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Birthday:
01-03-1943
(82 years)
Birthplace:
Hattiesburg - Mississippi - USA
Biography
Van Dyke Parks is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks.
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Their works
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1974: On the Road With The Beach Boys
Act like Self
event2009
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In 1974, The Beach Boys were at a low ebb. Their record sales bottoming out and desperate for income, The Beach Boys hit the road. Family friend and musician Billy Hinsche conned UCLA into letting him film a documentary about the tour on grainy, black-and-white videotape with a cumbersome Camcorder for his master’s thesis. The result is a fascinating time capsule that had been buried for 37 years.
The Two Jakes
Act like Francis Hannah
event1990 star_border 6
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Real estate developer Jake Berman hires private investigator and war veteran Jake Gittes for some run-of-the-mill matrimonial work. After Berman shoots his wife's lover, who happens to be his business partner, Gittes is drawn into a web of conspiracy and deceit involving the oil reserves beneath Los Angeles. While investigating, Gittes hears a voice from his past that causes him to revisit a traumatic case in Chinatown.
Peter Case: A Million Miles Away
event2022
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Peter Case has lived a life of constant change, soaring highs, and soul-crushing lows. This film walks a million miles in the shoes of one of America’s last great troubadours.
The Swan
Act like George
event1956 star_border 6.9
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Princess Beatrice's days of enjoying the regal life are numbered unless her only daughter, Princess Alexandra, makes a good impression on a distant cousin when he pays a surprise visit to their palace. Prince Albert has searched all over Europe for a bride and he's bored by the whole courtship routine. He is more interested in the estate's dairy than Alexandra's rose garden. And then he starts playing football with the tutor and Alexandra's brothers. Invite the tutor to the ball that night and watch how gracefully Alexandra dances with him.
The Beach Boys: An American Band
Act like Self (archive footage)
event1985 star_border 8
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A biography of the American rock band The Beach Boys, with interviews, concert footage and clips from movies and television shows they appeared in.
Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?)
Act like Self
event2010 star_border 7.1
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The life and work of the enigmatic singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson.
Brian Wilson: Songwriter 1962-1969
Act like Self (archive footage)
event2010
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A documentary film in which the rich tapestry of music written and produced by this brilliant 20th century composer is investigated and reviewed.
Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile
Act like Self
event2004 star_border 6.6
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This film tells (using modern day interviews and archival footage and sound tapes) the story of how in 1967, while his band The Beach Boys triumphantly toured abroad, Brian Wilson was trying to push the boundaries of conventional pop music with a new follow-up to the Beach Boys' cutting-edge mega-hit, Pet Sounds. The new album was to be called "SMiLE". SMiLE pushed the envelope both musically and lyrically, and was supposed to out-do the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper record. But Brian wasn't able to sell the project to his band-mates when they returned. The project was shelved and Wilson's well-documented decline into depression, drug abuse, recluseness, and obesity had begun. Thirty-odd years later, Wilson announced that in 2004, SMiLE would be performed live in its entirety in London. This film tells the story of a damaged but healing artist bringing his greatest work to light.
Feats First: The Life and Music of Lowell George
Act like Self / Producer Musician
event2015 star_border 8
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This film, the first ever to chronicle Lowell George's life, music and career, uses archive footage and interviews of and with Lowell and Little Feat, plus contributions from many of those who knew him best, to visually recount the sometimes ecstatic, other times tragic life and times of this maverick genius.
Vibes
Act like Dr. Weiner
event1988 star_border 5.7
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Medium Sylvia Pickel and psychometrist Nick Deezy meet at a psychic research facility in New York. Not long after, they're contacted by Harry Buscafusco, who offers them $50,000 to find his lost son in South America, in the heart of Incan territory where they discover an ancient mystical secret, and each other.
The Tale of the Frog Prince
Act like The Musician
event1982 star_border 6.1
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A spoiled, selfish princess's fate becomes entwined with a zany and witty frog with a secret past.
Ry Cooder: How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?
event1970
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An introduction to the world of Ry Cooder and his debut album on Warner Bros. Records. Cooder talks about old movies, trailers and the lay of the land. And most of all about the inspiration from Blind Alfred Reed's song "How can a poor man stand such times and live?"
