Question: I remember a show from the early '70s that starred Adam Arkin as a kid who was on his own for the first time. His apartment had wallpaper with ducks on it and Barbara Rhoades played the neighbor who lived across the hall from him. No one else seems to remember this show. Please help. If it helps, I think it was on Monday night on CBS. — Chet, Rochester, N.Y.
Televisionary: No one else remembers because you seem to have vacuumed up all the spare facts about the show, Chet. Impressive work; you make my job easy.
The CBS sitcom was called
Busting Loose. It debuted on a Monday in January 1977 and did indeed star young Mr. Arkin (
Baby Bob,
Chicago Hope) as an engineering school grad who moved away from the smothering love of Mom (
Pat Carroll) and Dad (
Jack Kruschen) and into his own dum
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Question: Dear wise Televisionary: We are going bonkers trying to get to the bottom of this. When Eddie Murphy was on Saturday Night Live, he did a sketch called "Buckwheat Sings" where he sang several songs as Buckwheat (i.e., virtually incomprehensible). We recognized most of the songs ("Three Times a Lady", "Bette Davis Eyes"), but there is one that we just can't figure out — "Oona Panoona Bonka." This has caused a major disagreement: My friend says that it is a song that Murphy made up, and I say that it is a real song from the '50s, but I just can't put my finger on it. Can you enlighten us? We have resorted to "The Bet": The prize is a tasty adult beverage at our favorite watering hole. Please, Televisionary, quench my thirst for knowledge so that I may be rewarded with a tasty beverage. — Mike, San Diego, Calif.
Televisionary: Alright, everybody. At the risk of turning poor Mike into the kid who was sing
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Once bitten by a genetically-enhanced arachnid — presto! — Spider-Man's puny Peter Parker is a superhuman stud. Too bad his portrayer, Tobey Maguire, didn't find it so easy to get comic-book buff. Here, the 26-year-old star of gems like The Ice Storm, Pleasantville and The Cider House Rules gives TV Guide Online the skinny on turning trés beefy.
"I worked very hard," Maguire says. "I trained for a little while before I got the role, because I knew the screen test was coming up. Then, I was cast and worked out for five months, six days a week, anywhere from an hour
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Disney and Pixar — whose partnership has yielded such box office behemoths as Monsters Inc., Toy Story and A Bug's Life — have unveiled their next three films. First up is the underwater adventure Finding Nemo (due summer 2003), followed by the Christmas 2004 release of The Incredibles, about a family of superheroes, and the automotive comedy Cars (due Christmas 2005).
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Almost Famous star Billy Crudup isn't the most stand-up guy in World Traveler (opening Friday). He plays a man who leaves his wife and child to go gallivanting in search of his own happiness. Still, Crudup insists the idea of wanting more out of life is something everyone can relate to.
"We have the lottery now," he tells TV Guide Online. "And we have these TV shows where people shove spiders up their butt because they might get some fame."
The 33-year-old actor knows plenty about fame's elusiveness. He's often taken parts in indie films like Jesus' Son and Waking the Dead instead of heading more mainstream. "I tend to think that everybody in the world is going to have the same taste that I do," he jokes. "I always think
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Once and Again actor Billy Campbell is confirming rumors that his acclaimed ABC series may return in the fall for a fourth season — despite the fact that last Monday's episode was billed by the network as the show's series finale. Campbell's leading lady, Sela Ward, broke the news to him last week. "She called and said, 'Have you heard? It's not definite that we're cancelled,'" he tells TV Guide Online. "Apparently, on the same day that they cancelled us, [ABC] called the studio and said, 'Don't knock down the sets, don't release the actors, and why don't you work us up a tentative budget for a Year Four.' I don't know what to think... They can't even kill us with dignity." Responds an ABC rep: "Once and Again has had its series finale on ABC."
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Who says June nuptials are best? Every May, wedding bells ring for at least one special TV twosome — after all, nothing says "sweeps" like blushing brides and goofy grooms! On 7th Heaven, the happy couple is Sarah and Matt. There's just one hitch to their getting hitched next month: The lovebirds, played by Sarah Danielle Madison and Barry Watson, secretly eloped back in February!
Oh, and did we mention they're from different religious backgrounds? She's Jewish, he's Protestant and their dads are both clergymen. Uh-oh! "It is a battle from the start to the finish between the Rabbi and [Rev. Camden, who's played by Stephen Collins]," exec produc
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CBS will air five hour-long editions of The Price Is Right in prime time over the summer, beginning in June. In addition, a special Price featuring Navy sailors has been scheduled for May 17 at 8 pm/ET. The best part? Variety reports that the show's signature "Big Wheel" will be upped from $10,000 to $100,000!
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Talk show host Jenny Jones won't be joining Sally Jessy Raphael next season on the unemployment line. Despite rumors that the ax was imminent, Jenny Jones will return in the fall for a 12th season.
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