Post by managermike99 on Jul 30, 2014 7:53:36 GMT -5
From September through May TBA will endeavour to put on about 20 original movies or specials, working with several different production companies.
Current projects in various states of pre-production and production include;
~untitled project about James Cagney~ starring David Cubitt
~untitled project about political Panama~ an Oliver Stone prod.
Chasing A.Q. Kwan
Hawkes Harbor (based on the S.E. Hinton novel)
Jennifer Government (based on the Max Barry novel)
Fargo Rock City (documentry exploring impact of 80's metal)
No Ordinary Joe (Story of Joe Paterno)
“Journal of Professor Van Helsing” (based on the Allen Kupfer novel)
“The Runner” (based on the novel by Christopher Reich)
Fly Like An Eagle – The True Story of Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards
~untitled Bill Barillko project~
“Pitching Around Fidel”
“The Turkmen of Iraq”
"Threads" (1984)
One of the biggest controversies of the 1980's returns to warn a new generation.
Warning: While this movie may serve as a great teaching tool into both the potential horrors of nuclear war as well as a history of the cold war, it contains graphically distubing images that may not be appropriate for young children.
Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and it's affect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run affects of nuclear war on civilization.
It is the mid-1980's, during the Cold War. Ruth Beckett & Jimmy Kemp, residents of the town of Sheffield, England, are planning for their upcoming marriage and birth of their first child. Sheffield is home to a major R.A.F. base and has a major industrial base of steel, energy & chemical production. But the Soviet Union marches troops into Iran, in a plan to convert it to a Soviet satellite state. The United States, Great Britain, and other members of NATO and the U.N. angrily condemn the Soviet aggression and military activity in England starts to mount, especially at the nearby R.A.F. base. The families of Ruth & Jimmy go about their daily business, paying little attention to what is going on in Iran. One spring day, without warning, the Soviet Union attacks England with ICBMs - two of which hit Sheffield, annihilating most of the city and its inhabitants. But what is even more horrifying is the aftermath that follows - a world without public order, clean food, water, electricity, or the ability to produce any of them. Ruth struggles for more than 10 years just to stay alive in this horrible, barren, radioactive homeland.
Two Original Movies To be Aired this Season on TBA
The Ranger & The Kid (Rated G: Family)
Rated G: Family
Colton is your typical shy, introverted 10 year old boy growing up in the 1960's. When his family moves him to a new town in the dustbowl of Texas he finds it difficult to find new friends. However, things start turning around for Colton when he befriends the town's headcase an old hermit known by the townsfolk only as "Ranger" because he likes to claim being a former Texas Ranger law officer.
The boy spends his time after school listening to the old man's stories of the wild Texas west. In turn he tells the old man of his anxieties and problems. Neither one gives advice, they just listen and understand.
Colton's neurotic Mother and absentee Father begin to resent the influence that Ranger holds over Colton and seek to discredit the old man to their son, and ultimately ban him fron visiting anymore. Of course Colton goes behind their back to further the friendship.
As Colton comes to grips with his own anxiety problems he makes a couple of new friends but when they meet the old Ranger they turn against him, calling him a freak (because their parents think so). Colton is upset but the old man tells him to go and mend fences. The boy objects but the old Ranger says the boy needs friends his own age, and that he won't be around forever.
Then one day Colton goes to visit and finds a doctor and medical examiner on site, along with the Sheriff. Ranger has died and Colton bikes away in tears.
His parents are very understanding when Colton tells him what happened, they express remorse for banning the old man from his life.
That night Colton wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to his parents bed. He tells them he needs their help, to find out the truth about the old man. He startles his parents by saying "if the Ranger couldn't get respect from the town while he was alive, he should at least get it when he's dead".
The next day Colton and his Dad sneak into a window and into the small house that was the Ranger's home. Looking around they find mounted guns that indicate he was a Texas Ranger. They also find a large memory box. Inside is all the Rangers badges, photos, etc. There are also pictures of the Ranger with a wife and kids.
Finally, at the bottom of the box lies a letter. Colton reads it out loud to his father, it is a letter of accomadation attached to a medal and a yellow ribbon. It tells of the Ranger standing in a pass, fighting off a half dozen Mexican banditos allowing two other men time to haul another injured soldier some 100 yards to safety. When the time was right the Ranger took off trying to outrun the guns of the banditos. With his men providing some cover fire the Ranger (limping from an earlier bullet wound) made his way safely across the open space to safety. He received another superficial bullet wound during his run, to the back of the head.
Later that week we see the Ranger's funeral, the small town church is packed, and many whispers of the rumored heroics of the now dearly deceased.
Colton's Father and Mother guide him forward to the open coffin. He says goodbye to his friend, laying the medal, ribbon, and letter on the old Ranger's chest.
Eyes Front (Rated Teen: Violence)
This single-camera movie follows a WWII paratrooper, real time, during the last two hours of his life. From the moment he falls from the sky offcourse and behind enemy lines until his eyes are closed for the final time. The entire two hour movie is presented in first person style as the viewer sees and hears the action exactly as the doomed paratrooper would have seen it as he is pursued by, and fights with the enemy German army. This is an experience you don't want to miss.
Another Original Movie To Be Aired on TBA
TBA has just announced that they have agreed to fund the rest of a movie currently being shot by Canadian director Dwayne Beaver ("Rhino Brothers" "Robson Arms").
Parking Lot (Rated PG: some mature themes and brief violence) says Beaver is a character study shown from the point of view of a suburbian parking lot where the entire movie is shot. Beaver says the difficult part is trying to relate the stories of the individuals with the limited amount of time they spend in the lot. Overall some 20 character stories will be told, with some interaction. The film will also feature some time lapse video techniques reminisent of a Madonna video. While he did not want to give the ending away Beaver said the conclusion may surprise and even anger some people.
The cast includes mostly unknown actors in the US, many imported from Beaver's native Canada where the Polo Park Shopping Center in Winnipeg has been transformed into a mid-west US stand-in. "Many people were angered when they saw all the American flags and other regilia that was put up. But we're Canadians so we just complained about it to our neighbors over a coffee at Tim Hortons."
Shooting will wrap up by the end of August with editing expected to take about a month.
Encore! (Dramady)
When a record label runs a battle of the bands promotion to help relaunch the career of a former 80's supergroup, 30 and 40 somethings all over the San Fransisco Bay area begin to reunite their garage bands for one more shot at glory. The prize, a short summer tour as an opening band for "Destination".
The 5 members of the band "Encore" all come back for various reasons.
Clint the charismatic lead singer (Anthony Michael Hall) is a corporate lawyer who's career has taken a turn for the worse.
Marshall the goofy Angus Young devote guitar player (Curtis Armstrong) is a bored CPA who has never really left the 80's behind.
Ronnie the introverted bass player (Clint Howard) who toils daily in his small plumbing supplies shop and lives in the shadow of his big Hollywood producer brother.
Maggie the lovelorn keyboardist (Molly Ringwald) who has never got over losing Clint to another woman.
and of course,
Jasmine the renegade heavy metal girl (Joan Jett) who never really fit in with the group in the first place.
While Clint's focus is 100% on winning the contest he becomes very frustrated when the rest of the group see's this as more of an opportunity to visit and work through personal baggage.
Encore will also have a whole slew of guest stars made famous in the 80's including;
John Cusack...lead singer of "The Johns", the cool guy who would torment Encore at every turn; and nothing has changed in the last 20 years.
Huey Lewis...the old white guy who leads a band of black soul musicians.
Steve Perry...in real life the former lead singer of Journey, in Encore he plays the lead singer of Destination.
Shaun Cassidy...radio executive running the contest
Danny Bonaduce...radio DJ who is hosting the contest despite his personal disdain for all things retro.
Samantha Fox...as herself, her role is a talent judge.
Schedule (tentative)
**TBA will try to alternate Wednesday night movie/specials evenly between the following 4 categories;
1) Original made for TV movies, original script.
