Wali Collins

A well-respected professor who is a celebrated novelist and loving husband loses himself when he becomes obsessed with an ambitious and talented student.

Graced with a velvet voice, 21-year-old Violet Sanford heads to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter only to find her aspirations sidelined by the accolades and notoriety she receives at her "day" job as a barmaid at Coyote Ugly. The "Coyotes" as they are affectionately called tantalize customers and the media alike with their outrageous antics, making Coyote Ugly the watering hole for guys on the prowl.

Claire Makes It Big, Jeremy Workman's award- winning short comedy, follows the travails of a talented overweight actress and her difficulties landing a decent movie role. A sharply written and briskly directed satire of the acting and filmmaking professions that then turns into a hilarious wish-fulfillment fantasy, it also features a lovely lead performance by Mara Hobel (whom Joan Crawford-heads may recognize as the child Christina Crawford in Mommie Dearest) and funny supporting turns from more recognizable folks like Clancy Brown, Paige Turco and Peter Bogdanovich, along with a voice cameo from the late Don LaFontaine.

A dark comedy about four self-absorbed twenty-somethings who become entangled in an ominous mystery when a former college acquaintance suddenly disappears.

Workaholic Mike Flaherty is the Deputy Mayor of New York City, serving as Mayor Randall Winston's key strategist and much-needed handler. Mike runs the city with the help of his oddball staff: an anxious and insecure press secretary; a sexist, boorish chief of staff; an impeccably groomed gay activist running minority affairs; a sharp and efficient, man-crazy accountant; and an idealistic young speechwriter. Like Mike, they are all professionally capable but personally challenged.

Gotham Comedy Club, a popular comedy venue in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, is the setting of an hourlong series that is shot in front of an audience at the club. Each episode features routines by several comics -- a list that has included such names as David Alan Grier, Gilbert Gottfried and Artie Lange -- in what the network says is an unedited and uncensored format. In addition to the big names of the field who take the Gotham stage, the show also features up-and-comers who want to make a name for themselves in the stand-up comedy business.