ABC Afterschool Special
Encyclopedia
The ABC Afterschool Special is an American television anthology series that aired on ABC
from 1972 to 1996, usually in the late afternoon on week days. Most of the episodes were dramatic presentations of situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were either in animated form or presented as documentaries. Topics included illiteracy, substance abuse and teenage pregnancy.
The series won 51 Daytime Emmy Award
s during its 24-year run.
In 2004 and 2005, BCI Eclipse and Sunset Home Visual Entertainment issued six DVD collections of episodes from the series that were produced by Martin Tahse, each collection containing four episodes.
Animated special about a father and son who go hunting, and debate whether or not to kill an Eskimo curlew
, which may become [and may now be] extinct.
A young boy helps his friend escape slavery
through the Underground Railroad
.
An imaginative, determined 14-year-old Puerto Rican
boy builds a boat in which to sail around Central Park
. Co-starring Bill Duke
(Commando
, Predator
, Action Jackson
) and a pre-Hill Street Blues
Rene Enriquez
. Followed in 1975 by the sequel Santiago's America.
Special introducing William Shakespeare
to young people through sketches, readings and music.
Animated special about two youngsters who are miniaturized and travel through their uncle's body to understand more about his health. Features the first appearance of Timer, a character later featured in ABC's Time for Timer
shorts.
The story of a retired clown
and his undying love for children. Starring Red Buttons, Robbie Rist
(Kidd Video
, The Brady Bunch
) and Jodie Foster
.
11-year-old Sharon Lee (Jodie Foster
) encounters opposition when she joins her brother's Little League
baseball
team, which happens to be all male. (1972 was when girls were first allowed on Little League teams.) Co-starring Steve Gustafson
(Short Circus member "Buddy" from The Electric Company
); based on Isabella Taves's book Not Bad For a Girl.
Joseph Grant, Jr. (Ike Eisenmann
from the Witch Mountain
movies) is shocked when his parents announce their decision to separate
. Beau Bridges
portrays Joe, Sr.
A sixth-grader has a run-in with the class bully, who then wants to meet with him after school. Starring Lance Kerwin
(James at 15
, Enemy Mine
) and Willie Aames
(Eight Is Enough
, Charles In Charge
, Bibleman
); based on Betsy Byars's
novel.
Long-nosed Cyrano de Bergerac
(voice of Jose Ferrer
, Dune) helps an army officer woo Roxanne (voice of Joan Van Ark
), the woman Cyrano himself loves, in this animated version of Edmond Rostand
's play.
A small-town teenage girl teams up with a younger but wiser boy for survival. Co-starring Moosie Drier
; written by Clyde Ware (Coward of the County).
Timer shrinks down two youngsters and show them around their teenage sister's head, to discover how the mind works.
Live action/animation special geared to educate young people about classical music
. Starring Tim Conway
and Ruth Buzzi
.
Teenage Sara (Heather Totten) must confront the problems regarding her handicapped brother. Co-starring Brady Bunch alums Chris Knight and Eve Plumb
; based on Betsy Byars's
novel
.
12-year-old Adam (Lance Kerwin
) adjusts to a new way of life when his mother remarries and moves their whole family to the country.
The 1974 Senate race is seen through the eyes of two teen-aged girls, each a campaign volunteer for George McGovern
(Democrat
) and Leo Thorness (Republican
).
Aspiring 12-year-old entrepreneur
Rufus (Tierre Turner, Devil Times Five) decides to create and sell his own brand of toothpaste
. Co-starring Wright King (Planet of the Apes
).
A teenager with a stuttering
problem overcomes his shyness to become a championship figure skater. Based on Mildred Lee's novel; co-starring Cindy Eilbacher (of My Mother the Car
infamy) and Rance Howard
.
A Puerto Rican boy is invited to a prestigious conference in Los Angeles
. With no money, he re-builds a broken taxi
to get there. Bill Duke
and Rene Enriquez
reprise their roles.
12-year-old T.K. (Jodie Foster
) invites her grandfather to join a "secret" club. Co-starring Tierre Turner; based on Jean Robinson
's book.
A 13-year-old boy has a crush on a cheerleader at his school and dreams up creative ways to try to impress her.
The McPhail siblings - Jenna, Toby and Louisa (Kristy McNichol
, Poindexter Yothers and Karen Obediear) - discover a wounded deer
, which they nurse back to health. Co-starring Gordon Jump
(WKRP in Cincinnati
). Poindexter is the brother of Corey and Tina Yothers
.
Despite his failing health, a Native American
medicine man
is determined to teach his great-grandchildren the traditions of the Apache
nation. Based on Betty Baker's novel; starring Dehl Berti
(Wolfen
, Invasion U.S.A.
, Bullies).
Tired of ridicule for being short, sixth-grader Duffy (Ike Eisenmann
) buys a mysterious book which enables him to "Think Big" - quite literally. Based on Jean Robinson
's book. Co-starring Lance Kerwin
, Jim Backus
(Mr. Magoo
, Gilligan's Island
) and Jerry Van Dyke
(Coach
, My Mother the Car
).
12-year-old Nina Beckwith (Kristy McNichol
) does not know how to react to her new stepmother. Co-starring Lance Kerwin
, Melendy Britt
(voice of the title character on She-Ra: Princess of Power
), Leif Garrett
and Jimmy McNichol (Kristy's real-life brother). Based on Stella Pevsner's
novel, "A Smart Kid Like You".
In order to better understand his blind
girlfriend, teenage Jeff (Leigh McCloskey
) spends an entire day blindfold
ed. Co-starring Robert Ridgely
(as Jeff's dad), Cindy Eilbacher (sister of Lisa
), and a pre-L.A. Law
Corbin Bernsen
.
Teenage Carrie Wasserman (Susan Lawrence
) takes up writing an advice column
for her school newspaper. Based on Ellen Conford
's novel. Co-starring Al Eisenmann (brother of Ike
) as Carrie's brother Jeff.
In this adaptation of Joan Oppenheimer's novel, teenager Francesca James (Carol Jones) deals with her alcoholic mother Lillian (Melendy Britt
) by joining the support group
Alateen. Co-starring Jody Britt (Melendy's real-life daughter).
Update of Mark Twain
's The Prince and the Pauper
. A delivery boy and the President's son (Lance Kerwin
in a dual role) meet and hit it off. It does not hurt that each is an exact double of the other; for mutual amusement, they decide to swap identities. Co-starring Harry Kerwin (Lance's real-life father) and a pre-Star Trek
Rosalind Chao
.
A football
coach (Dave Madden
) tries to mediate a conflict between his star quarterback
(Brandon Cruz
) and the boy's father (a pre-Days of Our Lives
Joseph Mascolo
). Co-starring real-life football great Alex Karras
(Blazing Saddles
, Webster
).
Curious about his mom's pregnancy
, a ten-year-old seeks answers to where babies come from.
The neighborhood youth gang makes a pact to bully and torment the new kid on their 17th Street turf. Based on Emily Cheney Neville
's novel The 17th Street Gang. Starring Kim Richards
(Assault on Precinct 13
, Tuff Turf
).
Sensitive Kate (Melissa Sue Anderson
) gradually comes to terms with the accidental death of her younger sister, in this adaptation of the award-winning novel by Constance Greene.
A mentally challenged 16-year-old attempts to make friends with his neighborhood peers. Starring Moosie Drier
, Russell Johnson
(Gilligan's Island
) and Tom Gulager
(son of Clu Gulager
).
In this adaptation of Betsy Byars
's novel, three orphans (one portrayed by Kristy McNichol
) from very different backgrounds find themselves living with the same foster
couple, while all three wait to be adopted
.
Live-Action/animation special featuring Michel Legrand
in a true story about the bird that inspired him while studying at the Paris Conservatory of Music.
When 14-year-old Melissa Harrington (Victoria Paige Meyerink
) wins the lottery
, she thinks she will never have to worry about money - or anything else - again. Yeah, right...
A 14-year-old baseball
player and his manager-uncle find themselves at odds over their different interpretations of the philosophy "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". Starring Larry B. Scott
(The Karate Kid, Revenge of the Nerds
, Super Force
).
Teenage Charlie Meredith (Rosanna Arquette
, Desperately Seeking Susan
) is used to acting as the ears of her deaf parents, but she's ashamed when she introduces her peers to them; because of their reactions, the elder Merediths come off as being out-of-touch.
After a high school track star is crippled by a near-fatal accident
, he must learn to depend on others for day-to-day living. Based on Robert C. Lee
's novel.
A free-spirited woman realizes her daughter is no longer a child, and experiments with giving her more independence
. However, the girl is puzzled by this sudden lack of attention; it seems like mom's pushing her away.
In 1947, a young white boy and an elderly black
man enjoy a warm and wonderful friendship, based on their mutual love of the Brooklyn Dodgers...and of Jackie Robinson
in particular. Co-starring Anne Ramsay
(The Goonies
, Throw Momma From the Train
, Deadly Friend
, Scrooged
) and Edie McClurg
; based on Barbara Cohen's novel.
A young Puerto Rican New York
boy knows his mother misses her homeland
. Accordingly, he becomes an errand boy for a small-time hood, in order to earn enough money that she can move back to the Caribbean
. Based on Gloria Gonzalez's novel; co-starring Danny De La Paz (3:15, City Limits, Miracle Mile
).
Overweight
teenager Susan "Dinky" Hocker (Wendie Jo Sperber
) is obsessed with food and cannot stop eating. Finally she turns to a friend, who helps make changes in her eating habits. Co-starring June Lockhart
and Alan Oppenheimer
as Dinky's parents; based on the novel by M.E. Kerr.
High school students take a marriage course, where they are coupled up and must complete assorted everyday tasks that go with married life
. Co-starring Janina Mathews (a "Short Circus" alum, reprising her role - sort of - as "Gail" from The Electric Company
).
After teenage Bobbie Marston experiences a hit and run
, guilt takes its toll on her everyday life. Co-starring a pre-Terminator Michael Biehn
.
Wealthy-but-lonely Calvin Brundage (Robbie Rist
) is granted seven wishes by a genie
. Calvin uses them to try and impress Melanie Gamble (Cynthia Nixon
- The Manhattan Project), the most popular girl in his school. But things do not work out the way he anticipated. Co-starring Christopher Hewett
(The Producers
, Mr. Belvedere
) and Butterfly McQueen
.
Arthur Allan Seidelman
directed this adaptation of Joan Oppenheimer's novel My Other Mother. 16-year-old Alexandria (Melissa Sue Anderson
, Happy Birthday To Me) is stunned when her biological mother arrives to take Alex away from her adoptive parents. Co-starring Marion Ross
and Woody Eney (he was Bill, the serial rapist/murderer of whom Arnold Jackson
and Kimberly Drummond run afoul in the Diff'rent Strokes
episode "The Hitchhikers").
Shy teenager Dena (Trini Alvarado
) enrolls in a new school and does not make friends easily...until it is discovered that her father is famous actor
Hal McKain (Frank Converse
- Solarbabies
, Dolphin Cove). Overnight, she becomes the most popular student in school - but this brings its own problems.
Arthur Allan Seidelman
directed this adaptation of Marcia L. Simon's novel. A 14-year-old basketball
star, deciding he needs a new challenge, takes up ballet
. Then he worries about what friends and family will think of his decision. Co-starring real-life brothers Al and Ike Eisenmann
.
A 15-year-old girl takes up drinking to impress a boy; instead, she soon develops a serious problem.
Bruce Malmuth
directed this adaptation of Michael Bonadies's novel The Gold Test. Ambitious teenage figure skater Maggie MacDonald (Melissa Sherman) learns what champions are truly made of when she meets a paraplegic youngster.
12-year-old girl wonders about all of the changes
that's happening to her body. Sequel to My Mom's Having a Baby.
Two inseparable 12-year-old girls (Melora Hardin
, Dana Hill
), each one the daughter of a separate divorcing couple, are determined to keep their friendship alive despite the odds. Stephen Gyllenhaal
directed this adaptation of Mildred Ames
's novel.
A widower with two daughters (Danny Aiello
) marries a widow
with one daughter, creating a blended family.
When high school senior
Charles Elderberry (Rob Lowe
) discovers that his summer girlfriend has given birth to his child, he decides to fight for custody
. Co-starring Dana Plato
(Diff'rent Strokes
), Sharon Spelman (The Blob
, Angie) and Nancy McKeon
(The Facts of Life
).
A pre-Baywatch
Holly Gagnier
stars as 16-year-old Ginny Coker, who's determined to become a world-class athlete.
Jack (Scott Baio
) is a motivated high schooler, until he experiments with marijuana and falls in with a fast crowd and soon starts to dabble in harder drugs such as LSD
and Cocaine
. Will he wise up before it's too late? Co-starring Largo Woodruff (The Funhouse
, Coward of the County).
Teenager Lisl Gilbert (Karlene Crockett) must find the inner strength to deal with her mother Jean (Rosemary Forsyth
)'s impending death from cancer
. Co-starring Rob Lowe
.
A teenage girl does not know how to deal with being in a wheelchair
, after an accident leaves her paralyzed. Then she befriends a boy in the same situation, and the future suddenly looks brighter for both of them. Starring Toni Kalem
, Scott Baio
, Dee Wallace and Hal Williams
(227
).
A teenage girl is convinced that her mother does not understand the younger generation. Mysteriously, she is sent back in time and meets her mother as a teenager. Based on a novel by Francine Pascal
(creator of Sweet Valley High
).
16-year-old Cindy Scott (Amanda Wyss
, A Nightmare on Elm Street
) and her younger brother Brett gradually wise up to their single mother Miriam (Bonnie Bartlett
)'s drinking problem. Cindy wonders if she should join Alateen for help. Arthur Allan Seidelman
directed this adaptation of Anne Snyder's novel First Step.
An aspiring teen folk singer
(Trini Alvarado
) is torn whether to continue her singing or to accept an educational scholarship
. Co-starring Lee Curreri
(Fame).
A streetwise teenager (Karin Argoud
) is sent to live in the suburbs with her father's new family. Based on Barbara Morgenroth's novel Will the Real Renie Lake Please Stand Up?. Argoud would later be cast as Sonja Harper on Mama's Family
.
Two teenagers, one black and one white, hit it off
. Starring James Bond III (Def by Temptation
), Chris Barnes, Cleavon Little
and Kadeem Hardison
.
Amanda Plummer (daughter of Christopher
) portrays a 15-year-old who's stunned to discover that her "deceased" father is very much alive...and that's just the beginning of the story. Co-starring Barbara Feldon (of Get Smart
fame) and Danny Aiello
; based on Hila Colman's novel Tell Me No Lies.
A 12-year-old girl assumes responsibility for her two younger brothers (one of them portrayed by a pre-Wonder Years Jason Hervey
), after their mom passes away. Based on Betsy Byars
's novel The Night Swimmers.
After the death of her father, teenager Dallas Davis (a pre-A-Team Melinda Culea
) struggles with her mother Ellen (Patricia Elliott
)'s total dependency on her.
17-year-old Amy Watson (Helen Slater
), a depressed
high school student, is visited by aspiring angel
Oliver after wishing she had never been born. As with George Bailey and Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life
, Oliver shows Amy how important she is to the people in her life...particularly her divorced mom, her paternal grandfather (David Huddleston
- Blazing Saddles
, Sherlock Holmes in New York
, The Wonder Years
) and her best friend (who's a lot more troubled than Amy realizes). The twist here is that Oliver himself committed suicide and, as a punishment, was forced to roam the world for years afterward - witnessing the repercussions of his action. (Just think The Heavenly Kid
meets A Christmas Carol
.) Now senior angel Gabriel (James Earl Jones
, Gabriel's Fire
- how apt) is giving Oliver a chance to redeem himself by preventing Amy from committing the same mistake that he made. Also starring Matthew Modine
and Meg Ryan
.
Teen violin
ist is torn between her musical career and her boyfriend. Co-starring Robert Reed
.
Teenage girl is shocked when a former boyfriend tells her he has gonorrhea
. Not only does she get tested, she must tell her current boyfriend to get tested as well. Co-starring Zach Galligan
(Gremlins
).
Teenager Nancy Parks (Nancy McKeon
, The Facts of Life
) stumbles upon a case of child abuse
. It turns out her new boyfriend (Lance Guest
)'s younger brother is regularly beaten by their mom (Patty Duke
, whose real-life son Sean Astin
portrays the victim in question).
A blind, mentally retarded infant with cerebral palsy
is left in the care of an elderly English woman who refuses to let him die. Starring Cloris Leachman
, M. Emmet Walsh
(Wild, Wild West), James Noble
and Kirk Cameron
.
Kari Michaelsen
and Jennifer Jason Leigh
star as two teenagers - one rich
, the other middle-class - who become best friends over the summer. Co-starring Marion Ross
(from Happy Days
) and ex-Mouseketeer Julie Piekarski
.
A pre-Baywatch
Billy Warlock
portrays 16-year-old Craig Foster, whose efforts to prove himself to his peers land him in juvenile hall. Co-starring Al White
(the "Jive Dude" from the Airplane!
movies).
High school teacher decides to conduct a social experiment, asking his students to take part. But what they do not know is that the experiment is on mind control
. (Previously broadcast on ABC in October 1981 as a standalone special.)
A high school girl has a crush on a soap opera
star but she thinks she is in love with him. At school, she meets her new English teacher, who closely resembles the soap star.
Tired of receiving hand me downs from her sister, an 11-year-old girl "secretly borrows" her bicycle
...which then gets stolen by somebody else. Will our young heroine locate and recover the bike before her sister discovers what's happened? Tracey Gold
and Cheryl Arutt
portray the sisters; Terry O'Quinn
(from the Stepfather
movies) plays their dad. Also starring Corey Parker
(How I Got Into College
) and Martha Plimpton
(The Goonies
); based on a novel by Francine Pascal
(creator of Sweet Valley High
and Fearless
).
Video arcade
whiz and teen movie star discover they are exact doubles
and decide to switch identities.
Teenage Andrea Cranston (Michele Greene
) is traumatized after surviving an assault by a stranger from whom she hitched a ride. Co-starring Moosie Drier
(of Kids Incorporated
fame), Carrie Snodgress
(as Andrea's mom), Robert DoQui
(from the Robocop
movies) and a pre-Growing Pains
Kirk Cameron
.
Teenagers bait a timid girl to get her involved with various displays of affection. Starring Tracy Pollan
(of Family Ties
fame), Pete Kowanko (Solarbabies
, Date with an Angel
, Starcrossed) and Jennifer Grey
(Dirty Dancing
, Red Dawn
).
Real-life brothers River
and Leaf Phoenix star in this tale of a 13-year-old boy who has problems reading, which his teachers attribute to laziness. It is ultimately discovered that he has dyslexia
.
A teacher discovers that one of his students, the school's star basketball player, is illiterate. He makes it his mission to teach the boy how to read. Starring Clarence Williams III
(The Mod Squad
); with real-life basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabaar and a pre-Star Trek
Michael Dorn
.
Ken Kwapis
(Vibes, Dunston Checks In
) directed this adaptation of Mary Rodgers
's novel about a man who magically switches personalities with his son...and about the comical chaos that ensues.
