names

The name David is king on TV, or nearly. Remember 'Starsky & Hutch'? Starsky's first name was David (who knew?). 'Dave' has had its own sitcom ('Dave's World', the '90s show starring Harry Anderson), and it is a go-to name for talk (nighttime's David Letterman and David Susskind, 'This Week''s David Brinkley and 'Today''s founding father, Dave Garroway).

One of the biggest TV stars of the last two decades, David Duchovny, (at right) once scored an Emmy nomination playing "David Duchovny." The 'X Files' and 'Californication' star made a riotous appearance on 'The Larry Sanders Show,' playing a side of "himself" that was strangely attracted to Larry.

Let's take a look at more TV Davids, Daves and, yes, even Davys.

I used to play this game with myself when I was bored where I would try to create "chains" by linking names and phrases together. For example, I might morph "I'm A Little Teapot" and the "Teapot Dome Scandal" into "I'm A Little Teapot Dome Scandal."

Now, someone needs to jog my memory because I know there's an actual game that also became a short-lived game show based on this same idea. While I wait for someone to remind me what that was called*, I've created another game for y'all to play. Just like my last two games, you won't win anything, but I think this one is a little more challenging that my last two.

I've written plot descriptions for twenty-one series below. Here's an example:

The New York Times has an interesting piece on the phenomenon of celebrities bestowing weird and unique names upon their children. My stance for the longest time was that giving your child names like "Pilot Inspektor" (Jason Lee's kid) or "Moxie CrimeFighter" (that's magician Penn Jillette's little girl) was essentially like turning your child into a walking billboard to advertise your own fertile imagination. However, I've had to lighten up on that stance recently, since this has become the new rule for baby naming these days, including my own family. Besides, I can't help but admit that "Moxie CrimeFighter" is a pretty awesome name.

Also, perhaps it's jealousy. My name is Adam, which I like just fine, but it lacks that certain je ne sais quoi. That's why I've teamed up with NASA scientists to devise a method of coming up with a suitable "Hollywood" name for yourself or your children, if you have any. Here's what to do: