Some shows get canceled after a few seasons. Some only last for a few weeks. And then, there are those that get yanked from broadcast after a single night’s airing.
In this golden era of television, there are dozens and dozens of critically hailed TV programs to choose from to suit your personal taste. But even when TV’s at it’s best, that doesn’t mean there have been some serious missteps along the way.
Whether the show didn’t land with audiences, or a scandal or tragedy resulted in an unexpected immediate withdrawal from the broadcasting schedule, we’ve rounded up the television shows that got pulled from air after just one episode. While some shows did eventually air the remainder of the episodes in the can, all of these shows were scrapped from the get-go for various reasons.
And while you’re at it, check out...
In this golden era of television, there are dozens and dozens of critically hailed TV programs to choose from to suit your personal taste. But even when TV’s at it’s best, that doesn’t mean there have been some serious missteps along the way.
Whether the show didn’t land with audiences, or a scandal or tragedy resulted in an unexpected immediate withdrawal from the broadcasting schedule, we’ve rounded up the television shows that got pulled from air after just one episode. While some shows did eventually air the remainder of the episodes in the can, all of these shows were scrapped from the get-go for various reasons.
And while you’re at it, check out...
- 12/4/2023
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
Some shows get canceled after a few seasons. Some only last for a few weeks. And then, there are those that get yanked from broadcast after a single night’s airing.
In this golden era of television, there are dozens and dozens of critically hailed TV programs to choose from to suit your personal taste. But even when TV’s at it’s best, that doesn’t mean there have been some serious missteps along the way.
Whether the show didn’t land with audiences, or a scandal or tragedy resulted in an unexpected immediate withdrawal from the broadcasting schedule, we’ve rounded up the television shows that got pulled from air after just one episode. While some shows did eventually air the remainder of the episodes in the can, all of these shows were scrapped from the get-go for various reasons.
And while you’re at it, check out...
In this golden era of television, there are dozens and dozens of critically hailed TV programs to choose from to suit your personal taste. But even when TV’s at it’s best, that doesn’t mean there have been some serious missteps along the way.
Whether the show didn’t land with audiences, or a scandal or tragedy resulted in an unexpected immediate withdrawal from the broadcasting schedule, we’ve rounded up the television shows that got pulled from air after just one episode. While some shows did eventually air the remainder of the episodes in the can, all of these shows were scrapped from the get-go for various reasons.
And while you’re at it, check out...
- 11/9/2023
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
Dinner and a Movie is returning to TBS more than a decade after its cancellation. The unscripted series debuted in 1995 and ran for 16 seasons on the cable channel before it ended in 2011.
The show features celebrities watching and discussing a movie and preparing a meal inspired by the week's film. Chef Claud Mann and comedian Paul Gilmartin hosted the series throughout its run, and Annabelle Gurwitch (1996-2002), Lisa Kushell (2002-05), and Janet Varney (2005-11) joined them.
Read More…...
The show features celebrities watching and discussing a movie and preparing a meal inspired by the week's film. Chef Claud Mann and comedian Paul Gilmartin hosted the series throughout its run, and Annabelle Gurwitch (1996-2002), Lisa Kushell (2002-05), and Janet Varney (2005-11) joined them.
Read More…...
- 5/21/2023
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
TBS is revisiting Dinner and a Movie, its classic cooking and entertainment show that ran for 16 years on the network.
TBS is reviving the show, in which two celebrity hosts show a movie and prepare a dish related to the film. Kathleen Finch, Chairman and Chief Content Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery’s U.S. Networks Group, announced the remake Wednesday during the company’s Upfront presentation in NYC.
There are few details, but the remake will again feature celebrities watching and commenting on movies and making a dish that is somehow thematically connected to the film.
The original Dinner and a Movie aired on TBS from 1995-2011. Each episode included a movie and the preparation of a creative dinner to go with its theme. One previous episode featured the film Drumline with a recipe titled “The Beets Go On”, a reference to the Sonny & Cher single “The Beat Goes...
TBS is reviving the show, in which two celebrity hosts show a movie and prepare a dish related to the film. Kathleen Finch, Chairman and Chief Content Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery’s U.S. Networks Group, announced the remake Wednesday during the company’s Upfront presentation in NYC.
There are few details, but the remake will again feature celebrities watching and commenting on movies and making a dish that is somehow thematically connected to the film.
The original Dinner and a Movie aired on TBS from 1995-2011. Each episode included a movie and the preparation of a creative dinner to go with its theme. One previous episode featured the film Drumline with a recipe titled “The Beets Go On”, a reference to the Sonny & Cher single “The Beat Goes...
