Question: The question "How do the girls' husbands, other than Dorothy's, die?" was answered that in theory, Blanche's husband could have had a car wreck, fallen into a coma, and died while she was getting a pedicure. This is not true. Blanche stated that when George came back to her in a dream, she remembered tripping over his shoe on her way to answer the phone, thus finding out that George had died in a car wreck. Doesn't this prove that the "he had a wreck, fell into a coma, and then died during Blanche's pedicure", theory is out?
Brian Katcher
11th Jan 2010
The Golden Girls (1985)
20th May 2023
The Golden Girls (1985)
Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mammy - S6-E5
Question: According to this episode, Mammy Watkins and Blanche's father were in love for 50 years. And they would have been married "in another time and place." However, Blanche's father married a different woman in Season Two ("Big Daddy's Little Lady"). Why would he not have married Mammy Watkins after Blanche's mother died?
Answer: Because a lot of people, especially in the southern US, simply would not have accepted an interracial marriage. Depending when Blanche's mother died, it might not have even been legal at the time; the last anti-miscegenation laws in their home state of Georgia were struck down in 1967.
The episode "Mother's Day" shows Blanche visiting her mother, who is age 89, and Blanche does not look any younger than she does in the present. Apparently her mother died in the late 70s or the 80s. However, I live in the southern US. Even now, in 2023, there are still many people who would object to an interracial marriage. Another factor could be guilt; maybe Blanche's father felt too guilty to marry Mammy Watkins after betraying Blanche's mother for so long.
That is a good point. Marrying someone he's known for years...tongues would wag. 'How long was THAT going on?'.
Answer: My interpretation is that Blanche's father didn't feel quite the same way about the relationship. Blanche only has Mammie's word that they "would have been married" in another life. I've heard of situations where a person had a longtime affair with someone, but refused to leave their spouse, for whatever reason (maybe finances and reputation/image in their community). This actually happens to Dorothy in another episode: she dates a married man who wants a secret relationship with her, while keeping his marriage because it's predictable and safe.
20th May 2023
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Question: Why does the bartender tell Doc "you know what happened last 4 of July" when he offered him a shot of whiskey if he's only been there 1 week?
Answer: In the letter Marty gets, Doc says he's been living in 1885 for the past 8 months. It's dated September 1. Marty in 1955 finds out that Doc dies one week after he wrote the letter (Sept 7th), not one week after he got to 1885. Marty then goes to Sept 2, 1855, one day after Doc wrote the letter.
20th May 2023
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Question: The first time Daniel goes to his brother Frank's place to get made up into Mrs. Doubtfire he asks "Can you make me a woman?" to which Frank excitedly says "Oh honey, I'm so happy!" What did he mean by that? I feel like there's a joke here I'm just not understanding.
Answer: Frank thinks his brother is coming out as transgender and is enthusiastically supportive.
19th May 2023
Friends (1994)
Question: Is it just me or is it a little out of character for Monica to not ask people to take off their shoes before coming into her apartment?
Answer: Sure. However, with the script calling for people to be constantly entering and leaving the apartment, that would slow down the pacing way too much.
Answer: I agree with Brian Katcher's answer. Also, despite Monica, maybe she is not in the practice of asking guests to remove their shoes. I am in my mid-thirties, and I've only been to one home where I was asked to remove mine.
19th May 2023
Ghostbusters 2 (1989)
Question: Would the rupturing of one underground cable be enough to cut all the power to the city that never sleeps?
Answer: Of course not. That was a little over the top, even for an over the top movie like this.
8th Jul 2016
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Question: When the historical figures are arrested for causing chaos at the mall, it's clear what most of them did; i.e. Billy the Kid fired his gun, Genghis Khan wrecked the sporting goods store, etc. So what exactly did Sigmund Freud and Socrates do to get arrested?
Chosen answer: It was critical to the storyline to keep all of the historical figures together, which is the primary reason they were all arrested at once. We might speculate that mall security received a number of reports of "odd" characters wandering around the mall. In addition to the shenanigans of Billy and Genghis, Beethoven was pounding out a raucous keyboard performance, Joan of Arc essentially hijacked a dancercize session, and Abraham Lincoln was accused of theft and fled from a vintage photography studio. Importantly, Socrates and Freud made rather strange advances on a couple of (probably underage) teenage girls in the food court, which would surely be enough to get two elderly men arrested in this day and age.
Also, Socrates with Billy when he was shooting up the mall.
20th Nov 2022
Beetlejuice (1988)
Question: What did Jane say to Barbara that upset her? The only thing I could make out was, "This place" and "family."
Answer: Jane says "the house is meant for a couple with a family" and is therefore too big for them. Meaning that Adam and Barbara have no children and thus aren't a family yet. It upset her to be reminded that they don't have any children.
Adam even suggests 'trying again on vacation,' implying they'd tried to have a child before. It's why they bonded with Lydia so well; they'd been hoping to be parents.
4th Mar 2016
Beetlejuice (1988)
Question: When the Maitlands return to their home after it's been altered by the new owners, Juno tells the Maitlands that they should be thankful that they didn't die in Italy. What did she mean by that?
Answer: Italy is the center of the Roman Catholic Church, which includes exorcisms as a real-life ritual. Presumably, ghosts in Italy are at greater risk of encountering trouble in Italy because of this reason.
Answer: It's in reference / added on to her previous statement about being quiet/peaceful: Italy, presumably, has a louder, more raucous group of the living.
Answer: Italy, is a trendsetter. There would be constant art-deco changes that conflict with the Maitland's personal taste. In comparison, the Deets' are pretty tamed.
Chosen answer: When the Maitlands first meet their case worker, Juno, they tell her how miffed they are with the new family that has moved into their home. Juno glances around the peaceful house and remarks, "Things seem quiet here. You should thank God you didn't die in Italy." The case worker's name, "Juno," is a traditional Italian girl's name; and we see (when she smokes a cigarette) that Juno's throat has been slashed open from side to side, implying that she died a very violent and grisly death. Based on her personal experience (probably being murdered in Italy), Juno is commenting that the Maitlands could have died a far worse death under far more horrific circumstances, and that they really have little reason to complain.
I'm Italian: there's literally not a single female being, girl or woman, who has (had or have) this name in this country. Let alone being "traditional." "J" is not even in our original alphabet, go figure. I also think it's about us Italians being noisy and the place being quiet, that's all.
You may be Italian, but you're not informed. While the formal Italian alphabet (derived of Latin) does not have a "J" character, the letter "J' is used in modern Italian writing every day. "Juno," in your limited world, would be spelled "Diuno," who was a Roman goddess (queen of the heavens). As this pertains to Beetlejuice, she is a Roman goddess in charge of organizing.
Juno slashed her own throat. It says earlier in the movie that people who commit suicide become civil servants, which is what Juno is as their case worker. The beauty queen at the desk implies the same when she talks about what happens to people when they die. She says "if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have had my little accident" holding up her slit wrists, implying that she wouldn't have committed suicide if she knew she'd become a civil servant (as a desk girl).
It's never stated or established that Juno committed suicide.
I really think she was supposed to have had a tracheotomy due to her smoking.
29th Jul 2020
General questions
Anyone recognize this horror movie/TV show from 1990 or earlier? A surly preteen is walking down a street, when he's accosted by a strange man who says the boy is upset because it's his birthday and his parents forgot. The boy runs off, but obviously the comment hit home. He walks into an abandoned building to find a party with cake and presents all set up for him. He keeps calling for his family to come out, but instead, strange toy robots come clanking out of the darkness. When the boy opens the cake box, there's a severed human head inside which smiles and says 'hi', causing the boy to scream and run off. I was babysitting when I watched this and it was upsetting my charge so I turned it off, and I never got to see the ending, and it always bothered me.