An aspiring teenage dancer gets the chance to try out for a dance troupe. But will fear of failure keep her from auditioning? (Did someone say Flashdance
?)
Family inherits a house on a tiny island between Canada
and the US, outside the jurisdiction of either country. Sarah Jessica Parker
stars.
An overworked housewife
goes on strike
, in order to persuade the rest of her family to share household chores. Co-starring a pre-Simpsons
Yeardley Smith
, George Gaynes
(Police Academy, Punky Brewster
), Jonathan Ward
(Charles In Charge
), Mercedes Ruehl
(The Last Action Hero
, The Warriors) and Sam McMurray
.
Tommy and Mary Sanders (Seth Green
, Maddie Corman
) go on the run with their divorce
d mom Louise (Lindsay Crouse
). Only belatedly do they realize that Louise has kidnapped
them from their dad Tom (John Getz
).
A group of high school students take part in a parenting class where their first assignment is to 'parent' an egg
. Starring Justine Bateman
, Jimmy McNichol, Chris Hebert
(Fuzz Bucket
, The Last Starfighter
) and Helene Udy
.
Actor Peter Horton
directed this tale of four high school friends (Lance Guest
, Val Kilmer
, Michelle Pfeiffer
and Mare Winningham
) who find their lives changed forever, when one of them drives drunk
with devastating results.
Happy Days
alum Anson Williams
co-wrote and directed this tale of two terminally ill
boys who hit it off in a hospital
ward. One of them makes the ultimate sacrifice, in order to give the other a fighting chance at life. Co-starring Betty Thomas
(Hill Street Blues
) and Jeff Cohen (The Goonies
).
Actress Lee Grant
directed this contemporary remake of Cinderella
aimed at pre-teenagers. Starring Pearl Bailey
, Kyra Sedgwick
(in the title role), Jennifer Grey
, Kelly Wolf, a pre-Melrose Place Grant Show
, Melanie Mayron
, Stephen Keep Mills and Sylvia Miles
(The Funhouse
).
A teenage babysitter discovers that her young charge is being molested by a family friend; that's when harrowing memories of the sitter's own past molestation by her uncle resurface. Co-starring Blair Brown
(The Bad Seed, The Day My Parents Ran Away), Corey Parker
, John Glover
(The Chocolate War
), Lisa Bonet
(The Cosby Show
) and Danielle Carin; featuring real-life brothers Joey
and Matthew Lawrence
(Gimme A Break!
and Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad
, respectively).
A 22-year-old police officer
(Michael E. Knight
- All My Children
, Date with an Angel
, Hexed
) poses as a student
to sniff out the drug supplier for an inner-city high school.
A 17-year-old student learns just how deceiving looks can be, when he befriends the prettiest girl in school. It turns out her beauty compensates for unhappiness and low self-esteem
...or does it? Starring Steve Antin
, Heather Langenkamp
, Christa Denton (she was "Monica" on Growing Pains
), Khrystyne Haje
and Beau Bridges
.
A teenage girl is stunned to discover that her supposedly-deceased mother is actually mentally ill, and institutionalized. Co-starring Marian Mercer
(9 to 5, It's a Living) and Michael York
.
Tired of being bullied at school, a boy starts drawing a master scientist. He begins to imagine what it would be like, as the scientist, standing-up to the bullies at school.
Teenager is stunned when his best friend commits suicide
, and is left with one unanswered question - Why? Based on Eve Bunting
's novel Face at the Edge of the World; co-starring Malcolm-Jamal Warner
and Rob Stone
.
Sensing that his mom Ellie (Madeline Kahn
) is lonely and looking for companionship, fatherless 13-year-old Danny Coleman (Ben Affleck
) places a personal ad for "The Perfect Guy". Co-starring Keith Szarabajka
(of The Equalizer
fame).
Actor Kevin Hooks
(of The White Shadow
fame) directed this tale of a college-bound 18-year-old (Corey Parker
) whose life is turned upside down when his 16-year-old girlfriend announces that she is pregnant.
A teenager (Tempestt Bledsoe
, The Cosby Show
) is frustrated about being the only member of her gospel
-singing family who cannot carry a tune in a barrel. So she writes a song about her problems...and soon discovers she's got musical talent after all, just not where she or anybody else suspected. Co-starring Della Reese
(Touched By an Angel
- how apt).
A career-driven woman opposes her daughter's future plans. Starring Barbara Bosson
(Hill Street Blues
) and Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei
(for My Cousin Vinny
).
15-year-old struggles through the politics of divorce as his parents split up. Written by Donald Margulies
, who would later win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
.
A wealthy businessman returns to teaching after conquering the stock market
. He inherits a class of underachievers and sets out to make them winners.
Teenager Kevin Casio (Christian Hoff
) discovers he has been infected with AIDS
by a blood transfusion
. Co-starring Florence Henderson
and Ronny Cox
(as Kevin's parents); featuring Lewis Arquette
(as one of his doctors).
True story about a teen with Down syndrome
who begins attending college classes.
Teenage musician Terry (Jay Underwood
- The Boy Who Could Fly
) hopes to distinguish himself from "the crowd"...by becoming a punk rocker. Also starring Bernie Kopell
, Albert Hague
(Fame) and James Noble
(Benson
).
A Christmas Nativity scene
is displayed at a high school, where it sparks debate and protest from the student body; this leads to the separation of church and state
being examined...formally, and in depth. Co-starring Megan Follows
(Silver Bullet
).
Hard-working 16-year-old Julia (Katherine Kamhi of Sleepaway Camp
fame) does not realize that her mother Eleanor (Beth Howland
of Alice
fame) - who alternately harasses and ignores Julia, yet dotes on lazy younger daughter Katie (Ita DeMarco) - is being emotionally and verbally abusive. But when Julia gets the lead in a school play directed by popular Randy (Ian Ziering
- Endless Love
, Beverly Hills 90210), she realizes she's every bit as worthy of Eleanor's support and encouragement as is her pampered sister.
Teenager Alison Watson (Cheryl Arutt
) does not understand why her father Bill (Edward Albert
- Midway
, The Rescue
) opposes her campaign to promote literacy
at his factory
...until she discovers that dad himself cannot read. Co-starring Joey Travolta
, Michael Jackson
(as himself), gymnastics legend Cathy Rigby
and blaxploitation
star Richard Roundtree
.
A teenage girl is raped
by the most popular boy in her school, while on a date with him. Co-starring John Savage
, David Patrick Kelly
and Gabrielle Carteris
.
In this variation on Ordinary People
, a family must come to grips with the sudden death of their eldest daughter (Tonya Crowe
- Dark Night of the Scarecrow
, Knots Landing
). With L.A. Law
regulars Jill Eikenberry
and Michael Tucker
; also featuring Judith Barsi
(in the Timothy Hutton
role), Rob Stone
, Ricki Lake
, Rhea Perlman (Cheers
) and Sherilyn Fenn
(Twin Peaks
).
Four girls on their high school swimming
team appear inseparable...until two of them experiment with cocaine
and get hooked. Tammy Lauren
portrays one of said addicts; also starring Katharine Ross
(The Legacy).
An entire neighborhood examines their feelings of racism
, and take sides after the home of a black family is vandalized
by a neighbor. Co-starring Dan Lauria
, Betty Buckley
(Carrie) and Michael Beach
(Lean On Me
).
Teenager Patty Adams (Ellie Cornell
) is in total denial about her mother Carolyn (Joanna Pettet
)'s drinking problem
...which is glaringly evident to everybody else.
Three girls steal the answers to their final exam. When the headmistress finds out, she gives those responsible one day to confess...before she expels
and/or prosecutes everybody with any connection - no matter how remote - to the theft/cover-up.
Actor Richard Masur
directed this tale of a divorced couple's teenage daughter, who ends up waging a custody
battle of her own. After the girl's natural mother dies in an accident, she sues her natural father for the right to live with her disabled stepdad.
Actress Joanna Lee
(of Plan 9 From Outer Space
fame) wrote and directed this tale of a teenager and his mom (Wil Wheaton
, Loretta Swit
) who make up their minds how to deal with a schizophrenic
husband/father (Don Murray
- Endless Love
, Knots Landing
).
Teenager Madeline (Kerri Green
- Young Harry Houdini, Three for the Road
, Lucas
, The Goonies
) discovers her father's affair with her mother's best friend. Will it tear her family apart? Co-starring Christopher Daniel Barnes
, Michael Warren
, Nancy Kulp
(of The Beverly Hillbillies
fame), Lynne Thigpen
(Lean On Me
, The Warriors), Wendy Brainard (Kids Incorporated
) and Christopher Collet
.
Teenager Eric Nelson (Keith Coogan
- The Fox and the Hound, Adventures in Babysitting
) urges his town to farm without the use of pesticide
s, but many of those farmers are resistant to change (that's putting it mildly).
Several high school students (including Marc Price
- Family Ties
, The Rescue
) learn about ethics
versus seductive power, when they start a cookie company as their class project. Co-starring William H. Macy
.
High school student Matt Thompson (Keith Coogan
) must decide whether or not to come forward with the truth about a tragic drunk-driving accident. Co-starring Sam Rockwell
(Charlie's Angels
).
A 16-year-old student is sure that his upcoming date with the school prom queen will be perfect. However, the way it unfolds over the evening is as far from perfect as one can get. Co-starring Will Smith
, Art LaFleur
and Charles Hallahan
(Hunter, John Carpenter's The Thing).
Tracey Gold
portrays Shauna Kelly, a cheerleader who advocates sex education
at her high school. As a result, she locks horns with her mother Joanne (Cindy Pickett
) who's aspiring to a seat on the school board. Co-starring Tom Skerritt
(who also directed), Kristin Dattilo, Renée Estevez
and Vince Vaughn
.
Having never used illegal drugs in his life, model teenager Will Hatch (Christopher Daniel Barnes
) - a competitive swimmer who also works as delivery boy for a medical clinic - is shocked when he tests positive for amphetamines (actually, it was medication for swimmer's ear). He's even more shocked when "speed" is found in his locker, which school security forcibly searches - in his absence - over the test results. Also shocked are: his mom (Alley Mills
of The Wonder Years
fame) and his girlfriend Carla (Lisa Dean Ryan
), who believe in his innocence; swim-team coach Stanley Daniels (Chris Rich) and Will's high-school principal (Art LaFleur
), who do not. It does not help that Stan is also Carla's father and Mrs. Hatch's fiance; he even turns against his own daughter, when she's expelled for refusing to take the same drug test as Will. Comedian Adam Sandler
has a cameo as a pusher.
After getting stood up for the school prom a high school girl sues her date.
A demanding woman and her daughter knock heads when the latter (Robyn Lively
), aspiring to be less reliant on her family, moves in with a troubled friend (Andrea Elson
of ALF
fame). Robyn's real-life father Ernie Lively
portrays her character's dad. Co-starring a pre-Xena: Warrior Princess
Renee O'Connor
.
A teenage musician (Alison Bartlett) finds her song lyrics being scrutinized as too suggestive. Co-starring Davy Jones
of The Monkees
and Carole King
.
Two high school journalists write a story about a teen HIV
support group, and are stunned by some of the stories they hear.
Three-part series about high school graduates
contemplating their futures, while working at the mall. In "First Impressions", a girl has mixed sentiment about meeting her birth mother for the first time.
In "Second Chances", a girl struggles with mixed feelings about her widowed mother's upcoming re-marriage.
In "Temptations" the gang prepares to go their separate ways as summer winds down. Meanwhile a recovering teenage alcoholic struggles to stay sober when an old drinking buddy shows up. Co-starring Todd Graff.
Oprah Winfrey
moderates a panel of teens, celebrities and experts to discuss surviving the end of a relationship
.
Oprah Winfrey moderates a panel of teens discussing race relations in America.
Roz Abrams hosts a special report on youth violence and later moderates a panel discussion.
Two teenage girls, one black and one white, become friends while working on a mural
to honor a black classmate killed by random gunfire.
16-year-old Christie (Holly Shaw) turns to a support group
when her boyfriend begins to physically abuse her.
Julia Morrow-Wheeler (Jacklyn Zeman
) struggles with her daughter Samantha (Kellie Martin
) wanting to leave the nest...and, at the same time, with her father Frank (Don Murray
)'s reluctance to enter a retirement home
. Co-starring Michael Cutt (of California Dreams
fame).
Oprah Winfrey moderates a panel of teens, celebrities and experts to discuss the obsession teens have with their appearance.
A pregnant 16-year-old girl examines her choices over what to do with her unborn baby
amidst interviews with teens, parents, educators, counselors, social workers and doctors that amplify the issues.
Not to be confused with the same-named TV series, this chronicles the ordeal of a high-school marching band-member (Ami Dolenz
) who becomes the victim of sexual harassment
by several male classmates...including some close friends of her elder brother Steve (David Lipper, who later starred as Candace Cameron's rocker-boyfriend "Viper" on Full House
). Fortunately, he takes her side (unlike Sarah Chalke
's younger brother in the Moment of Truth Movie
Stand Against Fear
). Ali and her family decide upon suing the school, after Principal Pritchard (Steven Gilborn
) cites the title excuse instead of doing anything to protect her. Directed by Knots Landing
star Joan Van Ark
, who also portrays Ali and Steve's mom; CHiPs
star Larry Wilcox
plays their dad. Also starring Jeremy Jordan, and Diff'rent Strokes
alum Danny Cooksey
.
Teenage girl desperately wants to be popular. One day an angel grants her that wish, by giving her a new image every day. But soon, she wishes she could just be herself.
Whoopi Goldberg
interviews musician/singer Bonnie Raitt
about her life, career and future plans.
Teenage girl struggles with her mother's illness from breast cancer
.
Teenager Hank Atkins (Micah Dyer, whose half-brothers are Chad
and Rob Lowe
) does not know what to think of his dad John (Jameson Parker
)'s new wife; for one thing, Amanda (Kristen Cloke
) is young enough to be John's daughter! But as Hank takes a long road trip
alone with Amanda, the proverbial ice gets broken with a vengeance.
A teenager is shown how being involved with booze will shape his life...ultimately, he will become a bombed-out derelict (Gerald McRaney
).
The film traces the story of the Chicago
-born astronomer
George Ellery Hale
as he struggles to build the greatest telescopes of the 20th century.
Documentary following two actors from TV's General Hospital
as they research and talk to people living with HIV
and AIDS
.
After the senseless death of his twin brother, a teen drug pusher decides to seek revenge against all who have wronged him in the neighborhood.
Soccer mom
Jane Kaczmarek (Nancy Gallagher) feels like a hypocrite when lecturing her kids Jason and Carly (Will Friedle
, Lacey Chabert
) about the importance of finishing one's education...since Jane herself is a high school dropout. She decides to practice what she's been preaching...by sharing classes with Jason! Co-starring Kevin Connolly (Unhappily Ever After
, John Q
).
Teenage girl meets up with her father for the first time in ten years, and yearns to reunite her family despite their opposition.
Twin sisters, one slim
and one overweight
, magically switch personalities, giving them a new appreciation of each other.
In this adaptation of Marilyn Reynolds' novel, a high school senior (Freddie Prinze Jr.)'s future plans change abruptly when he learns his girlfriend is pregnant. Co-starring Ed Begley, Jr.
, Breck Wilson (Escape from Atlantis
) and Jessica Alba
(Dark Angel
).
Three women, each from a different generation, deal with the various changes taking place in their lives. Starring Courtney Peldon
, Marion Ross
, Bruce Boxleitner
(Tron
), Sara Gilbert
(whose real-life sister Melissa
directed) and Chad Lowe
.
Andrea Mattson (Lauren Woodland
)'s overprotective parents (Morgan Fairchild
and Sam McMurray
), out of excessive concern for their daughter's well-being, hire a private eye
to shadow her every move. Predictably, this does much more harm than good. Co-starring Danny Cooksey
.
Underprivileged and troubled teens join the Trapper Creek Jobs Corp in Montana
to learn a trade, work in the wilderness
and achieve a solid work ethic
.
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 1972 to 1996, usually in the late afternoon on week days. Most of the episodes were dramatic presentations of situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were either in animated form or presented as documentaries. Topics included illiteracy, substance abuse and teenage pregnancy.
The series won 51 Daytime Emmy Award
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...
s during its 24-year run.
In 2004 and 2005, BCI Eclipse and Sunset Home Visual Entertainment issued six DVD collections of episodes from the series that were produced by Martin Tahse, each collection containing four episodes.
Season One (1972-73)
- Last of the CurlewsLast of the CurlewsLast of the Curlews is a novel, a fictionalized account of the life of the last Eskimo Curlew. It was written by Fred Bodsworth, a Canadian newspaper reporter and naturalist, and published in 1954.-Plot introduction:...
Animated special about a father and son who go hunting, and debate whether or not to kill an Eskimo curlew
Eskimo Curlew
The Eskimo or the "Northern Curlew" is a critically endangered shorebird, now considered by many to be extinct.-Taxonomy:The Eskimo Curlew is one of eight species of curlew, and is classed with them in the genus Numenius. It was formerly placed in the separate genus Mesoscolopax. Numenius is...
, which may become [and may now be] extinct.
- Follow the Northern Star
A young boy helps his friend escape slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
through the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
.
- Santiago's Ark
An imaginative, determined 14-year-old Puerto Rican
Puerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
boy builds a boat in which to sail around Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. Co-starring Bill Duke
Bill Duke
William Henry "Bill" Duke, Jr. is an American actor and film director with over 30 years of experience. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke's work frequently dwells within the action/crime and drama genres but also includes comedy.-Early life:Duke was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the...
(Commando
Commando (film)
Commando is a 1985 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vernon Wells, Rae Dawn Chong, Alyssa Milano, Bill Duke, Dan Hedaya and James Olson. It was directed by Mark L...
, Predator
Predator (film)
Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and Kevin Peter Hall. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox....
, Action Jackson
Action Jackson
Action Jackson is a 1988 action film directed by Craig R. Baxley and starring Carl Weathers, Vanity, Craig T. Nelson and Sharon Stone. Paula Abdul was the choreographer...
) and a pre-Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
Rene Enriquez
René Enríquez
This article is on the television actor. For the Mexican Mafia dropout, see Rene Enriquez René Enríquez was an American television actor of the 1970s and 1980s. He may be best-remembered for his role as Lt...
. Followed in 1975 by the sequel Santiago's America.
- William: The Life, Works, and Times of William Shakespeare
Special introducing William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
to young people through sketches, readings and music.
- The Incredible, Indelible, Magical Physical, Mystery Trip
Animated special about two youngsters who are miniaturized and travel through their uncle's body to understand more about his health. Features the first appearance of Timer, a character later featured in ABC's Time for Timer
Time for Timer
Time for Timer was the collective title for a short series of public service announcements broadcast on Saturday mornings on the ABC television network starting in the early 1970s. The animated spots featured Timer, a tiny cartoon character who represented the sense of "time" in the human body...
shorts.
- Alexander
The story of a retired clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
and his undying love for children. Starring Red Buttons, Robbie Rist
Robbie Rist
Robert Anthony Rist is an American actor and musician.-Acting and voiceover work:As a child, Rist played Cousin Oliver in the final six episodes of The Brady Bunch. With the regular children all getting older, his inclusion was intended to reintroduce cute younger children to the series...
