Lifestories: Families in Crisis

*Lifestories: Families in Crisis*
Lifestories: Families in Crisis
Genre	After school special
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	15
Production
Executive producers	Eve Silverman,; Francine Lefrak
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	August 1, 1992 –; February 8, 1996

Lifestories: Families in Crisis is an American after school special drama television series that premiered on HBO on August 1, 1992.

The show

Lifestories: Families in Crisis deals with major issues involving individuals, mostly teenagers and young adults. The stories usually ended with the real person on which the story is based providing helpful information for others in a similar situation. Issues include a child molesting priest (played by Craig Wasson) terrorizing families, a college student with bulimia (played by Calista Flockhart) trying to deal with her problems, a football player addicted to steroids (played by Ben Affleck), substance abuse by a teenager, homosexuality and bi-sexuality involving teenagers, a teenage girl (Dina Spybey, in a Daytime Emmy Award-winning performance^[1] as Becky Bell) who has an illegal abortion and dies, a young man (played by Sam Rockwell) who is ultimately convicted of vehicular homicide after crashing into a young woman's (played by Jorja Fox) car while drunk, a boy (Adam LaVorgna as Joey DiPaolo) who contracts HIV and has to live with the disease, homelessness in Philadelphia and the major impact it has on a teenager (Ward Saxton as Trevor Ferrell) and the depression and suicide of one popular athletic teenager and its lasting effect on his best friend.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Issue	Cast	Original air date
1^[2]	"The Secret Life of Mary Margaret: Portrait of a Bulimic"	Allen Coulter	Eating Disorders	Calista Flockhart, Christine Jones, John Cunningham, Judy Kuhn, Tovah Feldshuh, Amy Hargreaves	August 1, 1992 (1992-08-01)
A popular teen struggles with bulimia.
2	"Deadly Secret: The Robert Bierer Story"	Risa Bramon Garcia	Suicide	Wil Wheaton, Curnal Achilles Aulisio, Sarah Trigger, Audra Lindley	August 8, 1992 (1992-08-08)
A teenager reminisces about a friend who committed suicide.
3	"Public Law 106: The Becky Bell Story"	Juan José Campanella	Abortion, Parental Consent Laws	Dina Spybey, Debra Monk, Craig Wasson	August 15, 1992 (1992-08-15)
A pregnant teen obtains an illegal abortion to circumvent Indiana's Parental Consent Law.
4	"Gunplay: The Last Day in the Life of Brian Darling"	Daniel Taplitz	Gun safety; Gun control	Benari Poulten, Chris McKenna, Darren Higgins, Adam LeFevre	September 19, 1992 (1992-09-19)
A 10-year-old boy is accidentally killed when he and a friend play with a gun.
5	"Blood Brothers: The Joey DiPaolo Story"	Dean Pitchford	AIDS	Adam LaVorgna, Amy Aquino, Lawrence Taylor	September 26, 1992 (1992-09-26)^[3]
A 13-year-old boy's HIV status is revealed to the public.
6	"No Visible Bruises: The Katie Koestner Story"	Juan José Campanella	Date rape	Ali Thomas, Christopher C. Fuller, Suzanne Bertish, Julie Bowen, Lisa Nicole Carson	January 12, 1993 (1993-01-12)^[4]
A young woman (Katie Koestner) is the victim of date rape.
7	"Dead Drunk: The Kevin Tunell Story"	Juan José Campanella	Drunk driving	Sam Rockwell, Jane Adams, Jorja Fox	March 15, 1993 (1993-03-15)
A teen kills an 18-year-old girl while driving drunk. As part of his punishment, her parents request that he send them a one dollar check every week for the next eighteen years.
8	"More Than Friends: The Coming Out of Heidi Leiter"	Juan José Campanella	Coming out, Sexual orientation	Sabrina Lloyd, Claire Danes, Angela Baker	January 24, 1994 (1994-01-24)
A teenage lesbian couple want to attend prom, but must deal with their community's reactions.
9	"A Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story"	David Burton Morris	Steroid abuse	Ben Affleck, Kamala Lopez, Ernie Hudson, Bryan Genesse, Michael Cudlitz	March 23, 1994 (1994-03-23)
A teen football player turns to steroids to improve performance, and then must deal with the consequences.^[5]
10	"Brotherly Love: The Trevor Ferrell Story"	Gordon Edelstein	Homelessness	Ward Saxton, Lázaro Pérez, Brenda Pressley	March 31, 1994 (1994-03-31)
An 11-year-old boy becomes an activist for the homeless in his community.
11	"A Child Betrayed: The Calvin Mire Story"	Juan José Campanella	Child molestation, Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church	Blake Bashoff, Craig Wasson, Brian Reiser	April 11, 1994 (1994-04-11)
An altarboy is molested by a priest.
12	"Confronting Brandon: The Intervention of an Addict"	Iris Dugow	Substance abuse	Andrew Kavovit, Lisa Zane, Trevor Lissauer, Bodhi Elfman	May 20, 1994 (1994-05-20)
A group of teens stage an intervention for a friend who is abusing alcohol and drugs.
13	"POWER: The Eddie Matos Story"	Jesús Salvador Treviño	Gang violence	Alexis Cruz, Nestor Serrano, Socorro Santiago, Isaiah Washington, N'Bushe Wright	July 12, 1994 (1994-07-12)
A teen drops out of school, joins a gang, and begins dealing drugs. Eventually, a gunshot wound confines him to a wheelchair.
14	"A Dangerous Affair^[3]"	Unknown	Safe sex, Sex education,	Kim Frey	January 1, 1995 (1995-01-01)
Kim Frey narrates her own story, detailing how a brief romantic relationship in college resulted in a diagnosis of HIV.^[6]
15	"Someone Had to Be Benny"	Juan José Campanella	Refusal of medical assistance	Michael Shulman, Donna Murphy, Suzanne Cryer	February 8, 1996 (1996-02-08)
A terminally ill teenage boy sues for the right to stop his medical treatment.^[7]

References

^ "Lucci Loses Emmy for 14th Time : Television: She's beat out of best actress honors by 'Another World's' Linda Dano. CBS' 'Young and Restless' wins the best drama series award". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 28 May 1993. Archived from the original on 22 February 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
^ Fergus, George. "Lifestories: Families in Crisis a Titles & Air Dates Guide". epguides.com. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
^ ^a ^b Fergus, George. "Lifestories: Families in Crisis a Titles & Air Dates Guide by George Fergus". epguides.com. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
^ Smith, Matt (13 January 1993). "Students Question Date-Rape Program". Daily Press. Retrieved 4 November 2018 – via Newspapers.com. and "Program". Daily Press. 13 January 1993. p. B2. Retrieved 4 November 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Scott, Tony (6 April 1994). "Review: 'Lifestories — Families in Crisis a Body to Die for: The Aaron Henry Story'". variety.com. Variety. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
^ "TV Guide". tvguide.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
^ "SOMEONE HAD TO BE BENNY(1996)". tcm.com. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 17 January 2016.

External links

Lifestories: Families in Crisis at IMDb

[1] "Lucci Loses Emmy for 14th Time : Television: She's beat out of best actress honors by 'Another World's' Linda Dano. CBS' 'Young and Restless' wins the best drama series award". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 28 May 1993. Archived from the original on 22 February 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2023.

[epguide-2] Fergus, George. "Lifestories: Families in Crisis a Titles & Air Dates Guide". epguides.com. Retrieved 16 January 2016.

[epguides-3] Fergus, George. "Lifestories: Families in Crisis a Titles & Air Dates Guide by George Fergus". epguides.com. Retrieved 16 January 2016.

[4] Smith, Matt (13 January 1993). "Students Question Date-Rape Program". Daily Press. Retrieved 4 November 2018 – via Newspapers.com. and "Program". Daily Press. 13 January 1993. p. B2. Retrieved 4 November 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

[Variety_Review:_Steroids-5] Scott, Tony (6 April 1994). "Review: 'Lifestories — Families in Crisis a Body to Die for: The Aaron Henry Story'". variety.com. Variety. Retrieved 17 January 2016.

[TVGuide_eps-6] "TV Guide". tvguide.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.

[7] "SOMEONE HAD TO BE BENNY(1996)". tcm.com. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 17 January 2016.

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v t e Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Special
Children's Entertainment Special (1974–1984)	ABC Afterschool Special ("Rookie of the Year") (1974) The CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People ("Harlequinade") (1975) The CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People ("Danny Kaye's Look-In at the Metropolitan Opera") (1976) Special Treat ("Big Henry and the Polka Dot Kid") (1977) ABC Afterschool Special ("Hewitt's Just Different") (1978) Special Treat ("The Tap Dance Kid") (1979) ABC Afterschool Special ("The Late Great Me: Story of a Teenage Alcoholic") (1980) ABC Afterschool Special ("A Matter of Time") (1981) ABC Afterschool Special ("Starstruck") (1982) ABC Afterschool Special ("The Woman Who Willed a Miracle") (1983) ABC Afterschool Special ("The Great Love Experiment") (1984)
Children's Informational Special (1976–1984)	Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown (1976) ABC Afterschool Special ("My Mom's Having a Baby") (1977) ABC Afterschool Special ("Very Good Friends") (1978) Razzamatazz (1979) The CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People ("Why a Conductor") (1980) The CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People ("Julie Andrews' Invitation to the Dance with Rudolf Nureyev") (1981) Kathy (1982) No Award (1983) CBS Schoolbreak Special ("Dead Wrong: The John Evans Story") (1984)
Children's Anthology/Dramatic Programming (1980)	ABC Weekend Specials ("The Gold Bug") / CBS Library ("Animal Talk" and "Once Upon a Midnight Dreary") / Once Upon a Classic ("Leatherstocking Tales") (1980)
Children's Special (1985–2003)	CBS Schoolbreak Special ("All the Kids Do It") (1985) CBS Schoolbreak Special ("The War Between the Classes") (1986) ABC Afterschool Special ("Wanted: The Perfect Guy") (1987) CBS Schoolbreak Special ("Never Say Goodbye") (1988) ABC Afterschool Special ("Taking a Stand") (1989) CBS Schoolbreak Special ("A Matter of Conscience") (1990) Lost in the Barrens (1991) Vincent and Me (1992) ABC Afterschool Special ("Shades of a Single Protein") (1993) Lifestories: Families in Crisis ("Dead Drunk: The Kevin Tunell Story") (1994) Lifestories: Families in Crisis ("A Child Betrayed: The Calvin Mire Story") (1995) CBS Schoolbreak Special ("Stand Up") (1996) Elmo Saves Christmas (1997) In His Father's Shoes (1998) The Island on Bird Street (1999) Summer's End (2000) Run the Wild Fields / A Storm in Summer (2001) My Louisiana Sky (2002) Bang Bang You're Dead (2003)
Children/Youth/Family Special (2004–2007)	The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie (2004) Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks (2005) Reality Matters ("Teen Sexuality") (2006) Saving a Species (The Great Penguin Rescue") (2007)