- 5/17/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: HBO has put in development If You Lived With Me You’d Be Home By Now, a half-hour series inspired by Annabelle Gurwitch’s Los Angeles Times article and corresponding chapter of her recently released book, You’re Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility. The project hails from Gurwitch, Bill Maher (Real Time with Bill Maher) and Naomi Despres and Robert Salerno’s Artina Films.
Written by Gurwitch, in the series, recently divorced and at the end of her financial and emotional rope, a woman takes in boarders who are also at the end of their financial and emotional rope, and everyone’s life changes, for better and worse.
Maher executive produces with Despres and Salerno for Artina Films. Gurwitch serves as co-executive producer.
HBO optioned rights to Gurwitch’s book, which was published by Counterpoint in March 2021. The...
Written by Gurwitch, in the series, recently divorced and at the end of her financial and emotional rope, a woman takes in boarders who are also at the end of their financial and emotional rope, and everyone’s life changes, for better and worse.
Maher executive produces with Despres and Salerno for Artina Films. Gurwitch serves as co-executive producer.
HBO optioned rights to Gurwitch’s book, which was published by Counterpoint in March 2021. The...
- 7/29/2021
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Watching television today offers you near-unlimited choices when it comes to movies, whether that’s through a streaming service or a specific premium channel. But in this era of peak content one unique feature still stands out: the pre-movie host. Whether it’s TCM’s Alicia Malone chatting about the history of Jane Russell or Joe Bob Brigg’s Southern drawl introducing “Halloween” on Shudder, hosts hold on and help to bridge the gap between movies and the history that created them.
Where hosts were once a matter of necessity, introducing a series and then expanding out to fill in for commercial breaks, or, as premium cable and streaming started, the absence of them, they remain a serious branding technique. You could identify a network by its hosts, whether that is the litany of horror hosts that peppered the airwaves of various local networks throughout the country, to AMC’s...
Where hosts were once a matter of necessity, introducing a series and then expanding out to fill in for commercial breaks, or, as premium cable and streaming started, the absence of them, they remain a serious branding technique. You could identify a network by its hosts, whether that is the litany of horror hosts that peppered the airwaves of various local networks throughout the country, to AMC’s...
- 5/11/2020
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
1981: Another World's Steve revealed himself to Alice.
1988: Melissa set fire to Falcon Crest.
2005: Nicole Forester debuted as Guiding Light's new Cassie.
2005: Laura Wright debuted as General Hospital's new Carly."The best prophet of the future is the past."
― Lord Byron
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1957: On The Edge of Night, Mary (Anne Sargent) begged Clayton (Leon Janney) to tell her where to find Billy.
1971: On The Doctors, Toni Ferra (Anna Stuart) told a visiting Carolee Allison (Carolee Campbell) that she made her mother out to be a warm, caring person, but it backfired because now Billy (Robert Hennessey) wanted to find her.
1988: Melissa set fire to Falcon Crest.
2005: Nicole Forester debuted as Guiding Light's new Cassie.
2005: Laura Wright debuted as General Hospital's new Carly."The best prophet of the future is the past."
― Lord Byron
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1957: On The Edge of Night, Mary (Anne Sargent) begged Clayton (Leon Janney) to tell her where to find Billy.
1971: On The Doctors, Toni Ferra (Anna Stuart) told a visiting Carolee Allison (Carolee Campbell) that she made her mother out to be a warm, caring person, but it backfired because now Billy (Robert Hennessey) wanted to find her.
- 11/4/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
Bill Maher admitted his decades-long crusade against religion was a shtick in a satirical “Funny Or Die” video released on Monday. Also read: Bill Maher Scores Most-Watched HBO Comedy Special Since Robin Williams Show in 2009 The sketch started with the HBO personality and stand-up comedian holding rosary beads and making sweet eyes at the Virgin Mary while praying. Then actress Annabelle Gurwitch entered — and she was shocked by what she saw: “But you're an atheist!” she exclaimed. “Stephen Colbert isn't really conservative. Rock Hudson isn't really a lady killer,” Maher responded. “This is an act. This is what we do.
- 9/16/2014
- by Travis Reilly
- The Wrap
Second Stage Theatre has announced the addition of Alice Ripley, Gina Gershon, Henry Alford, Ilana Levine, and Sandra Santiago to the line-up for Annabelle Gurwitch's I See You Made An Effort on March 10th, 2014. This one-night only benefit event is a part of the 35th Anniversary Season at Second Stage Theatre. I See You Made An Effort will also feature the previously announced Amy Brenneman, Judy Gold, Jessica Hecht, Tonya Pinkins, and Annabella Sciorra.
