*In Search Of was a weekly half-hour program that aired in syndication for 5 seasons (1977-1982). It was preceded by three hour specials narrated by Rod Serling, who reportedly would have hosted the series had he not died in 1975.
*In the 1990s, A&E and History Channel reran the show; and a 2002 Sci-Fi Channel revival starred Mitch Pileggi. The complete series is available on DVD from Canadian company VEI.
*Leonard Nimoy did indeed write the Van Gogh episode of the series, the only one that he did.
*The Nimoy appearance on The Simpsons that Rick references is in the classic "Marge vs. the Monorail" from Season 4. He also appears in "The Springfield Files" in season 10, sending up his role as In Search Of host.
*The Loch Ness Monster roller coaster premiered at Busch Gardens amusement park in 1978 and is still there today!
*Beany and Cecil was a Bob Clampett puppet then animated series with a little boy and a lovable sea serpent.
*After the taping of this episode, new research pointed to the theory that Amelia Earhart died on a remote island after an emergency landing.
*Flight for Freedom, the 1943 RKO movie loosely based on Amelia Earhart, is available on home video from Warner Archive.
*Ball Four is still not available on DVD, but Fox introduced the baseball drama Pitch this season.
*Remember to visit our YouTube page for a playlist for this episode! It includes two versions of the Ball Four opening credits, including the series theme song by Harry Chapin and a pilot version with a different song (and a different cast, including Gary Sandy).
*Wikipedia offers this fascinating tidbit about Ball Four, which only aired 5 episodes
Ball Four aired at 8:30 PM Eastern time, which was during the Family Viewing Hour, an FCC-mandated hour of early evening "family-friendly" broadcasting. Consequently the writers had some trouble with the network's Standards and Practices in their attempt to portray realistic locker room scenes, especially the language used by the players. Pseudo-profanity such as "bullpimp" was disallowed, while "horse-crock" and "bullhorse" were approved.[2]
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