You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: I wondered if you knew anything about Chris Kimball who is the host of the "America's Test Kitchen" TV show. He has been absent for the past month or so.
A: Kimball and ATK, the company including the TV show, actually parted ways late in 2015. But the show tapes so far in advance that it began airing telecasts with Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison as the hosts this year. Kimball has started a new company, Christopher Kimball's Milk Street, has led to several lawsuits. ATK even has a website, whywearesuingchristopherkimball.com, which contends "Kimball poached our employees, usurped our relationships with vendors and underwriter, and took proprietary information, all in service of building a business that copies ATK." According to the Boston Globe, Kimball countered that he was forced out of ATK, and the company unfairly interfered with his new business.
Q: One of the more incredible Netflix offerings was "Marco Polo." Will there be another season of this well-acted, and beautifully filmed show?
A: No. Netflix decided to end the series after two seasons.
Q: I caught the last couple of sentences about the couple on HGTV's "Flip or Flop" on a show, and I'm confused about Christina and Tarek's relationship. Are they a married couple? Split up or what?
A: Christina and Tarek El Moussa split in 2016 after seven years of marriage and two children: daughter Taylor, 6, and son Brayden, 18 months. With an array of personal challenges, strains had become so bad that Christina told People magazine, "We weren't able to properly communicate anymore. It got to the point where we weren't even driving to the set together." They have continued to work on the show, with its seventh season coming; Tarek told NBC's "Today" show "I'm not gonna say it was easy. ... (but) we love filming _ that's our job. We've been doing it a long time, and we love releasing a good product for our fans. We just had to fight through it, and be the best we could, and I think it turned out great." And even if that does not work out long term, HGTV has spin-offs ready with new hosts, including "Flip or Flop Vegas" starting on April 6.
Q: Years ago I saw a part of a film on TV that was set during the Vietnam War. The main character is a long-haired hippie who gets drafted and has to go to boot camp. His fellow recruits give him a hard time, even after his hair is shaved off. The drill sergeant also singles him out for abuse, and at one point makes him stand with his arms straight out from his body, holding a bucket full of wet sand in each hand. The hippie goes into a meditative state, which allows him to transcend the rigor of doing this indefinitely. Unfortunately, I missed the rest of this movie, and I can't remember the title. Do you have any ideas?
A: You are most likely thinking of "Tribes," a made-for-TV movie that premiered on ABC in 1970. Jan-Michael Vincent played the young soldier, Darren McGavin was his sergeant, and Earl Holliman played a villainous drill instructor. Tracy Keenan Wynn and Marvin Schwartz wrote the Emmy-winning script; Joseph Sargent directed. It is also known as "The Soldier Who Declared Peace."
