IN THE "ZONE"... AND OUT OF TOOBWORLD

With last Sunday's episode, we say good-bye to 'The Dead Zone'. Not that it was cancelled, although it may be. I don't know; I'm out of the loop.

No, it's aloha for the show when it comes to being a resident of Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld. 'The Dead Zone' will now have to take up residence in some alternate TV dimension. That's because the plotline called for the assassination of the Vice President. And it wasn't even Cheney!

Not that I'm advocating that, mind you.....

In the dimension of 'The Dead Zone', the Vice President was Eric Danbury, who was just a month younger than me. And now with his death, Maine Congressman Greg Stillson is in line to be nominated to succeed Danbury... even though he was deep in the conspiracy.

Just as the President of the main TV dimension should be the same as that in the Real World, so should it be for the Vice President. So in Toobworld, that means as of right now, the POTUS is George W. Bush and his Veep is Dick Cheney.

And even though we don't know the name of that President just yet, the fact that Eric Danbury was the VPOTUS pretty much guarantees that it won't be Dubya we find in the Oval Office.

So where does 'The Dead Zone' go? Can it be added to some other, established TV dimension?

Let's do a quick run-down (avoiding sitcom-based dimensions and the one based on TV movies):

'THE WEST WING'
Matt Santos has not yet taken office in the world of 'The West Wing' even though we saw him take the oath of office back in May's series finale. We were viewing the future, and that inauguration will take place in January of 2007. (The constitutional rules of transition run differently there.) And the assassination took place on August 26th of this year.

Even so, Santos indicated that Governor Baker would be his nominee to fill Leo McGarry's position as Vice President.

'COMMANDER IN CHIEF'
Before it was cancelled, 'Commander In Chief' was also in need of a new Vice President, but it looked as though President MacKenzie Allen was going to nominate her Chief of Staff, Jim Gardner.

'PRISON BREAK'
The other female President in a TV show, Caroline Reynolds, is also in need of a new Veep. (I'm beginning to smell a trend here!) She had vacated the position to assume the Presidency after the (suspicious) death of her predecessor.

But as that might become a future plot point in 'Prison Break', even though the conspiracy is on the back burner for now, we'd best dismiss it as an option.

'STARGATE SG-1'
Henry Hayes is the Chief Executive in the 'Stargate' dimension, and unlike with the other shows, the position has been filled for the Vice Presidency. Former senator (and thorn in the side) Robert Kinsey is the second-in-command, where he gained even more influence over the Stargate operations. (Hayes rightfully doesn't trust him because of his connections to the NID.)

The problem with these shows still in production is that at any time the characters of the POTUS and the Veep may come into play, and that includes 'The Dead Zone'. With Stillson in line to become Vice President, it looks like the show is getting ready to finally wrap up the storyline and bring it in line with the outcome of the original novel by Stephen King. In doing so, they'll probably introduce their President, and thus all those other pozzbilities will evaporate.

So more than likely, 'The Dead Zone' will be inhabiting its own dimension of its own making. At least most of those above-mentioned series had other shows to keep them company in their alternate dimensions. 'The West Wing' has 'Mr. Sterling' and 'Smallville'; I've placed 'The Agency' and 'The District' in with 'Prison Break'; and 'Stargate SG-1' has its own spin-off, of course - 'Stargate: Atlantis'. ('Commander In Chief' might have an episode of 'Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes' in its future.....)

Perhaps we can eventually some shows that could keep 'The Dead Zone' company. Any suggestions? Because I just thought of a few....

Remember those USA Network promos in which Johnny Smith met Adrian 'Monk' and Shawn Spencer of the 'Psych' Detective Agency? (He also met the televersion of some Real-World wrestler.) And 'Monk' went on to meet Sean Farrell of 'The 4400'.

Well, I'm not willing to give up on those shows as being part of the main TV Universe just yet. For now, I'll claim that the promos featured the alternate counterparts of those characters, and that they still exist in Toobworld Prime.

They may not be the characters from the actual shows, but at least Johnny has somebody to keep him company in the 'Zone'.....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby