Q: Now that Lisa Whelchel has been on “Survivor," will other celebrities be included in future seasons?
— Susan Powell, Fayetteville, N.C.
A: Time will tell. We can’t say that we haven’t joked a bit that we expect to see “Tootie" or “Natalie" in a future season of the CBS reality show — the next one begins Feb. 13 and will feature “Fans and Favorites" — but it should be pointed out that in Whelchel’s case, it was a somewhat special set of circumstances that ultimately landed her in the Philippines to play the game.
She had been a “superfan" (her own term) of the show from the start, and she freely admits she used every opportunity to campaign to be included as a contestant: personal appearances, newspaper interviews, and especially her 2011 appearance at the TV Land Awards when “The Facts of Life" was honored. A social-media campaign by her fans arose from that, it caught the eye of a “Survivor" producer, and the rest is now history.
Q: Barbara Walters named Gen. David Petraeus her “Most Fascinating Person" for 2012, but didn’t she do that before?
— John Kane, Chicago
A: She did, in 2010. However, as she pointed out on her December ABC special, each selection of him was for a different reason. The first time, it was for his military leadership; the second time, it was for his being such a visible symbol of potential collisions between the personal and the professional, which resulted, in his case, in his resignation as the chief of the CIA.
Q: Kendra Wilkinson’s show moved from E! to WE: Women’s Entertainment and had a very short run, and it has not come back. What’s the story on the disappearance?
— William Finkes, Columbus, Ohio
A: The story is “patience." As with many cable series, “Kendra on Top" had a shorter episode order than many broadcast network programs, and it was renewed for another season after those episodes ran last June and July. It will be back, but at this writing, WE had not yet specified exactly when.
Q: Someone told me that Angie Harmon was on “Baywatch." Is that true?
— Steve March, Reading, Pa.
A: Actually, rather than on “Baywatch" itself, she was a regular cast member on a detective-themed spinoff called “Baywatch Nights" in the mid-1990s.
It took the characters originally played on the lifeguard show by David Hasselhoff and Gregory Alan Williams and made them sleuthing partners, and Harmon — who, the story goes, was discovered on an airplane by fellow passenger Hasselhoff — played another detective who joined their agency.
Of course, “Law & Order," “Women’s Murder Club" and TNT’s current “Rizzoli & Isles" then followed for her.
Q: When will “Skyfall" be on television?
— Jeremy Scott, West Palm Beach, Fla.
A: Well, it’s going to take a couple of years, at least. First, it has to make its home video rounds — at this writing, the latest James Bond thriller was expected to debut on DVD and Blu-ray in the very near future — and then go to pay cable. It’s been an average of three years, though, from the theatrical debut of each of Daniel Craig’s 007 capers until the time it’s reached either broadcast television or basic cable.
And once “Skyfall" gets there, you can expect to see it a lot, if Craig’s “Casino Royale" and “Quantum of Solace" are indicators.
The NBCUniversal group of cable networks (USA, Bravo, Syfy, etc.) have had those, and they’ve been given frequent workouts on the air.
With “Skyfall" being such a monstrous hit in terms of both box office and critical reception, you can bet the holders of its TV rights won’t be shy about getting it out there once the time comes.
Q: What ever happened to the dating show “3" that premiered last summer?
— Joanne Parks, Milwaukee
A: It pretty much evaporated on contact. CBS kept changing the premiere date, and by the time many television listings had gone out, viewers who may have tuned in to see the debut on a Sunday learned that actually had been moved to the previous Thursday.
The stunningly low rating for the premiere was beaten by an even lower number for the second episode, and at that point, the writing was on the wall.
