The New York Daily News had an exclusive this morning, announcing the death of a superhero icon:
CAPTAIN AMERICA KILLED!
BY ETHAN SACKS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Captain America is dead. The Marvel Entertainment superhero, created in 1941 as a patriotic adversary for the Nazis, is killed off in Captain America #25, which hits the stands today.
At the end of the article, there's a snapshot profile of the comic book character:
'LIFE' OF AN AMERICAN HERO
Created: March 1941
True Identity: Steve Rogers
Born: July 4, 1917
Birthplace: Lower East Side
Current Home: Red Hook, Brooklyn
Superpowers: None (Super Soldier serum makes him a "nearly perfect human being")
Weapon: His red,white and blue discus-like shield
Archenemy: Red Skull
Pop Culture Moment, Film: Easy Rider, Peter Fonda's character is nicknamed Captain America.
Pop Culture Moments, Music: The Kinks' song, Catch Me Now, I'm Falling, has this lyric: "This is Captain America calling." Guns N' Roses' Paradise City: "Captain America's been torn apart, now he's a court jester with a broken heart."
According to the Marvel Wikia, that misses out on several songs which feature the hero, but the profile also doesn't mention the Captain America of Toobworld.
Back in 1979, there were two TV movies which were probably serving as pilots for a possible series, starring Reb Brown as Captain America. The backstory of Steve Rogers becoming the "super-soldier" during WWII was dropped in favor of making the character more contemporary. No need to keep him frozen in an iceberg for forty years; Rogers didn't take the super-soldier serum (now called the FLAG formula) until 1979. This also meant that Cap's tele-version wasn't born in 1917 like in the comic books, but in the 1940s.
However, Steve Rogers learned in the pilot that his father previously operated as "Captain America" after having taken the serum in his prime, so the super-hero may have operated back in WWII after all. Confirmation of that can be found in the 'Angel' episode "Why We Fight" when a crewman named Hodge remarked, "He's some sort of super soldier like Steve Rogers, or Captain America."
O'Bviously, the Steve Rogers played by Reb Brown was Steve Rogers, Jr.
With the second pilot there was an attempt at improvements, with Connie Selleca replacing Heather Menzies as Dr. Wendy Day, and the addition of the legendary Christopher Lee as the villain. (The character of Miquel isn't going to rank up there with Saruman, Scaramanga, Count Dracula, or even Count Dooku, however.)
The pilots never took flight as a series, of course. One look at a picture of Reb Brown in his costume proves that the producers didn't have a handle on how to properly present the character.
Matt Salinger appeared in a direct-to-video movie about Captain America in 1990, but that was probably intended for theatrical release originally and not for Television. Let it slug it out with the 1940s serial as to who should represent the Cineverse.
There's also the animated version to be found in The Tooniverse who's appeared in several different cartoon series over the years (among them 'Spiderman', 'X-Men: Evolution' and 'Marvel Superheroes').
Although it's not Reb Brown playing the role, Captain America has also appeared in TV commercials which can be considered part of the main Toobworld. One is for the Visa Check Card, and the other is part of the "Got Milk?" campaign. Hidden behind the mask, and with limited dialogue, I think it's safe to give these blipvert Captain Americas a pass as to being one and the same with Reb Brown's portrayal.
Except for any possible future appearances in TV commercials, I see no reason why it can't be possible for the Captain America of the main Toobworld to share the same fate as the comic book original. It's not like Reb Brown is ever going to come back in the role; he didn't have the luxury of a block of ice to keep him preserved all these years since 1979. If the character does ever come back in a TV movie, series, or special, a new actor would be found to play the role and so the project would be catapulted into an alternate TV dimension.
It's not like superheroes of Toobworld haven't passed away before - in Earth Prime-Time, Superman (as played by George Reeves) is dead. (It's the Toobworld conceit that he absorbed radioactive Kryptonite in the Nevada desert back in the early sixties while saving Luca and Paulie from an A-bomb test between seasons of 'Crime Story'.) And once Clark Kent was no longer around to protect the secret he shared with Superman, the whole world became privy to who he was and in the case of Jerry 'Seinfeld', knowing who Kal-El's father was.
