
Joel Polis
Actor · b. 1951 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
An American television, film and stage actor. He has appeared in over one hundred television programs and films during his career. Polis' first film role was the character 'Fuchs' in the science fiction film The Thing. He appeared in numerous television series including Cheers, Alien Nation, Northern Exposure, Star Trek: Voyager, Roseanne, Seinfeld, Chicago Hope, Boston Legal and CSI. He appeared in a recurring role on the television series Cheers as the mischievous Gary, owner of the rival bar, Gary's Olde Towne Tavern. Polis's theater credits include performances at the Astor Place Theatre, Hartford Stage, Old Globe Theater, South Coast Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Odyssey Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, Lillian Theater and the Pasadena Playhouse.
Movies24
Movie8.1HorrorMysteryA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
The Thing
1982 · 8.3K votes
Movie5.9ActionCrimeVeteran cop Nick Pulovski is used to playing musical partners; many of the partners he's had in the past have died on the job, and often as a result of Nick's risky tactics. But the rookie who's been assigned to help Nick bust a carjacking ring is almost as hotheaded as he is … and when Nick gets kidnapped, his newbie partner is his only hope.
The Rookie
1990 · 638 votes
Movie6.2CrimeDramaEddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet. With Roger's idealistic prodding, Eddie reluctantly takes on a case of a young Korean man who, according to his mother, has been in jail for eight years for a murder he didn't commit.
True Believer
1989 · 123 votes
Movie5.1Science FictionActionGovernment agents find evidence of extraterrestrial life at the South Pole.
Alien Hunter
2003 · 153 votes
Movie4.3ComedyWarAn engineer fails to get the bugs out of a tank before an Army officer has to use it in Kuwait.
Best Defense
1984 · 131 votes
Movie6.1ActionComedyFBI agent Barney Coopersmith is assigned to protect former Mafia figure turned informant Vincent Antonelli. In the witness protection program one is supposed to keep a low profile, but that is something that Antonelli has trouble doing. Coopersmith certainly has his hands full keeping Antonelli away from the Mafia hitmen who want to stop him testifying, not to mention the nightclubs...
My Blue Heaven
1990 · 279 votes
Movie6.3DramaNick, a gay, HIV-positive architect, begins to display severe symptoms of AIDS and makes preparations to kill himself before he is unable to function normally. He arranges a party to reconnect and say goodbye to his closest friends and his confused parents. But when his ex-partner, Brandon, a television director who left Nick when he was diagnosed with HIV, shows up, what was supposed to be a celebratory event becomes much more difficult for everyone.
It's My Party
1996 · 42 votes
Movie3.2ThrillerMysteryHomicide detective Walter D'Arcangelo is the only link to a serial killer who preys on adulterous women. Walter must confront his past in order to prove himself innocent before more women are killed.
Dark Angel
1996 · 5 votes
Movie6.9ThrillerRomanceA writer/radio advice show host fails to heed his own advice as he stalks his ex-girlfriend and then becomes involved with an actress friend of hers.
Attraction
2001 · 102 votes
Movie8.8DocumentaryHorrorThe ultimate companion to John Carpenter’s "The Thing", digging deep into the proverbial iceberg to enhance your viewing experience with new insights, stories, and revelations.
The Thing Expanded
2026 · 5 votes
Movie6.3TV MovieDramaWhen high school football player Cam Stiles loses his best friend, he decides to drop football and focus on attaining his friend's goal of running a mile in under four minutes. Cam's decision tears apart his relationship with former teammates and his father—who happens to be his demanding football coach.
Chasing a Dream
2009 · 6 votes
Movie6.4ComedyDramaWhenever trouble strikes in one of her relationships, single mother Mary Jo Walker and her daughter, Ava, pack up and move to another city, a routine Ava is tiring of. This time, they are helped on their move to San Diego by trucker Jack Ranson. While Ava settles in, getting a leading part in the school play, Jack starts dating Mary Jo but soon reveals himself to be controlling and aggressive. Mary Jo prepares to flee again, angering Ava.
Tumbleweeds
1999 · 50 votes
Movie10.0High school diving champion Buddy Elder (Scott Baio) can't seem to stop drinking and driving.
All The Kids Do It
1984 · 1 votes
Movie4.0DramaTV MovieA pediatrician becomes trapped in a web of betrayal and guilt when her best friend, a nurse, seems to be a baby-killer.
Deadly Medicine
1991 · 2 votes
Movie7.4DocumentaryAn in-depth look at the making of John Carpenter's cult classic sci-fi horror The Thing, telling the story of a group of researchers in Antarctica who encounter a parasitic extra-terrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates other organisms.
The Thing: Terror Takes Shape
1998 · 29 votes
Movie5.0Science FictionDramaA troubled 17-year-old Todd Baker restores a Mercury Redstone rocket as a science project with the help of his ex-astronaut grandfather. When a NASA emergency leaves a space shuttle and its crew in danger, Todd's rocket is the only one ready for immediate launch.
Rocket's Red Glare
2000 · 3 votes
Movie6.7DramaScott and Sue Grimes are a happily married and affluent young couple who are about to start a family together. Unfortunately, that plan gets turned completely upside-down when Sue dies suddenly and unexpectedly while giving birth to their daughter. Now in the aftermath, Scott not only has to deal with the loss of his wife, he also has the daunting task of raising his daughter all alone.
Those She Left Behind
1989 · 3 votes
Movie4.0DramaTV MovieFact-based story of a woman who suffered a nervous breakdown after having an extra-marital affair.
Burning Bridges
1990 · 3 votes
Movie8.0DramaCrimeLacking the grades and money for college, a Florida high school senior takes assignment as a cocaine mule.
Swallow
2004 · 1 votes
Movie4.7ThrillerAs a member of FBI Psychological Profile Unit, Selby Younger tracks Morrano, vicious and intelligent serial killer. Before getting caught, Morrano attacks her leaving serious psychological wounds. Two years later, Morrano escapes and Selby, now working on a desk job, must face her personal traumas again.
Serial Killer
1995 · 14 votes
Movie5.2DramaTV MovieLynn Schaffer is willfully irresponsible once too often, gets fired and refuses a plea-bargain with her employer. She's now convicted and because of this uncooperative attitude gets the maximum sentence, 10 years in a women's jail wing. Model husband Larry, who wasn't informed of her dumb schemes is left running her appeal, the household and spoiled daughter who now feels abandoned. Since most inmates are junkies or prostitutes, sergeant Ed Crang and fellow corrupt jailers can run a 'favors in kind exchange'. For rebels, it gets worse. Larry however has his own radio show, so it all hangs on gathering proof.
Prison of Secrets
1997 · 8 votes
Movie5.9ThrillerCrimeMark Schall kills his mother-in-law and wounds his father-in-law in the middle of the night, then turns himself in. He claims, however, that he cannot remember the crime itself. His defense team finds evidence that suggests the crimes were committed while Mark was sleep walking. They build their defense around this theory.
The Sleepwalker Killing
1997 · 8 votes
Movie6.4ThrillerActionJordan Cooper, a professor in Durham, has everything going for him. A beautiful girlfriend named Kathy, a good job and a nice place to live. But when he goes for his annual check up, things go wrong. Someone is tampering with his computer files and all his tests are bad. He is admitted to the hospital and dragged off to the county hospital late that night for a brain operation that he does not need. His electronic records are changing. He gets cable he did not order and then his girlfriend is murdered in his car. Someone is trying to ruin the life of Cooper, and he has to find out who and why before the police catch up to him.
Twilight Man
1996 · 5 votes
Movie3.0HorrorWhen a turn of the century prison reformatory is slated for demolition, a grisly discovery is made. Hidden deep underground beneath the west cell block is a sub-basement structure that has not been entered in 100 years. Inside are the skeletal remains of several brutally slain children. As a CSI team arrives at the prison, an even more disturbing discovery is made that will eventually unveil a legion of seven demons and their even more chilling origins: each demon is responsible for one of the seven deadly sins. Seven deadly sins...Seven deadly demons...Seven more deadly ways to die...
Fallen Angels
2007 · 10 votes
Series24
TV7.3CrimeDramaIn cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
Law & Order
1990 · 726 votes
TV7.6CrimeDramaFrom murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, a team of special agents investigates any crime that has any connection to Navy and Marine Corps personnel, regardless of rank or position.
NCIS
2003 · 2.6K votes
TV7.6CrimeDramaA Las Vegas team of forensic investigators are trained to solve criminal cases by scouring the crime scene, collecting irrefutable evidence and finding the missing pieces that solve the mystery.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000 · 1.4K votes
TV8.2CrimeDramaDr. Temperance Brennan and her colleagues at the Jeffersonian's Medico-Legal Lab assist Special Agent Seeley Booth with murder investigations when the remains are so badly decomposed, burned or destroyed that the standard identification methods are useless.
Bones
2005 · 3.6K votes
TV8.0DramaCrimeAfter a serial killer imitates the plots of his novels, successful mystery novelist Richard "Rick" Castle receives permission from the Mayor of New York City to tag along with an NYPD homicide investigation team for research purposes.
Castle
2009 · 2.2K votes
TV7.7DramaMysteryThe show follows Crime Scene Investigators working for the Miami-Dade Police Department as they use physical evidence, similar to their Las Vegas counterparts, to solve grisly murders. The series mixes deduction, gritty subject matter, and character-driven drama in the same vein as the original series in the CSI franchise, except that the Miami CSIs are cops first, scientists second.
CSI: Miami
2002 · 1.8K votes
TV8.2ComedyA stand-up comedian and his three offbeat friends weather the pitfalls and payoffs of life in New York City in the '90s. It's a show about nothing.
Seinfeld
1989 · 2.5K votes
TV7.2CrimeMysteryThe series follows the ventures of a Missing Persons Unit of the FBI in New York City.
Without a Trace
2002 · 283 votes
TV7.8Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaPulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is 75 years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.
Star Trek: Voyager
1995 · 1.2K votes
TV7.1DramaFamilyDr. Mark Sloan is a good-natured, offbeat physician who is called upon to solve murders.
Diagnosis: Murder
1993 · 128 votes
TV7.2Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaMonica, an angel, is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives.
Touched by an Angel
1994 · 188 votes
TV7.6ComedyThe story about a blue-collar Boston bar run by former sports star Sam Malone and the quirky and wonderful people who worked and drank there.
Cheers
1982 · 715 votes
TV7.3DramaFollow the lives of a group of teenagers living in the upscale, star-studded community of Beverly Hills, California and attending the fictitious West Beverly Hills High School and, subsequently, the fictitious California University after graduation.
Beverly Hills, 90210
1990 · 848 votes
TV7.2SoapDramaChicago Hope is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It ran on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charity hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
Chicago Hope
1994 · 83 votes
TV7.9CrimeDramaPerhaps their strikingly different personalities make the relationship between detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles so effective. Jane, the only female cop in Boston's homicide division, is tough, relentless and rarely lets her guard down, while the impeccably dressed Maura displays a sometimes icy temperament — she is, after all, more comfortable among the dead than the living. Together, the best friends have forged a quirky and supportive relationship; they drop the protective shield in each other's company, and combine their expertise to solve Boston's most complex cases.
Rizzoli & Isles
2010 · 506 votes
TV7.3CrimeDramaFollow the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers identified as "Crime Scene Investigators".
CSI: NY
2004 · 782 votes
TV7.5DramaSci-Fi & FantasyAgent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) puts together a team of agents to investigate the new, the strange and the unknown around the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
2013 · 3.9K votes
TV7.9ComedyDramaAlan Shore and Denny Crane lead a brigade of high-priced civil litigators in an upscale Boston law firm in a series focusing on the professional and personal lives of brilliant but often emotionally challenged attorneys. A spin-off of long-running series The Practice.
Boston Legal
2004 · 399 votes
TV7.5DramaJudging Amy is an American television drama that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS-TV. This TV series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly. Its main character is a judge who serves in a family court, and in addition to the family-related cases that she adjudicates, many episodes of the show focus on her own experiences as a divorced mother, and on the experiences of her mother, a social worker who works in the field of child welfare. This series was based on the life experiences of Brenneman's mother.
Judging Amy
1999 · 84 votes
TV8.0Sci-Fi & FantasyAction & AdventureWith the Ancients' city of Atlantis discovered in the Pegasus Galaxy by Stargate Command, Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Major Sheppard lead a scientific expedition to the ancient abandoned city. Once there, the team not only find themselves unable to contact Earth, but their explorations unexpectedly reawaken the Ancients' deadly enemies, The Wraith, who hunger for this new prey. Now with the help of newfound local allies like Teyla Emmagan, the Atlantis Team sets about to uncover their new home's secrets even as their war of survival against the Wraith begins.
Stargate Atlantis
2004 · 1.2K votes
TV7.3DocumentaryMysteryCan you tell the difference between fact and fiction? Several stories of strange, mysterious and incredible occurrences are chronicled during each episode. It is up to the viewer to decide which stories actually happened and which were completely fabricated by the show’s writers. The answer is revealed by Jonathan Frakes at the conclusion of each episode.
Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction
1997 · 64 votes
TV5.7DramaSt. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series starred Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels as teaching doctors at a lightly-regarded Boston hospital who gave interns a promising future in making critical medical and life decisions.
St. Elsewhere
1982 · 93 votes
TV7.8Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaThe vampire Angel, cursed with a soul, moves to Los Angeles and aids people with supernatural-related problems while questing for his own redemption. A spin-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Angel
1999 · 1K votes
TV7.0DramaFive brothers and sisters are determined to stay together following the tragic loss of their parents.
Party of Five
1994 · 138 votes