If the lyrics "There's a holdup in the Bronx, Brooklyn's broken out in fights..." mean anything to you, then you're one of the original fans of "Car 54, Where Are You?" (And/or one of its loyal viewers during its runs on Nick at Nite 25 years ago, and more recently on TV Land).

Before the towering visage of Fred Gwynne was known as the man behind the Herman makeup on "The Munsters" (or later, the judge in "My Cousin Vinny"), he was the timid Officer Muldoon on "Car 54."

And before Joe E. Ross drew laughs with his "Ooh! Ooh!" catchphrase on Saturday morning shows like "Hong Kong Phooey," he was the none-too-bright Officer Toody on "Car 54" (the story goes that "Ooh! Ooh!" came from the fact that Ross often had trouble remembering his lines).

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It seems to go without saying that at this point, Johnny Depp and Tim Burton have a lot in common - not least of which being the eight movies they've worked on together.

Yet we can add another item to that list: Their affection for "Dark Shadows," the series they've turned into a movie arriving in theaters Friday.

It was actually Depp who brought the idea of a movie to Burton, as the actor's a noted fan of the original 1966-71 daytime TV series, and Burton shares his appreciation. They've also got plenty of company: for over 45 years, the show has had a fanbase that far outweighs other relatively short-lived soaps.

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It's hard to think of today's action-packed blockbusters or fantasy/science-fiction films being made without computer-generated visual effects.

Can you imagine Andy Serkis performing as Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" franchise without a rendered mask that mirrors his facial expression?

As marvelous as the technology is, many of us remember a time when the creatures that existed only in our imaginations came alive on film after hours of painstakingly building and molding them ... by hand.

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"In the early days, TV was in black and white," Whoopi Goldberg said as she presented the Groundbreaking Award to the cast of "In Living Color" at the TV Land Awards earlier this month.

"But let's be honest," she went on. "It was really more white than black. But in 1990, a new show changed the face of television, not to mention comedy."

Created by actor/writer Keenen Ivory Wayans, the sketch comedy series "In Living Color" ran on Fox from 1990-1994, and "brought a new multiculturalism to the primetime variety genre, which basically means there was nothing like it on television anywhere," continued Goldberg.

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The late Levon Helm, who died Thursday, had a wonderfully distinctive voice, but his drawling delivery didn’t always make it easy to discern the words of The Band’s songs – which only added to the music’s charm.

Nevertheless, with Helm’s passing, an old debate has once again flared up: In “The Weight,” is the lyric “Take a load off, Annie” or “Take a load off, Fanny”? In our obituary of Helm, we went with “Annie,” but the CNN newsroom has divided into factions passionately defending one or the other.

The Internet, the world’s biggest game of Telephone, is little help. Some lyrics sites say the former; others go with the latter. The unofficial Band site goes with “Fanny," and has a terrifically detailed list of reasons why –  including an explanation featuring an old girlfriend and her pregnancy (or was it venereal disease?).

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When series creator Diane English pitched "Murphy Brown" to CBS back in 1988, the network was concerned the character wasn't likable enough.

Executives wanted her age to be 30 - or better yet, 25 - rather than 40, and they didn't like that, in the pilot, Murphy was fresh out of rehab. They also would've preferred that Heather Locklear take on the part.

But 10 years, 247 episodes and 93 assistants later (with a running gag on the show being that Murphy could never keep one), "Murphy Brown" remains beloved to this day. At last weekend's TV Land Awards, which will air on April 29, the series received the coveted Impact Award.

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The sultans of slapstick are back on the big screen. Well, kinda.

Hollywood's reboot of "The Three Stooges," starring Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes and Will Sasso as Moe, Larry and Curly, respectively, hopes to recapture some of the magic that generations of fans have found discovering the original Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard.

One of those fans is Gary Lassin, who runs the Stoogeum, which houses "Stooges" memorabilia in Ambler, Pennsylvania.

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A woman and her daughter sleeping with a tennis pro who turns out to be a long-lost relative? A man afraid to tell his family he's gay? A woman who falls in love with her priest? Now throw a ventriloquist into the mix. Sound familiar? Well, except for the ventriloquist part, it sounds a lot like a TV soap opera.

But it's not a soap. It's "Soap."

Aaron Berman's new book, "Soap: The Inside Story of the Sitcom that Broke all the Rules," takes readers back to the ABC sitcom's beginnings - where it was plagued with controversy even before it premiered in 1977 - as well as the show's just-as-dramatic conclusion in 1981, a sudden cancellation that left "Soap's" star facing certain death by firing squad.

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This month marks 60 years of spud-tastic memories for an iconic toy industry staple that remains a household name.

Mr. Potato Head hit the market in 1952 and has been inspiring imaginative play ever since. For many preschool aged children, ownership of a Mr. Potato Head represents a rite of passage as well as the passing down of a tradition from generation to generation.

Mr. Potato Head was the first-ever toy to be advertised on television and remains one of Hasbro's most beloved characters.

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The start of Girl Scout cookie season has us thinking of two things: One, Samoas will always win in the Caramel deLite vs. Samoa debate, and two, the 1989 classic "Troop Beverly Hills."

Thanks to writer and pop culture guru Erika Brooks Adickman, "TBH" fans can enjoy the interactive "Troop Beverly Hills: The Experience," an event in which sold-out crowds flock to screening parties held in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

And while Adickman tells CNN that she never imagined "Troop Beverly Hills: The Experience" would grow as it has, she did think that she couldn't be the only one who was still a fan of the retro classic.

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