title: Ted Knight

text: Knight's speaking voice also brought him work as a voice artist for various animated series produced by Filmation and Hanna-Barbera, including " The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure", "The Batman/Superman Hour", "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "Fantastic Voyage", "The New Scooby-Doo Movies", "Super Friends", and "Lassie's Rescue Rangers".


title: Ted Knight

text: His role as the vain and untalented WJM newscaster Ted Baxter on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" brought Knight widespread recognition and his greatest success. He received six Emmy Award nominations for the role, winning the Emmy for "Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Comedy" in 1973 and 1976.


title: Ted Knight

text: In 1975, Knight recorded an album of mostly novelty songs, "Hi Guys", on the Ranwood label (which was co-founded by Lawrence Welk and re-released many of his earlier albums). The title track, in which Knight tries to get out of various embarrassing situations by using his signature "Hi, guys!" line, received some play on the Dr. Demento show.


title: Ted Knight

text: Knight was the special guest star on the first episode of "The Bobby Vinton Show" in September 1975. Vinton highlighted Knight's Polish heritage and the two sang a duet of Vinton's hit "My Melody of Love" in Polish. Knight was also featured in a production number based on one of the songs from the "Hi Guys" album, "I'm in Love with Barbara Walters".


title: Ted Knight

text: Knight used a variation of the Ted Baxter character for regional commercials. In the Cleveland area during the early to late 1970s, a newsman simply known as "Ted" would provide news of the events at a local shopping center known as Southgate USA, often finishing the 60-second spot with a comedic flair, including wearing a jacket that resembled Baxter's blue "WJM" blazer. The spots were produced by UAB Productions for Southgate USA. UAB Productions was the local production arm of United Artists Broadcasting, which owned WUAB-TV in the Cleveland area at that time. Knight also returned to Albany to film promo spots for his former employer, WTEN's local news show.


title: Ted Knight

text: After "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"s run, Knight guest-starred in "Mr. Dennis Steps Out", the October 26, 1977, episode of the situation comedy "Busting Loose", as Roger Dennis, the owner of an escort service in New York City. This episode was spun off into its own show, "The Ted Knight Show", giving Knight his first starring role. "The Ted Knight Show" lasted for only six episodes in the spring of 1978.


title: Ted Knight

text: Knight appeared in a few episodes of "The Love Boat", including one episode as a rival cruise captain, Captain Gunner Nordquist, versus "Mary Tyler Moore Show" co-star Gavin MacLeod's Captain Merrill Stubing. This was broadcast in March 1982 as Season 5, Episodes 24 and 25, of "The Love Boat," whose segments were titled "Pride of the Pacific", "The Viking's Son", "Separate Vacations", "The Experiment", and "Getting to Know You".


title: Ted Knight

text: Knight's final big-screen role was in the 1980 golf comedy "Caddyshack", where he played Judge Elihu Smails, who is fed up with the shenanigans of Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield), a guest at his golf club.


title: Ted Knight

text: Knight was cast in the lead role as the kind, curmudgeonly cartoonist Henry Rush in the series "Too Close for Comfort" in 1980. During scenes in which Henry draws in his bedroom, Knight used his earlier acquired ventriloquism talents for comical conversations with a hand-puppet version of his comic book's main character "Cosmic Cow". Throughout the run of the series, Knight would wear sweatshirts from colleges and universities, which were often sent to him by students who were fans of the show. ABC cancelled the show after three seasons, but it was revived in first-run syndication in 1984. In 1986, the show became "The Ted Knight Show" and saw Henry Rush retire from cartooning and become part-owner of a weekly newspaper. A second season was planned until his health became a factor.


title: Ted Knight

text: In January 1985, Knight was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry. It is located at 6673 Hollywood Boulevard.


title: Ted Knight

text: A few months after the end of the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" in 1977, Knight was diagnosed with colon cancer for which he received treatment. In 1985, the cancer returned and spread to his bladder and gastrointestinal tract.


title: Ted Knight

text: Knight experienced complications from the surgery and was advised not to resume work on "Too Close For Comfort" until he recovered. Knight's condition worsened and he died on August 26, 1986, at age 62.


title: Ted Knight

text: Knight was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. His grave marker bears the name "Theodore C. Konopka," and the words "Bye Guy", a reference to his Ted Baxter catchphrase "Hi, guys!")


title: Ted Knight

text: His hometown of Terryville, Connecticut, dedicated a bridge on Canal Street over the Pequabuck River in his memory. There is a bronze plaque bearing his likeness on the bridge.


title: Kryptonite

text: Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton that emits a unique, poisonous radiation that can weaken and even kill Kryptonians. Kryptonite radiation can emit through any element except lead. Thus, Superman has a special lead suit to protect himself from the radiation. There are other varieties of Kryptonite, such as red and gold Kryptonite, which have different but still generally negative effects. Due to Superman's popularity, "Kryptonite" has become a byword for an extraordinary exploitable weakness, synonymous with "Achilles' heel". Batman, Lex Luthor, Metallo, and Titano are four notable characters often presented as using Kryptonite — the first carrying the substance as a last-ditch method to stop his ally Superman if he is subject to mind control or otherwise compromised, the next two using the mineral to ward off Superman or incorporating it into weapons to try to kill him, and the fourth being able to project rays of kryptonite radiation from his eyes after being altered by simultaneous exposure to kryptonite and uranium.


title: Kryptonite

text: An unpublished 1940 story titled "The K-Metal from Krypton", written by Superman creator Jerry Siegel, featured a prototype of kryptonite. It was a mineral from the planet Krypton that drained Superman of his strength while giving superhuman powers to humans. This story was rejected because in it Superman reveals his identity to Lois Lane.


title: Kryptonite

text: The mineral known as kryptonite, not to be confused with the real element krypton, was first officially introduced in the radio serial "The Adventures of Superman", in the story "The Meteor from Krypton", broadcast in June 1943. An apocryphal story claims that kryptonite was introduced to give Superman's voice actor, Bud Collyer, the possibility to take a vacation at a time when the radio serial was performed live. In an episode where Collyer would not be present to perform, Superman would be incapacitated by kryptonite, and a substitute voice actor would make groaning sounds. This tale was recounted by Julius Schwartz in his memoir. However, the historian Michael J. Hayde disputes this: in "The Meteor From Krypton", Superman is never exposed to kryptonite. If kryptonite allowed Collyer to take vacations, that was a fringe benefit discovered later. More likely, kryptonite was introduced as a plot device for Superman to discover his origin.


title: Kryptonite

text: In the radio serial, Krypton was located in the same solar system as Earth, in the same orbit, but on the opposite side of the Sun. This provided an easy explanation for how kryptonite found its way to Earth. During the comics' Silver Age, which put Krypton in another solar system light-years away, much of the kryptonite that came to Earth (along with several Kryptonian artifacts) was explained as having come through the same "space warp" that baby Kal-El's rocket traversed.


title: Kryptonite

text: Kryptonite was incorporated into the comic mythos with "Superman" #61 (November 1949). Editor Dorothy Woolfolk stated in an interview with "Florida Today" in August 1993 that she "felt Superman's invulnerability was boring."


title: Kryptonite

text: The only substance in the universe that kryptonite radiation (from any variety) cannot penetrate is lead.


title: Kryptonite

text: Long said to be an element in the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age comics, Kryptonite became a compound after Crisis as revealed in Action Comics Vol 1 #591.


title: Kryptonite

text: Various forms of the fictional material have been created over the years in "Superman" publications and programs.


title: Kryptonite

text: Columbia Pictures produced two 15-part motion picture serials that used kryptonite as a plot device: "Superman" (1948) and "Atom Man vs. Superman" (1950).


title: Serial comma

text: In English-language punctuation, a serial comma (also called a series comma, Oxford comma, or Harvard comma) is a comma placed immediately after the penultimate term (i.e., before the coordinating conjunction, such as "and" or "or") in a series of three or more terms. For example, a list of three countries might be punctuated either as "France, Italy and Spain" (without the serial comma) or "France, Spain" (with the serial comma).


title: Serial comma

text: Opinions among writers and editors differ on whether to use the serial comma, and usage also differs somewhat between regional varieties of English. British English allows constructions with or without this comma, whereas in American English it is common and sometimes even considered mandatory. A majority of American style guides mandate use of the serial comma, including APA style, "The Chicago Manual of Style", "Garner's Modern American Usage", "The MLA Style Manual", Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style", and the "U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual". By contrast, the "Associated Press Stylebook" and "The New York Times Style Book" advise against it. In Canada, the stylebook published by The Canadian Press advises against it. Most British style guides do not mandate its use. "The Economist Style Guide" notes that most British writers use it only where necessary to avoid ambiguity. A few British style guides mandate it, most notably "The Oxford Style Manual" (hence the name, "Oxford comma"). However, the "University of Oxford Style Guide" (2014) advises against its use.


title: Serial comma

text: "The Oxford Companion to the English Language" notes: "Usage varies as to the inclusion of a comma before "and" in the last item. ... This practice is controversial and is known as the serial comma or Oxford comma, because it is part of the house style of Oxford University Press."


title: Serial comma

text: There are cases in which the use of the serial comma can avoid ambiguity, and also instances in which its use can introduce ambiguity.


title: Serial comma

text: Many sources are against both systematic use and systematic avoidance of the serial comma, making recommendations in a more nuanced way (see Recommendations by style guides and subsequent sections).


