Ed O`Neill

During the long hours in a quiet kitchen, a flicker of comradery sparks between an aging fast food worker and a talented but stalled young writer who is his replacement.

A television weatherman scams a local lottery. Winter 1988. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is Russ Richard's oyster, there where he is the popular weatherman for WTPA Channel 6 News. That popularity allows him many perks in the city, especially at his local Denny's. Things start to go off the rails for him as this winter is unseasonably warm and not white, meaning that no one is buying from his snowmobile dealership, and none of his usual sources are willing to advance him any money to tide him over this rough business patch. In turning to Gig, a slightly shady acquaintance who operates a strip club and bar, Russ decides to turn to illegal activities to get the money he needs. After one failed attempt at that criminal life which has its own negative consequences, Russ instead decides on a lottery scam, his partners in crime being Gig, and Crystal Latroy, Russ' colleague at WTPA as the Pennsylvania Lucky Six Lottery girl - the lottery numbers which are drawn live on air during WTPA's supper hour news - and his sometime lover. Crystal is also sleeping with her and Russ' married boss, WTPA manager Dick Simmons, in an effort to get ahead in the world. Russ, Gig and Crystal are able to devise a plan to win the next jackpot, worth $6.4 million. As they enact the plan, which requires the assistance from a few others, the plan also potentially starts to go off the rails as those in the know and those who think that they know something about the fraud want what they believe is their fair share which, if Russ would agree, would get him further in the hole than he was before going into the venture. But as things get more and more dangerous and potentially lethal, Russ, Crystal and Gig begin to have diverging views on how to get out from the increasing mess based on their own tolerance of the risk for the potential reward. —Huggo Winter, 1988: Harrisburg PA's celebrity weatherman, Russ Richards, is broke: he's borrowed heavily to open a snowmobile dealership, and it's still unseasonably warm. Gig, his seedy pal, advises him to run an insurance scam; when it goes awry, Russ is out another $10,000 and in trouble with Dale, a bat-wielding thug. Gig convinces Russ to rig the state lottery with the help of Crystal, a gold-digging ditz with a heart of tin. They have to find a beard to buy the ticket, and then they have to cash it. Soon, murder and various double-crosses add to Russ's nightmare. A lazy cop zeroes in. Jail is closer than riches. Will Russ have to choose between his money and his life? —<jhailey@hotmail.com>

A college basketball coach is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive. Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.

Misfits form their own opposing team to an elite peewee football team, coached by the elite team coach's brother. In Urbania, Ohio, snobby former football star Kevin O'Shea conducts try outs for the town's Peewee football team, the Urbania Cowboys, which will compete for a chance at the state peewee football playoffs. Kevin slights his younger brother, Danny, by rejecting his daughter, Becky, who is a good player. He rejected her simply because she's a girl. She and some of her friends, boys who were also rejected, get the idea to start up their own team with Danny as the coach. After Kevin tries to put a stop to that, Danny gets him to agree to a game to decide which team will represent Urbania, because each town is allowed only one team. Danny and Becky scour the town in search of willing players, and they gather a crew of kids who have limited skills and no team spirit. They luck out when Becky discovers Junior Floyd expertly passing rolls of toilet paper right into a shopping cart at the supermarket, as though he's passing a football. With Becky and Junior on board, the new team, the Giants, has a chance to make a good showing, and they begin their training. But low morale continually threatens to break up the team. A chance visit by former NFL coach John Madden and four NFL stars, Steve Entman, Bruce Smith, Emmitt Smith, and Tim Brown, leaves the team with several tips on how to create an advantage. Becky develops a crush on Junior, and she's jealous when her cheerleader cousin, Debbie, flirts with him. She decides to compete for him on equal terms, so she puts on make-up and a cheerleader outfit, joining the cheerleaders and abandoning the team. But the Cowboys will be coming into the game with a vicious new player named Spike Hammersmith. Will Becky be there for the team if they need her? —Todd Baldridge Danny O'Shea has forever lived in the shadow of his brother, the great football player Kevin O'Shea, who was stronger, faster, and more popular. But when his daughter, Becky, is cut from Kevin's peewee football team, Danny brings together a squad of picked-lasts and losers to prove to Kevin that he can still learn a lot from him. —Michael Silva <silvamd@cleo.bc.edu> Kevin O'Shea is an early retired football star, who now coaches a peewee league team. When he excludes his niece, Becky (dispite her being the best player), she convinces her father Danny, to coach a peewee team and beat Kevin's one. Danny accepts in an attempt to show Urbainia that Kevin is not invincible, and that there is another O'Shea in town. He picks a team of players that have never been given a chance, and no-longer wants to be second best. —Mekaeal Chaudary

To stop an elusive criminal, a maverick detective enlists the aid of a police dog who's an unusually intelligent smart alec. The extravagant cop Michael Dooley needs some help to fight a drug dealer who has tried to kill him. A "friend" gives him a drug-sniffing dog named Jerry Lee. With his help, Dooley sets out to put his enemy behind bars, but Jerry Lee has a personality of his own and works only when he wants to. On the other hand, the dog is quite good at destroying Dooley's car, house, sex-life, etc. —Flavio Rizzardi <spillo@maya.dei.unpid.it> Mike Dooley, who works on the San Diego narcotics squad, is working on a stakeout of drug kingpin Ken Lyman and barely escapes with his life as his car is blown up by a helicopter sent by Lyman. Later, Mike is given a partner - a dog named Jerry Lee. Mike doesn't like Jerry Lee, but he begins to warm up to the dog when Jerry Lee shows how helpful he can be. Mike wants to know where Lyman's next drug shipment will take place, and Jerry Lee helps Mike. In order to keep Mike from messing up the shipment, Lyman has Mike's girlfriend Tracy kidnapped. Mike and Jerry Lee find Halstead, the car dealer who delivers Lyman's shipments, and with Jerry Lee's help, Mike takes the shipment from Halstead and drives the shipment to where Lyman is expecting it; this leads to a confrontation with Lyman. —Todd Baldridge