The Rabbitt Ears Quiz (11 of 12)_ Hogan's Heroes

In hind sight, our blog series on "Dead or Alive" which ran on here a while back (and, yes, it was my idea) may not have been as brilliant as we thought it was. One of the things we feared was that one of the subjects might actually die between the time we posted the entry and revealed the answer.

So, while Topol of "Fiddler on the Roof" is still alive and well (to our knowledge), we regret to inform those of you may have been in a cave in Tajikistan for the last month that one of other subjects Richard Dawson (1932-2012), whom we reported as being alive, died at age 79 on June 2nd.

But, in Dawson's honor, we are posting an entry to the sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" where he starred Peter Newkirk. Dawson was an actor before becoming a game show host on the long-running "Family Feud," where he would frequently kiss female contestants.

"Hogan's Heroes," the only sitcom ever set in a Nazi POW camp, starred Bob Crane (1928-1978), who died from a still unresolved murder in 1978, as Col. Hogan. And, much has been made of Crane's dubious personal life, which was the subject of the film "Auto Focus" (2002), which starred Greg Kinnear as Crane.

In real life, Crane was married to actress Sigrid Valdis (1935-2007) who played the now politically incorrect character Hilda.

The show's successful run from 1965-71 can also be attributed to the lovable antagonists, such as Col. Klink (to the right of Hogan) who was played by the late Werner Klemperer, who was ironically known for his serious roles before being on the sitcom. And, the late John Banner played Sgt. Schultz (to the right of Hogan).

So, today, we are simply asking just how many episodes were there to "Hogan's Heroes." Is the answer:

A) 157

B) 168

C) 177

D) 181

Quote of the Day/Week-Matt Damon

Yes, we had quite a hard time finding a useable image of Matt Damon, hence we had to find one of him in a still photograph from "The Talented Mister Ripley" (1999). Just last year, Damon rejoined 'Ripley' cast-mates Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law for the provocative science thriller "Contagion."

Other films that Damon is known for include "Good Will Hunting" (1997) for which he and pal Ben Affleck won Best Original Screenplay Oscars (neither has won an Oscar for acting or directing_ which Affleck has also done), "Syriana" (2005) and "The Departed" (2006).

Damon turns 42 on October 8th; this month we are quoting famous people born in 1970, the year I was born.

Here is his quote:

"I'd heard people say: 'You'll enjoy being famous for a week and you'll never enjoy it again.' But, I don't think I had that week. I may have been working and missed that moment."

SIDEBAR: We want to wish our fellow Turkish-American progressive Cenk Uygur a happy 42nd birthday. I am a mere 17 days older than Uygur who hosts an excellent political talk show on Current-TV at 7:00 p.m. (eastern and Pacific times); I was surprised that Uygur did not mention the milestone on this show tonight.

And, on the other side of the spectrum, Kirk Cameron, who was born on Oct. 12, 1970, making him just four days younger of the politically liberal Matt Damon, has recently been trying to defuse controversial comments he made regarding gays and lesbians. Cameron said that a homosexual lifestyle was detrimental and destructive, but he said that he never meant to hurt anyone's feelings. Cameron, who came to fame from the 1980s sitcom "Growing Pains," is an out-spoken evangelical who has turned his attention to religious-themed films in recent years.

Casualties of Modern Technology (7 of 12)_ TV Antennas

35 years ago, during the two years I was living in Turkey as a child (1977-79), we literally depended on the bulging outdoor antennas to get signals from the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television) which at the time was showing one channel of programing throughout the entire country. This meant that people living in Istanbul saw the same shows as people in eastern Turkish cities, such as Sivas and Erzurum, which are a good 15-20 hours by bus from Istanbul. The TRT began broadcasting television in 1968.

Many years earlier, American inventor Philo Farnsworth (1906-1971) sent out the first American television transmission at the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1934. Some 20-25 years later, Uncle Miltie (Milton Berle) aired a popular variety show across the country and Ed Sullivan also became popular especially when he introduced The Beatles on his tv variety show in the 1960s. And, by the 1960s, the tv sitcom, which included "The Honeymooners" with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney also became popular.

The tv antenna was specifically designed to air in the broadcast range from 41 to 250 MHZ on VHF, and the wavelength equaled the speed of light. The higher the placement of the antenna, which can reach up to 40-feet on rooftops, the better the reception.

Today, since all broadcasts in the United States are digital, the outdoor tv antenna is a definitive endangered species though I did see on just last week!

SIDEBAR: Since we are not specifically a sports blog, perhaps it was a bit of a huge mistake to go into men's college basketball. But, since we've started this mess, let's finish it!

A few days ago, we made reference to the American University Eagles' home game in Washington, DC, versus the Bucknell Bison on Thursday night. The game was one in which the school gave away Jeff Jones bobblehead dolls in honor of AU's coach Jeff Jones to the first 1,000 fans.