title: Serial comma

text: Omitting the serial comma may create ambiguity. Writers who normally avoid the serial comma often use one when it avoids ambiguity. Consider this apocryphal book dedication:


title: Serial comma

text: There is ambiguity about the writer's parentage, because "Ayn Rand and God" can be read as in apposition to "my parents", leading the reader to believe that the writer claims Ayn Rand and God are the parents. A comma before "and" removes the ambiguity:


title: Serial comma

text: But lists can also be written in other ways that eliminate the ambiguity without introducing the serial comma, such as by changing the word order or by using other punctuation, or none, to introduce or delimit them (though the emphasis may thereby be changed):


title: Serial comma

text: An example collected by Nielsen Hayden was found in a newspaper account of a documentary about Merle Haggard:


title: Serial comma

text: A serial comma following "Kris Kristofferson" would help prevent this being understood as Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall being the ex-wives in question.


title: Serial comma

text: It is unclear whether the eggs are being grouped with the bacon or the toast. Adding a serial comma removes this ambiguity:


title: Serial comma

text: In some circumstances using the serial comma can create ambiguity. If the book dedication above is changed to


title: Serial comma

text: the serial comma after "Ayn Rand" creates ambiguity about the writer's mother because it uses punctuation identical to that used for an appositive phrase, leaving it unclear whether this is a list of three entities (1, my mother; 2, Ayn Rand; and 3, God) or of only two entities (1, my mother, who is Ayn Rand; and 2, God).


title: Serial comma

text: "The Times" once published an unintentionally humorous description of a Peter Ustinov documentary, noting that "highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector". Again, there is ambiguity as to whether the sentence refers to three distinct entities, or whether Mandela is being described as both a demigod and a dildo collector. The addition of a serial comma would not resolve the issue, as he could still be mistaken for a demigod, although he would be precluded from being a dildo collector.


title: Serial comma

text: This is ambiguous because it is unclear whether "a maid" is an appositive describing Betty, or the second in a list of three people. On the other hand, removing the final comma:


title: Serial comma

text: leaves the possibility that Betty is both a maid and a cook (with "a maid and a cook" read as a unit, in apposition to Betty). So in this case neither the serial-comma style nor the no-serial-comma style resolves the ambiguity. A writer who intends a list of three distinct people (Betty, maid, cook) may create an ambiguous sentence, regardless of whether the serial comma is adopted. Furthermore, if the reader is unaware of which convention is being used, both versions are always ambiguous.


title: Serial comma

text: Ambiguities can often be resolved by the selective use of semicolons instead of commas; this is sometimes called the "super comma" function of semicolons.


title: Serial comma

text: Lynne Truss writes: "There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don't, and I'll just say this: "never" get between these people when drink has been taken."


title: Serial comma

text: Omitting a serial comma is often characterized as a journalistic style of writing, as contrasted with a more academic or formal style. Journalists typically do not use the serial comma, possibly for economy of space. In Australia, Canada and South Africa, the serial comma tends not to be used in non-academic publications unless its absence produces ambiguity.


title: Serial comma

text: It is important that usage within a document be consistent; inconsistent usage can seem unprofessional.


title: Serial comma

text: In the U.S. state of Maine, the lack of a serial comma became the deciding factor in a $13 million lawsuit filed in 2014 that was eventually settled for $5 million in 2017. The U.S. appeals judge David J. Barron wrote, "For want of a comma, we have this case."


title: Serial comma

text: In the case known as "O'Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy", a federal court of appeals was required to interpret a statute under which the "canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution" of certain goods were activities exempted from the general requirement of overtime pay; the question was whether this list included the distribution of the goods, or only the packing of the goods for distribution. The lack of a comma suggested one meaning, while the omission of the conjunction "or" before "packing" and the fact that the "Maine Legislative Drafting Manual" advised against use of the serial comma suggested another. It said "Although authorities on punctuation may differ, when drafting Maine law or rules, don’t use a comma between the penultimate and the last item of a series." In addition to the absence of a comma, the fact that the word chosen was "distribution" rather than "distributing" was also a consideration, as was the question of whether it would be reasonable to consider the list to be an asyndetic list (a list in which the coordinating conjunction is absent). Truck drivers demanded overtime pay, and the defense conceded that the expression was ambiguous, but said it should be interpreted as exempting distribution activity from overtime pay. The district court agreed with the defense and held that "distribution" was an exempt activity. On appeal, however, the First Circuit decided that the sentence was ambiguous and "because, under Maine law, ambiguities in the state's wage and hour laws must be construed liberally in order to accomplish their remedial purpose", adopted the drivers' narrower reading of the exemption and ruled that those who distributed the goods were entitled to overtime pay. Oakhurst Dairy settled the case by paying $5 million to the drivers, and the phrase in the law in question was later changed to use serial semicolons and "distributing" resulting in "canning; processing; preserving; freezing; drying; marketing; storing; packing for shipment; or distributing".


title: Serial comma

text: The opinion in the case said that 43 of the 50 U.S. states had mandated the use of a serial comma and that both chambers of the federal congress had warned against omitting it, in the words of the U.S. House Legislative Counsel's Manual on Drafting Style, "to prevent any misreading that the last item is part of the preceding one"; only seven states "either do not require or expressly prohibited the use of the serial comma".


title: Serial comma

text: In 2020 a commemorative 50p coin was brought into circulation in the United Kingdom to mark "Brexit day", 31 January 2020, minted with the phrase "Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations". English novelist Sir Philip Pullman and others criticized the omission of the Oxford comma, while others said it was an Americanism and not required in this instance.


title: Calvary

text: Calvary ( or ) or Golgotha (, "Golgothâ") was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early medieval period, it has been a destination for pilgrimage. The exact location of Calvary has been traditionally associated with a place now enclosed within one of the southern chapels of the multidenominational Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a site said to have been recognized by the Roman empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, during her visit to the Holy Land in 325. Other locations have been suggested: in the 19th century, Protestant scholars proposed a different location near the Garden Tomb on Green Hill (now "Skull Hill") about north of the traditional site and historian Joan Taylor has more recently proposed a location about to its south-southeast.


title: Calvary

text: The English names Calvary and Golgotha derive from the Vulgate Latin , and (all meaning "place of the Skull" or "a Skull"), and used by Jerome in his translations of Matthew 27:33, Mark 15:22, Luke 23:33, and John 19:17. Versions of these names have been used in English since at least the 10th century, a tradition shared with most European languages including French (), Spanish and Italian (), pre-Lutheran German (), Polish (), and Lithuanian (). The 1611 King James Version borrowed the Latin forms directly, while Wycliffe and other translators anglicized them in forms like "Caluarie", "Caluerie", and "Calueri" which were later standardized as "Calvary". While the Gospels merely identify Golgotha as a "place", Christian tradition has described the location as a hill or mountain since at least the 6th century. It has thus often been referenced as in English hymns and literature.


title: Calvary

text: In the standard Koine Greek texts of the New Testament, the relevant terms appear as "Golgothâ" (), "Golgathân" (), "kraníou tópos" (), "Kraníou tópos" (), "Kraníon" (), and "Kraníou tópon" (). Golgotha's Hebrew equivalent would be "Gulgōleṯ" (, "skull"), ultimately from the verb "galal" () meaning "to roll". The form preserved in the Greek text, however, is actually closer to Aramaic "Golgolta", which also appears in reference to a head count in the Samaritan version of Numbers 1:18, although the term is traditionally considered to derive from Syriac "Gāgūlṯā" () instead. Although Latin can mean either "a skull" or "the skull" depending on context and numerous English translations render the relevant passages or "Place of the Skull", the Greek forms of the name grammatically refer to the place of "a" skull and a place named Skull. (The Greek word does more specifically mean the cranium, the upper part of the skull, but it has been used metonymously since antiquity to refer to skulls and heads more generally.)


title: Calvary

text: The Fathers of the Church offered various interpretations of the name and its origin. Jerome considered it a place of execution by beheading (), Pseudo-Tertullian describes it as a place resembling a head, and Origen associated it with legends concerning the skull of Adam. This buried skull of Adam appears in noncanonical medieval legends, including the "Kitab al-Magall", the "Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan", the "Cave of Treasures", and the works of Eutychius, the 9th-century patriarch of Alexandria. The usual form of the legend is that Shem and Melchizedek retrieved the body of Adam from the resting place of Noah's ark on Mount Ararat and were led by angels to Golgotha, a skull-shaped hill at the center of the earth where Adam had previously crushed the serpent's head following the Fall of Man.


title: Calvary

text: In the 19th century, Wilhelm Ludwig Krafft proposed an alternative derivation of these names, suggesting that the place had actually been known as "Gol Goatha"which he interpreted to mean "heap of death" or "hill of execution"and had become associated with the similar sounding Semitic words for "skull" in folk etymologies. James Fergusson identified this "Goatha" with the "Goʿah" () mentioned in Jeremiah 31:39 as a place near Jerusalem, although Krafft himself identified that location with the separate "Gennáth" () of Josephus, the "Garden Gate" west of the Temple Mount.


title: Calvary

text: There is no consensus as to the location of the site. John describes the crucifixion site as being "near the city". According to Hebrews , it was "outside the city gate". and both note that the location would have been accessible to "passers-by". Thus, locating the crucifixion site involves identifying a site that, in the city of Jerusalem some four decades before its destruction in AD70, would have been outside a major gate near enough to the city that the passers-by could not only see him, but also read the inscription 'Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews'.


title: Calvary

text: Christian tradition since the fourth century has favoured a location now within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This places it well within today's walls of Jerusalem, which surround the Old City and were rebuilt in the 16th century by the Ottoman Empire. Proponents of the traditional Holy Sepulchre location point out at the fact that first-century Jerusalem had a different shape and size from the 16th-century city, leaving the church's site outside the pre-AD 70 city walls. Those opposing it doubt this.