(Kidd Video
Kidd Video
Kidd Video was a Saturday morning cartoon created by DiC Entertainment in association with Saban Entertainment. Its original run was on NBC from 1984 to 1985, but continued in reruns on the network until 1987, when CBS picked the show up...
, The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
) and Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
.
Season Two (1973-74)
- Rookie of the Year
11-year-old Sharon Lee (Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
) encounters opposition when she joins her brother's Little League
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States which organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the U.S...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team, which happens to be all male. (1972 was when girls were first allowed on Little League teams.) Co-starring Steve Gustafson
Steve Gustafson
Steve Gustafson is the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs. He and Dennis Drew are the only remaining founding members of the group....
(Short Circus member "Buddy" from The Electric Company
The Electric Company
The Electric Company is an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977...
); based on Isabella Taves's book Not Bad For a Girl.
- My Dad Lives in a Downtown Hotel
Joseph Grant, Jr. (Ike Eisenmann
Ike Eisenmann
Ike Eisenmann is an American actor, voice actor, producer, and sound-effects specialist who has been active in the entertainment industry since he was a preteen.-Career:...
from the Witch Mountain
Escape to Witch Mountain (1975 film)
Escape to Witch Mountain is a 1975 film based on the novel Escape to Witch Mountain by Alexander Key. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions, released by Buena Vista Distribution Company and directed by John Hough.- Plot :...
movies) is shocked when his parents announce their decision to separate
Legal separation
Legal separation is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a de facto separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is granted in the form of a court order, which can be in the form of a legally binding consent decree...
. Beau Bridges
Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
portrays Joe, Sr.
- Psst! Hammerman's After You!
A sixth-grader has a run-in with the class bully, who then wants to meet with him after school. Starring Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin is an American actor, perhaps best remembered for his starring role in the TV series James at 15. Since the mid-1990s, however, Kerwin has not acted, instead focusing on his Christian religious beliefs, having become a pastor...
(James at 15
James at 15
James at 15 is an American drama series that aired on NBC in the 1977-1978 season. The series was preceded by the 1977 made-for-TV movie James at 15, intended as a pilot for the series...
, Enemy Mine
Enemy Mine (film)
Enemy Mine is a 1985 science fiction film based on the story of the same title by Barry B. Longyear. It was produced by 20th Century Fox, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and starred Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr...
) and Willie Aames
Willie Aames
Willie Aames is an American actor, film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter. He played Tommy Bradford on the 1970s’ Eight Is Enough and Buddy Lembeck on the 1980s’ Charles in Charge.-Early life:...
(Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name...
, Charles In Charge
Charles in Charge
Charles in Charge is an American sitcom series which starred Scott Baio as Charles, a 19-year-old student at the fictional Copeland College in New Jersey, who worked as a live-in babysitter in exchange for room and board...
, Bibleman
Bibleman
Bibleman is an American video series with an evangelical superhero character . The series includes videos, books and live shows, where they tour locations around North America.-Bibleman Live:...
); based on Betsy Byars's
Betsy Byars
Betsy Cromer Byars is an American author of children's books. Her novel Summer of the Swans won the 1971 Newbery Medal...
novel.
- Cyrano
Long-nosed Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac
Hercule-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a French dramatist and duelist. He is now best remembered for the works of fiction which have been woven, often very loosely, around his life story, most notably the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand...
(voice of Jose Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
, Dune) helps an army officer woo Roxanne (voice of Joan Van Ark
Joan Van Ark
Joan Van Ark is an American actress, most notable for her role as Valene Ewing, which she originated on the CBS series Dallas and continued for thirteen seasons on its spin-off, Knots Landing...
), the woman Cyrano himself loves, in this animated version of Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
's play.
- Runaways
A small-town teenage girl teams up with a younger but wiser boy for survival. Co-starring Moosie Drier
Moosie Drier
Moosie Drier is an American television and film actor known for his voice that sounded like someone with a head cold. His career began as a child actor...
; written by Clyde Ware (Coward of the County).
- The Magical Mystery Trip Through Little Red's Head
Timer shrinks down two youngsters and show them around their teenage sister's head, to discover how the mind works.
- The Crazy Comedy Concert
Live action/animation special geared to educate young people about classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
. Starring Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
and Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Ann Buzzi is an American comedienne and actress of theatre, film, and television. She is especially known for her performances on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.-Early life:...
.
Season Three (1974-75)
- Sara's Summer of the Swans
Teenage Sara (Heather Totten) must confront the problems regarding her handicapped brother. Co-starring Brady Bunch alums Chris Knight and Eve Plumb
Eve Plumb
Eve Aline Plumb is an American actress and painter. She is best known for her portrayal of Jan Brady in the iconic television sitcom The Brady Bunch.-Early career:...
; based on Betsy Byars's
Betsy Byars
Betsy Cromer Byars is an American author of children's books. Her novel Summer of the Swans won the 1971 Newbery Medal...
novel
Summer of the Swans
Summer of the Swans is a novel by Betsy Byars that won the Newbery Medal in 1971 about fourteen-year-old Sara Godfrey's search for her missing, mentally challenged brother Charlie....
.
- The Bridge of Adam Rush
12-year-old Adam (Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin is an American actor, perhaps best remembered for his starring role in the TV series James at 15. Since the mid-1990s, however, Kerwin has not acted, instead focusing on his Christian religious beliefs, having become a pastor...
) adjusts to a new way of life when his mother remarries and moves their whole family to the country.
- Winning and Losing: Diary of a Campaign
The 1974 Senate race is seen through the eyes of two teen-aged girls, each a campaign volunteer for George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
(Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
) and Leo Thorness (Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
).
- The Toothpaste Millionaire
Aspiring 12-year-old entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
Rufus (Tierre Turner, Devil Times Five) decides to create and sell his own brand of toothpaste
Toothpaste
Toothpaste is a paste or gel dentifrice used with a toothbrush as an accessory to clean and maintain the aesthetics and health of teeth. Toothpaste is used to promote oral hygiene: it serves as an abrasive that aids in removing the dental plaque and food from the teeth, assists in suppressing...
. Co-starring Wright King (Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (1968 film)
Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison...
).
- The Skating RinkThe Skating RinkThe Skating Rink is a novel by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. A translation from the Spanish by Chris Andrews was published by New Directions in August, 2009.-Summary:...
A teenager with a stuttering
Stuttering
Stuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...
problem overcomes his shyness to become a championship figure skater. Based on Mildred Lee's novel; co-starring Cindy Eilbacher (of My Mother the Car
My Mother the Car
My Mother the Car is an American fantasy sitcom which aired for a single season on NBC between September 14, 1965 and September 6, 1966. A total of thirty episodes were produced by United Artists Television....
infamy) and Rance Howard
Rance Howard
Rance Howard is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Life and career:Howard was born Harold Rance Beckenholdt in Oklahoma, the son of Ethel Cleo and Engel Beckenholdt, a farmer. He changed his name to "Rance Howard" when he became an actor. He married Jean Speegle Howard...
.
- Santiago's America
A Puerto Rican boy is invited to a prestigious conference in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. With no money, he re-builds a broken taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
to get there. Bill Duke
Bill Duke
William Henry "Bill" Duke, Jr. is an American actor and film director with over 30 years of experience. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke's work frequently dwells within the action/crime and drama genres but also includes comedy.-Early life:Duke was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the...
and Rene Enriquez
René Enríquez
This article is on the television actor. For the Mexican Mafia dropout, see Rene Enriquez René Enríquez was an American television actor of the 1970s and 1980s. He may be best-remembered for his role as Lt...
reprise their roles.
- The Secret Life of T.K. Dearing
12-year-old T.K. (Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
) invites her grandfather to join a "secret" club. Co-starring Tierre Turner; based on Jean Robinson
Jean Robinson
Jean Robinson, CBE was the first female mayor of Blackpool, Lancashire from 1968-1969.She was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire and she died in Richmond, Surrey....
's book.
Season Four (1975-76)
- It Must Be Love ('Cause I Feel So Dumb!)
A 13-year-old boy has a crush on a cheerleader at his school and dreams up creative ways to try to impress her.
- Fawn Story
The McPhail siblings - Jenna, Toby and Louisa (Kristy McNichol
Kristy McNichol
Christina Ann "Kristy" McNichol is an American actress.McNichol is best known for her roles as Leticia “Buddy” Lawrence on the television drama series Family and as Barbara Weston on the sitcom Empty Nest. She is also the sister of former child actor Jimmy McNichol...
, Poindexter Yothers and Karen Obediear) - discover a wounded deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, which they nurse back to health. Co-starring Gordon Jump
Gordon Jump
Alexander Gordon Jump was an American actor best known as the clueless radio station manager Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson in the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and the incompetent "Chief of Police Tinkler" in the sitcom Soap...
(WKRP in Cincinnati
WKRP in Cincinnati
WKRP in Cincinnati is an American situation comedy that featured the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working in advertising sales at Top 40 radio station WQXI in Atlanta...
). Poindexter is the brother of Corey and Tina Yothers
Tina Yothers
Kristina Louise "Tina" Yothers is an American actress and singer. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of 8, she is perhaps best known for her role as Jennifer Keaton on the hit NBC series Family Ties, as well as for her roles in numerous television films throughout the 1980s and early...
.
- The Shaman's Last Raid
Despite his failing health, a Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
medicine man
Medicine man
"Medicine man" or "Medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples...
is determined to teach his great-grandchildren the traditions of the Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
nation. Based on Betty Baker's novel; starring Dehl Berti
Dehl Berti
Dehl Berti was an Italian American actor who often played native Americans, perhaps best known for his appearance on the American TV show Paradise in the late 1980s...
(Wolfen
Wolfen (film)
Wolfen is the title of a 1981 horror film starring Albert Finney, Diane Venora, Gregory Hines and Edward James Olmos based on Whitley Strieber's 1978 novel The Wolfen...
, Invasion U.S.A.
Invasion U.S.A. (1985 film)
Invasion U.S.A. is a 1985 action film made by Cannon Films and starring Chuck Norris. It was directed by Joseph Zito. Both Chuck Norris and his brother, Aaron, were involved in the writing. It was made in Fort Pierce, Florida. Miami landmarks, such as Dadeland Mall and Miracle Mile, can also be...
, Bullies).
- The Amazing Cosmic Awareness of Duffy Moon
Tired of ridicule for being short, sixth-grader Duffy (Ike Eisenmann
Ike Eisenmann
Ike Eisenmann is an American actor, voice actor, producer, and sound-effects specialist who has been active in the entertainment industry since he was a preteen.-Career:...
) buys a mysterious book which enables him to "Think Big" - quite literally. Based on Jean Robinson
Jean Robinson
Jean Robinson, CBE was the first female mayor of Blackpool, Lancashire from 1968-1969.She was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire and she died in Richmond, Surrey....
's book. Co-starring Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin is an American actor, perhaps best remembered for his starring role in the TV series James at 15. Since the mid-1990s, however, Kerwin has not acted, instead focusing on his Christian religious beliefs, having become a pastor...
, Jim Backus
Jim Backus
James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...
(Mr. Magoo
Mr. Magoo
Quincy Magoo is a cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of sticky situations as a result of his nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem...
, Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
) and Jerry Van Dyke
Jerry Van Dyke
Jerry Van Dyke is an American comedian and actor. He is the younger brother of comedian and actor Dick Van Dyke, and made his acting debut on The Dick Van Dyke Show with several guest appearances as Rob Petrie's brother, Stacey...
(Coach
Coach (TV series)
Coach is an American television sitcom that aired for nine seasons on ABC from 1989 to 1997. The series starred Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional Division I-A college football team, the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles...
, My Mother the Car
My Mother the Car
My Mother the Car is an American fantasy sitcom which aired for a single season on NBC between September 14, 1965 and September 6, 1966. A total of thirty episodes were produced by United Artists Television....
).
- Me and Dad's New WifeMe and Dad's New WifeMe and Dad's New Wife is a 1976 ABC Afterschool Special, directed by Larry Elikann. The film is based upon a Stella Pevsner book, A Smart Kid Like You.-Synopsis:...
12-year-old Nina Beckwith (Kristy McNichol
Kristy McNichol
Christina Ann "Kristy" McNichol is an American actress.McNichol is best known for her roles as Leticia “Buddy” Lawrence on the television drama series Family and as Barbara Weston on the sitcom Empty Nest. She is also the sister of former child actor Jimmy McNichol...
) does not know how to react to her new stepmother. Co-starring Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin is an American actor, perhaps best remembered for his starring role in the TV series James at 15. Since the mid-1990s, however, Kerwin has not acted, instead focusing on his Christian religious beliefs, having become a pastor...
, Melendy Britt
Melendy Britt
Melendy Britt is an American actress active in television and voice acting since the 1970s. Her most notable animated work is for Filmation, voicing characters such as She-Ra, Princess Adora, and the second animated Batgirl...
(voice of the title character on She-Ra: Princess of Power
She-Ra: Princess of Power
She-Ra: Princess of Power is an American animated television series produced in 1985 by Filmation. It is a spinoff of Filmation's highly successful He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series, aimed primarily at a young girls' audience to counter-balance the latter show's popularity with boys...
), Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett is an American singer and actor. He became famous in the late 1970s as a teen idol, but received much publicity in later life for his drug abuse and legal troubles.-Early life:...
and Jimmy McNichol (Kristy's real-life brother). Based on Stella Pevsner's
Stella Pevsner
Stella Pevsner is an author of children's books and works of young adult literature published since the late 1960s.Pevsner has published 18 books including And You Give Me a Pain, Elaine; Cute is a Four-Letter Word; How Could You Do It, Diane?; and Sing For Your Father, Su Phan...
novel, "A Smart Kid Like You".
- Blind Sunday
In order to better understand his blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
girlfriend, teenage Jeff (Leigh McCloskey
Leigh McCloskey
Leigh Joseph McCloskey is an American film and television actor.-Career:McCloskey was classically trained as an actor at the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center, New York. As an actor, he is perhaps most widely known for his role as Mitch Cooper on the CBS soap opera Dallas...
) spends an entire day blindfold
Blindfold
A blindfold is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. It can be worn when the eyes are in a closed state and thus prevents the wearer from opening them...
ed. Co-starring Robert Ridgely
Robert Ridgely
Robert Ridgely was an American actor and vocal artist, known for both on-camera roles and extensive voice-over work.-Career:...
(as Jeff's dad), Cindy Eilbacher (sister of Lisa
Lisa Eilbacher
Lisa Eilbacher is an American television and motion picture actress.-Personal life:Eilbacher was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the daughter of an American oil company executive. She was raised in France...
), and a pre-L.A. Law
L.A. Law
L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
Corbin Bernsen
Corbin Bernsen
Corbin Dean Bernsen is an American actor and director, known for his work on television. He is best known for his roles as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series L.A. Law, and as retired police detective Henry Spencer on the USA Network comedy-drama series Psych...
.
- Dear Lovey Hart: I Am Desperate
Teenage Carrie Wasserman (Susan Lawrence
Susan Lawrence
Arabella Susan Lawrence was a British Labour Party politician, one of the first female Labour MPs.Lawrence was the youngest daughter of Nathaniel Lawrence, a wealthy solicitor, and Laura Bacon, daughter of Sir James Bacon, a bankruptcy judge and Vice-Chancellor. She was educated in London and at...
) takes up writing an advice column
Advice column
An advice column is a column in a magazine or newspaper written by an advice columnist . The image presented was originally of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt"...
for her school newspaper. Based on Ellen Conford
Ellen Conford
Ellen Conford is an author for children and young adults. Among her writings are the Annabel the Actress and Jenny Archer series...
's novel. Co-starring Al Eisenmann (brother of Ike
Ike Eisenmann
Ike Eisenmann is an American actor, voice actor, producer, and sound-effects specialist who has been active in the entertainment industry since he was a preteen.-Career:...
) as Carrie's brother Jeff.
Season Five (1976-77)
- Francesca, Baby
In this adaptation of Joan Oppenheimer's novel, teenager Francesca James (Carol Jones) deals with her alcoholic mother Lillian (Melendy Britt
Melendy Britt
Melendy Britt is an American actress active in television and voice acting since the 1970s. Her most notable animated work is for Filmation, voicing characters such as She-Ra, Princess Adora, and the second animated Batgirl...
) by joining the support group
Support group
In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic...
Alateen. Co-starring Jody Britt (Melendy's real-life daughter).
- P.J. and the President's Son
Update of Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's The Prince and the Pauper
The Prince and the Pauper
The Prince and the Pauper is an English-language novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada before its 1882 publication in the United States. The book represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction...
. A delivery boy and the President's son (Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin
Lance Kerwin is an American actor, perhaps best remembered for his starring role in the TV series James at 15. Since the mid-1990s, however, Kerwin has not acted, instead focusing on his Christian religious beliefs, having become a pastor...
in a dual role) meet and hit it off. It does not hurt that each is an exact double of the other; for mutual amusement, they decide to swap identities. Co-starring Harry Kerwin (Lance's real-life father) and a pre-Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
Rosalind Chao
Rosalind Chao
Rosalind Chao is a Chinese American actress. Chao's most prolific roles have been as a star of CBS' AfterMASH portraying South Korean refugee Soon-Lee Klinger for both seasons, and the recurring character Keiko O'Brien with 27 appearances on the syndicated science fiction series Star Trek: The...
.
- Mighty Moose and the Quarterback Kid
A football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
coach (Dave Madden
Dave Madden
Dave Madden is a Canadian-born American actor. He was born in Sarnia, Ontario, but was raised in Terre Haute, Indiana. His most famous role came in the 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family in which he played the group's manager, Reuben Kincaid.- Career :Madden first gained notice as a milk-drinking,...
) tries to mediate a conflict between his star quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
(Brandon Cruz
Brandon Cruz
Brandon Edwin Cruz is an American former child actor and currently a punk rock musician, and also works in drug and alcohol rehabilitation. In the late 1960s, the freckled-faced Cruz came to prominence by playing Tom Corbett's charming and conniving son, Eddie Corbett, in the comedy-drama The...
) and the boy's father (a pre-Days of Our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
Joseph Mascolo
Joseph Mascolo
Joseph Mascolo is an American musician and dramatic actor. During his long career, he has acted in numerous motion pictures and television series. He is best known for playing Stefano DiMera, a role he originated in 1982 on NBC's long running Days of our Lives.-Early life:Mascolo was born and...
). Co-starring real-life football great Alex Karras
Alex Karras
Alexander George "Alex" Karras , nicknamed "The Mad Duck", is a former football player, professional wrestler, and actor, best known for his stint with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League from 1958–1962 and 1964-1970 and for his role as Mongo in the film Blazing Saddles...
(Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...
, Webster
Webster (TV series)
Webster is an American situation comedy that premiered on ABC on September 16, 1983, and ran on that network until September 11, 1987, but continued in first-run syndication until 1989...
).
- My Mom's Having a BabyMy Mom's Having a BabyMy Mom's Having a Baby is an American television teen comedy/documentary that aired as a ABC Afterschool Special on February 16, 1977. The program would be historic as it was the first television program of its kind in the United States to showcase the pregnancy process and conception to young...
