POP CULTURE Q&A

August 27, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By Rich Heldenfels

McClatchy Newspapers

Q. Your column said “Yes, cancer can be funny.” Cancer is NOT funny. EVER! Running that as the headline for your article was an act of colossal stupidity. (Note: Some newspapers run a headline with this column. The Vindicator does not.) I saw my mom suffer for three years with cancer and there is nothing funny about losing a breast or having to use a colostomy bag. You owe me and the rest of the readers an apology ... and we better get one! Wipe that stupid grin off your face while you’re at it.

A. I received several calls and notes about the column reviewing the new series “The Big C,” which stars Laura Linney as a woman who has Stage 4 melanoma. The headline says “cancer can be funny” but the column says a show about cancer is funny, not that cancer is. It’s a fine distinction, but an important one. And the three episodes of the show that I have seen are funny and effective.

I should add that you are not the only person to see what cancer can do. Just for starters, my first wife died of cancer. My second — and, thankfully, still current — wife lost her husband to cancer. Rare is the person who has not been touched by the disease. But cancer has inspired powerful and sometimes funny work, as I said in the column and still believe.

Q. I really enjoy the show “Ghost Adventures” on the Travel Channel. Everything lately has been reruns. Will there be any new episodes in the future?

A. The series will begin its third season at 9 p.m. Sept. 17 with a visit to Gettysburg.

Q. Can you please tell me if/when “Shark Tank” will be on TV again??? Loved that show.

A. ABC has ordered eight new episodes of the series, which has would-be entrepreneurs asking tycoons (the “sharks”) to fund their ideas. Production will begin later this year for telecast in 2011. In addition to the five regular sharks, Jeff Foxworthy will join the panel for three episodes.

Q. I’m looking for the name of a Jon Cryer sci-fi movie where he would disappear for 10 years at a time and then reappear for one day to reunite with his family, only to disappear again for 10 years.

A. You appear to remember “Vanishing Act,” which was not a movie but an episode of “The Outer Limits” during its ’90s revival on cable.

Q. These questions come under the heading of “Where have I seen them before”: Anastasia Griffith, who plays Emily Peck on “Royal Pains,” and Kari Matchett, who plays the head of the CIA on “Covert Affairs.”

A. Griffith’s TV credits include the series “Trauma and Damages.” Matchett has had recurring roles on “ER,” “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” “Leverage and Crash.” She was also in the sixth season of “24” and the ABC series “Invasion.” By the way, Matchett’s character is head of the CIA’s Domestic Protection Division, not the whole CIA.

Q. There was a movie “Playing for Time” with one of the Redgrave sisters in it. I taped only part of this movie and can’t seem to find it.

A. Vanessa Redgrave starred in the superb Holocaust drama “Playing for Time,” based on the story of musician Fania Fenelon. Arthur Miller wrote the screenplay. It has been released on VHS, but you may want to wait for the DVD, due Sept. 7.

Q. When I was a child (in the ’50s) and we got our first TV, I used to love watching a Saturday morning serial. I think it was called “The Red Circle Mysteries” — or something like that. Do you have any idea what that was and if it is available in any form?

A. With a little conversation we have figured out that you remember “Daredevils of the Red Circle,” a 1939 movie serial about men who battle a prison escapee (played by Charles B. Middleton, better known as Ming the Merciless in the old Flash Gordon serials). It has been released on DVD, as well as in an old VHS version.