title: Calvary

text: Defenders of the traditional site have argued that the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was only brought within the city limits by Herod Agrippa (41–44), who built the so-called Third Wall around a newly settled northern district, while at the time of Jesus' crucifixion around AD 30 it would still have been just outside the city.


title: Calvary

text: Henry Chadwick (2003) argued that when Hadrian's builders replanned the old city, they "incidentally confirm[ed] the bringing of Golgotha inside a new town wall."


title: Calvary

text: In 2007 Dan Bahat, the former City Archaeologist of Jerusalem and Professor of Land of Israel Studies at Bar-Ilan University, stated that "Six graves from the first century were found on the area of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. That means, this place [was] outside of the city, without any doubt…".


title: Calvary

text: The traditional location of Golgotha derives from its identification by Queen Mother Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, in 325. Less than away, Helena also identified the location of the tomb of Jesus and claimed to have discovered the True Cross; her son, Constantine, then built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre around the whole site. In 333, the author of the "Itinerarium Burdigalense", entering from the east, described the result:


title: Calvary

text: In Nazénie Garibian de Vartavan's doctoral thesis, now published as "La Jérusalem Nouvelle et les premiers sanctuaires chrétiens de l'Arménie. Méthode pour l'étude de l'église comme temple de Dieu," she concluded, through multiple arguments (mainly theological and archaeological), that the true site of Golgotha was precisely at the vertical of the now buried Constantinian basilica's altar and away from where the traditional rock of Golgotha is situated. The plans published in the book indicate the location of the Golgotha within a precision of less than two meters, below the circular passage situated a metre away from where the blood stained shirt of Christ was traditionally recovered and immediately before the stairs leading down to St. Helena's Chapel (the above-mentioned mother of Emperor Constantine), alternatively called St. Vartan's Chapel.


title: Calvary

text: Prior to Helena's identification, the site had been a temple to Aphrodite. Constantine's construction took over most of the site of the earlier temple enclosure, and the "Rotunda" and cloister (which was replaced after the 12th century by the present "Catholicon" and "Calvary chapel") roughly overlap with the temple building itself; the basilica church Constantine built over the remainder of the enclosure was destroyed at the turn of the 11th century, and has not been replaced. Christian tradition claims that the location had originally been a Christian place of veneration, but that Hadrian had deliberately buried these Christian sites and built his own temple on top, on account of his alleged hatred for Christianity.


title: Calvary

text: There is certainly evidence that circa 160, at least as early as 30 years after Hadrian's temple had been built, Christians associated it with the site of "Golgotha"; Melito of Sardis, an influential mid-2nd century bishop in the region, described the location as "in the middle of the street, in the middle of the city", which matches the position of Hadrian's temple within the mid-2nd century city.


title: Calvary

text: The Romans typically built a city according to a Hippodamian grid plan – a north–south arterial road, the Cardo (which is now the Suq Khan-ez-Zeit), and an east–west arterial road, the Decumanus Maximus (which is now the Via Dolorosa). The forum would traditionally be located on the intersection of the two roads, with the main temples adjacent. However, due to the obstruction posed by the Temple Mount, as well as the Tenth Legion encampment on the Western Hill, Hadrian's city had two "Cardo", two "Decumanus Maximus", two forums, and several temples. The Western Forum (now the Muristan) is located on the crossroads of the West Cardo and what is now El-Bazar/David Street, with the Temple of Aphrodite adjacent, on the intersection of the Western Cardo and the Via Dolorosa. The Northern Forum is located north of the Temple Mount, on the junction of the Via Dolorosa and the Eastern Cardo (the Tyropoeon), adjacent to the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, intentionally built atop the Temple Mount. Another popular holy site that Hadrian converted to a pagan temple was the Pool of Bethesda, possibly referenced to in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John, on which was built the Temple of Asclepius and Serapis. While the positioning of the Temple of Aphrodite may be, in light of the common Colonia layout, entirely unintentional, Hadrian is known to have concurrently built pagan temples on top of other holy sites in Jerusalem as part of an overall "Romanization" policy.


title: Calvary

text: Archaeological excavations under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have revealed Christian pilgrims' graffiti, dating from the period that the Temple of Aphrodite was still present, of a ship, a common early Christian symbol and the etching "DOMINVS IVIMVS", meaning "Lord, we went", lending possible support to the statement by Melito of Sardis' asserting that early Christians identified Golgotha as being in the middle of Hadrian's city, rather than outside.


title: Calvary

text: During 1973–1978 restoration works and excavations inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and under the nearby Muristan, it was found that the area was originally a quarry, from which white Meleke limestone was struck; surviving parts of the quarry to the north-east of the chapel of St. Helena are now accessible from within the chapel (by permission). Inside the church is a rock, about 7 m long by 3 m wide by 4.8 m high, that is traditionally believed to be all that now remains visible of "Golgotha"; the design of the church means that the "Calvary Chapel" contains the upper foot or so of the rock, while the remainder is in the chapel beneath it (known as the "tomb of Adam"). Virgilio Corbo, a Franciscan priest and archaeologist, present at the excavations, suggested that from the city the little hill (which still exists) could have looked like a skull.


title: Calvary

text: During a 1986 repair to the floor of the "Calvary Chapel" by the art historian George Lavas and architect Theo Mitropoulos, a round slot of diameter was discovered in the rock, partly open on one side (Lavas attributes the open side to accidental damage during his repairs); although the dating of the slot is uncertain, and could date to Hadrian's temple of Aphrodite, Lavas suggested that it could have been the site of the crucifixion, as it would be strong enough to hold in place a wooden trunk of up to in height (among other things). The same restoration work also revealed a crack running across the surface of the rock, which continues down to the "Chapel of Adam"; the crack is thought by archaeologists to have been a result of the quarry workmen encountering a flaw in the rock.


title: Calvary

text: Based on the late 20th century excavations of the site, there have been a number of attempted reconstructions of the profile of the cliff face. These often attempt to show the site as it would have appeared to Constantine. However, as the ground level in Roman times was about lower and the site housed Hadrian's temple to Aphrodite, much of the surrounding rocky slope must have been removed long before Constantine built the church on the site. The height of the "Golgotha" rock itself would have caused it to jut through the platform level of the Aphrodite temple, where it would be clearly visible. The reason for Hadrian not cutting the rock down is uncertain, but Virgilio Corbo suggested that a statue, probably of Aphrodite, was placed on it, a suggestion also made by Jerome. Some archaeologists have suggested that prior to Hadrian's use, the rock outcrop had been a "nefesh" – a Jewish funeral monument, equivalent to the stele.


title: Calvary

text: The Itinerarium Burdigalense speaks of Golgotha in 333: "... On the left hand is the little hill of Golgotha where the Lord was crucified. About a stone's throw from thence is a vault (crypta) wherein His body was laid, and rose again on the third day. There, at present, by the command of the Emperor Constantine, has been built a basilica, that is to say, a church of wondrous beauty," Cyril of Jerusalem, a distinguished theologian of the early Church, and eyewitness to the early days of Constantine's edifice, speaks of Golgotha in eight separate passages, sometimes as near to the church where he and his listeners assembled: "Golgotha, the holy hill standing above us here, bears witness to our sight: the Holy Sepulchre bears witness, and the stone which lies there to this day." And just in such a way the pilgrim Egeria often reported in 383: "… the church, built by Constantine, which is situated in Golgotha …" and also bishop Eucherius of Lyon wrote to the island presbyter Faustus in 440: "Golgotha is in the middle between the Anastasis and the Martyrium, the place of the Lord's passion, in which still appears that rock which once endured the very cross on which the Lord was." Breviarius de Hierosolyma reports in 530: "From there (the middle of the basilica), you enter into Golgotha, where there is a large court. Here the Lord was crucified. All around that hill, there are silver screens." (See also: Eusebius in 338.)


title: Calvary

text: In 1842, Otto Thenius, a theologian and biblical scholar from Dresden, Germany, was the first to publish a proposal that the rocky knoll north of Damascus Gate was the biblical "Golgotha". He relied heavily on the research of Edward Robinson. In 1882–83, Major-General Charles George Gordon endorsed this view; subsequently the site has sometimes been known as Gordon's Calvary. The location, usually referred to today as "Skull Hill", is beneath a cliff that contains two large sunken holes, which Gordon regarded as resembling the eyes of a skull. He and a few others before him believed that the skull-like appearance would have caused the location to be known as Golgotha.


title: Calvary

text: Nearby is an ancient rock-cut tomb known today as the Garden Tomb, which Gordon proposed as the tomb of Jesus. The Garden Tomb contains several ancient burial places, although the archaeologist Gabriel Barkay has proposed that the tomb dates to the 7th century BC and that the site may have been abandoned by the 1st century.


title: Calvary

text: Eusebius comments that Golgotha was in his day (the 4th century) pointed out "north of Mount Zion". While "Mount Zion" was used previously in reference to the Temple Mount itself, Josephus, the first-century AD historian who knew the city as it was before the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, identified Mount Zion as being the Western Hill (the current Mount Zion), which is south of both the Garden Tomb and the Holy Sepulchre. Eusebius' comment therefore offers no additional argument for either location.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons, from March 25, 1986, to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean Europe, Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot).


