Avalon

The story of several generations of a family, from the arrival of immigrant Sam Krichinsky in the suburb of Baltimore called Avalon, down through his children and grandchildren. The family goes from poverty to prosperity and the world changes around them, but their love and humor hold the family together. Cast: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elizabeth Perkins, Joan Plowright, Aidan Quinn, Leo Fuchs, Eve Gordon, Lou Jacobi, Kevin Pollak, Israel Rubinek. (1990)  Rated PG.

 

Beulah Land

This mini-series centers around the Kendrick family, owners of Beulah Land, and those connected to the plantation by history and fate. It follows Beulah Land from its height of splendor through its destruction in the Civil War and to its rebuilding. Cast: Leslie Ann Warren, Michael Sarrazin, Eddie Albert, Hope Lange, Paul Rudd. Based on the novel by Lonnie Coleman. (1980) Not rated

 

Buffalo Soldiers

A fact-based story about the all-black U.S. Cavalry Troop H, which protected the Western territories in post-Civil War times. The story focuses on the troops’ attempts to capture an Apache warrior, Vittorio, who slaughters the settlers in New Mexico. The film examines the racial tensions that existed between the black soldiers and some of the white soldiers, and the truths about the Indian invaders. Cast: Danny Glover, Bob Gunton, Carl Lumbly, Glynn Turman, Mykelti Williamson. (Made for TV 1997)  Rated G.

 

The Cheap Detective

Neil Simon wrote this tale of a worldly, cynical gumshoe who takes on San Francisco, thugs, crooks, Nazis, femme fatales and the Golden Gate Bridge in this tribute to Bogie and the Hammett/Chandler school of hard-boiled detectives. Cast: Peter Falk, Ann-Margret, Eileen Brennan, Sid Caesar, Stockard Channing, James Coco, Dom DeLuise, Abe Vigoda, Paul Williams, Nicol Williamson. (1978) Rated PG

 

Hanover Street

An American bomber pilot falls in love with a British nurse, and then must escort her husband on a mission behind enemy lines. Cast: Harrison Ford, Lesley-Anne Down, Christopher Plummer, Alec McCowen, Richard Masur, Michael Sacks. (1979) Rated PG

In His Father’s Shoes

After his father’s death a young boy is able to travel back in time wearing his father’s shoes and learns of his father’s childhood. Cast: Louis Gossett Jr., Robert Richard, Barbara Eve Harris. (1997) Rated PG

Jakob the Liar

In Nazi-occupied Poland a poor Jewish cafe owner invents fictitious news bulletins about Allied advances against the Nazis. These lies keep hope and humor alive among the ghetto inhabitants. Cast: Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, Michael Jeter, Armin Mueller0Stahl, Liev Schreiber, Bob Balaban. (2000) Rated PG-13.

 

 

Lovejoy: the Complete First Season

Lovejoy, an antiques dealer and part-time detective, scours the murky salesrooms, auction halls and stately homes of Britain, always on the lookout for a find. And if the antiques business isn’t exciting enough, Lovejoy has a particular weakness for a good sob story or a pretty face, either of which is enough to send him off in pursuit of villains and to help victims recover their property. Whether it’s a priceless old master or a pretty young lady, his love of beauty is sure to land him in trouble wherever he goes. Cast: Ian McShane, Phyllis Logan, Dudley Sutton, Chris Jury.  Note Originally broadcast on BBC television in 1986. Not Rated

 

Miss Evers’ Boys

In 1932, Nurse Eunice Evers is invited to work with doctors on the “Tuskegee Experiment” to study the effects of syphilis. She is faced with a terrible dilemma when she learns the patients are denied treatment that could cure them. Cast: Alfre Woodard, Laurence Fishburne, Craig Sheffer, Joe Morton, Obba Babatundé, E.G. Marshall, Ossie Davis. Based on the play by David Feldshuh. (1997) Rated PG

 

Mississippi Masala

In this exotic and erotic interracial love story, an African American businessman falls for a beautiful Indian immigrant, only to encounter shock and outrage from both families. Cast: Denzel Washington, Roshan Seth, Sarita Choudhury, Charles S. Dutton, Joe Seneca, Sharmila Tagore, Ranjit Chowdhry. (1991) Rated R

 

 

The Mists of Avalon

Follows the women of Avalon from their childhoods through the ultimate fulfillment of their destinies in the battle between Christianity and Paganism that threatens to bring down Arthur’s kingdom. Cast: Anjelica Huston, Julianna Margulies, Joan Allen, Samantha Mathis, Caroline Goodall, Edward Atterton, Michael Vartan, Michael Byrne, Hans Matheson. Based on the novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
(2001) Not Rated

 

Nightjohn

The story of a young slave girl and the man who, at great risk to each other, teaches her to read, opening up a whole new world for her. Cast: Beau Bridges, Carl Lumbly, Lorraine Toussaint, Bill Cobbs, Kathleen York, Gabriel Casseus, Tom Nowicki, Joel Thomas Traywick, Allison Jones. Based on the book by Gary Paulsen. (1996)  Rated PG-13

 

Race to Freedom

The story of four slaves who escape from a cotton plantation in the South and travel along a clandestine network of escape routes to freedom in Canada. Cast: Janet Bailey, Michael Riley, Dawnn Lewis, Ron White, Glynn Turman, Courtney B. Vance, Tim Reid. (1994)  Not Rated

 

 

Robin Hood: Season One

Robin of Locksley heads home from the Crusades to find his people starving and brutalized under the tyrannical rule of the new Sheriff. Along with trusty companion Much, trickster Allan A. Dale and passionate Will Scarlett, Robin teams up with forest outlaws Little John and Roy, leading his gang to help Nottingham’s poor. Robin’s ally in Nottingham is Marian, the sweetheart he left behind when he left for the Crusades. The state of England is rotten and Robin and the gang will learn that doing good deeds in Nottingham is a dangerous business indeed. Cast: Jonas Armstrong, Lucy Griffiths, Richard Armitage, Keith Allen, Sam Troughton, Gordon Kennedy, Harry Lloyd, Joe Armstrong, Anjali Jay, Michael Elwyn, William Beck. (2006) Not Rated

 

Robin Hood: Season Two

The world is changing rapidly. The Sheriff of Nottingham has forged a pact with the black knights to kill King Richard. But first, the sheriff wants Robin dead more than ever and sets about catching him with the help of his sister and others. Marian and Edward are placed under house arrest in the castle after Gisborne burns their home to the ground. Now with Marian as castle spy, Robin and his gang can continue to help the people of Nottingham and stay one step ahead of the sheriff and Gisborne. As events begin to turn in favor of the sheriff, suspicion of a spy within Robin’s gang becomes evident. Could this change the dynamic of the gang or tear them apart for good? Cast: Jonas Armstrong, Lucy Griffiths, Richard Armitage, Keith Allen, Sam Troughton, Gordon Kennedy, Harry Lloyd, Joe Armstrong, Anjali Jay, Michael Elwyn. Originally broadcast on BBC television in 2007. Not Rated

 

Selma Lord Selma

Set in 1965, during the turbulent early days of the right-to-vote movement. The story of a young schoolgirl in Selma, Alabama, who is inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to resist the degradation that her fellow African-Americans are suffering. Based on the book by Sheyann Webb and Rachel West Nelson. Cast: Mackenzie Astin, Jurnee Smollett, Clifton Powell. (1999) Rated TV-PG

 

Ten Days that Unexpectedly Changed America

Ten acclaimed documentary filmmakers offer a fresh, compelling look at 10 pivotal moments in American history and their often unforeseen repercussions. Episodes include: Massacre at Mystic; Shays’ Rebellion, America’s First Civil War; Gold Rush; Antietam; The Homestead Strike; Murder at the Fair, the Assassination of President McKinley; Scopes, the Battle over America’s Soul; Einstein’s Letter; When America Was Rocked; Freedom Summer. Narrators, Jeffrey Wright, Martin Sheen, Terry Kinney, Campbell Scott, Joe Morton. Originally Broadcast on The History Channel. (2006) Not Rated

 

The Trouble with Angels

Two mischievous students turn convent school upside down with their pranks. Their graduation is both a relief and a celebration for the Mother Superior. Cast: Rosalind Russell, Hayley Mills, June Harding, Binnie Barnes, Gypsy Rose Lee, Camilla Sparv, Mary Wickes, Jim Boles. (1966) Rated PG

The Tuskegee Airmen

A history of the pilots who faced discrimination in their effort to fly combat aircraft for their country during World War II. Originally broadcast on PBS in 2003.  Narrator, Ossie Davis. Not Rated

 

The Vicar of Dibley: The Immaculate Collection

The sleepy English village of Dibley is plunged into an uproar when its new vicar turns out to be a woman. And not just any woman, but the unconventional Geraldine Granger who brings her own earthy spirit and humor to the pulpit. Cast: Dawn French, Gary Waldhorn, James Fleet, Emma Chambers, Liz Smith, John Bluthal, Trevor Peacock, Roger Lloyd Pack, Richard Armitage. Originally broadcast by BBC1 1994-2000. Not Rated

 

Where Angels Go…Trouble Follows

Comedic drama centering around nuns in a convent and the conflict between the traditional, rigid values of the Roman Catholic church and the liberalism of the 1960s. Cast: Rosalind Russell, Stella Stevens, Binnie Barnes, Susan St. James, Mary Wickes, Dolores Sutton, Milton Berle, Arthur Godfrey, Van Johnson, Robert Taylor. Sequel to The trouble with Angels. (1968) Rated G

 

Words by Heart

A drama focused on the hardships endured by a black family living in the Midwest in the 20th century. With social progress still decades away, the family experiences open prejudice nearly everywhere they turn. Cast: Charlotte Rae, Robert Hooks, Alfre Woodard, Fran Robinson, Leo Geter, Rance Howard, Bobby Jacoby, Bill Zuckert. Based on the book by Ovida Sebestyen. (1988) Not Rated