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With its 26th season on the run, NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, has already become one of the longest-running dramas in the history of television. Well, this only makes us wonder about the amount of net worth amassed by the show’s lead star Mariska Hargitay. Appearing as Olivia Benson, Hargitay has earned millions from the show—there’s a reason she has been agreeing to those contract renewals.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay | Credit: NBC

But while we all know that Mariska Hargitay has created a colossal empire out of her role as Olivia Benson, her combined net worth with her husband Peter Hermann makes it even more staggering. Guess how much the duo’s worth?

Mariska Hargitay’s Salary From Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Central to the success of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Mariska Hargitay, who has brilliantly portrayed Olivia Benson,...

Peter Werner, an Oscar-winning director known for his work behind the camera on such TV series as “Moonlighting,” “A Different World” and “Law & Order: Svu,” has died at age 76.

His brother Tom Werner, co-founder of The Carsey-Werner Company, said via an email to The Hollywood Reporter that Peter died Tuesday morning in Wilmington, North Carolina, of a torn aorta.

Born in New York on Jan. 17, 1947, Werner earned his B.A. from Dartmouth College, his M.A. from Antioch University and an Mfa from the American Film Institute.

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Lance Reddick Remembered by James Gunn, Ben Stiller, Wendell Pierce: ‘A Man of Great Strength and Grace’

While still a student at AFI, Peter won an Oscar for his 1976 live-action short film “Region of Ice,” which was based on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story and starred Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan.

The next year, he began his long and illustrious...

Peter Werner, the Oscar-winning director known for his television work that spanned five decades and included helming episodes of such popular series as Moonlighting, A Different World, Justified and Law & Order: Svu, has died. He was 76.

Werner died Tuesday morning in Wilmington, North Carolina, his younger brother, Tom Werner (producer on The Cosby Show, Roseanne, That ’70s Show, The Conners), told The Hollywood Reporter. “He had a torn aorta that the doctors weren’t able to repair. So sudden,” he wrote in an email.

As a student project while attending the American Film Institute, Peter Werner directed the 1976 short film In the Region of Ice, which was based on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story and starred Fionnula Flanagan. The project won the Oscar for live-action short film.

His career kicked off from there, with Werner helming a 1977 episode of Family. The ABC drama counted Mike Nichols and Aaron Spelling as executive producers.

Peter Werner, Emmy-nominated TV director who won a Best Short Film Oscar in 1977, died suddenly this morning in Wilmington, Nc from heart complications following a torn aorta. He was 76.

Born in New York City in January 1947, Werner graduated with Masters degrees in education and documentary filmmaking. He started off as a Vista Volunteer in downtown Detroit before co-founding a Quaker high school in Deerfield, Ma. While teaching in Vermont, he met Frances Flaherty, widow of Robert Flaherty, known as the father of the documentary film.

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She became Werner’s friend and mentor, and he made a documentary about her that aired on PBS. It was produced by Werner’s younger brother, Tom Werner,...

Lifetime has unveiled the premiere dates for their robust slate of winter movies. From music icons to deadly cheerleaders to the daughter of a notorious mob boss, the network isn’t holding back when it comes to the drama — some based on true stories, some not — for 2019.

Highlights of their slate include Love You to Death (January 26) starring Marcia Gay Harden, which is based on the true story of a mother and daughter who are nothing like they seem, their tumultuous relationship ending in a brutal murder. Also based on a true story is Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story (January 19) starring Christina Ricci. The movie is inspired by Nellie Bly’s undercover stay at the impenetrable Women’s Lunatic Asylum. For something a little lighter, there’s Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You (February 16) which follows the personal and professional journey of the titular Grease icon. Lifetime...

