Why did coronavirus appear on ‘Law & Order’ in 2003?
A: “There are many coronaviruses,” says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “including some that commonly cause mild upper-respiratory tract illnesses” as well as scarier forms such as SARS and COVID-19. The term “coronavirus” dates back to 1968.
For you science students, it is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “any member of a group (formerly a genus) of enveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses which have prominent projections from the envelope and are pathogens of humans, other mammals, and birds, typically causing gastrointestinal, respiratory, or neurological disease.” COVID-19 is an abbreviation of the World Health Organization’s official name: coronavirus disease 2019, after the year it was first identified.
A: There are about a dozen TV and movie versions of the novel, spanning decades. Myrna Loy was Thackeray’s main character, Becky Sharp, in a 1932 version. Miriam Hopkins was nominated for an Oscar for the 1935 film “Becky Sharp.” Susan Hampshire won an Emmy as Becky in a 1967 British miniseries after it aired on
“Masterpiece Theatre” in 1972.
Reese Witherspoon was Becky in a 2004 big-screen production. Even more recent is a 2018 miniseries starring Olivia Cooke; it has an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Cooke was much praised and it takes seven parts to tell the story, so that may be the best place for you to look. 2021.
A: As far as I can find, they are not related. And, in case you missed it, Ruby Rose is not returning to “Batwoman” next season, setting up major changes (and speculation) about what Season 2 will be like when it arrives in 2021.
Q: I am looking for the name of a movie (mid-to-late ’70s). I remember the setting is in a house, and there are monkeys that live in the fireplace or are hidden around the house. There is a dinner party happening in the house, and the monkeys take the wife of the homeowner and push her in the fireplace, which really is an open pit.
A: That was “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” a 1973 TV movie starring Kim Darby and Jim Hutton, though some details differ from what you remember.
The monkeys, for example, are more commonly referred to as demonlike or goblinlike creatures. The movie is on DVD and inspired a 2010 remake of the same name with Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce.
A: You are remembering “Harry O,” a detective show that aired on ABC from 1974-76. Janssen, famous as the man on the run in “The Fugitive,” played Harry Orwell, a rumpled and less-than-successful private eye in San Diego and later Santa Monica. “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows” notes that “infrequently seen, but highly visible on those occasions when she did appear, was Harry’s girl-nextdoor, Farrah Fawcett.”