Well, we imagine that created considerable enthusiasm, but the Eagles (18-10, 9-4 in Patriot Conference play) lost to the Bison (21-8, 11-2) by a score of 55-50. Mike Muscala lead the visitors from Lewisburg, Pa., with 26 points and 14 rebounds. While Daniel Munoz lead the Eagels with 15 points. Both schools have important final regular season conference games this afternoon (Saturday).

SIDEBAR 2: Even though Harvard University may have just finished their home game with the Pennsylvania Quakers this afternoon, we are going to focus on their 67-64 home win over Princeton last night.

The Crimson's win allowed the team (24-3, 10-1) to avenge their only Ivy League loss of the year at the hand of the Tigers in Princeton, NJ, two weeks ago tonight.

Kyle Casey lead the Crimson with 20 points and eight rebounds. Other top scorers for the Crimson included Brandyn Curry (15 points), Oliver McNally (13 points) and Keith Wright (12 points). Harvard has also been in the news because one of their recent alum, Jeremy Lin has become a media sensation in the NBA.

For the losing Princeton side, Ian Hummer and Douglas Davis scored 14 points each for the Tigers.

Here is a wrap-up of Friday scores in the Ivy League:

*-home teams

*Yale 75 Columbia 57
*Harvard 67 Princeton 64
Penn 57 *Dartmouth 54
Cornell 69 *Brown 53

Top 10 Countries to Run To If GOP Whacko Becomes Prez

We will probably have better things to do on March 5th, when the remaining Republican candidates have yet another debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif. One of those even better things to do might be to watch a marathon of the British '70s sitcom "Are You Being Served?" (the show airs on PBS stations in North Carolina on Saturday nights at 9:30 p.m.) on dvd.

Here is a list of possible countries to run to if the likes of Rick Santorum (pictured), Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich becomes president:

1. Norway (pictured)

2. Argentina

3. Australia

4. Honduras

5. Chile

6. Greece

7. Denmark (yes, we like the idea of seeking political asylum in a Scandinavian country)

8. Canada (yeah, this is a bit of an easy choice)

9. Croatia

10. Poland

Yeah, we aren't quite zany enough to put North Korea on this list.

My Cinematic Rant for the Films of 2011

We sent in a more verbose version of this rant to a film magazine. The film we are 'discussing' here "Bellflower" was quite a cult sensation. It was shown at the Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va., and at a/perture Cinema in Winston-Salem, NC, among other places. Originally, "Bellflower," which we gather was filmed in Wisconsin (don't quote us on that), made a splash at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

It also played somewhere in the Washington-DC metro area. We tried to find where by checking out a review of the film in "City Paper," but while we were unable to find out, the publication told us that the film only cost $17,000 to produce?! Of course, we could have found that out on the Internet Movie Database as well.

I thought "Bellflower" was a very interesting, hip film until the third act, and amazingly enough the reviewer for "City Paper" seemingly agreed with me. The film concerns a road trip as the apocalypse is looming.

I guess the best way to describe it is a "Mad Max/Easy Rider meets Left Behind" kind of film, except that "Bellflower" does not have an evangelical political agenda unlike the film series with born-again actor Kirk Cameron best-known for the '80s sitcom "Growing Pains," who is the exact same as I am!

And, we gather he has something like 14 children (that is a joke, but it is a ridicolous number that is slightly lower than that!).

Here is my revised rant:

"I must profess sincere admiration for film director Even Glodell and his film "Bellflower," even though I gave it a four out of ten on the IMDB. It is such a 'so bad it's good' film that I almost put it on my top 20 films of the year list.

Glodell made his own unique film in his own unique way. The fact that the screenplay's dreadful third act derails the film into a lurid mess shouldn't make each of us admire him profoundly.

He may well end up learning from his mistakes and end up out Tarantinoing QT himself!"

The Rabbit Ears Test (5 of 12)_ The Brady Bunch

Earlier this year, tv show pioneer Sherwood Schwartz, who created both "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch" died at age 94. But, he will always be remembered for creating one of the first unusual sitcom families which broke away from the "Father Knows Best" forms of the '50s and '60.

"The Brady Bunch" starred the late Robert Reed (1932-1992) as Mike Brady. Reed came to the show with a Shakespearean actor background, and he would later teach Shakespearian acting at UCLA during the last years of his life which ended at age 59 from AIDS.

But, the other two adult cast members, Florence Henderson and Ann B. Davis, who played the housekeeper Alice, are alive and presumably well. Davis turned 85 this year.

The oldest Brady child was Greg Brady, played by Barry Williams, who is 57 today, a mere two younger than Reed was when he died 20 years ago. The other Brady Kids were played by the likes of Eve Plumb, Maureen McCormick, Chris Knight (not to be confused with my blogger friend of the same name), Mike Lookiland and Susan Olsen.

