You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: What happened to the new show Doubt? It seems to have disappeared after two episodes.
A: It took only two episodes for CBS to decide to yank the legal drama starring Katherine Heigl. Reviews were mixed. (I thought it was a too-familiar rehash of previous law shows.) More central to its demise, ratings were dismal.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, 13 episodes were completed, so the other 11 should appear somewhere on CBS’s schedule down the road. But that should be the end of the series.
Q: Could you tell me if Fargo will be returning this year?
A: Yes. Look for it on FX beginning April 19.
Q: How many Emmys did Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton win for “All in the Family”? Also, when did they die or are they still living?
A: O’Connor won four Emmys for playing Archie Bunker, in 1972, 1977, 1978 and 1979. (He won a fifth for “In the Heat of the Night” in 1989, making him the rare performer to score lead-acting Emmys in a drama and a comedy.) Stapleton, as Edith Bunker, won three, in 1971 and then twice in years that O’Connor won, 1972 and 1978.
“All in the Family” co-star Sally Struthers, by the way, won two Emmys as supporting actress in a comedy, in 1972 and 1979, and “AITF’s” Rob Reiner won comedy supporting-actor Emmys in 1974 and 1978.
O’Connor died in 2001. Stapleton died in 2013.
Q: I have watched the movie “Seven” a number of times. Kevin Spacey’s name never appears in the opening or closing credits. Was he left out for some reason? His part was prominent.
A: Spacey’s name was deliberately left out of the opening credits to surprise audiences when he did appear. However, on a “Seven” DVD I checked, Spacey is listed twice at the movie’s end. The first credit as the film concludes is “Kevin Spacey as John Doe.” Then you can find him in the full listing of the cast, which has them in order of appearance, putting Spacey deep in the list.
Q: I object strongly when I hear a commercial that has “OMG” in it. We all know that stands for “Oh My God” and I feel that using the name of God in vain is both irreverent and blasphemous. Is there anything we can do about this? If curse words are not to be used on prime-time television, then why is it OK to toss the name of God around?
A: First of all, you can hear some cursing in prime time. The first episode of FX’s “Feud: Bette and Joan” even surprised me with the degree of spoken vulgarity — although I can’t say it offended me, either. Television tries to keep pace with the culture, and that means its standards can change as the culture itself changes. I remember when, in 1990, a TV series version of “Uncle Buck” infuriated at least one critic because a child said, “You suck!” That might have shocked then, or in earlier years, but it would be considered mild today. So would OMG.