2) Original made for TV movies, adapted from other material (books, biographies etc)
3) Movies previously released in theatres
4) Specials; Miss USA, music, seasonal, etc
Sept 13 - "Chasing A.Q. Kwan"
Sept 20 - "The Ranger & The Kid"
Sept 27 - "Dead Poets Society" (1989)
Oct 4 - "No Ordinary Joe" (Joe Paterno biography)
Oct 11 - "Threads" (1984)
Oct 18 - "Eyes Front"
Oct 25 - "Hawkes Harbor" (based on S.E. Hinton novel)
Nov 1 - "Journal of Professor Van Helsing" (based on Allen Kupfer novel)
Nov 8 - "We Were Soldiers" (2002)
Nov 15 - "Parking Lot"
Nov 22 - Battle of the 80's Stars (Special)
Nov 29 - "Encore"
Dec 6 - "The Right Guy: The James Cagney Story"
Dec 13 - "Fargo Rock City" (Mockumentary)
Dec 20 - "Black Hawk Down" (2001)
Dec 27 - American Chronicles: Lincoln [R]
Jan 3 - "American Storm"
Jan 10 - "The End of Poverty" (Special)
Jan 17 - "Jennifer Government" (based on Max Barry novel)
Jan 24 - "Fly Like An Eagle: Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards"
Jan 31 - "The War of the Worlds" (1953)
Feb 7 - "American Storytellers: Springsteen/Seger/Joel) (Special)
Feb 14 - "The Runner (part I)" (based on novel by Christoper Reich)
Feb 21 - "The Runner (part II)" (based on novel by Christopher Reich)
Feb 28 - "Miracle" (2004)
Mar 7 - Cheeseburgers in Paradise: Jimmy Buffet Special
Mar 14 - "Panama, USA" (exec prod. Oliver Stone)
Mar 21 - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (Special)
Mar 28 - "Apollo 13 " (1995)
Apr 4 - "Pitching Around Fidel" (based on work of S.L. Price)
Apr 11 - "The Rookie" (2002)
Apr 18 - Parkinson's Fund Raiser (special)
Apr 25
May 2 - "The Big Lebowski" (1998)
May 9
May 16
"In Third Person" is an original script thriller/suspense movie slated for two and a half hours and is being touted for a sweeps period appearance.
The story centers around an attractive husband and wife in their 40's who try to rekindle the flames of their marriage after their child leaves for college. It starts when the wife writes a one page fictional entendre about a wife's erotic fantasy and leaves it for her husband to find. However, instead of acting on it the husband elects to write another page furthering the story, writing in a fictional husband for the wife, and leaves it for his wife to find.
Neither spouse overtley acknowledges this childlike game but it begins to have the desired effects of heating up their lives as they continue to write and live out the escapades of this fictional couple. Then one day the latest installment is left for them to find, but in a totally different writing hand then theirs, and in red ink. Both just believe the third author is the other spouse trying to raise the level of risk and intrigue in the game, and continue to go along with most but not all of the suggestions in the story.
Soon, the third author becomes a regular contributor to the story, but those particular pages grow darker and more twisted, and demand the spouses to do things beyond what they are willing; like seducing strangers. When the couple confront each other they finally come to believe that a real 3rd person is involved and decide to stop writing pages.
However, this doesn't stop the 3rd person's pages from continuing to appear out of the blue, and it does not stop the demands on their behaviour. When the couple refuses to play along bad things begin to happen to them at home and at work, forcing them to cede to many of the demands all the while investigating who is behind these unwanted installmetns.
Video surveillance of their home is thrwarted by the 3rd person, a handwriting analysis suggests that it is the work of a person capable of murder and not of their right mind, and when the couple go to the police things begin to happen in the house that make them start believing it could even be some sort of ghost or spirit.
As the 3rd person pages begin to wrap up the story its obvious that the last page is leading up to a finale where one of the spouses will finally lose their mind and kill the other. Husband and wife become paranoid of friends and family, and then of each other, believing the other may have a multiple personality crisis.
Finally, the climatic moment arrives and the husband and wife find for the first time two different last pages, one left for each, each with the opposite ending. What will be the final twist to this killer plot in a movie that you won't want to put down?
"The Sentinel" is a drama from an original script started many years ago by TBA President M. IT Besler.
The story surrounds a young man (Brian Hartt) working and living downtown, articling for an accounting firm, and preparing his new apartment where he will live with his wife after their marriage set for 6 months down the road.
Hartt is a ferocious reader of newspapers and just generally a news junkie. One day his life changes by a chance meeting with a window cleaner. A stranger appears at his apartment door offering to clean his windows inside and out, but wants to be paid in advance. Smelling a scam he says no thanks and closes the door. Going back to his supper something clicks and Hartt begins to go through a stack of newspapers until he finds the city's crime section from some time ago with the man listed in the 10 most wanted (for fraud).
With his adreneline pumping Hartt goes racing outside where the man is taking off on his bike, chases him down, tackling him and yelling for someone to call the cops.
The police finally arrive after the man pleads with Hartt that he is no longer wanted by the police and to let him go. At the station house its sorted out, and unfortunately for Hartt the man is telling the truth, he was caught, did a couple weeks in jail, paid a fine and was released. The police let both men go their seperate ways.
A month passes keeping Hartt busy with work, marriage plans, and fixing up the apartment. Then out of the blue he gets served with a lawsuit by the criminal seeking damages for being assaulted, and claims he is no longer able to work in the area after the fiasco. The process server lets Hartt know the newspaper is also being sued for their part in the incident.
Hartt see's his future begin to slip away as he can't prove that he was being defrauded, and the newspaper decides to settle admitting some measure of guilt for publishing most wanted lists but not keeping the public aware of who was no longer on the list.
Hartt runs out of money defending himself and it becomes obvious that the criminal wants vengeance by wrecking Hartt's life and has no intent to settle without bankrupting Hartt. With no applicable insurance, Hartt uses up his meagre savings, loses his apartment, has to cancel the wedding, and begins to spiral out of control at work.
It all comes to a head in an alley on a dark rainy night, after Hartt spends his mandated week of vacation picking up the trail of the small time criminal, stalking him and waiting to confront him.
Can justice be found in a matter like this?
"How little Kenny Ho became a Millionaire" is a family comedy/drama from yet another original script offering.
The story centers around an extremely enterprising young boy (Kenny Ho) the only child of refugee parents from China, recently arrived in America (1980's). They take up roots in the mid-west where the father takes a menial job as a mechanic and the wife works as a short order cook. The parents, after risking their lives to flee China, dream of a future where their son will earn a college degree and have a white collar job.
But young Kenny isn't willing to wait that long. Follow this incredible pint-sized entrepeneur as he explains to you (Ferris Bueller style) his business strategies, and begins to amass his fortune. During the movie a running "ticker" appears on the bottom of the page updating Kenny's net worth and percentage of the $1,000,000 he wants to earn.
While other children are content to have one paper route, Kenny gets 3, having to register the other two under the names of his friends, and then sub-contracting some of the deliveries to a network of other kids. When other kids in the neighborhood are content to trade comic books and sports cards, Kenny sees an opportunity to invest in his own inventory and begins to do profitable business out of his tree fort, not only with kids but with an increasing number of adult collectors as well. Along the way Kenny has no shortage of run-ins with his parents, friends and their parents who don't like Kenny making a profit off them, and some prejudiced cops who don't belive the American dream should be open to "Chinamen".
Onward to high school and when Kenny gets a job in the laundromat so he can study at the same time, he does the math, and ends up buying the operation, and adding video games and a snack counter. His business plan is simple, make the laundrymat such a fun place to be for the neighborhood kids that the parents will give them extra money to spend, in return for the kids doing the family laundry. In his spare-time Kenny begins to publish a local newsletter that rivals "National Enquirer" for content and rumors, except on a much more local scale. This brings a new level of danger to Kenny's life, but also brings him his first girlfriend.
That relationship however, ends shortly before high school graduation when she finally decides that Kenny's mission to have a million dollars, and his resulting frugality is not her style.
Undaunted Kenny graduates and goes to college seeking the finance degree his parents have long dreamed of. In typical Kenny fashion, after selling his laundrymat and using some of the proceeds to pay for his college, he takes a job as a nighthingychman so that he can study while being paid. Soon however at the urgings of a workmate he begins to spend more time reading about the stock market then studying. While his grades slip he begins to trade stocks and make some money, but feels that classes are getting in the way of where the real money is; daytrading.
Then one night at work Kenny gets the call to go to the hospital, but arrives too late to say goodbye to his father who has fallen to a massive heartattack. Kenny's life is turned upside down, and despite his mother's pleas he drops out of college to begin his new career as a daytrader. As with everything else in life Kenny does well and makes a good living trading stocks, and even enrolls back in college part-time.
All is going well for Kenny, until once again he gets a call, this time his Mother has fallen and was rushed to the hospital. The timing could not be worse as the stock market is taking a beating that morning. Kenny must make a last second decision to sell it all or hold before heading to the hospital.
