Q: What can you tell me about Jon Batiste, the bandleader on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert"?
A: Part of a renowned Louisiana musical family, 31-year-old Batiste is a Juilliard-educated pianist, composer and bandleader (with the group Stay Human). According to CBS, he has played with Stevie Wonder and Lenny Kravitz, among others, and "paid homage to his unique musical philosophy with his debut album, 'Social Music.' " Batiste also has a Christmas album, and appeared as himself in "Treme," HBO's acclaimed series about New Orleans, and acted in Spike Lee's film "Red Hook Summer." And he has been active with the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, where he is co-artistic director.
Nielsen tracks your DVR
Q: I've always wondered whether, when you DVR a show, it is actually counted as being watched live in the networks rating system. Or aren't they able to detect that?
A: They are. As the ways we watch television expand and change, the people making television have sought new ways to figure out who is watching. Ratings service the Nielsen Co. says in homes with its meters it tracks "the watching of recorded programming up to seven days after an original broadcast." As if ratings weren't tricky enough to follow before, you can now find reports focusing not only on live-same-day audiences but live-plus-seven-days or live-plus-three days. Nielsen has also been studying other ways people watch TV, inside and outside the home, on an array of devices, as part of its plan "to measure viewing everywhere that viewers enjoy content."
Freeform loses 'Harry Potter'
Q: I was wondering why the Freeform channel doesn't show the "Harry Potter" films anymore. They used to have a "Harry Potter" weekend at least once a month.
A: Freeform no longer has the rights to those movies. Later this year NBC will reportedly begin offering the movies on its channels, including Syfy and USA. HBO is now making them available across its platforms, including HBO on Demand and its HBO Go app.
'Rookie Blue' long gone
Q: Please tell me if "Rookie Blue" will ever come up with a new season.
A: That series ended in 2015. You can find its star, Missy Peregrym, on CBS this fall in the new drama "FBI."
Missing scene? Humbug!
Q: I remember seeing and enjoying "Scrooge," the musical version of "A Christmas Carol" in 1970. I bought the album and memorized the songs. I especially remember the scene where Scrooge gets taken into hell. However, when watching the film many, many times since then, the scene is gone. What happened to it, why, and is there anywhere I could find a version to purchase that includes the hell scene? I feel cheated!
A: There was indeed such a scene, which according to online fans was cut from network broadcasts. I do not know exactly why, except that programmers may have wanted to trim some time out of the film to make room for more commercials, and that scene was not essential to the story. That said, the scene is available in some presentations of the film, including the 2003 DVD release and a streaming version on Amazon.
E-mail brenfels@gmail.com.
