The best Susan Ruttan’s drama movies

After squandering his grant money, despondent and recently widowed anthropologist James Krippendorf must produce hard evidence of the existence of a heretofore undiscovered New Guinea tribe. Grass skirts, makeup, and staged rituals transform his three troubled children into the Shelmikedmu, a primitive culture whose habits enthrall scholars. But when a spiteful rival threatens to blow the whistle on Krippendorf's ruse, he gets into the act as well.

When Duffy Bergman, a New York cartoonist, meets Meg Lloyd, a gourmet chef, he discovers the love of his life and they marry -- yet love alone isn't enough to make them happy. Meg decides she wants to have a baby, a goal that initially makes Duffy frantic, but soon becomes his most important desire as well. When they are unable to have a baby, Meg begins concentrating on her career and the two slowly drift apart -- eventually separating. Later, when Duffy is speaking at a convention of the Delta Gamma sorority, he reveals that the Delta Gamma girls have always been his dream girls -- his Love Goddesses. There he meets the young and uninhibited Delta Gamma girl, Daphne Delillo. When Daphne moves to New York to work as a network sports reporter, their mutual attraction and Daphne's spontaneity spark an adventurous new relationship for Duffy. Now Duffy must decide which is more valuable to him -- the relationship he has given up, or the relationship he has always dreamed of having.

A hard-drinking family man has been successful in his business despite his alcoholism. His daughter, a professional, struggles to meet her father's high expectations while she becomes addicted to prescription drugs; his son, who works for him and who serves as both his whipping boy and his drinking buddy, is becoming an alcoholic like his dad. Then the father's drinking finally takes its toll on his health, and he demands that his son bring him liquor in the hospital as his son's life, and his daughter's, fall apart at home.

Mary Ann Taylor loves the comforts of her hometown in Mercury, Texas. She has a steady job as a waitress in her father's diner, yet she can't help but feel unfulfilled by a life of pouring coffee and grilling hamburgers. Mary Ann's real passion is photography, but pursuing her dream of becoming a photographer means leaving Mercury behind.

Barbara Wyatt-Hollis is an English professor who begins to experience the effects of Alzheimer's. The film documents her decline and the emotional turmoil it causes for her. It also shows how the changes impact her husband, George, and their children. The film also looks at the process by which families can be educated and supported to deal with the impact of the disease, as well as what is done for those afflicted.

Successful advertising executive decides to get out of the rat race but the family rebels at the new lifestyle he outlines. He and his youngest daughter leave the suburbs for a Manhattan loft apartment while the rest of the brood -- wife and three kids -- re-evaluate the situation. For his engaging score, Peter Matz won an Emmy Award nomination.

Jack Reed is investigating a mass murder that occurred in a cemetery in broad daylight. Most individuals at the cemetery and the victims are Russian immigrants and they either fear or don't trust the police, because they have complaining about other problems to the police but they don't care or think it warrants investigating. Reed still investigates and it leads to a devious Russian who has turned some young Russians into his private army. Reed's friend, Charles Silvera, also has a problem. The son of an old friend and mayoral candidate, Gordon Thomas, has been arrested for killing someone while driving under the influence. Some of the people on Thomas' staff are afraid that this might jeopardize Thomas' bid for mayor, so they are pressuring Silvera to make it go away but Silvera relents so they threaten him to.

As troubling signs of global cataclysms accelerate, a brother and sister react to their father's desertion and the powerful presence of their mother's new boyfriend.