Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
1) This week's song is the theme from Kate and Allie, a sitcom that ran from 1984 to 1989. Were you a fan? Yes. Loved it.
2) The show was about two divorced women who live and raise their children together. Were you ever a single parent? Were you raised by a single parent? Nope. My parents made one another miserable, but they stayed married until death they did part. I think I might have had a better attitude toward marriage if they'd split, and then I wouldn't have witnessed so much passive aggression and tension.
3) Allie is proud that she can make a perfect cup of coffee: "Just the essence of the bean. No acidity." Kate is proud that she can belch the alphabet. What are you proud of? I remember stuff. I remember stuff no one else remembers (or cares about). For example, every strand of hair has three layers: cuticle, medulla and cortex ... In July 1957, 15-year-old Paul McCartney rode his bike to a church picnic in Woolton, Liverpool and met John Lennon ... Three DiMaggio brothers played pro baseball (Vince, Joe and Dom) ... Onions are highly toxic to cats ... The first book JFK ever read on his own as a very little boy was called Billy Whiskers ... If only I could remember to set my alarm clock before I go to bed at night.
4) Kate and Allie share half of a duplex in Greenwich Village. Many episodes had them doing laundry in the basement. Where are your washer and dryer? I share two washers and two dryers with the other building residents, and those coin-operated machines are in our first floor laundry room.
5) Kate was played by Susan St. James. She was familiar to viewers as the "wife" in McMillan and Wife. Without looking it up, do you know who played McMillan? Rock Hudson. I've been watching the reruns on Cozi TV and he's the same on the small screen as he was in the movies: blah in the action sequences but quite charming in the he/she scenes with wife Sally (Susan St. James). I think he was unfortunately misused by Hollywood. Because he was (very) tall, dark and handsome, he was typecast as the hero type when really, he should have been doing more of the Grant thing (you know, like Hugh or Cary).
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| "Mac" was more than a head taller than his TV wife |
6) Allie was played by Jane Curtin. She was one of three women in the original Saturday Night Live cast. Without looking it up, can you name the other two? Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner.
I'm old enough to remember that, at one time, Chevy Chase was considered hot.
7) On the set, Jane Curtin ran a poker game for the cast and crew. Do you think winning at poker takes more luck or skill? Skill. Or, rather, vigilance and patience. (Two things I lack.)
8) The Kate & Allie theme was cowritten and sung by John Lefler. Years later, Mr. Lefler wrote the theme for the Pokemon show. Is anyone in your life into Pokemon? My nephew was for a very long time. Years.
9) Random question: What's the last thing you whispered? "What?" I didn't understand what my coworker was whispering to me.