Curious about his mom's pregnancy
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
, a ten-year-old seeks answers to where babies come from.
- The Horrible Honchos
The neighborhood youth gang makes a pact to bully and torment the new kid on their 17th Street turf. Based on Emily Cheney Neville
Emily Cheney Neville
Emily Cheney Neville was an American author. She was born in Manchester, Connecticut and graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1940. After receiving her A.B. from Bryn Mawr, she worked for the New York Daily News and the New York Mirror newspapers...
's novel The 17th Street Gang. Starring Kim Richards
Kim Richards
Kimberly "Kim" Richards is an American actress, former child actress, and television personality. She had roles in several Disney movies in the 1970s and later TV shows in the late 1970s and early 80s before returning to the screen with her sister Kyle Richards on Bravo's The Real Housewives of...
(Assault on Precinct 13
Assault on Precinct 13
Assault on Precinct 13 is a 1976 American action-thriller film written and directed by John Carpenter. It stars Austin Stoker as a police officer who defends a defunct precinct against an attack by a relentless criminal gang, along with Darwin Joston as a convicted murderer who helps him. Laurie...
, Tuff Turf
Tuff Turf
Tuff Turf is a 1985 American drama film starring James Spader and Kim Richards. The film was released in the United States on January 11, 1985.-Plot:...
).
- Very Good Friends
Sensitive Kate (Melissa Sue Anderson
Melissa Sue Anderson
Melissa Sue Anderson is an American-Canadian actress. She played the role of Mary Ingalls on the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie. She starred on the show from 1974 until 1981, leaving after Season 7, but later appeared in 2 episodes of Season 8 in late 1981. She won an Emmy...
) gradually comes to terms with the accidental death of her younger sister, in this adaptation of the award-winning novel by Constance Greene.
Season Six (1977-78)
- Hewitt's Just Different
A mentally challenged 16-year-old attempts to make friends with his neighborhood peers. Starring Moosie Drier
Moosie Drier
Moosie Drier is an American television and film actor known for his voice that sounded like someone with a head cold. His career began as a child actor...
, Russell Johnson
Russell Johnson
Russell David Johnson is an American television and film actor best known as "The Professor" on the CBS television sitcom Gilligan's Island...
(Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
) and Tom Gulager
Tom Gulager
Tom Christian Gulager is an American actor. He is the son of actors Clu Gulager and Miriam Byrd-Nethery and brother of actor/director John Gulager. He is best known for his roles in his brother's film series Feast....
(son of Clu Gulager
Clu Gulager
Clu Gulager is an American television and film actor. He is particularly noted for his co-starring role as William H. Bonney in the 1960–62 NBC TV series The Tall Man and for his role in the later NBC series The Virginian...
).
- The PinballsThe PinballsThe Pinballs is a 1976 young adult novel by American author Betsy Byars. The story is about three foster children, Carlie, Harvey and Thomas J., who have been taken in by the Masons, a couple who have cared for many other foster children in the past in also have some personal problems . Carlie...
In this adaptation of Betsy Byars
Betsy Byars
Betsy Cromer Byars is an American author of children's books. Her novel Summer of the Swans won the 1971 Newbery Medal...
's novel, three orphans (one portrayed by Kristy McNichol
Kristy McNichol
Christina Ann "Kristy" McNichol is an American actress.McNichol is best known for her roles as Leticia “Buddy” Lawrence on the television drama series Family and as Barbara Weston on the sitcom Empty Nest. She is also the sister of former child actor Jimmy McNichol...
) from very different backgrounds find themselves living with the same foster
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
couple, while all three wait to be adopted
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
.
- Michel's Mixed-Up Musical Bird
Live-Action/animation special featuring Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
in a true story about the bird that inspired him while studying at the Paris Conservatory of Music.
- It Isn't Easy Being a Teenage Millionaire
When 14-year-old Melissa Harrington (Victoria Paige Meyerink
Victoria Paige Meyerink
Victoria Paige Meyerink is an award-winning producer and former child actor. She was at one time the youngest female film producer in the film industry: she was 22 when Young Warriors was released....
) wins the lottery
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
, she thinks she will never have to worry about money - or anything else - again. Yeah, right...
- The Rag Tag Champs
A 14-year-old baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player and his manager-uncle find themselves at odds over their different interpretations of the philosophy "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". Starring Larry B. Scott
Larry B. Scott
-Career:Scott's film debut was in the 1978 movie A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich. He is perhaps best known for playing Lamar Latrell, the openly gay fraternity member in the Revenge of the Nerds series of comedy films from 1984 to 1994. In the 1986 film SpaceCamp he played opposite a then-young...
(The Karate Kid, Revenge of the Nerds
Revenge of the Nerds
Revenge of the Nerds is a 1984 comedy film satirizing social life on a college campus. The film stars Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards, with Curtis Armstrong, Ted McGinley, Julia Montgomery, Brian Tochi, Larry B. Scott, John Goodman, and Donald Gibb...
, Super Force
Super Force
Super Force is an action-adventure TV series about a former astronaut who uses an advanced combat suit and motorcycle to fight crime in the city of Metroplex during the year 2020. Among the features of the suit were enhanced strength and armament, whereas the motorcycle had an array of James...
).
- Mom and Dad Can't Hear Me
Teenage Charlie Meredith (Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Lauren Arquette is an American actress, film director, and producer.-Early life:Arquette was born in New York City, the daughter of Brenda Olivia "Mardi" , an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist, and Lewis Arquette, an actor and director. Her paternal...
, Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.-Plot:...
) is used to acting as the ears of her deaf parents, but she's ashamed when she introduces her peers to them; because of their reactions, the elder Merediths come off as being out-of-touch.
- It's a Mile From Here To Glory
After a high school track star is crippled by a near-fatal accident
Accident
An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its...
, he must learn to depend on others for day-to-day living. Based on Robert C. Lee
Robert C. Lee
Robert Corwin Lee was Vice President of the Moore-McCormack Lines shipping company, and an officer of the US Navy achieving the rank of Rear Admiral in the US Naval Reserve.-Family:...
's novel.
Season Seven (1978-79)
- One Of a Kind
A free-spirited woman realizes her daughter is no longer a child, and experiments with giving her more independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
. However, the girl is puzzled by this sudden lack of attention; it seems like mom's pushing her away.
- A Home Run For Love
In 1947, a young white boy and an elderly black
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
man enjoy a warm and wonderful friendship, based on their mutual love of the Brooklyn Dodgers...and of Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
in particular. Co-starring Anne Ramsay
Anne Ramsay
Anne Elizabeth Ramsay is an American actress best known for her role as Lisa Stemple on Mad About You, for which she shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Ensemble in a Comedy series.- Early life :...
(The Goonies
The Goonies
The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure-comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The screenplay was written by Chris Columbus from a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. The premise surrounds a band of pre-teens who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon hoping to save...
, Throw Momma From the Train
Throw Momma from the Train
Throw Momma from the Train is a 1987 American black comedy film. It was inspired by the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Strangers on a Train, which also plays a role in the film...
, Deadly Friend
Deadly Friend
Deadly Friend is a 1986 science fiction horror film directed by Wes Craven. It is based on the novel entitled Friend by Diana Henstell, which was adapted for the screen by Bruce Joel Rubin.-Plot:...
, Scrooged
Scrooged
Scrooged is a 1988 American comedy film, a modernization of Charles Dickens' novella, A Christmas Carol. The film was produced and directed by Richard Donner, and the cinematography was by Michael Chapman. The screenplay was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue...
) and Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg is an American character actress. She is known for her perky North Central dialect , common to persons from Middle America.-Career:...
; based on Barbara Cohen's novel.
- GauchoGauchoGaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...
A young Puerto Rican New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
boy knows his mother misses her homeland
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. Accordingly, he becomes an errand boy for a small-time hood, in order to earn enough money that she can move back to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. Based on Gloria Gonzalez's novel; co-starring Danny De La Paz (3:15, City Limits, Miracle Mile
Miracle Mile (film)
Miracle Mile is a 1988 apocalyptic thriller cult film written and directed by Steve De Jarnatt, and starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham that takes place mostly in real time. It is named after the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles, where most of the action takes place. The movie was...
).
- Dinky HockerDinky HockerDinky Hocker is a American television teen comedy/drama that aired as a ABC Afterschool Special on December 12, 1979. It was based on the 1972 novel Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack by M.E...
Overweight
Overweight
Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary...
teenager Susan "Dinky" Hocker (Wendie Jo Sperber
Wendie Jo Sperber
Wendie Jo Sperber was an American actress, best known for her performances in the films I Wanna Hold Your Hand , Bachelor Party and Back to the Future as well as the television sitcom Bosom Buddies .-Life:Sperber was born in Hollywood and aimed for a performing-arts career from high school onward...
) is obsessed with food and cannot stop eating. Finally she turns to a friend, who helps make changes in her eating habits. Co-starring June Lockhart
June Lockhart
June Lockhart is an American actress, primarily in 1950s and 1960s television, but with memorable performances on stage and in film too. She is remembered as the mother in two TV series, Lassie and Lost in Space. She also portrayed Dr...
and Alan Oppenheimer
Alan Oppenheimer
Alan Oppenheimer is an American character actor and voice actor. He has performed numerous roles on live-action television since the 1960s, and has had an active career doing voice work in cartoons since the 1970s.-Early life:...
as Dinky's parents; based on the novel by M.E. Kerr.
- Make Believe Marriage
High school students take a marriage course, where they are coupled up and must complete assorted everyday tasks that go with married life
Married life
Married Life is a novel written in Hebrew between 1927-1928 by Jewish novelist and poet David Vogel. The novel was first published in three sections between 1929-1931, and later on in a new edition in 1986....
. Co-starring Janina Mathews (a "Short Circus" alum, reprising her role - sort of - as "Gail" from The Electric Company
The Electric Company
The Electric Company is an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977...
).
- The Terrible Secret
After teenage Bobbie Marston experiences a hit and run
Hit and run (vehicular)
Hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic accident , and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards...
, guilt takes its toll on her everyday life. Co-starring a pre-Terminator Michael Biehn
Michael Biehn
Michael Connell Biehn is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in James Cameron's science fiction action films The Terminator as Kyle Reese, Aliens as Cpl. Dwayne Hicks, and The Abyss as Lt. Coffey. He has also acted in such films as Tombstone, The Rock, and Planet Terror...
.
- Seven Wishes of a Rich Kid
Wealthy-but-lonely Calvin Brundage (Robbie Rist
Robbie Rist
Robert Anthony Rist is an American actor and musician.-Acting and voiceover work:As a child, Rist played Cousin Oliver in the final six episodes of The Brady Bunch. With the regular children all getting older, his inclusion was intended to reintroduce cute younger children to the series...
) is granted seven wishes by a genie
Genie
Jinn or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that...
. Calvin uses them to try and impress Melanie Gamble (Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Ellen Nixon is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series Sex and the City . She has received two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award....
- The Manhattan Project), the most popular girl in his school. But things do not work out the way he anticipated. Co-starring Christopher Hewett
Christopher Hewett
Christopher Michael Hewett was an English actor and theatre director best known for his role as Lynn Belvedere on the ABC sitcom Mr. Belvedere.-Career:...
(The Producers
The Producers (1968 film)
The Producers is a 1968 American satirical dark comedy cult classic film written and directed by Mel Brooks. The film is set in the late 1960s and it tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who want to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop...
, Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from March 15, 1985, until July 8, 1990. The series was based on the Lynn Aloysius Belvedere character created by Gwen Davenport for her 1947 novel Belvedere, which was later adapted into the 1948 film Sitting Pretty...
) and Butterfly McQueen
Butterfly McQueen
Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen was an American actress. Originally a dancer, the 28-year-old McQueen first appeared as Prissy, Scarlett O'Hara's maid in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, then continued as an actress in film in the 1940s, then moving to television acting in the 1950s .-Early life:Born...
.
Season Eight (1979-80)
- Which Mother Is Mine?
Arthur Allan Seidelman
Arthur Allan Seidelman
Arthur Allan Seidelman is an award-winning American television, film, and theatre director and an occasional writer, producer and actor.Born in New York City, he received his BA from Whittier College and an MA in Theatre from UCLA. He subsequently studied with Sanford Meisner, who became a...
directed this adaptation of Joan Oppenheimer's novel My Other Mother. 16-year-old Alexandria (Melissa Sue Anderson
Melissa Sue Anderson
Melissa Sue Anderson is an American-Canadian actress. She played the role of Mary Ingalls on the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie. She starred on the show from 1974 until 1981, leaving after Season 7, but later appeared in 2 episodes of Season 8 in late 1981. She won an Emmy...
, Happy Birthday To Me) is stunned when her biological mother arrives to take Alex away from her adoptive parents. Co-starring Marion Ross
Marion Ross
Marion Ross is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Cunningham on the television series Happy Days from 1974 to 1984.-Early life:...
and Woody Eney (he was Bill, the serial rapist/murderer of whom Arnold Jackson
Arnold Jackson
Brigadier-General Arnold Nugent Strode Strode-Jackson CBE DSO & Three Bars was a British athlete, British Army officer, and a barrister. He was the winner of the 1500m at the 1912 Summer Olympics, in what was hailed at the time as "the greatest race ever run"...
and Kimberly Drummond run afoul in the Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986...
episode "The Hitchhikers").
- A Movie Star's Daughter
Shy teenager Dena (Trini Alvarado
Trini Alvarado
Trinidad "Trini" Alvarado is an American actress best known for her performances as Margaret "Meg" March in the 1994 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women and Lucy Lynskey in the comedy/horror film The Frighteners...
) enrolls in a new school and does not make friends easily...until it is discovered that her father is famous actor
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
Hal McKain (Frank Converse
Frank Converse
Frank Converse is an American actor. In 1962, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
- Solarbabies
Solarbabies
Solarbabies is a 1986 science fiction film, made by Brooksfilms and directed by Alan Johnson. It was released on DVD on March 6, 2007....
, Dolphin Cove). Overnight, she becomes the most popular student in school - but this brings its own problems.
- A Special Gift
Arthur Allan Seidelman
Arthur Allan Seidelman
Arthur Allan Seidelman is an award-winning American television, film, and theatre director and an occasional writer, producer and actor.Born in New York City, he received his BA from Whittier College and an MA in Theatre from UCLA. He subsequently studied with Sanford Meisner, who became a...
directed this adaptation of Marcia L. Simon's novel. A 14-year-old basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
star, deciding he needs a new challenge, takes up ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
. Then he worries about what friends and family will think of his decision. Co-starring real-life brothers Al and Ike Eisenmann
Ike Eisenmann
Ike Eisenmann is an American actor, voice actor, producer, and sound-effects specialist who has been active in the entertainment industry since he was a preteen.-Career:...
.
- The Late Great Me! Story of a Teenage Alcoholic
A 15-year-old girl takes up drinking to impress a boy; instead, she soon develops a serious problem.
- The Heartbreak Winner: One Girl's Struggle For Olympic Gold
Bruce Malmuth
Bruce Malmuth
Bruce Malmuth was an American actor and film director.-Early life:Malmuth began making documentaries while serving in the Army, where he met baseball announcer Walter Red Barber...
directed this adaptation of Michael Bonadies's novel The Gold Test. Ambitious teenage figure skater Maggie MacDonald (Melissa Sherman) learns what champions are truly made of when she meets a paraplegic youngster.
- Where Do Teenagers Come From?Where Do Teenagers Come From?Where Do Teenagers Come From? was an American television teen comedy/documentary that aired as a ABC Afterschool Special on March 5, 1980. The live action/animation program was produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and was a sequel to the 1977 program My Mom's Having a Baby. The special was...
12-year-old girl wonders about all of the changes
Puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
that's happening to her body. Sequel to My Mom's Having a Baby.
- What Are Friends For?
Two inseparable 12-year-old girls (Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin
Melora Diane Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.-Early life:...
, Dana Hill
Dana Hill
Dana Hill was an American actress and voice actor with a raspy voice and childlike appearance, which allowed her to play adolescent roles into her 30s...
), each one the daughter of a separate divorcing couple, are determined to keep their friendship alive despite the odds. Stephen Gyllenhaal
Stephen Gyllenhaal
-Personal life:Gyllenhaal was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Virginia Lowrie and Hugh Anders Gyllenhaal. The Gyllenhaal family is a descendant of the cavalry officer Nils Gunnesson Haal, who was ennobled in 1652 when Queen Christina of Sweden conferred upon him the crest and family name,...
directed this adaptation of Mildred Ames
Mildred Ames
Mildred Ames was a US writer of children's literature, for older children, and some science fiction. Her science fiction works often concern issues of paranoia or questions of identity...
's novel.
Season Nine (1980-81)
- A Family of Strangers
A widower with two daughters (Danny Aiello
Danny Aiello
Daniel Louis "Danny" Aiello, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Once Upon a Time in America, Ruby, The Godfather: Part II, Hudson Hawk, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Moonstruck, Léon, Two Days in the Valley, and Dinner Rush...
) marries a widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
with one daughter, creating a blended family.
- Schoolboy Father
When high school senior
Senior (education)
Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...
Charles Elderberry (Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
) discovers that his summer girlfriend has given birth to his child, he decides to fight for custody
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
. Co-starring Dana Plato
Dana Plato
Dana Michelle Plato was an American actress notable for playing the role of Kimberly Drummond in the U.S. television sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.Plato appeared in over 100 television commercials as a young girl...
(Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986...
), Sharon Spelman (The Blob
The Blob (1988 film)
The Blob is a 1988 American monster horror film distributed by Tristar Pictures. It is a remake of the 1958 film of the same name, which starred Steve McQueen. The film was written by Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont and directed by Russell. The shooting took place in Abbeville, Louisiana.-Plot:A...
, Angie) and Nancy McKeon
Nancy McKeon
Nancy Justine McKeon is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Jo Polniaczek on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life.-Early life & career:...
(The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
).
- The Gymnast
A pre-Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
Holly Gagnier
Holly Gagnier
Holly Gagnier is an American actress.Gagnier's notable roles include long running stints on daytime's One Life to Live, and Days of our Lives. She has been seen on television shows including Murder, She Wrote and Wings...
stars as 16-year-old Ginny Coker, who's determined to become a world-class athlete.
- Stoned
Jack (Scott Baio
Scott Baio
Scott Vincent James Baio is an American actor and television director, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, and as the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge....
) is a motivated high schooler, until he experiments with marijuana and falls in with a fast crowd and soon starts to dabble in harder drugs such as LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
and Cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. Will he wise up before it's too late? Co-starring Largo Woodruff (The Funhouse
The Funhouse
The Funhouse is a 1981 horror film in which four teenagers are trapped in a dark ride and stalked by a deformed killer. The film was directed by Tobe Hooper, and the screenplay written by Larry Block...
, Coward of the County).
- A Matter of Time
Teenager Lisl Gilbert (Karlene Crockett) must find the inner strength to deal with her mother Jean (Rosemary Forsyth
Rosemary Forsyth
Rosemary Forsyth is a Canadian-born American actress most notable for her role as Bronwyn opposite Charlton Heston in The War Lord in 1965....
)'s impending death from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. Co-starring Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
.
