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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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‘Sweden’ returning; Cranston’s ‘Loving’ years

The Columbian
Published:

You have questions. I try to have answers.

I loved the TV show “Welcome to Sweden.” Will it be back at some point?

Yes. The Greg Poehler comedy about an American who moves to Sweden will be back on NBC with 10 new episodes. I would guess that it will be back next summer, but network scheduling can be a mysterious thing.

You probably will not be surprised to learn it is also a hit in Sweden, and was renewed for a second run there even before NBC asked for more.

I am a fan of “Royal Pains.” Could you tell me who actually owns Boris’ mansion on the show and if it is in the Hamptons?

That is the OHEKA Castle Hotel & Estate in Huntington, N.Y., on Long Island. Financier Otto Hermann Kahn had it built, a process that took two years until completion in 1919. (The name is an acronym from Kahn’s full name.) According to the OHEKA website, it was and is the second-largest private residence built in the U.S.: 127 rooms and 109,000 square feet. Since Kahn’s death, it has been a retreat for New York sanitation workers, a training site for Merchant Marine radio operators and a military school, which eventually went bankrupt — leaving an abandoned site plagued by vandals. In 1984, developer Gary Melius bought the estate and restored it; it hosts weddings, celebrations, corporate retreats — and guests in its hotel rooms and suites.

Did Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad” appear in a soap opera in the ’80s? I think it may have been called “Loving.”

Cranston indeed played Douglas Donovan on the ABC daytime drama, which aired from 1983 to 1995; original cast member Cranston was on the show about two years.

The next question has a spoiler if you’re not up to date on “Death in Paradise.”

Why did they kill off Ben Miller, who played Inspector Richard Poole in the series “Death in Paradise”? He was perfection in that role. Any insights?

Yes. Miller wanted out of the series about an English police detective working on a tropical island. In published interviews back in January (when the current season of the British-made Death aired overseas), Miller said it was too difficult to be away from his home and children in England for the months spent in Guadalupe while making the program. Nor was it easy to bring his family with him, since his oldest son is in school. “It just wasn’t going to work,” he said. “That said, I’m very sorry to be leaving.” But the show has gone on with a new investigator, played by Kris Marshall of “Love Actually.”

I recently watched a terrific show on Netflix titled “Political Animals.” It starred Sigourney Weaver, who was excellent. The show was done in 2012 and had eight episodes. Was this ever offered on network TV? I don’t remember ever seeing it offered — or I missed it. Are you familiar with this show and is there any chance it will be continued?

“Political Animals” originally aired on USA Network in 2012 and was released on DVD in 2013. Although it was originally presented as a “limited series event,” a fancy way of saying a miniseries, the plot left enough elements open that it could have continued had USA chosen to do so. The network decided not to continue it, as the Huffington Post reported at the time. Ratings were mediocre and declined over the program’s run.

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