Q: We have been enjoying “The Muppet Show” on Disney+. The credits show a music consultant as Ray Charles. Is that THE Ray Charles?
A: No, that is a musician sometimes known as “the other Ray Charles,” a dozen years older than the soulful genius. (The two did meet in the ’70s.) Born Charles Raymond Offenberg, the “Muppet” man was a choral director, lyricist and composer who worked often with Perry Como, was a consultant for the Kennedy Center Honors and was behind the easy-listening group the Ray Charles Singers. His 2015 obituary in the Los Angeles Times also noted that he wrote “The Fifty Nifty United States,” “which has been memorized by several generations of schoolchildren,” and he sang the theme for “Three’s Company” with Julia Rinker Miller.
Q: My wife and I just finished watching a series called “Wrong Side of the Tracks” on Netflix. It had a kind of cliffhanger ending. Do you know if there is going to be another season?
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A: The three seasons of the Spanish drama have been popular enough to prompt work on a fourth season. That is also expected to be the final one, reportedly arriving late this year.
Q: I was wondering what happened with two shows that I haven’t seen any new episodes of this summer: “The $100,000 Pyramid” with Michael Strahan and “Generation Gap” with Kelly Ripa.
A: As of May, neither show was listed in ABC’s programming plans for the coming season, and I don’t know of any scheduling at this time.
Q: In 1962, Peter Falk starred in a TV drama called “The Price of Tomatoes,” for which he won an Emmy Award. Is there any place where this can be viewed today?
A: Falk won his first Emmy (and his only one not for playing Columbo) with this production on the anthology series “The Dick Powell Show.” According to the Paley Center for Media, the show “tells of an independent trucker, who must get his cargo of tomatoes from El Paso to Cincinnati before his competitor arrives,” only he is sidetracked when he gives a ride to a pregnant woman played by Inger Stevens. There is a copy on YouTube.
Q: I’ve enjoyed the Cormoran Strike book series by J.K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith, but there hasn’t been one in a long time. Do you know if there will be another, and when?
A: The seventh of the novels, “The Running Grave,” arrived in September. An eighth, “The Hallmarked Man,” is coming. No publication date yet. The books have also inspired a television series, “C.B. Strike,” consisting of five seasons so far and a sixth on the way.
Q: I watched a show called “Burden of Truth” that was about a lawyer (female) who sued a small town for polluting a high school practice field. I loved the show, but it seemed to have run its course. Any future episodes/plans?
A: The Canadian-made series, which had a stateside run on The CW, ended in 2021.
Do you have a question or comment about entertainment past, present and future? Write to Rich Heldenfels, P.O. Box 417, Mogadore, OH 44260, or brenfels@gmail.com.
