Pop culture Q&A

October 24, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By Rich Heldenfels

McClatchy Newspapers

Q. After watching all the “NCIS” TV series, you can get attached to each of the characters. The new season shows Sean Murray to be very thin. Is this a health problem or just a preference of his? He is almost too thin.

A. It is his preference. On his Twitter posts, Murray explained that the weight loss came from “14 months of no alcohol and almost no sugar. Ate strictly organic. ... You can actually see me gradually lose the weight over the 24 [episodes] of season 7; a pound every week or two.”

Is that the end of his transformation? Maybe not. “Maybe one year I come back and it’s full-on McMuscles,” he said.

Q. What is the status of “Human Target?” It was supposed to have premiered weeks ago.

A. It was postponed until Nov. 17, but this may not be an entirely bad thing. Fox had it scheduled for a second season, on Friday nights, beginning Oct. 1. Then its much-promoted “Lone Star” proved DOA, so Fox canceled it and brought back “Lie to Me” earlier than planned to fill the old “Lone Star” slot on Monday nights. Which made sense because “Lie to Me” made a reasonable companion to “House,” Fox’s established Monday hit.

But that meant that Fox needed something else for Wednesdays, where “Lie to Me” was supposed to go. So it opted for “Human Target” in the previously planned “Lie to Me” slot.

And the reason some “Human Target” fans think that’s good is that the show may have a better chance of surviving there than on Fridays, where many shows go to die. In fact, when Fox announced all these changes, it decided to put “House” reruns on Friday rather than waste another new show there.

Q. I would like to know who sings the song “Another Day, Another Dollar” by Alison Krauss in the VW Jetta car commercial.

A. There is indeed a Jetta commercial using a song called “Another Day, Another Dollar.” But the one by Alison Krauss and Union Station is a relatively recent song written by Dan Tyminski. The one in the ad is a different song with the same title, a chestnut from the ’60s by country musician Wynn Stewart (1934-1985).

Q. The scariest (fictional) TV movie I’ve ever seen was in the 1960s and was about a serial killer who had been murdering nurses. To my horror, the killer turned out to be a man, who was impersonating a female nurse and had shared a house with his final victim for safety reasons. What was the name of that black-and-white movie?

A. It turns out that was a TV show — a 1965 episode of “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour” called “An Unlocked Window.” You can see the episode online at Hulu.com.

Q. What happened to “Cold Case”? I haven’t seen or heard anything.

A. CBS decided not to renew the series.

Q. I have been trying off and on since the 1980s to locate a movie with Patricia Neal and Marc Singer. Neal played the mother and Marc Singer the son of a farmer who became ill and the mom and son had to take over the operation. It was very moving and my husband as a dairy farmer has always wanted to see the movie again and I have never been able to find it.

A. I suspect you are remembering “Things in Their Season,” a 1974 TV-movie about Wisconsin dairy farmers, with Neal, Singer, Ed Flanders, Meg Foster and Charles Haid. I do not know of an authorized DVD release. There was apparently a VHS release, but it is rather hard to find.