'Vegas' star was on WB show

Question: Could you tell me the name of the gorgeous young actress on "Las Vegas" who is tall with auburn or reddish long hair? I know at one time she was on a sitcom sort of like "Married . . . With Children."

Answer: The actress is Nikki Cox, who plays Mary Connell. She was a regular on the WB sitcom "Unhappily Ever After," which ran from 1995 until 1999.

Question: I remember a show on NBC about a family who lived in a suburb with big houses and nice cars, but I can't remember what it was called. I do remember that the family had some black neighbors with one or two children of their own, and they barbecued together all of the time.

The mother in the main family looked a lot like Holly Marie Combs of WB's "Charmed." Can you tell me the name of the show, who the actress was and what happened to it?

Answer: Sounds like "Hidden Hills," a sitcom that ran for a few months on NBC in 2002-03. The cast included Justin Louis, Paula Marshall, Dondre T. Whitfield, Tamara Taylor and Kristin Bauer.

You're thinking of the actress Marshall. And the show was canceled because not enough people watched it.

Question: In the Nike commercial featuring Lance Armstrong riding through different terrains and conditions, what is the music that is playing? Can I get it on a CD?

Answer: The music was composed especially for the commercial, and it's not yet on CD.

Question: Could you please tell me if the female singer in the group Black Eyed Peas was ever in a 1980s show called "Kids Incorporated"? She looks so familiar, and it's driving me buggy.

Answer: Wow. You really know your pop-divas-who-sprang-from-mid-1980s-kid-shows. Stacy Ferguson is the woman, and she played Stacy on the syndicated series "Kids Incorporated" from 1984 until 1989.

Question: My book club recently read and discussed "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" by Susan Vreeland. During the discussion a couple of people said the story reminded them of a movie, possibly a "Hallmark Hall of Fame"-type movie. Any help?

Answer: Yep.

"Girl in Hyacinth Blue" was made into a TV movie for "Hallmark Hall of Fame," except that it was retitled "Brush With Fate." The cast included Ellen Burstyn, Glenn Close and Thomas Gibson.

It's on DVD.

Question: I am in a little bind. A friend of mine and I have been watching the new Starbucks Espresso commercial where the band wakes the guy up by shouting his name to the tune of "Eye of the Tiger" and then they sing the rest of the song relating to his day at work.

The problem is that we can't seem to figure out what the first guy's name is. My friend thinks it is Glen, but to me it sounds like Ben. Could you help us clear this up?

Answer: Let me put it this way: The commercial's title is "Glen."