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Originally airing on Tuesdays for the short six-episode first season in the spring of 1986, it moved to Wednesdays in prime time in the fall of 1986. It remained on Wednesdays until March 1988, when it was moved to Fridays. The show found its niche there as the anchor for ABC's original "TGIF" Friday-night lineup, though it aired on Saturdays for a short time in 1992.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The series chronicles the relationship of Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) and his distant cousin Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot). Larry, a Wisconsin native from a large family, has just moved into his first apartment in Chicago, and is savoring his first taste of privacy when Balki, a hitherto-unknown cousin from a Mediterranean island, "Mypos", arrives intending to move in with him.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Balki, who was a shepherd on Mypos, interprets what little he knows about the United States by relying on his own (often out-of-context) recollections of American pop culture ("America: Land of my dreams and home of the Whopper"). Balki's signature is his "Dance of Joy", a cross between the dosado and the hokey pokey that he performs (with Larry) to celebrate good fortune.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: After initially gently rebuffing his cousin's request to stay at his apartment, aspiring photographer Larry decides to take Balki under his wing and teach him about American life; as time goes on, the disparities between the two create many misadventures and growth opportunities. Initially working at a discount store and living in a small apartment, they eventually develop rising careers working for a respectable newspaper, move into larger residences, date two best-friend flight attendants, and expand their lifestyle through their various experiences; all while learning to balance Balki's wide-eyed enthusiasm and Myposian ways with Larry's real-world ambitions and American pragmatism. Neurotic Larry is frequently as inept as Balki, if not more so, and often gets the pair into situations that only Balki can set right. Major influences on the show include "buddy sitcoms" such as "Laverne & Shirley" and "Mork & Mindy", both of which were produced by the "Perfect Strangers" team.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The series was the brainchild of Dale McRaven (co-creator of "Mork & Mindy") and producers Tom Miller and Robert Boyett. Miller claimed that the series' inspiration came in the wake of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when America experienced a wave of renewed patriotic sentiment. Their idea for a comedy about an immigrant in America was initially rejected by all three major commercial television networks operating in the U.S. at the time (ABC, CBS, and NBC).


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: In December 1984, Bronson Pinchot garnered notice for his role in "Beverly Hills Cop" as Serge, an effeminate art-gallery employee with an unplaceable foreign accent. When Miller and company pitched Pinchot as the star of their immigrant show, ABC signed on to the project, originally titled "The Greenhorn". By this time, Pinchot was unavailable, as he had taken the role of a gay attorney in the NBC series "Sara" alongside star Geena Davis.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: "Sara" failed to find an audience and was canceled by May 1985. With Pinchot now available, Miller and Boyett developed the show in earnest. By November it was retitled "Perfect Strangers" and comedian Louie Anderson was cast as the immigrant's American cousin. A pilot episode was put into production, but in the end Anderson was not considered right for the role.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Development was placed into overdrive when ABC President Brandon Stoddard offered the producers a prime tryout slot for the spring of 1986 between the hit shows "Who's The Boss?" and "Moonlighting" on Tuesday nights. After running through several actors for the part of Balki's cousin, the producers chose Mark Linn-Baker, whom they had recently seen in a guest appearance on "Moonlighting". Linn-Baker displayed immediate chemistry with Pinchot and the series raced into production. It premiered on ABC on March 25, 1986.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The series commences with Larry living alone in an apartment in Chicago. In the pilot episode, Balki unexpectedly shows up at Larry's door claiming to be his distant cousin. Balki soon joins Larry as a clerk at the Ritz Discount Store, located on the ground level of their apartment building. Their boss is Donald "Twinkie" Twinkacetti (Ernie Sabella), an unscrupulous miser who is also their landlord. Twinkacetti's incessant berating of his two employees (he calls Balki "Turnip" and Larry "Yo-Yo") is occasionally alleviated by his wife Edwina (Belita Moreno). In the first season, upstairs neighbor Susan Campbell (Lise Cutter) is Larry's platonic friend.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Airing in the coveted timeslot between "Who's The Boss?" and "Moonlighting", "Perfect Strangers" was an instant ratings hit in the spring of 1986, with five of the six episodes landing in the weekly Nielsen top 10 highest-rated programs.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: For its second season, "Perfect Strangers" was moved to Wednesday nights at 8:00 p.m. as a lead-in to the new ABC sitcom "Head of the Class".


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Susan's character was phased out early in this season. Larry began dating Jennifer Lyons (Melanie Wilson) and Balki began dating Mary Anne Spencer (Rebeca Arthur), after meeting them through a local gym. In later episodes, it is revealed that both women are flight attendants who live in Larry and Balki's building.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The start of season 3 in late 1987 found Larry and Balki in a new, larger apartment where Balki had his own room instead of sleeping on a fold-out sofa. External shots clearly depict a new apartment building. The characters never made reference to the move, and Jennifer and Mary Anne were still co-tenants in the new surroundings.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Larry acquires a reporter job working out of the basement of the "Chicago Chronicle", a fictional metropolitan newspaper, and helps Balki get a job in the "Chronicle" mail room. They are overseen by demanding city editor Harry Burns (Eugene Roche). Burns is phased out of the show by the end of season 3; the paper's publisher, Mr. Wainwright (F.J. O'Neill) is introduced later in season 3, and takes over as Larry's boss after Eugene Roche leaves the show. Mr. Wainwright appears through season 7. Balki's immediate supervisor is mail room head Sam Gorpley (Sam Anderson, who had portrayed a bank clerk in the season one episode "Check This" in which Balki opens his first bank account). Gorpley never warms to Balki (he sometimes calls him "the Mypiot") and insults him regularly. Lydia Markham is the "Chronicle"'s thin-skinned, multi-phobic advice columnist; she is played by Belita Moreno, who had previously played Edwina Twinkacetti in the first two seasons. Although Larry physically remains at his typewriter in the basement, he joins the investigative team of Marshall and Walpole (loosely based on the famed "Washington Post" duo of Woodward and Bernstein) in season 4. Larry's relationship with Jennifer matures as well.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Working as an elevator operator is Harriette Winslow (Jo Marie Payton-France). Her husband Carl (Reginald VelJohnson) is introduced in the fourth-season episode "Crimebusters", in which the couple moves into Larry and Balki's apartment building.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: In March 1988, midway through the third season, ABC moved "Perfect Strangers" from its successful Wednesday-night slot to Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. before "Full House". This was a key development in the formation of the ABC Friday-night comedy block that later became known as "TGIF". Later moving to the 9/8c slot on Friday nights in the fall of 1989, "Perfect Strangers" remained an anchor of ABC's Friday-night programming until it was unsuccessfully moved to Saturday nights in February 1992.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: In the fall of 1989, after two seasons on "Perfect Strangers", Harriette's character was given her own spin-off series, "Family Matters". Joining "Perfect Strangers" in the TGIF lineup, "Family Matters" eventually ran longer than its parent show. Harriette was not seen again on "Perfect Strangers", although an early "Family Matters" episode explained that she had been fired as the elevator operator, only to be re-hired as chief of security at the "Chronicle". Carl became a main character on "Family Matters".