- 2/27/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Like its more established sibling Nickelodeon, which switches to the adult-themed Nick at Nite in primetime, Nick Jr. too will launch a primetime programming block targeting adults. Named NickMom, the ad-supported nightly block on the preschooler-focused Nick Jr. will feature a mix of original long- and short-form humor-based programming, including talk shows, docu-series, stand-up and sketch comedy, hidden camera and game shows. The TV block will air nightly from 9 Pm to 1 Am (Et) with two-hours of original content and a replay immediately following. It will launch in 4Q12. The companion NickMom web site will debut this coming Monday as a blog on Nickelodeon’s ParentsConnect.com. “Today’s moms who grew up with Nickelodeon have a renewed relationship with us through their kids, and now we have something for them as adults in NickMom.” said Nickelodeon Networks president Cyma Zarghami. There are 30 projects already in the works for the new...
- 11/9/2011
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Everett Here’s Looking at You, Kid
In a little more than a week’s time, I’ll be sending an email to my colleagues here at The Wall Street Journal. It might look something like this:
To: Wall Street Journal Employees
From: Nick Andersen, Speakeasy Intern
Subject: Thank You, and Goodbye
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
You might know me as the intern who was hospitalized twice (I’m okay now!) at the beginning of the summer. But in reality,...
In a little more than a week’s time, I’ll be sending an email to my colleagues here at The Wall Street Journal. It might look something like this:
To: Wall Street Journal Employees
From: Nick Andersen, Speakeasy Intern
Subject: Thank You, and Goodbye
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
You might know me as the intern who was hospitalized twice (I’m okay now!) at the beginning of the summer. But in reality,...
- 8/2/2011
- by Nick Andersen
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" hits Friday night with a line up that includes roundtable guests actor-comedian Richard Belzer, columnist Dan Neil and activist Erica Williams. Actress-author Annabelle Gurwitch and Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the U.S., are interview guests. Maher's chat show is a free-wheeling think-tank salon moderated by Maher, who wraps each episode with his patented "New Rule" segment. here is last week's Overtime with Dana Loesch: The series continues its ninth season Friday, March 18 (10:00-11:00 p.m. live Et/tape-delayed Pt), exclusively on HBO, with an instant replay at 11:00 p.m. following the live presentation. A favorite of subscribers since his first special on the network in 1989, Maher has starred in nine solo...
- 3/17/2011
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
The cast and crew of the A&E hit series, "The Cleaner," have paid it forward by giving their time and efforts to help others. The season two finale of "The Cleaner" will air Sept. 15th at 10p/9c on A&E. The finale will see William (Benjamin Bratt) help an old friend (Richard Lewis), who chooses heroin and speed over his wife (Annabelle Gurwitch) and two kids, commit to getting clean. Meanwhile Pk (Whoopi Goldberg) attempts to wrangle some of the other addicts William has helped recently for a surprise party in honor of William's ten-year-sober birthday. Guest stars include Gary Cole, Janina Gavankar, Steve Landesberg, Paul Schulze, Jeanette Brox, Michael Beach, Dionysio Basco and Joy Bisco.
- 9/15/2009
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
"The Cleaner" is coming to an end on Tuesday, September 15 with its second season finale episode called "Trick Candles". A & E has been generous enough to give a five minutes sneak peek to the episode which will feature guest appearances by Richard Lewis, Gary Cole and Whoopi Goldberg.
In his last quest this season, William must help an old friend (Lewis), who chooses heroin and speed over his wife (Annabelle Gurwitch) and two kids, commit to getting clean. Meanwhile Pk (Goldberg) attempts to wrangle some of the other addicts William has helped recently for a surprise party in honor of William's ten-year-sober birthday.
Other guest stars include Janina Gavankar, Steve Landesberg, Paul Schulze, Jeanette Brox, Michael Beach, Dion Basco and Joy Bisco.
Benjamin Bratt who stars as William is one of the honorees of 2009 Alma Awards in the category Actor - Drama. He will have to battle it out with...
In his last quest this season, William must help an old friend (Lewis), who chooses heroin and speed over his wife (Annabelle Gurwitch) and two kids, commit to getting clean. Meanwhile Pk (Goldberg) attempts to wrangle some of the other addicts William has helped recently for a surprise party in honor of William's ten-year-sober birthday.
