# Great TV Mysteries... Never solved **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996 "2013-06-03T02:51:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/21 "2013-06-03T18:17:21Z")
Another Battlestar question: what took that chunk out of Caprica’s moon? (Visible IIRC for about 5 seconds at the beginning of the miniseries and then never mentioned again. Still drives me nuts. I kept hoping _Caprica_ would address it, but … oh well.) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/22 "2013-06-03T18:27:43Z")
Seeing _HIMYM_ referenced makes me believe that extant shows are fair game, so here goes: On _The Big Bang Theory_, what is Penny’s last name? Also, on _Malcolm in the Middle_, what is Malcolm’s last name? On the REAL _Battlestar Galactica_ (with toaster Cylons), the Cylons’ ultimate goal (as I understood it) was the extermination of ALL organic lifeforms in the universe. What made Baltar think they planned to make an exception for him? More importantly\* than why Mr. Ed could talk, why was Wilbur Post so easily manipulated into doing whatever Ed asked of him? \*more puzzling, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/23 "2013-06-03T19:11:17Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > from _Battlestar Galactica:_ > > Where did Starbuck’s shiny new viper come from? “God did it.” > [@](#): > > How did someone write a Bob Dylan tune 70,000 years early on the other side of the galaxy? Dylan didn’t write that song, he channeled the music of the universe and some mystical link to the past by giving us a modern incarnation. Or “God did it.” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/24 "2013-06-03T19:41:13Z")
What happened to the Russian guy was, he went up a tree and stayed there until Paulie and Christopher left. Done. The camera angle made that pretty clear. Now if you’re asking, why was there never any fallout from P&C not whacking him like they were supposed to, I don’t think that was the purpose of the episode. The focus was on P&C not getting along, not knowing what to do in an unfamiliar environment, and having to admit to Tony that they failed. **Mad Men** has another non-mystery that grinds my gears to hear people ask about it. "When is the other shoe going to drop with Peggy’s baby?" And the answer is, it has dropped. Granted, Weiner spent a lot of time misdirecting the audience, but we got an answer in the season 2 finale. She put him up for adoption. A **closed** adoption. Which means he is not going to “turn up” like some people anticipate. Besides the fact that he’ll only be 8 years old when the series ends, a closed adoption means he’ll **never** know who his birth mother is. He is not going to go looking for Peggy, and that’s assuming he even knows he’s adopted. Closed adoption also means Peggy wouldn’t be able to find him if she wanted to. So it’s done. No other shoe. When people ask that, I like to say “He’ll turn up the same time the Russian guy from the Sopranos does.” ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/25 "2013-06-03T19:41:16Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > “God did it.” > > Dylan didn’t write that song, he channeled the music of the universe and some mystical link to the past by giving us a modern incarnation. > > Or “God did it.” That crazy God, always doing inexplicable things! From Game of Thrones: Where the hell is Nymeria? And what’s the deal with the wacky seasons? How does that work, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/26 "2013-06-03T19:49:46Z")
Cheers series finale: Who were that last phone call, which Sam didn’t pick up, and that last patron, whom Sam turned away, saying that the bar is closed? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/27 "2013-06-03T20:05:04Z")
In Lost, who was in the outrigger canoe firing at Sawyer? It was during the season when they were jumping through time so it was probably someone from the future but they never revealed who or what. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/28 "2013-06-03T20:14:54Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > That crazy God, always doing inexplicable things! > > From Game of Thrones: Where the hell is Nymeria? And what’s the deal with the wacky seasons? How does that work, exactly? Their planet must spin in an odd way. Either that or a wizard did it. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/29 "2013-06-03T20:32:19Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Cheers series finale: Who were that last phone call, which Sam didn’t pick up, and that last patron, whom Sam turned away, saying that the bar is closed? I don’t know about the phone call, but, IIRC, the last patron was played by one of the show’s producers. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Also, on _Malcolm in the Middle_, what is Malcolm’s last name? Didn’t you watch the finale? It’s **FEEDBACK SQUEAL**. Actually, two different names have been used. In the pilot, Malcom’s father has a name badge with the last name “Wilkerson” (there was a bit of dialogue that was cut, along the lines of: “What’s your last name?” (Malcom) “Wilkerson.” “Oh. Then, who are the Pariahs?”) However, in the finale, Frances’s work badge has the last name of, wait for it, “Nolastname”. > [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#): > > What happened with Susie’s pregnancy that was a minor story arc in season three of _Curb Your Enthusiasm_? Probably the same thing that happened to Betty Jo’s second pregnancy announced in the next-to-last season finale of _Petticoat Junction_. > [@Oakminster](#): > > From _Happy Days_: > > What happened to Chuck Cunningham? The same thing that happened to the youngest daughter on _Family Matters_. Here are some more: _The Partridge Family_ - how did Chris go from brunette to blonde without anybody noticing? _King of the Hill_ - while “nobody ages” applies to pretty much every cartoon series, this is different; how did Luanne age from 18 to 21 while Bobby (and Connie, so don’t say “Bobby kept being left back in school”) never get any older? _Fame_ - why didn’t Danny (the comedian) graduate with the rest of his class? He was there for five years. ---
**Author:** ![lew\_cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@lew\_cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lew_cody)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/30 "2013-06-03T20:41:16Z")
Chuck Cunningham is the most famous example of a character just disappearing, but there’s one that I find more disturbing: Judy Winslow on Family Matters. It’s one thing for an adult offspring (like Chuck) to disappear and have little contact with his family, but Judy was a minor–presumably she couldn’t live on her own, and the Winslows had no reason to surrender her for adoption. So what are we supposed to believe happened to her? The backstory of the title character on Ghostwriter. Apparently, funding for the series was cut before the writers were able to delve really deeply into it. [Edit: Judy Winslow was mentioned just as I was posting this.] ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/31 "2013-06-03T21:22:31Z")
The whole John Doe plot. The whole Pretender plot. And so forth. In other words I am now not watching any new “mystery shows” until the producers have shown that the BIG FINAL dénouement is sealed in a mayonnaise jar left on Funk & Wagnall’s porch. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/32 "2013-06-03T21:42:05Z")
**Star Trek: The Next Generation** - the s.1 bug-like things that crawled into people’s mouths and then mind-controlled them. After killing off the small infestation that infiltrated Starfleet, it’s said at the end of the episode that they were sending a homing beacon signal out to some distant point in the Delta Quadrant. Everyone looks gravely and somber and there’s the “Dun-Dun-DAH!!!” incidental music to indicate that _more will be coming!_ But none of them ever came to my knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/33 "2013-06-03T21:48:35Z")
Lost: Why was the song “La Mer” (“Beyond the Sea”) significant? It was a big Oh Wow mystery in Season 2. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/34 "2013-06-03T22:32:28Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Lost: Why was the song “La Mer” (“Beyond the Sea”) significant? It was a big Oh Wow mystery in Season 2. Was it? I don’t remember it being anything other than the writings of Rousseau as she slowly went insane. Sayid thought it was important, and then Shannon revealed it was just a song. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/35 "2013-06-03T22:36:27Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Was it? I don’t remember it being anything other than the writings of Rousseau as she slowly went insane. Sayid thought it was important, and then Shannon revealed it was just a song. I recall (and my memory is admittedly getting hazy on things related to Lost) that at the time, the song came up in unexpected, unrelated multiple contexts. Weird coincidence, unexplained mystery stuff, like The Numbers. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/36 "2013-06-03T22:52:31Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > From Game of Thrones: Where the hell is Nymeria? GoT spoilers: A couple of characters make references later to a giant she-wolf leading a pack of wolves and attacking primarily Lannisters. I think we’re supposed to assume that is Nymeria, and if Arya ever makes it back to Westeros, they may reunite. What is the Janitor’s real name? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/37 "2013-06-03T23:04:34Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > What is the Janitor’s real name? Glenn Matthews This was confirmed by Bill Lawrence. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/38 "2013-06-03T23:19:01Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > from \*Battlestar Galactica: > \* > Where did Starbuck’s shiny new viper come from? > > How did someone write a Bob Dylan tune 70,000 years early on the other side of the galaxy? 😕 How can the answer be anything other than “Heaven” and “through the intervention of Athena (or, as the vulgar call her, God”)", respectively? I understand why you don’t LIKE the resolution of the series – I don’t either – but the whole set of mysteries is pretty nakedly divine design/intervention. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/39 "2013-06-03T23:27:10Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > On HIMYM: What was the deal with the pineapple! We don’t know. But in the Russian version, Ted is seen naked on stage holding the pineapple to hide his privates. > [@Oakminster](#): > > from \*Battlestar Galactica: > \* > Where did Starbuck’s shiny new viper come from? > > How did someone write a Bob Dylan tune 70,000 years early on the other side of the galaxy? She was an angel, it came from heaven. A major theme of the series is that similar things keep happening, history repeats themes and forms. It’s just the nature of reality in the series. Same reason they speak English, have Greek gods, similar vehicles, etc. > [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > What about the goat? Did they ever finish that story? I thought I’ve kept up with the series for the last 4-5 years and don’t remember what happened. Lily saved it from a butcher. It attacked Ted on his birthday. > **[Missy](https://how-i-met-your-mother.fandom.com/wiki/Missy)** > > Missy is a goat which Lily rescues from a butcher and who Ted has a fight with. In Milk, as Ted celebrates his 28th birthday, Lily points out it's only 2 more years to "the big one, 3-0". Future Ted comments, "Actually my 30th birthday wasn't so bad.... > [@bup](#): > > How could Mr. Ed talk? Peanut butter > [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Another Battlestar question: what took that chunk out of Caprica’s moon? (Visible IIRC for about 5 seconds at the beginning of the miniseries and then never mentioned again. Still drives me nuts. I kept hoping _Caprica_ would address it, but … oh well.) No one else seems to have noticed. Maybe it was just a shadow. The moon is probably Gemenon. > **[Caprica (RDM)](https://en.battlestarwiki.org/Caprica_(RDM))** > > Caprica (ancient name Capricorn) is a planet in the star system Cyrannus and one of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Its capital is Caprica City. > After the unification, Caprica becomes the governmental seat of the Twelve Colonies. Both before and... > [@Quimby](#): > > In Lost, who was in the outrigger canoe firing at Sawyer? It was during the season when they were jumping through time so it was probably someone from the future but they never revealed who or what. The people the writers originally intended it to be, they had mostly killed off by the time they got back to addressing so they dropped the matter, but they decided to change it to a shore boat from The Black Rock for a DVD Easter egg. > **[Outrigger chase](https://lostpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Outrigger_chase)** > > The outrigger chase was a shootout between two groups, one of those made up of the survivors and the freighter team. A time flash cut the battle short, and neither group learned the others' identity. ("The Little Prince") After a time shift, Sawyer's... > [@Don\_Draper](#): > > **Star Trek: The Next Generation** - the s.1 bug-like things that crawled into people’s mouths and then mind-controlled them. After killing off the small infestation that infiltrated Starfleet, it’s said at the end of the episode that they were sending a homing beacon signal out to some distant point in the Delta Quadrant. Everyone looks gravely and somber and there’s the “Dun-Dun-DAH!!!” incidental music to indicate that _more will be coming!_ But none of them ever came to my knowledge. Never addressed on the show, but in the novels they turn out to be an offshoot of the Trill. > **[Conspiracy (episode)](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Conspiracy_(episode))** > > After Captain Picard receives a dark warning from an old friend, the Enterprise-D returns to Earth to stop an alien invasion from taking over Starfleet Command. The USS Enterprise-D is en route for the planet Pacifica for a scientific mission.... > [@jsc1953](#): > > Lost: Why was the song “La Mer” (“Beyond the Sea”) significant? It was a big Oh Wow mystery in Season 2. It was just a clue that there was a French woman involved. > **[La Mer](https://lostpedia.fandom.com/wiki/La_Mer)** > > Danielle Rousseau included the lyrics to "La Mer", a song written by French lyricist Charles Trenet (1913–2001), in her notes on the Island. Since it is a popular French song that was first recorded in the 1940s, Danielle Rousseau was probably... ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/40 "2013-06-03T23:28:10Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > **Star Trek: The Next Generation** - the s.1 bug-like things that crawled into people’s mouths and then mind-controlled them. After killing off the small infestation that infiltrated Starfleet, it’s said at the end of the episode that they were sending a homing beacon signal out to some distant point in the Delta Quadrant. Everyone looks gravely and somber and there’s the “Dun-Dun-DAH!!!” incidental music to indicate that _more will be coming!_ But none of them ever came to my knowledge. That was originally supposed to be foreshadowing for the Borg, who were originally intended to be insectile. But they found they couldn’t make non-stupid-looking insectile baddies, so they went with the cyborg Borg we all know, and the mysterious signal just ended up as an unresolved plot point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996.md?page=3)