Loose Shoes
Act like Indian #2
event1978 star_border 3.7
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Broad satire and buffoonery presented as a series of movie trailers. Among the titles and subjects are: "The Howard Huge Story", "Skate-boarders from Hell", "The Invasion of the Penis Snatchers", Woody Allen (pre-Mia), movie trailer come-ons, Charlie Chaplin, war movies, Billy Jack. The source of the title is presented about an hour into the film.
Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have a Ball
Act like Himself
event1988 star_border 10
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Following a brief statement by Ry Cooder on his thoughts about performing - and improvising - on stage, this concert film depicts Cooder's 1987 live show in Santa Cruz, California, which was part of his "Get Rhythm" world tour.
Popeye
Act like Hoagy the Piano Player
event1980 star_border 5.5
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Popeye is a super-strong, spinach-scarfing sailor man who's searching for his father. During a storm that wrecks his ship, Popeye washes ashore and winds up rooming at the Oyl household, where he meets Olive. Before he can win her heart, he must first contend with Olive's fiancé, Bluto.
The Beach Boys: It's OK
Act like Self
event1976 star_border 8
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A live performance from the Beach Boys, featuring their best known songs, including 'Help Me Rhonda' and 'Good Vibrations'.
No Smoking
Act like Self
event2019 star_border 7.3
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A documentary about Haruomi Hosono, a musician respected around the world and the music composer of Cannes Palme d'Or winner Shoplifters. The footage traces his encounter with music in early childhood to his days in bands Happy End and YMO to his solo activities. It also includes in-depth coverage from recent years of his first overseas performances in London, New York and Los Angeles. In London, he was joined by Yukihiro Takahashi, and when Ryuichi Sakamoto made a surprise appearance onstage, the YMO members were reunited for the first time in five years, a must-see spectacle captured on film. Written by Nikkatsu
The Beach Boys: Wouldn't It Be Nice
Act like Self
event2005
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The inside story of the Beach Boys from their formation in 1961 to the present day (2005).
The Beach Boys: It's OK
Act like Self
event1976
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Originally aired as an television special, this concert film includes interview segments, comedy sketches, and concert footage from Brian Wilson's 1976 return to the concert stage.
The Beach Boys: Endless Harmony
Act like Self
event2000 star_border 6.8
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These archetypal Southern Californians, who transmuted their experiences growing up in suburban Hawthorne into a potent teen iconography orbiting surfing, cars, and girls, tackle the underlying personal and cultural upheavals beneath their discography. Intelligently assembled with over 40 songs dispersed throughout, ENDLESS HARMONY works not just as a rockumentary but as an important historical document of American music.
Silverchair: Making of Young Modern
Act like Himself
event2007
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Documentary depicting the recording of Silverchair's 2007 album Young Modern, included as a bonus DVD with the deluxe edition.
Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme
Act like Minister of Merriment
event1990 star_border 4.8
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Set in the mythical world of Rhymeland, Gordon Goose returns home to discover that his mom has mysteriously vanished. Now the characters of Rhymeland are in danger of disappearing unless Mother Goose returns.
A World Without Beethoven?
Act like Self
event2020 star_border 7.7
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"What would the world be like without Beethoven?" That’s the provocative question posed by this music documentary from Deutsche Welle. To answer it, the film explores how Ludwig van Beethoven's innovations continue to have an impact far beyond the boundaries of classical music, 250 years after his birth.
Twin Peaks
Act like Jack Racine (1 ep.)
event1990 star_border 8.3
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The body of Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul.
Studio One
Act like Eddie Stone (1 ep.)
event1948 star_border 4.7
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An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.
Faerie Tale Theatre
Act like The Musician (1 ep.)
event1982 star_border 8.2
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A live-action children's television anthology series retelling popular fairy tales.
General Electric Theater
Act like Horace (1 ep.)
event1953 star_border 6
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General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
Bonino
Act like Andrew Bonino (1 ep.)
event1953
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Bonino is an ethnic situation comedy television series starring Ezio Pinza as an Italian-American opera singer trying to rear his six children after the death of their mother. The program aired on live NBC from September 12 to December 26, 1953.
