


Freeform to bring back ‘Switched at Birth' in '17

You have questions. I have some answers.
?
A: The Freeform drama will be back for a fifth and final season beginning in January, more than a year after the end of the fourth season.
“In recent years, ‘Switched at Birth' has aired the first half of its season January through March, then unspooled the back half over the summer or fall — June through August or, last year, August through October,” TVLine.com reported. “Perhaps creating a bottleneck in the Freeform pipeline are the new series ‘Guilt,' ‘Dead of Summer' and ‘Beyond.'?”
?
A: Yes. In early May the streaming service announced a second-season pickup for the show about a family in a controversial cult.
?
A: Fans of the series' two-season run on BBC America have been longing for more, and you can find it now if you use streaming services. Hulu picked up exclusive rights to the third season of the action series, which it began carrying in May, along with the earlier seasons.
A: I think you are remembering a show about a detective called Mark Saber. According to “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows,” the series had several titles, including “Mystery Theater,” “Mark Saber — Homicide Squad,” “The Vise,” “Saber of London” and “Detective's Diary.”
It originally starred Tom Conway as the dapper British detective working with an American homicide squad.
But in 1955, South African actor Donald Gray became Saber, “a one-armed private detective in London.” Gray, whose arm had been amputated during World War II service, remained with the series until it ended in 1960.
?
A: No. The Federal Communications Commission used to set a maximum amount of advertising in radio and TV programs.
And the National Association of Broadcasters had a standards code for stations, which included commercial limits.
But a push for deregulation in the 1980s led to the end of those standards.
Ads in children's programs are still limited. But overall, broadcasters can have as many ads as they want, as well as product placement in shows and promotional graphics during programs.