The Rabbit Ears Test (8 of 12)_ "Flipper"

Today, we go way back, for our subject as "Flipper" first aired on NBC on Sept. 19, 1964. It was one of American tv shows I saw as a child while living in Turkey from 1977-79 on the TRT. It still seems ironic and amazing today that if you have satellite television you can watch Mexican wrestling matches (Lucha Libre), the new version of "Doctor Who" or an old Gary Cooper movie like "Pride of the Yankees" at any given juncture as there are over 300 channels on any given satellite provider.

But, in those days in Turkey, it was just the TRT and it consisted of one channel which aired at night during the week and during the day on weekends.

In Turkey, "Flipper" aired on Saturday mornings, and it was very popular, especially with children. Interesting enough, the TRT also aired a French documentary series by the late underwater filmmaker Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997) on Saturday afternoons.

The actual dolphin Flipper on the show was a bottlenose dolphin who belonged to a widowed father Porter Ricks, played by the late Brian Kelly (1931-2005), and his young boys Sandy, played by Luke Halping, now 64, and Bud, played by Tommy Norden, now 59.

Flipper was played at various times by at least five mostly female dolphins over the show's three-season run, including Mitzi, Little Bit, Suzy and Kathy. The dolphins were trained by Ric O'Berry, who later became a marine animal activist.

Ironically, in more recent years, "Flipper" generated some controversy when O'Berry stated that Kathy had committed suicide by drowning herself.

"Flipper" became a 1995 tv series and a 1996 feature film with Paul Hogan and Elijah Wood (both were also named "Flipper").

The original show's catchy theme song was written by Henry Vars and By Dunham.

Today, we ask, how many episodes were made of the original "Flipper"?

Is the answer:

A) 82

B) 86

C) 88

D) 90

Weekend Road Trip- Maryland to Tennessee (6 of 20)

Hi kids. Be sure to tell all your friends about out blog to make it worth our time. Hmmm, yes, we are beginning to sound like a PBS station.

Today, we focus on the distance between Hagerstown, Md, home of the Hagerstown Suns (if you left off the 's,' one might think it was the town newspaper!), and Chattanooga, Tenn., home of the Chattanooga Lookouts, which is a reference to nearby Lookout Mountain. But, yes, we were wondering what exactly a 'lookout' is too; is it like some kind of TSA agent? (We hope our friends at the ACLU like the joke, or that someone does!).

Currently, the Hagerstown Suns are in Lexington, Ky., where they will be play the Lexington Legends tonight. The team's next home game is against the reigning South Atlantic League champs the Lakewood Blueclaws, who play in Lakewood, NJ.

The Chattanooga Lookouts are also on the road in Alabama as they are playing the Birmingham Barons, a team that beat them 6-2 yesterday. The next home game for the Lookouts, who are in the Southern League (so they can't play the Suns) is on Monday against the Hunstville Stars from Huntsville, Ala., which should not confused with Huntsville, Tex., where they execute more people than they do in Saudi Arabia (I guess by now, it's obvious that I'm not exactly a right-wing Tea Partier).

To look at the distance between the two cities, we took the address of the Oasis Hookah Lounge in Hagerstown, Md., and the address of the City Cafe (Carter Street location) in Chattanooga, Tenn.

It should be pointed that we are using the Turkish shadow puppets of Karagoz and Hacivat, which are proudly from the city of Bursa, Turkey, instead of the image of a hookah pipe to be kid-friendly and because images of the pipes are surprisingly difficult to hot-link.

And, of course, the choo choo is because Chattanooga is famous for (I think everyone outisde of Tajikistan knows this) The Chattanooga Choo Choo.

So, what is the answer? If you know, I will give you either an eight-track tape of the Oak Ridge Boys' Greatest Hits or a vinyl record from Captain Tanille unless you are related to me, which disqualifies any siblings residing in Goteborg, Sweden (in-joke...hmmm...they may not get it either).

Is the answer:

A) 11 hours and 50 minutes

B) 12 hours even

C) 12 hours and 10 minutes

D) 12 hours and 20 minutes

The answer to last week's question was A) 12 hours and ten minutes. We have no idea which PBS station serves Chattanooga, and we are too lazy/tired to look it up. But, we do know that Maryland Public Television serves Hagerstown, and we wonder if they still show "Dr. Who" reruns on Saturday night!