Pinza's character is named Babbo Bonino. Character actress Mary Wickes portrayed Martha the housekeeper, a role which she filled over the years in numerous other series. The actors portraying the children were Conrad Janis as eldest son Edward, Lenka Peterson as older daughter Doris, Chet Allen as Jerry; Oliver Andes as Carlo, Gaye Huston as Fancesca, and Van Dyke Parks as Andrew, the youngest. Allen had earlier appeared as Amahl in Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors on NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1951-1952. Parks, who grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, became a rock-music producer and composer who cowrote with Brian Wilson the Beach Boys' hits "Heroes and Villains" and "Surf's Up".Mike Kellin, who was cast the following year in Celeste Holm's short-lived CBS sitcom Honestly, Celeste!, appeared in the role of Rusty.
David Opatoshu, portrayed Walter Rogers, Babbo's agent, who tries to convince him to return to singing. As each episode unfolds, Bonino realizes that his children are more independent than he thought. Pinza sang in each episode.Anthony Eisley, later of ABC's detective series Hawaiian Eye, guest starred in Bonino as John Clinton.
Call Me Claus
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event2001 star_border 5.8
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When Lucy Cullins, a successful but cranky producer at a home shopping network hires an actor named Nick to play Santa Claus on the network, she gets more than she bargained for.
The Company
Music (1 ep.)
event2003 star_border 5.2
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Ensemble drama centered around a group of ballet dancers, with a focus on one young dancer who's poised to become a principal performer.
Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1997 star_border 6.9
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Jessica Fletcher searches for a woman who witnessed the murder of a man trying to expose a serious flaw in a top-secret government satellite code.
Jack and the Beanstalk
Music Consultant (1 ep.)
event1983 star_border 5
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Imaginative and creative Jack seeks adventure while trying to provide for himself and his mother. Will he ever solve the mystery of how his father died?
Little Red Riding Hood
Music Director (1 ep.)
event1983 star_border 6.3
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A sheltered but adventurous young woman finds trouble when she encounters a wolf.
Out on a Limb
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1992 star_border 5.5
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While heading to the town where his sister, Marci, lives, big-city banker Bill Campbell is robbed by a woman who takes everything he has, including his clothes and a business document worth millions of dollars. Bill eventually reunites with Marci, who is in a tizzy because she thinks their stepfather has been killed. While trying to determine if his sister is right, Bill must also get back his valuable paperwork.
One Christmas
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1994 star_border 5.1
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Based on Truman Capote's bittersweet tale of a young boy's adventures with the father he's never known in New Orleans in the 1930s..
Wild Bill
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1995 star_border 5.7
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Biopic about famous gunslinger Wild Bill Hickock. The early career of legendary lawman is telescoped and culminates in his relocation in Deadwood and a reunion with Calamity Jane.
Bastard Out of Carolina
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1996 star_border 7.2
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A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story
Music (1 ep.)
event2002
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Based on the true story of Clarence Brandley, a black man wrongly accused in 1980 of the murder of a 16-year-old white high school girl named Cheryl Ferguson. Brandley worked at Conroe High School, where Ferguson was visiting as a member of the Belleville High School volleyball team. Three days after her body was discovered, Brandley was arrested as the murderer. Jew Don Boney, a popular activist and Houston city council member, leads the fight to uncover the truth about the Ferguson murder. Mike DeGeurin, a Texas attorney, is brought in to act as the head defense attorney for Brandley, and is joined by a former minister, Jim McCloskey. The lawyers discover that not only is there a complete lack of evidence against Brandley, but the District Attorney, James Keeshan, has been strategizing with the presiding judge. After nine years in prison, three trials and a stay of execution that saved Brandley's life, justice finally prevails as Brandley is granted his freedom.
Charms for the Easy Life
Music (1 ep.)
event2002 star_border 7
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The story of three women who live in a North Carolina town and defy the traditional roles set forth for them by society.
In the Time of the Butterflies
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event2001 star_border 6.5
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Based on the book by Julia Alvarez. Three sisters become activists during the Dominican Republic's Trujillo regime when members of their family are killed by the government's troops.
Follow That Bird
Music (1 ep.)
event1985 star_border 6.3
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Big Bird is sent to live far from Sesame Street by a pesky social worker, who thinks it would be better for him to live with other birds. Unhappy, Big Bird runs away from his foster home, prompting the rest of the Sesame Street gang to go on a cross-country journey to find him.
