# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/81 "2013-06-04T21:51:38Z")
Susan Saint James was pregnant in the first season of McMillan and Wife… then when the second season starts she’s not, and there’s no baby. Then in the fourth season she’s pregnant again. Fifth season comes along, there’s a reference to her baby boy, but we never see him. Finally mother and child die in a plane crash and so that’s that. McMillan (Rock Hudson) cheerfully goes back to chasing women. ---
**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 4, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/82 "2013-06-04T23:55:38Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > What about “Why was Amy Pond’s house bigger on the inside?” Bit annoyed they never really mentioned that on Doctor Who Wasn’t this because of Prisoner Zero’s hidden room? ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/83 "2013-06-05T03:56:59Z")
Was the Florida Evans of “Maude” the Florida Evans of “Good Times”? Same character name with the same actress playing her, but one’s set in suburban NY and the other in Chicago. And the Florida Evans of “Good Times” never mentions living in NYC or working as a maid (her job on “Maude”). ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/84 "2013-06-05T12:13:05Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > I spent the next 40 episodes waiting…just knowing the Russian “interior decorator” was going to come back for Paulie. Story lines were so subtle and lengthy in the Sopranos that surely that day had to come. I think maybe that was the point: To keep the viewer on edge wondering when the Russian would return, just like Tony. > [@installLSC](#): > > Was the Florida Evans of “Maude” the Florida Evans of “Good Times”? Same character name with the same actress playing her, but one’s set in suburban NY and the other in Chicago. And the Florida Evans of “Good Times” never mentions living in NYC or working as a maid (her job on “Maude”). And wasn’t James a fireman on Maude? My guess: Florida and James were actually grifters who had to skip town and went on the lam in the Chicago projects. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/85 "2013-06-05T12:15:13Z")
> [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#): > > My guess: Florida and James were actually grifters who had to skip town and went on the lam in the Chicago projects. “Lam! LAM! **LAM!** ” ---
**Author:** ![BeeDubU2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BeeDubU2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeDubU2)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/86 "2013-06-05T13:06:33Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Is Frank really Charlie’s father? > > What is the Waitress’ name? All we know is that it doesn’t start with W. I think Frank is indeed, Charlie’s dad. And in the terrible high school reunion ep, Frank swiped a name tag, then The Waitress said hers wasn’t on the table when she went to collect it. Frank’s tag read **Nikki Potnick**. I’ve assumed that was her name. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/87 "2013-06-05T13:23:20Z")
> [@BeeDubU2](#): > > I think Frank is indeed, Charlie’s dad. > > And in the terrible high school reunion ep, Frank swiped a name tag, then The Waitress said hers wasn’t on the table when she went to collect it. Frank’s tag read **Nikki Potnick**. I’ve assumed that was her name. Actually, way back in Season 1, the gang told a story that they crashed Nicky Potnick’s car into a tree while they were driving drunk in high school. The Waitress was already a character by then, so there’s no reason to believe she’s the same person. Plus, the writers have confirmed that’s not her name. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/88 "2013-06-05T14:15:03Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Wasn’t this because of Prisoner Zero’s hidden room? Whenever you see the house from outside, its a two storey building, but Prisoner Zero’s room was on the first floor and there is another flight of stairs going upwards, so there was at least a whole extra floor. I always assumed the house was a bit tardis-y ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/89 "2013-06-05T14:44:28Z")
The backstory of Shepherd Book (the preacher who knows his way around weaponry and tactics and has Top Security Ident clearance) on _Firefly_, and what exactly was done to River Tam. ---
**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 5, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/90 "2013-06-05T14:54:35Z")
Shepherd Book’s story was told in comic form. Really big spoiler follows. He was a deep, deep, _deep_ mole for the Browncoats, planted years before the war. He rose in the ranks of the Alliance until he could manipulate an entire Alliance task force into a trap. At that point he was kicked off his ship in a lifepod and abandoned to his fate. He ended up at a monastery. The comic shows the entire sordid story in nesting flashback form. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/91 "2013-06-05T15:09:23Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Glenn Matthews > > This was confirmed by Bill Lawrence. Really? Odd. In the episode with that reveal, it was strongly implied that he was lying again, because as soon as JD walks away, someone else calls the Janitor by an entirely different name. Eh, what doe Bill Lawrence know, anyway? Janitor probably lied to him too. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/92 "2013-06-05T15:14:42Z")
> [@bup](#): > > How could Mr. Ed talk? > > He advised Wilbur not to wonder, as it was “bigger than both of [them].” > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > 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. It seems to work if you assume Wilbur is mentally ill. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/93 "2013-06-05T15:19:59Z")
A few more Battlestar Galactica questions that occur to me; - Was the Olympic Carrier really a Cylon suicide attack? - What was the agreement Baltar and Gaeta signed “with a very special pen”? - What were the Lords of Kobol - aliens, angels like Head-Six and Head-Baltar, ordinary humans, fictional characters, something else entirely? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/94 "2013-06-05T15:21:22Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Shepherd Book’s story was told in comic form. Any idea if that’s canon (i.e. Whedon sanctioned)? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/95 "2013-06-05T15:27:45Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Really? Odd. In the episode with that reveal, it was strongly implied that he was lying again, because as soon as JD walks away, someone else calls the Janitor by an entirely different name. > > Eh, what doe Bill Lawrence know, anyway? Janitor probably lied to him too. Well, it is one of the show’s mysteries, but that new person could have been calling Jan Itor by one of his many assumed names. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/96 "2013-06-05T15:29:16Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > A few more Battlestar Galactica questions that occur to me; > > - Was the Olympic Carrier really a Cylon suicide attack? “The Plan” answered that question unequivocally. However, the entire movie was so unremarkable, I don’t remember what the answer was. ---
**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 5, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/97 "2013-06-05T15:30:32Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Any idea if that’s canon (i.e. Whedon sanctioned)? Yes it was. Sanctioned and written by Whedon, in fact. Whedons, actually. ---
**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 5, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/98 "2013-06-05T15:41:21Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Shepherd Book’s story was told in comic form. When I saw Ron Glass at Dragon\*Con shortly before the comic came out, I desperately wanted to ask him if Book’s back story involved a [“blood on the badge”](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0036656/?ref_=fn_ch_ch_1)-type situation. By the time I worked up the nerve, the line was too long. ---
**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 5, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/99 "2013-06-05T22:00:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > A few more Battlestar Galactica questions that occur to me; > > - Was the Olympic Carrier really a Cylon suicide attack? > > - What was the agreement Baltar and Gaeta signed “with a very special pen”? > > - What were the Lords of Kobol - aliens, angels like Head-Six and Head-Baltar, ordinary humans, fictional characters, something else entirely? From the wiki 1. It looks like it wasn’t a suicide bomb as much as it was shredding of evidence. “A copy of Number Six using the name Shelly Godfrey claimed to been a former passenger of Olympic Carrier. She was Amorak’s assistant and lover, and was supposedly instructed by him to take video evidence incriminating Dr. Baltar off the ship for safe-keeping. It’s possible that she played some role in the Cylon takeover of this vessel (Six Degrees of Separation). However, She is seen on board a ship resembling the Pyxis in orbit of Canceron during the attacks (The Plan).” 1. The pen is the one Gaeta stabbed him with when Baltar accuses him of having resistance members killed, which Gaeta was inadvertently responsible for but not aware of until much later. At the time of the stabbing he takes it as an insulting false accusation, or perhaps he is secretly worried it could be true. The pen is also a reference to the lists Gaeta made during the resistance that unknowingly got people killed. “Around the same time, Gaeta is seduced by a Number Eight. Believing that he can trust her, he gives her lists with names of human prisoners. The Eight promises to do what she can to save them, but only has a few token humans freed and the rest executed for being valuable to the humans. Gaeta only learns of her betrayal much later (The Face of the Enemy).” You may have missed this because it was revealed in the webisodes. “Baltar is aware of Gaeta’s relationship with the Eight on New Caprica. During an interrogation, he whispers to Gaeta, “I know what your Eight did”. Baltar’s knowledge leads Gaeta to try to kill him by stabbing him in the neck. However, he is stopped and knocked out by Admiral Adama (“Taking a Break from All Your Worries”, The Face of the Enemy) [2].” 1. Its not really clear in the series. For the most part they are treated like worshipped Greek gods who don’t generally interact directly, the same as they are during the events of the series. Although, there is one reference to Athena committing suicide because of the exodus, which implies direct observation, but might be metaphorical. In the Final Five comic book, Head Six says the Lords are like her and Starbuck, so basically angels. ---
**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 5, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996/100 "2013-06-05T22:05:12Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Gaeta is seduced by a Number Eight. Pffft. Who wasn’t? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tv-mysteries-never-solved/659996.md?page=6)