LAW OF LEVERAGES

Two series came back in my personal viewing area this week, which made me a very happy Vidiot.
First up, the second season of 'Leverage' on TNT, with the gang now working out of Boston (although it's filmed in Portland). And then there's the return of 'Kingdom' on WLIW-21, the Long Island PBS station.

'Kingdom' showed the first two episodes from the first season this week, but that's fine with me - I only first saw the show with the last episode of Season One on the last go-round. I fell in love with the quirky little town of Market Shipborough (reminiscent of Cicely, Alaska, ['Northern Exposure'] and Rome, Wisconsin, ['Picket Fences']).

And because I watched the episodes from both shows, it put me in mind of this possible Theory of Relateeveety Wish-Craft:

Should an episode of 'Leverage' ever need to cast someone to play Sophie Devaraux's mother on 'Leverage', then they should bring over Phyllida Law, who plays Aunt Auriel in 'Kingdom'.
Hopefully somebody out there will see this and take me up on the idea!

BCnU!

NUMBERS RUNNING: FLAT - NOT FLIGHT - 815

Trying my best to clean out my DVR and to stay cool this muggy day, and I'm not very successful at either.

But I have found yet another combination of "The Numbers" from 'Lost'.

And best of all, it's the most famous of the combinations from the sequence:
On the TV screen, the door-plate was pretty clearly seen as "815", but I can see from trying to make the image clearer that it could be interpreted as "813". I just can't seem to grab a copy of it precisely before she gets to this point in opening the door. At an earlier angle, it's more visible as "815".

And besides, wouldn't it be considered bad luck to label any apartment with a "13"?

BCnU!

NUMBERS RUNNING: 23 SKIDOO ("LIE TO ME")

I recorded 'Lie To Me' this week, even though it was a repeat because I missed the first half of the show when it first aired. I wanted to see how it all began.

And lucky me! I found another example of "The Numbers" from 'Lost' in the first two minutes, right there on one of the coroner wagons..... BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JOHN F. KENNEDY, JR.

Ten years ago: John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died when their single-engine plane, piloted by Kennedy, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard, Mass.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, JR.

AS SEEN IN:
"American Prince: The John F. Kennedy, Jr. Story"

AS PLAYED BY:
Kristoffer Polaha BCnU......

WHY I LOVE NEW YORK!

After going down to the East Village to see the final chapter of the 'Torchwood' mini-series*, I headed back to mid-town to meet up with some friends for drinks at the Ava Lounge in the Dream Hotel. And thanks to a bit of serendipiteevee, I arrived in time for a concert by Paul McCartney on the overhang of the Ed Sullivan Theatre.



Just by chance I was wearing my CBS visor, so a few folks I talked to thought I was out there shilling for the network!

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 07/2009-B: LEW WALLACE

For the second week of July, 2009, our TV Crossover Hall of Fame inductee is an historical personage as per our 10th anniversary theme this year. And since July is one of the months in which we celebrate the Western, I've chosen Lew Wallace as the inductee.

I wrote about Wallace last year as part of the salute to Charlton Heston after he died. Wallace had written the novel "Ben Hur" which was made into a movie starring Heston.

As Governor, General, or author, Lew Wallace has been portrayed on television several times over:

Rene Auberjonois (Gov. Lew Wallace) . . . Longarm (1988) (TV)
Wilford Brimley (Gov.Lew Wallace) . . . Billy the Kid (1989) (TV)

Matt Crowley (I) (General Lew Wallace) . . . "Philco Television Playhouse, The" (1948)
{The Death of Billy the Kid (#7.23)} TV Series
Frank Ferguson (I) (Lew Wallace) . . . "Tall Man, The" (1960)
{The Great Western (#1.37)} TV Series

Len Hendry (General Lew Wallace) . . . "Branded" (1965)
{A Destiny Which Made Us Brothers (#2.19)} TV Series

Forrest Lewis (Gen. Lew Wallace) . . . "Bronco" (1958)
{Death of an Outlaw (#2.13)} TV Series

Dayton Lummis (Lew Wallace) . . . "Death Valley Days" (1952)
{Shadows on the Window (#8.19)} TV Series
Cameron Mitchell (I) (Gen. Lew Wallace) . . . Andersonville Trial, The (1970) (TV)

Robert Warwick (I) (Governor Lew Wallace) . . . "Law of the Plainsman" (1959)
{Amnesty (#1.27)} TV Series

BCnU!

A CLOSER PSYCH-OUT

Was 'The Closer' channeling their inner 'Psych' this week? Near the end of the "Tapped Out" episode, a pineapple was prominently displayed in the Major Crimes squad room. It was all thanks to Lt. Provenza, who was trying to change his diet to include more fruit in order to please his new girl-friend.....

This does NOT mean 'The Closer' and 'Psych' can be linked, however. When all is said and done, sometimes a pineapple is just a pineapple......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: HONUS WAGNER

Last night the All-Star game was played, and today is a day of rest before the 2009 baseball season begins its second phase. So I thought it might be nice to take this opportunity to salute one of the first baseball stars......

