James D. Parriott Movies
- 2008
This gritty FX drama follows the lives of a chapter of the Sons of Anarchy, an international outlaw motorcycle club akin to the Hell's Angels. The members all ride impressively customized Harleys, but the club is defined by more than just their bikes - they're also arms dealers, illegally importing guns, which they sell to the local street gangs. With a system of authority based on family lines, the dangerous drama of rotating relationships within the club carries powerful baggage, and with the club's ongoing feud with the meth-dealing white supremacist group the Nords, life as a Son of Anarchy is anything but an easy ride. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- 2006
One of the few bona fide hits of the 2006-2007 TV season, the hour-long serialized dramedy Ugly Betty was based on the internationally popular Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty, la Fea ("I Am Betty, the Ugly"), with a few dashes of the recent theatrical film The Devil Wears Prada. Decked out in the most unbecoming eyeglasses, dental braces, and business outfits imaginable, America Ferrera starred as Betty Suarez, who had been hired by powerful publisher Bradford Meade (Alan Dale) as assistant to his son Daniel (Eric Mabius), the new editor of the high-fashion "Mode" magazine. Though Betty did not fit in with the standard beautiful-but-vapid employee pool at Meade Publications, Bradford had engaged her services precisely because she was so homely; he was tired of his womanizing son seducing and abandoning every female employee in his path, and figured that the younger Meade would keep his hands off Betty. As it turned out, at first Daniel not only remained aloof from his new secretary, but also did his "best" to make her office life hell, berating and humiliating her at every opportunity. But the resilient Betty was able to survive these verbal assaults thanks to a strong "support group" consisting of her father Ignacio (Tony Plana), her sister, Hilda (Ana Ortiz), and her fellow employee and friend Christina (Ashley Jensen), likewise a "square peg" in the Meade headquarters. Eventually, Daniel came to respect Betty, as her unique skills and intelligence got him out of many a difficult situation. Like most continuing dramas of it ilk, Ugly Betty was permeated with sinister and slightly campy subplots, one of which involved Daniel Meade's rival, editrix Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa L. Williams), who might well have been capable of murdering her way to the top. Originally slated for a dead-in-the-water Friday-night time slot, Ugly Betty was fortunately shunted to a more advantageous berth as the lead-in for the ABC ratings-grabber Grey's Anatomy. The series first aired on September 28, 2006, and won a Golden Globe in 2007 for Best Comedy or Musical Series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Having proven that it could stand on its own two feet without Desperate Housewives as its lead-in, Grey's Anatomy remained in its new Thursday-night slot as the seriocomic medical series entered its third season. In addition to established stars Ellen Pompeo (intern Meredith Grey) Patrick Dempsey (Dr. Derek Shepherd), Katherine Heigl (intern "Izzie" Stevens), Isaiah Washington (Dr. Preston Burke) et. al.. former recurring players Eric Dane (as plastic surgeon Mark Sloan) and Sara Ramirez (Dr. Callie Torres) have now been promoted to "regular" status. The season begins as the Seattle Grace Hospital medical team's favorite bartender Joe (Steven W. Bailey) provides those who came in late with a quick run-down of the events of the previous two seasons. Meredith is now torn between two lovers, Derek Shepherd and Dr. Finn Dandridge (Chris O'Donnell). The prickly relationship between Derek and his estranged-wife Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) is made even more so by the reappearance of their daughter. Intern Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) has decided to remain with her current amour, Preston Burke. And after seriously considering giving up the medical profession after the death of her beloved heart patient Denny, Izzie changes her mind when the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic is established. The first of the season's two most crucial story developments occurs when Chief of Surgery Richard Weber (James Pickens) announces his impending retirement, sparking a tense competition amongst Derek, Burke, Addison and Mark to take Weber's place. The apparent dark horse in this competition is Dr. Colin Marlow (Roger Rees), though Marlow makes his mark on the proceedings by coming between Cristina and Burke. Another major plot deveopment involves a disastrous collision between a cargo ship and a ferryboat, which threatens to claim the life of protagonist Meredith Grey (it also provides Izzie's former beau Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) the opportunity to become overly involved with an unidentified accident victim, played by Elizabeth Reaser). At season's end, Dr. Weber's successor is announced, Cristina and Burke are about to be wed, Callie demands that her husband George O'Malley (Sara Ramirez) make a commitment, and the interns sweat out the results of their first-year medical exams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, (more)
- 2006
An unusually high death rate at Seattle Grace has aroused the superstitious instincts of the hospital staff. In particular, Izzie (Katherine Heigl) has a premonition that Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), will not survive his heart-transplant surgery, while an OCD patient whose life is dictated by "the odds" drives Cristina (Sandra Oh) crazy. Elsewehere, Derek (Patrick Dempsey) and Addison (Kate Walsh) are still trying to work out their problems, with little success; Dr. Webber (James Pickens Jr.) treats his old friend Ollie (Mary Kay Place), and in the process relives a dark chapter in his own past; and George (T.R. Knight) is rapidly wearing out his welcome with Cristina and Burke (Isaiah Washington). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2005
