sammy davis jr.

Question: Do you think any one of the five remaining American Idol contestants have any idea who were in the original Rat Pack?

Answer: Sure, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore and Rob Lowe.

No, that was the Brat Pack. American Idol is honoring the original Rat Pack, which is actually not the Las Vegas Rat Pack. The Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop pack of the 1960's Sands Hotel was in fact an outgrowth of the Rat Pack that Humphrey Bogart and Sinatra first formed in the late 1940s.

Since I accepted TiVo as my personal savior, I have been afforded an opportunity to watch some great shows that air in the wee hours of the morning. Shows that, until now, have only been enjoyed by air traffic controllers with low attention spans, speed freaks and easily confused frat boys.

One of them is All in the Family, which airs at 8 a.m. on TV Land, the network with its rack of sour tasting reality shows and shrinking share of old sitcoms and serials that is in danger of becoming the new MTV.

A week ago, one of the show's -- and all of television history's greatest -- gems found its way to my "Now Playing List." That famous episode where Sammy Davis Jr. makes the trek to 704 Hauser Street and gives Archie a big wet one on the cheek. I had not seen this show since I was a kid, back in the 80s when All in the Family reruns flooded my television, but this most recent viewing unveiled an interesting factoid that almost went unnoticed.

Last night's episode of CSI, called "Young Man with a Horn," was not only a nostalgic story of old Las Vegas, it was also a chance to feature some wonderful stars from TV's past.

There was Ralph Waite, John-Boy's father from The Waltons; Robert Guillaume, the double Emmy-winning star of Benson; and even the creator of Laugh-In, George Schlatter. And the center of the whodunit was none other than an original Hitchcock blonde, Tippi Hedren, star of The Birds and Marnie.