Smart House (1999) (TV)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

LeVar Burton

Writers (WGA):

William Hudson (written by) and
Stu Krieger (written by)

Release Date:

26 June 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Meet the Coopers. An average American family. Meet Dad (Kilner), a widwoer and a father. Meet Agie (Volding)...

Plot Keywords:

Hologram | Laser Cutter | Disney Channel Original Movie

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Katey Sagal	...	Pat
Ryan Merriman	...	Ben Cooper
Katie Volding	...	Angie Cooper
Kevin Kilner	...	Nick Cooper
Jessica Steen	...	Sara Barnes
Emilio Borelli	...	Miles
Paul Linke	...	Tuttle
Jason Lansing	...	Johnny
Joshua Boyd	...	Ryan
Raquel Beaudene	...	Gwen Patroni
Niles Calloway	...	Charlie
Sean P. Donahue	...	Passing Kid (as Sean Donahuoe)
Nicole Bailey	...	Pretty Girl
Rachel Duncan	...	Judy
Susan Haskell	...	Natalie

Runtime:

USA:82 min | USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:Approved | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Goofs:

Continuity: During the interview when the lady reporter asks a question she doesn't have a microphone, but when she asks a second question she has a microphone, and when it goes to all the reporters laughing she doesn't have a microphone.

Quotes:

Angie: Ok, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad.
Ben: Next time, you should think before you open your mouth!

Soundtrack:

C'est La Vie

HAL In Your Home

One of the more clever Disney television movies is definitely Smart House. This involves a family winning a contest to live as guinea pigs in a futuristic house that is completely computer controlled. But like HAL in 2001 A Space Odyssey or Colossus, The Forbin Project the super artificial brain starts to take over everything.

Kevin Kilner and his son Ryan Merriman and daughter Angie Volding are the Cooper family and they win moving into a house that is completely computer controlled. It cleans up after itself, cooks meals, makes beds, etc. All with the cheery voice of that ultimate mother figure, Katey Sagal. It's even got a name like HAL, PAT in this case. It even helps Kilner organize his work so he can stay at home most of the time. Kilner has other needs however that Pat can't supply and that his kids can't understand.

Especially Merriman who misses his mother and is jealous of computer woman Jessica Steen who runs PAT's support systems and who Kilner starts showing an interest in. Merriman downloads some old family television shows to give PAT an idea of what the ideal mother is like.

It's a lot of laughs and then gets a bit frightening when Sagal materializes as a holograph and shuts the place down.

Several centuries later all the kinks got worked out and the Starship Enterprise certainly didn't need a mother figure supervising the crew's every needs. Smart House was a clever idea for a family film, nicely packaged by the folks at The Magic Kingdom.