At the hospital Kenny is able to spend the time with his Mother that he could not with his Father, as she passes away over the course of the day. Leaving the room in tears Kenny passes by the nurses station and see's CNN showing footage of a stock broker throwing himself out of a skyscraper window and then a chart of the stockmarket's biggest single day drop in 15 years before trading was halted.
We flash back to moments before and his mother's dying wish to her son to slow down, enjoy life's precious moments, meet a nice Chinese girl and settle down, have children, and buy the nice house we never could. She looks up at her son and asks him if he ever made that million dollars he always wanted. Through his tears he tells his mother he cashed out this morning, and he had made it. He was a millionaire. She smiles, tells him to go out now and live the American dream.
Codename Sweet [Working Title] [2 hours] [Crime Drama]
airdate; Winter 2008
Youngstown, Ohio has the reputation for being one of the most depressing cities in America. It is a place of dreary industrialism, and even drearier economic prospects, with a high crime rate.
Detective Al Sanders moved here from Akron as a young policeman looking for advancement and never looked back, his own personality a well suited match for Youngstown.
After almost 20 years on the job he was transferred to the new 2 man unit cold case squad a year ago, as a nice way to ride out his last 5 years until drawing pension benefits.
But time waits for no man, and the advances of DNA analysis have dropped a time bomb on this sleepy Ohio city, a break in a 17 year old murder/rape case. Back in 1989 the city was galvanized in the search for a 14 year old female student from a good family who suddenly disappeared. Unfortunately a week later when she was found she had died of exposure after being left tied to a warehouse interior pole in the middle of winter.
The crime was shocking and Al Sanders was unfortunate enough, along with his more senior partner, to catch this one as lead detectives.
Many in the department stopped by to congratulate Sanders on the cold case break, the arrest, and what they see as the crowning achievement of his career.
However, as the case and trial go forward it brings Sanders once again into the world he though he left behind in the 1990's. The young girl's parents were devote Christians but their faith was shaken, and despite therapy they fell to the same fate that over half of couples who lose a child face; seperation and divorce. As he continued to investigate the case Sanders ended up falling for the sadness of the girl's mother, and the two began a year long affair, that ended abruptly when the woman got back together with her husband.
It became impossible for Sanders to go any further in the case, unable to face the girl's mother, and with the father irrate at the detective for the affair. The case grew colder and colder despite being handed over to new detectives.
Now all these years later Sanders must again face the broken family with the news they have waited for, assuming the suspect really is guilty, and face his own failed relationships and loneliness.
What should be the happiest day in Al Sanders' life is quickly turning into just another intolerable outcome to a murder case.
Original Movie: Chasing A.Q. Khan (2006) [2 hours] [docudrama]
This movie depicts the CIA investigation into the activities of Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr. A.Q. Khan. From a blip in the radar screen to a snowballing interest within the CIA the years of painstaking international sleuthing are dramatized. The trail of illegal activities went back 18 years including several trips to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. In April 2003, Egyptian customs officials intercepted 22 tons of aluminum tubing from Germany, which would be enough for about 100-200 centrifuges. The movie takes pain to explain the nuclear technology innovated by Khan, replacing one central nuclear bomb with a series of smaller centrifuges.
In the spring of 2004, it was reported that Khan visited North Korea and was shown three nuclear devices. The US then put pressure on Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi, who under fear of American military attack confessed to purchases of nuclear secrets and materials from Khan. Libya then agreed to abandon their nuclear activities and give a full accounting of Khan’s activities as they knew them. In October 2003 US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage presented Khan’s nuclear laundry list to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf who denied any knowledge of the program. To appease his new American friends Musharraf persuaded Khan to appear on National TV in Pakistan and apologize (in English). They then placed him on indefinite house arrest but allowed him to keep his wealth amassed from the illegal programs.
The movie concludes with more current CIA investigations into Khan’s ties with North Korean’s nuclear program. CIA requests to interview Khan about his involvement have been denied by Pakistan, but because they are an important ally in the US war against terror the state department refuses to pursue the issue with vigor. Meanwhile Khan has taken on a mythical, hero status within Pakistan for his role in bringing nuclear power to the war against the infidels. The show ends with two CIA agents watching Khan walk around the outside of his lush house, under the guard of an armed security man stationed outside his home, and another across the street. Wearing his pajamas he picks up his paper, kicks off his slippers and sits at a table on his lawn reading and sipping his morning coffee. The ending has that hopeless kind of feeling from movies like “Traffic” and “Syrianna”.
"No Ordinary Joe (The Joe Paterno Story)" (2006) [an original TBA Movie]
-based on the book "No Ordinary Joe" by Michael O'Brien
One of the best known coaches in College Football history, Joe Paterno became an assistant coach at Penn State in 1950, and head coach in 1966, where he has remained ever since despite more monetarily lucrative offers from colleges and the pros.
This movie focuses primarily on Joe's early years as head coach and his efforts to instill the attitude that the aim of college is primarily a college education and only secondarily a headline on the sports page. Joe Paterno is a complex man who has been said to be a friend of the intellectuals, himself a graduate of Brown University (Ivy League), and originally deemed his efforts to combine Penn St's success in the classroom and the gridiron as the "Grand Experiment". On the downside we see a man who's unbending pride and rules have sometimes led to students failures when all they needed was to see a different side of Joe, one he was not willing to reveal. As well the challenges of the individualism of the hippy era and its lack of respect for authority is shown as a major challenge for Joe's vision of his team.
Go inside a major college program and inside the head of the man who helped shape NCAA Football and many young men into the product they are today.
"Turning Point" [Drama]
This is the story of the coming of age of race relations in America, and of the 39th President of the United States Jimmy Carter.
The historical drama begins by showing the difficulty the federal government had in penetrating the deep south despite passing laws for racial integration. It then turns to the specific problem of the county system which undermined the principal of one person, one vote. In a nutshell states who wanted to avoid federal mandates hung on to the system that allowed government representatives by regions which were not proportionate with population. For instance, as the city of Atlanta swelled, mostly with blacks, its representation stayed the same as did the stable rural counties made up mostly of whites. The result at its apex was a system where a voter in Atlanta's ballot was worth about 1/20th of many rural voters, and kept the rural white farmer and businessman in charge.
The real story then begins once the federal courts became involved and forced Georgia to change their representation system, which ended up changing the voting boundaries. And this is how a peanut farmer (really a misnomer, as Jimmy Carter actually owned a thriving wholesale operation of peanuts, that was high tech enough to have experimental growing operations as well) began down the road of politics that would lead him to the White House.
Carter's personal turning point was in challenging the first results in his run for a seat in the Georgia state senate. Although he lost he challenged the result, and ultimately won in the courts after witnessing first hand a rural election system that broke every law on the books with impunity. It's a story of crooked, small town elections, that exemplifies the saying, truth is stranger then fiction. Everything from ballot box stuffing, ballot tampering, the voting of the dead, bullying voters at the poll, and threatening to cut welfare payments off was used to get Carter's opponent elected.
The revelations, beyond just the county vote system of what is really the recent past (1962) are amazing. For instance, it was still legal at that time in this election for the deceased to vote if it could be shown to the responsible officials how that person would have reasonably voted if alive, and if they had been living at any time during the most recent term.
The story follows Carter's soul searching on whether to continue to contest the election despite overwhelming odds, and putting his personal business and family well being in jeopardy. The drama attempts to show a man of principal, whose belief in justice continued to drive him past what he pragmatically could expect to gain.
Finally the drama wraps up with a quick look at Carter's ascension to the White House, his efforts for social justice, and his fall from grace with the Iran hostage crisis.
The last scene describes America's most recent turning point where once again racial segregation rears its ugly head, this time being driven by the inequality of incomes by race instead of being upheld by laws.
They Walk Among Us [Special] [New]
Get a rare look at the inner sanctum of a major Television network as our cameras take you backstage and into the offices at TBA Network Headquarters. Host Bill Maher investigates the proliferation of Canadians (hosers, back bacon breath, toque sporting, Canuckleheads) within the TBA establishment as well as a tribute to Canadian entertainment giants of the past like John Candy and Mary Pickford. Just how far have our friendly neighbors to the North infiltrated the TBA fall schedule?
"Blame Me" [Docudrama]
Takes those looking for answers and those looking to assign blame back to 1975 Brampton, Ontario, Canada where quiet but "normal" student Michael Slobodian inexplicably showed up to his high school one day and opened fire killing a teacher, a fellow student, and wounding 10 other students.
The Docudrama takes a critical look at the first reactions of politicians and even talking heads themselves at blaming mass media. It also takes a look back at Michael Moore's "Bowling For Columbine" which filmed in part in Windsor, Ontario as a comparison to Detroit. Brampton, Ontario, the site of the 1975 tragedy occured in the same province, in the same sort of city as Brampton but this tragedy was conviently ignored by Moore in his documentary.
"Blame Me" looks again at gun control, noting that in 1975 in Brampton Ontario anyone of the age of 16 could order a hunting assault rifle, including the kind used by Slobodian, out of a catalogue no questions asked, or buy one from a local sporting store. The Docudrama goes on to look at how the gun laws were then changed in Ontario in 1977 to answer for the Slobodian murders, requiring gun licenses before sale.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly "Blame Me" looks into the life of Michael Slobodian. The mental health of teenagers going through the most stressful time of their lives, and in the case of Slobidan no societal resources. We look at the pressures of the loss of his grandfather, the serious illness of his father, his clashes with the teacher who he would ultimately slay, and his ignored cries for help through behavioural and image changes in the final couple months leading up to the tragedy. Fellow students, friends, relatives, and teachers are interviewed including Canadian actor Scott Thompson ("Kids in the Hall").
"DA Dead" [Documentary]
TBA has purchased the rights to this original movie from an independent film house in Georgia, Fast Factory Productions.
Randall Black is a throw back to Assistant District Attorneys of the past. Inquisitive, young, bright, honest as the day is long, hardnosed, seeking justice, and preserving the peace. He has his work cut out for him though serving the people on the wrong side of the tracks of Athens, Georgia.
Black finds himself fed to the wolves at his first major crime trial, prosecuting members of an African American drug gang for a murderous shooting spree. When a slick defense attorney begins to sink Black's case his evidence is bolstered from an unusual place, a rival gang. The idealistic ADA knows that by using the evidence he will be able to cut off the head of the one gang organization only to perhaps give the other a virtual monopoly on the entire area's criminal enterprises.
Spurred on by his more practically minded young wife he begins to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse, bait and switch, trying to get a secret plea bargain with the accused that will see the worst parts of both gangs eliminated, and leave the more moderate leaders in charge, and still in competition. But things go south in a hurry when the less then passive defense attorney gains wind of what is happening, and Black's life turns into a nightmare.
With his wife kidnapped Black must choose a side, and brandish a pistol, because justice will no longer be served in a courtroom, and it can no longer afford to be blind.
"Kings of Anarchy" [Documentary]
In the late 1970's and early 1980's punk rock hit the social radar like a Tsunami in a bottle. Slamdancing, piercings, mohawks, blood, and violence were not restricted to the big cities of the US with bands like the Ramones. This documentary visits the isolated and frozen tundra, oilfields, and farmlands of Western Canada where bands like DOA and Personality Crisis emerged from unknown to the leaders of the nihilstic movement.
Why punk? Why here? And now what?
"Trainwreck"
This movie is the result of a $100,000 grant from TBA Studios to some students of New York University's film studies (Tisch School of the Arts).
It's four movies in one. It begins with all the elements of slapstick or physical humor surrounding a pledging ceremony at a fictional NYU fraternity.
Suddenly the movie changes directions on the turn of a dime without warning to a horror film as the students are hunted down by a serial killer they presume to be a past pledge with a grudge.
Then the movie suddenly changes again to a disaster flick as a train derails on a nearby track spilling toxins into the ground and air. Many of the same students who began their night laughing and singing, then being hunted down by a serial killer, and now forced to try and help the innocent victims of this disaster.
Just when this trainwreck of a movie seems to be coming to a final stop, it morphs inexplicably again this time into a science fiction movie using some computer graphics as well. The toxins have turned some creatures into the stuff of nightmares and once again the students find themselves hunted.
When the sun finally comes up in the morning who will still be standing? Only the underpaid, overworked, students at NYU know. Unbelievable campy fun.
"Red, White,et Bleu"
This parody/comedy see's a US anti-ecoterrorist Tommy Easton infiltrate Canada in search of some disgruntled Canucks who plan to bring the United States down to its knees by destroying the Cod supply off of Newfoundland. Cod being the principal ingredient of cod liver oil, causing a shortage will deteriorate the health of all Americans.
Our agent, is not happy about returning to Canada where his grandfather is revered as a great socialist, much to the disgrace of Agent Easton. However, because of his fame Easton deems it safest to lay low and infiltrate Canada at the west coast and make his way east.
In his final briefing with the President, a former insurance salesman, he is told that he has only 23 1/2 hours to solve the case. He would have 24 hours but Newfoundland has its own special time zone half hour after eastern time, so he loses an extra 30 minutes. "damn those hosers are conniving" says Easton as he pounds his fist.
His Canadian journey takes Easton from BC where he catches a ride with some marijuana smoking hippies, to a plane crash because of a metric conversion problem, and onward as Easton battles geogrpahy, the elements, cultural differences, Manitoba mosquitos, Quebec seperatists, and eco-terrorists who are not afraid to say they are sorry.
Soul 2 Soul: Tim McGraw & Faith Hill tour 2007"
A behind the scenes as well as front row perspective of this summer's tour by Tim McGraw and his wife Faith Hill including interviews, concert footage, and a look backstage at what it takes to put together a tour of this nature.
Kingdom Come: The Disney Wars" Part 1
This follows the saga of Disney after the deth of founder and namesake Walt Disney. Round one consists of power being put into the hands of Ron Miller, Walt's son-in-law, a former pro football player with no serious business experience. He was chosen over Roy Disney, Walt's nephew, who was deemed "the idiot nephew" in some circles, a malicious and unfair campaign. Round 2 occurs when the company underperforms and Roy along with fellow board member Stanley Gold suceed in having Ron removed at the head of the company and recruit and hire Michael Eisner to run the company side-by-side with his longtime friend Frank Wells. The two work well in tandem, ying and yang, Eisner the idea man, the creative force, and Wells the financial guy, more down to earth. They not only suceed in restoring Disney's lost lustre but taking it to a level higher then Walt ever had. Round 3 of the battle is Michael Eisner against his #2 man Jeffrey Katzenberger, who despite being largely responsible for the turn around of the film division is turned on by Eisner who drives him out of the company. Katzenberger goes on of course to being one of the three founders of DreamWorks SKG (S=Spielberg, K=Katzenberger, G=David Geffen) and become a major competitor of Disney's film divisions. It was a battle born mostly out of Eisner's pettiness as well as the start of a pattern of getting rid of executives who Eisner may have felt threatened by or did not want to share with the creative credit. Part 1 of this 2 part TV movie ends with the death of Frank Wells, leaving Michael Eisner alone atop of the Disney Empire.
Kingdom Come: The Disney Wars" Part 2
We pick up after the death of Frank Wells, and instead of hiring a sucessor to Frank, or starting to groom a successor to himself he takes on more power and responsiblity. These extra powers will lead to heart by-pass surgery, and the pleading of his wife to find someone to replace Wells. Finally Eisner agrees to hire Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz, who not only is nicknamed the most important guy in Hollywood, but is also Eisner's best friend. Yet within minutes after consumating the deal Eisner is on the phone to other friends telling them its a misake and he has to get Ovitz out. This is Round 4 as Ovitz has left his own profitable business to join Disney only to be sabotaged by his best friend. In the end Eisner makes Ovitz miserable and eventually drives him to quit, but not before a huge payout. Once again Eisner is alone on top with no succession plan. As Disney stock begins to hurt, 9/11 hurts theme park business, and Disney is unable to reverse the fortunes of its big acquisition ABC TV, dissension errupts in the boardroom. Round 5 sees Eisner prevail at first against dissension on the board of directors, driving both Stanley Gold and Roy Disney off the board, but then the two former directors strike back with an internet and grass roots campaign which ends when 43% of stocks are voted to withold renaming Eisner as Chairman of the board. Faced with these numbers, the highest ever non-confidence vote for a major US corporation, Eisner has no choice but to tender his resignation with a phasing out period to allow Disney to find a new CEO and Chairman of the Board. This is a unique look into the psyche of a successful businessman with a borderline personality, evidenced by episodes such as when he was a guest on the Larry King Show. There he told a story about how Walt Disney was buried at an unmarked grave in a secret location, but the family felt so much for Eisner they told him where it was and he has visited it. Diane Miller, Walt's daughter assures us that in fact Walt was cremated. Take a chance to look inside the corporation that holds two of America's most beloved brands Disney and ABC TV.