From VancouverFilm.Net, here is the Vancouver Film Production Update for October 2017 including "Skyscraper", "Siren", "Colony" and a whole lot more:

Features:

A Dogs Way Home

Local Production Company: Singularity Productions

Director: Charles Martin Smith

Producer: Gavin Polone

Oct 16/17 - Dec 15/17

Eggplant Emoji

Local Production Company: Eggplant Productions

Director: Jake Szymanski

Producer: Ross Dinerstein

Aug 21/17 - Oct 05/17

Elsewhere

Local Production Company: Elsewhere Productions

Director: Hernan Jimenez Garcia

Sep 11/17 - Oct 11/17

Nicole

Local Production Company: True Meaning Productions

Director: Marc Lawrence

Oct 23/17 - Jan 19/18

Skyscraper

Local Production Company: Main Mast Production - Can, Inc

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurter

Aug 14/17 - Nov 17/17

Untitled Robert Zemeckis Project

Local Production Company: Stiletto Cinema Partners

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Producer: Robert Zemeckis, Cherylanne Martin

Aug 11/17 - Oct 19/17

TV Series:

A Series Of Unfortunate Events ~ Season 2

Local Production Company: Olaf II Productions Inc

Director: Loni Peristere, Allan Arkush

Apr 17/17 - Apr 20/18

Arrow - Season 6

Local Production Company:...

Recently, CBS dropped the new,official synopsis/description for their upcoming "Limitless" episode 15 of season 1. The episode is entitled, "Undercover!" And it turns out that we're going to see some very interesting and shocking stuff take place as Another female FBI agent combines forces with Brian, so he can come up with a way to keep her real identity a secret. Meanwhile, we'll see a shocking move get executed by Sands to halt the Senator Morra investigation, and more! In the new, 15th episode press release: Sparks Fly Between Brian And An Undercover FBI Agent As They Race To Finish Her Case In The Field Before Her Real Identity Is Exposed, On "Limitless," Tuesday, Feb. 16. Press release number 2: After a list with the real identities of undercover bureau operatives leaks, Brian is going to form a personal connection with FBI Agent, Lucy Church (Christina Vidal), who is a tenacious rule-breaker,...

Wesley Mead Dec 20, 2016

Looking for some TV to fill you with festive cheer? Here are the next 20 episodes in our list of the top 100 Xmas TV episodes ever...

This article first appeared in December 2015. Read entries 100 - 81 on this list, here.

See related Alien: Covenant - its new title's meaning & other questions

Since the medium’s infancy, viewers have enjoyed sharing holidays with their favourite television characters. We grow invested in our friends on screen over the years; spending Christmas with them is a rite of passage, a chance for us to share tradition from our world with the fictional ones we see on screen. Some shows embrace the season wholeheartedly, characters in good spirits and enjoying the trappings of the season; others skew a little darker, bringing the more oppressive, burdensome side of the holidays to life. Either way, Christmas episodes tend to demonstrate the strengths of our favourite series,...

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Looking for some TV to fill you with festive cheer? Here are the next 20 episodes in our list of the top 100 Xmas TV episodes ever...

Read entries 100 - 81 on this list, here.

Since the medium’s infancy, viewers have enjoyed sharing holidays with their favourite television characters. We grow invested in our friends on screen over the years; spending Christmas with them is a rite of passage, a chance for us to share tradition from our world with the fictional ones we see on screen. Some shows embrace the season wholeheartedly, characters in good spirits and enjoying the trappings of the season; others skew a little darker, bringing the more oppressive, burdensome side of the holidays to life. Either way, Christmas episodes tend to demonstrate the strengths of our favourite series, and it’s long been a festive ritual of mine to wheel out old DVD sets...

Recently, CBS served up the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Limitless" episode 8 of season 1. The episode is entitled, "When Pirates Pirate Pirates," and it turns out that we're going to see some pretty interesting stuff go down as a big Naz secret gets exposed after she gets detained, and more. In the new, 6th episode press release: When Naz Is Detained On Suspicion Of Treason, Brian And Rebecca's Efforts To Clear Her Name Reveal A Family Secret She's Hiding From The FBI, On "Limitless," Tuesday, Nov. 10. Press release number 2: When Naz gets detained on suspicion of funding terrorism, Brian and Rebecca's efforts to clear her name, will lead them to Naz's daughter, Ava (Michelle Veintimilla), who will reveal a family secret Naz is keeping from the FBI. The episode was written by Kari Drake, and it was directed by Peter Werner. Episode 8 is set to air on Tuesday night,...

