The Best Laid Planets of Mice and Men and Women

As I perused Publisher's Weekly's list of bestselling hardcover books, I came across John Gray's Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. I forgot that Gray's book was still the #2 non-fiction book ten years ago. His book was one of the top ten non-fiction books from 1993-1997 — an amazing five year run.

And I definitely forgot about how that book title pervaded pop culture. Of course, Gray wrote multiple book sequels. A board game was unveiled in 1998. The curtain rose on the Vegas musical comedy revue on September 18, 2000. The syndicated talk show hosted by Cybill Shepherd debuted on October 2, 2000.

We can only assume that the book's fame worked its way into TV ep titles too.

• Dick Is from Mars, Sally Is from Venus (''3rd Rock from the Sun,'' 1/30/1996)
  
• Women Are from Mars, Men Are from Saturn (''Moesha,'' 10/15/1996)
  
• Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Astoria (''Cosby,'' 4/27/1998)
  
• Veronica's from Venus, Josh's Parents Are from Mars (''Veronica's Closet,'' 1/7/1999)
  
• Kids Are from Earth, Parents Are from Pluto (''Arthur,'' 9/11/2000)

Just one observation. When a children's animated show like "Arthur" references you, that means your 15 minutes are definitely up. That should have been the first hint that the syndie talker might not last long since this ep of "Arthur" preemed less than a month before Cybill's failed chat show.