Terminal City (2005)

"Post-Op!" is a hospital based, reality TV show that's dying a slow death. The host of the show just isn't TV, in fact, he's been deemed a loser by TV crew and the non-existent ratings. Meanwhile, in a posh suburb, Katie Sampson isn't picking up the phone. It's her GP calling with bad news: she has a lump in her breast and she's going to have to go for tests at the hospital. What are you going to do? The next day, Katie goes to the hospital with her daughter, Sarah. Once the biopsy is performed - lights! camera! action! - Katie walks right into the reality TV show, broadcasting live. Already in a dark mood, she lets fly a stream of wisecracks and jokes about life and death and breast cancer. She's absolutely riveting and her presence is not lost on the producers. Stay tuned.

Get Katie! Her one time appearance on the ailing "Post-Op!" electrifies its small audience. Dr. Hart is fired and the hunt is on to lure Katie back as the new host. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, seven year-old Eli disappears, sparking a frantic manhunt. He ends up at a Catholic funeral and decides to intercede on behalf of the dead. Later that night, Saul takes the kids out for the night and insists on playing old Charlton Heston films. Ari and Katie get dressed up and dance the night away in their living room.

Katie takes over the ailing "Post-Op!" and her first guest on the show is none other than her GP, bearing news about her cancer. But there's no stopping her now, she takes on her husband, revamps and renames her show - wait for it - "No Show" and casts an Ed McMahon sidekick with a fascination for antennas. Meanwhile, 16 year-old Nicky Sampson strikes out with his high school dream date, but ends up on the bus picking up a voluptuous Polish émigré, three times his age. And if that wasn't enough, Katie's drawn to an angelic boy sleeping on a gurney.

As Katie's show hits new heights, she finds she can't dodge the cancer bullet any longer: her new oncologist orders her to have a partial mastectomy. Not to be outdone by the tumor, Katie decides to have the operation broadcast live. TV never had it so good. Meanwhile, Jane Richards, the sexy producer of "No Show," gets a surprise visit from mother, which leads to a catastrophic showdown with her father and a Mozart concerto.

With all the hoopla surrounding Katie's operation, Sarah decides to blackmail her grade 12 English teacher into having sex. She lures him out and into a café. At 12 o'clock, the grand finale: a scalpel runs across Katie's breast, marking the beginning of her televised mastectomy. But just before she slips off into sleep, she sees the angelic boy watching her. Meanwhile, a riveted nation watches, but a worried husband can't. Ari counts the seconds alone in a waiting room. He doesn't wait long; he is soon joined by his own father, two sons and only daughter.

It's been a month since Katie's partial mastectomy and she's ready to return to the ring and claim her title as the nation's most popular host. In another ring and with rage rising, Saul decides to go after the world. He takes on Ari in a Chinese food restaurant for being a bad Jew. He then fantasizes he's at a rally with everyone cheering for him. He ends the episode by taking a bat to a young aboriginal man. The Sampsons are reeling.

Life thunders along for the Sampson family: Saul begins to atone for his violent past, Nicky's deep in his affair with the Polish émigré, Eli has become a dark prophet of life and death and his mother's chances of survival, while Sarah moves ever closer to realizing the Rapture of Literature and bedding her Lit 12 teacher. Ari holds everything together but cannot control what comes out of the woodwork: Ellie the barfly marches all the way across town with a 35 year-old secret. She's somebody's mother. And Katie? Having held death at bay, she has achieved what all talk show hosts crave: an Oprah-like aura with ratings to match.

Like planes hitting buildings and large waves crashing on distant shores, reversal is the key to life and drama. Katie's cancer comes back with a vengeance. Nicky is busted, but not busted up for his affair with Lenora Bukowski, the sexy Polish émigré. Sarah goes to the edge, but chooses not to seduce her Lit 12 teacher. Saul gives the kiss of life to the young man he put in a coma, while Ari holds on for dear life. Ellie begins to reveal a secret to Eli about the angelic boy. And "No Show" has its final show with Katie Sampson as host.

Ari's finest hour is now. He steps into the spotlight as Katie's husband, lover, friend, and father of her children. Katie's hospitalized amidst a media frenzy and in her darkest hour, she tells him that he has to go on. He needs to forget about her and find someone new. As Katie drifts in and out of consciousness, Ari fantasizes about his 23 year-old assistant in a strip bar, but it's Katie who finishes the dance.

What if the phone never rang that day? What if it was all a mistake? Who would you be? What would the last eight months have been like? Would you have laughed so much? Would your mother have come home? Would you know that the angelic boy was your brother? Or was this simply all a dream?