Recently, CBS served up the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Blue Bloods" episode 6 of season 6. The episode is entitled, "Rush To Judgement," and it turns out that we're going to see some very interesting stuff go down as Jamie sparks up a Five-o investigation on him after getting caught possibly doing some illegal stuff on camera, and more. In the new,6th episode press release: Internal Affairs Investigates Jamie After He's Caught On Camera Committing What Could Be Perceived As Police Brutality, On "Blue Bloods," Friday, Oct. 30. Press release number 2: When Jamie will get caught on camera committing what could be construed as police brutality at an anti-policy demonstration, Frank will be forced to turn the case over to Internal Affairs. Also, Danny and Baez are going to investigate a rape case involving a civil rights attorney who claims the charges were drummed up in retaliation for the investigation into Jaime.

Justified, Season 6, Episode 6: “Alive Day”

Written by Benjamin Cavell and Jennifer Kennedy

Directed by Peter Werner

Airs Tuesdays at 10pm Et on FX

“Wonderful things can happen when you sow seeds of distrust in a garden of assholes.”

- Raylan Givens, via something he read

“Alive Day” revisits one of Justified’s core themes, as borrowed from Elmore Leonard: by and large, criminals are not that bright. Even the brighter ones – like Avery Markham and Boyd Crowder, for instance – tend to have Achilles’ heels, often in the form of plain old hubris. To its benefit, “Alive Day” finds a novel pivot point for this theme that is somewhat unlike anything the series has attempted before. That slight shift in perspective is represented by a somewhat unlikely figure: Mundo, a.k.a. Choo-Choo, as played by Duke Davis Roberts.

More broadly speaking, “Alive Day” does more than any episode...

After Ava’s day out in last week’s episode demonstrated just how precisely Justified can orchestrate chaos, “Alive Day” takes a different tact entirely. Once, Raylan used something as structured as the U.N. to describe all the assholes he was presently having to deal with. “Wonderful things can happen when you sow seeds of distrust in a garden of assholes,” he says of Avery’s bunch tonight, and the change in collective noun is reflective of what kind of hour “Alive Day” is. Compared to the rigor of Season 6 so far, “Alive Day” is a looser episode of Justified than we seen recently. Even when the final 10 minutes of mayhem due arrive, it’s an intentionally messy affair.

It’s in the little details, like Raylan awkwardly framed parallel to the corner of Ava’s kitchen, or the dramatic zoom on Rachel late in the hour, that things just seem a little “off.

Justified, Season 5, Episode 8: “Whistle Past the Graveyard” Written by Chris Provenzano Directed by Peter Werner Airs Tuesdays at 10pm Et on FX - Take what you can get: “Whistle Past the Graveyard” doesn’t fix what’s wrong with Season 5 of Justified, but it at least has the decency to provide a few jolts of the series’ trademark wit, character, and crackerjack pacing, which is a little more than could be said of last week’s outing.

The three main stories of the season represented this week (Art’s relationship with Raylan isn’t referenced) could not feel more segregated right now, which will probably be rectified before long, but it remains a persistent thorn in the side. The fact that series pro Chris Provenzano (“Raw Deal,” “Decoy”) takes the reigns this week but can’t marshal a whole lot of forwardmomentum is a troubling sign. Of the three,...

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t watched this week’s episode of Justified, “Whistle Past the Graveyard” written by Chris Provenzano and directed by Peter Werner, stop reading now. As he’ll do throughout the season, showrunner Graham Yost takes us inside the writers room.

Entertainment Weekly: Did you know at the start of the season that Wendy (Alicia Witt) was the mother of Kendal (Jacob Lofland), not his sister?

Graham Yost: Absolutely no idea.

Really?

It’s like last year when we were talking, and you said, “Did you know that Shelby was gonna be Drew Thompson?” and I said,...

