Chip Zien

Simchas and Sorrows

An atheist actress attempts to convert to Judaism to marry the man she loves.

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle

Dorothy Parker remembers the heyday of the Algonquin Round Table, a circle of friends whose barbed wit, like hers, was fueled by alcohol and flirted with despair.

Into the Woods

In a woods filled with magic and fairy tale characters, a baker and his wife set out to end the curse put on them by their neighbor, a spiteful witch.

Snake Eyes

All bets are off when shady homicide cop Rick Santoro witnesses a murder during a boxing match. Determined to solve the crime, he quickly learns that his search for answers will only uncover yet more questions in an ever-widening web of conspiracy, intrigue, and danger.

Breakfast of Champions

A millionaire car salesman who runs the biggest dealership in Midland City, Dwayne Hoover is a celebrity, loved and trusted by everyone. Then one day, he wakes up and realizes that his life is a total mess! But between the headaches posed by his pill-popping wife, a mistress who won't leave him alone, and a cross-dressing sales manager, Dwayne has picked a bad week for a midlife crisis.

Sondheim! The Birthday Concert

Join us for a rousing celebration of the life and works of one of Broadway's greatest legends — the one and only Stephen Sondheim. For the master composer and lyricist's 80th birthday, many of musical theater's brightest stars gathered in March of 2010 to perform more than two dozen sensational numbers from Sondheim's illustrious career, and several of these enduring songs are performed by the original Broadway cast members. David Hyde Pierce hosts this magical event with Stephen Sondheim's longtime collaborator Paul Gemignani conducting the New York Philharmonic. Originally broadcast as an episode of the PBS series "Great Performances" (season 38, episode 2).

Quiet Killer

On her way home in a plane to New York, the teenage Sarah gets very ill. She realizes too late that it's more than a cold and with her parents still on vacation, she breaks down in the middle of the street and dies shortly after in a hospital -- by the plague, as the terrified coroners find out. While trying to keep this from the public to avoid a panic, epidemic commissioner Dr. Nora Hart has to investigate Sarah's identity and find everyone who had contact with her. If she misses a single person, the plague could kill half the city in a few days!

Cagney & Lacey: The View Through the Glass Ceiling

Cagney and Lacey work a case involving police corruption and document forgery. Chris seeks a prestigious promotion, while Mary Beth has to deal with the return of her sickly, aged father.

United 93

A real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.

Approaching a Breakthrough

As Norman and his girlfriend storm into Central Park, bickering, Norman is cornered by a string of characters from his past, appearing from all sides of the park — from two of his former therapists to his Mormon ex-girlfriend. Despite his best efforts to run away from his problems, Norman, who has recently returned from LA, can’t seem to escape them.

Little Evil

Gary, who has just married Samantha, the woman of his dreams, discovers that her six-year-old son may be the Antichrist.

The Siege

The secret US abduction of a suspected terrorist from his Middle East homeland leads to a wave of terrorist attacks in New York. An FBI senior agent and his team attempt to locate and decommission the enemy cells, but must also deal with an Army General gone rogue and a female CIA agent of uncertain loyalties.

Howard the Duck

A scientific experiment unknowingly brings extraterrestrial life forms to the Earth through a laser beam. First is the cigar-smoking drake, Howard, from the duck's planet. A few kids try to keep him from the greedy scientists and help him back to his planet, but then a much less friendly being arrives through the beam...

Oh, Boy! Babies!

Boys learn to take care of babies.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead

Julian Marsh is an out of work ladies' man who lands a job directing a bizarre adaptation of Hamlet. After casting his best friend and his ex-girlfriend in the show, Julian finds himself in the middle of a two thousand year old conspiracy that explains the connection between Shakespeare, the Holy Grail and some seriously sexy vampires. It turns out that the play was actually written by a master vampire name Theo Horace and it's up to Julian to recover the Grail in order to reverse the vampire's curse...If only being undead wasn't so much God-damned fun!

The Real Shlemiel

When God distributed wiseness and foolishness through a newly created world, one of the cherubs accidentally dropped all the foolishness on a tiny village called Chelm. So everyone in the village is very dumb. Recently orphaned boy Aaron and his friendly goat Zlateh live there with Aaron's uncle Shlemiel. When an evil sorcerer and his monster attack the village, Aaron and Zlateh have to defend it themselves.

Grace Quigley

Grace Quigley is nearing the end of her life, living alone in her New York apartment. On the day she's being evicted, she witnesses a murder being committed by a top hit-man, Seymour Flint. She proposes to blackmail him into killing her, however, she has one or two friends she wants him to get rid of first.

Cagney & Lacey: True Convictions

Detectives Cagney and Lacey come face-to-face with their true feelings about capital punishment when they're assigned to the city's first capital murder case in 10 years.

The House of God

Comedy about a couple of interns in a hospital named 'The House of God'.

Hello Again

A suburban housewife chokes to death and is brought back to life by a spell cast by her wacky sister.

The Rose

Rock-and-roll singer Mary Rose Foster's romantic relationships and mental health are continuously imperilled by the demands of life on the road.

A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim

This special is a recording of the presentation of the Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts presented by Southern Methodist University in 1994. The performance, by students at the school and guest artists Bernadette Peters, Chip Zien and Debra Monk, is intercut with interviews with Sondheim, Hal Prince, James Lapine and videotaped testimonials from Angela Lansbury and Jason Alexander.

In Trousers

The one-act musical centers on Marvin, who has a wife and children. He recalls the past relationships he shared with, among others, his high school sweetheart and Miss Goldberg, his English teacher who let him play Christopher Columbus in the school play, and then reveals he prefers to be with men. Torn between his natural inclination and his desire not to upset his family life as he knows it, Marvin ultimately makes the decision he feels is best for him.

Anyone Can Whistle: Live at Carnegie Hall

A corrupt mayoress fakes a miracle to save her bankrupt town, and the romance between a rational nurse and an easygoing doctor caught in the chaos. A live concert held at Carnegie Hall in New York City as a benefit for the Gay Men's Health Crisis, with Angela Lansbury, who had starred in the original Broadway cast in her stage debut, as the narrator.

Howard the Doc or: How I Learned to Start Quacking and Love the Bomb

Fans of the legendary and infamous 1986 comic-book adaptation "Howard the Duck" talk about what it is that they enjoy about this film about a fowl from another planet and his misadventures in Cleve Land.