Question: Hello, I was told [there was] an old TV show — I believe something like Nick Diamond — with David Janssen and Mary Tyler Moore. Is this true?
Televisionary: Well, sort of — you're halfway there. The series was called Richard Diamond, Private Detective and Janssen (The Fugitive) played the titular sleuth. On the series, which ran on CBS from July 1957 to September 1959 before jumping to NBC from October 1959 to the following September, Diamond was an ex-New York cop who relocated to Hollywood.
The role of Sam, the woman who worked at Diamond's west-coast answering service, was indeed initially played by a young Mary Tyler Moore. All you ever saw of her, though, were her gorgeous legs — and actress Roxanne Brooks took over the role after a short Tyler Moore run. Also in the cast: Barbara Bain (Space: 1999), who played Karen Wells
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Question: What was the name of the short-lived sitcom about bicycle messengers? The owner of the business was the painter from Murphy Brown. Robert something.
Televisionary: Survey says? Ding! Robert Pastorelli (Murphy Brown, Cracker) in CBS's Double Rush, which was on the air for the first four months of 1995.
Ex-music man Johnny Verona (Pastorelli) ran New York's Double Rush bike messenger agency. The cyclists working for him included some familiar names and faces. Among them, C-A-L-L-A-T-T guy David Arquette, Saving Private Ryan and Relativity's Adam Goldberg and funnyman D.L. Hughley (The Hughleys).
The show didn't last long — perhaps because it strayed too far from reality. In my experience, most New York bike messengers spend a good deal of their time spitting on cabs, tearing down sidewalks at unsafe speeds, cursing at anyo
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Question: Since you seem willing to answer two questions as long as they're about the same show, I've got a couple on Star Trek. I seem to remember there was a captain who commanded the original Enterprise before Kirk. Was there one, or am I spacing? Also, who do you think was the best captain on any of the Star Trek shows? Thanks. — Space cadet
Televisionary: Well, thanks very much, Spacie. In the many, many months I've been writing this column, there have been few Trek questions and I, a mere casual fan of the show, was perfectly happy with that situation. You see, no other show invites as much hate mail as a Trek show. The slightest misstep (or hint of one) and the tiniest difference of opinion invites a mountain of mail from disgruntled Trekkers (notice I used the politically correct term there) calling for my job.
Be that as it may, here goes: Let's see if I can make it through without anyone getting their phasers in a twist. Captain
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Who better to judge what soared and what stank in entertainment this past year then the very folks responsible for the highs and lows. TV Guide Online sought the opinion of some of the biggest names in showbiz — as well as some lesser-known celebs who we think will be huge this time next year — to weigh in on what stood out in their minds as 2000 comes to a close. And to all those people who chickened out on the "worst" question, we have this to say: Consider yourself blessed, John Travolta.
Gena Lee Nolin (actress, Sheena)
Best: "Thomas the Tank Engine on PBS. I love watching it with my son Spencer, who likes to make the choo-choo noises."
Worst: "102 Dalmatians. My son and I were so looking forward to seeing the sequel, since my son had seen the original, like, 100 times."
Dr. Joyce Brothers (advice guru)
Best: "Hollywood Squares."
Worst: "Eminem."
Cindy Margolis
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Question: Please tell me if my memory is correct. I vaguely remember a show from the '70s that starred an actor named Kevin Brophy as Lucas, which I think was also the name of the show. I don't remember what his exact story was, but he could have been raised in the jungle. I'm not really sure about that at all, but I saw that actor on a rerun of a Hardy Boys episode a while ago, and it has been driving me crazy ever since. Please help!
Televisionary: Sorry, but I can't help you with the crazy part. Usually I'm doing the driving, not the alleviating.
However, your memory's mostly on the mark. Actor Kevin Brophy did indeed star in ABC's adventure show Lucan (Lucas was a coming-of-age movie with Charlie Sheen, Corey Haim and Winona Ryder), which debuted in December 1977.
