Question: I was just wondering if we'll ever see the completion of Stephen King's “Under the Dome.” The end of the second season left us hanging.
Answer: I don't know about a completion. I can at least promise a continuation of the fantasy series when it returns to CBS this summer. According to the network, it will have a two-hour third-season premiere on June 26 at 9 p.m. Eastern. It will then settle into its regular time slot, 10 p.m. Eastern on Thursdays.
Q: I like Doris Day's movies from the '60s. For the past year TCM has shown three to four in a row with co-stars including Rock Hudson, James Garner and David Niven and repeated same ones over. I would like to see again the one with Cary Grant, “That Touch of Mink.” Why are they not showing it?
A: While it may seem that TCM owns every vintage movie out there, it does not. There are quite a few movie services, each with its own properties. For example, “That Touch of Mink” is currently in the rotation on Retroplex, an all-movie service focusing on older films, whose carriers include Dish Network and Comcast XFinity.
Q: I have enjoyed watching “Stalker” on CBS. Then, on March 4, they started “CSI: Cyber” in that time slot. “Stalker” was getting interesting and I am wondering when “Stalker” will return and finish the season?
A: CBS promises that the very unpleasant Stalker will return later this season, although at this writing the return date has not been set. As I have said before, series do not make enough episodes to fill every week of a TV season and, in most cases, reruns do not fare well. So you see more and more hiatuses by series, with other shows filling their slots.
Q: There was a cable series back around the year 2000 named “Beggars & Choosers.” I have searched the Internet for a DVD without success. Any suggestions on where I might find it?
A: For those of you tuning in late, the series about life and work at a struggling TV network aired on Showtime for 42 episodes in 1999-2001. (The series was inspired in part by the career of Brandon Tartikoff, a successful executive at NBC, who helped “Beggars.” However, he died of cancer in 1997, before the series premiered.) As far as I can determine, there has been no authorized release on DVD or Blu-ray.
There was a plan to release the first season back in 2006, but that fell apart. Series co-creator Peter Lefcourt said on his website that “the DVD market for TV episodes is both a little saturated and a little soft at the moment: those shelves at Target are sagging under the weight of unsold episodes of old TV shows. So, we have to wait until someone deems it financially advantageous to spend the money to release the DVDs.” Nor did I see it on various streaming services.
Q: Do you think there is any chance A&E will ever bring back “Nero Wolfe”? That was a superior show in every regard, I own both seasons on DVD, and I would love some new episodes — especially with the key cast members back.
A: The Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout have been adapted many times, including in the A&E series starring Maury Chaykin as Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as his associate Archie Goodwin. But a revival of the A&E show won't happen, as Chaykin died in 2010.