HONUS WAGNER

AS SEEN IN:
"The Winning Season"

AS PLAYED BY:
Matthew Modine
From CNN:

The turn-of-the-century Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop known as "The Flying Dutchman," was one of baseball's all-time greats: an original Hall of Famer and revered player and coach, not to mention a feared hitter. He's still in the top 10 in several all-time hitting categories almost 100 years after he retired.

"The Winning Season," based on a children's book by Dan Gutman, concerns a teenager named Joe Soshack (Shawn Hatosy) whose family is in a financial bind. When Joe comes across an extremely valuable Honus Wagner baseball card in the garage of an elderly neighbor, he realizes that he may have the ticket to solve his family's financial problems.
However, the magical card has other ideas. Joe mysteriously finds himself in 1909 and meets the actual Wagner, whose Pirates team is taking on Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Through his relationship with Wagner, Soshack learns what is truly valuable.

In the pilot episode of 'Royal Pains', we saw that the Marshall family owned two copies of the Honus Wagner baseball card; a great example to show just how rich the family really was!

From Wikipedia, about the baseball card:

The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card depicts, Pittsburgh Pirates', Honus Wagner, a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time. The card was designed and issued by the American Tobacco Company (ATC) from 1909 to 1911 as part of its T206 series. Wagner refused to allow production of his baseball card to continue, either because he did not want children to buy cigarette packs to get his card, or because he wanted more compensation from the ATC. The ATC ended production of the Wagner card and a total of only 50 to 200 cards were ever distributed to the public. In 1933, the card was first listed at a price value of US$50 in Jefferson Burdick's The American Card Catalog, making it the most expensive baseball card in the world at the time.

In 2007, the card was sold to a California collector for $2.8 million. These transactions have made the Wagner card the most valuable baseball card in history. From TNT for "The Winning Season":

Honus Wagner was born Johannes Peter Wagner on Feb. 24, 1874.

Wagner made his major league debut in 1897.

He batted .344 his first year.

During his career, Wagner played shortstop for the Louisville Colonels and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wagner's nicknames include "The Flying Dutchman," "Hans" and "Honus."

Wagner batted .300 in 17 consecutive seasons, finishing his career with a .329 lifetime average.

Wagner was batting champion for the National League seven times.

Leading the league six times, Wagner stole 722 bases during his 21-year career.

Wagner retired with more hits, runs, RBIs, doubles, triples and stolen bases than any other National League player.

After retiring, Wagner became manager of his old team, the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 1936, Wagner was among the first five players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

BCnU!

FANFICCER'S FRIEND: FATHER TOM

I haven't done a Fanficcer's Friend post in a while; but with the passing of Karl Malden two weeks ago, I think I've found a good example to revive the theme.....

I've seen fanfic out there for 'The West Wing', a lot of it of course by shippers dedicated to Josh and Donna. But should anybody be inspired to write about the life of Jed Bartlet before he became President in his alternate TV dimension, then they might consider using Father Tom Cavanaugh as one of the characters.

Father Tom was the Bartlets' parish priest back in New Hampshire who was summoned to advise President Bartlet in the episode "Take This Sabbath Day". But how long has he known Jed Bartlet? Could it go back to the 1950s? If somebody wants to write fanfic about those younger days of Jed Bartlet in which he first met Father Tom, here's a picture of Karl Malden from "On The Waterfront", which could be used to illustrate the story.

With "Fanficcer's Friend", we never use pictures from other TV shows and then claim that it's for a different character played by that actor. (Although it is tempting sometimes.) But as most movies are from a different universe born of Mankind's creative spark, then they're fair game.

One last tip of the hat to the late, great Karl Malden.......

BCnU!

"HUNGTOURAGE" - A CROSSOVER WISH-CRAFT

My subway rides home in the morning are a great source of inspiration when it comes to Toobworld ideas. Which helps keep me from falling asleep and missing my stop!

Today I came up with a great way for HBO to cross over two of its sitcoms, which I'm throwing out there for some network suit to come along and steal. I'm just in it to better the world of the Toob, baby. Let somebody else grab the glory. (Before they're nibbled to death by ducks.)

'Entourage' takes place mostly in Hollywood, sometimes back home in Queens for the lads, and 'Hung' is set in the suburbs of Detroit. But the characters don't even have to meet to make this crossover work!

On 'Hung', I figure eventually Ray Dekker's moonlighting as a male escort will get him into trouble with the Law. It will probably lead to his exposure as a high school teacher and coach, and word of his huge tool will probably leak out as well.

It might not get much public notice outside of the Detroit area, but I think E, Vince Chase's manager, will somehow see the news coverage and realize that here's a story which would be perfect to develop into a movie for his boy Vince. A deal would be brokered by Ari with Ray's "pimp" Tanya for Ray's life story, and hopefully a movie could be made in which Vincent Chase plays Ray Drecker.
There ya go, HBO. Run it up whichever pole you like....

BCnU!