Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.
In 1916, a Chicago steel worker accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend and little sister to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer.
A single mother living in inner city Chicago, Brenda has been struggling for years to make ends meet and keep her three kids off the street. When she's laid off with no warning, she starts losing hope for the first time - until a letter arrives announcing the death of a father she's never met. Desperate for any kind of help, Brenda takes her family to Georgia for the funeral, but nothing could have prepared her for the Browns, her father's fun-loving, crass Southern clan. In a small-town world full of long afternoons and country fairs, Brenda struggles to get to know the family she never knew existed... and finds a brand new romance that just might change her life.
Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.
Chicago 1941. Meet private eye Richard Stone, celebrating at his Christmas Even office party after beating the draft by way of a bribe. He's a disappointment to his secretary and main squeeze, Katie Crocket, whose brother Ben is fighting overseas; and his honest young employee joey Ernest is guilt-ridden over all the divorce-racket keyhole peeping. Worst of all, his equally sleazy partner, Jake Marley, was murdered a year ago tonight and Stone didn't bother solving Jake's ho-ho homicide.
Clifford Peach, an easygoing teenager, is finding less than easy to fit in at his new high school, where a tough-talking bully terrorizes his classmates and extorts their lunch money. Refusing to pay up, Clifford enlist the aid of an overgrown misfit whose mere presence intimidates students and teachers alike. But their "business relationship" soon turns personal as Clifford and the troubled loner forge a winning alliance against their intimidators - and a very special friendship with each other.
The continuing adventures of the barbers at Calvin's Barbershop. Gina, a stylist at the beauty shop next door, is now trying to cut in on his business. Calvin is again struggling to keep his father's shop and traditions alive--this time against urban developers looking to replace mom & pop establishments with name-brand chains. The world changes, but some things never go out of style--from current events and politics to relationships and love, you can still say anything you want at the barbershop.
A young Asian American martial artist is forced to participate in a brutal formal street-fight competition.
Lyla Riley is in a punk band -- Minor Illusion. They suck. Regardless, she perseveres with her best friend Rob on guitar, numbskull drummer Sean and showboat bassist Pete. Minor Illusion's pathetic existence vexes Lyla's older sister Stephanie, a former punk turned 9-to-5 suit. Through lineup changes, borrowed cash, shitty gigs and drunken nights, Lyla and the band journey through the perils of Chicago's DIY music scene to get their shot at adequacy.
Everybody has problems these days, and Cheech and Chong are no exceptions. They're hired by Slyman and Habib to drive a limousine to Las Vegas with $5 million secretly stashed in the front seat. In order to get there, the pair sells off the car piece by piece, including the seven-figure front seat. Cheech and Chong then have a much bigger problem - Slyman and Habib are after them, swearing to kill them after the appropriate torture.
Vegetable House is no garden variety comedy. When actor/writers Joe Doyle, Ron Dean (Code of Silence), and Aaron Freeman (America's Political Satirist) team up, nothing is sacred. The Vegetable House players include some Chicago's brightest comedy stars drawn largely from the famed "Second City" comedy troupe. At Vegetable House, Brussels sprouts shiver in their sheets while above lurks the menace of the Vegomatic. Suburban housewives submit to weekly games of bondage bridge. Meet Tokai Lokoto, the 3rd World's funniest man, and Gordon, whose nailbiting has gotten out of hand. Follow the adventures of "Kaa Kaa of the City" who was abandoned at birth and raised by pigeons in Grant Park. And the Veggie Video, don't forget the Veggie Video. Hot Pop. Hot Veggies. Hot Video.
In 1932, a cop is killed and Frank Wiecek sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank's mother leads Chicago reporter P.J. O'Neal to look into the case. For some time, O'Neal continues to believe Frank guilty. But when he starts to change his mind, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong.
Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.
Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.
An arrogant, high-powered attorney takes on the case of a poor altar boy found running away from the scene of the grisly murder of the bishop who has taken him in. The case gets a lot more complex when the accused reveals that there may or may not have been a third person in the room.
Janet Flanders is a small-town, unsophisticated young woman who is seduced by the fantasy of romantic love; she believes that someday her prince will come to sweep her away. Then she meets handsome Brett Becker; she believes she's found the man of her dreams -- little suspecting he is engaged to marry a wealthy socialite. Deep into her illusion that Brett loves her, she moves to Chicago to be closer to him, deluge him with calls and love notes, tells her family about her boyfriend Brett, and buys an engagement ring. Her obsession with him leads her from intrigue and eventually to murder.
A young couple struggling with infertility seeks the aide of a healer with a promised remedy, while unknown forces also work to provide them with what they wish.
When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, they are forced to turn the tables on him to save their families.
The police try to arrest expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman, who insists he's being framed for his partner's murder in what he believes is an elaborate conspiracy. Thinking there's evidence in the Internal Affairs offices that might clear him, he takes everyone in the office hostage and demands that another well-known negotiator be brought in to handle the situation and secretly investigate the conspiracy.
Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt return as heads of the Baker family who, while on vacation, find themselves in competition with a rival family of eight children.