Question: Do you remember a show with, I think, the guy from Highway to Heaven and a black actor that was sort of a comedy version of In the Heat of the Night? It's driving me nuts.
Answer: Yes.
Aaaah, you didn't really think I was gonna stop at being a wiseacre and answer your question with one word, did you? You'll never so easily curb my urge to babble, Joon.
Funny you use the word "nuts," since the show in question, ABC's Carter Country, bore the name of former peanut farmer Jimmy Carter, who was president at the time it debuted in September 1977. As you say, it bore a strong resemblance to In the Heat of the Night, which 10 years later would be a hit TV series itself.
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Question: Your comments on the Night Court actors reminded me that I had a crush on the woman who played the court clerk before Mac. What was her name, and did she do anything else besides Night Court?Answer: That she did, and that she does, Bill. You're thinking of actress Karen Austin and her character, court clerk Lana Wagner, who was replaced on the comedy after a season by Charlie Robinson's Mac Robinson.
Austin did a lot of guest work on such series as Happy Days,
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Question: A friend of mine was talking about Harry Anderson the other day and it brought to mind a guy by the name of Herbert Anderson, who played Henry Mitchell on Dennis the Menace. She said she thought that Herbert was Harry's father. I say no way and dinner at an expensive restaurant is riding on the answer. Please help. You seem to know everything. Thank you.
Answer: Well, I don't know everything (see below), but I do know you've got a free dinner coming. Harry Anderson's father, while an L.A. resident for a time, was a traveling salesman. Enjoy the meal — I love when I settle a bet and know what the stakes are; I mean, I've gotta feel like I'm having some impact on the world, don't I? — and read more about Anderson and Night Court here.
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Question: My boyfriend and I were watching a Night Court rerun the other night and ended up having an argument about Harry Anderson. I think he was a magician before he had that show, but my boyfriend said that he made a living as a con man. Who's right? And don't make fun of us. We fight about everything.
Answer: Me, make fun of my loyal readers? Perish the thought, dear woman, for it is you whose page hits help generate my paycheck, thus keeping me fat and happy (but mostly fat).
The answer to your question is a little of both, but I must say the magician part is easier to prove due to Anderson's appearances on Saturday Night Live and Cheers, where he played a hustler named, appropriately enough, Harry. He's on record saying he used to run shell games in various cities before going straight, but Anderson was notorious for making up en
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For a second I thought I was watching Desperate Housewives: Here's Cuddy, running around in belly-baring exercise wear, and her Hispanic young handyman, who can't say no to his sexy employer. Yes, I said sexy. Surely you haven't missed Cuddy's transformation? Three weeks ago she was sporting a white ruffly number straight out of a '50s secretarial pool. This week she's a tank top-wearing, nightgown-donning woman. Those writers are planning something. Raise your hand if you're up for a House-Cuddy-Stacy triangle? Yeah, mine's not up, but that doesn't seem to matter, because I see a tangled web on the horizon. Chase said it best: "You two are just too nasty to each other not to have been nasty." You can't beat British logic. Either way, I believe House when he deflects Chase's suspicions with a precious comeback: "Hey, I can still be a jerk to people I haven't slept with. I am that good." I betcha Cuddy will declare some sort of attraction to House, who will be too i
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