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Shortly after the sixth season opened, the producers attempted to add a child character to the show. Tess Holland, as played by Alisan Porter (who had starred on ABC's short-lived "Chicken Soup" the previous fall), was introduced as the troublemaking-but-immensely-cute little girl who lived upstairs from Larry and Balki. Tess appeared in the season's second episode, "New Kid on the Block", when Balki agrees to babysit her, causing an uproar both at home and at the "Chronicle". While Porter was supposed to be on full-time, and even credited in the opening title sequence of the episode, she was suddenly dropped, never to be seen again. The experiment of adding a child to the cast was partially influenced by the network as well, since ABC's TGIF lineup was wishing to incorporate the child-and-preteen demographic into its audience. While the content of "Perfect Strangers" could often appeal to the family as a whole, it had never had children in the regular cast. A similar infusion happened a few months later on sister show "Going Places", which had also started with a more adult tone.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: While Larry and Jennifer's romance blossomed, Balki and Mary Anne's relationship moved more slowly: the pair would get very close, but then back off after fleeting moments of passion, then drift back into affection. Many viewers' predictions came true near the beginning of season 6, when Larry proposed to Jennifer, after feeling competition from her old flame who was trying to woo her back. Jennifer accepted, and in the season finale they set a wedding date. As the 6th season (1990–91) closed, it was clear that despite Larry's impending marriage, his and Balki's relationship would somehow remain a focal point of the show.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: At season seven's beginning (which premiered in September 1991), Larry and Jennifer's marriage meant that "Perfect Strangers" would move in a different direction. Larry and Jennifer move into a large Victorian house, then discover that they cannot afford the rent without additional roommates: Balki and Mary Anne. At midseason, Balki receives a promotion at the "Chronicle", drawing a weekly comic strip based on his stuffed sheep, Dimitri. Gorpley and Lydia make occasional appearances throughout the season, but are gradually phased out as they have little relevance to Larry and Balki's new career paths.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: With Larry and Jennifer happily married, the series turns toward Balki and Mary Anne's relationship. In the season's last several episodes, Mary Anne stops seeing Balki and moves out of the house. In the April 1992 season finale, Balki and Mary Anne resolve their differences and suddenly marry; the episode and season conclude with the couple on their way to an extended honeymoon in Mypos—and with Jennifer telling Larry that they are expecting.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The first episode of season eight picked up several months after the end of season seven, by which time Jennifer is visibly pregnant. Balki and Mary Anne returned from Mypos, revealing that Mary Anne was also well into a pregnancy. For the eighth season, the "Chronicle" storylines were phased out, with the series shifting its full attention to the home life of the characters. The series ended with a two-part episode "Up Up and Away", with each heralding the birth of a baby (first Robespierre, son of Balki and Mary Anne, and then Tucker, son of Larry and Jennifer). The last scene segues in and out of a musical montage of memorable scenes from the series to the tune of "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole. The closing credits showed the cast bowing before the studio audience with Mark Linn-Baker saying, "Thank you all for being with us. Good night." Though it was not shown in the episode, co-stars Pinchot and Linn-Baker then did the "Dance of Joy" for the studio audience one last time.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: "Perfect Strangers" was produced by Miller-Boyett Productions in association with Lorimar-Telepictures, which later became Lorimar Television in 1988. The show, for its entire run, was executive produced by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett, and series creator Dale McRaven was executive producer with them for the first two seasons, becoming an executive consultant thereafter. William Bickley and Michael Warren, who became longtime associates of Miller and Boyett, were supervising producers during seasons one through four, elevating to co-executive producers in season five and finally executive producers with Miller and Boyett from seasons six through eight. Chip and Doug Keyes, who also served as producers on Miller and Boyett's first project under Lorimar, "Valerie" (later "The Hogan Family"), were producers on "Perfect Strangers" during its first season. Others who joined or remained on the production staff for several seasons included Paula A. Roth (who eventually became a principal showrunner in the seventh season alongside the senior executive producers), Alan Plotkin, Terry Hart, James O'Keefe, and the team of Barry O'Brien & Cheryl Alu.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Robert Griffard and Howard Adler, who joined the show in its third season as writers and executive story consultants, were promoted to co-producers in season five. At the end of the 1989–90 season, Griffard and Adler launched pre-production on their own series developed by Miller/Boyett, "Going Places", which followed "Perfect Strangers" on "TGIF" the following season. Later seasons saw the arrival of such producers as Shari Hearn and Tom Devanney.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: In 1991, Bickley and Warren launched their own production plate, Bickley-Warren Productions, as associates to Miller/Boyett. The Bickley-Warren Productions entity oversaw "Family Matters", "Step by Step" and "Getting By" for Miller/Boyett, and alone were later the producers of "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper" and "Kirk", both of which were produced by Warner Bros. Television (which absorbed Lorimar Television in 1993). Despite the existence of the Bickley-Warren plate during the final two seasons of "Perfect Strangers", and the fact that Bickley and Warren were still active as producers on "Strangers", the Bickley-Warren logo was never added to the show's closing credits as an associate production company.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Within a year after "Perfect Strangers" finished production, many of its existing production staff (namely O'Brien & Alu, Plotkin, co-producer Michael J. Morris and executive story consultant Scott Spencer Gorden) were all assigned to sister series "Getting By" at the start of its second season (1993–94).


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The show's theme song, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now", was written by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay, who had composed the themes for other Miller-Boyett series, including "Full House", "Step by Step," and "Perfect Strangers" spin-off "Family Matters". Frederick and Salvay also composed the show's musical score for the entire first two seasons; for the remaining seasons, the score compositions rotated between Frederick and Salvay, Steven Chesne and/or Gary Boren. The theme was performed by David Pomeranz. The music was rearranged and the lyrics re-recorded for season three and the music was rearranged slightly in season five.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: During seasons one and two, the opening sequence begins with images of Balki and Larry wiping sideways from opposite sides of the screen to meet in the middle, with the series title superimposed on top. Larry is shown saying good-bye to his family as he leaves his home in Wisconsin, and drives to Chicago in his old red Ford Mustang. The sequence then shifts to Balki, who is shown making his own farewells on Mypos before being driven off on the back of a horsecart, sitting alongside a box mislabeled "America or Burst". Balki is next seen on the tramp steamer as he sights the Statue of Liberty, then on a bus, presumably making his way to Chicago. After a brief shot of Larry driving under a "Welcome to Chicago" sign (in reality, located on eastbound Interstate 190 leading out of O'Hare International Airport), the sequence ends with the same shot of Balki and Larry together that began the sequence. The first season featured a script font for the series title and credits. For the second season, the show's title appears more similar to later seasons, and the script font is replaced with the fonts similar to that used in the remaining seasons. The Lake Shore Drive footage is now shown correctly. Additionally, the Larry and Balki sequences are shortened so that brief clips from some of the early episodes could be shown.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: For season three, the opening sequence was overhauled. The sequence begins with a close-up on Larry and Balki on the back of a tour boat heading east down the Chicago River, then zooming out to show them traveling under the Irv Kupcinet Bridge (the Wrigley Building and the now-demolished Sun-Times building can be seen in the background). A much larger version of the second season series title is superimposed on this image. During the third season only, light sparkles across this title. The sequence briefly recaps Larry and Balki's journeys to Chicago using footage from the earlier seasons. When Larry passes under the "Welcome to Chicago" sign this time, the sequence cuts to new footage of Larry and Balki around Chicago, including jogging in Lincoln Park, Balki greeting the female driver of a horse-drawn cab, Larry reading a newspaper from the newsstands, braving a wind gust on a city street, attending a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field, and messing around in a revolving door. After a view of an El train moving over the city street, the sequence concludes with Larry and Balki emerging from the subway to attend the Chicago Theatre. The theater marquee shows, appropriately enough, Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple". The new location shots were filmed on September 11 and 12, 1987. This sequence remained the same from season three through the end of the series in season eight.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: As a brief salute to its parent series, in the opening credits of the spin-off series "Family Matters" for the first three seasons, the Winslow family is shown riding bicycles over the Irv Kupcinet Bridge, as seen from exactly the same vantage point as in the opening "Perfect Strangers" sequence.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The building used for the exterior shots of Larry and Balki's apartment for the first two seasons was the now non-existent Santa Rita Hotel, located at the south corner of S. Main St. and E. 11th St. in downtown Los Angeles, California. Since the series, the building has been remodeled and the upper stories removed. What remains of the building now houses several small shops and importers.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The apartment building seen in the exterior shots from seasons three through six (and two episodes of season seven) is located at the northwest corner of West Dickens Avenue and North Clark Street in Lincoln Park, Chicago, and little has changed in appearance today.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The "Chicago Chronicle" building is in actuality known as the London Guarantee Building, located at 360 North Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: There were a total of eight seasons in the series. The first and last seasons were six episodes each. The second through fourth seasons had 22 episodes each, and the fifth through seventh each had 24 episodes. There were a total of 150 episodes in the series.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: "Perfect Strangers"<nowiki>'</nowiki> ratings remained steady throughout its long run, usually ranking among Nielsen's top 40 programs for its first six seasons. It was never a massive hit, but consistently in a comfortable spot in the ratings, and it usually won its time slot on Friday nights.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: By the fall of 1991, ABC had been reaping the rewards of the successful TGIF and wanted to capitalize on the preteen-and-younger demographic for Saturday nights as well, in order to decrease competition from NBC’s popular Saturday evening lineup of adult-oriented sitcoms "The Golden Girls", "Walter and Emily", "Empty Nest" and "Nurses." In late January 1992, the network rolled out plans to launch a similar family-friendly comedy block for Saturday, also helmed by TGIF creator Jim Janicek. It was announced that "Perfect Strangers" would move from TGIF to join this new lineup to help it take off. On February 1, 1992, "Perfect Strangers" began airing in the 9 p.m. slot of I Love Saturday Night, the new TGIF sister lineup (which included "Growing Pains", "Who's the Boss?", and "Capitol Critters"). The series experienced a drastic decline in ratings. It dropped to #65 for the remainder of the season. In July 1992, ABC moved "Perfect Strangers" back to Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET to fill the timeslot with reruns until the new TGIF season began. The reruns that were aired won their timeslot as they had before.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: ABC had initially ordered 13 episodes to be produced for the show's eighth and final season, though the network ultimately shortened it to 6 episodes which were filmed during the summer of 1992, but broadcast from July 9 to August 6, 1993. The season was rated in the top 20 with its series finale attracting 15 million households and rated #11 for the week of August 1, 1993. The average Nielsen ratings for the entire run of eight seasons was #27. For the abbreviated eighth season, "Perfect Strangers" once again aired Fridays at 9:30/8:30c.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: From August 28, 1989, to July 13, 1990, reruns of the first four seasons of "Perfect Strangers" aired on ABC's daytime program block. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (former sister company to series production company Lorimar Television) distributed the series for broadcast television syndication from September 1990 to September 1997. USA Network aired reruns of the show from September 1997 to September 11, 1998. The WB 100+ carried the series from September 17, 2001 to December 2002.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The series aired on Nick at Nite, first with a 6-episode marathon on July 14, 2000, and then a special airing in November 2000; the series aired regularly in late nights from February 3 to September 20, 2003. TV Land aired reruns from August 2, 2002 to September 28, 2002 and January 3 to February 1, 2003, as part of its now-defunct "TV Land Kitschen" weekend late night block, though special episodes aired on the channel in December 2000, April and December 2001, December 2002, January and December 2003, and June 2005. From October 1 to November 1, 2007, ION Television aired reruns of "Perfect Strangers" on its primetime lineup Monday-Thursday nights at 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT). It is not currently broadcast on either broadcast or cable television in the U.S..


