SAN FRANCISCO TWEAK

As her first assignment upon her return to TV news reporting, Kate Vasser was assigned to cover the San Francisco Board of Supervisors ('Journeyman' - "Winterland").

In the TV Universe, this is for now a tenuous link to 'Phyllis'. In the second season of this spin-off from 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', Phyllis Lindstrom went to work as the assistant to Dan Valenti on that board. Also on the board at that time back in the 1970s was Leonard Marsh, whose assistant was Harriet Hastings.

It's thirty years on now, and time marches on for TV characters as well. I think Valenti and Marsh have either retired, moved into some other realm of politics, or perhaps their characters have died even though the actors who played them are still very much with us. (I met Carmine Caridi, who played Dan, a couple of weeks ago at work.)

So it's not likely that Katie is ever going to cross paths with Phyllis Lindstrom while on the job. And for more reasons than because it's not likely the producers of this sci-fi drama want to borrow a classic sitcom character.

Within Toobworld, Phyllis must be retired by now. In the Trueniverse, the writers' strike might just kill the show.......

BCnU!
Toby OB