Question: Can you tell me who ...

Question: Can you tell me who played Mr. Hall (the flying man) in the last episode of Ally McBeal and what show he used to be on?

Televisionary: Oh, if only it was the last episode. But that kind of thinking is as wishful as Mr. Hall winging it across the river and not collapsing of a heart attack so that narcissist Ally (Calista Flockhart) could once again make someone else's tragedy all about her. (No doubt it was only the belief that a better script lay across the river that kept the poor man aloft, and the disappointment at finding it wasn't so laid him low.) And did I mention that whole flying plot was ripped off from William Wharton's far superior book Birdy (though since no one in Hollywood reads, Kelley and company probably cribbed it from Alan Parker's movie version, which definitely had its moments, too)?

What does that show have against Todd Rundgren anyway, butchering "We Gotta Get You a Woman" after already defiling "Can We Still Be Friends" a while back? And obviously the desperate ploy of adding Jon Bon Jovi to the cast as Ally's hunky new love interest worked beautifully with you since you were instead paying attention to the winged guy jumping off the roof.

Jeez, where did that rant come from? Doesn't matter; I stand by it. And... oh, yeah — your question. Well, continuing in the Murphy Brown vein, Mr. Hall was played by MB regular Joe Regalbuto, whose Frank Fontana was one of Murphy's closest friends during the show's 10-year run. You may also remember the actor from the last time he shared the tube with a pretty-boy singer; he had a five-month run as Norman Tuttle, developer of the futuristic ride for motorcycle cop Jesse Mach (Rex Smith), on ABC's Street Hawk.