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Various episodes were seen on AOL's In2TV video-on-demand service starting in March 2006, though after AOL's June 2009 announcement of its split with Time Warner, the series was moved to the AOL Video site.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Outside of the United States, the series aired in the Netherlands by public TV, in Turkey by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation dubbed in Turkish. In Pakistan, reruns were carried by Pakistan Television Corporation in its original form. In Bangladesh, reruns were carried by BTV in its original form. The series aired in the United Kingdom (on BBC1), Australia and New Zealand (on Channel 2, now called TVNZ 2) in its original form; reruns aired in Australia on 7TWO between March and October 2011 and in 2013. The series aired in Bulgaria by BTV and in the Bulgarian language; Bulgarians know Balki mostly as a Greek. It aired in the Philippines by RPN 9 in its original form, it aired with Arabic subtitles in Kuwait on KTV2 and in Lebanon on Télé Liban (TL). The series aired in Ireland by RTÉ on Network 2 in its original form.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: On September 29, 2017, "Perfect Strangers" became available for streaming on Hulu along with fellow Warner Bros. TV properties "Family Matters", "Full House", "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper" and "Step by Step", in addition to Disney-ABC TV properties "Boy Meets World", "Dinosaurs" and "Home Improvement". "Perfect Strangers" would leave Hulu on October 1, 2021.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: "Perfect Strangers" had a spin-off series, the highly rated, long-running family sitcom "Family Matters", which aired from September 22, 1989, to July 17, 1998. The series was centered around Harriette Winslow (Jo Marie Payton) in the role she originated on "Perfect Strangers" (Harriette was played by Judyann Elder for the second half of season nine after Payton's departure), and her cop husband Carl (Reginald VelJohnson; the character was initially introduced on "Perfect Strangers" in the fourth-season episode "Crimebusters") and their family. The series, which initially garnered modest ratings for most of its first season, became a ratings hit after the Winslows' annoying, accident-prone, budding inventor next-door neighbor Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), was introduced midway through the show's first season.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: Neither "Family Matters" nor "Perfect Strangers" featured a direct crossover with the other, though Balki and Larry were originally scripted to appear in the pilot episode before the scene was cut from the broadcast. Mark Linn-Baker and Melanie Wilson each guest starred on the show, as a different character, and Linn-Baker directed another episode. Footage of the "Chicago Chronicle" building shot for "Perfect Strangers" appeared in the second episode of "Family Matters" and music originally written for "Perfect Strangers" was used during the early seasons of "Family Matters" as well. Several premises from popular episodes of "Perfect Strangers" ("Just Desserts", "Pipe Dreams" and "Blind Alley") were also recycled as first-season episodes of "Family Matters" ("Baker's Dozen", "Mr. Badwrench", and "Bowl Me Over", respectively).


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: The season four episode "Maid to Order" was released as part of a limited edition bonus disc of the complete first season DVD of "Night Court" on February 8, 2005 by Warner Home Video.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: In February 2008, Warner Home Video released seasons 1 and 2 of "Perfect Strangers" on DVD in Regions 1, 2 & 4. Further planned season releases ultimately did not materialize. In an article on TVShowsOnDVD.com regarding TV series with stalled DVD releases, it was mentioned that the main hold-up for any subsequent releases of "Perfect Strangers" is not poor sales but rather high music licensing costs. It is noted that the series sometimes featured popular songs within certain episodes, though the versions by the artists who originally performed them were usually not used; instead they were commonly sung a cappella by Mark Linn-Baker and/or Bronson Pinchot's characters whenever the script called for Balki and/or Larry to sing within the episode.


title: Perfect Strangers (TV series)