Of course, Superman still exists in other TV dimensions, as proven by 'Lois & Clark: The Adventures Of Superman', 'The Adventures Of Superboy', and 'Smallville'.
It's only for the sake of future blipverts that I'd keep Captain America alive in Toobworld. And it wouldn't be the first time a TV character didn't share the same fate as the original version. (Richard Widmark as 'Madigan' is a good example of that.)
Whether or not Captain America still lives in Earth Prime-Time, his exploits since 1979 brought him to the attention of the world at large. Whenever other residents of Toobworld make mention of "Captain America", they're referring to the actual superhero of their reality, not to the comic book character.
For instance, Shannon Rutherford called her step-brother Boone Carlysle "Captain America" back in September of 2004 when he voiced his concerns about fellow survivor Rose ('Lost').
For now, I think Toobworld should follow the lead of Marvel Comics and accept the idea that the Captain America of Earth Prime-Time has passed away. This could all change, however, if by some unlikely happenstance Reb Brown returned to the role nearly thirty years later; hey, stranger things have happened. (Look at Robert Stack returning as Eliot Ness in a TV movie so many decades after 'The Untouchables' went off the air.)
With Toobworld, all is in flux.
BCnU!
Cap'n Toby
(It's a 'Lone Gunmen' reference.....)
For a collection of pics showing the various Marvel Superheroes in action in Toobworld, visit "Superheroes Lives".
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
THE LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES: TOONING IN
There were some interesting additions to the League of Themselves [Tooniverse division] over the weekend, courtesy of 'The Simpsons' and 'Family Guy' on FOX.
Most of them appeared on 'The Simpsons', with my favorite Broadway composer, Stephen Sondheim hired by Krusty the Clown to write songs for his "Appalachian Dumpling Gang" of hill-kiddies. Andy Dick also appeared as part of the Redneck Comedy tour (a theme visited by 'Family Guy' this week as well.) And mystery novelist James Patterson's appearance was a technicality, as he appeared in Marge Simpson's romantic dreamscape. But the fact that Marge knows of him as a mystery writer, who uses nursery rhymes for his book titles, means that he does exist as a cartoon figure in the Tooniverse. So for now, he'd have to sport an asterisk after his name like Roger Maris.
Over on 'Family Guy', 80 year old Playboy founder Hugh Hefner just kept racking up the number of shows in which he's appeared as himself. He showed up - for no apparent reason - in the lounge of the Quahog Airport with a babe on each arm and proceeded to give Glenn Quagmire some inspiring advice to regain control over his life.
Hugh Hefner will be inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame just on his body of work in the main Toobworld alone, but it's nice to see he has a counterpart in the Tooniverse (as well as over in "Skitlandia", the sketch comedy dimension, thanks to 'Saturday Night Live').
Meg Ryan also appeared in 'The Simpsons' this week, but she was playing a character - a psychiatrist hired by the school system to treat Bart Simpson.
She had her own psychiatrist and he was voiced by Peter Bogdonovich. His character wasn't named, but I'm sticking to the claim that he was Tooniversion of his character on 'The Sopranos' who has Dr. Melfi as his patient. And this would be yet another character from 'The Sopranos' who has been found in The Tooniverse, the first being Christopher Moltisanti in an episode of 'Family Guy'. (He helped Stewie dig a hole to bury... a sapling.)
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Most of them appeared on 'The Simpsons', with my favorite Broadway composer, Stephen Sondheim hired by Krusty the Clown to write songs for his "Appalachian Dumpling Gang" of hill-kiddies. Andy Dick also appeared as part of the Redneck Comedy tour (a theme visited by 'Family Guy' this week as well.) And mystery novelist James Patterson's appearance was a technicality, as he appeared in Marge Simpson's romantic dreamscape. But the fact that Marge knows of him as a mystery writer, who uses nursery rhymes for his book titles, means that he does exist as a cartoon figure in the Tooniverse. So for now, he'd have to sport an asterisk after his name like Roger Maris.
