Toynton, Ian

Piece of Cake

The Providence Collection

Melina Kanakaredes has the kind of warm, easy accessibility upon which long television careers are founded. The popularity of Providence--in which Kanakaredes plays Sydney Hansen, a plastic surgeon who returns home to find more meaning in her life--rests mostly on her shoulders, though certainly the rest of the cast is an engaging lot: Paula Cale plays Joanie, Syd's single-mom sister; Mike Farrell (formerly BJ Honeycutt of M*A*S*H) plays her veterinarian father, who relates better with animals than people; Seth Peterson is her rapscallion younger brother Robbie; and Concetta Tomei haunts Syd's dreams as her mother, who dies in Providence's pilot episode. Story-wise, the show is all over the map--soap opera (every family member goes through many relationship traumas), melodrama (in only the second episode, Syd saves an autistic girl from being institutionalized), comedy (in the fifth season, Robbie and his wife open a B&B, only to be plagued with skunks), suspense (a thug tries to murder a lovable drug-sniffing dog), even political thriller (when Syd dates a married congressman, blackmail erupts).

The Providence Collection is something of a greatest hits collection, so weddings, births, and christenings dominate the selected episodes. The writing can be awkward and obvious, but the capable cast holds everything together, and there's no denying that every episode keeps things lively by packing in at least three interweaving storylines. --Bret Fetzer

Annie/Annie - A Royal Adventure (Double Feature)

ANNIE is the story of a plucky red-haired girl who dreams of life outside her dreary orphanage. One day Annie (Aileen Quinn) is chosen to stay for one week with the famous billionaire "Daddy" Warbucks (Albert Finney). One week turns into many and the only person standing in the way of Annie's fun is Miss Hannigan the gin-soaked ruler of the orphanage (played to hilarious perfection by Carol Burnett). Will Miss Hannigan's zany attempts to kidnap the irrepressible Annie succeed? Enjoy all the unforgettable songs including "It's A Hard Knock Life" and "Tomorrow." ANNIE: A ROYAL ADVENTURE Daddy Warbucks is called to London to be knighted so he takes Annie and her pal Hannah with him along with Dr. Eli Eon and faithful companions the Asp and Punjab. Little Molly from the orphanage is the girl's stowaway.System Requirements:Running Time: 219 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: NR UPC: 043396115873 Manufacturer No: 11587

Annie - A Royal Adventure

The plucky, Great Depression-era orphan won the heart of new pop Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks in John Huston's 1982 Annie, and Annie: A Royal Adventure is a spirited, 1995 follow-up that finds father and daughter targeted by British scoundrels. When ultra-wealthy industrialist Warbucks (George Hearn) takes Annie (Ashley Johnson) and a couple of her friends to receive his knighthood in London, a pretender to the throne (Joan Collins) finds an opportunity to seize Buckingham Palace by kidnapping Warbucks's entourage. Clever Annie, however, keeps the villainess and her incompetent goons off their game with her old, street-smart skills. Young Johnson is never quite convincing as the resourceful, red-haired moppet, but Hearn and Collins are reliable and witty old hands who bring most of the fun to this project. The London settings look great, and there's an added bonus for Monty Python fans: Longtime Python foil Carol Cleveland plays mean Mrs. Hannigan, headmistress of Annie's former orphanage. --Tom Keogh

Carole King - In Concert

As Carole King herself puts it during this concert performance in Hartford, Connecticut, the tunes on this video will represent either a trip down memory lane for the viewer--or a music-history lesson. King includes a couple of unfamiliar songs (from her then-new 1993 album, Colour of Your Dreams), but devotes most of this 85-minute set to the hits and highlights of her career, with a large, energetic band and backup singers (including her daughter). Those include such early song-writing successes as "One Fine Day," "Up on the Roof," and "Natural Woman," as well as the still-classic tunes from her ground-breaking Tapestry album: "So Far Away," "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", "It's Too Late," and "You've Got a Friend." King herself is frisky as a pony, working the stage with the flair of Tina Turner and even bringing out unlikely guest-star guitarist Slash to provide chunky, chugging guitar on "Locomotion." --Marshall Fine

Widows [Region 2]

She's Out

Covington Cross