George W. Perkins Movies

One of ABC's most popular series of the 2004-2005 season, the weekly, hour-long Desperate Housewives took place on Wisteria Lane in an upscale suburban neighborhood. That Wisteria Lane was not as quiet and respectable as it appeared at first glance was brought home forcibly in the opening episode, when housewife Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) committed suicide right in the middle of her comfortable living room. From her vantage point in the great beyond, Mary Alice served as the series' wry, all-knowing narrator, filling the viewer on the various sordid details in the lives of her four best friends. There was divorcée Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), ever-looking for love in all the wrong places and agonizing over the behavior of her daughter, Julie (Andrea Bowen). There was Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), who every day of her life kicked herself over her decision to give up her business career to care for her highly competitive husband, Tom (Doug Savant), and her irritating children. There was Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross), the all-too-perfect, control-freak homemaker who eventually drove her husband, Rex (Steven Culp), to divorce court and her son, Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom), into malevolent misanthropy. And there was ex-model Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria), who despite having married into money and luxury couldn't stop herself from fooling around with teenaged gardener John (Jesse Metcalfe). Though her controlling husband, Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira), was not privy to her infidelity, he had his suspicions that she was less than faithful. Prone to extreme displays of machismo, he took many measures to maintain the marriage. Weaving in and out of the proceedings was the oft-divorced Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), with whom Susan competed over the affections of supposedly widowed plumber Mike Delfino (James Denton). The sexual intrigues of Wisteria Lane were augmented (during the first season at least) by the mysterious activities of Mary Alice's husband, Paul (Mark Moses) -- including digging up the backyard swimming pool in the dead of night -- and the strange emotional outbursts of their tormented, unstable son, Zach (Cody Kasch). Created by Marc Cherry, Desperate Housewives debuted October 3, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As America geared itself for another possible armed conflict in Iraq, the HBO cable service offered a dramatization of events surrounding the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Originally telecast on December 8, 2002, Live From Baghdad recounted the efforts by the CNN network to be first on the scene when hostilities broke out in the Gulf in late 1990. Inaugurating round-the-clock coverage of the warfare with the invasion of Kuwait, dauntless CNN producers Robert Wiener (Michael Keaton) and Ingrid Formanek (Helena Bonham Carter), aided and abetted by on-the-scene reporters Bernard Shaw (Robert Wisdom), Peter Arnett (Bruce McGill), and John Holliman (John Carroll Lynch), among many others, represented the only American news service on the scene during the first night of bombing on January 16, 1991. Not only does Live From Baghdad celebrate the heroism (and meticulous fairness) of the CNN crew, but it also vividly demonstrates how a tiny but tenacious basic cable channel managed to out-scoop the Big Three networks, thereby becoming one of the most powerful and influential journalistic forces in the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It is just possible that the made-for-TV biopic Muhammad Ali: King of the World was hastily pieced together to capitalize on the popular theatrical documentary When We Were Kings and the publicity attending the upcoming Will Smith movie vehicle Ali. Actually, the title of the TV film was something of a misnomer, since the story covers the formative days of Ali's career and fame, when he was still fighting under his given name Cassius Clay. Played by Terrence DaShon Howard, the young Clay slugs his way from poverty-stricken obscurity to the 1960 Olympics, garners both positive and negative publicity with his incessant self-worship and improvised rhymes, and proves that he is more than just talk when he defeats Sonny Liston (Steve Harris) in 1964. It is in fact at this point that the film draws to a close, with a few hints of what is to come manifested in an early meeting between the impressionable Clay and Islamic activist Malcolm X (Gary Dourdan). Based on the bestselling 1998 biography by David Renwick, Muhammad Ali: King of the World debuted January 10, 2000, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The double trauma of seeing his wife Vivian (Gail O'Grady) walk out on him and having his government funding eliminated causes nuclear scientist Rogers Henry (John Glover) to go off the deep end. But Vivian doesn't know about her husband's insanity when she agrees to deliver what she thinks is his model of a thermonuclear device called Medusa to the Pentagon. Nor do charter pilot Scott Nash (Vincent Spano) and researched Linda McCoy (Lori Laughlin) suspect anything amiss when Vivian boards Scott's plane en route to Washington. Only when the plane is aloft is it discovered that the "model" is a genuine bomb that has armed itself and will explode should it be taken any more than fifteen feet away from Vivian, whose pacemaker is the bomb's "control." Even worse: There's a hurricane threatening Washington, and the plane is unable to land--and someone on board requires emergency heart surgery! Based on the best selling novel by John J. Nance (who appears in a cameo role), the two-part TV movie Medusa's Child first aired November 16 and 20, 1997, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A U.S. general confronts the struggle of her lifetime when she decides to run for president in this drama. ~ All Movie Guide

Lindsay Frost is a private eye sucked into a messy domestic case. She's been hired by an anguished father to keep his allegedly psychotic ex-wife from kidnapping their daughter. Enter Veronica Hamel, another private detective, who has been engaged by the mother to reclaim the child from the father--on the grounds that dad is a child molester. Both Frost and Hamel are equally determined to fulfill their mission, and equally convinced that their individual client is the "right" one. But it's Frost who must rethink her strategy when confronted with evidence gathered by Hamel. Made for television and first shown on the Lifetime Cable Network in March of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A John Carpenter story served as the launching pad for Black Moon Rising. Veteran thief Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is hired by the FBI to steal some politically volatile computer tapes. The owners of the tapes are displeased, and begin chasing Quint all over the countryside. Just when he's about to surrender his booty, Quint's car -- wherein the tapes are stored -- is stolen by Nina (Linda Hamilton). She delivers the car to her corporate-villain boyfriend Ryland (Robert Vaughn), who runs a hot auto ring. Nina then has second thoughts and decides to throw in with Quint...and round and round we go. The "Black Moon" of the title is the name Quint's high-tech, low-slung vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After sitting on the shelf for some time, Teen Wolf was released on the heels of the hugely successful Back to the Future in an attempt to cash in on the huge popularity of star Michael J. Fox. Teen Wolf chronicles the plight of Fox as a small-town nerd who can't seem to score a basket on the court or a point with his dream girl. Things change, however, once he discovers his family's hereditary secret, lycanthrope. As he begins to look hairier and hairier, his team begins to win basketball games and his dream girl begins to show interest in his unusual talent. His story does not progress without complications, however. His best friend, an opportunistic weasel, begins to exploit him beyond his limits of toleration, and his dream girl is captive to the requisite bully boyfriend, who, of course, captains the arch-rival basketball team. And then, to top it all off, Fox's other best friend is in love with him. Unbelievably, this film was a box-office success and eventually inspired an even worse sequel, Teen Wolf Too, several years later -- a film which Fox wisely declined. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

This unfunny attempt at sexual comedy looks at the adventures of five different couples spending one night in a cheap motel. A 300-pound fullback is still a virgin and will be losing that distinction thanks to the hooker he has hired for the night, while a couple unfaithful to each other quibble over the lousy accommodations -- in skits much like those of the TV series, Love, American Style. Phyllis Diller and Slim Pickens are the motel managers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide