The BEST episodes directed by Rex Piano
#1 - Passion and the Palm Beach Detectives
Silk Stalkings - Season 8 - Episode 3
Tom and Cassy pursue a well known romance novelist who they suspect in a string of murders.
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#2 - Rebellion and Betrayal
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 7
It is 162 AD. Marcus Aurelius inherits the empire at its peak. Peace and prosperity have reigned for a hundred years, and the imperial boundaries stretch from the Irish Sea to the sands of Syria. But the greater Rome grows, the bigger a target she becomes. War breaks out on two fronts - in the east and in the north - just as plague takes a terrible toll on the Empire's population. Marcus Aurelius would rather stay home and write about philosophy, but duty dictates that he save the empire. His German wars are a prolonged, bloody quagmire that seem to stretch on without end. But with his death, his long dream of conquering the German lands is lost, when his son, Commodus, fails to pursue the mission, preferring the luxurious life in Rome to the dangerous life of a soldier.
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#3 - Body Odor
Mike Hammer, Private Eye - Season 1 - Episode 7
A surgery patient's body emits noxious gasses, killing him and three members of a surgical team. His daughter hires Mike.
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#4 - The Art of Murder
Mike Hammer, Private Eye - Season 1 - Episode 12
When the artist Velda is seeing is murdered, Mike looks into it. Was the killer the assistant artist who may have been painting forgeries, the gallery owner, the jealous ex-girlfriend who gets into a catfight with Velda, the rich collector whose daughter he was romancing or the art reviewer dabbling in blackmail?
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#5 - Constantine the Great
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 10
As emperor of Spain, Gaul, and Britain, Constantine proves his strength against his barbarian enemies. But when the other Roman emperors begin to turn on each other again, Constantine determines to put an end to such rivalries once and for all. Defeating emperor after emperor, Constantine slowly gains control of the entire Roman Empire and establishes a new capital in the east. Along the way, he has a vision that will change the course of western civilization forever. Fighting under the cross of the Christian God, Constantine not only legitimizes the young religion, but seeks to use it as a unifying force in the empire.
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#6 - The Barbarian General
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 11
By the end of the fourth century, Romans and barbarians live together uneasily in the empire, a situation that often explodes into violence. When Emperor Theodosius enlists the Goths as mercenaries, he relies on his trusted general, the half Vandal, half Roman Stilicho, to ensure the Goths loyalty. But Theodosius uses the Goth soldiers as canon fodder in a civil war, causing them to rebel under the leadership of Alaric, a man they call king. Theodosius dies soon thereafter and leaves the Empire to his two young sons, naming Stilicho as regent in the west. As Alaric seeks to find a home for his people in the Empire and Stilicho fights to protect that empire from new enemies, the two men cross paths, sometimes as allies, sometimes as enemies. But in the end, both will fall victim to Roman prejudice. And the Goths, realizing that Romans want nothing to do with barbarians, will strike back against Rome itself.
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#7 - The Invasion of Britain
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 5
It is 47 AD. The new emperor Claudius has lost the respect of those he seeks to rule. He can only hang onto his throne by waging a spectacular conquest. He chooses Britannia, a legendary land which fascinates and inspires fear in the Romans. Proud and warlike, the Britons use the island's treacherous terrain and dark forests to lure the legions to ruin. Led by magic wielding Druid priests and a charismatic warrior named Caratacus, the Britons resist in the face of the greatest military machine the world has ever known.
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#8 - Spartacus
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 2
When Roman generals Pompey and Crassus lead their mighty legions of soldiers and mercenaries into the lands surrounding Italy, neither could anticipate the turmoil caused by one bold mercenary: Spartacus. A Thracian warrior, Spartacus deserts the Roman army, but is captured and made a slave, forced to fight as a gladiator. But in 73 BC the untamable barbarian leads a slave revolt of 70,000 gladiators against the Roman Republic. Though the brutal and conniving Roman General Crassus is finally able to suppress the revolt, his rival, the more popular Pompey, takes all the credit, sparking a division within the Republic itself that will ultimately spell its demise.
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#9 - The Soldiers' Emperor
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 9
Near the end of the third century, civil war has torn the empire apart and left its borders vulnerable to barbarian invasion. Romans living on the eastern and western frontiers, far from Rome, are left to defend themselves, which they do by building their own armies and naming their own emperors. As the Empire divides against itself, one extraordinary man rises from the rank of soldier to become emperor in Rome. His name is Aurelian, and with an unshakeable trust in the sun god, he fights back the barbarians who by now threaten Rome itself. Once he secures the great city, Aurelian pursues the rulers of the splinter empires: an eastern warrior queen and a proud western general. Defeating both, he reunites the empire in five short years, earning the title Restorer of the World. For a moment there is peace. But in 275 AD Aurelian is assassinated; his death is mourned by Romans across the empire, who know too well the scarcity of greatness in their rulers.
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#10 - Wrath of the Gods
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 8
It is the beginning of the third century and Rome is in crisis. Ravaged by civil war and foreign invasions, it now faces an even greater challenge - the new religion of Christianity. When barbarian Goths attack the Empire's borders, and traitors rise against Emperor Philip, his trusted general Decius blames Philip's leniency toward the Christians. But Decius soon becomes a traitor, as well, as he faces Philip in battle, taking the crown for himself. As emperor, Decius sets out to win back the pagan gods' favour, and his reign's first victims are the Christians. Yet the wrath of the gods only continues as plague strikes and the Goths launch full-scale invasions into the Empire. Decius and his son, Herennius, are forced to meet the Gothic king, Cniva, in a deadly clash that will mark the first time a Roman emperor is ever killed by a barbarian in battle. Unfortunately for the Empire, it will not be the last.
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#11 - The Puppet Master
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 12
In 450 AD, Rome is a mere shadow of its former self. Gone is the superior civilisation and great expanses of land. Now, Roman rulers are at the mercy of their barbarian invaders, offering them power and territory in exchange for peace. In the midst of the Empire’s low decline, three comrades rise in the ranks of the Roman military: Ricimer, Aegidius and Majorian, all competing for Imperial control. Majorian is the first to be named emperor, and Aegidius is made his prime general, but Ricimer, a soldier of barbarian descent, is the real puppet master. Eventually, any man who threatens his own authority, including his friends, will meet their bloody end at the edge of his sword.
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#12 - Beat Street
Mike Hammer, Private Eye - Season 1 - Episode 2
An accused polluter hires Mike but then the reporter who did an expose on the him is found dead making him a murder suspect.
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#13 - The Last Emperor
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 13
In the middle of the fifth century, as the Empire fights a losing battle against its formidable barbarian opponents, one Roman named Orestes finds service in the court of Attila the Hun. Schooled in the strategy of his enemy, Orestes eventually makes his way back to Italy, determined to resurrect Rome. Naming his young son emperor, Orestes attempts to purify Rome of her barbarian influences. Yet he soon learns the sad truth, that without barbarians, there is no Rome. After hundreds of years of using the foreign invaders as mercenary soldiers, they outnumber the Romans, and the Empire can’t afford to dismiss them. Though Orestes fights valiantly, he meets his end at the hands of the leader of the barbarian mercenaries, Odacer, an event that spells the end of Rome in 476 AD. The last emperor, just a boy, is sent into exile, and Odacer proclaims there is no need for a new emperor, as the Roman Empire is no more.
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#14 - Hoop Nightmares
Mike Hammer, Private Eye - Season 1 - Episode 4
When a basketball player's sports agent is murdered just before he becomes the number one pick in the draft, he turns to Mike to prove his innocence. Was it the player, Mayron Hughes; his father Norton ""Norrie"" Hughes; his childhood friend who was injured and now has a licensing business, Desmond Ishmael; his new sports agent, Susan Wake; or his teammate and competitor, Elvin Grace?
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#16 - Whole Lotta Shakin'...
NightMan - Season 1 - Episode 3
A criminal who has the power to start earthquakes demands that Bay City pay him millions of dollars,or he will release an earthquake to destroy Bay City once and for all.At the same time a crroked doctor is robbing a little girl of her life by illegally selling organs for profit,and she needs a kidney transplant in order to live.To make matters more serious,Bay City is completely evacuated over the earthquake threat with the exception of Johnny and Raleigh.They work together to locate the criminal and stop the threat of the earthquakes
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#17 - Big Brother's Secret
Mike Hammer, Private Eye - Season 1 - Episode 15
The murder of an investigative reporter was a friend of Mike's leads the private eye to stolen satellite photos.
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#18 - Chop Shop
Mike Hammer, Private Eye - Season 1 - Episode 18
Mike goes to Texas to attend a friend's wedding but organ thieves have kidnapped his fiancée.
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#19 - Lucky in Love
Mike Hammer, Private Eye - Season 1 - Episode 20
When a gambling buddy of Mike's is murdered, he is asked to help out with the buddy's race horse.
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#20 - Dead Men Talk
Mike Hammer, Private Eye - Season 1 - Episode 24
A friend of Mike's who is believed dead turns up and asks Mike to find out who was behind the attempt on his life and the deaths of two others, who were less lucky.
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