Question. My mother and I have been arguing over the sitcom "The Parkers." She believes that Nikki and Kim Parker are really mother and daughter in real life. I say that they're not. Would you help us out?
Answer. See, here's the thing: Mo'Nique, who plays mother Nikki Parker, was born in 1967. And Countess Vaughn, who plays daughter Kim, was born in 1978. So even if they were related — and they aren't — Mo'Nique would had to have given birth to her daughter when she was 11.
Question. This is a question about Holly Marie Combs, who plays Piper on the WB series "Charmed." Was she ever on the TV show "Party of Five"? I could swear I've seen her name before, but everyone says she's been a regular on only one TV series, and that's "Charmed." Are they right? Help!
Answer. They are not right — Combs has been a regular on another series, but it wasn't "Party of Five." She played Kimberly Brock, daughter of Jill (Kathy Baker) and Jimmy (Tom Skerritt) on the CBS series "Picket Fences," which ran from 1992 until 1996. She never appeared on "Party of Five," even in a guest role.
Question. I was wondering who Godard is. I can remember that name from some show I watched, but I can't remember what show. I usually watch Nick, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel, so it's probably from one of their shows. I'm thinking it's some kind of dog or pet.
Answer. Well, you could mean Jean-Luc Godard, the director who was in the forefront of the French "New Wave" school of filmmaking from the late 1950s, a style that simultaneously revered and challenged Hollywood movie conventions of storytelling, photography and editing. Or you could mean Goddard, the radio-controlled robot dog that belongs to Nickelodeon cartoon character Jimmy Neutron. I vote for the latter, the dog's name being an homage to rocketry pioneer Robert Goddard.
Question. Recently, I watched the miniseries "Taken." There was a song that played over the closing credits in some of the last episodes. The artist is Emmylou Harris. Would you please let me know what the song title is?
Answer. The song is "Just Before It Gets Dark," and it is on the "Taken" soundtrack CD.
Question. Please settle this for us. I say Dustin Hoffman played a comedic character in an episode of "The Rifleman" during the 1960s. She says Hoffman is too serious an actor for that. My sanity is in question here! Who's right?
Answer. Not thinking of "Midnight Cowboy," are you? Nah, just joking. Hoffman did do some TV in the early 1960s before hitting it big with "The Graduate" in 1967, but it was all non-Western, New York-based, including episodes of "Naked City," "The Defenders" and "The Nurses."
Question. In a recent column, you said that Bo and Luke Duke of "The Dukes of Hazzard" were brothers. I thought they were cousins. Could you double-check that?
Answer. Mmmmmm — crow. I was wrong, of course. The Dukes were cousins. Tarnation.
Question. Our question is about the TV series "Judging Amy." Can you tell us what happened to Gillian, Amy's sister-in-law? At the end of last season, the credits stated "in memory of (the actress's name)." Did something happen to her in real life?
Answer. Now hoooooooold on thar, as Quick Draw McGraw used to say. First, don't put the cart before the horse. It's not totally clear that Gillian is dead, you know. This is TV, after all, where characters have been known to recover from life-shattering events before the first commercial break. Second, regardless of what happens to Gillian, the actress who plays her, Jessica Tuck, is alive and well. Third, the tribute at the end of last season was to Peppy Stern, the late wife of the show's executive producer, Joseph Stern.