"The Brady Bunch" ran for 117 episodes, and Gene Hackman_ of all people_ was considered for the part of Mike Brady. The show was actually more popular after it initially aired, as it never got past number 34 in the ratings.

The dog Tiger disappeared after the second season because off-screen the dog was tragically run over by a car, though his dog house was around up until the show's conclusion.

I actually had the chance to meet Williams in person in 1996. He said he still got high volumes of fan letters every week.

So, today, we are asking when exactly did "The Brady Bunch" first air; is the answer?:

A) Sept. 26, 1969

B) Jan. 2, 1970

C) Sept. 25, 1970

D) Nov. 20, 1970

SIDEBAR: Alas, our beloved UNC Tarheels fell 41-24 to the Missouri Tigers in the Independence Bowl that was mentioned in an earlier entry.

Bonus Road Trip (5 of 10)_ Mayberry to Milwaukee

Today, we look at the distance between Mount Airy, NC, which is the real-life Mayberry as it is where Andy Griffith originally hails from (he is now retired in the North Carolina coastal village of Manteo, a bit far from Mount Airy), and Milwaukee.

Ron Howard, now a film director, was on both "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Happy Days," and hopefully, anyone logging in from somewhere like Karachi, Pakistan, has some familiarity with iconic American tv sitcoms from yesteryear. If not; oh well!

For this, we took the distance between Snappy Lunch in downtown Mount Airy, a town that borders Virginia, and WTMJ (Channel-4, Milwaukee).

And, the answer is:

A) 13 hours

B) 14 hours

C) 15 hours

D) 16 hours

SIDEBAR: We jokingly said that the winner of our "Rabbit Ears Quiz" grand prize was Aysegul Denizli, from Izmir, Turkey. This was a name we had conjured up off the top of our heads. But, there does indeed happen to be a real Aysegul Denizli. She is a marketing executive in Istanbul. What a coincidence?! We certainly hope she doesn't ask for her cat toy (that was the grand prize).

Quote of the Week- Lenny Bruce

Today, our quote of the day comes from the late, great comic genius Lenny Bruce (1925-1966), whom I have recently outlived (he died just a few months away from what would have been his 41st birthday).



Bruce was using the term 'yada, yada, yada,' some 30 years before it became a pop culture standard thanks to the term's frequent use on "Seinfeld."



This quote seems quite prophetic considering the recent telecommunication mergers:



"Communism is like one big phone company."



SIDEBAR: We had assumed that Cong. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) was the nuttiest, fringe Republican candidate for president, but it appears this dubious dishonor should go to Gov. Rick Perry (R-Tex).



According to an NPR report last week, Perry, who is a born again evangelical who likes executions (hmmm....yeah, he does seem too much like GWB) stated in Portsmouth, NH, that public schools in texas teach evolution and creationsim. Perry added that there were 'some gaps in evolution.' The day before Perry essentially said that global warming was just 'a lot of hype.'



This lead another Republican candidate, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who must feel like the only sane man in the asylum, to tweet that he did believe in evolution.



Of course, saying something intellectually sound while trying to become a Republican presidential candidate could cause a person to lose Sioux City!

DC Diary- I Ate a Whole Anchovy Pizza

Well, we were going to give our crew a long-needed and well-deserved vacation, but then I listened to a Newt Gingrich speech on C-SPAN and decided "Bah Humbug! These guys need to earn their $3.22 an hour."

We haven't run into the former house speaker here in Washington, DC, today, but there have been plenty of things to write about.

I've decided it's perhaps best to have a day of reflection, so I will focus on yesterday which was our first official day in the nation's capital.

Along with my mom, my sister Eva and her husband Sven from Goteborg, Sweden, we went out to dinner at Red Rocks, a Nepalese pizzaeira in DC, and after looking over the menu items carefully, I decided to make the most radical culinary decision I made since I ate goat kebab in Denizli, Turkey, some 25 years ago.

I decided to order an 11-inch anchovy pizza! My feeling was: "You know, I am on vacation, and this is one of the few times I've been able to get out of Virginia and North Carolina all year (I live between the two states), so why not get an anchovy pizza?"

It was surprisingly delicious. The pizza also had several cheeses and peppers. And, I drank it down with some tangy pineapple juice.

But, anyone who has gobbled up an entire 11-inch pizza, irregardless of topping choices, should know full well that he or she will pay the consequences for it later that night. Sure enough, I was stuffed and I felt like a walking Sumo wrestler as we walked back to our hotel in Bethesda, Md. (forgive the DC humor which may not go over well to our readers in Tajikistan!).

Incidentally, I saw a guidebook for the remote former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan today, but that's enough for tonight's entry.... I need to go watch some "Sanford and Son" reruns on TV Land, a network I don't get at home!