Current projects in various states of pre-production and production include;
~untitled project about James Cagney~ starring David Cubitt
~untitled project about political Panama~ an Oliver Stone prod.
Chasing A.Q. Kwan
Hawkes Harbor (based on the S.E. Hinton novel)
Jennifer Government (based on the Max Barry novel)
Fargo Rock City (documentry exploring impact of 80's metal)
No Ordinary Joe (Story of Joe Paterno)
“Journal of Professor Van Helsing” (based on the Allen Kupfer novel)
“The Runner” (based on the novel by Christopher Reich)
Fly Like An Eagle – The True Story of Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards
~untitled Bill Barillko project~
“Pitching Around Fidel”
“The Turkmen of Iraq”
"Threads" (1984)
One of the biggest controversies of the 1980's returns to warn a new generation.
Warning: While this movie may serve as a great teaching tool into both the potential horrors of nuclear war as well as a history of the cold war, it contains graphically distubing images that may not be appropriate for young children.
Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and it's affect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run affects of nuclear war on civilization.
It is the mid-1980's, during the Cold War. Ruth Beckett & Jimmy Kemp, residents of the town of Sheffield, England, are planning for their upcoming marriage and birth of their first child. Sheffield is home to a major R.A.F. base and has a major industrial base of steel, energy & chemical production. But the Soviet Union marches troops into Iran, in a plan to convert it to a Soviet satellite state. The United States, Great Britain, and other members of NATO and the U.N. angrily condemn the Soviet aggression and military activity in England starts to mount, especially at the nearby R.A.F. base. The families of Ruth & Jimmy go about their daily business, paying little attention to what is going on in Iran. One spring day, without warning, the Soviet Union attacks England with ICBMs - two of which hit Sheffield, annihilating most of the city and its inhabitants. But what is even more horrifying is the aftermath that follows - a world without public order, clean food, water, electricity, or the ability to produce any of them. Ruth struggles for more than 10 years just to stay alive in this horrible, barren, radioactive homeland.
Two Original Movies To be Aired this Season on TBA
The Ranger & The Kid (Rated G: Family)
Rated G: Family
Colton is your typical shy, introverted 10 year old boy growing up in the 1960's. When his family moves him to a new town in the dustbowl of Texas he finds it difficult to find new friends. However, things start turning around for Colton when he befriends the town's headcase an old hermit known by the townsfolk only as "Ranger" because he likes to claim being a former Texas Ranger law officer.
The boy spends his time after school listening to the old man's stories of the wild Texas west. In turn he tells the old man of his anxieties and problems. Neither one gives advice, they just listen and understand.
Colton's neurotic Mother and absentee Father begin to resent the influence that Ranger holds over Colton and seek to discredit the old man to their son, and ultimately ban him fron visiting anymore. Of course Colton goes behind their back to further the friendship.
As Colton comes to grips with his own anxiety problems he makes a couple of new friends but when they meet the old Ranger they turn against him, calling him a freak (because their parents think so). Colton is upset but the old man tells him to go and mend fences. The boy objects but the old Ranger says the boy needs friends his own age, and that he won't be around forever.
Then one day Colton goes to visit and finds a doctor and medical examiner on site, along with the Sheriff. Ranger has died and Colton bikes away in tears.
His parents are very understanding when Colton tells him what happened, they express remorse for banning the old man from his life.
That night Colton wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to his parents bed. He tells them he needs their help, to find out the truth about the old man. He startles his parents by saying "if the Ranger couldn't get respect from the town while he was alive, he should at least get it when he's dead".
The next day Colton and his Dad sneak into a window and into the small house that was the Ranger's home. Looking around they find mounted guns that indicate he was a Texas Ranger. They also find a large memory box. Inside is all the Rangers badges, photos, etc. There are also pictures of the Ranger with a wife and kids.
Finally, at the bottom of the box lies a letter. Colton reads it out loud to his father, it is a letter of accomadation attached to a medal and a yellow ribbon. It tells of the Ranger standing in a pass, fighting off a half dozen Mexican banditos allowing two other men time to haul another injured soldier some 100 yards to safety. When the time was right the Ranger took off trying to outrun the guns of the banditos. With his men providing some cover fire the Ranger (limping from an earlier bullet wound) made his way safely across the open space to safety. He received another superficial bullet wound during his run, to the back of the head.
Later that week we see the Ranger's funeral, the small town church is packed, and many whispers of the rumored heroics of the now dearly deceased.
Colton's Father and Mother guide him forward to the open coffin. He says goodbye to his friend, laying the medal, ribbon, and letter on the old Ranger's chest.
Eyes Front (Rated Teen: Violence)
This single-camera movie follows a WWII paratrooper, real time, during the last two hours of his life. From the moment he falls from the sky offcourse and behind enemy lines until his eyes are closed for the final time. The entire two hour movie is presented in first person style as the viewer sees and hears the action exactly as the doomed paratrooper would have seen it as he is pursued by, and fights with the enemy German army. This is an experience you don't want to miss.
Another Original Movie To Be Aired on TBA
TBA has just announced that they have agreed to fund the rest of a movie currently being shot by Canadian director Dwayne Beaver ("Rhino Brothers" "Robson Arms").
Parking Lot (Rated PG: some mature themes and brief violence) says Beaver is a character study shown from the point of view of a suburbian parking lot where the entire movie is shot. Beaver says the difficult part is trying to relate the stories of the individuals with the limited amount of time they spend in the lot. Overall some 20 character stories will be told, with some interaction. The film will also feature some time lapse video techniques reminisent of a Madonna video. While he did not want to give the ending away Beaver said the conclusion may surprise and even anger some people.
The cast includes mostly unknown actors in the US, many imported from Beaver's native Canada where the Polo Park Shopping Center in Winnipeg has been transformed into a mid-west US stand-in. "Many people were angered when they saw all the American flags and other regilia that was put up. But we're Canadians so we just complained about it to our neighbors over a coffee at Tim Hortons."
Shooting will wrap up by the end of August with editing expected to take about a month.
Encore! (Dramady)
When a record label runs a battle of the bands promotion to help relaunch the career of a former 80's supergroup, 30 and 40 somethings all over the San Fransisco Bay area begin to reunite their garage bands for one more shot at glory. The prize, a short summer tour as an opening band for "Destination".
The 5 members of the band "Encore" all come back for various reasons.
Clint the charismatic lead singer (Anthony Michael Hall) is a corporate lawyer who's career has taken a turn for the worse.
Marshall the goofy Angus Young devote guitar player (Curtis Armstrong) is a bored CPA who has never really left the 80's behind.
Ronnie the introverted bass player (Clint Howard) who toils daily in his small plumbing supplies shop and lives in the shadow of his big Hollywood producer brother.
Maggie the lovelorn keyboardist (Molly Ringwald) who has never got over losing Clint to another woman.
and of course,
Jasmine the renegade heavy metal girl (Joan Jett) who never really fit in with the group in the first place.
While Clint's focus is 100% on winning the contest he becomes very frustrated when the rest of the group see's this as more of an opportunity to visit and work through personal baggage.
Encore will also have a whole slew of guest stars made famous in the 80's including;
John Cusack...lead singer of "The Johns", the cool guy who would torment Encore at every turn; and nothing has changed in the last 20 years.
Huey Lewis...the old white guy who leads a band of black soul musicians.
Steve Perry...in real life the former lead singer of Journey, in Encore he plays the lead singer of Destination.
Shaun Cassidy...radio executive running the contest
Danny Bonaduce...radio DJ who is hosting the contest despite his personal disdain for all things retro.
Samantha Fox...as herself, her role is a talent judge.
Schedule (tentative)
**TBA will try to alternate Wednesday night movie/specials evenly between the following 4 categories;
1) Original made for TV movies, original script.
