You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: Will the second season of “Dark Winds” be shown, and on which network?
A: The new season will air Sundays on AMC beginning July 30, with early telecasts the preceding Thursday on AMC+. According to the networks, “Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) reunites with Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), his former deputy turned private eye, when their separate cases bring them together in pursuit of the same suspect. They find themselves in the high desert of Navajo Country chasing a killer who’s turned his sights on them to protect a secret that rips open old wounds and challenges Leaphorn’s moral and professional code.”
Q: I recall many years ago that there were codes in the TV listings for each program and that number was entered when you wanted to tape — thereby when the code was broadcast, the program taping started. It was almost fail-safe, as I recall. Do you think anything like that could ever be reinstated? It sure would simplify trying to predict when the football game would be finished (or whatever the delay was).
A: Your best bet is to simply add recording time to the programs you watch that are at risk from a live event’s overrun. But you’ve also had me thinking back to what was known as VCR+.
VCR Plus (or VCR+) was a system using a set of numbers to instruct your VCR to record a specific program. In earlier TV-watching days, I had VCR+ and it was not ideal. For one thing, its codes were based on a program’s original time, so like a DVR it did not factor in shows running longer than scheduled or coming on later than planned. And it could be cumbersome to set up and use.
In any case, as audiences shifted from VCRs to DVRs, VCRs became rarer, and publications’ interest in paying to include the codes declined.
I was surprised to learn that VCRs were made as late as 2016, adding to our tech memories good and bad. When the Washington Post reported on the end of VCR production, it wryly noted: “The life of the VCR, like all things, was one of complication and mystery. Why, for example, was the machine hellbent on eating every favorite VHS cassette? How did your cat manage to unspool 1,000 feet of tape from that black plastic box? And what do you mean you accidentally taped over our wedding video?”
Q: I just saw a rerun of “Cheers” where they were celebrating an anniversary of the business, and they invited the mayor of Boston to speak. The mayor sure looked like a young Mike Pence. When I Googled our former vice president, I found out he had gone to college with Woody Harrelson. Was it Mike Pence in that episode?
A: No. It was the actual mayor of Boston at the time, Raymond J. Flynn. But yes, Harrelson and Pence knew each other when students at Hanover College in Indiana.
Q: My friends and I enjoyed the first season of “The Gilded Age” on HBO and would like to know where we can watch the next episodes. The story of the families, the costumes and the actors were outstanding.
A: The drama will be back for a second season on HBO, although I’ve seen no air date beyond later this year. You can catch up on the first season on Max (formerly HBO Max).
Tribune News Service