The Blacklist, Season 1, Episode 15: “The Judge”

Directed by Peter Werner

Written by Jonathon Shapiro and Lukas Reiter

Airs Mondays at 10pm Et on NBC

The Blacklist is a show that manages, somehow, to have a lot going on throughout and still feel astoundingly empty. As with most things The Blacklist does, this in no way works to its benefit. More and more, it seems that the show has an abundance of style, but little in the way of substance. On the base level, this episode works, but it’s like drinking salt water: the initial satisfaction and thirst quenching eventually leads to physical sickness the longer time goes on. In the case of The Blacklist, “The Judge” satisfies, but the foundation of the episode crumbles the more that time and thought are weighted against it.

“The Judge” does some things right. In fact, that’s the point: things are done right,...

Grimm Episode 310

“Eyes of the Beholder”

Written By: Thomas Ian Griffith

Directed By: Peter Werner

Original Airdate: 10 January 2014

In This Episode…

High schooler Jared is flirting with Joy, his girlfriend and waitress at a diner on the “rough side of town.” Her boss is getting annoyed so Jared heads out to wait for Joy at her house. In the parking lot, he sees a patron and his girlfriend getting the shit beat out of them by three thugs. Terrified, Jared hops in his car (his sister’s car actually) and races from the scene. Having seen about a thousand episodes of Law & Order, this seems like your basic set up for a gangbanger story line.

The guy, Alonzo, is beaten to death and his girlfriend Mercedes is in critical condition when she is rushed to the ER. Nick and Hank catch the case (of course) and talk to Joy. Alonzo...

Grimm, Season 3, Episode 10, “Eyes of the Beholder”

Written by Thomas Ian Griffith

Directed by Peter Werner

Airs Fridays at 9pm Est on NBC

This week, on Grimm: Hank gets shot down, Rosalee reveals her wild past, and Juliette is a badass

Grimm thankfully takes a week off from its European drama with “Eyes of the Beholder”, an entertaining installment that improves significantly upon last week’s “Red Menace” by focusing on only two storylines. This week’s episode wisely moves Adalind offscreen and keeps Capt. Renard and Sgt. Wu on the sidelines, giving them a few entertaining moments, but allowing the audience to spend enough time with its new(ish) characters, like Hank’s love interest, Zuri, and Juliette’s former roommate, Alicia, that we actually care what happens to them.

There are several lingering questions about the world Grimm inhabits, and the audience is reminded of one of...

Elementary, Season 1, Episode 21: “A Landmark Story”

Directed by Peter Werner

Written by Corinne Brinkerhoff

Airs Thursdays at 10pm (Et) on CBS

It has been several months since Elementary viewers were teased with the big storyline of the season: the introduction of Moriarty. In amidst the murders, banter and the logical conclusions, none of the cases have brought Holmes to same focus and drive as the capture of serial killer (and Moriarty stooge) Sebastian Moran. Now, with four episodes left to go, writer Brinkerhoff revisits Holmes’ personal quest against the killer of his former love, Irene Adler.

The death of a philanthropist guides the incarcerated Moran to feed Holmes the breadcrumbs that will lead to the mysterious Moriarty. Guest star Vinnie Jones is as intimidating as he was in his first appearance; now a terrifying presence behind bars, his association with Moriarty has essentially made him a bargaining chip for Holmes.

Justified, Season 4, Episode 6: “Foot Chase”

Written by Dave Andron and Ingrid Escajeda

Directed by Peter Werner

Airs Tuesdays at 10pm Et on FX

Justified is generally wonderful at balancing a ludicrous array of plots and characters, but “Foot Chase” demonstrates that the show can;t function properly without Raylan at its center. With too much time spent in the company of peripheral characters, some of whom we’ve only just met, and without tying it back to Raylan directly enough (at lest, just yet), “Foot Chase” is either a move-the-pieces episode that will take us where we need to go, plot-wise, or just an odd set of digressions. Only the coming weeks will tell which.

The episode opens promisingly enough, with Art tossing out roughly two dozen awesomely cringeworthy foot puns, and Raylan heckling Shelby’s deputies relentlessly while he attempts to collect evidence that will lead him to the culprit.