Despite a grim prognosis, Cristina (Sandra Oh) stubbornly insists upon giving extra-special treatment to cancer patient Liz Fallon (Anna Maria Horsford), who happens to have been the longtime scrub nurse for Meredith's surgeon mother Ellis Grey (Kate Burton). In other developments, a constructor worker is brought to the hospital after shooting six nails in his head, a feat that turns out to be something far more than an on-the-job accident; and George (T.R. Knight) rebels at being treated as "one of the girls" by roomies Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Izzie (Katherine Heigl). The episode's high point occurs when Alex (Justin Chambers) comes across a sexy lingerie ad featuring Izzie, which he then pastes all over the interns' locker room--leading to an extremely revealing moment! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2005
The OR staff has its hands full with the victims of a spectacular car crash caused by flagrantly careless driver Bob Seibert. In the course of events, it is revealed that Seibert is a drug abuser, wife beater and all-around louse--and he is also in desperate need of a liver transplant. Ironically, the perfect donor turns out to be the very man whom Seibert killed on the road, placing the surgical interns smack in the middle of a major ethical dilemma. Elsewhere, George (T.R. Knight) is forced to work side by side with the same nurse who gave him syphillis; Webber (James Pickens Jr.) gets what-for from his wife (Loretta Devine) for having brain surgery without her knowledge; Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Cristina (Sandra Oh) do their best to lose themselves in their work and forget their romantic travails; and we finally find out the reason for the rift between Derek (Patrick Dempsey) and Addison (Kate Walsh). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Following its nine-episode inaugural season, the seriocomic medical series Grey's Anatomy returns with a full complement of episodes for its second year on the air--indeed, five of the unaired installments from Season One are added to the 22-episode manifest of Season Two, with even more to follow after the series begins offering two episodes per week at season's end. Picking up where the previous season left off, we find the romance between Seattle Grace Hospital intern Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and handsome neurosurgeon Derek Shephard (Patrick Dempsey) coming to an abrupt halt when Shepherd's estranged wife, neonatal physician Addison Montgomery, joins the staff. Likewise, intern Isobel "Izzie" Stevens (Katherine Heigl) leaves her boyfriend Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) in the lurch (despite the heating up of their romance during a "Code Black" emergency at the hospital) when she falls for heart-transplant patient Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Meanwhile, another intern, Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), deepens her relationship with cardiothroacic specialist Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington), but that doesn't constitute a full commitment by any means; and senior surgical resident Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), aka "The Nazi", also finds herself Great With Child, and as such is briefly replaced by a woman who is her temperamental polar opposite. Other season highlights include an earth-shattering visit from Meredith's celebrated surgeon mother Dr. Ellis Grey (Kate Burton); an emotionally disastrous one-night stand between Meredith and intern George O'Malley (T.R. Knight); and a bittersweet story arc involving premature quintuplets. As the season approaches its climax, both Alex and Izzie are serious questioning their dedication to the medical profession; and there may be a change in the weather so far as Chief of Surgery Richard Weber (James Pickens) is concerned. When Emmy Awards time rolled around in the spring of 2006, the producers of Grey's Anatomy went home with a stauette in the "outstanding casting for a drama series" category. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, (more)
- 2005
The professional roles and real lives of a diverse group of surgeons collide unexpectedly in this Golden Globe-winning ABC television drama. As an intern at prestigious Seattle Grace Hospital, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) tries hard to live up to the reputation of her legendary surgeon mother while hiding the fact that her mom now suffers from Alzheimer's disease. As if life weren't complicated enough, Meredith also falls for her boss, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), a surgical resident recently relocated to Seattle from New York. Meredith's friend and rival Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) finds herself in a similarly taboo romance with Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington), Derek's chief competition for the title of chief resident. As for Meredith and Cristina's fellow interns -- Isobel "Izzie" Stevens (Katherine Heigl), George O'Malley (T.R. Knight), and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) -- they've got problems of their own. Izzie doesn't want to be judged for her underwear-model past; Alex is better at bedding the ladies than bedside manner; and George can't get any of the women around him to see him as anything but a cuddly friend. All five interns answer to the roar of senior resident Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), affectionately known as "the Nazi." But even Dr. Bailey jumps to it when Chief of Surgery Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) is on the scene. Although it was a hit from the time of its mid-season launch -- in a plum post-Desperate Housewives time slot -- on March 27, 2005, Grey's Anatomy had sat on the shelf for a year before it saw the light of day. Creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes received plenty of accolades for her color-blind casting, but it was Oh who earned an Emmy nod and a Golden Globe statuette for her work on the show's first season. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- 2003
