Q: My wife and I recently started watching "The West Wing" on Netflix and we had over 100 episodes to go when Netflix said the show was leaving on Christmas Day. Any idea if the show will be available on another streaming service — possibly HBO Max, since they did a "West Wing" reunion recently?

A: One of the more challenging aspects of the explosion of streaming services is tracking the movement of shows from one to another. But you guessed correctly in this case: "The West Wing" is now on HBO Max.

Chicago's finest

Q: Is the 21st Precinct building in "Chicago P.D." the same building shown in the credits of "Hill Street Blues"?

A: Yes. That is the exterior of the famous Maxwell Street Station in Chicago, now in the National Register of Historic Places. According to one history, the fortresslike structure was designed in 1888 in what was called "the wickedest police district in the world." It is currently home to the University of Illinois at Chicago's police department.

A real dog of a film

Q: In a Dick Powell movie, from what I recall, his character died and returned to Earth as a German shepherd to find his killer. Does that story line ring a bell, and do you know the name of the movie?

A: It did ring a bell, although not quite the one you heard. The movie is "You Never Can Tell," with Dick Powell, from 1951.

Universal Pictures, Star Tribune
Dick Powell, Peggy Dow and “King” in a publicity shot for “You Never Can Tell.”

According to the Turner Classic Movies website, the plot — and I am not making this up — involves a billionaire leaving his fortune to his dog, King. Someone poisons the dog and the estate's trustee (Peggy Dow) is wrongly accused of his death. King leaves animal purgatory to return to Earth as a "hum-animal" (a human with some animal traits) to save the accused.

That hum-animal, played by Powell, is a private detective with, TCM says, "a taste for kibble." He saves the day with help from another hum-animal, a former racehorse named Goldie (Joyce Holden). Since all of this may make you want to see how this all plays out, the movie has been released on DVD.

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