text: In July 2017, a representative for Warner Archive Collection indicated on a social media post that the remainder of the series would be released on DVD, with a formal announcement to be made in the near future. The complete third season was released on April 17, 2018, with the next three seasons being released later the same year, and the last two released in 2019.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: On April 18 and 19, 2020, Gabriel Wortman committed multiple shootings and set fires at 16 locations in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people and injuring three others before he was shot and killed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Enfield.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: For most of the thirteen-hour crime spree, Wortman was driving a replica RCMP cruiser and may have been wearing parts of an RCMP uniform. On December 4, three people, including Wortman's partner, were charged with supplying him with ammunition later used in the attacks.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Police were criticised for not using Alert Ready to warn the public about the attacks, as well as not responding to reports of Wortman's behaviour and previous acts of domestic violence. An investigation into law enforcement's response to the rampage, including the decision not to use Alert Ready, was launched. A public inquiry into the law enforcement response was declared on July 28 following escalating criticism of the investigation's lack of transparency.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The attacks are the deadliest rampage in Canadian history, exceeding the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, where 14 women were killed. On May 1, in the wake of the attacks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following through on a 2019 campaign promise, announced an immediate ban on some 1,500 makes and models of so-called "military-grade assault-style" weapons, including the types used in the attacks.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The attacks originated in the rural beachside community of Portapique, north of Halifax, when Wortman assaulted his partner at their cottage. During the assault, he poured gasoline throughout their cottage and set the residence on fire. Wortman then forced his partner to walk to their nearby warehouse and confined her in the back seat of his replica RCMP cruiser. She was able to escape and then hid in the woods until early the next morning. Wortman then set the warehouse on fire.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Beginning at 22:01, a number of Portapique residents called 9-1-1 to report gunshots and several fires. Investigative reporting by CBC News's "The Fifth Estate" examining the timeline of the events found that the first call came from the wife of a victim. The woman was then shot and killed as well while barricading a bedroom door and protecting her two sons. Wortman then attempted to set the house on fire, but the two sons escaped from the home. A third son of the victims said he believes Wortman targeted his father first during the attacks because he owned rifles and would have been able to stop him. At about 22:05, Wortman reportedly returned to his burning house where he killed a woman living across the street who had mistaken him for an RCMP officer responding to the fire. The woman's children took in the two sons of the first victims, and together they hid for several hours while on the phone with 9-1-1 waiting to be rescued.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: At 22:10, two of Wortman's neighbours drove to his house to investigate the fire while calling 9-1-1. Along the way, they passed by the house of a couple Wortman had shot and killed where they noticed what appeared to be a police car parked in front with its roof lights off. After confirming Wortman's house was on fire, the two drove back and encountered the same police car fleeing the scene of another house fire. As they pulled alongside the police car, Wortman fired at them with a handgun, injuring the driver in the shoulder. The two managed to flee in their vehicle.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: When the first three RCMP officers arrived on the scene at 22:26, they slowly entered the neighborhood on foot, eventually finding some of the victims. Police said many had died while trying to escape the flames or to help other victims. Some of the victims were not discovered until many hours later. One officer reported by radio that they could not locate the shooter and that "it's very bad, what's going on down here". "The Fifth Estate" reported that the first responding officers were "overwhelmed" and called for assistance in locating or engaging the shooter.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: First responders also found the neighbours that Wortman shot at identified him by name, said he had gone towards the beach, and that there was another unmapped exit from the neighborhood. They also informed the officers that Wortman was in a replica police vehicle, which was also previously reported by several 9-1-1 calls. At 23:32, the RCMP posted a tweet saying it was dealing with a "firearms complaint"; it asked residents of the Portapique area to stay inside with their doors locked, as officers set up a search perimeter of . Overnight, there was still confusion over whether Wortman had been apprehended and if he was the driver of the apparent police car. At the time, the RCMP was unable to use a helicopter to assist in the manhunt because their only Atlantic-based helicopter was unavailable due to routine maintenance.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The RCMP later determined that Wortman had left Portapique at around 22:45, 19 minutes after police first responded, by driving through a dirt road along a blueberry field, which the officers did not block off. Other witness evidence suggests Wortman left via the dirt road before 22:38 or left via an alternate route. After escaping, he spent the night parked behind a welding shop in the Debert area, about east of Portapique. There, he left behind police equipment and gun-related items in a ditch on the property of a resident he knew. At some point after, the RCMP's Emergency Response Team responded to Portapique. Before then, residents reported seeing little to no law enforcement presence in the area, despite seeing fires and making 9-1-1 calls to report gunshots.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: By 01:00, the RCMP had circulated internal bulletins to police agencies across Nova Scotia, identifying Wortman as a suspect who was "armed and dangerous" and associated with "an old white police car". At 05:43, Wortman left Debert and drove north on Highway 4 to a house whose residents he knew, located on Hunter Road in Wentworth, approximately north of Portapique. He arrived at around 06:30 and shortly thereafter killed the two occupants and their two dogs. Wortman then remained at the house for about three hours; what he did during that time is unclear.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: At around that time, police located Wortman's spouse in Portapique; she had fled to a neighbour's home to call 9-1-1 since Wortman had smashed her cellphone. She was barefoot and claimed to have been hiding outdoors for much of the night. She confirmed that he was impersonating a police officer and provided a photo of his replica police vehicle. A BOLO alert containing this updated information was issued to officers across the province at around 08:00, warning Wortman "could be anywhere" in Nova Scotia. However, the RCMP publicly announced that they were dealing with an active shooter situation in Portapique at 08:02. Wortman was publicly identified as the suspect at 08:54.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Wortman eventually set the house he was staying in on fire. As he left, he killed a neighbour who had been out for a walk when he saw the fire and tried to help. Wortman then began driving back south on Highway 4 toward Portapique at 09:23, and at 09:35, he shot and killed another victim while she was walking on the side of the road in Wentworth Valley. At around 09:45, he went to another house in Glenholme whose residents he knew, while armed and dressed in a police uniform. However, the occupants recognised him and refused to let him in, with an occupant arming himself with a 12-gauge shotgun to deter Wortman's entry. Wortman attempted to trick them into thinking he was an officer involved in the manhunt by calling out his own name and shouting, "Come out with your hands up," but the occupants called the police and he left. By 09:48, Wortman was seen near a campground in Glenholme.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Before 10:00, in Debert, Wortman performed two traffic stops on random cars, a few hundred metres apart, and killed their occupants. He was seen at 10:08 travelling through Debert and Onslow. In a tweet posted at 10:17, the RCMP for the first time warned the public that Wortman was impersonating a police officer and shared the photo of his vehicle. At the Onslow-Belmont fire hall (setup as a shelter for victims from Portapique), two RCMP officers mistook an emergency management officer for Wortman and opened fire without warning. They missed their target and continued their manhunt without checking on the occupants of the fire hall. Wortman was recorded on surveillance video passing through Truro at around 10:20, and then Millbrook First Nation at 10:25, where he briefly stopped in a parking lot to exchange his jacket for a reflective vest.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Sometime before 10:49, Wortman pulled alongside RCMP constable Chad Morrison's cruiser at the intersection of Route 2 and Route 224 in Shubenacadie, about from Debert. Morrison had planned to meet fellow officer Heidi Stevenson at that location. Wortman shot into the car with a handgun, injuring Morrison, who fled down Route 2 and took shelter at an empty paramedic station. He was eventually found by paramedics and was transported to hospital. Wortman proceeded less than south into the junction with Route 224 and collided head-on with Stevenson, who was driving north. Stevenson then engaged Wortman, resulting in him returning fire and killing her. Immediately after the engagement, he stole her sidearm and remaining ammunition before setting both cars on fire.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Wortman then shot and killed a nearby motorist who had stopped to help Stevenson and drove off in the victim's silver Chevrolet Tracker SUV. Police announced the vehicle change at 11:06. Shortly thereafter, Wortman killed a woman he knew at her Shubenacadie home, changed his clothes again, and stole her Mazda 3. By 11:24, he was spotted continuing south along Highway 102 through Milford.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Over thirteen hours after police began pursuing him, at 11:26, Wortman stopped to refuel at the Irving Big Stop service area in Enfield, south of Portapique and north of Halifax. Two RCMP officers arrived, one drawing his firearm as he exited the vehicle, immediately aiming at Wortman inside the car. Wortman raised Stevenson's sidearm to his head and fired, whereupon the officers fatally shot him.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Wortman's death was confirmed by police at 11:40 a.m. According to a partially redacted document, Wortman's spouse said he had been on his way to Halifax on the day of the attacks to "get" someone, and local authorities had to go to a residence to provide protection for its two occupants.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Wortman killed 22 people, including Constable Heidi Stevenson. The other officer he shot, Constable Chad Morrison, survived, as did the man he shot in Portapique who first reported his possible use of a police car. He tied up and injured his spouse before she escaped at the start of the rampage. Thirteen of the dead were found in Portapique, four in Wentworth, two in Debert, and three in Shubenacadie. They are believed to have died from gunshot wounds. Eight of the victims were found in the remains of structure fires. Wortman also killed two dogs and injured two others.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: According to RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki, some of Wortman's first victims were closely connected to him, but over time, those he attacked were selected more at random. "The Globe and Mail" reported that one of the victims in Wentworth had previously gone hunting with Wortman, while CBC News reported that another victim owned the property in Portapique that was subject to a dispute between Wortman and his uncle.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The official list of victims can be found in the Statement by Premier Tim Houston, read in the House of Assembly on April 14, 2022.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The RCMP identified the perpetrator as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, a denturist who operated two clinics in Halifax and Dartmouth, and who owned real estate in Halifax, Dartmouth, and Portapique. His estate, which consisted of six properties and three corporations, was valued at million. Wortman had been normally living above his Dartmouth clinic, but he owned a cottage in Portapique beginning in 2004. He had a close friendship and business association with a former Fredericton lawyer who died in November 2009 and left him all of his possessions, including one of the rifles used in the attacks. Wortman did not have a possession and acquisition licence, which would have been needed to legally possess the rifle.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: After the attacks, the decorative signs on Wortman's denture clinic on Portland Street in Dartmouth, portraying a large smile and a set of dentures, were the subject of complaints from the public. In response, Halifax Regional Police removed the signs on April 22. The building was demolished in January 2022.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Wortman had previously pleaded guilty to assault in 2002 and was sentenced to nine months of probation, in which he was prohibited from possessing weapons and ordered to undergo anger management counselling.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Wortman was also involved in two civil lawsuits regarding property disputes according to interviews and public records. In 2004, he offered to help a friend who had financial difficulties and was about to lose his house. Wortman then discreetly took ownership of the house, evicted the man, and sold the property. In 2015, Wortman's uncle lent him a house that he purchased in Portapique while selling his Edmonton condominium. Wortman refused to release the property back to him, claiming he was owed money, until the uncle eventually sold it; one of the buyers later became a victim in the killings.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Witnesses described Wortman as paranoid, manipulative, and controlling. According to Wortman's uncle, Wortman and his mother were abused by his father, a chronic petty thief who liked to manipulate the system to avoid paying money and that Wortman may have learned those habits from him. A cousin described Wortman as "almost a career criminal" who did "a lot of stuff but never got caught." A neighbour said Wortman was obsessed with his spouse and tended to be "jealous about things with her". Residents were suspicious that Wortman was stockpiling gasoline and propane tanks, and they reported hearing him brag about having lime and muriatic acid to dispose of bodies.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Neighbours also said that Wortman struggled with alcohol use and his business was negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced all non-essential denturist services in Nova Scotia to close. According to his spouse, Wortman, who took her across Nova Scotia in the hours before the attacks, had been "consumed" by the pandemic for weeks and believed he was going to die. He was also fearful that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would begin controlling money, which prompted him to make hefty bank withdrawals. Additionally, Wortman communicated with an acquaintance via email about how other people were not prepared for it and how he was "well-armed" in advance.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: According to his yearbook, Wortman aspired to become a police officer. However, his partner informed police after the attacks that Wortman disliked law enforcement and "thought he was better than them". He had a hobby of buying law enforcement memorabilia and refurbishing old police cruisers. At the time of the attacks, he was in possession of four such cruisers. Police found two of them on fire at his Portapique property and a third at his Halifax property, while Wortman initially drove the fourth during the attacks. One person called Wortman's home a "shrine" for the RCMP. He stored two of the vehicles behind his denture clinic.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: According to a businessman in Dieppe, Wortman inquired about buying a decommissioned RCMP cruiser from him in 2017 or 2018, claiming to be a retired officer who wanted to park the vehicle outside his house to deter thieves. For price reasons, he did not buy it. A witness claimed Wortman tended to dress up in a police uniform and role-play.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: On at least four occasions police were alerted to the gunman's behaviour. In 2001, he reportedly assaulted a 15-year-old boy.