You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: What happened to the young woman with the ponytail on “FBI”? The actor's name on the credits is Missy Peregrym. Will she be coming back to the series?
A: Yes. Peregrym, who plays Special Agent Maggie Bell on the series, took a break to have her second child. (Bell is said to be recovering from a sarin gas attack.) Peregrym said at one point she would return to work in September. I have not yet seen a listing for an episode showing her return, but the network still lists her in the show’s credits.
Q: I thought there was going to be a movie about Marvin Gaye starring Jesse L. Martin. Was that just a rumor?
A: It wasn’t a rumor but it was apparently a mess. More than 10 years ago, there were plans announced for “Sexual Healing,” a movie about Marvin Gaye’s struggles in Europe in the early 1980s. Martin was set to star, but members of Gaye’s family objected. (Gaye himself had been killed by his father in 1984.) That film never happened.
In 2012, the project appeared to resume, with Julien Temple directing and Lenny Kravitz as Gaye. Only Kravitz dropped out and Martin was signed again in 2013. Production then began — you can find about four minutes of footage on YouTube — but it halted before the movie was finished “with financing evaporating and distributor Focus Features pulling out,” as IndieWire.com noted. That appeared to be the end of that film, but attempts to dramatize Gaye's life for movie screens have continued. In 2021, Deadline.com reported plans for the Gaye film “What’s Going On,” possibly for release in 2023. (That title is also on a 2008 “American Masters” documentary about Gaye.) Deadline said the new film would have Allen Hughes directing, Gaye’s songs and the Gaye estate’s approval. I have not seen any casting news.
Q: I began watching “I Can See Your Voice” last year and my husband and I thought that it was the most funny talent or non-talent show we ever watched! It was so good and interesting trying to determine if a singer was good or bad. I haven't seen the show on TV anymore. Will it return next season?
A: Nothing has been said yet about a third season of the series where folks have to guess people’s singing ability without actually hearing them sing. The second season began in January, so it’s possible Fox will bring it back in January ’23. But that’s just a guess on my part.
Q: Can you tell me who the fifth person is, seated at the dining table at the close of “Happy Days”? There are only four in the family through the whole show.
A: Actually, the Cunningham family in the early going on the long-running comedy consisted of five people: father Howard (Tom Bosley), mother Marion (Marion Ross), daughter Joanie (Erin Moran) and sons Richie (Ron Howard) and Chuck. Chuck, who was the oldest child, was seen in episodes during the first and second seasons, played by Gavan O’Herlihy and then Randolph Roberts. With other, more interesting characters to serve and the rising viewer interest in Fonzie (Henry Winkler), Chuck was written out of the show. But you can still see him in that dinner table image.
Q: For two seasons Richard Crenna starred in a 1964-65 television series called “Slattery's People.” It was about a politician in California, a drama not a comedy, and well reviewed by critics. What happened to it? No DVDs on Amazon or eBay for sale. YouTube has a few complete episodes to watch. Are there plans for a boxed set? I'm not a fan of Crenna's work on "Our Miss Brooks" or "The Real McCoys" but I thought he was outstanding on "Slattery."
A: The proliferation of viewing options (broadcast, cable, streaming, downloads) makes it seem that just about every show should be available somewhere. Certainly that’s the tone in a lot of letters I get. But that’s still not the case, since some shows cannot be found — sometimes because of a lack of interest from viewers or programmers, sometimes because there are no surviving prints, sometimes from rights or ownership problems. “Slattery’s People,” well regarded though it was in some circles, is one of those lost shows, which explains its place on the Television Obscurities site (www.tvobscurities.com).
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