- Run, Don't Walk
A teenage girl does not know how to deal with being in a wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
, after an accident leaves her paralyzed. Then she befriends a boy in the same situation, and the future suddenly looks brighter for both of them. Starring Toni Kalem
Toni Kalem
Toni Kalem is an American actress, screenwriter and director. Kalem is best known for her portrayal of Angie Bonpensiero on the HBO series, The Sopranos....
, Scott Baio
Scott Baio
Scott Vincent James Baio is an American actor and television director, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, and as the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge....
, Dee Wallace and Hal Williams
Hal Williams
Harold "Hal" Williams is an American actor, best known for his recurring role as the black cop Officer Smith on Sanford and Son, and as the patriarch Lester Jenkins, the husband of Marla Gibbs's character, on 227....
(227
227 (TV series)
227 is an American situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, until May 6, 1990. The series starred Marla Gibbs as a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, Mary Jenkins...
).
- My Mother Was Never a KidMy Mother Was Never a KidMy Mother Was Never a Kid is an American television teen fantasy/comedy/drama that aired as a ABC Afterschool Special on March 16, 1981. It was based on the 1977 Francine Pascal novel Hangin' With CiCi, which in turn was the first teen novel in the "Victoria Martin" trilogy series...
A teenage girl is convinced that her mother does not understand the younger generation. Mysteriously, she is sent back in time and meets her mother as a teenager. Based on a novel by Francine Pascal
Francine Pascal
Francine Pascal is an author best known for creating the Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High was the backbone of the collection, and was made into a popular television series. There were also several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University...
(creator of Sweet Valley High
Sweet Valley High
Sweet Valley High is a novel series created by Francine Pascal, who presided over a team of ghostwriters for the duration of the series' creation. The series began in 1983 and ceased publication twenty years later with over 152 books to its name...
).
Season Ten (1981-82)
- She Drinks a Little
16-year-old Cindy Scott (Amanda Wyss
Amanda Wyss
Amanda Wyss is an American film and television actress.-Movie career:Discovered by an agent as a teen while starring in the play The Bad Seed at a local Los Angeles theatre, she went on to work in commercials and landed her first television role, recurring on Universal's When the Whistle Blows as...
, A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American slasher film directed and written by Wes Craven, and the first film of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film features Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund, and Johnny Depp in his feature film...
) and her younger brother Brett gradually wise up to their single mother Miriam (Bonnie Bartlett
Bonnie Bartlett
Bonnie Bartlett is an American television and film actress. Her career spans over 50 years, with her first major role being on a 1950s daytime drama, Love of Life. She is best known for her role as Ellen Craig on the medical drama series St. Elsewhere. She and her husband, actor William Daniels,...
)'s drinking problem. Cindy wonders if she should join Alateen for help. Arthur Allan Seidelman
Arthur Allan Seidelman
Arthur Allan Seidelman is an award-winning American television, film, and theatre director and an occasional writer, producer and actor.Born in New York City, he received his BA from Whittier College and an MA in Theatre from UCLA. He subsequently studied with Sanford Meisner, who became a...
directed this adaptation of Anne Snyder's novel First Step.
- Starstruck
An aspiring teen folk singer
Folk Singer
Folk Singer is a 1964 album by Muddy Waters. Waters plays acoustic guitar, backed by Willie Dixon on string bass, Clifton James on drums, and Buddy Guy on acoustic guitar...
(Trini Alvarado
Trini Alvarado
Trinidad "Trini" Alvarado is an American actress best known for her performances as Margaret "Meg" March in the 1994 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women and Lucy Lynskey in the comedy/horror film The Frighteners...
) is torn whether to continue her singing or to accept an educational scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
. Co-starring Lee Curreri
Lee Curreri
Lee Curreri is an American actor and musician. He was born in The Bronx, New York.He played piano with In vitro musical group, and the Iona College Singers....
(Fame).
- Tough Girl
A streetwise teenager (Karin Argoud
Karin Argoud
Karin Argoud is an American actress.She is most known for her role as Sonja Harper in the American sitcom Mama's Family for its first two seasons...
) is sent to live in the suburbs with her father's new family. Based on Barbara Morgenroth's novel Will the Real Renie Lake Please Stand Up?. Argoud would later be cast as Sonja Harper on Mama's Family
Mama's Family
Mama's Family is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 22, 1983. It was cancelled in May 1984, but NBC would continue to air reruns until September 1985. In September 1986, Mama's Family returned in first-run syndication, where it aired for an additional four seasons,...
.
- The Color of Friendship
Two teenagers, one black and one white, hit it off
Friendship
Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...
. Starring James Bond III (Def by Temptation
Def by Temptation
Def by Temptation is a horror film directed by James Bond III and stars Kadeem Hardison, Samuel L. Jackson, and Bill Nunn. It was released in March of 1990. The director James Bond III played the character Doc in the children's television series The Red Hand Gang.-Synopsis:The story is set in New...
), Chris Barnes, Cleavon Little
Cleavon Little
Cleavon Jake Little was an American film and theatre actor.Little was widely known for his lead role as Sheriff Bart in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles. He also was the irreverent Dr...
and Kadeem Hardison
Kadeem Hardison
Kadeem Hardison is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dwayne Wayne on A Different World, a spin-off of the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show.-Childhood:...
.
- The Unforgivable Secret
Amanda Plummer (daughter of Christopher
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
) portrays a 15-year-old who's stunned to discover that her "deceased" father is very much alive...and that's just the beginning of the story. Co-starring Barbara Feldon (of Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
fame) and Danny Aiello
Danny Aiello
Daniel Louis "Danny" Aiello, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Once Upon a Time in America, Ruby, The Godfather: Part II, Hudson Hawk, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Moonstruck, Léon, Two Days in the Valley, and Dinner Rush...
; based on Hila Colman's novel Tell Me No Lies.
- Daddy, I'm Their Mama Now
A 12-year-old girl assumes responsibility for her two younger brothers (one of them portrayed by a pre-Wonder Years Jason Hervey
Jason Hervey
Jason Robert Hervey is an American actor, television producer and former public relations agent. He is best known for his role as "Wayne Arnold" on The Wonder Years.-Early life and acting:...
), after their mom passes away. Based on Betsy Byars
Betsy Byars
Betsy Cromer Byars is an American author of children's books. Her novel Summer of the Swans won the 1971 Newbery Medal...
's novel The Night Swimmers.
- Sometimes I Don't Love My Mother
After the death of her father, teenager Dallas Davis (a pre-A-Team Melinda Culea
Melinda Culea
Melinda Culea is an American film and television actress, who moved into acting after working as a model.-The A-Team:...
) struggles with her mother Ellen (Patricia Elliott
Patricia Elliott
Patricia Elliott is an American actress. She graduated from South High School in Denver.With many appearances on television, film and stage, Elliott currently portrays Renee Divine Buchanan on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, a role she has played on-and-off since 1987...
)'s total dependency on her.
Season Eleven (1982-83)
- Amy & the Angel
17-year-old Amy Watson (Helen Slater
Helen Slater
Helen Rachel Slater is an American actress and singer-songwriter.She appeared in the title role in the 1984 film Supergirl. In the following years she starred in several very successful comedy-drama films such as Ruthless People, The Secret of My Success, and City Slickers...
), a depressed
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
high school student, is visited by aspiring angel
Guardian angel
A guardian angel is an angel assigned to protect and guide a particular person or group. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity...
Oliver after wishing she had never been born. As with George Bailey and Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
, Oliver shows Amy how important she is to the people in her life...particularly her divorced mom, her paternal grandfather (David Huddleston
David Huddleston
David William Huddleston is an American actor, best known for his roles in Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie and The Big Lebowski.-Early life:...
- Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...
, Sherlock Holmes in New York
Sherlock Holmes in New York
Sherlock Holmes in New York is a 1976 film about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, played by Roger Moore and Patrick Macnee.-Plot:The great detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusted companion Dr...
, The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
) and her best friend (who's a lot more troubled than Amy realizes). The twist here is that Oliver himself committed suicide and, as a punishment, was forced to roam the world for years afterward - witnessing the repercussions of his action. (Just think The Heavenly Kid
The Heavenly Kid
The Heavenly Kid is a 1985 comedy film directed by Cary Medoway and starring Lewis Smith, Jason Gedrick, Jane Kaczmarek, and Richard Mulligan.-Plot:...
meets A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
.) Now senior angel Gabriel (James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
, Gabriel's Fire
Gabriel's Fire
Gabriel's Fire is an American television series that ran on ABC in the USA in 1990–1991. A revamped version of the series, entitled Pros and Cons, aired briefly the following season.-Overview:...
- how apt) is giving Oliver a chance to redeem himself by preventing Amy from committing the same mistake that he made. Also starring Matthew Modine
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine is an award-winning American actor. His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, the title character in Alan Parker's Birdy, high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, football star turned spy Alec McCall in Funky Monkey and the...
and Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...
.
- Between Two Loves
Teen violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist is torn between her musical career and her boyfriend. Co-starring Robert Reed
Robert Reed
Robert Reed was a prolific American character actor of stage, film and television. In his first big break, he played Kenneth Preston on the popular 1960s TV legal drama, The Defenders, alongside E. G. Marshall. But he was best remembered for portraying the father, Mike Brady, on the popular...
.
- A Very Delicate Matter
Teenage girl is shocked when a former boyfriend tells her he has gonorrhea
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The usual symptoms in men are burning with urination and penile discharge. Women, on the other hand, are asymptomatic half the time or have vaginal discharge and pelvic pain...
. Not only does she get tested, she must tell her current boyfriend to get tested as well. Co-starring Zach Galligan
Zach Galligan
Zachary Wolfe "Zach" Galligan is an American actor.-Biography:Galligan was born in New York City, the son of Carol Jean , a psychologist, and Arthur John Galligan, a lawyer who was a founding partner of the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro. He has a sister, Jessica, and attended Columbia University...
(Gremlins
Gremlins
Gremlins is a 1984 American horror comedy film directed by Joe Dante, released by Warner Bros. The film is about a young man who receives a strange creature—called a Mogwai—as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive, evil monsters. It was followed by a sequel,...
).
- Please Don't Hit Me, Mom
Teenager Nancy Parks (Nancy McKeon
Nancy McKeon
Nancy Justine McKeon is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Jo Polniaczek on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life.-Early life & career:...
, The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
) stumbles upon a case of child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
. It turns out her new boyfriend (Lance Guest
Lance Guest
Lance R. Guest is an American film and television actor.-Biography:Guest developed a serious interest in acting in the ninth grade, and he majored in theater while attending UCLA. He has starred in many theatrical films including his role as Jimmy alongside actress Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween...
)'s younger brother is regularly beaten by their mom (Patty Duke
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
, whose real-life son Sean Astin
Sean Astin
Sean Astin is an American film actor, director, voice artist, and producer better known for his film roles as Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, the title character of Rudy, and Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In television, he appeared as Lynn McGill in the fifth season of 24...
portrays the victim in question).
- The Woman Who Willed a Miracle
A blind, mentally retarded infant with cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
is left in the care of an elderly English woman who refuses to let him die. Starring Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
, M. Emmet Walsh
M. Emmet Walsh
Michael Emmet Walsh is an American actor who has appeared in over 100 film and television productions.-Life and career:Walsh was born in Ogdensburg, New York, the son of Agnes Kathrine and Harry Maurice Walsh, Sr., a customs agent...
(Wild, Wild West), James Noble
James Noble
James Noble was the first U.S. Senator from the U.S. state of Indiana.Noble was born near Berryville, Virginia and moved with his parents to Campbell County, Kentucky when he was 10...
and Kirk Cameron
Kirk Cameron
Kirk Thomas Cameron is an American actor best known for his role as Mike Seaver on the television situation comedy Growing Pains , as well as several other television and film appearances as a child actor...
.
- Have You Ever Been Ashamed of Your Parents?
Kari Michaelsen
Kari Michaelsen
Kari Michaelsen is an American actress. She is most associated with the role she played from 1981 to 1986 as Katie Kanisky on the television sitcom Gimme a Break!....
and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts...
star as two teenagers - one rich
Wealth
Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. The word wealth is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem...
, the other middle-class - who become best friends over the summer. Co-starring Marion Ross
Marion Ross
Marion Ross is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Cunningham on the television series Happy Days from 1974 to 1984.-Early life:...
(from Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
) and ex-Mouseketeer Julie Piekarski
Julie Piekarski
Julie Anne Piekarski is best known for her role on the popular 1980s sitcom The Facts of Life....
.
- But It's Not My Fault
A pre-Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
Billy Warlock
Billy Warlock
Billy Warlock is an American actor best known for playing Eddie Kramer, a lifeguard on the original three seasons of Baywatch and in the reunion movie in 2003, as well as for numerous daytime roles, most notably Frankie Brady on Days of our Lives and A.J...
portrays 16-year-old Craig Foster, whose efforts to prove himself to his peers land him in juvenile hall. Co-starring Al White
Al White
Allen "Al" White is an American character actor. He has appeared in various movies, such as Airplane! and Airplane II: The Sequel, and Back To The Future II...
(the "Jive Dude" from the Airplane!
Airplane!
Airplane! is a 1980 American satirical comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and released by Paramount Pictures...
movies).
- The WaveThe Wave (TV special)The Wave, is a short made-for-TV movie directed by Alexander Grasshoff, based on Ron Jones' The Third Wave experiment. Though more prominently featured as an episode of the ABC Afterschool Special series, this show debuted October 4, 1981, almost two years before being featured in the Afterschool...
High school teacher decides to conduct a social experiment, asking his students to take part. But what they do not know is that the experiment is on mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
. (Previously broadcast on ABC in October 1981 as a standalone special.)
Season Twelve (1983-84)
- It's No Crush, I'm in Love
A high school girl has a crush on a soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
star but she thinks she is in love with him. At school, she meets her new English teacher, who closely resembles the soap star.
- The Hand-Me-Down Kid
Tired of receiving hand me downs from her sister, an 11-year-old girl "secretly borrows" her bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
...which then gets stolen by somebody else. Will our young heroine locate and recover the bike before her sister discovers what's happened? Tracey Gold
Tracey Gold
Tracey Gold is an American actress and former child star best known for playing Carol Seaver on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains. In early 2009, she co-hosted with Fred Roggin on the live show GSN Live.-Early life:...
and Cheryl Arutt
Cheryl Arutt
Cheryl Arutt is an American actress, clinical and forensic psychologist and media consultant best known as a child and teen for her work as an actress in commercials, print, television and feature films, and as a psychological expert on television programs such as Prime News and Issues with Jane...
portray the sisters; Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
(from the Stepfather
The Stepfather (1987 film)
The Stepfather is a 1987 American thriller film starring Terry O'Quinn in the title role. It is loosely based on the life of mass murderer John List, although the plot is more commonly associated with slasher films of the era than a true story. It was directed by Joseph Ruben and written by Donald E...
movies) plays their dad. Also starring Corey Parker
Corey Parker (actor)
Corey Parker is an American actor and acting coach.-Biography:Corey Parker was born in New York City, the son of acting coach Rochelle "Rocky" Parker...
(How I Got Into College
How I Got Into College
How I Got Into College is a 1989 romantic comedy film directed by Savage Steve Holland.-Plot:The story follows a girl named Jessica and her attempt to get into Ramsey College, a fictional college in Pennsylvania, and Marlon, a boy who tries to get into Ramsey to pursue Jessica, whom he is in love...
) and Martha Plimpton
Martha Plimpton
Martha Campbell Plimpton is an American actress and singer and former model. Plimpton is a screen, stage and television actress. She first appeared as Jonsy in the feature film River Rats before rising to prominence in the Richard Donner film The Goonies portraying the character Stef...
(The Goonies
The Goonies
The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure-comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The screenplay was written by Chris Columbus from a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. The premise surrounds a band of pre-teens who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon hoping to save...
); based on a novel by Francine Pascal
Francine Pascal
Francine Pascal is an author best known for creating the Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High was the backbone of the collection, and was made into a popular television series. There were also several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University...
(creator of Sweet Valley High
Sweet Valley High
Sweet Valley High is a novel series created by Francine Pascal, who presided over a team of ghostwriters for the duration of the series' creation. The series began in 1983 and ceased publication twenty years later with over 152 books to its name...
and Fearless
Fearless (book series)
Fearless is a series of teen novels written by Francine Pascal, creator of the Sweet Valley High franchise. The series deals with many different themes, such as violence, romance, philosophy and solitude...
).
- The Celebrity and the Arcade Kid
Video arcade
Video arcade
An amusement arcade or video arcade is a venue where people play arcade games such as video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers , or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables...
whiz and teen movie star discover they are exact doubles
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
and decide to switch identities.
- Andrea's Story: A Hitchhiking Tragedy
Teenage Andrea Cranston (Michele Greene
Michele Greene
Michele Dominguez Greene is an American actress, singer, and songwriter, perhaps most well-known for her role as attorney Abigail "Abby" Perkins in L.A. Law from 1986 - 1991. She returned to that role in 2002 for the TV "reunion" film L.A...
) is traumatized after surviving an assault by a stranger from whom she hitched a ride. Co-starring Moosie Drier
Moosie Drier
Moosie Drier is an American television and film actor known for his voice that sounded like someone with a head cold. His career began as a child actor...
(of Kids Incorporated
Kids Incorporated
Kids Incorporated, is an American children's television program that was produced from 1984 to 1993. It was largely a youth-oriented program with musical performances as an integral part of each and every storyline....
fame), Carrie Snodgress
Carrie Snodgress
Caroline "Carrie" Snodgress was an American actress.-Biography:Snodgress was born in Park Ridge, Illinois. She attended Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge then Northern Illinois University before leaving to pursue acting. Snodgress trained for the stage at the Goodman Theatre, in Chicago...
(as Andrea's mom), Robert DoQui
Robert DoQui
Robert DoQui was an American actor who starred in film and on television. He is best known for his role as King George in the 1973 film Coffy, starring Pam Grier, as Sgt. Warren Reed in the 1987 science fiction film RoboCop, the 1990 sequel RoboCop 2, and the 1993 sequel RoboCop 3...
(from the Robocop
RoboCop
RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop"...
movies) and a pre-Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
Kirk Cameron
Kirk Cameron
Kirk Thomas Cameron is an American actor best known for his role as Mike Seaver on the television situation comedy Growing Pains , as well as several other television and film appearances as a child actor...
.
- The Great Love Experiment
Teenagers bait a timid girl to get her involved with various displays of affection. Starring Tracy Pollan
Tracy Pollan
Tracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties in the mid-1980s. It was on this show that she met future husband Michael J. Fox.-Personal life:...
(of Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
fame), Pete Kowanko (Solarbabies
Solarbabies
Solarbabies is a 1986 science fiction film, made by Brooksfilms and directed by Alan Johnson. It was released on DVD on March 6, 2007....
, Date with an Angel
Date with an Angel
Date with an Angel is an American film which was released in 1987, starring Emmanuelle Béart, Phoebe Cates and Michael E. Knight. The romantic fantasy/comedy was an updated reworking of the 1942 film I Married an Angel and released by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. The film was written and...
, Starcrossed) and Jennifer Grey
Jennifer Grey
Jennifer Elise Grey is an American actress. Her first major roles came in the 1984 war film Red Dawn and the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In 1987 she starred as Frances "Baby" Houseman in the hit film Dirty Dancing for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In the early 1990s, Grey...
(Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach...
, Red Dawn
Red Dawn
Red Dawn is a 1984 American war film directed by John Milius and co-written by Milius and Kevin Reynolds. It stars Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey....
).
- Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia
Real-life brothers River
River Phoenix
River Jude Phoenix was an American film actor, musician, and teen icon. He was the oldest brother of fellow actors Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix.Phoenix began acting at age 10 in television commercials...
and Leaf Phoenix star in this tale of a 13-year-old boy who has problems reading, which his teachers attribute to laziness. It is ultimately discovered that he has dyslexia
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
.
- The Hero Who Couldn't Read
A teacher discovers that one of his students, the school's star basketball player, is illiterate. He makes it his mission to teach the boy how to read. Starring Clarence Williams III
Clarence Williams III
Clarence Williams III is an American actor.-Early life:Williams was born in New York City. His grandfather was Clarence Williams, the jazz pianist and composer. He was raised by his grandmother.-Career:...
(The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad is a television series that ran on ABC from September 24, 1968, until August 23, 1973. This series starred Michael Cole, Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III, and Tige Andrews...
); with real-life basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabaar and a pre-Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
Michael Dorn
Michael Dorn
Michael Dorn is an American actor, and voice artist who is best known for his role as the Klingon Worf from the Star Trek franchise.-Early life and career:...
.
Season Thirteen (1984-85)
- Summer Switch
Ken Kwapis
Ken Kwapis
Ken Kwapis is an American film and television director and screenwriter. He specialized in the single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and He's Just Not That Into...
(Vibes, Dunston Checks In
Dunston Checks In
Dunston Checks In is a 1996 film starring Jason Alexander, Eric Lloyd, Faye Dunaway, Rupert Everett, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix, and introducing Sam the Orangutan as Dunston...
) directed this adaptation of Mary Rodgers
Mary Rodgers
Mary Rodgers is an American composer of musicals and an author of children's books. She is a daughter of composer Richard Rodgers and his wife, Dorothy Rodgers, as is her sister, Linda Rodgers Emory...
's novel about a man who magically switches personalities with his son...and about the comical chaos that ensues.
- Out of Step
An aspiring teenage dancer gets the chance to try out for a dance troupe. But will fear of failure keep her from auditioning? (Did someone say Flashdance
Flashdance
Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...
?)
- The Almost Royal FamilyThe Almost Royal FamilyThe Almost Royal Family is a American television teen comedy that aired as a ABC Afterschool Special on October 23, 1984. The program was based on the 1973 novel Meanwhile, Back At the Castle, by Hope Campbell.-Premise:...
Family inherits a house on a tiny island between Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the US, outside the jurisdiction of either country. Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
stars.
- Mom's on Strike
An overworked housewife
Housewife
Housewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
goes on strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, in order to persuade the rest of her family to share household chores. Co-starring a pre-Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
Yeardley Smith
Yeardley Smith
Yeardley Smith is a French-born American actress, voice actress, writer and painter. She is best known for her long-running role as Lisa Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons....
, George Gaynes
George Gaynes
George Gaynes is a Finnish-born American actor of stage, screen and television.He may be best known as Commandant Eric Lassard in the Police Academy series, and to television fans as the curmudgeonly Henry Warnimont on the NBC series Punky Brewster, in which his wife, Allyn Ann McLerie,...
(Police Academy, Punky Brewster
Punky Brewster
Punky Brewster was an American sitcom about a girl named Punky Brewster being raised by her foster parent...
), Jonathan Ward
Jonathan Ward
Jonathan Ward is an American actor born on February 24, 1970 in Elkridge, Maryland, USA. He has starred mostly in television programs and telefilms, but has also appeared in a small number of movies. His acting debut was on Broadway as Michael in Peter Pan.-Television credits:He was twelve years...
(Charles In Charge
Charles in Charge
Charles in Charge is an American sitcom series which starred Scott Baio as Charles, a 19-year-old student at the fictional Copeland College in New Jersey, who worked as a live-in babysitter in exchange for room and board...
), Mercedes Ruehl
Mercedes Ruehl
Mercedes J. Ruehl is an American theater, television and film actor.-Personal life:Ruehl was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, the daughter of Mercedes J., a school teacher, and Vincent Ruehl, an FBI agent. She was raised Catholic. Her father was of German and Irish descent and her...
(The Last Action Hero
Last Action Hero
Last Action Hero is a 1993 American action-comedy-fantasy film directed and produced by John McTiernan. It is a satire of the action genre and its clichés, containing several parodies of action films in the form of films within the film....
, The Warriors) and Sam McMurray
Sam McMurray
Sam McMurray is an American television, film and voice actor.-Early life:McMurray was born in New York City, the son of Jane and Richard McMurray, both actors...
.
- I Want to Go Home
Tommy and Mary Sanders (Seth Green
Seth Green
Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...
, Maddie Corman
Maddie Corman
Maddie Corman is an American television and film actress.-Career:Born Madeleine Cornman in New York City, New York, she began her career as a child actress in the 1980s...
) go on the run with their divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d mom Louise (Lindsay Crouse
Lindsay Crouse
-Early life:Crouse was born in New York City, the daughter of Anna and Russel Crouse, a playwright. Her full name—Lindsay Ann Crouse—is an intentional tribute to the Broadway writing partnership of Lindsay and Crouse. Her father and his writing partner, Howard Lindsay, wrote much of...
). Only belatedly do they realize that Louise has kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
them from their dad Tom (John Getz
John Getz
-Personal life:Getz, one of four children, was born in Davenport, Iowa, and grew up in the Mississippi River Valley. He began acting while attending the University of Iowa, where he helped found the Center for New Performing Arts...
).
- First the Egg
A group of high school students take part in a parenting class where their first assignment is to 'parent' an egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
. Starring Justine Bateman
Justine Bateman
Justine Tanya Bateman is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is best known for her regular role as Mallory Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties...
, Jimmy McNichol, Chris Hebert
Chris Hebert
Chris Hebert is an American former child actor who has appeared in a number of television series, commercials, and a few feature films.-Early life:...
(Fuzz Bucket
Fuzz Bucket
Fuzz Bucket is a 1986 television film written and directed by Mick Garris starring Chris Hebert as a young Michael Gerber and Phil Fondacaro as his invisible friend, Fuzzbucket...
, The Last Starfighter
The Last Starfighter
The Last Starfighter is a 1984 science fiction adventure film directed by Nick Castle. The film tells the story of Alex Rogan , an average teenage boy recruited by an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war. It also featured Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Preston, Norman...
) and Helene Udy
Helene Udy
Helene Udy is an American actress and director. She is perhaps best known for her role as Myra Bing on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman....
.
- One Too Many
Actor Peter Horton
Peter Horton
Peter Horton is an American actor and director. He played the role of Prof. Gary Shepherd on the popular television series Thirtysomething until 1991.-Early life:...
directed this tale of four high school friends (Lance Guest
Lance Guest
Lance R. Guest is an American film and television actor.-Biography:Guest developed a serious interest in acting in the ninth grade, and he majored in theater while attending UCLA. He has starred in many theatrical films including his role as Jimmy alongside actress Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween...
, Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
, Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
and Mare Winningham
Mare Winningham
Mare Winningham , born Mary Megan Winningham, is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Drama Desk, 7 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won an Independent Spirit Award and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.She is...
) who find their lives changed forever, when one of them drives drunk
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
with devastating results.
Season Fourteen (1985-86)
- No Greater Gift
Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
alum Anson Williams
Anson Williams
Anson Williams is an actor and director, best known for his role as gullible but well intentioned singer Warren "Potsie" Weber on the television series Happy Days.-Biography:...
co-wrote and directed this tale of two terminally ill
Terminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...
boys who hit it off in a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
ward. One of them makes the ultimate sacrifice, in order to give the other a fighting chance at life. Co-starring Betty Thomas
Betty Thomas
Betty Thomas is an American actress and director in television and motion pictures.-Life and career:Born Betty Thomas Nienhauser in St. Louis, Missouri, Thomas graduated from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree...
(Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
) and Jeff Cohen (The Goonies
The Goonies
The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure-comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The screenplay was written by Chris Columbus from a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. The premise surrounds a band of pre-teens who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon hoping to save...
).
- Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale
Actress Lee Grant
Lee Grant
Lee Grant is an American stage, film and television actress, and film director. She was blacklisted for 12 years from film work beginning in the mid-1950s, but worked in the theatre, and would eventually win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Felicia Carp in the...
directed this contemporary remake of Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
aimed at pre-teenagers. Starring Pearl Bailey
Pearl Bailey
Pearl Mae Bailey was an American actress and singer. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968...
, Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Minturn Sedgwick is an American actress.Sedgwick is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won her a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010...
(in the title role), Jennifer Grey
Jennifer Grey
Jennifer Elise Grey is an American actress. Her first major roles came in the 1984 war film Red Dawn and the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In 1987 she starred as Frances "Baby" Houseman in the hit film Dirty Dancing for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In the early 1990s, Grey...
, Kelly Wolf, a pre-Melrose Place Grant Show
Grant Show
Grant Alan Show is an American actor best known for his role on Melrose Place as Jake Hanson, which he played from 1992 to 1997.-Early life:...
, Melanie Mayron
Melanie Mayron
Melanie Joy Mayron is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is best known for portraying the role of photographer Melissa Steadman on the ABC drama Thirtysomething.-Biography:...
, Stephen Keep Mills and Sylvia Miles
Sylvia Miles
-Early life and career:Miles was born Sylvia Reuben Lee in New York City, the daughter of Belle and Reuben Lee, a furniture maker....
(The Funhouse
The Funhouse
The Funhouse is a 1981 horror film in which four teenagers are trapped in a dark ride and stalked by a deformed killer. The film was directed by Tobe Hooper, and the screenplay written by Larry Block...
).
- Don't Touch
A teenage babysitter discovers that her young charge is being molested by a family friend; that's when harrowing memories of the sitter's own past molestation by her uncle resurface. Co-starring Blair Brown
Blair Brown
Bonnie Blair Brown is an American theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award-winning turn in the play Copenhagen on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,...
(The Bad Seed, The Day My Parents Ran Away), Corey Parker
Corey Parker (actor)
Corey Parker is an American actor and acting coach.-Biography:Corey Parker was born in New York City, the son of acting coach Rochelle "Rocky" Parker...
, John Glover
John Glover (actor)
John Soursby Glover Jr. is an American actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor on the Superman-inspired television series Smallville.-Personal life:...
(The Chocolate War
The Chocolate War (film)
The Chocolate War is a 1988 American drama film based on Robert Cormier's novel of the same name, about a young man who rebels against the ingrained hierarchy of an elite Catholic school. It was the directorial debut of Keith Gordon, and stars John Glover, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Wallace Langham, and...
), Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet , also known as Lilakoi Moon, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Denise Huxtable Kendall on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show, and originally starring in its spinoff A Different World.-Early life:Bonet was born in San Francisco, California...
(The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
) and Danielle Carin; featuring real-life brothers Joey
Joey Lawrence
Joseph "Joey" Lawrence is an American actor, R&B-singer, and TV-host. He is known for his roles in the TV-series Gimme a Break!, Blossom, and Melissa & Joey.- Early life :...
and Matthew Lawrence
Matthew Lawrence
Matthew William Lawrence is an American actor known for his leading role in the movie Cheats with Trevor Fehrman and his role of Jack Hunter on the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World from 1997 to 2000, and his roles in movies such as The Hot Chick, The Comebacks, and Mrs...
(Gimme A Break!
Gimme a Break!
Gimme a Break! is an American sitcom which aired on NBC from October 29, 1981, until May 12, 1987. The series stars Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief and his three daughters.-Premise:...
and Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad is an American television series. It was produced by Tsuburaya Productions, Ultracom and DIC Entertainment, with distribution by All American Television , and ran for two seasons from September 12, 1994 to July 15, 1995 on ABC, as well as syndication...
, respectively).
- High School Narc
A 22-year-old police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
(Michael E. Knight
Michael E. Knight
- Biography :Knight is best known for playing Tad Martin on the soap opera All My Children. His first stint on the show ran from 1982–1986. He returned from 1988–1990, and again from 1992 until the series finale in 2011...
- All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
, Date with an Angel
Date with an Angel
Date with an Angel is an American film which was released in 1987, starring Emmanuelle Béart, Phoebe Cates and Michael E. Knight. The romantic fantasy/comedy was an updated reworking of the 1942 film I Married an Angel and released by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. The film was written and...
, Hexed
Hexed
Hexed is a 1993 comedy film, starring Arye Gross, Claudia Christian, Adrienne Shelly, and R. Lee Ermey, and written and directed by Alan Spencer, best known as the creator of the satirical TV series Sledge Hammer!. The dark-humored plot centers on a nebbishy clerk who gets picked up by a...
) poses as a student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
to sniff out the drug supplier for an inner-city high school.
- Can a Guy Say No?
A 17-year-old student learns just how deceiving looks can be, when he befriends the prettiest girl in school. It turns out her beauty compensates for unhappiness and low self-esteem
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is a term in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame: some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the...
...or does it? Starring Steve Antin
Steve Antin
Steven Howard "Steve" Antin is an American actor, stunt man, screenwriter, producer, and director.-Early life:Antin was born in Queens, New York, the son of British Jewish immigrants...
, Heather Langenkamp
Heather Langenkamp
Heather Langenkamp is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Nancy Thompson from the A Nightmare on Elm Street films...
, Christa Denton (she was "Monica" on Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
), Khrystyne Haje
Khrystyne Haje
Khrystyne Kamil Haje is an American television and film actress who is best known for her role as Simone Foster in the television series Head of the Class.-Biography:...
and Beau Bridges
Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
.
- Are You My Mother?
A teenage girl is stunned to discover that her supposedly-deceased mother is actually mentally ill, and institutionalized. Co-starring Marian Mercer
Marian Mercer
Marian Ethel Mercer was an American actress and singer.Born in Akron, Ohio, she graduated from the University of Michigan, then spent several seasons working in summer stock. She made her Broadway debut in the chorus of the short-lived musical, Greenwillow in 1960...
(9 to 5, It's a Living) and Michael York
Michael York (actor)
Michael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...
.
- Getting Even: A Wimp's Revenge
Tired of being bullied at school, a boy starts drawing a master scientist. He begins to imagine what it would be like, as the scientist, standing-up to the bullies at school.
Season Fifteen (1986-87)
- A Desperate Exit
Teenager is stunned when his best friend commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, and is left with one unanswered question - Why? Based on Eve Bunting
Eve Bunting
Anne Evelyn Bunting , better known as Eve Bunting, is an Irish author who has written more than 250 books. Her work covers a broad array of subjects and includes fiction and non-fiction books. Her novels are primarily aimed at children and young adults, but her works also include picture books...
's novel Face at the Edge of the World; co-starring Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner is an American television actor, film director, and musician. He is best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. Additionally, he appeared as Malcolm McGee on the UPN sitcom Malcolm & Eddie. He is currently starring as Dr...
and Rob Stone
Rob Stone
Rob Stone is a sports commentator for ESPN. He has covered various sports including Major League Soccer, NCAA and NFL football, and is now the play-by-play announcer for PBA Tournament Bowling alongside color commentator and 13-time PBA titleist Randy Pedersen.-Early life and career:A native of...
.
- Wanted: The Perfect Guy
Sensing that his mom Ellie (Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn was an American actress. Kahn was known primarily for her comedic roles in films such as Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, What's Up, Doc?, and Clue.-Early life:...
) is lonely and looking for companionship, fatherless 13-year-old Danny Coleman (Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
) places a personal ad for "The Perfect Guy". Co-starring Keith Szarabajka
Keith Szarabajka
Keith Szarabajka is an American actor and voice artist.-Early life:Szarabajka was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Anne, a school teacher, and Edward Szarabajka, a savings and loan officer....
(of The Equalizer
The Equalizer
The Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
fame).
- Teen Father
Actor Kevin Hooks
Kevin Hooks
Kevin Hooks is an American actor, and a television and film director; he is notable from his roles in Aaron Loves Angela and Sounder, but may be best known as Morris Thorpe from TV's The White Shadow....
(of The White Shadow
The White Shadow
The White Shadow is an American drama television series that ran on the CBS network from November 27, 1978, to March 16, 1981.-Overview:...
fame) directed this tale of a college-bound 18-year-old (Corey Parker
Corey Parker (actor)
Corey Parker is an American actor and acting coach.-Biography:Corey Parker was born in New York City, the son of acting coach Rochelle "Rocky" Parker...
) whose life is turned upside down when his 16-year-old girlfriend announces that she is pregnant.
- The Gift of Amazing Grace
A teenager (Tempestt Bledsoe
Tempestt Bledsoe
Tempestt Bledsoe is an American actress. She is best known for her childhood role as Vanessa Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
, The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
) is frustrated about being the only member of her gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
-singing family who cannot carry a tune in a barrel. So she writes a song about her problems...and soon discovers she's got musical talent after all, just not where she or anybody else suspected. Co-starring Della Reese
Della Reese
Delloreese Patricia Early, known professionally as Della Reese , is an American actress, singer, game show panelist of the 1970s, one-time talk-show hostess and ordained minister. She started her career in the 1950s as a gospel, pop and jazz singer, scoring a hit with her 1959 single "Don't You...
(Touched By an Angel
Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...
- how apt).
- Supermom's Daughter
A career-driven woman opposes her daughter's future plans. Starring Barbara Bosson
Barbara Bosson
Barbara Bosson is an American actress who has starred on television and in film.-Biography:Bosson was born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania to a tennis coach father. During her childhood, she lived in an American Craftsman Style house on Price Avenue in the borough of North Belle Vernon...
(Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
) and Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
(for My Cousin Vinny
My Cousin Vinny
My Cousin Vinny is a 1992 American comedy film written and produced by Dale Launer, directed by Jonathan Lynn and starring Joe Pesci, Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei, Mitchell Whitfield, Lane Smith, Bruce McGill and Fred Gwynne...
).
- Divorced Kids' Blues
15-year-old struggles through the politics of divorce as his parents split up. Written by Donald Margulies
Donald Margulies
Donald Margulies is an American playwright and a professor of English and Theater Studies at Yale University...
, who would later win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
.
- Class Act: A Teacher's Story
A wealthy businessman returns to teaching after conquering the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
. He inherits a class of underachievers and sets out to make them winners.
Season Sixteen (1987-88)
- Just a Regular Kid: An AIDS Story
Teenager Kevin Casio (Christian Hoff
Christian Hoff
-Biography:Hoff was born in San Francisco, California, and later moved with his family to San Diego. At eight years old he began acting at the San Diego Junior Theater, and not long after was playing Winthrop in The Music Man.-Career:...
) discovers he has been infected with AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
by a blood transfusion
Blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...
. Co-starring Florence Henderson
Florence Henderson
Florence Agnes Henderson is an American actress and singer. She is perhaps best known for her role of Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974...
and Ronny Cox
Ronny Cox
Daniel Ronald "Ronny" Cox is an American character actor, singer-songwriter and guitarist.-Personal life:Cox, the third of five children, was born in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, the son of Lounette and Bob P. Cox, a carpenter who also worked at a dairy. He grew up in Portales, New Mexico...