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t watched this week’s episode of Justified, “Foot Chase,” written by Dave Andron and Ingrid Escajeda and directed by Peter Werner, stop reading now. Boyd and Ava took a major step in their relationship, Ava scored them an invitation to a swinger party to help their hunt for Drew Thompson, and Shelby and Raylan teamed up to find Josiah. As he’ll do throughout the season, showrunner Graham Yost takes us inside the writers room.

Entertainment Weekly: Let’s go right to Boyd’s proposal.

Graham Yost: There are a bunch of pivotal episodes this season,...

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t watched this week’s episode of Justified, stop reading now. Joelle Carter takes inside the moment Boyd (Walton Goggins) and Ava fans have been waiting for, and teases what’s next (swinger party!). For exec producer Graham Yost’s weekly postmortem, click here.

Entertainment Weekly: The engagement scene made me tear up. Do you all toast after filming a scene like that?

Joelle Carter: I think we were toasting tea and coffee because it was so cold and in the middle of the night. [Laughs] Ingrid Escajeda, , was like, “It’s everything that I imagined.

Justified, Season 4, Episode 5: “Kin”

Written by Fred Golan and VJ Boyd

Directed by Peter Werner

Airs Tuesdays at 10pm Et on FX

As a preface, can we just…? Along with the outstanding regular cast (and an appearance by underrated ex-regular Natalie Zea), “Kin” finds time for past guests Stephen Tobolowsky, Patton Oswalt, Jim Beaver, Romy Rosemont, Jere Burns, and Raymond J. Barry, adds the great Gerald McRaney, and even carves out a little for Jacob Pitts to actually get some substantial material. It’s taken a while, but finally, another drama series can challenge The Good Wife for the most ludicrously stacked cast on television. (All the Deadwood alum shouldn’t be a surprise given Olyphant’s producer status, but that doesn’t temper the greatness. Too bad John Hawkes will be busy courting Oscars for the foreseeable future.) If “Kin” went and trotted out that cast list and...

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t seen this week’s episode of Justified, “Kin,” written by Fred Golan and VJ Boyd and directed by Peter Werner, stop reading now. Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) and Boyd (Walton Goggins) came face-to-face for the first time this season in the hills while on the hunt for Drew Thompson, Theo Tonin’s associate Nick Augustine (Mike O’Malley) made his debut, and we learned that it’s Shelby (Jim Beaver) who’s hoping to use Ellen May (Abby Miller) to bring down Boyd. As he’ll do throughout the season, showrunner Graham Yost takes us inside the writers room.

Elementary, Season 1, Episode 10: “The Leviathan”

Directed by Peter Werner

Written by Corinne Brinkerhoff and Craig Sweeny

Airs Thursdays at 10pm (Et) on CBS.

Starring Jonny Lee Miller (Sherlock Holmes), Lucy Liu (Joan Watson), Aidan Quinn (Captain Gregson), Jon Michael Hill (Detective Bell). Guest starring Freda Foh Sheh (Mary Watson), Gbenga Akinnagbe (Jeremy Lopez) and Steve Park (Oren Watson).

Since Elementary premiered back in September, it has been going from strength to strength in terms of its character development as well as the complexity of its cases – it is needless to say that humble pie has been well and truly eaten. Now, as we approach the end of the year, we see the consultant detective and his sober companion tackle a brilliant case.

“The Leviathan” is the name of a super-safe that has been hacked, resulting in a multi-million dollar robbery. In the unusually long cold opening, we see Holmes...

Grimm Episode 210

“The Hour of Death”

Written By: Sean Calder

Directed By: Peter Werner

Original Airdate: 2 November 2012

In This Episode...

Nick and Hank are investigating the disappearance of a teenager, Donna. They question Adrian Zane, who worked in the same office as Donna. He claims that the photos Nick saw him burning were not of Donna, but of his ex, Jennifer. They bring him down to the station but find no evidence on which to hold him. Adrian is a Wesen, and he recognizes Nick as a Grimm, which throws him into a fit, screaming that Nick is going to kill him. Nick believes Adrian is guilty, so he has Monroe whip up a truth serum in hopes that will get him to spill. He breaks into Adrian’s house armed with a crossbow, but finds someone has beat him there - Adrian is dead, tortured to death. Hank shows...

