Question Did David Schwimmer ever play a guest role on "Hill Street Blues" in which he got murdered over a dispute about an apartment building laundry room?
Answer Nope. Schwimmer didn't begin making TV appearances until 1992, and "Hill Street Blues" went off the air in 1987. You're probably thinking of his guest shot on "NYPD Blue."
Question My mother has been looking for a 1979 TV movie titled "Elvis," starring Kurt Russell, with no luck. Is it available on tape, and if so where?
Answer That 1979 TV movie, which also stars Shelley Winters as Elvis' mom and Russell's real-life dad, Bing, as Elvis' dad, is not yet on video or DVD because of music rights complications.
Question In the late 1950s or early '60s Art Carney starred in perhaps the funniest version of "Harvey" I have ever seen. Was a tape ever made of it? This is a classic performance and well worth making available once again to a new generation.
Answer That was an episode of the "DuPont Show of the Month," which aired in January 1958. It's not on video because the rights rest with the estate of Mary Chase, who wrote the play.
Question I believe that when "Law & Order" originally appeared, there were actually two separate half-hour shows. "Law" showed the crime and arrest and "Order" followed the same case through the court system. Am I dreaming this or what?
Answer Consider me the alarm clock of your inner TV subconscious, and I am set on "irritating buzz" rather than "soothing radio." From its debut, "Law & Order" always has been a full-hour series. It is true that back in those days there was more of a separation between "Law" and "Order," but not into neat half-hour chunks.
Question Many years ago I saw a TV movie starring the dreamy Monte Markham. It was called, as best I remember, "The Astronaut." Do you remember it? I have searched high and low and can't find it on video anywhere. Can you help?
Answer Monte Markham just called from the assisted living facility and said thanks for referring to him as "dreamy." The 1972 TV movie "The Astronaut" also stars Jackie Cooper, Robert Lansing and Susan Clark, and it's not yet on video.
Question My question is about Vincent Pastore, who played Pussy on "The Sopranos." Did he grow up in Teaneck, N.J.? If he did, we graduated from high school together in 1960. If it's the same guy, how can I contact him?
Answer I'm not saying the guy's never been to Teaneck, but it doesn't sound like the same person. Pastore grew up in the Bronx and went into the nightclub business in New Rochelle, N.Y., before he went into acting.
Also, he was born in 1946, so he would have been a member of the high school class of '64, not '60. Pussy, if you're out there reading this and I'm wrong, holler at me, all right?
Question Some friends and I were having a conversation and Arsenio Hall came up. People were wondering whatever happened to him. I was the only one who remembered that he was on some kind of sitcom in the last few years. Then I wondered if I was right after all. Can you prove me correct?
Answer First, to clear up the whatever-happened-to-Arsenio question, what about "Star Search?" He's the host of that, and that's not exactly chopped liver, is it? OK, maybe it is. The show you remember, even though no one else does, was called "Arsenio," and it ran on ABC in the spring of 1997. Hall played TV sports reporter Michael Atwood, and Viveca A. Fox played his wife. Also in the cast were Shawnee Smith (later Linda on "Becker"), Kevin Dunn and Alimi Ballard.