Club Paradise
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1986 star_border 5.1
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When Chicago firefighter Jack Moniker retires and moves to a small Caribbean island, he is befriended by the owner of a run-down resort. Together they renovate the resort and lure tourists to Club Paradise in an effort to fight off corrupt officials and businessmen who want to claim the resort as their own.
Ceremony
Additional Music (1 ep.)
event2010 star_border 5.1
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Sam Davis convinces his former best friend to spend a weekend with him to rekindle their friendship at an elegant beachside estate owned by a famous documentary filmmaker. However, it soon becomes clear that Sam is secretly infatuated with his ex, Zoe, who is now the filmmaker’s fiancée, and that his true intention is to thwart their impending nuptials. As Sam’s plan begins to unravel, he is forced to realize how complicated love and friendship can be.
Rabbit Ears - The Fisherman and His Wife
Music (1 ep.)
event1989
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When a poor Fisherman discovers a magic flounder in the sea, he goes home to tell his wife. But, as his wife's greed for the better life comes to the point where she wants to take over the world, the fisherman soon realizes that his wife's greed will get the best of them yet.
The Ponder Heart
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event2001 star_border 7
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Uncle Daniel Ponder moves to give away his fortune, while his niece, Edna Earle, tries to tighten the reins on Daniel's generosity. After Daniel marries teenager Bonnie Dee Peacock, her death leads to Daniel's trial for murder
Ponce de Leon
Music (1 ep.)
event1986
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Get to know the legendary European explorer with an impossible mission in this retelling of the myth of Ponce de Leon (Michael York). Executive producer Shelley Duvall plays host to viewers young and old alike who are eager to learn about de Leon's search for the fountain of youth. This is no ordinary educational series, however; instead, it's a show infused with good humor, one that mines the absurdity of de Leon's quixotic quest.
Darlin' Clementine
Music (1 ep.)
event1986
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Clementine is the sole woman in her mining camp who cares for everyone around her until her selfish father learns a valuable lesson.
Shadrach
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1998 star_border 5.7
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In 1935, 99-year-old former slave Shadrach asks to be buried on the soil where he was born to slavery, and that land is owned by the large Dabney family, consisting of Vernon, Trixie and their seven children, and to bury a black man on that land is a violation of strict Virginia law.
Goin' South
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1978 star_border 5.8
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Henry Moon is captured for a capital offense by a posse when his horse quits while trying to escape to Mexico. He finds that there is a post-Civil War law in the small town that any single or widowed woman can save him from the gallows by marrying him.
The Summer of Ben Tyler
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1996 star_border 5.7
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Set early during World War II, the film has a lot to say about love, honor, relationships, commitment and power. Keeping their promise to their dying black housekeeper, a white family takes in her teenage mentally-slow son. The movie details the joys and conflicts the family faces as a result of their decision.
Casual Sex?
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1988 star_border 5.2
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Two girls go away to a holiday resort looking for a change of pace, hoping to meet some nice men for a change. They discover that they can't find the perfect man, and this forces them to reconsider their attitudes to men in general.
Rented Lips
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1987 star_border 4.2
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A documentary filmmaker, who has spent the last 15 years making films like "Aluminum: Our Shiny Friend," is finally given the chance to make the documentary on Indian farming he has always wanted to. The catch? He must simultaneously direct a porn film. But as he tries to make the porn film, which he turns into a musical called "Halloween in the Barracks," he must deal with a temperamental actor, a fundamentalist preacher, and other obstacles.
Next Door
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1994 star_border 4.5
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Matt and Karen have inconsiderate neighbours whose lawn sprinkler drowns their flowers. A feud errupts and a series of tit-for-tat actions develop and escalate.
Noah
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1998 star_border 5.4
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In order to save his family, a contractor must construct an ark before a massive flood hits his home town.
Oliver Twist
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1997 star_border 6.2
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Charles Dickens' classical story about the young orphan boy in 1837 England is again re-filmed in grand fashion. Richard Dreyfuss portrays Fagin, the unscrupulous leader of the young pick-pockets Oliver (Alex Trench) initially falls in with after escaping from a sweat shop and going to London to find his relatives. Written by John Sacksteder
Barney's Great Adventure
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1998 star_border 4.3
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Mom and dad dump son Cody, daughter Abby, her best friend Marcella and a baby on the farm with Grandpa and Grandma. Purple dinosaur Barney soon appears to entertain the kids, and when a large colorful egg deposited on a farm by a shooting star is accidentally carted off, Barney and the kids start their chase for it.