Lucan was a young guy who'd been raised, Mowgli- and Tarzan-fashion, by Minnesota timb
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Michael Douglas says he couldn't help thinking about the troubled pasts of those close to him — including his half-brother, Eric, and his son, Cameron — while playing the father of a drug-addicted daughter in Traffic (opening wide on Jan. 5).
"A lot of people came to mind, both family and friends," the actor tells TV Guide Online, noting that one particularly intense scene in which he confronts his daughter (played by Erika Christensen) about her drug use was eerily reminiscent of his own problems with Cameron. "In any role, you try to bring [in] your own personal experiences."
Douglas is happy to report that 20-year-old Cameron — whose past drug exploits made him a familiar face in the supermarket tabloids — is "doing great. For me, the fact that my son doesn't have the ability to make mistakes out of the public eye is one of the most unfortunate aspects of celebrity-dom. You wouldn't wish that on any of your own child
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As we approach Super Bowl Sunday, analysts, bookies and Monday-morning quarterbacks are busy speculating on the outcome of the contest: Who will win this year's drama-filled confrontation, a much-ballyhooed match based on cunning strategy, guts and determination? Of course, we're talking not about the football game, but of Survivor's upcoming second season, which is set to premiere after the gridiron showdown on Jan. 28.
Although CBS is keeping a tight lid on Survivor: The Australian Outback (the network plans to release information on the 16 contestants in early January), this much is known: Production recently wrapped at a remote cattle ranch near Blencoe Falls in Queensland; the series will feature 14 episodes (as opposed to last summer's 13), highlighting a competition that lasted 42 days (three more than the first season); and the show's final episode — which should air April 26 — will feature just three contestants.
As expected, the network's s
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When most people think of Sandra Bernhard, they think of the acerbic funny lady with the big mouth, not the versatile song stylist with the golden pipes. But that finally may be changing. Her performance at last season's Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS tribute to Elton John started Rosie O'Donnell singing her praises, and her appearance this month on O'Donnell's talk show may have opened even more doors for her music career.
"I have a new manager who's actually from the music world," she tells TV Guide Online. "And there's somebody out in L.A. — I'm not going to say who until everything's signed — who's seemingly pretty interested in doing a serious record with me. So hopefully that will come together."
Between acting gigs, such as her upcoming February-sweeps Will & Grace guest spot, the former Madonna galpal always has incorporated original tunes and carefully chosen cov
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Billy Elliot, Erin Brockovich, Gladiator, Sunshine, Traffic and Wonder Boys will vie for best dramatic motion picture of the year at the 2001 Golden Globe Awards. Nominations were announced this morning, and Gladiator, the Russell Crowe Roman epic, and Traffic, the drug-war drama starring newlyweds Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, led the pack with five nods each. Stephen Soderbergh received two best director nominations for his work on Traffic and Erin Brockovich. In the best motion picture comedy or musical category, the nominees were Almost Famous, Best in Show, Chicken Run, Chocolat and O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Best dramatic actor nominees were Tom Hanks (Cast Away), Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls), Michael Douglas (Wonder Boys), Geoffrey Rush (Quills) and Russell Crowe (
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Jeri Ryan — who got TV Guide's vote as one of the "Sexiest Stars in the Universe" for her provocative performance as Borg Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager — recently had a chance to slither out of her form-fitting alien costume to play a TV reporter in Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000. As the actress explains, the role couldn't have come at a better time.
"It was a chance for me to get my feet wet in the feature world now that we're in the last season of [Voyager]," Ryan tells TV Guide Online, adding that she's in denial about the series ending in May. "We still have a few months to go, so it hasn't really sunk in yet. I'm sure I'll be very sad, because I'm going to miss the people I've been working with for the last four years."
As far as what's ahead for Seven of Nine in Voyager's closing episodes, Ryan reveals, "She's been experimenting with her sexuality and experienc
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