Other guest stars include Janina Gavankar, Steve Landesberg, Paul Schulze, Jeanette Brox, Michael Beach, Dion Basco and Joy Bisco.
Benjamin Bratt who stars as William is one of the honorees of 2009 Alma Awards in the category Actor - Drama. He will have to battle it out with...
- 9/11/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Over 130 stars have weighed in on the SAG strike authorization, coming out firmly against. Citing the economy, the A-listers “strongly” urged SAG members not to authorize a strike, and instead “take the high road … unite with our brothers and sisters in the entertainment community and … three years down the line … make a great deal” when all the union contracts expire roughly simultaneously.
Finally, we’re hearing from the A-listers, and it may be enough to pull SAG back from the brink. Meanwhile SAG Board members in NY and Chicago came out against the authorization over the weekend.
In addition, SAG President Alan Rosenberg was forced to cancel the emergency in-person National Board meeting he had scheduled for this Friday, after SAG activists pointed out in the strongest terms that Rosenberg had no right under the SAG constitution or state law to require that the meeting be in person, rather than by videoconference.
Finally, we’re hearing from the A-listers, and it may be enough to pull SAG back from the brink. Meanwhile SAG Board members in NY and Chicago came out against the authorization over the weekend.
In addition, SAG President Alan Rosenberg was forced to cancel the emergency in-person National Board meeting he had scheduled for this Friday, after SAG activists pointed out in the strongest terms that Rosenberg had no right under the SAG constitution or state law to require that the meeting be in person, rather than by videoconference.
- 12/15/2008
- by noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Handel)
Discovery Communications' eco-friendly network Planet Green, set to launch in the second quarter, has gone into production on "Wasted", a 10-episode series hosted by Annabelle Gurwitch in which households work to make their homes "green" with the added incentive of earning money.
The half-hour primetime series, which likely will debut in the second quarter, features Gurwitch (TBS' "Dinner and a Movie") and handyman Holter Graham helping households of people -- from families to friends to fraternities -- become more eco-friendly. The pair audit a household's waste, energy, water and transportation consumption using such tools as an eco-calculator built especially for the series with input from the Global Footprint Network.
After revealing the household's "eco-horrors" and long-term effects on the environment, Gurwitch and Graham put them on a "green regime" to clean up their act. Each household is given three weeks to reduce their consumption, after which they are awarded cash based on the savings they have made by improving energy efficiency and reducing waste.
The half-hour primetime series, which likely will debut in the second quarter, features Gurwitch (TBS' "Dinner and a Movie") and handyman Holter Graham helping households of people -- from families to friends to fraternities -- become more eco-friendly. The pair audit a household's waste, energy, water and transportation consumption using such tools as an eco-calculator built especially for the series with input from the Global Footprint Network.
After revealing the household's "eco-horrors" and long-term effects on the environment, Gurwitch and Graham put them on a "green regime" to clean up their act. Each household is given three weeks to reduce their consumption, after which they are awarded cash based on the savings they have made by improving energy efficiency and reducing waste.
- 12/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screened at South by Southwest
AUSTIN -- Your average actress, upon getting fired from a play by Woody Allen, would tie one on, sit home for a week or two, then start crafting a fantastic cocktail-party anecdote about the time Woody told her "You look retarded". Annabelle Gurwitch, on the other hand, turned that anecdote into a full-time job.
The actress and writer, stung by rejection, started by plying showbiz friends for their own humiliating tales. She then put together a stage show. She started writing a book. And now she has made a movie that, while unlikely to set the documentary market afire, is entertaining enough to succeed as a niche theatrical or TV release.
Documentarians Chris Bradley and Kyle Labrache keep things moving at a nice pace while indulging Gurwitch's possibly too frequent attempts to tie the expanding film in to the event that inspired it. (Allen-style white-on-black credits are a nice touch.) The writer may never dig very deep into the insights of some interviewees -- like her rabbi's Jung quote, "Every defeat for the ego is a victory for the soul" -- but she certainly has turned her misfortune into an entertainment most of us can identify with.
The film's most enjoyable section is the first, where Gurwitch sometimes seems to be following around the crew of "The Aristocrats": A half-dozen of that film's interviewees are here, along with other performers like David Cross and Anne Meara, telling of the jobs they had -- working in a toll booth, tool and die manufacturing, checking coats at a nightclub -- and the reasons they lost them -- talking too much, being Jewish, wearing a coat hanger as a hat.
