Why is CBS show called ‘48 Hours’?
J.D. Pardo stars in “Mayans M.C.”
Q: I’ve been watching “48 Hours” on CBS for many years and it suddenly dawned on me: Why is it called “48 Hours”?
A: Here’s the answer from CBS: “‘48 Hours’ began as the documentary ‘48 Hours on Crack Street’ in 1986, which featured the reporting of 10 CBS News correspondents and 15 crews over a period of one weekend to chronicle the impact of the sale, use and effect of drugs. It became a regular series on Jan. 19, 1988, with the show built around a team of correspondents covering one subject for 48 consecutive hours.” The show then evolved into a program focusing on law, crime and justice but retained the original title.
Q: Will “Mayans M.C.,” a great biker show with a great cast, be back?
A: Yes. FX has ordered another season of the series. But because of the pandemic, production has been delayed and it is not clear when the series might return.
Q: I wonder if you might know the name of an old show. The program was kind of a summer fill-in maybe four to six episodes, in the summer of 1978 (could be a year earlier or later). It was a parody of daily Russian life, the problems of living in an Iron Curtain country and was hysterically funny.
A: That was “Ivan the Terrible,” a comedy on CBS for five weeks in 1976. Lou Jacobi starred as Ivan, a hotel waiter in Moscow who shared an apartment with nine other people.
Q: What happened to John Nettles of “Midsomer Murders”? Why switch over to his cousin as chief inspector?
A: Nettles left the series in
2011 after appearing in more than 200 episodes over 14 years. He reportedly said at the time that he was getting too old for the role, and “it’s always wise to leave people wanting more, rather than be booed off the stage because you bored them.” He continued to act, including in “Poldark,” as well as pursuing other projects.
Q: TV keeps advertising a Drew Barrymore talk show starting in September in the time slot for “Hot Bench,” which I enjoy. Is it being canceled or moved to another time slot?
A: “Hot Bench” will begin its seventh season Sept. 14. But it is a syndicated show. Network and cable shows are put in essentially the same time slots around the U.S. (not counting differences because of time zones). Syndicated shows are sold to individual stations or their owners and put where they fit a station’s needs. A look at the schedule for “Hot Bench” on its website finds it weekdays at 1 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and still other times, depending on the station carrying it. In your town, it appears that the station carrying “Hot Bench” is either moving it or dropping it to make room for Barrymore’s show (which arrives Sept. 14). You should give local listings a close look to see where “Hot Bench” ends up — and what other changes will be happening from daytime to early evening.
Q: Are they canceling “Days of Our Lives”? I have watched it for over 45 years.
A: You are right that it has been going through a lot of changes in casting and storylines. And daytime dramas have been struggling for years to keep and find an audience, with relatively few surviving. Fortunately for you and other fans, “Days” is one of the survivors, as NBC will keep the show going into another season this fall.
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