Grimm Episode 2.10 “The Hour of Death”

Written by: Sean Calder

Directed by: Peter Werner

Airs Friday 9.00pm Est on NBC

I’m just going to repeat a line from my review of last week’s Grimm

‘Is Ryan Smulson, the clumsy intern at the station, actually a Wesen mole?’

To which question the answer has to be Damn I’M Good.

Ok, Ryan was a little too obviously fresh-faced and aw-shucks to be believable (also, what police station has interns?) but still – Score one for me.

That said, although the storyline this week, which involved Ryan and another Grimm doing Nick’s job for him, had the benefit of giving David Giuntoli more to do, it wrapped up what was a promising new development way too quickly and neatly for me. According to Grimm lore, Hitler was a Loven and there’s a sense of balance about the discovery that...

Spoiler Alert! This week’s episode of Justified, “Watching the Detectives,” written by exec producer Graham Yost and directed by Peter Werner, found Quarles (Neal McDonough) framing Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) for the execution of Gary (William Ragsdale) on Winona’s lawn, and Sheriff Napier (David Andrews) booking Boyd (Walton Goggins) on trumped-up charges of attempted murder. (Though doesn’t it feel about time for Boyd to blow up something?) As we’ll be doing each week throughout the season, we asked Yost to take us inside the writers room.

Entertainment Weekly: Let’s start with the barroom scene with singer Lynda Kay.

Justified, Season 3, Episode 8: “Watching the Detectives”

Written by Graham Yost

Directed by Peter Werner

Airs Tuesdays at 10pm Et on FX

A curious thing happens on Justified this week: it collides with reality. Sort of.

We’ve now spent 30-some-odd hours enjoying the antics, quips, shootings, and beatdowns handed down by Raylan Givens, sometimes – but not always – in the name of the Us Marshals. For some non-converts, the universe the show has operated in up to now has been too stylized to take seriously. “Watching the Detectives” is almost like a direct riposte to those who can’t get down with the Elmore Leonard aesthetic the show has nailed down so thoroughly: it’s saying, “yes, we can have people look critically at Raylan’s actions, and the fabric of the show will stay intact.” Which, it must be said, it does.

In what feels like the briskest episode in some time,...

Spoiler Alert! This week’s episode of Justified, “The Man Behind the Curtain” written by Ryan Farley and directed by Peter Werner, found Quarles (Neal McDonough) and Boyd (Walton Goggins) backing opposing candidates for Harlan sheriff, and Quarles and Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) trying to out maneuver one another with the arrival of Sammy Tonin (Max Perlich), the son of Quarles’ boss. Since the episode ended with Quarles finding Gary (William Ragsdale), we’ll give him the edge — for now. As we’ll be doing each week throughout the season, we asked exec producer Graham Yost to take us inside the writers room.

Justified, Season 3, Episode 7: “The Man Behind the Curtain”

Written by Ryan Farley

Directed by Peter Werner

Airs Tuesdays at 10pm Et on FX

Justified‘s third season premiere, “The Gunfighter,” promised a different kind of Justified, one with a greater number of characters and interlocking conflicts, while still retaining the show’s patented blend of danger and humor. Thankfully, that’s turning out to be precisely the case. “The Man Behind the Curtain” drags back a pair of previous-season players that might have slipped our minds, while further expanding the show’s already broad universe. At about the same pace as usual, we’ve come to the point in the season in which the episodic elements are being more or less phased out, and that takes some getting adjusted to, but it’s no less satisfying for the shift. (Unfortunately, that also means no “holy shit!” moments this week...

Grimm Episode 111 "Tarantella" Written By: Alan Difiore Directed By: Peter Werner Original Airdate: 10 February 2012 In This Episode... Nick and Hank catch a peculiar case (aren't they all peculiar?) in which the victim has been desiccated. The M.E. shows that the victim has been forced to ingest a highly corrosive spider venom that liquifies their organs, then seems to be drained dry via a bite mark on the torso. The perp lost her finger in one of these attacks, and the prints match crime scenes in Albuquerque and Phoenix. They follow a pattern: three murders in a few days, every five years. The perp is a lovely young wife and mother named Lena. She does...

