Network: CBS.
Episodes: 260 (half-hour).
Seasons: 11.
TV show dates:
November 14, 1988 -- May 18, 1998;
September 27. 2018 -- December 20, 2018.
Series status: Cancelled; Revived; Cancelled.
Performers include: Candice Bergen, Grant Shaud, Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto, Charles Kimbrough, Robert Pastorelli, Pat Corley, Ritch Brinkley, Lily Tomlin, John Hostetter, Garry Marshall, Nik Dodani, Jake McDorman, Adan Rocha. and Tyne Daly.
TV show description:
In the original series, recovering alcoholic Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) is a tough investigative reporter and news anchor for a national TV newsmagazine named Fyi.
She works alongside stuffy and old-style newsman Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough), and her best friend, insecure undercover reporter Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto). Young and neurotic Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud) becomes the show's producer...
Episodes: 260 (half-hour).
Seasons: 11.
TV show dates:
November 14, 1988 -- May 18, 1998;
September 27. 2018 -- December 20, 2018.
Series status: Cancelled; Revived; Cancelled.
Performers include: Candice Bergen, Grant Shaud, Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto, Charles Kimbrough, Robert Pastorelli, Pat Corley, Ritch Brinkley, Lily Tomlin, John Hostetter, Garry Marshall, Nik Dodani, Jake McDorman, Adan Rocha. and Tyne Daly.
TV show description:
In the original series, recovering alcoholic Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) is a tough investigative reporter and news anchor for a national TV newsmagazine named Fyi.
She works alongside stuffy and old-style newsman Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough), and her best friend, insecure undercover reporter Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto). Young and neurotic Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud) becomes the show's producer...
- 5/11/2019
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies that have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. Ritch Brinkley (1944-2015) - Actor. Best known for his roles on TV's Murphy Brown and Twin Peaks, he is also memorable as the captain in Cabin Boy (see below) and also appears in Rhinestone, Breakdown, The Man With One Red Shoe and Big Business. He died on November 5. (THR) Betsy Drake (1957-2015) - Actress. She starred in Every Girl Should Be Married (see below) and Room for One More, all with then-husband Cary Grant...
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- 12/2/2015
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
Ritch Brinkley, who played Carl Wishnitski, the burly cameraman who was lovingly obsessed with Candice Bergen’s character on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown, died Nov. 5, his family announced. He was 71. The bearded Brinkley also was known for his role as William the Cook on the 1987–90 CBS series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman. And on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, he portrayed prosecutor Daryl Lodwick in a couple of episodes of that ABC drama. Brinkley was quite funny as Carl, who would gladly lay down his life for his beloved anchorwoman, on 28 episodes of the acclaimed
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- 11/14/2015
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ritch Brinkley, who played Carl Wishnitski, the burly cameraman who was lovingly obsessed with Candice Bergen’s character on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown, died on Nov. 5, his family announced. He was 71.
The bearded Brinkley also was known for his role as William the Cook on the 1987–90 CBS series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman. And on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, he portrayed prosecutor Daryl Lodwick in a couple of episodes of that ABC drama. Brinkley was quite funny as Carl, who would gladly lay down his life for his beloved anchorwoman, on ...
The bearded Brinkley also was known for his role as William the Cook on the 1987–90 CBS series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman. And on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, he portrayed prosecutor Daryl Lodwick in a couple of episodes of that ABC drama. Brinkley was quite funny as Carl, who would gladly lay down his life for his beloved anchorwoman, on ...
- 11/14/2015
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Ritch Brinkley, who played Carl Wishnitski, the burly cameraman who was lovingly obsessed with Candice Bergen’s character on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown, died on Nov. 5, his family announced. He was 71.
The bearded Brinkley also was known for his role as William the Cook on the 1987–90 CBS series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman. And on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, he portrayed prosecutor Daryl Lodwick in a couple of episodes of that ABC drama. Brinkley was quite funny as Carl, who would gladly lay down his life for his beloved anchorwoman, on ...
The bearded Brinkley also was known for his role as William the Cook on the 1987–90 CBS series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman. And on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, he portrayed prosecutor Daryl Lodwick in a couple of episodes of that ABC drama. Brinkley was quite funny as Carl, who would gladly lay down his life for his beloved anchorwoman, on ...
- 11/14/2015
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The wide-open West is a land of menace once again in the simple-minded but suspense-filled "Breakdown". A strong opening weekend is a given, but the Paramount thriller won't stay on top long in the presummer shakedown.
A serviceable money-maker from husband-and-wife producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis and Spelling Films, Jonathan Mostow's feature debut owes a lot to such classics of the genre as "Deliverance", "Straw Dogs", "The Vanishing" and the TV movie "Duel".
"Breakdown" does not approach those films, however, as it exists primarily to exploit one's paranoid fears of random crime in an isolated locale. Characterization is kept to a minimum, while heroes and villains are unduly bland.
One can't avoid rooting for headliner Kurt Russell, but the plot predictably escalates to "Road Warrior" proportions in the climax and the everyman hero must go into overdrive.
Jeff (Russell) and Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) are motoring from Massachusetts to San Diego when they stop for gas in the middle of nowhere. A tall, scary local (M.C. Gainey) in an old pickup admires their shiny Grand Cherokee. Dull but likable, Jeff and Amy cruise out of town, but they don't get far.
Their vehicle disabled, the still-happy leads hail a friendly trucker (J.T. Walsh). He offers to drive them both to a phone, but after hesitating, Amy goes and Jeff stays with the car. When she does not return, he gets anxious, fixes the problem himself and drives to the nearest town.