2) Original made for TV movies, adapted from other material (books, biographies etc)
3) Movies previously released in theatres
4) Specials; Miss USA, music, seasonal, etc
Sept 13 - "Chasing A.Q. Kwan"
Sept 20 - "The Ranger & The Kid"
Sept 27 - "Dead Poets Society" (1989)
Oct 4 - "No Ordinary Joe" (Joe Paterno biography)
Oct 11 - "Threads" (1984)
Oct 18 - "Eyes Front"
Oct 25 - "Hawkes Harbor" (based on S.E. Hinton novel)
Nov 1 - "Journal of Professor Van Helsing" (based on Allen Kupfer novel)
Nov 8 - "We Were Soldiers" (2002)
Nov 15 - "Parking Lot"
Nov 22 - Battle of the 80's Stars (Special)
Nov 29 - "Encore"
Dec 6 - "The Right Guy: The James Cagney Story"
Dec 13 - "Fargo Rock City" (Mockumentary)
Dec 20 - "Black Hawk Down" (2001)
Dec 27 - American Chronicles: Lincoln [R]
Jan 3 - "American Storm"
Jan 10 - "The End of Poverty" (Special)
Jan 17 - "Jennifer Government" (based on Max Barry novel)
Jan 24 - "Fly Like An Eagle: Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards"
Jan 31 - "The War of the Worlds" (1953)
Feb 7 - "American Storytellers: Springsteen/Seger/Joel) (Special)
Feb 14 - "The Runner (part I)" (based on novel by Christoper Reich)
Feb 21 - "The Runner (part II)" (based on novel by Christopher Reich)
Feb 28 - "Miracle" (2004)
Mar 7 - Cheeseburgers in Paradise: Jimmy Buffet Special
Mar 14 - "Panama, USA" (exec prod. Oliver Stone)
Mar 21 - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (Special)
Mar 28 - "Apollo 13 " (1995)
Apr 4 - "Pitching Around Fidel" (based on work of S.L. Price)
Apr 11 - "The Rookie" (2002)
Apr 18 - Parkinson's Fund Raiser (special)
Apr 25
May 2 - "The Big Lebowski" (1998)
May 9
May 16
"In Third Person" is an original script thriller/suspense movie slated for two and a half hours and is being touted for a sweeps period appearance.
The story centers around an attractive husband and wife in their 40's who try to rekindle the flames of their marriage after their child leaves for college. It starts when the wife writes a one page fictional entendre about a wife's erotic fantasy and leaves it for her husband to find. However, instead of acting on it the husband elects to write another page furthering the story, writing in a fictional husband for the wife, and leaves it for his wife to find.
Neither spouse overtley acknowledges this childlike game but it begins to have the desired effects of heating up their lives as they continue to write and live out the escapades of this fictional couple. Then one day the latest installment is left for them to find, but in a totally different writing hand then theirs, and in red ink. Both just believe the third author is the other spouse trying to raise the level of risk and intrigue in the game, and continue to go along with most but not all of the suggestions in the story.
Soon, the third author becomes a regular contributor to the story, but those particular pages grow darker and more twisted, and demand the spouses to do things beyond what they are willing; like seducing strangers. When the couple confront each other they finally come to believe that a real 3rd person is involved and decide to stop writing pages.
However, this doesn't stop the 3rd person's pages from continuing to appear out of the blue, and it does not stop the demands on their behaviour. When the couple refuses to play along bad things begin to happen to them at home and at work, forcing them to cede to many of the demands all the while investigating who is behind these unwanted installmetns.
Video surveillance of their home is thrwarted by the 3rd person, a handwriting analysis suggests that it is the work of a person capable of murder and not of their right mind, and when the couple go to the police things begin to happen in the house that make them start believing it could even be some sort of ghost or spirit.
As the 3rd person pages begin to wrap up the story its obvious that the last page is leading up to a finale where one of the spouses will finally lose their mind and kill the other. Husband and wife become paranoid of friends and family, and then of each other, believing the other may have a multiple personality crisis.
Finally, the climatic moment arrives and the husband and wife find for the first time two different last pages, one left for each, each with the opposite ending. What will be the final twist to this killer plot in a movie that you won't want to put down?
"The Sentinel" is a drama from an original script started many years ago by TBA President M. IT Besler.
The story surrounds a young man (Brian Hartt) working and living downtown, articling for an accounting firm, and preparing his new apartment where he will live with his wife after their marriage set for 6 months down the road.
Hartt is a ferocious reader of newspapers and just generally a news junkie. One day his life changes by a chance meeting with a window cleaner. A stranger appears at his apartment door offering to clean his windows inside and out, but wants to be paid in advance. Smelling a scam he says no thanks and closes the door. Going back to his supper something clicks and Hartt begins to go through a stack of newspapers until he finds the city's crime section from some time ago with the man listed in the 10 most wanted (for fraud).
With his adreneline pumping Hartt goes racing outside where the man is taking off on his bike, chases him down, tackling him and yelling for someone to call the cops.
The police finally arrive after the man pleads with Hartt that he is no longer wanted by the police and to let him go. At the station house its sorted out, and unfortunately for Hartt the man is telling the truth, he was caught, did a couple weeks in jail, paid a fine and was released. The police let both men go their seperate ways.
A month passes keeping Hartt busy with work, marriage plans, and fixing up the apartment. Then out of the blue he gets served with a lawsuit by the criminal seeking damages for being assaulted, and claims he is no longer able to work in the area after the fiasco. The process server lets Hartt know the newspaper is also being sued for their part in the incident.
Hartt see's his future begin to slip away as he can't prove that he was being defrauded, and the newspaper decides to settle admitting some measure of guilt for publishing most wanted lists but not keeping the public aware of who was no longer on the list.
Hartt runs out of money defending himself and it becomes obvious that the criminal wants vengeance by wrecking Hartt's life and has no intent to settle without bankrupting Hartt. With no applicable insurance, Hartt uses up his meagre savings, loses his apartment, has to cancel the wedding, and begins to spiral out of control at work.
It all comes to a head in an alley on a dark rainy night, after Hartt spends his mandated week of vacation picking up the trail of the small time criminal, stalking him and waiting to confront him.
Can justice be found in a matter like this?
"How little Kenny Ho became a Millionaire" is a family comedy/drama from yet another original script offering.
The story centers around an extremely enterprising young boy (Kenny Ho) the only child of refugee parents from China, recently arrived in America (1980's). They take up roots in the mid-west where the father takes a menial job as a mechanic and the wife works as a short order cook. The parents, after risking their lives to flee China, dream of a future where their son will earn a college degree and have a white collar job.
But young Kenny isn't willing to wait that long. Follow this incredible pint-sized entrepeneur as he explains to you (Ferris Bueller style) his business strategies, and begins to amass his fortune. During the movie a running "ticker" appears on the bottom of the page updating Kenny's net worth and percentage of the $1,000,000 he wants to earn.
While other children are content to have one paper route, Kenny gets 3, having to register the other two under the names of his friends, and then sub-contracting some of the deliveries to a network of other kids. When other kids in the neighborhood are content to trade comic books and sports cards, Kenny sees an opportunity to invest in his own inventory and begins to do profitable business out of his tree fort, not only with kids but with an increasing number of adult collectors as well. Along the way Kenny has no shortage of run-ins with his parents, friends and their parents who don't like Kenny making a profit off them, and some prejudiced cops who don't belive the American dream should be open to "Chinamen".
Onward to high school and when Kenny gets a job in the laundromat so he can study at the same time, he does the math, and ends up buying the operation, and adding video games and a snack counter. His business plan is simple, make the laundrymat such a fun place to be for the neighborhood kids that the parents will give them extra money to spend, in return for the kids doing the family laundry. In his spare-time Kenny begins to publish a local newsletter that rivals "National Enquirer" for content and rumors, except on a much more local scale. This brings a new level of danger to Kenny's life, but also brings him his first girlfriend.
That relationship however, ends shortly before high school graduation when she finally decides that Kenny's mission to have a million dollars, and his resulting frugality is not her style.
Undaunted Kenny graduates and goes to college seeking the finance degree his parents have long dreamed of. In typical Kenny fashion, after selling his laundrymat and using some of the proceeds to pay for his college, he takes a job as a nighthingychman so that he can study while being paid. Soon however at the urgings of a workmate he begins to spend more time reading about the stock market then studying. While his grades slip he begins to trade stocks and make some money, but feels that classes are getting in the way of where the real money is; daytrading.
Then one night at work Kenny gets the call to go to the hospital, but arrives too late to say goodbye to his father who has fallen to a massive heartattack. Kenny's life is turned upside down, and despite his mother's pleas he drops out of college to begin his new career as a daytrader. As with everything else in life Kenny does well and makes a good living trading stocks, and even enrolls back in college part-time.
All is going well for Kenny, until once again he gets a call, this time his Mother has fallen and was rushed to the hospital. The timing could not be worse as the stock market is taking a beating that morning. Kenny must make a last second decision to sell it all or hold before heading to the hospital.
At the hospital Kenny is able to spend the time with his Mother that he could not with his Father, as she passes away over the course of the day. Leaving the room in tears Kenny passes by the nurses station and see's CNN showing footage of a stock broker throwing himself out of a skyscraper window and then a chart of the stockmarket's biggest single day drop in 15 years before trading was halted.
We flash back to moments before and his mother's dying wish to her son to slow down, enjoy life's precious moments, meet a nice Chinese girl and settle down, have children, and buy the nice house we never could. She looks up at her son and asks him if he ever made that million dollars he always wanted. Through his tears he tells his mother he cashed out this morning, and he had made it. He was a millionaire. She smiles, tells him to go out now and live the American dream.
Codename Sweet [Working Title] [2 hours] [Crime Drama]
airdate; Winter 2008
Youngstown, Ohio has the reputation for being one of the most depressing cities in America. It is a place of dreary industrialism, and even drearier economic prospects, with a high crime rate.
Detective Al Sanders moved here from Akron as a young policeman looking for advancement and never looked back, his own personality a well suited match for Youngstown.
After almost 20 years on the job he was transferred to the new 2 man unit cold case squad a year ago, as a nice way to ride out his last 5 years until drawing pension benefits.
But time waits for no man, and the advances of DNA analysis have dropped a time bomb on this sleepy Ohio city, a break in a 17 year old murder/rape case. Back in 1989 the city was galvanized in the search for a 14 year old female student from a good family who suddenly disappeared. Unfortunately a week later when she was found she had died of exposure after being left tied to a warehouse interior pole in the middle of winter.
The crime was shocking and Al Sanders was unfortunate enough, along with his more senior partner, to catch this one as lead detectives.
Many in the department stopped by to congratulate Sanders on the cold case break, the arrest, and what they see as the crowning achievement of his career.
However, as the case and trial go forward it brings Sanders once again into the world he though he left behind in the 1990's. The young girl's parents were devote Christians but their faith was shaken, and despite therapy they fell to the same fate that over half of couples who lose a child face; seperation and divorce. As he continued to investigate the case Sanders ended up falling for the sadness of the girl's mother, and the two began a year long affair, that ended abruptly when the woman got back together with her husband.
It became impossible for Sanders to go any further in the case, unable to face the girl's mother, and with the father irrate at the detective for the affair. The case grew colder and colder despite being handed over to new detectives.
Now all these years later Sanders must again face the broken family with the news they have waited for, assuming the suspect really is guilty, and face his own failed relationships and loneliness.
What should be the happiest day in Al Sanders' life is quickly turning into just another intolerable outcome to a murder case.
Original Movie: Chasing A.Q. Khan (2006) [2 hours] [docudrama]
This movie depicts the CIA investigation into the activities of Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr. A.Q. Khan. From a blip in the radar screen to a snowballing interest within the CIA the years of painstaking international sleuthing are dramatized. The trail of illegal activities went back 18 years including several trips to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. In April 2003, Egyptian customs officials intercepted 22 tons of aluminum tubing from Germany, which would be enough for about 100-200 centrifuges. The movie takes pain to explain the nuclear technology innovated by Khan, replacing one central nuclear bomb with a series of smaller centrifuges.
In the spring of 2004, it was reported that Khan visited North Korea and was shown three nuclear devices. The US then put pressure on Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi, who under fear of American military attack confessed to purchases of nuclear secrets and materials from Khan. Libya then agreed to abandon their nuclear activities and give a full accounting of Khan’s activities as they knew them. In October 2003 US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage presented Khan’s nuclear laundry list to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf who denied any knowledge of the program. To appease his new American friends Musharraf persuaded Khan to appear on National TV in Pakistan and apologize (in English). They then placed him on indefinite house arrest but allowed him to keep his wealth amassed from the illegal programs.
The movie concludes with more current CIA investigations into Khan’s ties with North Korean’s nuclear program. CIA requests to interview Khan about his involvement have been denied by Pakistan, but because they are an important ally in the US war against terror the state department refuses to pursue the issue with vigor. Meanwhile Khan has taken on a mythical, hero status within Pakistan for his role in bringing nuclear power to the war against the infidels. The show ends with two CIA agents watching Khan walk around the outside of his lush house, under the guard of an armed security man stationed outside his home, and another across the street. Wearing his pajamas he picks up his paper, kicks off his slippers and sits at a table on his lawn reading and sipping his morning coffee. The ending has that hopeless kind of feeling from movies like “Traffic” and “Syrianna”.
"No Ordinary Joe (The Joe Paterno Story)" (2006) [an original TBA Movie]
-based on the book "No Ordinary Joe" by Michael O'Brien
One of the best known coaches in College Football history, Joe Paterno became an assistant coach at Penn State in 1950, and head coach in 1966, where he has remained ever since despite more monetarily lucrative offers from colleges and the pros.
This movie focuses primarily on Joe's early years as head coach and his efforts to instill the attitude that the aim of college is primarily a college education and only secondarily a headline on the sports page. Joe Paterno is a complex man who has been said to be a friend of the intellectuals, himself a graduate of Brown University (Ivy League), and originally deemed his efforts to combine Penn St's success in the classroom and the gridiron as the "Grand Experiment". On the downside we see a man who's unbending pride and rules have sometimes led to students failures when all they needed was to see a different side of Joe, one he was not willing to reveal. As well the challenges of the individualism of the hippy era and its lack of respect for authority is shown as a major challenge for Joe's vision of his team.
Go inside a major college program and inside the head of the man who helped shape NCAA Football and many young men into the product they are today.
"Turning Point" [Drama]
This is the story of the coming of age of race relations in America, and of the 39th President of the United States Jimmy Carter.
The historical drama begins by showing the difficulty the federal government had in penetrating the deep south despite passing laws for racial integration. It then turns to the specific problem of the county system which undermined the principal of one person, one vote. In a nutshell states who wanted to avoid federal mandates hung on to the system that allowed government representatives by regions which were not proportionate with population. For instance, as the city of Atlanta swelled, mostly with blacks, its representation stayed the same as did the stable rural counties made up mostly of whites. The result at its apex was a system where a voter in Atlanta's ballot was worth about 1/20th of many rural voters, and kept the rural white farmer and businessman in charge.
The real story then begins once the federal courts became involved and forced Georgia to change their representation system, which ended up changing the voting boundaries. And this is how a peanut farmer (really a misnomer, as Jimmy Carter actually owned a thriving wholesale operation of peanuts, that was high tech enough to have experimental growing operations as well) began down the road of politics that would lead him to the White House.
Carter's personal turning point was in challenging the first results in his run for a seat in the Georgia state senate. Although he lost he challenged the result, and ultimately won in the courts after witnessing first hand a rural election system that broke every law on the books with impunity. It's a story of crooked, small town elections, that exemplifies the saying, truth is stranger then fiction. Everything from ballot box stuffing, ballot tampering, the voting of the dead, bullying voters at the poll, and threatening to cut welfare payments off was used to get Carter's opponent elected.
The revelations, beyond just the county vote system of what is really the recent past (1962) are amazing. For instance, it was still legal at that time in this election for the deceased to vote if it could be shown to the responsible officials how that person would have reasonably voted if alive, and if they had been living at any time during the most recent term.
The story follows Carter's soul searching on whether to continue to contest the election despite overwhelming odds, and putting his personal business and family well being in jeopardy. The drama attempts to show a man of principal, whose belief in justice continued to drive him past what he pragmatically could expect to gain.
Finally the drama wraps up with a quick look at Carter's ascension to the White House, his efforts for social justice, and his fall from grace with the Iran hostage crisis.
The last scene describes America's most recent turning point where once again racial segregation rears its ugly head, this time being driven by the inequality of incomes by race instead of being upheld by laws.
They Walk Among Us [Special] [New]
Get a rare look at the inner sanctum of a major Television network as our cameras take you backstage and into the offices at TBA Network Headquarters. Host Bill Maher investigates the proliferation of Canadians (hosers, back bacon breath, toque sporting, Canuckleheads) within the TBA establishment as well as a tribute to Canadian entertainment giants of the past like John Candy and Mary Pickford. Just how far have our friendly neighbors to the North infiltrated the TBA fall schedule?
"Blame Me" [Docudrama]
Takes those looking for answers and those looking to assign blame back to 1975 Brampton, Ontario, Canada where quiet but "normal" student Michael Slobodian inexplicably showed up to his high school one day and opened fire killing a teacher, a fellow student, and wounding 10 other students.