Monday Night Mayhem
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event2002 star_border 5.3
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The early years of a television sports powerhouse are chronicled as ABC becomes a player in the NFL coverage by putting their full resources into a major showcase. Executive Roone Arledge recruits former Dallas Cowboys quarterback 'Dandy' Don Meredith, Keith Jackson, and the combative Howard Cosell as commentators for the broadcasts, which become funny, odd trio events to millions of viewers. Jackson departs the show after the first year to take over the network's focus on college football, and former New York Giants star Frank Gifford takes his place, ruffling Cosell's feathers. Then things get really crazy!
Border Line
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1999 star_border 4
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Allison Westlin, a Los Angeles-based immigration lawyer and single mother, investigates a murder with the help of private detective Mario Sparks and INS officer Dan McIvers. As the investigation continues and Westlin uncovers a human-smuggling ring, Westlin's nanny Maria jeopardizes her life to protect Westlin and her daughter.
Dark Matter
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event2008 star_border 5.5
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Liu Xing a brilliant Chinese student, arrives at University and makes the transition into American life with the help of Joanna Silver. Xing joins a cosmology group working to create a model of the origins of the universe. He is obsessed with the study of dark matter and a theory that conflicts with the group's model. When he begins to make breakthroughs of his own, he encounters obstructions.
A Chance of Snow
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1998 star_border 5.6
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After signing her divorce papers, a woman heads out to her Minnesota airport with her sister and daughters for a flight to her mother's home. At the airport, her sportswriter husband shows up to catch a flight to Miami to visit his father. When a blizzard hits, the two suddenly find they have time to re-evaluate their relationship with assistance from an older couple.
Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1988 star_border 7.4
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Pee-wee Herman and pals are celebrating Christmas in the Playhouse in their own creative ways: Pee-wee makes a list for Santa Claus 1.5 miles long, teaches Little Richard how to ice skate, goes for a sleigh ride with Magic Johnson, enslaves Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello into making Christmas cards, receives a long phone call from Dinah Shore, even has more musical fun with k.d. lang, the Del Rubio Triplettes and Charo! Finally, Big Red arrives and announces that Pee-wee's Christmas list was so big, he didn't have enough presents for all the children of the world. Will Pee-wee follow his own advice and help others?
The Adventures of Ociee Nash
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event2004 star_border 5
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Ociee Nash, a spirited nine-year-old from rural Mississippi, is sent to live with her Aunt Mamie to become a "young lady". Her true bravery, character, and spirit are put to the test.
Harlan County War
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event2000 star_border 7.3
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A Kentucky woman whose mine-worker husband is nearly killed in a cave-in, and whose father is slowly dying of black lung disease, joins the picket lines for a long, violent strike.
Eerie, Indiana
Original Music Composer (1 ep.)
event1991 star_border 7.5
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Teenage weirdness investigator Marshall Teller adventures through his new small-town home with his friends, geeky Simon Holmes and mysterious Dash X.
Broken Trail
Original Music Composer (2 ep.)
event2006 star_border 6.9
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The story is about an aging cowboy and his nephew who transport 500 horses from Oregon to Wyoming to sell them to the British Army. Along the way, their simple horse drive is complicated when they rescue five Chinese girls from a slave trader, saving them from a life of prostitution and indentured servitude. Compelled to do the right thing, they take the girls with them as they continue their perilous trek across the frontier, followed by a vicious gang of killers sent by the whorehouse madam who originally paid for the girls.
Broken Trail weaves together two historical events: the British buying horses in the American West in the late 19th century and Chinese women being transported from the West Coast to the interior to serve as prostitutes.
Stuart Little: The Animated Series
Music (13 ep.)
event2003 star_border 4.9
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Stuart Little: The Animated Series is an American animated television series, loosely based on the E. B. White children's book Stuart Little and more based on the live action movie adaptations. It was produced by Red Wagon Productions and Sony Pictures Television for the HBO Family digital cable television channel, and aired for just one 13-episode season in 2003.
Tall Tales & Legends
Music (2 ep.)
event1985 star_border 5.4
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An anthology series that showcases various mythical characters and incidents throughout history.
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