Definitely a series for the post-9/11 generation, ABC's Threat Matrix detailed the exploits of an elite task-force unit of the Homeland Security division. Headed by John Kilmer (Jamie Denton), the unit, comprised of the cream of the FBI, CIA, and NSA, was dedicated to stopping terrorism before it started, using the multitude of threats and warnings received on a 24/7 basis by the White House as their guide. Kilmer's multicultural, multiethnic team included his ex-wife Frankie Ellroy Killmer (Kelly Rutherford), as well as Tim Serrano (Kurt Caceres), Lia Larkins (Melora Walters), Jelani (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), Mo (Anthony Azizi), and Holly (Shoshannah Stern). Created by Daniel Voll, Threat Matrix debuted September 18, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Denton, Kelly Rutherford, (more)
- 2002
Originally titled Emma Brody, the weekly 60-minute drama series American Embassy was intended to be the "diplomatic" version of Fox's Ally McBeal, but the events of September 11, 2001 changed all that. Arija Bareikis starred as Emma Brody, a young Toledo woman who had entered diplomatic service to get over an unhappy romance. Assigned to be vice-counsel at the U.S. Embassy in London, the inexperienced Emma fell prey to the autocratic whims of her boss, Elque Polk (Jonathan Adams), who demonstrated his lack of confidence in the girl by assigning her cases that apparently no one else wanted. The heroine could take some solace in her friendships with mercurial CIA operative Doug Roach (David Cubitt) and her cross-dressing neighbor Gary Furbush (Michael Cerveris). The first episode, which aired over Fox on March 11, 2002, ended with a terrorist attack, indicating that the rest of American Embassy would be anything but a lighthearted lark. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arija Bareikis, David Cubitt, (more)
- 2002
Network television's first "interactive" mystery-suspense series, Push, Nevada got under way somewhat in the manner of the 1945 theatrical feature Murder, He Says, with stalwart IRS agent Jim Prufrock (Derek Cecil) venturing into the hinterlands in search of a huge cache of stolen money. Prufrock followed the trail of evidence to the cloistered community of Push, NV, which seemed to be populated exclusively by weirdos with deep, dark secrets. Each time that Prufrock thought he'd figured out what was going on, a new riddle or enigma was added to the mixture, such as a motel which looked like a dump on the outside but was luxurious on the inside, or a bizarre casino where everyone was forced to speak in lousy French accents. As Jim tried to piece things together, the viewers at home were invited to interpret the clues right along with the protagonist. If the viewer was able to solve the mystery before the first 13 episodes had played out, he or she would win one million dollars. Co-created by actor Ben Affleck and boasting a production staff gleaned from Affleck's popular cable-TV documentary series Project Greenlight, Push, Nevada debuted on September 17, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Cecil, Scarlett Chorvat, (more)
Jack Moony (Bob Hoskins) is a vice detective, but he is also an intense and crazed, racist lout. Jack has had a brief fling with a hooker named Crystal (Chloe Webb), but Crystal left him for Napoleon Stone (Denzel Washington), a suave, handsome, cosmopolitan lawyer, who becomes the object of Jack's rage, not simply because he has stolen his girl but also because he is black. Jack, who lives on cheeseburgers, beer, and whiskey, has a heart attack. This occurs the same night that Stone is killed in an un-accidental car crash. Thanks to a quick organ transplant, Jake ends up with Stone's heart. But to Jack's horror, he discovers the ghost of the lawyer has returned to earth to follow Jack around -- offering Jack nutritional advise, giving him tips on solving his murder, and suggestions on how to get back together with Crystal. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, Denzel Washington, (more)
A night beat cop, a good vampire who only drinks cows' blood, is after a bad vampire, who is sucking the blood of the city's human inhabitants. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Springfield
- 1985
This sci-fi outing is the pilot for a short-lived television series and chronicles the adventures of a gang of unusually talented teens. One uses his mind to control others, another is a wizard at cryogenics, while the other two can manipulate electrical energy and make things change sizes. This time, they team up to keep the government from using a deadly neutron cannon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Taken from the Voyagers! television show, these two episodes follow the adventures of a man and an orphaned child as they travel through time in an attempt to prevent future disasters. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Westerns may have been dead at the box-office in the late 1970s, but the TV-movie market still kept grinding them out. Legend of the Golden Gun includes elements of fantasy in its formula tale of a young man (Jeffrey Osterhage) who becomes the protege of an aging gunman (Hal Holbrook) The plotline contrives to include cameo appearances by guerilla leader William Quantrill (who kills the hero's parents) and General Custer (portrayed a la Douglas MacArthur, corncob pipe and all, by Keir Dullea). That this film is meant to be tongue-in-cheek is indicated by a scene in a frontier saloon, which in the manner of Sardi's restaurant is decorated with the caricatures of famous outlaws and lawmen! TV-movie expert Lee Goldberg has further noted that Legend of the Golden Gun is constructed along the lines of Stars Wars--an appropriate decision, since Star Wars was partially inspired by the western classic The Searchers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Osterhage, Hal Holbrook, (more)