A Zeigevolk gets more than he bargains for when he attempts to seduce a beautiful woman he meets at an art gallery. His victim turns out to have a nasty habit of sucking her men dry.

Grimm Review, Season 1, Episode 11, “Tarantella”

Written by Alan Difiore and Dan E. Fesman

Directed by Peter Werner

Airs Fridays at 9pm Est on NBC

The art of suspense is about keeping the audience guessing. The writers of Grimm might want to write this on their foreheads in reverse script, so that every sight of their reflection acts as reminder of this simple, but important rule.

An attempt is made at the beginning of this episode to wrongfoot us about what crime Nick might be called upon to investigate. A man and a woman meet in an art gallery (as you do) and proceed to have one of those conversations people only have in books...

Adapting Alex Haley's novel as a mini-series, Mama Flora's Family benefits hugely from a cast of solid character actors, including Cicely Tyson, Queen Latifah and Mario Van Peebles. Clearly not a major blip on the TV radar, the DVD of this 1998 mini-series took its time before being released earlier this year.

The DVD is pretty much bare-bones but frankly, I don't think the behind-the-scenes would have been much more than talking heads expounding on Mr. Haley's commitment to family values. Given the kind of content that graces shelves nowadays, it's a pleasant surprise that Family holds together as well as it does. As Flora (Tyson) looks back on a long life marked by equal parts sorrow and joy, she establishes her role as a matriarch and a savior for her children and grandchildren. The acting and production values are TV-grade and the emotions are writ large - still, overbearing it isn't,...

Exclusive: Lifetime has greenlighted its first project since the recent top regime change at the network, with Nancy Dubuc taking over as president and Gm (and running History). It’s Bond of Silence, an original movie starring Grey’s Anatomy’s Kim Raver. Like most Lifetime original movies, Bond of Silence was inspired by a true story. Raver stars as a widow investigating the death of her husband who was mysteriously murdered while trying to quell a wild teenage house party on New Year's Eve. The movie will be executive produced by Patricia Clifford, Ted Bauman, Michael Jaffe and Howard Braunstein. Peter Werner [...]...

Hallmark Hall of Fame has started production on its next presentation for CBS, "A Dog Named Christmas."

Bruce Greenwood ("Star Trek"), Noel Fisher ("The Riches") and Linda Emond ("Julie & Julia") are set to star in the holiday movie based on Greg Kincaid's novel.

"Christmas" centers on Todd (Fisher), a developmentally challenged young man with a penchant for caring for animals in need. He sets out to convince his parents (Greenwood, Emond) and their rural community to participate in a local shelter's Adopt a Dog for Christmas program, which entails caring for a dog during Christmas week, with the option of keeping the dog for good.

Todd eventually brings home a yellow Labrador he names "Christmas" and bonds with immediately.

Peter Werner ("Front of the Class") is directing "Christmas" from a script by Jenny Wingfield ("The Man in the Moon"). Brent Shields ("The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler") is executive producing the telefilm,...

Patricia Heaton, Treat Williams and Jimmy Wolk have been tapped to star in "Front of the Class," a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation for CBS.

The drama is based on the true story of Brad Cohen (Wolk), who was challenged with Tourette syndrome from a young age but defied all odds to become a gifted teacher. He was ridiculed in school because of his condition, until the school principal used the school assembly to educate the faculty and students about Tourette syndrome.

Heaton and Williams play Brad's parents.

Peter Werner is directing the telefilm, which has begun production in Shreveport, La. The script was written by Tom Rickman based on the book by Cohen with Lisa Wysocky.

Brent Shields and Tim Shriver are the exec producers; Andrew Gottlieb is the producer.

Emmy winner Heaton, who also has appeared in the CBS telefilms "A Town Without Christmas" and "Miracle in the Woods,...