Answer: The movie is called Spookies.
Thank you.
18th Mar 2023
Night Court (1984)
Question: In nearly every episode there are two bailiffs standing in the back of the courtroom, a blonde white guy and a black man with glasses. They also appear hanging out in the cafeteria, walking in the halls, etc. However, I don't think they ever had a single line during the entire series run, even in episodes that prominently featured the building's entire bailiff staff. Any reason they made an effort to keep these two extras for the entire run, but never had them say anything?
Answer: Most likely, they were stand-ins for members of the main cast. When lighting sets, rather than have the main actors stand around while they adjust the lights, they will get someone with similar physical characteristics to fill in. Since they are already on the set and have nothing to do during the actual shooting, it is more convenient, and probably cheaper, to also use them as extras.
Answer: Most likely it was about money. Actors who have speaking parts, even if it's only one word, are paid more than "extras", who do not have any dialogue. As the two characters played no part in any of the plots, there was no reason to have them speak lines. Therefore, they were paid less money.
So why hire an extra to play a messenger or bailiff from another courtroom when that pair was already on the set and could have easily said the lines?
What lines? Your question specified that they never spoke any lines and you wanted to know why.
Lines that other extras playing bailiffs said.
If an actor speaks any dialogue, they are billed as "co-stars" and paid at a higher rate than "extras" (also known as Background Actors), who are uncredited. The two you mentioned were regulars who were merely silent background characters used to "dress the set", making the courthouse look more realistically populated. Extras often have no acting ability and are unsuitable for speaking lines. Some people work exclusively as extras in various TV shows and movies and do not actually act or have dialogue.
26th Feb 2023
General questions
What is the name of this point and click video game I played in 1986 or 87? You follow your dog through a portal in your uncle's (?) lab and wind up in a world where everyone (including the dog) is super cool. It being the 80s, that meant they dressed like martians. I could never get very far, because after a couple of minutes of game time, the bad guy would feed you to a carnivorous zoo animal.
Answer: Some of this description sounds a lot like "Pepper's Adventures in Time" but that came out in the early 90s. Also the game didn't have any Martians in it.
If it came out in the 90s, I didn't play it in the 80s.
2nd Feb 2023
General questions
I've seen this in a few movie/TV scenes. A man wants to ask a woman out on a date, but he expects her to say no and make an excuse. One common excuse is "I'm washing my hair that night." What is the origin of this? I am a woman who was born in the late '80s, so, for as long as I can remember, girls and women have washed their hair a few times per week.
Answer: According to my research, this was a more reasonable excuse before the 1980s. Many women wanted time for their hair to dry and "set", i.e. for a perm style in the 1950s. Some preferred to have this done at a salon, so an appointment could actually prevent them from accepting a date. Also, families in rural or low-income areas might conserve water. A girl/woman would not always have the luxury of going to a salon, or washing her hair every couple of nights.
Answer: They are making a lame, flimsy excuse to avoid going out with the guy. Washing one's hair doesn't take that long and isn't something that couldn't be rescheduled. Instead of coming up with a plausible excuse, they're basically letting the guy (and the audience) know they just don't like the guy.
This doesn't explain why it has become such a common joke/excuse in movies and TV.
The line "I'm washing my hair" is a way to tell a guy she's not interested. Example. In the movie "Back To The Future", Biff asks Lorraine out to the school dance and she says she's busy washing her hair. This is because she doesn't want to go out with him. Using this line in other TV shows and movies has become something of a trope.
Answer: Before the invention of shampoo conditioner, women would use lye soap. It would take literally a day for a complete washing, cleaning and grooming of hair.
Hardly something that happened after the advent of TV.
24th Jan 2023
Nine to Five (1980)
Question: If Violet knew that Roz was eavesdropping on some of the employees in the restroom, shouldn't she just confront her about it or let everyone aware that Roz was eavesdropping them and blab it on Hart?
Answer: She does let people know, at least she warned Judy. But Roz is cagey (remember how she pulled her feet up so it looked like her stall was empty). As for confronting her, Roz was her supervisor and the boss' pet. If she told Hart that Violet was harassing her, it would go poorly for Violet.
23rd Jan 2023
General questions
Looking for a cabinet game I played in an arcade in the early 1990s. It was a first person shooter, where you used a plastic gun to shoot the screen. The premise is you are in a city that's been taken over by ghosts and demons and you fight possessed items rather than monsters. The final boss on the first level is a movie poster where a actor and actress' face jump out of the poster and attack you. The second level is a restaurant where you fight flying plates and coats.
Answer: Maybe "Laser Ghost" (1990)?
That's it! Thanks.
3rd Feb 2016
Night Court (1984)
Nobody Says Rat Fink Anymore - S8-E10
Question: Harry recognizes one of the defendants who used to bully him when they were both children. Harry says that he can't participate in the case because of this, and also because that would make it a conflict of interest. Wouldn't any cases where his father was brought before him also be considered a conflict of interest, and why would Harry be allowed to preside over his father's cases?
Answer: Harry's father only came to his court as a defendant once (about trying to start a mutiny on the ferry). Harry said he was going to recuse himself when Christine said the Dept. Of Transportation had already dropped the charges, so it was a moot point.
Answer: Harry recuses himself from the case because of his own conflict of interest, however, his father is usually brought in for simple public disturbances and with his mental health record, gets remanded to a mental facility for examination. In cases like those, the judge's task is little more than signing a form, so there's not really a question of impartiality to be considered.
9th Jul 2021
Night Court (1984)
Harry's Fifteen Minutes - S8-E22
Question: How was Harry able to fake being sick? When his temperature was taken, the thermometer read one hundred and three. Even his sneezing and weak voice sounded real.
Answer: He swapped his thermometer with one hidden in his sofa, which he'd rigged somehow. And he faked his sneezing and weak voice the same way actor Harry Anderson did: acting.
1st Jan 2023
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Question: When George is in the alternate reality, what happened to Martini? Although an explanation is given for the other characters, there is no explanation for what became of him.
Answer: In a deleted or unfilmed scene, George finds the grave of Martini and his family who died in a house fire in their Potterville slum.
Answer: It's not mentioned in the film, but based on the storyline of the film, George most likely helped out Martini with money at some point to help him start a business (his bar). Without George being born (the alternate world), Martini most likely didn't have the funds now to start the business so Nick bought the bar instead and Martini either was unemployed or did something else with whatever money he had on his own.
1st Jan 2023
Better Off Dead (1985)
Question: Why did the paperboy keep saying "two dollars" every time he showed up?
Answer: The family owed him two dollars for their newspaper subscription. He's obsessed with collecting it and the family, for some reason, won't just pay him.
Answer: He wants payment for delivering the newspaper to their house. Paper carriers not only deliver the daily paper, but also collect the monthly fee. Every time he shows up asking for the two dollars, he is blown off.
Thanks. I never got a chance to see the whole movie so that always confused me.
15th Dec 2022
Seinfeld (1990)
Question: When Elaine pointed out that her gift for Sue Ellen was a bra, not a top, Sue Ellen said she knew that. So why was she wearing it as a top anyway - and not wearing bras underneath her clothes before?
Answer: She's a woman utterly unashamed of her body, not afraid to go braless or to wear a bra in lieu of a top.
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Chosen answer: Yes, you are correct, as stated, In one episode Blanche said he had been in a coma for days, in the episode where she's in her dream, she said "The day you died ... The police told me you had been in an accident." Thus the original answers theory is wrong. If he had been in the accident the day he died he could not have been in a coma for days.
Valentine
Yeah, in another episode she relates how a thoughtless state trooper phoned her and told her that her husband was dead with his mouth full.
Brian Katcher