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: In June 2010, Wortman was investigated by Halifax Regional Police for threatening his parents, but no official action was taken due to a lack of evidence. In May 2011, Truro Police received a tip from an unnamed source via email about Wortman's stash of guns and his desire to "kill a cop". The tipster warned about Wortman's recent stress and mental health issues and said he always kept a handgun close by. The tip was transferred to the Nova Scotia RCMP for jurisdictional reasons, but it is unclear what action was taken by them. The tip was ultimately purged from their records as is standard protocol according to an RCMP spokesperson.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: A former neighbour in Portapique said he reported Wortman to the RCMP in the summer of 2013 for assaulting his spouse and having a cache of illegal firearms, but they declined to take firmer action due to not receiving a complaint from the partner. The former neighbour ended up leaving Portapique after Wortman became more aggressive and threatening to his spouse in response to the complaint. The RCMP confirmed they had received the neighbour's complaint but that the file had since been purged from their records.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: No motive has been established for the attacks. Over 25 different units of the RCMP were involved in the criminal investigation, along with the Halifax Regional Police and the Canada Border Services Agency. The Canadian Armed Forces were also dispatched on April 21 to assist the RCMP in their investigation by providing them with additional personnel and supplies. There were a total of 16 crime scenes, including five structure fires, spread over a distance of at least , along with 500 identified witnesses.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The man from whom Wortman had previously considered buying a police car said that he was warned by police during the incident that he was considered a possible target. However, Wortman ultimately never attacked him during the rampage.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The Nova Scotia RCMP Major Crime Unit launched a tip hotline to gather further information about the attacks.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: On May 11, the RCMP's Behavioral Analysis Unit launched a "psychological autopsy" on Wortman, which involved extensive interrogations with his friends, family members, and colleagues. It found that he was an "injustice collector", a criminology term for those who keep track of perceived slights and petty grievances that occur over many years.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said that Wortman had no possession and acquisition licence and his weapons were illegally purchased. Superintendent Darren Campbell said five firearms were recovered from the stolen vehicle Wortman was driving in Enfield. Four of them belonged to Wortman: two semiautomatic handguns and two semiautomatic rifles, one of which was described as a "military-style assault rifle". The fifth was Stevenson's stolen service pistol, a 9mm Smith & Wesson. Police also said that while one of Wortman's firearms had originated in Canada, via the estate of a former associate who died in 2009, all of the others likely came from the United States.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: On November 20, the "National Post" acquired a briefing note sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau days after the shooting, which identified the four firearms owned by Wortman and used by him in the attacks. According to the note, the rifles were a Colt Law Enforcement Carbine and a Ruger Mini-14, both of which were among the firearm models and variants banned by the Canadian government in the wake of the attacks. The pistols were a .40-caliber Glock 23 and a 9mm Ruger P89. Further information on the firearms and ammunition was released by court orders in December.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The Mini-14 was the firearm Wortman acquired from his former associate's estate, having been imported into Canada and legally purchased in a Winnipeg gun store beforehand. A Canadian gun policy expert said that, while a possession and acquisition licence was required for someone to legally possess a Mini-14, the executor of an estate is allowed to temporarily own the estate's firearms. Conversely, the Colt was sourced to a gun store in California and the pistols to a gun store in Mattawamkeag, Maine. Wortman was said to have had acquaintances living in Maine; one confirmed to police that Wortman stole the Glock 23 from him and later said it was for his own protection, while another confirmed he loaned the Ruger P89 to Wortman "sometime within the last two to five years." An acquaintance also told police that the Colt was obtained at a gun show in the U.S. by an individual who gave it to a friend of Wortman's, who then gave it to Wortman himself. The Colt and both pistols were previously classified as restricted in Canada, meaning Wortman would have needed to complete a more detailed safety course and background check in order to legally own them. However, these firearms were illegally smuggled into the country. In addition, the briefing note said Wortman was in possession of high-capacity magazines, which are illegal in Canada. The pistols were also equipped with laser sights.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Leather noted that Wortman's use of a police cruiser and a police uniform allowed him to evade detection for a long time. Owning police vehicles or uniforms is not a crime in Canada, but impersonating a police officer is. CBC News reported that at least one RCMP officer had previously taken note of one of Wortman's replica vehicles and advised him not to drive it on the road. Officials later said Wortman had acquired the specific vehicle he used in the attacks, a 2017 Ford Taurus, at an auction in fall 2019. It was recoloured white and stripped of its police accessories at the time of its purchase, a routine process for any recently decommissioned RCMP vehicle. Police confirmed Wortman had estranged relatives who were retired RCMP officers, but he had not obtained any police uniforms from them. The RCMP looked into the navigation logs of Wortman's vehicles to determine if the route he took during the attacks was predetermined.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Wortman is believed to have worked on refurbishing the decommissioned police vehicle used in the attacks over the course of nine months. The RCMP determined the decals used for the vehicle came from a supplier, but that they were made without the business owner's permission. The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, a Canadian money-laundering watchdog agency, found that Wortman purchased police-themed vehicle accessories via PayPal, and that PayPal flagged a number of these transactions as suspicious between March 22 and December 5, 2019. Wortman's spouse said that he purchased police gear in both Canada and the U.S. According to records from the Canada Border Services Agency, Wortman crossed the Canada–United States border through Woodstock, New Brunswick, fifteen times within the previous two years with his most recent return to Canada being on March 6.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: In the weeks before the attacks, Wortman liquidated his bank accounts and withdrew a large sum of money in cash. News magazine "Maclean's" reported that a withdrawal from Brink's and other evidence pointed to Wortman having ties to organised crime and being a confidential informant for the RCMP. In response to the allegations, the RCMP denied having any prior association with Wortman, saying his recent behaviour and stockpiling activities were driven by paranoia about the COVID-19 pandemic possibly growing out of control and leading to a widespread institutional and infrastructural collapse. However the RCMP Operations Manual authorizes them to lie to the public and government outside of a court to protect the identity of confidential informants and sources. They also said they found a fireproof safe containing hundreds of thousands of dollars at his Portapique property. A total of was seized from the remains of Wortman's cottage after the attacks. A financial audit has been conducted as part of the investigation.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: On July 27, court documents were unsealed, detailing police interviews with witnesses who claimed Wortman was a drug smuggler who provided people in Portapique and nearby unincorporated community of Economy with drugs from Maine. These witnesses alleged Wortman had stockpiles of guns and drugs, along with false walls and hidden compartments, in his properties. The RCMP confirmed three days later that Wortman had kept hidden compartments in buildings, but they were unable to corroborate the drug smuggling claims. Another witness claimed Wortman had two crates of grenades acquired in the U.S.; a lawyer representing the victims' families reported that one of his clients found, at a crime scene in Portapique, wooden ammunition cases that could have been used to store grenades. Additional witnesses told police that Wortman and an associate tended to travel to the U.S. and smuggle cigarettes, alcohol, and presumably other illegal items from there, using a sailboat the associate owned.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: In this context, the Nova Scotia Judge has ordered those certain amendments to the search warrant documents relating to the RCMP investigation into the events of April 18–19 remain unedited. The decision was made in response to an appeal to the court by the media coalition, which includes the Halifax Examiner. For its part, the RCMP issued a 1,600-word statement rebutting most of the details, saying that evidence was obtained from only one of the hundreds of people interviewed in the case.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: On December 4, Wortman's spouse, her older brother, and a brother-in-law were charged with providing Wortman ammunition that he used in the attacks. The spouse was believed to have transferred .223 Remington and .40 Smith & Wesson cartridges, all of them purchased in Nova Scotia, between March 17 and April 18, 2020. However, the RCMP acknowledged that the three cooperated in the investigation and had "no prior knowledge" of Wortman's actions. Their arraignment was scheduled for January 27, 2021. On that day, the cases were adjourned until March 9, 2021.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) announced it would conduct an investigation into the police shooting of Wortman, as well as another incident involving two RCMP officers who discharged their weapons inside a fire hall in Onslow; Wortman was not there at the time. On December 17, SIRT finished their review of Wortman's death and concluded the officers' actions were justified. A Global News investigation of the Onslow incident found indications that the officers involved mistook a third RCMP officer and an Emergency Management Office employee stationed at the fire hall for Wortman, but the SIRT investigation remains ongoing.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: In an interview with "As It Happens" on April 25, Commissioner Lucki promised a thorough review of the police response to the attacks, including the delay in informing the public about Wortman potentially impersonating a police officer.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Following the attacks, many questions were raised about why Nova Scotia failed to use Alert Ready, Canada's mandatory emergency population warning system, to warn the public about the attacks but instead chose to use social media platforms Twitter and Facebook to provide updates. RCMP officials said they had been dealing with an unfolding situation and details were being updated frequently. However, the areas affected had poor cellular Internet service and were mostly populated by seniors who might not have used social media. Relatives of the victims pointed out that the use of Alert Ready could have saved lives. Chief Superintendent Leather said an investigation would be conducted into the decision-making process on alerting the public.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: On April 22, Leather said officers in Dartmouth were asked by the province about a warning at 10:15 a.m., but they did not agree on details like wording before Wortman died 71 minutes later. The United States Consulate in Halifax said it emailed US citizens in Nova Scotia warning them of the situation using the RCMP's information.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: On July 28, 2020, federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announced a public inquiry. The federal and provincial governments had previously considered a more narrow "joint review," but, following public outcry and protests held by victims' families, they agreed to hold a more expansive public inquiry. The public inquiry does not have the power to compel testimony, and the RCMP Operations Manual authorizes the police force to lie to a public inquiry to protect the identity of informants and police assets.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Formally titled the Joint Federal/Provincial Commission into the April 2020 Nova Scotia Mass Casualty (or the Mass Casualty Commission), it was officially established on October 21 via an Order in Council issued by the Government of Canada and Province of Nova Scotia. The terms of the Order in Council of the Government of Canada (PC Number: 2020-0822 dated October 21, 2020), in English and French, were published on the website of the Government of Canada. The full text of a certified copy of an Order in Council of the Province of Nova Scotia (Number 2020-293) can be found on the provincial Government's platform. The federal and provincial governments jointly selected three commissioners to conduct the inquiry: J. Michael MacDonald (former chief justice of Nova Scotia), Leanne J. Fitch (retired police chief), and Dr. Kim Stanton.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The independent public inquiry was created to examine the mass casualty in Nova Scotia and to provide meaningful recommendations to keep communities safe in the future. The list of the Commission Team, information on its Mandate, the Research Advisory Board, and the other Foundational Documents and Commissioned Reports were published on the Commission's site. The inquiry included mandates on probing the RCMP response and the role gender-based violence played, and was expected to deliver an interim report by May 1, 2022, followed by a final report six months later. In May 2022, the Interim Report of the Commission on Mass Victims was published by the Joint Federal-Provincial Commission of Inquiry into Nova Scotia Mass Casualty.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Also, there is a webcast which operates on an ongoing basis to broadcast the public proceeding, which informs the public about the work of the commission.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his condolences and delivered remarks on the mass shooting tragedy in Nova Scotia. During his morning address from Rideau Cottage on April 20, he reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening gun control. Trudeau also stated, "A gunman claimed the lives of at least 18 people. Among them, a woman in uniform, whose job it is to protect lives, even if it endangers her own, constable Heidi Stevenson of the RCMP" and asked the media to not use the attacker's name or image: "Do not give this person the gift of infamy."


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: On April 19, 2020, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, issued a statement on the shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia, saying:


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil told reporters, "This is one of the most senseless acts of violence in our province's history." He expressed his condolences to the residents affected and the families of the victims.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, expressed her condolences, saying that she and Prince Philip were "saddened by the appalling events", and that her thoughts and prayers were with the people of Nova Scotia and all Canadians. She also paid tribute to the "bravery and sacrifice" of the RCMP and other emergency services.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: The White House condemned the attacks and expressed US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump's condolences. Statement from the Press Secretary released the following: “As friends and neighbors, we will always stand with one another through our most trying times and greatest challenges. The United States strongly condemns these murders, and our prayers are with the victims and their families”. Condolences for the victims were issued by other countries as well.


title: 2020 Nova Scotia attacks

text: Since the attacks, the lack of transparency in the investigation has been strongly criticised, and calls have been made for a public inquiry into the police response, including by dozens of senators from Nova Scotia and across the country. On June 3, Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey announced a public inquiry of some kind will be held in the near future, but a month later, he said the proceedings into the inquiry's formation were being hampered by legal technicalities. On July 28, federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announced that a public inquiry would take place.