The one-on-one interviews give way to very funny footage from the stage show, after which Gurwitch begins to meet nonshowbiz folks with their own stories to tell. Smelling a project in the making, the writer begins collecting newspaper articles and interviewing policy experts.
She visits with Anita Epolito, who was famously fired by an employer who decreed that employees could not smoke cigarettes, even when away from work. She hangs out with a White House chef who was given the boot by the Bushes. Naturally, she visits a town where General Motors layoffs loom on the horizon.
If that's starting to sound like a Michael Moore film, it shouldn't. Gurwitch is much more interested in entertainment than in rabble-rousing, or even in serious investigation. Yes, the movie talks to some serious experts (former labor secretary Robert Reich, for example) and covers topics ranging from the salary gulf between CEOs and average workers to the growing industry devoted to helping companies fire their workers. But the focus is always personal: How did it feel when you were fired? Why did this happen to me? How do I move on?
The film can never stray too far from comedy. Gurwitch pulls a stunt (clearly doomed from the start) in which she gets Andy Dick a job running a taco cart; later, actor Tate Donovan stages a puppet play about some mortifying coincidences concerning a movie role he lost to Matthew Broderick.
FIRED!
Wherespetey?/International Orange
Credits:
Directors: Chris Bradley, Kyle Labrache
Writer: Annabelle Gurwitch
Producer: Annabelle Gurwitch
Executive producer: Richard Foos
Directors of photography: Chris Bradley, Kyle Labrache
Editors: Chris Bradley, Kyle Labrache
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 71 minutes...
AUSTIN -- Your average actress, upon getting fired from a play by Woody Allen, would tie one on, sit home for a week or two, then start crafting a fantastic cocktail-party anecdote about the time Woody told her "You look retarded". Annabelle Gurwitch, on the other hand, turned that anecdote into a full-time job.
The actress and writer, stung by rejection, started by plying showbiz friends for their own humiliating tales. She then put together a stage show. She started writing a book. And now she has made a movie that, while unlikely to set the documentary market afire, is entertaining enough to succeed as a niche theatrical or TV release.
Documentarians Chris Bradley and Kyle Labrache keep things moving at a nice pace while indulging Gurwitch's possibly too frequent attempts to tie the expanding film in to the event that inspired it. (Allen-style white-on-black credits are a nice touch.) The writer may never dig very deep into the insights of some interviewees -- like her rabbi's Jung quote, "Every defeat for the ego is a victory for the soul" -- but she certainly has turned her misfortune into an entertainment most of us can identify with.
The film's most enjoyable section is the first, where Gurwitch sometimes seems to be following around the crew of "The Aristocrats": A half-dozen of that film's interviewees are here, along with other performers like David Cross and Anne Meara, telling of the jobs they had -- working in a toll booth, tool and die manufacturing, checking coats at a nightclub -- and the reasons they lost them -- talking too much, being Jewish, wearing a coat hanger as a hat.
The one-on-one interviews give way to very funny footage from the stage show, after which Gurwitch begins to meet nonshowbiz folks with their own stories to tell. Smelling a project in the making, the writer begins collecting newspaper articles and interviewing policy experts.
She visits with Anita Epolito, who was famously fired by an employer who decreed that employees could not smoke cigarettes, even when away from work. She hangs out with a White House chef who was given the boot by the Bushes. Naturally, she visits a town where General Motors layoffs loom on the horizon.
If that's starting to sound like a Michael Moore film, it shouldn't. Gurwitch is much more interested in entertainment than in rabble-rousing, or even in serious investigation. Yes, the movie talks to some serious experts (former labor secretary Robert Reich, for example) and covers topics ranging from the salary gulf between CEOs and average workers to the growing industry devoted to helping companies fire their workers. But the focus is always personal: How did it feel when you were fired? Why did this happen to me? How do I move on?
The film can never stray too far from comedy. Gurwitch pulls a stunt (clearly doomed from the start) in which she gets Andy Dick a job running a taco cart; later, actor Tate Donovan stages a puppet play about some mortifying coincidences concerning a movie role he lost to Matthew Broderick.
FIRED!
Wherespetey?/International Orange
Credits:
Directors: Chris Bradley, Kyle Labrache
Writer: Annabelle Gurwitch
Producer: Annabelle Gurwitch
Executive producer: Richard Foos
Directors of photography: Chris Bradley, Kyle Labrache
Editors: Chris Bradley, Kyle Labrache
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 71 minutes...
- 3/14/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Having recently received its world premiere at the inaugural Hollywood Film Festival, "Cadillac" is a good-looking, sensitively directed drama that ultimately can't transcend its stagy, talky script.
