More ‘Leftovers’ on plate
Q. Will the HBO show “The Leftovers” continue?
A. Yes, for a bit. The series will return for its third and final season of eight episodes in April. HBO’s announcement said nothing about the plot in the mystery-laden series, but it did confirm that the cast will include Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Amy Brenneman, Kevin Carroll, Christopher Eccleston, Scott Glenn, Lindsay Duncan, Regina King, Jovan Adepo, Janel Moloney, Margaret Qualley, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Liv Tyler and Chris Zylka.
Q. I was wondering if “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders” with Gary Sinise is coming back. I really liked that show.
A. It will. CBS picked up a second season of the series but has not yet announced a return date.
Q. Back during or right before the era of “Grace Under Fire” there was a TV show, I do not recall for sure, but it might have been one of the popular singlemother theme shows. The question: There was a young lady, probably in her early teens with a very distinctive (unusual) voice who would do a monologue during or at the end of the show while sitting on roof outside her bedroom window. What was the TV show and who was this young lady?
A. The series was “The Torkelsons,” which aired on NBC in 1991-’92 and again in 1993 with a changed premise and name, “Almost Home.” (Although it wasn’t exactly what you described, we were able to verify this after you looked at videos posted on YouTube.) Olivia Burnette was Dorothy Jane Torkelson, teen daughter of Millicent (Connie Ray). “Grace Under Fire,” by the way, aired from 1993-’98. Q. Back in the 1970s, there was a network series called “Beacon Hill” that ran for a few years. It was kind of an “Upstairs, Downstairs” but taking place in Boston. Do you know if it could be found on DVD? I remember really looking forward to watching it every week.
A. Not to be confused with a web series of the same name, the 1975 drama “Beacon Hill” featured tales of a Boston family and their household staff in the 1920s. Despite a cast that included Edward Herrmann and Nancy Marchand, it failed to hold an audience and lasted only 13 episodes. I do not know of an authorized release on DVD.
Q. Can you explain why so many network television commercials are for prescription drugs? For some evening news programs ALL the commercials are this type. Each one excitedly pushes the benefits of the medication, followed by a long list of warnings in a monotone voice. A. There are a lot of drug ads on all of TV — 80 per hour, by one estimate — and in 2015, the American Medical Association called for a ban on such commercials because “growing proliferation of ads is driving demand for expensive treatments despite the clinical effectiveness of less costly alternatives.”
On the other hand, health economist Austin Frakt wrote in The New York Times that ads not only help sell the promoted product but have side benefits. They can boost sales of other drugs dealing with the same condition, and encourage visits to doctors to discuss medication. “For stigmatized conditions, like depression and other mental illnesses, drug ads may serve to normalize them, encouraging sufferers to seek treatment, even if it’s not with the specific advertised drug,” he said.