The Cure Is Worse Than the Maltese

Maybe you watched "L&O: CI" last night. If you did, you saw the Maltese Cross episode. I had never heard of the Maltese Cross before. I knew about The Maltese Falcon and the short story, The Maltese Cat. But not the Maltese Cross.

With so many choices, Maltese seems like an obvious choice for writers to use in ep names. Here's a list of Malta-related show titles:

• Maltese Airline Bag (''Eight Is Enough,'' 12/3/1980)
  
• The Maltese Canary (''The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries,'' 11/25/1995)
  
• The Maltese Chicken (''101 Dalmations,'' 11/7/1997)
  
• The Maltese Chotchke (''Kate & Allie,'' 11/4/1985)
  
• The Maltese Cow (''The A-Team,'' 12/13/1983)
  
• The Maltese Crichton (''Farscape,'' 8/4/2000)
  
• The Maltese Falcone (''Pig Sty,'' 5/1/1995)
  
• The Maltese Hamster (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,'' 9/29/1989)
  
• The Maltese Indian (''Renegade,'' 3/28/1997)
  
• The Maltese Mackerel (''Scooby-Doo,'' 9/25/1982)
  
• The Maltese Monkey (''Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys,'' 4/19/1997)
  
• Maltese Steele (''Remington Steele,'' 10/16/1984)
  
• Maltese Poodle (''Tom and Jerry Kids'')

Looks like most of them pay homage to The Maltese Falcon, doesn't it?