Photos courtesy NewscomKerry Washington, left, has been known to do comedy, including starring alongside Eddie Murphy in 2012’s “A Thousand Words.” Kym Johnson, right, now serves as a judge in the Australian version of “Dancing With the Stars.”

Q: I found Kerry Washington quite funny on “Saturday Night Live” recently. Has she done much comedy?

— Jean Pierce, Milwaukee

A: Some, though she’s clearly better known for drama on the order of the work that has made her a television star on ABC’s “Scandal.” Her most recent movie, the Tyler Perry-produced “Peeples,” was a comedy that had much in common thematically with “Meet the Parents.”

Washington also worked with Eddie Murphy in “A Thousand Words,” which was released last year but had been completed for a while before that. And she co-starred with Chris Rock (also the picture’s director and, with Louis C.K., co-screenwriter) in “I Think I Love My Wife” in 2007.

Q: I was wondering why Kym Johnson is not on “Dancing With the Stars” this season. Will she be back next season?

— Richard Wong, Columbus. Ohio

A: She’s actually remained connected to the show lately … just not the American edition. Johnson has been back in her native Australia, serving as a judge on the version of the show done there. She has said that she hopes to return for the spring season of ABC’s American variation.

Q: I thought that “Being Human” had been renewed for a third season. Will it be back, and when?

— Linda Ravenell, Keaau, Hawaii

A: Actually, Season 3 of the Syfy series was shown earlier this year. It’s Season 4 that the remake of the BBC show will resume with in January, with 13 new episodes.

Q: I was sorry to hear ABC canceled “Back in the Game.” What will Maggie Lawson do next?

— Jeff Ford, Buffalo, N.Y.

A: You’ll see her in a familiar place, since she didn’t give up her other television job. She was able to finish the upcoming Season 8 of USA Network’s “Psych” while starting what turned out to be her short-lived work on the baseball-themed sitcom … which, by the way, is airing all 13 of the episodes of its ABC order.

Q: What’s the word on the reunion project that Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth are making together?

— Sue Evans, West Palm Beach, Fla.

A: The word is that it’s only a pilot as of the time this is being written. The “Beverly Hills, 90210” alums — who have remained close friends since working on that show — play former TV colleagues who become amateur sleuths in “Mystery Girls,” their proposed ABC Family series.

Garth told us that Spelling brought the idea to her, but they both serve as executive producers on the venture. Meanwhile, Garth also stars for ABC Family in the Dec. 8 movie “Holidaze.”

Q: I’ve seen clips of a soap opera being interrupted when Walter Cronkite first reported the news of President John F. Kennedy being shot in Dallas in 1963. Which show was it?

— Mark Collins, Fayetteviille, N.C.

A: “As the World Turns,” which was being performed live for viewers in the Eastern half of the country. It was only after the entire episode had been done, and recorded for intended play in the Western U.S. later, that the show’s cast was told about the breaking news.

The camera equipment of the era wasn’t ready to allow Cronkite to go on the air immediately, so his first CBS News reports on the situation that day were audio only, with a “Bulletin” slide appearing over them. The network then went back to the serial, then returned to Cronkite for another audio report. During the course of that, the camera had warmed up so that he could appear visually.

Q: I was surprised NBC didn’t let the new “Ironside” run longer. How long was the original version on?

— Art Lane, Temple, Pa.

A: A year after Raymond Burr wrapped up his long CBS run in “Perry Mason” in 1966, the pilot film for “Ironside” aired on NBC. The weekly show premiered that fall, and it ran until early 1975. Burr starred in the 1993 NBC film “The Return of Ironside,” its aim likely being to launch a series of movie sequels as had been done very successfully with “Perry Mason”; that never came to be, though, since Burr died later that year.

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