And The Winner Is…

The winner is Mr. S. C., in a most-impressive performance, followed quite closely by Miss J. L., who was going quite strong until the final extra credit question.  Here are the answers that I was looking for:

1. The decade that I was thinking of was the 1970’s.  Both JL and SC chose the 1960’s, which isn’t quite correct for reasons I will get to in a moment.
2.  The three TV shows that t I hinted at were chosen correctly by both SC and JL:  Mr French was the distinguished butler for the show, ‘Family Affair’, which ran from 1966-1971 (if he was in a show now, he would likely be seen as a creepy guy lurking in the closet).  The photo shown is the only known picture that shows him doing something to Mrs. Beasley;  the charges didn’t stick, though, and Mrs. Beasley died a spinster without proving her charges against him;  the light-hearted singing of ‘Que sera, sera’, or ‘what happens, happens’, is from 1968-1973 (boy guys, they don’t make gals like THAT anymore!);  and finally, the third TV show comes from the reference to throwing a hat in the air– just like… Mary Tyler Moore!  SC was the closest with Marlo Thomas and ‘That Girl’, but there are no points awared for being close!  I was in love with ‘that girl’, by the way… which must be related to all of the problems I have had in life in some way.  The MTM Show ran from

1970-1977– which is why I cannot accept the decade of the 1960’s as accurate in question one.  Sorry.
3.  Good job to both SC and JL– the virus did indeed come from ‘space’.  Funny how as a society we no longer see ‘space’ as being scary.  It still seems plenty dangerous to me.
4.  Al Gore has done some impressive things, but he didn’t invent the sippy cup OR the internet.  Good job.
5.  I am VERY impressed that JL read my mind to come up with this answer– The Ice Storm, a movie that I watched at a theater in New Orleans a number of years ago a few blocks from the mall/hilton hotel/river landing where I was staying for some meeting at the convention center.  I wonder if the theater is still there?  Anyone?  It was in an upscale mall filled with jewelry stores and toy stores for rich kids.  The movie was dark, creepy… and yes, a little kid is electrocuted and killed while the parents are swapping partners at a ‘key party’.  And no offense, SC, for calling  my mother a pathetic coke addict… (I’m JOKING!).
6.  THIS is where SC pulled ahead and never looked back.  The ‘must have’ feature was indeed shag

carpeting.  leading to question number 7– I can’t believe that SC got this!  The carpet rake!!  Yes, my mother used to tell me to ‘go and rake the carpet, we have company coming over’.  You just don’t hear that phrase anymore!
I will be sending both of you the tapes for being such good sports and humoring a silly old man!  Thank you both for playing along!
SD