatized survivors. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Told in reverse chronology, this episode details the 24 hours leading to the disastrous misdiagnosis that may spell the end of Kovac's (Goran Visnjic) medical career. The whole story stems from a Christmas party at the home of Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield), where an apparently inebriated Kovac makes a play for med student Erin Harkins (Leslie Bibb). Things come to a head in a car accident which leaves one passenger seriously injured and another with apparently irreversible brain damage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced by the same team responsible for C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation, the CBS series Without a Trace focused on the activities of the FBI's Missing Persons Squad. Each episode revealed the methodical, minute-by-minute, clue-by-clue procedure used by the Squad in their efforts to locate people who seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. Of special interest was the squad's weekly reconstruction of the D.O.D., or Day of Disappearance. Like C.S.I., the series was highly but not obtrusively stylized, using fast-cutting, dreamlike flashbacks and superimposed images. Anthony LaPaglia headed the cast as the Squad's businesslike, super-efficient leader Jack Malone. Created by Hank Steinberg of 61* fame, Without a Trace debuted September 26, 2002, in the prime Thursday-night time slot opposite NBC's long-running ER. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It has been 12 years since the meteor shower which all but devastated the rural Kansas community of Smallville in 1989. On that fateful evening, the parents of little Lana Lang were killed; Lex Luthor, son of billionaire business mogul Lionel Luthor (John Glover), was rendered totally bald; and on the farm of Jonathan and Martha Kent (John Schneider, Annette O'Toole), a spaceship landed, bearing a child from the planet Krypton. Now it is 2001: Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) is the high school homecoming queen; swinging bachelor Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) is in charge of his father's local fertilizer plant; and the alien child who crash-landed on the Kent farm has been raised as the couple's own son, Clark Kent (Tom Welling). Aware that their adopted son is possessed of awesome powers far beyond those of mortal men, Martha and Jonathan have raised Clark in a virtual cocoon, prohibiting him from participating in any sort of contact sports; as a result, the boy has the reputation of a gawky nerd, and is extremely self-conscious and full of trepidation about his place in the world. In this opening episode of the Superman-inspired TV series Smallville, teenager Clark Kent becomes a close friend of Lex Luthor after saving the young playboy's life, and also endeavors to protect Lana and the rest of his high school friends from an electrified lunatic who was victimized by a Halloween "hazing" on the same night that the meteors fell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Superficially, the much-anticipated weekly adventure fantasy series Smallville resembled the many cartoon and live-action adaptations of DC's old Superboy comic books, themselves spin-offs of the indomitable Siegel and Schuster creation, Superman. However, this new hour-long WB series went off on several new tangents, notably the Buffy the Vampire Slayer conceit that with special powers comes special responsibilities. The pilot episode, telecast on October 16, 2001, established the premise by showing a strange meteor crashing just outside the tiny Kansas community of Smallville in 1989. The meteor was actually a spaceship from the doomed planet Krypton, and its occupant was the planet's sole survivor, the infant Kal-El. Discovered and "adopted" by farmer Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) and his wife, Martha (Annette O'Toole), Kal-El grew into his teen years with the newly minted name of Clark Kent, his extraterrestrial origins kept secret from the rest of the community. Advised by his adoptive parents never to utilize his awesome superpowers lest his true identity be revealed, 14-year-old Clark (played by 24-year-old Tom Welling) was forced to adopt a non-athletic persona while attending the local high school. Clark's only allies were the lovely Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), for whom our hero carried a secret torch, and aspiring entrepreneur Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), whose life Clark had saved. Just as the soon-to-be-villainous Luthor was essentially a comic character here, so too was the young Clark Kent, miles removed from his adult "Superman" alter ego. Indeed, the series' executive producers, Michael Tollin and Brian Robbins, prided themselves on the fact that their version of Kent was never seen wearing the traditional Man of Steel cape and tights. Opening to excellent critical and audience response, Smallville ended up as one of the jewels in the WB Network's crown during its first season on the air. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dark Angel begins its two-season run with a feature-length episode establishing both characters and premise. Back in the year 2009, young Max Guevara (Geneva Locke) escaped from Manticore, a sinister laboratory creating human prototypes with heavy doses of animal DNA. A lab creation herself, Max managed to get away with several of her "siblings" from Manticore's X-5 program. Now it is 2019: The world is in turmoil in the wake of "The Pulse," a seismic phenomenon which destroyed all computer technology. The 19-year-old Max (Jessica Alba) lives in a crime-ridden ghetto with a group of alienated teens and dopers, working as a bicycle messenger by day and a cat burglar by night. (And why not? Max's cat DNA has endowed her with superhuman strength and agility.) She pulls this "double shift" in order to finance an ongoing search for the secrets of her past, and for her genetically engineered brothers and sisters. Enter scruffy cyberjournalist Logan Cale (Michael Weatherly), a crusader against the corruption that has engulfed the government and its police. Persuading Max to join his cause, Logan gives her her first assignment: to guard a federal witness and her daughter. But Max may not be around to help -- not if she is tracked down and captured by Manticore minion Donald Lydecker (John Savage), the obsessed scientist who "created" her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carter (Noah Wyle) is forced to shave off his precious beard when he gets carpenter's glue stuck in it. He also seeks out a new residence, ending up with a surprising landlord. Elsewhere, Ross (George Clooney) risks life and limb to rescue gay teenager Kevin Dulaney (Chad E. Donella), who has been beaten and left for dead in a very dangerous neighborhood. And Corday (Alex Kingston) asks to intern for Benton (Eriq La Salle), who is himself preoccupied with finding help for his hearing-impaired son, Reese. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide