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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Sam Malone Starred in Sinners... Really

(Z) often has students, including a few right now, whose names would surely have been off limits 20-30 years ago, due to teasing. So it would seem to be with the up-and-coming actor Sam Malone, who happens to bear the same name as the lead character of Cheers, arguably the most successful comedy on TV in the 1980s. (Z) always wonders if parents don't know about the parallelism, or they know but think people have forgotten, or what. But it can be a little jarring to, say, hand back essays and have to call out the names of "Steve McQueen" and "Alex Keaton."

Oh, and in case anyone looks it up, the actor was born in 1984, when Cheers was in its third season and was already a hit. So, if you had to guess, you would have to guess his parents knew. Maybe they even did it deliberately. On the other hand, even popular shows are not watched by everyone, particularly early in their runs. Plus, the Malone family (the actors, not the Cheers characters) is Black. (Z)'s final exam as an undergrad, in Comm 10 (Intro to Mass Communications) involved being presented with a list of the top 10 shows of the 1980s for white households and a list of the top 10 shows of the 1980s for Black households, and the only show on both lists was The Cosby Show. So, it's very possible a Black family in 1984 had zero awareness of Cheers, in the way that a white family might name their kid Tyler Perry without knowing.

Anyhow, we only gave one hint last week (unexpectedly), and it was: "the correct answer could be expressed in a couple of different ways, but that all variants that are correct will include one (and only one) word that is in French. If your answer does not have a word that is French in it, you're barking up the wrong tree. Or the wrong arbre."

And here is the solution, courtesy of reader T.K. in Half Moon Bay, St. Kitts:

The headlines all contain the title of an example of film noir:

The Iran War, Part I: All the King's Horses, and All the King's Men, Could Not Get the Oil Market Stable Again

The Iran War, Part II: We Would Say This Is Cause for Alarm

Legal News: Don't Forget, Judges Are Notorious for Being Slow and Steady

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: The Blue Dahlia... Also Likes Teals

This Week in Schadenfreude: Who Grifts the Grifters?

This Week in Freudenfreude: NetZero Could Be an Ace in the Hole for the U.K.

Have a great weekend, maybe grab lunch in Chinatown.

Forget it, Jake. Or T.K. Oh, and Sinners, from this headline, is also a noir film (though some prefer to say neo-noir).

Here are the first 60 readers to get it right:

C.A. in West Palm Beach, FL
M.B. in Albany, NY
J.T. in Philadelphia, PA
M.S. in Canton, NY
P.R. in Havertown, PA
S.G. in Durham, NC
J.S. in Huntington Station, NY
R.S. in Landing, NJ
R.N. in Cleveland OH
S.K. in Ardmore, PA
D.B. in Pittsboro, NC
G.W. in Avon, CT
K.M. in Ypsilanti, MI
M.W. in Marlborough, CT
J.H. in Walla Walla, WA
M.T. in Wheat Ridge, CO
P.A. in Redwood City, CA
S.J.V. in New York City, NY
M.J. in Oakdale, MN
T.K. in Half Moon Bay
D.S. in Layton, UT
J.M. in Eagle Mills, NY
S.W. in Winter Garden, FL
T.T. in Conway, AR
R.S. in Pittsgrove, NJ
J.M. in New York City, NY
E.S. in Cincinnati, OH
T.C. in Key West, FL
N.H. in London, England, UK
M.W. in Altea, Spain

D.S. in Fort Collins, CO
M.K. in Seattle, WA
D.D. in Bucks County, PA
D.G. in Wood-Ridge, NJ
K.R. in Austin, TX
M.M. in Dunellen, NJ
G.S. (with help from Mrs. G.S.) in Basingstoke, England, UK
E.K. in Berkeley, CA
S.A. in Downey, CA
M.T. in Simpsonville, SC
J.F. in Fayetteville, NC
R.J.S. in Peoria, AZ
G.K. in Blue Island, IL
P.L. in Skövde, Sweden
A.C. in Bangor, Northern Ireland
L.D. in Bedford, MA
D.B. in Glendale, CA
M.B. in Menlo Park, CA
M.K. in Long Branch, NJ
D.M. in Oakland, CA
J.N. in Zionsville, IN
S.W. in Corvallis, OR
W.L. in Springfield, MO
B.N. in San Rafael, CA
M.A. in West Windsor, NJ
J.M.R. in Muncie, IN
M.K. in Maplewood, NJ
B.B. in Avon, CT
M.W. in Frederick, MD
M.S. in New York City, NY

The 60th correct response was received at 10:12 a.m. PT on Friday.

For this week's theme, it relies on one word per headline, and it's in the category Sports. For a hint, we'll say that you might think "O'Neal" should be a potential clue, but that is actually not correct (to the chagrin of many people, including Z, in the relevant time period).

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject line March 20 Headlines. (Z)

This item appeared on www.electoral-vote.com. Read it Monday through Friday for political and election news, Saturday for answers to reader's questions, and Sunday for letters from readers.

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