When there's no sign of Amy, Jeff starts to panic. He harasses the owner of a diner and then hits the road in search of Walsh's truck. Jeff finds him, chases him and confronts him. No Amy. The sheriff (Ritch Brinkley) shows up, but Walsh's character pretends to be innocent. Going crazy, outsider Jeff is advised to calm down, but he is now suspicious of everyone.
Throughout the movie, Russell's character tries to do the right thing, and when he must act, he uses his head. It doesn't take him long to find out that Walsh is the head of a rural-route death squad that preys on out-of-towners with cool cars. Amy is now a hostage, and the kidnappers -- including Gainey's malevolent cowboy and Jack Noseworthy as a young tough -- want a pile of dough.
There are some pedestrian pleasures on the way -- such as Jeff's desperate ploy to scam his tormentors -- but no big payoff other than a fairly routine showdown that involves crowd-pleasing vehicular and cliffhanging thrills.
Credit Russell for steering this star vehicle in the right direction with a restrained performance.
Technically, the film is tops, including Doug Milsome's western-like wide-screen imagery and Victoria Paul's dusty sets and locales. Mostow (Showtime's "Flight of Black Angel") is more successful with the film's earlier sections, when there are still mysteries to reveal and the atmosphere of dread is resonant, but overall he gets the job done. Basil Poledouris' bombastic score, unfortunately, is too often a major distraction in otherwise exciting sequences.
BREAKDOWN
Paramount Pictures
in association with Dino De Laurentis
and Spelling Films
A Jonathan Mostow film
Director Jonathan Mostow
Producers Martha De Laurentiis,
Dino De Laurentiis
Writers Jonathan Mostow, Sam Montgomery
Director of photography Doug Milsome
Production designer Victoria Paul
Music Basil Poledouris
Editors Derek Brechin, Kevin Stitt
Costume designer Terry Dresbach
Casting Carol Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff Kurt Russell
Red Barr J.T. Walsh
Amy Kathleen Quinlan
Earl M.C. Gainey
Billy Jack Noseworthy
Sheriff Boyd Ritch Brinkley
Running time -- 95 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
A serviceable money-maker from husband-and-wife producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis and Spelling Films, Jonathan Mostow's feature debut owes a lot to such classics of the genre as "Deliverance", "Straw Dogs", "The Vanishing" and the TV movie "Duel".
"Breakdown" does not approach those films, however, as it exists primarily to exploit one's paranoid fears of random crime in an isolated locale. Characterization is kept to a minimum, while heroes and villains are unduly bland.
One can't avoid rooting for headliner Kurt Russell, but the plot predictably escalates to "Road Warrior" proportions in the climax and the everyman hero must go into overdrive.
Jeff (Russell) and Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) are motoring from Massachusetts to San Diego when they stop for gas in the middle of nowhere. A tall, scary local (M.C. Gainey) in an old pickup admires their shiny Grand Cherokee. Dull but likable, Jeff and Amy cruise out of town, but they don't get far.
Their vehicle disabled, the still-happy leads hail a friendly trucker (J.T. Walsh). He offers to drive them both to a phone, but after hesitating, Amy goes and Jeff stays with the car. When she does not return, he gets anxious, fixes the problem himself and drives to the nearest town.
When there's no sign of Amy, Jeff starts to panic. He harasses the owner of a diner and then hits the road in search of Walsh's truck. Jeff finds him, chases him and confronts him. No Amy. The sheriff (Ritch Brinkley) shows up, but Walsh's character pretends to be innocent. Going crazy, outsider Jeff is advised to calm down, but he is now suspicious of everyone.
Throughout the movie, Russell's character tries to do the right thing, and when he must act, he uses his head. It doesn't take him long to find out that Walsh is the head of a rural-route death squad that preys on out-of-towners with cool cars. Amy is now a hostage, and the kidnappers -- including Gainey's malevolent cowboy and Jack Noseworthy as a young tough -- want a pile of dough.
There are some pedestrian pleasures on the way -- such as Jeff's desperate ploy to scam his tormentors -- but no big payoff other than a fairly routine showdown that involves crowd-pleasing vehicular and cliffhanging thrills.
Credit Russell for steering this star vehicle in the right direction with a restrained performance.
Technically, the film is tops, including Doug Milsome's western-like wide-screen imagery and Victoria Paul's dusty sets and locales. Mostow (Showtime's "Flight of Black Angel") is more successful with the film's earlier sections, when there are still mysteries to reveal and the atmosphere of dread is resonant, but overall he gets the job done. Basil Poledouris' bombastic score, unfortunately, is too often a major distraction in otherwise exciting sequences.
BREAKDOWN
Paramount Pictures
in association with Dino De Laurentis
and Spelling Films
A Jonathan Mostow film
Director Jonathan Mostow
Producers Martha De Laurentiis,
Dino De Laurentiis
Writers Jonathan Mostow, Sam Montgomery
Director of photography Doug Milsome
Production designer Victoria Paul
Music Basil Poledouris
Editors Derek Brechin, Kevin Stitt
Costume designer Terry Dresbach
Casting Carol Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff Kurt Russell
Red Barr J.T. Walsh
Amy Kathleen Quinlan
Earl M.C. Gainey
Billy Jack Noseworthy
Sheriff Boyd Ritch Brinkley
Running time -- 95 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 4/25/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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