THE LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES UPDATE

If George Clinton had truly appeared in this week's premiere episode of 'How I Met Your Mother', then he would be a direct link to fellow sitcoms 'Martin' and 'The Bernie Mac Show', as well as to the drama 'New York Undercover'. And as fans of the Westphallian concept on TV Crossovers already know, that FOX show leads to a cross-network linkage to the entire TV Universe thanks to an appearance by Dr. Olivet, a recurring character on 'Law & Order'.

But he appeared only in Marshall's lunatic imaginings on what Lily's life might be like now that they had broken up.

However, George Clinton's involvement was due to tickets for one of his concerts being purchased with Lily's credit card. So in a general sense, the Funkmeister does exist in 'HIMYM' in a fictional sense and so the connection to those other three shows is valid on a technicality.

Meanwhile, over at 'Justice', Harvey Levin got a great plug in for TMZ.com with a recommendation by Victor Garber's character of Ron Trott. Levin's appearance on the show as himself can be added to his appearances on 'The Sopranos' (listed in the credits as "Talk Show Host"), "JAG" (as "News Anchor"), and in the TV movie "American Tragedy". I'd even toss in 'The People's Court', where he was the legal reporter for a time.

I submit that in each of these appearances, Harvey Levin was appearing as himself. However, he was listed by his occupation at the time, rather than by name.

Thursday night will see singing star John Mayer appear as himself on the season premiere of 'CSI', which should make my younger cousin Lauren happy.

I'm taking a guess here, but I'll bet that with at least one of the songs he sings (Apparently he's doing two), Mayer's vocals will underscore a montage of scenes as the Forensics team continue their investigation during his concert.

Song montages are pretty popular in TV dramas the last few years, perhaps starting with 'The West Wing' but with 'Rescue Me' as the most likely candidate as biggest offender.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby