Question:After seeing the woman detective on "The Young and the Restless" we are thinking that she looks a lot like the girl who played Kimmy on "Full House." Is there any relation?
Answer: Nope. Detective Maggie Sullivan is played by Tammy Lauren, who is not related to Andrea Barber, who played Kimmy Gibbler on "Full House."
Question:Could you please tell me when "Nip/Tuck" will be back?
Answer: "Nip/Tuck" will return in October.
Question:My husband and I are trying to think of the name of a movie that we saw in the early 1980s. It was about a man who was traveling across the country and begins to be stalked by a truck driver. The movie was very suspenseful to me, and it appeared that the truck driver was trying to kill the man. There was never really an explanation as to why he was doing it. We would like to see the movie again but have no idea who is in it or what the name of the movie is. Can you help?
Answer: That's the classic 1971 TV movie "Duel," an early Steven Spielberg project. Dennis Weaver played the terrorized driver, and his enemy was played by a Peterbilt 351. It's on video and DVD.
Question:What's the name of the movie (maybe a TV movie) about a deaf boy who uses sign language to communicate with an ape?
Answer: Sounds like the 1985 TV movie "A Summer to Remember," which stars Tess Harper, James Farentino and Sean Gerlis. It's on video and DVD.
Question:I know that Dane Cook of "Mr. Brooks" and "Employee of the Month" was on a sitcom about a single mom, or two single moms, or something. Nobody believes me, but I know it was him! Help!
Answer: OK! The show was "Maybe This Time," a sitcom that ran on ABC in 1995-96. Marie Osmond, Betty White and Ashley Johnson played mother, grandmother and daughter, respectively, who ran a coffee shop and dated various guys, including Cook, who played a regular customer — of the coffee shop, not of the women.
Question:Is the big muscle-bound guy who fights Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon" the same guy who had a short-lived detective series maybe 10 years ago?
Answer: Yep. That fellow is Sammo Hung, and the TV series was a "Rush Hour" rip-off — excuse me, "homage" — called "Martial Law," which ran on CBS from 1998 until 2000. Also in the cast were Kelly Hu and Arsenio Hall.
Question:It seems like only my wife and I remember this sitcom. It came on in the 1980s and it was about a girl who finds out that her father was an alien. The father was never on the show, but in some episodes, she talked to him using this box with a lot of lights on it. The theme song had the words "would you like to swing on a star" in it. Help us please; we're going nuts trying to remember the name of this show!
Answer: Sounds like "Out of This World," a sitcom that ran from 1987 until 1991. It was syndicated, so it ran in some cities but not others, which may be why no one remembers it, or they may not remember it because it wasn't very good. Maureen Flannigan played Evie Garland, whose parents were earthling Donna (Donna Pescow) and alien Troy (the voice of Burt Reynolds). Doug McClure provided comic relief, loosely speaking, as a Hollywood actor who had been elected town mayor, and other cast members included Buzz Belmondo and Christina Nigra.
Question:In the early 1980s, I saw a TV serial about "criminals" from the London jails who were shipped to Australia to finish their sentences for petty crimes. I cannot remember the name of the serial nor the players. Can you help?
Answer: Sounds like one of two different miniseries. One is "Against the Wind," which aired in 1978. It starred Bryan Brown, Mary Larkin and Warwick Sims, among others. The other is 1980's "The Timeless Land," with Nicola Pagett, Angela Punch MacGregor and Peter Cousens.
Write David Inman's in care of The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal, 525 W. Broadway, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, KY 40201-7431; or e-mail him at mail@askinman.com. Questions of general interest will be answered; personal replies are not possible.