Emmy Awards

Mike Mignola and Guillermo Del Toro team up once again to bring everyone's favorite wise-cracking, crime fighting demon to the screen in an animated adventure that finds Hellboy, Liz Sherman, and Abe Sapien pitted against a powerful horde of supernatural baddies. When a sprawling mansion becomes overrun with ghosts and werewolves, Hellboy is forced to put in some serious overtime to ensure that the situation doesn't get out of hand. Add into the mix a villainous vampires and a malevolent goddess, and you've got a recipe for Hellboy's most thrilling assignment to date. Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, and John Hurt all return to voice the same characters they portrayed in Del Toro's rousing live action film. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Helen Mirren returns as police detective Jane Tennison in the fifth cycle of the award-winning television series Prime Suspect. Tennison is transferred to Manchester, where her superiors, unsure of what to do with her, initially put her in the public relations department, explaining police work to schoolchildren. Tennison wants a more substantial assignment, and she gets her wish when she is sent out to investigate the murder of a drug pusher. But Tennison quickly discovers the case is more complex than she imagined; a 14-year-old boy has claimed responsibility for the murder, but she believes the true culprit is a man known as "The Street" (Steven Mackintosh), who controls Manchester's drug traffic and has a number of lieutenants to cover his tracks. Tennison also finds herself in potentially hot water when she becomes romantically involved with DCS Ballinger (John McArdle), who is her superior -- and also a married man. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

From Paramount Home Video comes this collection of highlights from the second season of the world's most popular reality television show. Survivor: Season Two -- The Australian Outback: The Greatest & Most Outrageous Moments features host Jeff Probst along with all of the contestants from Debb to Tina. Footage from reward challenges, immunity challenges, and tribal councils is included, as well as interviews with the castaways. Released in 2001, the program runs 122 minutes. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

New Jersey Mafia boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) continues maintaining the facade of being a respectable suburban husband and father while operating a vast criminal organization from the confines of the Bada-Bing Club during Season Two of The Sopranos. Now that the treacherous Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) has been placed under arrest by the feds, and with his far-from-supportive mother Livia (Nancy Marchand, who died during this season) has been exiled to a nursing home, Tony thinks that his family problems are over. No such luck: Breezing in from Seattle is Tony's seriously disturbed, sexually promiscuous and thoroughly untrustworthy sister Janice (Aida Turturro), the closest thing that any mob family has had to a "black sheep". There's more trouble from the dangerously impulsive Richie Aprile (David Proval), older brother of Tony's predecessor Jackie Aprile Sr., who is resentful that a younger man has taken over the Aprile branch of the DeMeo crime organization. Richie also has a mad-on for Tony's trusted protégé Christopher (Michael Imperioli), whose own prestige within the mob continues to grow by leaps and bounds, especially after he engineers the family's elaborate "pump-and-dump" stock scam. Christopher himself has developed a close relationship with Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo), and never mind that she is one of "Uncle" Tony's mistresses. Though the FBI agent within the family's ranks has been whacked, there is still someone feeding information to the feds. It breaks Tony's heart to discover that his trusted torpedo Big Pussy (Vincent Pastore) is the turncoat, but business is business, and Tony is obliged to stage-manage Big Pussy's demise during a now-famous boat trip. Nor is this the end of the intramural carnage: despite having become engaged to her former flame Richie Aprile, Tony's sister Janice settles a bitter argument with Richie in typical Soprano fashion. Result: No wedding, and no Richie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The biggest news surrounding Law & Order's fifth season was the acrimonious exit of series regular Michael Moriarty, who, since the program's inception, had upheld the "Order" part of the program as Executive Assistant DA Ben Stone. According to the script, Stone quit the DA's office in disgust and despair after a witness to whom he'd promised protection was murdered. In truth, Moriarty had long been dissatisfied with the diminishing amount of screen time afforded the DA's office -- and he was also worried that then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno would make good on her promise to purge network TV of "excessive violence," a move he felt would emasculate reality-based series like Law & Order. With the departure of Ben Stone, a new face was added to the series' judicial lineup: Assistant DA Sam McCoy, played by Sam Waterston. Like his colleagues, McCoy was a basically decent, but decidedly imperfect, human being; famous for walking a very thin line between ethics and legal flim-flammery, he was also a renowned womanizer, having slept with virtually all of his former law partners -- a fact that added a fascinating dimension to his relationship with State's Attorney Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy). Despite its so-so ratings, Law & Order had enough viewer support and industry clout to survive its fifth season, passing the 100-episode mark with "Progeny" (although NBC, refusing to acknowledge the existence of the series' 1990 pilot episode because it had been commissioned by CBS, insisted that "Rage" was Number 100). One indication that the series was supported by its network was the fact that the producers were given enough production money to complete 23 episodes, rather than the standard 22. In what was rapidly becoming a Law & Order tradition, the 1994-1995 season ended with the exit of still another character. In the season finale, "Pride," Detective Mike Logan Chris Noth was yanked from homicide and reduced to pounding a beat on Staten Island after punching out a homophobic councilman. In real life, producer Dick Wolf decided not to renew Noth's contract, feeling that the actor had reached the limits of his character -- and that the world-weary Mike Logan did not provide enough contrast with his equally hard-bitten, acerbic partner Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach). Although Noth never returned to the weekly version of Law & Order, he was able to persuade the series' producers to fashion a spin-off TV movie, 1998's Exiled, which tied up the loose ends of Logan's career. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The first season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was inaugurated with a shakeup in the Las Vegas crime-lab unit, with overnight-shift supervisor Gil Grissom (William L. Petersen) appointed head of the unit after former skipper, Capt. Jim Brass, made a misfired decision that brought about the death of rookie "criminalist" Holly Gribbs (Chandra West). New team member Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) was brought in from San Francisco to aid in the investigation of Gribbs' death, causing friction between Grissom and his second-in-command, Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger). Meanwhile, the friendly rivalry between team members Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan) and Nick Stokes (George Eads), both of whom were jockeying for a promotion, served to accelerate the solutions of many of the crimes depicted therein. Although the team was generally successful in bringing perps to justice, at least one case remained frustratingly unsolved: a string of murders made to look like suicides, clearly committed by a "signature" killer with an intimate knowledge of forensic procedure. As season one drew to a close, Grissom wondered if he would ever catch up with this elusive murderer, whose deliberately planted false clues resulted in far too many wild goose chases for the team -- and whose equally deliberate real clues proved that the team was up against some sort of homicidal genius. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season five of South Park shifts into high gear with the notorious episode "It Hits the Fan," in which you're invited to keep score as that word is repeated 162 times! The remaining 13 episodes include "Cripple Fight" (an intense turf battle between Timmy and Jimmy); "Super Best Friends" (Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and -- for a while -- Kenny follow the Word According to Magician David Blaine); "Scott Tenorman Must Die" (puberty has its price); "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow" (the lives and times of Canada's favorite flatulents); "Cartmanland" (this time it may be Kyle, not Kenny, who dies -- and then again, maybe not); "Proper Condom Use" (a whole new meaning to the term "sex education"); "Towelie" (you can't handle the truth about the talking towel!); "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants" (and Stevie Nicks may suffer because of it); "How to Eat With Your Butt" (the scourge of Tarsonic Polarity Syndrome); "The Entity" (See it! And die); "Here Comes the Neighborhood" (the new oppressed class has millions, do you hear?); the pivotal "Kenny Dies" (not "what again" but "finally" -- and can Cartman really be crying?); and "Butters' Very Own Episode" (those little white lies may save your life, so keep on lying!). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation entered its third season still riding high as network television's top-rated drama program. There was, therefore, no need for CBS to change its time slot, nor to make any major cast changes. There were, however, two significant additions to the cast lineup. A romantic interest was created for series regular Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) in the form of Hank Peddigrew (Christopher Wiehl), a handsome paramedic. Also, the recurring character of Detective Lockwood (Jeffrey D. Sams) was seen on a more frequent basis. Both of these characters, however, would be effectively disposed of by the time season three was over, with the demise of Lockwood leading to a powerful season finale. In addition, the off-and-on domestic travails of the CSI's Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) were intensified when her husband was killed and her daughter seriously injured. The season's most significant story development involved CSI head man Gil Grissom (William L. Petersen). After a few instances in which he noticed that he was experiencing a hearing loss, Grissom was diagnosed with otosclerosis, a hereditary disorder which threatened to culminate in total deafness. As the third season's final episode drew to it conclusion, Grissom was undergoing surgery to correct this problem -- with the result of the operation remaining unresolved until the beginning of season four. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"What was life like for Superman before he grew up to be Superman?" That was the questioned posed, and brilliantly, answered, on the weekly sci-fi/adventure series Smallville, the WB network's most successful new program of the 2001-2002 TV season. Without wreaking undue damage on the sacred Superman legend, as set down by 65 years' worth of comic books, radio series, TV shows, and movies, Smallville artfully wove its own mythos concerning the early years of Clark Kent -- not yet "the man of steel" Superman, but born Kal-El, "strange visitor from another planet" (namely, the doomed planet Krypton). The first episode, telecast October 16, 2001, rapidly established the fact that the child Kal-El's arrival on Earth in the year 1989 profoundly affected virtually the entire population of Smallville, a tiny Kansas farming community. The spacecraft bearing the alien toddler arrived at the same time as a cataclysmic meteor shower, which all but devastated Smallville. Among other things, the meteor bombardment brought about the deaths of the parents of little Lana Lang, and rendered completely hairless nine-year-old Lex Luthor, son of ruthless billionaire businessman Lionel Luthor. Though Lana was able to put the tragedy behind her thanks to the loving care of her aunt Nell (Sarah-Jane Redmond), Lex's sudden and spectacular hair loss left him cynical and suspicious of humankind in general, and his grasping father in particular. On a happier note, childless farming couple Jonathan and Martha Kent (John Schneider, Annette O'Toole) rescued Kal-El, renamed him Clark, and raised him as their own son.

As the years passed, it was painfully obvious that Clark (played in his teen years by Tom Welling), possessed Herculean strength and other powers "far beyond those of mortal men." To protect their adopted son from being exposed as an alien, and to prevent others from being accidentally injured by the boy's superstrength, Martha and Jonathan kept Clark from indulging in youthful horseplay, and refused to allow him to participate in contact sports. As a result, Clark earned a reputation as something of a namby-pamby nerd -- and his own growing realization that he was different from his peers kept him perpetually on the outside looking in, a natural-born loner. Which is not to say that Clark didn't have his own circle of friends at Smallville High School. Lana Lang (played as a teen by Kristin Kreuk), who had matured into the campus queen, regarded Clark as a loyal and faithful friend -- but, much to Clark's dismay, she reserved her romantic feelings for high school jock Whitney Fordman (Eric Johnson), who, thanks to a series of neat coincidences, tended to get the credit for the heroics performed by Clark (which of course, young Mr. Kent was bound not to claim as his own lest his secret be revealed). Conversely, fellow student Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), a budding paranormal investigator who wrote for the Smallville High newspaper, the Torch, harbored a hidden crush on Clark. Our hero's best bud was the shy and self-effacing Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), who like everyone else in Smallville could not help but notice that strange things happened whenever Clark was around, but who seldom questioned these happenings for fear of damaging their friendship. As for Lex Luthor (played as an adult by Michael Rosenbaum), several years Clark's senior, he lived the life of a swinging bachelor in his family mansion, while dad Lionel (John Glover) wheeled and dealed from his headquarters in the city of Metropolis. A firm friend of the young Kent since Clark saved his life, Lex had his share of good and noble impulses, but they were often mitigated by his inbred avariciousness and lust for power -- and his overpowering desire to wrest the family business from the grasp of his father.

During season one, Lex had a fling with sexy Victoria Hardwick (Kelly Brook), but their romance fell victim to his self-absorption. And though Clark generally got along with Lex, the same could not be said for Jonathan Kent, who (not without reason) felt that the Luthor family's business ambitions posed a threat to Kent and his fellow farmers. Also muddying up the Luthor legacy was the cache of kryptonite -- the green, glowing element indigenous to Clark Kent's home planet -- which was kept on the premises of Smallville's LutherCorp plant. As everybody familiar with the Superman canon knows, kryptonite has an adverse and possibly deadly effect on Clark; in this series, the mineral also brought out the worst in everyone else who came in contact with it. The first season of Smallville studiously avoided any mention of Clark's future alter ego, Superman, though the viewers would see the young misfit painfully adjusting to his awesome powers, some of which (such as his x-ray vision) were brand-new to him. Also, several episodes placed those closest to him in dire jeopardy, forcing him to utilize his powers without giving himself away -- and in at least a couple of cases, Clark's friends would themselves develop temporary superpowers that they too had to learn to properly deploy. Along the way, Clark's campus rival, Whitney Fordham, would leave Smallville after a series of daunting personal setbacks, joining the Marines to see the rest of the world. Like many another network series of its ilk, Smallville closed out its initial season by setting up a cliffhanger, to be resolved at the beginning of season two. In this case, the "to be continued" elements involved the first kiss between Clark and Chloe, a potential unholy alliance between Lex and Lionel Luthor, a startling discovery made by an unscrupulous big-city news reporter named Roger Nixon (Tom O'Brien), and a devastating tornado that threatened to bump off the helpless Lana Lang. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Having been put on administrative leave following his nervous breakdown after the unsolved murder of his wife, Trudy, brilliant homicide detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) returns to work as Monk begins its first season. Unfortunately, during his three years away from the San Francisco Police Department, Monk has morphed into the "obsessive-compulsive" to end all obsessive-compulsives, with a mortal fear of everything from cow's milk to unshined shoes. However, Monk's affliction has sharpened his photographic memory and attention to the most infinitesimal of details, thus his many eccentricities are tolerated by his old friend SFPD captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and his deputy Lt. Randall Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford). Still, the department balks at fully reinstating Monk until he is "cured" (as if!), so our hyper-phobic hero works in a freelance capacity. Acting as Monk's assistant is his loyal nurse, Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram). Monk's first case has him diligently determining a link between two apparently unconnected crimes, the murder of a young woman and the attempted assassination of a mayoral candidate. In subsequent episodes, Monk pulls the rug out from under a phony psychic detective; attempts to ascertain if an 800-pound man was capable of committing a murder that would have required a very slim assailant; tries to figure out how a man could be stabbed atop a ferris wheel without any witnesses; looks into the mystery of the "billionaire mugger"; struggles to clear a murder suspect who bears a startling resemblance to his late wife; hunts for clues at "the cleanest crime scene in crime history"; agonizingly endures a cross-country flight to solve a killing and unmask an impostor; and, during a brief rest stop at a mental institution, follows a trail of murder patients to the likely perpetrator -- and this while spending most of his time in a straitjacket! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the most popular television series of the late '70s science fiction boom gets a new look for the new millennium in remake, created as a made-for-cable miniseries. Four decades after the Cylon Wars, the Cylon robots (some of whom have since assumed human form) have launched a vicious nuclear attack, leaving only a few Colonial forces to lead the survivors to safety. Led by starship commander Adama (Edward James Olmos) and politician and possible presidential successor Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the crew of the Battlestar Galactica searches the galaxy for the mythic 13th Colony of Kobol (otherwise known as Earth), their destination and only hope for survival. Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries also stars Jamie Bamber, James Callis, and Grace Park. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Season One of the wild and crazy cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants dishes up 20 half hour episodes, each containing two to three short storylines. The opener relates how cheerful invertebrate SpongeBob SquarePants lands a job at the Krusty Krab restaurant (his lifelong goal!), how he shoos a pesky clam shell away from the front lawn of his pineapple home, and his first meeting with Sandy Cheeks, a cute land squirrel who resides in a nearby biodome. All, this, plus a musical performance by Tiny Tim. In later episodes, SpongeBob goes into business teaching his friends how to blow bubbles; the evil Plankton attempts to steal the closely-guarded secet recipe for Krabby Patties; SpongeBob's grouchy neighbor Squidward tries and fails to drive a wedge (or a wedgie?) between SpongeBob and his best friend Patrick; a simple pizza delivery turns into an "Apocalypse Now" moment; former McHale's Navy costars Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway make their first voiceover "appearances" as testy retired superheroes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy; SpongeBob celebrates "Opposite Day", almost as if there really were an "Opposite Day"; Squidward invokes the name of Allen Ginsburg during a talent show at Krusty Krab; the legendary Flying Dutchman makes one of his rare TV appearances; a peek into the future reveals that they'll always be a few million SpongeBobs around to aggravate Squidward; and the long-suffering Mrs. Puff gives SpongeBob his first driving lesson, and lives to tell about it. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi