Q. As a kid in the late 1970s, I remember a Saturday morning show that was live action (real people, not cartoons) and set in space. Seems like one of the guys from "Star Trek" was on it. Name and details, please?
A. Methinks you mean "Jason of Star Command," a little cheeseball of a show that ran on CBS from 1978 until 1980.
Jason was played by Craig Littler, and the man in charge was Commander Canarvin, played by James Doohan, aka Scotty on "Star Trek." For the second season, he was replaced by John Russell as Commander Stone.
The female interests were Capt. Nicole Davidoff (Susan Pratt O'Hanlon) in season one and Samantha (Tamara Dobson) in season two. Apparently there was high turnover at Star Command.
The enemy, in both seasons, was the evil Drago, played by veteran B-movie bad guy Sid Haig.
Q. Can you settle a dispute between me and my husband? The dispute involves the set of his favorite show, "Two and a Half Men." I say that Charlie's apartment is the same set they used when Laverne and Shirley moved to California from the Midwest. He disputes this. What do you say?
A. I side with him. As solid as they may look on TV, sets used on sitcoms are just that — sets. And they can be assembled and reassembled in hours.
"Laverne and Shirley" went off the air in 1980, so the possibility that a set from that show was left standing for 20 years until "Two and a Half Men" came along is as likely as me winning a Lindsay Lohan look-alike contest.
Q. On the season premiere of "Ugly Betty," they played a song with lyrics including "check baby, check" and "all I wanna do." Title, please?
A. That's "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-N-Effect.
Q. I am trying to remember the title of a movie with a rural setting about a girl who was kept locked up until rescued by a social worker. I think it was a TV movie and Sissy Spacek may have been in it. Is it available on video or DVD?
A. I'm thinking it's "Wildflower," a 1991 TV movie with Susan Blakely, Patricia Arquette, Reese Witherspoon and Beau Bridges. It's on video and DVD.
Q. I recall a Glenn Ford movie in which he played a country pastor. As I recall, he was a good person, but poor and struggling to survive on the occasional donated chicken from his equally poor flock. Do you recall the name of the movie?
A. I'm guessing it's "The Greatest Gift," a 1974 TV movie that also starred Julie Harris and Lance Kerwin. It was the pilot for "The Family Holvak," a series that ran on NBC in 1975.
Q. I'm remembering what sounds like a "Twilight Zone" or "Alfred Hitchcock" story. It takes place many years ago. A man has invented a time machine. For some reason he ends up on a big ship with the time machine. At the end, it turns out he is on the Titanic, so the inventor and the time machine are lost forever. Does this sound familiar to you?
A. I'm thinking this is an episode of "The Twilight Zone" called "No Time Like the Past," which originally aired in the spring of 1963. It's about a guy (Dana Andrews) who goes back in time to try to prevent Hiroshima, the sinking of the Lusitania and the rise of Hitler, and he goes 0-3.
Or maybe it's the pilot episode of "The Time Tunnel," which aired on ABC in the fall of 1966, where time travelers Dr. Tony (James Darren) and Dr. Doug (Robert Colbert) land on the deck of the Titanic.
Or maybe it's the 1983 episode of NBC's "Voyagers!" where time travelers Phineas (Jon-Erik Hexum) and Jeffrey (Meeno Peluce) land on the Titanic.
Or maybe it's something else. Do any of those sound like what you recall?
Q. What's the music in the commercial for Bounce dryer sheets?
A. It's "Ordinary Day," by Emilie Mover.
Q. What was the name of the song playing during the closing credits of "Entourage" on Sept. 14?
A. It was "If I Ever Feel Better," by Phoenix.
Q. I know the Olympics are over, but I'd like your help anyway. When it comes to movies about the Olympics, everyone talks about "Chariots of Fire," but I remember another Olympic movie set around the same time.
The athletes wanted to compete at the Olympics but only had an old book to go on. The part I remember is that the discus they used was made of lead, and that's what they used to learn. It was such a great movie! Is it on DVD or video?
A. That's the 1984 TV movie "The First Olympics: Athens 1896," with David Ogden Stiers, David Caruso and Alex Hyde-White. It's on DVD.
Q. When I was a child in the 1970s, I recall a movie in which the "Six Million Dollar Man" (Lee Majors) was a steel worker who was afraid of heights. Please tell me it was just a bad dream! If not, is it on video?
A. Bad dream, no. Bad movie, yes.
That's "Steel," a 1979 film that also stars Art Carney, Jennifer O'Neill and Albert Salmi. It's on video but is now out of print.
Q. I saw a movie way back when about some guys who were stranded in the desert when a big sandstorm comes along and uncovers an old Army tank. The men find diamonds inside. They get it running, and the adventure! Can you tell me the title of this movie and if it's on video?
A. That's the 1953 film "The Steel Lady," with Rod Cameron, Tab Hunter, Richard Erdman and John Abbott. Alas, it isn't on video or DVD.
Q. In the 1980s there was a movie that was a takeoff on all the "Friday the 13th" movies about high school students being murdered. Can you tell me the title and if it's on VHS or DVD?
A. Sounds like the 1981 "Student Bodies" in which Richard Belzer played the killer, known as "The Breather." Also in the cast were, well, nobody who became famous. It's on video and DVD.
Q. I saw an old movie on cable, possibly English, about a shy young man and his wife. When World War II begins, he receives his draft notice. While in the army he works out and becomes a handsome war hero.
His wife's girlfriend encourages her to go out while he is gone and shows her how to use makeup and dress. She becomes beautiful and very popular.
After the war, they put off seeing each other because they don't want to be with the type of person that they were when he left. Can you tell me the name of the movie and if it's on DVD?
A. That's "Vacation From Marriage," a 1945 English film with Robert Donat and Deborah Kerr. It's not on DVD, but it shows up on the Turner Classic Movies channel every so often.
Q. As a child in the early 1960s, I remember watching a movie on TV that was about a scientist who shrunk people in his lab and kept them on a shelf like dolls.
The shrunken people conspire against the scientist and, of course, at the end they all go back to their right size by using the same machine that was used to shrink them.
Can you tell me the name of that movie and if it is available on video or DVD?
A. Methinks that's "Dr. Cyclops," a 1940 film with Albert Dekker as the evil Dr. Alexander Thorkel, who has only one eye and therefore people call him Dr. Cyclops. It's on video and DVD.
Q. I cannot find the name of a movie starring Dick Van Dyke about a whole town that quit smoking on a certain date. Could you help?
A. That's the 1971 film "Cold Turkey," which also stars Bob Newhart, Jean Stapleton, Tom Poston and the comedy team of Bob and Ray.
Q. I (barely) remember watching a movie in the 1970s featuring a black motor home (Winnebago) with tinted windows. I know that doesn't give you much to work with. Sorry.
A. Hey, no problem. It only happens to be one of my favorite shaggy-dog movies from the 1970s, "Slither," with James Caan, Sally Kellerman, Louise Lasser and Peter Boyle. It's like a Coen brothers movie without the gratuitous violence. The black Winnebago belongs to bad guys who are following an ex-con (Caan) out to find some stashed loot.