In his sophomore effort, young filmmaker Andrew Frank ("Friends & Enemies") brings an assured, refined touch to the portrait of three old high school buddies who have finally hit a crossroads in their shared state of prolonged adolescence.
Now in their mid-30s, the obnoxious Todd (Taylor Nichols), a successful commercial realtor, and Michael (Daniel Roebuck), a nice-guy employee for a computer-software firm, would appear to lead normal lives.
But they have a constant reminder of a serious screw-up in the person of Jimmy (Lenny Von Dohlen), a piece of damaged goods who holes himself up in Todd's garage obsessively trying to resuscitate his 1970 Cadillac and desperately clinging to long-gone ideals.
It turns out Jimmy spent a year in a psychiatric hospital following a very bad acid trip at the hands of his two buddies. The subsequent years of pent-up, unspoken guilt have taken their toll on the trio and are about to be confronted in one big, soul-cleansing blowout.
Frank's cast -- also including Stephanie Romanov as Todd's harassed fiancee, Kathy; Traci Lind as Jimmy's disastrous blind date, Missy; and Annabelle Gurwitch as Michael's friend, Renee -- delivers earnest, committed performances, though Von Dohlen's wounded-rabbit interpretation borders perilously on parody.
Not that he's fully to blame, given Bruce McIntosh's overwritten, dramatically static script that fails to deliver satisfactorily on its deep, dark secret of a buildup. It's too bad, because Frank manages to put a lot of polish on an obviously modest budget. He's handsomely assisted in that accomplishment by DP Maximo Munzi and composer Alan Williams, not to mention enough nostalgic hits from the '70s and '80s to fill a soundtrack album.
CADILLAC
Moonshadow Entertainment
Director Andrew Frank
Screenwriter Bruce McIntosh
Producer Andrew Frank
Executive producers Martin Frank, Lorraine Rasmussen
Director of photography Maximo Munzi
Production designer Anna Gadsby
Editor Stephen Myers
Costume designer Lynn Bernay
Music Alan Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jimmy Lenny Von Dohlen
Todd Taylor Nichols
Mike Daniel Roebuck
Missy Traci Lind
Renee Annabelle Gurwitch
Kathy Stephanie Romanov
Running time -- 93 minutes
No MPAA rating...
In his sophomore effort, young filmmaker Andrew Frank ("Friends & Enemies") brings an assured, refined touch to the portrait of three old high school buddies who have finally hit a crossroads in their shared state of prolonged adolescence.
Now in their mid-30s, the obnoxious Todd (Taylor Nichols), a successful commercial realtor, and Michael (Daniel Roebuck), a nice-guy employee for a computer-software firm, would appear to lead normal lives.
But they have a constant reminder of a serious screw-up in the person of Jimmy (Lenny Von Dohlen), a piece of damaged goods who holes himself up in Todd's garage obsessively trying to resuscitate his 1970 Cadillac and desperately clinging to long-gone ideals.
It turns out Jimmy spent a year in a psychiatric hospital following a very bad acid trip at the hands of his two buddies. The subsequent years of pent-up, unspoken guilt have taken their toll on the trio and are about to be confronted in one big, soul-cleansing blowout.
Frank's cast -- also including Stephanie Romanov as Todd's harassed fiancee, Kathy; Traci Lind as Jimmy's disastrous blind date, Missy; and Annabelle Gurwitch as Michael's friend, Renee -- delivers earnest, committed performances, though Von Dohlen's wounded-rabbit interpretation borders perilously on parody.
Not that he's fully to blame, given Bruce McIntosh's overwritten, dramatically static script that fails to deliver satisfactorily on its deep, dark secret of a buildup. It's too bad, because Frank manages to put a lot of polish on an obviously modest budget. He's handsomely assisted in that accomplishment by DP Maximo Munzi and composer Alan Williams, not to mention enough nostalgic hits from the '70s and '80s to fill a soundtrack album.
CADILLAC
Moonshadow Entertainment
Director Andrew Frank
Screenwriter Bruce McIntosh
Producer Andrew Frank
Executive producers Martin Frank, Lorraine Rasmussen
Director of photography Maximo Munzi
Production designer Anna Gadsby
Editor Stephen Myers
Costume designer Lynn Bernay
Music Alan Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jimmy Lenny Von Dohlen
Todd Taylor Nichols
Mike Daniel Roebuck
Missy Traci Lind
Renee Annabelle Gurwitch
Kathy Stephanie Romanov
Running time -- 93 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/24/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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