You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: Are Kimberly Paisley-Williams and Ashley Williams sisters in real life?
A: The stars of the recent “Sister Swap” TV movies are indeed sisters. Kimberly Williams-Paisley – to arrange the hyphenate correctly – is the older of the two; she’s married to musician Brad Paisley.
Q: Can you tell me if it’s possible to bring up on demand the “Fargo” TV series? I am interested in getting the first season and watching it from there. Also, will there be a fifth season?
A: I have not seen it On Demand but have found the first four seasons on Hulu and Prime Video. Series creator Noah Hawley has talked about a fifth season, but he’s a busy man and I have not seen anything recently indicating where plans stand.
Q: Many times, when I’m watching reruns of a particular series, they’ll show several episodes in a row. However, most of the time those episodes are not chronological. For example, Season 1, Episode 4 may be followed by a Season 3, Episode 6. Why aren’t they shown in their original broadcast sequence?
A: When I am wasting time – I mean, doing research – by watching reruns on some cable channels in the daytime, I will often see episodes run in chronological order, especially when the storyline is a multi-episode one. But that depends on the network and the program. In broadcast and cable, programmers do not always own all the episodes and tend to focus on episodes they know are popular with viewers even if they are out of order, AND sometimes put together themed sets of telecasts (for example, one channel airing a sequence of “NCIS” Christmas episodes during the holidays). Streaming services are more likely to have all the episodes available in order and in their entirety, but even there it’s not always the case.
Q: I remember a Western movie, maybe from the late ’70s, about a gunfight. I think one actor was Johnny Cash. The ending was shown twice depicting how life would go depending on who won the gunfight. Was this a real movie or did I dream it up? If real, is it available?
A: It’s a real movie, called “A Gunfight,” from 1971. Kirk Douglas and Johnny Cash play gunfighters who stage a duel and sell tickets to it for a big payday. At the end, after the fight is over, a character imagines what might have happened if the fight’s outcome had gone the other way. One place you can find the movie is on YouTube.
Do you have a question or comment about entertainment past, present and future? Write to Rich Heldenfels, P.O. Box 417, Mogadore, OH 44260, or brenfels@gmail.com. Letters may be edited. Individual replies are not guaranteed.
