Television Q&A

By Rich Heldenfels

Q. What happened to Maria on “Extra” with Mario Lopez? Where is she?

A. Maria Menounos (who also may be familiar to viewers as a former competitor on “Dancing With the Stars”) left the series earlier this year amid contradictory reports — some saying she and Lopez did not get along, others saying that Menounos wanted to explore other options. In May she signed with E!, where she co-hosts “Live From E!” and has her own “Untold With Maria Menounos” program. She told TheWrap.com not long ago that the latter show is a hard-hitting look at entertainment issues, “a pop-culture version of ‘Dateline.’” She also has a reality series, “Chasing Maria Menounos,” for the Oxygen network.

Q. “Major Crimes” has done such a great job of picking up where “The Closer” left off, I don’t feel quite so abandoned as I normally would losing my favorite show. Please tell me “Major Crimes” is coming back!

A. It is. There will be more episodes from the third season this winter, and a fourth season has been ordered for 2015.

Q. Can you tell me what happened to Khigh Dhiegh, who played Wo Fat on the Jack Lord version of “Hawaii Five-O”?

A. The New Jersey native died at age 75 in 1991, reportedly of heart and kidney failure. He was known as a character actor — and starred in a short-lived TV series, Khan, in 1975 — yet had other pursuits. The Los Angeles Times noted that he “wrote 11 books, crafted jewelry, taught philosophy for six years at UCLA and at one time owned a Taoist sanctuary in Tempe, Ariz.”

By the way, Dhiegh also told the Times that Wo Fat was originally supposed to be killed in the “Five-O” pilot, but plans changed because Lord thought the character should be kept around as McGarrett’s nemesis. The newer “Five-O” seemed to agree, since Wo Fat also has been a recurring character on that series, played now by Mark Dacascos.

This next answer may have a spoiler for occasional viewers of “Bones.”

Q. Can you please find out why in the world the producers of “Bones” would kill the character of Sweets? He was one of the best actors on this show. When they did away with Zack, I thought they had lost their minds, but this is even worse. They need to bring him back somehow, and I, for one, don’t care how they do it just so long as they do.

A. The decision to kill Lance Sweets, played by John Francis Daley, came after Daley had a chance to direct a new film, “Vacation,” starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate. (Daley also has written screenplays.) According to USA Today, Daley asked for leave from the show to direct the movie, but executive producer Stephen Nathan was not sure that would work since Daley would be gone for months, and possibly longer if he received other directing jobs. Killing Sweets “just seemed the most painful yet cleanest way to contend with this for the show,” Nathan told the newspaper. And Daley called the parting amicable.

Q. Please tell me if “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is still on TV. I see all the old ones but cannot find new ones.

A. The series has completed its ninth season, and is due back for a 10th in January. Two more seasons have been ordered beyond that. But instead of finding new episodes on FX, where the show began, you need to look on its companion network, FXX, where “It’s Always Sunny” moved when FXX launched in 2013.

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2014 Akron Beacon Journal

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