Q: We have been enjoying “The Muppet Show” on Disney+. The credits show a music consultant as Ray Charles. Is that the Ray Charles?
A: No. That is a musician sometimes known as “the other Ray Charles,” who was a dozen years older than the soulful genius. Born Charles Raymond Offenberg, the “Muppet” man was a choral director, lyricist and composer who worked often with Perry Como, was a consultant for the Kennedy Center Honors and was behind the easy-listening group the Ray Charles Singers. His 2015 obituary in the Los Angeles Times also noted that he wrote “The Fifty Nifty United States,” “which has been memorized by several generations of schoolchildren,” and he sang the theme for “Three’s Company” with Julia Rinker Miller.
Back on ‘Tracks’
Q: My wife and I just finished watching a series called “Wrong Side of the Tracks” on Netflix. It had a kind of cliffhanger ending. Do you know if there is going to be another season?
A: The three seasons of the Spanish drama have been popular enough to prompt work on a fourth season. That is expected to be the final one. It reportedly will arrive late this year.
Game over
Q: I was wondering what happened with two shows that I haven’t seen any new episodes of this summer: “The $100,000 Pyramid” with Michael Strahan and “Generation Gap” with Kelly Ripa.
A: As of May, neither show was listed in ABC’s programming plans for the coming season, and I don’t know of any scheduling at this time.
A Falk fan
Q: In 1962, Peter Falk starred in a TV drama called “The Price of Tomatoes,” for which he won an Emmy Award. Is there any place where this can be viewed today?
A: Falk won his first Emmy (and his only one not for playing Columbo) with this production on the anthology series “The Dick Powell Show.” According to the Paley Center for Media, the show “tells of an independent trucker who must get his cargo of tomatoes from El Paso to Cincinnati before his competitor arrives,” except he is sidetracked when he gives a ride to a pregnant woman played by Inger Stevens. There is a copy on YouTube.