(as Kevin's parents); featuring Lewis Arquette
Lewis Arquette
Lewis Michael Arquette was an American film actor, writer and producer. Arquette was known for playing "J.D. Pickett" on the TV series, The Waltons, where he worked from 1978–1981.-Life and career:...
(as one of his doctors).
- The Kid Who Wouldn't Quit: The Brad Silverman Story
True story about a teen with Down syndrome
Down syndrome
Down syndrome, or Down's syndrome, trisomy 21, is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. It is named after John Langdon Down, the British physician who described the syndrome in 1866. The condition was clinically described earlier in the 19th...
who begins attending college classes.
- The Day My Kid Went Punk
Teenage musician Terry (Jay Underwood
Jay Underwood
Jay Underwood is an American actor.In 1983, he attended Moreau Catholic High School for one year in Hayward, California. He is married to Julie Underwood and has three children. His most recognized work includes portraying Ernest Hemingway in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, "Bug" in Uncle...
- The Boy Who Could Fly
The Boy Who Could Fly
The Boy Who Could Fly is a 1986 film written and directed by Nick Castle. It was produced by Lorimar Productions for 20th Century Fox and released to movie theatres on August 14, 1986....
) hopes to distinguish himself from "the crowd"...by becoming a punk rocker. Also starring Bernie Kopell
Bernie Kopell
Bernard Morton "Bernie" Kopell is an American television character actor who is probably best known for his roles as Dr. Adam Bricker in The Love Boat and KAOS agent Siegfried in Get Smart...
, Albert Hague
Albert Hague
Albert Hague was a German-born songwriter, composer, and actor.-Early life:Hague was born as Albert Marcuse to a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. His father, Harry Marcuse, was a psychiatrist and a musical prodigy, and his mother, Mimi , a chess champion...
(Fame) and James Noble
James Noble
James Noble was the first U.S. Senator from the U.S. state of Indiana.Noble was born near Berryville, Virginia and moved with his parents to Campbell County, Kentucky when he was 10...
(Benson
Benson (TV series)
Benson is an American television sitcom which aired from September 13, 1979, to April 19, 1986, on ABC. The series was a spin-off from the soap opera parody Soap ; however, Benson discarded the...
).
- Seasonal Differences
A Christmas Nativity scene
Nativity scene
A nativity scene, manger scene, krippe, crèche, or crib, is a depiction of the birth of Jesus as described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke...
is displayed at a high school, where it sparks debate and protest from the student body; this leads to the separation of church and state
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
being examined...formally, and in depth. Co-starring Megan Follows
Megan Follows
Megan Elizabeth Laura Diana Follows is a Canadian/American actress. She is most known to international audiences for her role as Anne Shirley in the acclaimed 1985 Canadian television miniseries Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels.-Biography:Follows was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as the...
(Silver Bullet
Silver Bullet (film)
Silver Bullet is a 1985 horror film based on the Stephen King novella Cycle of the Werewolf. It stars Gary Busey, Everett McGill, Megan Follows, Corey Haim, Terry O'Quinn, Lawrence Tierney, Bill Smitrovich, Kent Broadhurst, David Hart, and James Gammon...
).
- Terrible Things My Mother Told MeTerrible Things My Mother Told MeTerrible Things My Mother Told Me is a 1988 TV film starring Nicole Andrews, Ita DeMarco, Carol Goodheart, Beth Howland and Stephen James. This TV film is about a 16-year-old girl who doesn't realize that her mother is emotionally and verbally abusive to her. It was directed by Susan Rohrer and...
Hard-working 16-year-old Julia (Katherine Kamhi of Sleepaway Camp
Sleepaway Camp
Sleepaway Camp is a 1983 cult classic slasher film written and directed by Robert Hiltzik—who also served as executive producer. The film is about teen campers getting killed at a summer camp...
fame) does not realize that her mother Eleanor (Beth Howland
Beth Howland
Elizabeth "Beth" Howland , is an American actress who has worked extensively on stage and television. Howland is best known for playing Vera on the sitcom Alice, inspired by the popular Martin Scorsese film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore...
of Alice
Alice (TV series)
Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to July 2, 1985 on CBS. The series was based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job...
fame) - who alternately harasses and ignores Julia, yet dotes on lazy younger daughter Katie (Ita DeMarco) - is being emotionally and verbally abusive. But when Julia gets the lead in a school play directed by popular Randy (Ian Ziering
Ian Ziering
Ian Andrew Ziering is an American actor best known for playing Steve Sanders on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210.-Personal life:...
- Endless Love
Endless Love
Endless Love may refer to:*Endless Love, a novel by Scott Spencer*Endless Love , released in 1981 and starring Brooke Shields, based on the novel**Endless Love...
, Beverly Hills 90210), she realizes she's every bit as worthy of Eleanor's support and encouragement as is her pampered sister.
- Daddy Can't Read
Teenager Alison Watson (Cheryl Arutt
Cheryl Arutt
Cheryl Arutt is an American actress, clinical and forensic psychologist and media consultant best known as a child and teen for her work as an actress in commercials, print, television and feature films, and as a psychological expert on television programs such as Prime News and Issues with Jane...
) does not understand why her father Bill (Edward Albert
Edward Albert
Edward Albert was an American film and television actor. He was also known as Edward Laurence Albert, Laurence Edward Albert and occasionally Eddie Albert, Jr.-Early life:Albert was born Edward Laurence Heimberger in Los Angeles, California, to actor Eddie...
- Midway
Midway (film)
Midway is a 1976 war film directed by Jack Smight and produced byWalter Mirisch from a screenplay by Donald S. Sanford. The music score was by John Williams and the cinematography by Harry Stradling, Jr...
, The Rescue
The Rescue (1988 film)
The Rescue is a 1988 adventure film about a group of teenagers who infiltrate a North Korean prison to rescue their Navy SEAL fathers. It was written by Michael J. Henderson, Jim Thomas, and John Thomas, produced by Laura Ziskin, and directed by Ferdinand Fairfax...
) opposes her campaign to promote literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
at his factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
...until she discovers that dad himself cannot read. Co-starring Joey Travolta
Joey Travolta
Joseph "Joey" Travolta is an American actor, producer, director and writer. His brother is actor John Travolta.-Early life:...
, Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
(as himself), gymnastics legend Cathy Rigby
Cathy Rigby
Cathleen Roxanne Rigby , best known as Cathy Rigby, is a former gymnast, actress and speaker.-Early life:Rigby was born in Los Alamitos, California in 1952....
and blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
star Richard Roundtree
Richard Roundtree
Richard Roundtree is an American actor and former fashion model. He is best known for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film Shaft and in its two sequels, Shaft's Big Score and Shaft in Africa .-Personal life:Born in New Rochelle, New York, Richard Roundtree graduated from...
.
Season Seventeen (1988-89)
- Date Rape
A teenage girl is raped
Date rape
"Date rape", often referred to as acquaintance rape, is an assault or attempted assault usually committed by a new acquaintance involving sexual intercourse without mutual consent....
by the most popular boy in her school, while on a date with him. Co-starring John Savage
John Savage (actor)
John Savage is an American film actor, producer, production manager, and composer.- Acting career :...
, David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly is an American actor and musician who has appeared in numerous films, including some major roles.-Career:...
and Gabrielle Carteris
Gabrielle Carteris
Gabrielle Anne Carteris is an American actress known for her role as Andrea Zuckerman on the early seasons of the 1990s television series Beverly Hills, 90210.-Personal life:...
.
- A Family Again
In this variation on Ordinary People
Ordinary People
Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton....
, a family must come to grips with the sudden death of their eldest daughter (Tonya Crowe
Tonya Crowe
Tonya Crowe is an American actress, best known for playing Olivia Cunningham on Knots Landing during the 1980's.-References:...
- Dark Night of the Scarecrow
Dark Night of the Scarecrow
Dark Night of the Scarecrow is a 1981 made-for-television suspense/horror film directed by veteran novelist Frank De Felitta from a script by J.D. Feigelson...
, Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
). With L.A. Law
L.A. Law
L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
regulars Jill Eikenberry
Jill Eikenberry
Jill Eikenberry is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is best known for her role as lawyer Ann Kelsey in L.A. Law...
and Michael Tucker
Michael Tucker (actor)
Michael Tucker is an American actor and author, most widely known for his role in L.A. Law, a portrayal for which he received Emmy nominations three years in a row....
; also featuring Judith Barsi
Judith Barsi
Judith Eva Barsi was an American child actress. She was small in stature and often played characters younger than her actual age...
(in the Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
role), Rob Stone
Rob Stone
Rob Stone is a sports commentator for ESPN. He has covered various sports including Major League Soccer, NCAA and NFL football, and is now the play-by-play announcer for PBA Tournament Bowling alongside color commentator and 13-time PBA titleist Randy Pedersen.-Early life and career:A native of...
, Ricki Lake
Ricki Lake
Ricki Pamela Lake is an American actress, producer, and television host. She is best known for her starring role as Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray, her ground-breaking documentary film The Business of Being Born, and her talk show which was broadcasted internationally from...
, Rhea Perlman (Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
) and Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn is an American actress and filmmaker. She came to international attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the 1990 cult TV series Twin Peaks...
(Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
).
- Tattle: When to Tell on a Friend
Four girls on their high school swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
team appear inseparable...until two of them experiment with cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
and get hooked. Tammy Lauren
Tammy Lauren
Tammy Lauren is an American actress who has appeared in film and television. She starred in Wishmaster, portraying Alexandra Amberson, a young woman who accidentally awakens the Djinn, a powerful spirit more commonly known as a genie.-Career:To date, Wishmaster is the only feature film in which...
portrays one of said addicts; also starring Katharine Ross
Katharine Ross
Katharine Juliet Ross is an American film and stage actress. Trained at the San Francisco Workshop, she is perhaps best known for her role as Elaine Robinson in the 1967 film The Graduate, opposite Dustin Hoffman, which won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and her role...
(The Legacy).
- Taking a Stand
An entire neighborhood examines their feelings of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, and take sides after the home of a black family is vandalized
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
by a neighbor. Co-starring Dan Lauria
Dan Lauria
Daniel Joseph "Dan" Lauria is an American television and film actor.-Early life:Lauria, an Italian-American, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Carmela and Joseph J. Lauria. He also lived in Lindenhurst, New York...
, Betty Buckley
Betty Buckley
Betty Lynn Buckley is an American theater, film and television actress and singer. She is a Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee.-Early life:...
(Carrie) and Michael Beach
Michael Beach
-Biography:Beach was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, of Cape Verdean descent. He attended the prestigious Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts on scholarship from ABC . He was introduced to acting when he was sidelined by a lacrosse injury during high school by a classmate...
(Lean On Me
Lean on Me (film)
Lean on Me is a 1989 dramatized biographical written by Michael Schiffer, directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Morgan Freeman. Lean on Me is loosely based on the story of Joe Louis Clark, a real life inner city high school principal in Paterson, New Jersey, whose school is at risk of being...
).
- Just Tipsy, Honey
Teenager Patty Adams (Ellie Cornell
Ellie Cornell
Ellie Cornell is an American actress and movie producer, known primarily for her roles in horror films. After her marriage to producer Mark Gottwald, she is sometimes credited as Ellie Gottwald.-Career:...
) is in total denial about her mother Carolyn (Joanna Pettet
Joanna Pettet
Joanna Pettet is a British actress.-Biography:Her parents, Harold Nigel Edgerton Salmon, a British Royal Air Force pilot killed in World War II, and mother, Cecily J. Tremaine, were married in London in 1940...
)'s drinking problem
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
...which is glaringly evident to everybody else.
- The Cheats
Three girls steal the answers to their final exam. When the headmistress finds out, she gives those responsible one day to confess...before she expels
Expulsion (academia)
Expulsion or exclusion refers to the permanent removal of a student from a school system or university for violating that institution's rules. Laws and procedures regarding expulsion vary between countries and states.-State sector:...
and/or prosecutes everybody with any connection - no matter how remote - to the theft/cover-up.
- Torn Between Two Fathers
Actor Richard Masur
Richard Masur
Richard Masur is an American actor who has appeared in more than 80 movies during his career. From 1995-1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild . Masur sits on the Corporate Board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund.-Biography:Masur was born in New York City to a...
directed this tale of a divorced couple's teenage daughter, who ends up waging a custody
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
battle of her own. After the girl's natural mother dies in an accident, she sues her natural father for the right to live with her disabled stepdad.
Season Eighteen (1989-90)
- My Dad Can't Be Crazy...Can He?
Actress Joanna Lee
Joanna Lee
Joanna Lee was a Korean woman who was killed in December 2000 during a prolonged and violent exorcism carried out by Pastor Luke Lee of the Lord of All cult, in Auckland, New Zealand.-Early life:...
(of Plan 9 From Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...
fame) wrote and directed this tale of a teenager and his mom (Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton
Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...
, Loretta Swit
Loretta Swit
Loretta Swit is an American stage and television actress known for her character roles. Swit is best-known for her portrayal of Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on M*A*S*H.-Early life:...
) who make up their minds how to deal with a schizophrenic
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
husband/father (Don Murray
Don Murray (actor)
Donald Patrick "Don" Murray is an American actor.-Early life and career:Murray was born in Hollywood, California on July 31, 1929, the only child of Dennis Aloisius, a Broadway dance director and stage manager and Ethel Murray, a former Ziegfeld performer...
- Endless Love
Endless Love (film)
Endless Love is a 1981 romantic drama film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt. The screenplay by Judith Rascoe was adapted from the novel by Scott Spencer...
, Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
).
- Private Affairs
Teenager Madeline (Kerri Green
Kerri Green
Kerri Lee Green is an American actress.Green was born in Fort Lee, New Jersey. She grew up in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey and attended Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, New Jersey....
- Young Harry Houdini, Three for the Road
Three for the Road
Three For the Road is a 1987 road trip themed comedy starring Charlie Sheen, Alan Ruck, Kerri Green, Sally Kellerman and Blair Tefkin.-Plot:...
, Lucas
Lucas (film)
Lucas is a 1986 American teen tragicomedy film directed by David Seltzer and starring Corey Haim, Kerri Green, Charlie Sheen and Courtney Thorne-Smith. The film is particularly notable for being the screen debut of actress Winona Ryder.-Plot:...
, The Goonies
The Goonies
The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure-comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The screenplay was written by Chris Columbus from a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. The premise surrounds a band of pre-teens who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon hoping to save...
) discovers her father's affair with her mother's best friend. Will it tear her family apart? Co-starring Christopher Daniel Barnes
Christopher Daniel Barnes
Christopher Daniel Barnes , also known professionally as C.D. Barnes and C.B. Barnes, is an American actor. He is best known for providing the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 1990s Fox television series Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and for his portrayal of Greg Brady in the films The...
, Michael Warren
Michael Warren (actor)
Michael Warren is an American TV actor and former college basketball player, best known for playing Officer Bobby Hill on the NBC television series Hill Street Blues.-College basketball career:...
, Nancy Kulp
Nancy Kulp
Nancy Jane Kulp was an American character actress best known as Miss Jane Hathaway on the popular television series The Beverly Hillbillies.-Early life:...
(of The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
fame), Lynne Thigpen
Lynne Thigpen
Cherlynne Theresa “Lynne” Thigpen was an American stage and television actress, most famous as "The Chief" in the various Carmen Sandiego television series.-Early life:...
(Lean On Me
Lean on Me (film)
Lean on Me is a 1989 dramatized biographical written by Michael Schiffer, directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Morgan Freeman. Lean on Me is loosely based on the story of Joe Louis Clark, a real life inner city high school principal in Paterson, New Jersey, whose school is at risk of being...
, The Warriors), Wendy Brainard (Kids Incorporated
Kids Incorporated
Kids Incorporated, is an American children's television program that was produced from 1984 to 1993. It was largely a youth-oriented program with musical performances as an integral part of each and every storyline....
) and Christopher Collet
Christopher Collet
Christopher Collet is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Jake Livingston in the 1984 movie Firstborn, and for his lead role in the 1986 film The Manhattan Project....
.
- A Town's Revenge
Teenager Eric Nelson (Keith Coogan
Keith Coogan
Keith Coogan is an American actor. He is a grandson of actor Jackie Coogan.-Biography:Coogan was born Keith Eric Mitchell in Palm Springs, California, the son of Leslie Diane Coogan Mitchell, an actress...
- The Fox and the Hound, Adventures in Babysitting
Adventures in Babysitting
Adventures in Babysitting is a 1987 American comedy film written by David Simkins, directed by Chris Columbus, and starring Elisabeth Shue, Maia Brewton, Keith Coogan, Anthony Rapp, Penelope Ann Miller, Bradley Whitford, and a brief cameo by blues singer/guitarist Albert Collins...
) urges his town to farm without the use of pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s, but many of those farmers are resistant to change (that's putting it mildly).
- All That Glitters
Several high school students (including Marc Price
Marc Price
Marc Price is a television actor primarily known for his role as Erwin "Skippy" Handelman on Family Ties.-Biography:Price also hosted the children's game show Teen Win, Lose or Draw on The Disney Channel from 1989 to 1992....
- Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
, The Rescue
The Rescue (1988 film)
The Rescue is a 1988 adventure film about a group of teenagers who infiltrate a North Korean prison to rescue their Navy SEAL fathers. It was written by Michael J. Henderson, Jim Thomas, and John Thomas, produced by Laura Ziskin, and directed by Ferdinand Fairfax...
) learn about ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
versus seductive power, when they start a cookie company as their class project. Co-starring William H. Macy
William H. Macy
William Hall Macy, Jr. is an American actor and writer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. He is also a teacher and director in theater, film and television. His film career has been built mostly on his appearances in small, independent films, though...
.
- Over the Limit
High school student Matt Thompson (Keith Coogan
Keith Coogan
Keith Coogan is an American actor. He is a grandson of actor Jackie Coogan.-Biography:Coogan was born Keith Eric Mitchell in Palm Springs, California, the son of Leslie Diane Coogan Mitchell, an actress...
) must decide whether or not to come forward with the truth about a tragic drunk-driving accident. Co-starring Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
(Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels (film)
Charlie's Angels is a 2000 American action comedy film directed by McG, starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as three women working for a private investigation agency...
).
- The Perfect Date
A 16-year-old student is sure that his upcoming date with the school prom queen will be perfect. However, the way it unfolds over the evening is as far from perfect as one can get. Co-starring Will Smith
Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
, Art LaFleur
Art LaFleur
-Life and career:La Fleur was born in Gary, Indiana. He played football in 1962 as a redshirt at the University of Kentucky under Coach Charlie Bradshaw as chronicled in a 2007 book, The Thin Thirty....
and Charles Hallahan
Charles Hallahan
Charles John Hallahan was an American film, television and stage actor best known for his performances in Going in Style, The Thing, and Dante's Peak.-Life and career:...
(Hunter, John Carpenter's The Thing).