The Docudrama takes a critical look at the first reactions of politicians and even talking heads themselves at blaming mass media. It also takes a look back at Michael Moore's "Bowling For Columbine" which filmed in part in Windsor, Ontario as a comparison to Detroit. Brampton, Ontario, the site of the 1975 tragedy occured in the same province, in the same sort of city as Brampton but this tragedy was conviently ignored by Moore in his documentary.
"Blame Me" looks again at gun control, noting that in 1975 in Brampton Ontario anyone of the age of 16 could order a hunting assault rifle, including the kind used by Slobodian, out of a catalogue no questions asked, or buy one from a local sporting store. The Docudrama goes on to look at how the gun laws were then changed in Ontario in 1977 to answer for the Slobodian murders, requiring gun licenses before sale.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly "Blame Me" looks into the life of Michael Slobodian. The mental health of teenagers going through the most stressful time of their lives, and in the case of Slobidan no societal resources. We look at the pressures of the loss of his grandfather, the serious illness of his father, his clashes with the teacher who he would ultimately slay, and his ignored cries for help through behavioural and image changes in the final couple months leading up to the tragedy. Fellow students, friends, relatives, and teachers are interviewed including Canadian actor Scott Thompson ("Kids in the Hall").
"DA Dead" [Documentary]
TBA has purchased the rights to this original movie from an independent film house in Georgia, Fast Factory Productions.
Randall Black is a throw back to Assistant District Attorneys of the past. Inquisitive, young, bright, honest as the day is long, hardnosed, seeking justice, and preserving the peace. He has his work cut out for him though serving the people on the wrong side of the tracks of Athens, Georgia.
Black finds himself fed to the wolves at his first major crime trial, prosecuting members of an African American drug gang for a murderous shooting spree. When a slick defense attorney begins to sink Black's case his evidence is bolstered from an unusual place, a rival gang. The idealistic ADA knows that by using the evidence he will be able to cut off the head of the one gang organization only to perhaps give the other a virtual monopoly on the entire area's criminal enterprises.
Spurred on by his more practically minded young wife he begins to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse, bait and switch, trying to get a secret plea bargain with the accused that will see the worst parts of both gangs eliminated, and leave the more moderate leaders in charge, and still in competition. But things go south in a hurry when the less then passive defense attorney gains wind of what is happening, and Black's life turns into a nightmare.
With his wife kidnapped Black must choose a side, and brandish a pistol, because justice will no longer be served in a courtroom, and it can no longer afford to be blind.
"Kings of Anarchy" [Documentary]
In the late 1970's and early 1980's punk rock hit the social radar like a Tsunami in a bottle. Slamdancing, piercings, mohawks, blood, and violence were not restricted to the big cities of the US with bands like the Ramones. This documentary visits the isolated and frozen tundra, oilfields, and farmlands of Western Canada where bands like DOA and Personality Crisis emerged from unknown to the leaders of the nihilstic movement.
Why punk? Why here? And now what?
"Trainwreck"
This movie is the result of a $100,000 grant from TBA Studios to some students of New York University's film studies (Tisch School of the Arts).
It's four movies in one. It begins with all the elements of slapstick or physical humor surrounding a pledging ceremony at a fictional NYU fraternity.
Suddenly the movie changes directions on the turn of a dime without warning to a horror film as the students are hunted down by a serial killer they presume to be a past pledge with a grudge.
Then the movie suddenly changes again to a disaster flick as a train derails on a nearby track spilling toxins into the ground and air. Many of the same students who began their night laughing and singing, then being hunted down by a serial killer, and now forced to try and help the innocent victims of this disaster.
Just when this trainwreck of a movie seems to be coming to a final stop, it morphs inexplicably again this time into a science fiction movie using some computer graphics as well. The toxins have turned some creatures into the stuff of nightmares and once again the students find themselves hunted.
When the sun finally comes up in the morning who will still be standing? Only the underpaid, overworked, students at NYU know. Unbelievable campy fun.
"Red, White,et Bleu"
This parody/comedy see's a US anti-ecoterrorist Tommy Easton infiltrate Canada in search of some disgruntled Canucks who plan to bring the United States down to its knees by destroying the Cod supply off of Newfoundland. Cod being the principal ingredient of cod liver oil, causing a shortage will deteriorate the health of all Americans.
Our agent, is not happy about returning to Canada where his grandfather is revered as a great socialist, much to the disgrace of Agent Easton. However, because of his fame Easton deems it safest to lay low and infiltrate Canada at the west coast and make his way east.
In his final briefing with the President, a former insurance salesman, he is told that he has only 23 1/2 hours to solve the case. He would have 24 hours but Newfoundland has its own special time zone half hour after eastern time, so he loses an extra 30 minutes. "damn those hosers are conniving" says Easton as he pounds his fist.
His Canadian journey takes Easton from BC where he catches a ride with some marijuana smoking hippies, to a plane crash because of a metric conversion problem, and onward as Easton battles geogrpahy, the elements, cultural differences, Manitoba mosquitos, Quebec seperatists, and eco-terrorists who are not afraid to say they are sorry.
Soul 2 Soul: Tim McGraw & Faith Hill tour 2007"
A behind the scenes as well as front row perspective of this summer's tour by Tim McGraw and his wife Faith Hill including interviews, concert footage, and a look backstage at what it takes to put together a tour of this nature.
Kingdom Come: The Disney Wars" Part 1
This follows the saga of Disney after the deth of founder and namesake Walt Disney. Round one consists of power being put into the hands of Ron Miller, Walt's son-in-law, a former pro football player with no serious business experience. He was chosen over Roy Disney, Walt's nephew, who was deemed "the idiot nephew" in some circles, a malicious and unfair campaign. Round 2 occurs when the company underperforms and Roy along with fellow board member Stanley Gold suceed in having Ron removed at the head of the company and recruit and hire Michael Eisner to run the company side-by-side with his longtime friend Frank Wells. The two work well in tandem, ying and yang, Eisner the idea man, the creative force, and Wells the financial guy, more down to earth. They not only suceed in restoring Disney's lost lustre but taking it to a level higher then Walt ever had. Round 3 of the battle is Michael Eisner against his #2 man Jeffrey Katzenberger, who despite being largely responsible for the turn around of the film division is turned on by Eisner who drives him out of the company. Katzenberger goes on of course to being one of the three founders of DreamWorks SKG (S=Spielberg, K=Katzenberger, G=David Geffen) and become a major competitor of Disney's film divisions. It was a battle born mostly out of Eisner's pettiness as well as the start of a pattern of getting rid of executives who Eisner may have felt threatened by or did not want to share with the creative credit. Part 1 of this 2 part TV movie ends with the death of Frank Wells, leaving Michael Eisner alone atop of the Disney Empire.
Kingdom Come: The Disney Wars" Part 2
We pick up after the death of Frank Wells, and instead of hiring a sucessor to Frank, or starting to groom a successor to himself he takes on more power and responsiblity. These extra powers will lead to heart by-pass surgery, and the pleading of his wife to find someone to replace Wells. Finally Eisner agrees to hire Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz, who not only is nicknamed the most important guy in Hollywood, but is also Eisner's best friend. Yet within minutes after consumating the deal Eisner is on the phone to other friends telling them its a misake and he has to get Ovitz out. This is Round 4 as Ovitz has left his own profitable business to join Disney only to be sabotaged by his best friend. In the end Eisner makes Ovitz miserable and eventually drives him to quit, but not before a huge payout. Once again Eisner is alone on top with no succession plan. As Disney stock begins to hurt, 9/11 hurts theme park business, and Disney is unable to reverse the fortunes of its big acquisition ABC TV, dissension errupts in the boardroom. Round 5 sees Eisner prevail at first against dissension on the board of directors, driving both Stanley Gold and Roy Disney off the board, but then the two former directors strike back with an internet and grass roots campaign which ends when 43% of stocks are voted to withold renaming Eisner as Chairman of the board. Faced with these numbers, the highest ever non-confidence vote for a major US corporation, Eisner has no choice but to tender his resignation with a phasing out period to allow Disney to find a new CEO and Chairman of the Board. This is a unique look into the psyche of a successful businessman with a borderline personality, evidenced by episodes such as when he was a guest on the Larry King Show. There he told a story about how Walt Disney was buried at an unmarked grave in a secret location, but the family felt so much for Eisner they told him where it was and he has visited it. Diane Miller, Walt's daughter assures us that in fact Walt was cremated. Take a chance to look inside the corporation that holds two of America's most beloved brands Disney and ABC TV.
