McGavin's best: 'Christmas Story'

Q: I have been watching the series "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" with Darren McGavin. Can you tell me about some of his other roles?

A: McGavin, who played Carl Kolchak in the TV movies "The Night Stalker" and "The Night Strangler" as well as the "Kolchak" series in 1974-75, died in 2006 at age 83. His most beloved performance might be as the father in the holiday classic "A Christmas Story." Other movies included "The Man With the Golden Arm" and "The Natural."

His TV credits include roles in "Crime Photographer" (1951-52), "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" (1957-58), "Riverboat" (1959-61) and "The Outsider" (1968-69). McGavin was nominated for an Emmy as guest actor in a comedy for playing Murphy's dad on "Murphy Brown."

Q: I enjoyed "The Good Wife," and saw the first (and only?) episode of the spinoff, "The Good Fight." Did this become a series?

A: "The Good Fight" was designed for CBS All Access, a streaming and video-on-demand service available by subscription via cbs.com. The first episode was shown on the broadcast network; nine more are on All Access. A second season has also been ordered.

CBS is going to entice more viewers to All Access this fall when it launches "Star Trek: Discovery" on broadcast before offering additional episodes on the subscription service. The CBS network premiere on Sept. 24 will be followed by a second episode that same evening on All Access; the 15-episode season will continue with Sunday night episodes through Nov. 5, then a break before resuming in January 2018.

Q: Will "Major Crimes" on TNT be back?

Q: I am a big fan of Natalie Wood, and watch all her old movies. Why hasn't "Marjorie Morningstar" ever been on TV? It is one of her best.

A: Based on the novel of the same name by Herman Wouk, the film has been on television; I have seen people online discussing how they discovered the movie that way. There was a new DVD and Blu-ray release of "Marjorie Morningstar" not long ago.

Q: Please tell me when "Inspector Morse" started and ended. In the show, Morse died. When did John Thaw, who played Morse, die in real life? How old was he?

A: Thirty-three telecasts of "Inspector Morse" aired between 1987 and 2000. That's not counting the prequel "Endeavour," with Shaun Evans as a young Morse, which has been going since 2012, or the spinoff "Inspector Lewis" (2006-15). John Thaw was 60 when he died of throat cancer in 2002. Morse had also died in the series of novels by Colin Dexter that inspired the series.