Season Nineteen (1990-91)
- A Question About Sex
Tracey Gold
Tracey Gold
Tracey Gold is an American actress and former child star best known for playing Carol Seaver on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains. In early 2009, she co-hosted with Fred Roggin on the live show GSN Live.-Early life:...
portrays Shauna Kelly, a cheerleader who advocates sex education
Sex education
Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
at her high school. As a result, she locks horns with her mother Joanne (Cindy Pickett
Cindy Pickett
Cindy Lou Pickett is an American actress best known for her 1970s role as Jackie Marler-Spaulding on the CBS soap Guiding Light; her role as Dr. Carol Novino on the hugely popular television drama St...
) who's aspiring to a seat on the school board. Co-starring Tom Skerritt
Tom Skerritt
Thomas Roy "Tom" Skerritt is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962.-Early life:...
(who also directed), Kristin Dattilo, Renée Estevez
Renée Estevez
-Early years:Estevez was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of artist Janet and actor Martin Sheen. Her father is of Spanish and Irish descent. Her three brothers are also actors: Emilio Estevez, Ramon Estevez and Charlie Sheen. Her husband, Jason Thomas Federico, has been a...
and Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn
Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...
.
- Testing Dirty
Having never used illegal drugs in his life, model teenager Will Hatch (Christopher Daniel Barnes
Christopher Daniel Barnes
Christopher Daniel Barnes , also known professionally as C.D. Barnes and C.B. Barnes, is an American actor. He is best known for providing the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 1990s Fox television series Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and for his portrayal of Greg Brady in the films The...
) - a competitive swimmer who also works as delivery boy for a medical clinic - is shocked when he tests positive for amphetamines (actually, it was medication for swimmer's ear). He's even more shocked when "speed" is found in his locker, which school security forcibly searches - in his absence - over the test results. Also shocked are: his mom (Alley Mills
Alley Mills
Alley Mills is an American actress best known for her role as Norma Arnold, the mother in the coming-of-age series The Wonder Years.-Life and career:...
of The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
fame) and his girlfriend Carla (Lisa Dean Ryan
Lisa Dean Ryan
Lisa Dean Ryan is an American actress.Ryan played Wanda Plenn, the girlfriend of the titular character in the series Doogie Howser, M.D. Shortly afterwards she played Jessica Cohen on the short lived series Class of '96...
), who believe in his innocence; swim-team coach Stanley Daniels (Chris Rich) and Will's high-school principal (Art LaFleur
Art LaFleur
-Life and career:La Fleur was born in Gary, Indiana. He played football in 1962 as a redshirt at the University of Kentucky under Coach Charlie Bradshaw as chronicled in a 2007 book, The Thin Thirty....
), who do not. It does not help that Stan is also Carla's father and Mrs. Hatch's fiance; he even turns against his own daughter, when she's expelled for refusing to take the same drug test as Will. Comedian Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...
has a cameo as a pusher.
- Stood Up!
After getting stood up for the school prom a high school girl sues her date.
- The Less-Than-Perfect Daughter
A demanding woman and her daughter knock heads when the latter (Robyn Lively
Robyn Lively
Robyn Elaine Lively is an American actress. Lively is best known for her role in the film Teen Witch, as well as for her roles in the TV shows Doogie Howser, M.D., Twin Peaks, and Saving Grace.-Early life:...
), aspiring to be less reliant on her family, moves in with a troubled friend (Andrea Elson
Andrea Elson
Andrea Elson is an American actress. She is best known playing the role of Lynn Tanner on ALF. She had also previously played in the 1983 show Whiz Kids with Matthew Laborteaux where she played the character Alice Tyler.-Career:Her first television role was as Alice Tyler on the series Whiz Kids...
of ALF
ALF (TV series)
ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...
fame). Robyn's real-life father Ernie Lively
Ernie Lively
Ernie Lively is an American actor.Lively was born Ernest W. Brown in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1979, he married talent manager Elaine Lively and took her name. They are the parents of actors Blake Lively and Eric Lively, and he is stepfather of her children from her previous marriage Lori Lively,...
portrays her character's dad. Co-starring a pre-Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....
Renee O'Connor
Reneé O'Connor
Renée O'Connor is an American actress, producer and director best known for playing the role of Gabrielle on the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess from 1995 to 2001.-Early career:...
.
- It's Only Rock & Roll
A teenage musician (Alison Bartlett) finds her song lyrics being scrutinized as too suggestive. Co-starring Davy Jones
Davy Jones (actor)
David Thomas "Davy" Jones is an English rock singer-songwriter and actor best known as a member of the Monkees.-Early life:...
of The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
and Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
.
Season Twenty (1991-92)
- In the Shadow of Love: A Teen AIDS Story
Two high school journalists write a story about a teen HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
support group, and are stunned by some of the stories they hear.
- Summer Stories: The Mall - Part 1
Three-part series about high school graduates
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
contemplating their futures, while working at the mall. In "First Impressions", a girl has mixed sentiment about meeting her birth mother for the first time.
- Summer Stories: The Mall - Part 2
In "Second Chances", a girl struggles with mixed feelings about her widowed mother's upcoming re-marriage.
- Summer Stories: The Mall - Part 3
In "Temptations" the gang prepares to go their separate ways as summer winds down. Meanwhile a recovering teenage alcoholic struggles to stay sober when an old drinking buddy shows up. Co-starring Todd Graff.
Season Twenty-One (1992-93)
- Surviving a Break-up
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
moderates a panel of teens, celebrities and experts to discuss surviving the end of a relationship
Intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
.
- Shades of a Single Protein
Oprah Winfrey moderates a panel of teens discussing race relations in America.
- Learning Not to Hurt
Roz Abrams hosts a special report on youth violence and later moderates a panel discussion.
- Girlfriend
Two teenage girls, one black and one white, become friends while working on a mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
to honor a black classmate killed by random gunfire.
Season Twenty-Two (1993-94)
- Love Hurts
16-year-old Christie (Holly Shaw) turns to a support group
Support group
In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic...
when her boyfriend begins to physically abuse her.
- Montana Crossroads
Julia Morrow-Wheeler (Jacklyn Zeman
Jacklyn Zeman
Jacklyn Zeman is an American actress. She is known for her role as Barbara "Bobbie" Spencer on General Hospital. She is sometimes credited as Jackie Zeman.-Personal life:...
) struggles with her daughter Samantha (Kellie Martin
Kellie Martin
Kellie Noelle Martin is an American television actress who is known for her roles as Rebecca Thacher on Life Goes On, Christy Huddleston on Christy, Lucy Knight on ER, and Samantha Kinsey on Mystery Woman.-Early life:...
) wanting to leave the nest...and, at the same time, with her father Frank (Don Murray
Don Murray (actor)
Donald Patrick "Don" Murray is an American actor.-Early life and career:Murray was born in Hollywood, California on July 31, 1929, the only child of Dennis Aloisius, a Broadway dance director and stage manager and Ethel Murray, a former Ziegfeld performer...
)'s reluctance to enter a retirement home
Retirement home
A retirement home is a multi-residence housing facility intended for senior citizens. Typically each person or couple in the home has an apartment-style room or suite of rooms. Additional facilities are provided within the building, including facilities for meals, gathering, recreation, and some...
. Co-starring Michael Cutt (of California Dreams
California Dreams
California Dreams is an American teen-oriented sitcom that aired from 1992 to 1996 on Saturday mornings during NBC's TNBC programming block. It was created by writers Brett Dewey and Ronald B. Solomon and executive produced by Peter Engel, all known for their work on Saved by the...
fame).
- I Hate the Way I Look
Oprah Winfrey moderates a panel of teens, celebrities and experts to discuss the obsession teens have with their appearance.
- Jacqui's Dilemma
A pregnant 16-year-old girl examines her choices over what to do with her unborn baby
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
amidst interviews with teens, parents, educators, counselors, social workers and doctors that amplify the issues.
Season Twenty-Three (1994-95)
- Boys Will Be Boys: the Ali Cooper Story
Not to be confused with the same-named TV series, this chronicles the ordeal of a high-school marching band-member (Ami Dolenz
Ami Dolenz
Ami Dolenz is an American television and film actress and producer.- Early life and career :Born in Burbank, California into a show business family, Dolenz is the daughter of Micky Dolenz of the 1960s group the Monkees, and British television presenter Samantha Juste...
) who becomes the victim of sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
by several male classmates...including some close friends of her elder brother Steve (David Lipper, who later starred as Candace Cameron's rocker-boyfriend "Viper" on Full House
Full House
Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...
). Fortunately, he takes her side (unlike Sarah Chalke
Sarah Chalke
Sarah Chalke is a Canadian-American actress known for portraying Dr. Elliot Reid on the NBC/ABC comedy Scrubs, "Second Becky" Conner Healy on Roseanne, and Stella Zinman in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother...
's younger brother in the Moment of Truth Movie
Moment of Truth Movie
Moment of Truth movies are a series of TV movies produced for the Lifetime cable television and movie networks during the 1990s.The Lifetime network marketed itself towards an audience of American women; as such, Moment of Truth movies were invariably issues melodrama with stories told from a...
Stand Against Fear
Stand Against Fear
Stand Against Fear is a 1996 made for television movie. Sarah Chalke stars as a cheerleader who takes action when she faces sexual intimidation from football players at her school.-Plot:...
). Ali and her family decide upon suing the school, after Principal Pritchard (Steven Gilborn
Steven Gilborn
Steven Neil Gilborn was an American television and film actor.Gilborn was born in New Rochelle, New York. He attended Swarthmore College, where he was awarded a bachelor's degree in English and earned a Ph.D...
) cites the title excuse instead of doing anything to protect her. Directed by Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
star Joan Van Ark
Joan Van Ark
Joan Van Ark is an American actress, most notable for her role as Valene Ewing, which she originated on the CBS series Dallas and continued for thirteen seasons on its spin-off, Knots Landing...
, who also portrays Ali and Steve's mom; CHiPs
CHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
star Larry Wilcox
Larry Wilcox
Larry Wilcox is an American actor, best known for his role as Officer Jonathan "Jon" Baker in CHiPs, an American television series.-Military service:...
plays their dad. Also starring Jeremy Jordan, and Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986...
alum Danny Cooksey
Danny Cooksey
Danny Cooksey is an American singer, actor and voice actor. He has been in show business since he was very young and is best remembered for playing the roles of Sam McKinney on the last years of the TV show Diff'rent Strokes and Robert "Bobby" Budnick on the Nickelodeon program, Salute Your...
.
- Magical Make-Over
Teenage girl desperately wants to be popular. One day an angel grants her that wish, by giving her a new image every day. But soon, she wishes she could just be herself.
- Bonnie Raitt Has Something to Talk About
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
interviews musician/singer Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
about her life, career and future plans.
- Notes for My Daughter
Teenage girl struggles with her mother's illness from breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
.
- Long Road Home
Teenager Hank Atkins (Micah Dyer, whose half-brothers are Chad
Chad Lowe
Charles Conrad "Chad" Lowe is an American actor. He is the younger brother of fellow actor Rob Lowe. He won an Emmy Award for his supporting role in Life Goes On as a man suffering with HIV. He has also had recurring roles on ER, Melrose Place, and Now and Again...
and Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
) does not know what to think of his dad John (Jameson Parker
Jameson Parker
Francis Jameson Parker Jr. is an American actor, best known as the co-star of the 1980s television series Simon & Simon.-Biography:Parker studied drama at Beloit College...
)'s new wife; for one thing, Amanda (Kristen Cloke
Kristen Cloke
Kristen Ann Cloke is an American actress.-Personal life:Cloke was born in Van Nuys, California and attended California State University, Northridge. She is associate artistic director of The Alliance Repertory Company in Burbank, California, where she writes, produces and directs. She is married...
) is young enough to be John's daughter! But as Hank takes a long road trip
Road trip
A road trip is any journey taken on roads, regardless of stops en route. Typically, road trips are long distances traveled by automobile.-Pre-automobile road trips:...
alone with Amanda, the proverbial ice gets broken with a vengeance.
Season Twenty-Four (1995-96)
- Fast Forward
A teenager is shown how being involved with booze will shape his life...ultimately, he will become a bombed-out derelict (Gerald McRaney
Gerald McRaney
Gerald Lee "Mac" McRaney is an American television and movie actor. McRaney is best known as one of the stars of the television shows Simon & Simon, Major Dad, and Promised Land. He was a series regular for the first season of Jericho.-Early life:McRaney was born in Collins, Mississippi, the son...
).
- Episode 2
The film traces the story of the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-born astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale was an American solar astronomer.-Biography:Hale was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was educated at MIT, at the Observatory of Harvard College, , and at Berlin . As an undergraduate at MIT, he is known for inventing the spectroheliograph, with which he made his discovery of...
as he struggles to build the greatest telescopes of the 20th century.
- Positive: A Journey Into AIDS
Documentary following two actors from TV's General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
as they research and talk to people living with HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
.
- Just Chill
After the senseless death of his twin brother, a teen drug pusher decides to seek revenge against all who have wronged him in the neighborhood.
- Educating Mom
Soccer mom
Soccer mom
The phrase soccer mom broadly refers to a middle-class suburban woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to their sporting events or other activities. Indices of American magazines and newspapers show relatively little usage of the term until a 1995...
Jane Kaczmarek (Nancy Gallagher) feels like a hypocrite when lecturing her kids Jason and Carly (Will Friedle
Will Friedle
William Alan "Will" Friedle is an American actor, voice actor and comedian. He is best known for his comedic roles, most notably the underachieving elder brother Eric Matthews on the long-running TV sitcom Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000...
, Lacey Chabert
Lacey Chabert
Lacey Nicole Chabert is an American actress and voice actress, known for her roles as Claudia Salinger in the television drama Party of Five and as Gretchen Wieners in the movie Mean Girls...
) about the importance of finishing one's education...since Jane herself is a high school dropout. She decides to practice what she's been preaching...by sharing classes with Jason! Co-starring Kevin Connolly (Unhappily Ever After
Unhappily Ever After
Unhappily Ever After is an American sitcom that aired for 100 episodes on The WB network from January 11, 1995, to May 23, 1999, for a total of four and a half seasons...
, John Q
John Q
John Q is a 2002 film directed by Nick Cassavetes starring Denzel Washington as John Quincy Archibald, a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it...
).
- Daddy's Girl
Teenage girl meets up with her father for the first time in ten years, and yearns to reunite her family despite their opposition.
- Through Thick & Thin
Twin sisters, one slim
Underweight
The term underweight refers to a human who is considered to be under a healthy weight. "Underweight" means weighing less than what is expected to be a healthy person . The definition is usually made with reference to the body mass index . A BMI of under 18.5 is usually referred to as underweight...
and one overweight
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
, magically switch personalities, giving them a new appreciation of each other.
Season Twenty-Five (1996-97)
- Too Soon for Jeff
In this adaptation of Marilyn Reynolds' novel, a high school senior (Freddie Prinze Jr.)'s future plans change abruptly when he learns his girlfriend is pregnant. Co-starring Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr.
Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
, Breck Wilson (Escape from Atlantis
Escape from Atlantis
Escape from Atlantis is a board game that portrays the sinking of Atlantis and the attempts by the population to escape the sinking island. It was originally released in the USA under the title of Survive! and first published in the English language by Parker Brothers in 1982...
) and Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
(Dark Angel
Dark Angel (TV series)
Dark Angel is an American biopunk/cyberpunk science fiction television series created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee. The show premiered in the United States on the Fox network on October 3, 2000, and was canceled after two seasons...
).
- Me and My Hormones
Three women, each from a different generation, deal with the various changes taking place in their lives. Starring Courtney Peldon
Courtney Peldon
Courtney Peldon is an American television and film actress.-Personal life:Peldon was born in New York City, New York. Her younger sister Ashley Peldon is also an actress...
, Marion Ross
Marion Ross
Marion Ross is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Cunningham on the television series Happy Days from 1974 to 1984.-Early life:...
, Bruce Boxleitner
Bruce Boxleitner
Bruce William Boxleitner is an American actor, and science fiction and suspense writer. He is known for his leading roles in the television series How the West Was Won, Bring 'Em Back Alive, Scarecrow and Mrs. King , and Babylon 5...
(Tron
Tron (film)
Tron is a 1982 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Lisberger, and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It stars Jeff Bridges as the protagonist Kevin Flynn; Bruce Boxleitner in a dual role as security program Tron and Tron's "User", computer programmer Alan Bradley; Cindy...
), Sara Gilbert
Sara Gilbert
Sara Gilbert is an American actress best known for her role as Darlene Conner from 1988–1997 in the U.S. sitcom Roseanne.-Early life:Gilbert was born Sara Rebecca Abeles in Santa Monica, California. Her parents are Barbara Crane and Harold Abeles. Her two older siblings, Melissa Gilbert and...
(whose real-life sister Melissa
Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Ellen Gilbert is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls's second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie...
directed) and Chad Lowe
Chad Lowe
Charles Conrad "Chad" Lowe is an American actor. He is the younger brother of fellow actor Rob Lowe. He won an Emmy Award for his supporting role in Life Goes On as a man suffering with HIV. He has also had recurring roles on ER, Melrose Place, and Now and Again...
.
- Teenage Confidential
Andrea Mattson (Lauren Woodland
Lauren Woodland
Lauren Woodland is an American actress.-Career:Woodland has been acting since childhood. In 1989, she appeared in the Fox Network science fiction series Alien Nation as the child newcomer Emily Francisco...
)'s overprotective parents (Morgan Fairchild
Morgan Fairchild
Morgan Fairchild is an American actress. She achieved prominence during the late 1970s and early 1980s with continuing roles in several television series, in which she usually conveyed a glamorous image. Fairchild has also performed in live theater and played guest roles in television comedies...
and Sam McMurray
Sam McMurray
Sam McMurray is an American television, film and voice actor.-Early life:McMurray was born in New York City, the son of Jane and Richard McMurray, both actors...
), out of excessive concern for their daughter's well-being, hire a private eye
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
to shadow her every move. Predictably, this does much more harm than good. Co-starring Danny Cooksey
Danny Cooksey
Danny Cooksey is an American singer, actor and voice actor. He has been in show business since he was very young and is best remembered for playing the roles of Sam McKinney on the last years of the TV show Diff'rent Strokes and Robert "Bobby" Budnick on the Nickelodeon program, Salute Your...
.
- Miracle at Trapper Creek
Underprivileged and troubled teens join the Trapper Creek Jobs Corp in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
to learn a trade, work in the wilderness
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
and achieve a solid work ethic
Work ethic
Work ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. An example would be the Protestant work ethic...
.
See also
- CBS Schoolbreak SpecialCBS Schoolbreak SpecialCBS Schoolbreak Special is an American anthology series for teenagers that aired on CBS from April 1980 to January 1996. The series originally premiered under the title CBS Afternoon Playhouse, and was later changed during the 1984 - 85 season...
- NBC Special Treat
- After School SpecialAfter school specialThe American Broadcasting Company coined the term after school special in 1972 with a series of made for television movies, usually dealing with controversial or socially relevant issues, that were generally broadcast in the late afternoon and meant to be viewed by school age children, particularly...
- ABC Weekend SpecialABC Weekend SpecialThe ABC Weekend Special is a weekly 30-minute anthology TV series for children that aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1977 to 1997. It featured a wide variety of stories that were both live-action and animated....