Over on 'Family Guy', 80 year old Playboy founder Hugh Hefner just kept racking up the number of shows in which he's appeared as himself. He showed up - for no apparent reason - in the lounge of the Quahog Airport with a babe on each arm and proceeded to give Glenn Quagmire some inspiring advice to regain control over his life.
Hugh Hefner will be inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame just on his body of work in the main Toobworld alone, but it's nice to see he has a counterpart in the Tooniverse (as well as over in "Skitlandia", the sketch comedy dimension, thanks to 'Saturday Night Live').
Meg Ryan also appeared in 'The Simpsons' this week, but she was playing a character - a psychiatrist hired by the school system to treat Bart Simpson.
She had her own psychiatrist and he was voiced by Peter Bogdonovich. His character wasn't named, but I'm sticking to the claim that he was Tooniversion of his character on 'The Sopranos' who has Dr. Melfi as his patient. And this would be yet another character from 'The Sopranos' who has been found in The Tooniverse, the first being Christopher Moltisanti in an episode of 'Family Guy'. (He helped Stewie dig a hole to bury... a sapling.)
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
LINKIN' CASE: "HEROES" & "LOST"
Medium Rob gave me a shout-out this morning in his blog ("The Medium Is Not Enough", link to the left, thank you very much) when he posted a link to a Boston.com article about 'Lost'/'Heroes' crossover possibilities.
Always nice to get home from work in the morning to get a laugh like that.
The writer of the article seems to allow the creators of both shows to act coy about whether or not the "crossovers" seen so far are coincidental. I don't think they have much choice but to take that attitude, however. Sure, Kring and Lindelof are friends now, but who knows if there might be acrimony in the future which leads to accusations of plagiarism? And there's a larger business aspect at play here totally out of their control; the suits have to protect their interests.
The same kind of question has happened before, dealing with the identity of 'The Prisoner': was Number Six actually John Drake?
They had to say no officially, otherwise the man who created 'Danger Man' would have to be paid royalties. But I don't think there's much doubt in the minds of fans for both shows that Six and Drake are one and the same.
It's the position taken by Toobworld Central, at any rate.
However, I can see the argument made for the two major crossover points. With the Gannon Car Rental brochure that "Jessinikki" had a few episodes ago, they claimed that the name of the company was already cleared by lawyers and since the props were already sitting there in the warehouse....
I suspected as much when the "Too Many Notes" episode of 'Columbo' took place at Monolith Studios. The signs indicating the name of the studio were also used in several episodes of 'Murder, She Wrote' ("Film Flam" & "Murder Among Friends"). And at the time, I figured - these signs are just hanging around the prop warehouse, why not use them?
Still, that's all well and good for a Trueniverse splainin, but it doesn't negate that within the reality of Toobworld those props connect the shows.
The other crossover possibility mentioned in the article was of Nathan's little speech on 'Heroes' about the super-powered beings under threat of being hidden away in a laboratory on an island in the middle of the ocean.
This could be a shout-out to 'Lost', but that's dicey since 'Lost' takes place back in the fall of 2004. We don't know how it's going to end; if anybody in the outside world will ever learn what really happened there.
Because Jeph Loeb wrote that speech, and started out as a comic book writer, one of 'Lost's producers thought it was a reference to Genosha, the island nation in "The X-Men" comic books.
Now that would be cool beans! We've seen those mutants exist in the Cineverse and in the Tooniverse; it would be neat if there was some indication they exist in Toobworld as well. ('Mutant X' can't make that connection, again for legal reasons.)
[If] the characters on "Lost" exist in the world of "Heroes," the chance for a TV rendezvous gets even more complex. Getting them together, after all, would require a trip to the past.
It could only be done by Hiro, the "Heroes" character who has the power to bend time and space.
And Lindelof has a thought.
"If there was ever a crossover," Lindelof said, "he would pop up, appear on the beach for, like, two seconds. He'd look at Hurley and he'd say, 'Hello,' and Hurley would say, 'Hello,' and then he would disappear again. And that would be it."
Cuse, Lindelof, and Kring all agree that's unlikely to happen. The shows are produced by different studios and networks -- all with different lawyers -- and the paperwork hurdle would likely be insurmountable. But Kring, for one, says he loves the idea.
"If we could talk them into doing it," he said, "we'd do it."
David Kelley was able to throw around his weight to get FOX and ABC to allow a cross-network crossover between 'Ally McBeal' and 'The Practice'. And different production companies didn't hamper the crossovers between 'Law & Order' and 'Homicide: Life On The Street', or 'Murder, She Wrote'/'Magnum P.I.' or 'The Associates'/'Paper Chase'.
So here's hoping this small crossover is allowed to happen. What's it going to take? A plane trip to Hawaii for Masi Oka? Come onnnnn!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Always nice to get home from work in the morning to get a laugh like that.
The writer of the article seems to allow the creators of both shows to act coy about whether or not the "crossovers" seen so far are coincidental. I don't think they have much choice but to take that attitude, however. Sure, Kring and Lindelof are friends now, but who knows if there might be acrimony in the future which leads to accusations of plagiarism? And there's a larger business aspect at play here totally out of their control; the suits have to protect their interests.
The same kind of question has happened before, dealing with the identity of 'The Prisoner': was Number Six actually John Drake?
They had to say no officially, otherwise the man who created 'Danger Man' would have to be paid royalties. But I don't think there's much doubt in the minds of fans for both shows that Six and Drake are one and the same.
It's the position taken by Toobworld Central, at any rate.
However, I can see the argument made for the two major crossover points. With the Gannon Car Rental brochure that "Jessinikki" had a few episodes ago, they claimed that the name of the company was already cleared by lawyers and since the props were already sitting there in the warehouse....
I suspected as much when the "Too Many Notes" episode of 'Columbo' took place at Monolith Studios. The signs indicating the name of the studio were also used in several episodes of 'Murder, She Wrote' ("Film Flam" & "Murder Among Friends"). And at the time, I figured - these signs are just hanging around the prop warehouse, why not use them?
Still, that's all well and good for a Trueniverse splainin, but it doesn't negate that within the reality of Toobworld those props connect the shows.
The other crossover possibility mentioned in the article was of Nathan's little speech on 'Heroes' about the super-powered beings under threat of being hidden away in a laboratory on an island in the middle of the ocean.
This could be a shout-out to 'Lost', but that's dicey since 'Lost' takes place back in the fall of 2004. We don't know how it's going to end; if anybody in the outside world will ever learn what really happened there.
Because Jeph Loeb wrote that speech, and started out as a comic book writer, one of 'Lost's producers thought it was a reference to Genosha, the island nation in "The X-Men" comic books.
Now that would be cool beans! We've seen those mutants exist in the Cineverse and in the Tooniverse; it would be neat if there was some indication they exist in Toobworld as well. ('Mutant X' can't make that connection, again for legal reasons.)
But there is one argument for crossover legitimacy in the article that we do reject outright - when the same actors appear on both shows. (The example they use is Greg Grunberg, one of the stars of 'Heroes' and the ill-fated Pilot in the first episode of 'Lost'.)
Actors don't factor into Toobworld unless they are playing themselves. Otherwise there is no connection to the characters they play unless you want to make a case for identical cousins. So there's no link between the Pilot and Matt Parkman.
Joanna Weiss, who wrote the article, ended with a very Toobworldian "Wish-Craft" from Damon Lindelof, which is heartily approved by Tim Kring:[If] the characters on "Lost" exist in the world of "Heroes," the chance for a TV rendezvous gets even more complex. Getting them together, after all, would require a trip to the past.
It could only be done by Hiro, the "Heroes" character who has the power to bend time and space.
And Lindelof has a thought.
"If there was ever a crossover," Lindelof said, "he would pop up, appear on the beach for, like, two seconds. He'd look at Hurley and he'd say, 'Hello,' and Hurley would say, 'Hello,' and then he would disappear again. And that would be it."
Cuse, Lindelof, and Kring all agree that's unlikely to happen. The shows are produced by different studios and networks -- all with different lawyers -- and the paperwork hurdle would likely be insurmountable. But Kring, for one, says he loves the idea.
"If we could talk them into doing it," he said, "we'd do it."
David Kelley was able to throw around his weight to get FOX and ABC to allow a cross-network crossover between 'Ally McBeal' and 'The Practice'. And different production companies didn't hamper the crossovers between 'Law & Order' and 'Homicide: Life On The Street', or 'Murder, She Wrote'/'Magnum P.I.' or 'The Associates'/'Paper Chase'.
So here's hoping this small crossover is allowed to happen. What's it going to take? A plane trip to Hawaii for Masi Oka? Come onnnnn!
At any rate, with the brochure they are now officially linked for Toobworld.
Click here for the article......BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Monday, March 5, 2007
CAT LETTER
Toobworld and The Tooniverse are two mega-dimensions, subsets of the TV Universe. All of the TV cartoons ever broadcast co-exist in The Tooniverse, while Toobworld is the general depository for live-action TV. Toobworld (aka Earth Prime-Time) has thousands of alternate dimensions, thanks to 'Sliders', in which TV shows that don't quite fit with the overall schematics of Toobworld can be placed. (This would include TV shows that are remakes of original series, or shows in which the President of the United States is not the same as the one in the Trueniverse.)
The Tooniverse has a few alternate dimensions as well, for those rare times when a cartoon just can't logically fit in with the rest of the toonic output.
Sometimes, characters cross over from Toobworld into The Tooniverse, but for the most part, it would be the residents of the cartoon dimension who make the journey across the vortex which separates them.
Three examples would be the animated Superman visiting the live-action Metropolis in the American Express blipverts, Daffy Duck applying for a job at Winfield-Louder at the beginning of an episode for 'The Drew Carey Show', and Homer Simpson crashing down into the set for the 'Live With Regis and Kathy Lee' program. (That happened in one of the Halloween editions of 'The Simpsons' and would be a great example of cartoons that have to be relegated to an alternate Tooniverse.)
The possibility exists for cartoon characters to wander into any live-action series, as the rules of Toobworld should apply to all TV shows. However, as is the case with the living puppet people, it's kind of an unspoken rule that we don't want to see this happen to most of the TV shows out there. Otherwise it destroys that willing suspension of disbelief that what we're seeing in a live-action TV series is actually happening.
How could we as the audience continue to be drawn into the world of 'Heroes', which is already precariously teetering on the edge of believability with its many super-powered humans, if suddenly one of those characters was pen and ink, not flesh and blood?
The movie "The Last Action Hero" was similar to the Toobworld concept in that a young boy ended up in a movie universe that combined many different genres, cliches, and characters. It had plenty of faults anyway which were subject to ridicule, but I remember that many of the reviews singled out the appearance of a cartoon cat named Sgt. Whiskers who used to be the main character's partner. I guess if there was any semblance of believability at that point, it went out the window with the appearance of the Danny DeVito-voiced feline.
The same thing would hold true if Bugs Bunny suddenly popped up out of the remains of the Hatch, having taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Once he saw Jack and said, "What's up, Doc?", 'Lost' would probably lose even its most dedicated fan-base.
That's not to say it can't happen; just that we shouldn't be able to see it happen on-screen.
Off screen, perhaps it happens all the time, and we got an indication of that last week on '30 Rock'. At one point in the episode, Jack Donaghy was listing all the hip-hop and rap artists who were going to be appearing at the Source Awards, among them Ridikkulas (a play on the name Ludakris) and MC Scat Cat.
MC Scat Cat was Paula Abdul's dance partner in those otherwise forgettable music videos from probably twenty years ago. Now, looking at the shout-out from the expected audience reaction, it was meant to be a joke and Tracy Jordan even noticed that Jack had mentioned a cartoon character ("Whuuuh?").
But within the reality of Toobworld, who's to say MC Scat Cat hadn't crossed back over to the world of live-action TV once again to appear at the Source Awards? Just because we didn't see it happen doesn't mean it didn't. We never saw Khan Noonian Singh meet Pavel Chekov on 'Star Trek', but we know from "The Wrath Of Khan" that they did. (My favorite example of that!)
So the integrity of '30 Rock' - funniest new sitcom on the air this season! - is upheld, while at the same time the fantasy world of Toobworld gets a new game piece.
Let's crack open a bottle from the Donaghy Estates to celebrate!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
The Tooniverse has a few alternate dimensions as well, for those rare times when a cartoon just can't logically fit in with the rest of the toonic output.
Sometimes, characters cross over from Toobworld into The Tooniverse, but for the most part, it would be the residents of the cartoon dimension who make the journey across the vortex which separates them.
Three examples would be the animated Superman visiting the live-action Metropolis in the American Express blipverts, Daffy Duck applying for a job at Winfield-Louder at the beginning of an episode for 'The Drew Carey Show', and Homer Simpson crashing down into the set for the 'Live With Regis and Kathy Lee' program. (That happened in one of the Halloween editions of 'The Simpsons' and would be a great example of cartoons that have to be relegated to an alternate Tooniverse.)
The possibility exists for cartoon characters to wander into any live-action series, as the rules of Toobworld should apply to all TV shows. However, as is the case with the living puppet people, it's kind of an unspoken rule that we don't want to see this happen to most of the TV shows out there. Otherwise it destroys that willing suspension of disbelief that what we're seeing in a live-action TV series is actually happening.
How could we as the audience continue to be drawn into the world of 'Heroes', which is already precariously teetering on the edge of believability with its many super-powered humans, if suddenly one of those characters was pen and ink, not flesh and blood?
The movie "The Last Action Hero" was similar to the Toobworld concept in that a young boy ended up in a movie universe that combined many different genres, cliches, and characters. It had plenty of faults anyway which were subject to ridicule, but I remember that many of the reviews singled out the appearance of a cartoon cat named Sgt. Whiskers who used to be the main character's partner. I guess if there was any semblance of believability at that point, it went out the window with the appearance of the Danny DeVito-voiced feline.
The same thing would hold true if Bugs Bunny suddenly popped up out of the remains of the Hatch, having taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Once he saw Jack and said, "What's up, Doc?", 'Lost' would probably lose even its most dedicated fan-base.
That's not to say it can't happen; just that we shouldn't be able to see it happen on-screen.
Off screen, perhaps it happens all the time, and we got an indication of that last week on '30 Rock'. At one point in the episode, Jack Donaghy was listing all the hip-hop and rap artists who were going to be appearing at the Source Awards, among them Ridikkulas (a play on the name Ludakris) and MC Scat Cat.
MC Scat Cat was Paula Abdul's dance partner in those otherwise forgettable music videos from probably twenty years ago. Now, looking at the shout-out from the expected audience reaction, it was meant to be a joke and Tracy Jordan even noticed that Jack had mentioned a cartoon character ("Whuuuh?").
But within the reality of Toobworld, who's to say MC Scat Cat hadn't crossed back over to the world of live-action TV once again to appear at the Source Awards? Just because we didn't see it happen doesn't mean it didn't. We never saw Khan Noonian Singh meet Pavel Chekov on 'Star Trek', but we know from "The Wrath Of Khan" that they did. (My favorite example of that!)
So the integrity of '30 Rock' - funniest new sitcom on the air this season! - is upheld, while at the same time the fantasy world of Toobworld gets a new game piece.
Let's crack open a bottle from the Donaghy Estates to celebrate!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Sunday, March 4, 2007
ONE FROGGY ZONKING
"Hiya, kids! Hiya, hiya, hiya!"
Last week I mentioned I watched a couple of old episodes of 'Charlie's Angels'. In the one with the reference to Harry S. Truman, "Consenting Adults", there was a near-Zonk that should be addressed.
A burglar named Mumford decided to take a ceramic frog from an antique store, not because it had any real value (little did he know!) but because it reminded him of Froggy the Gremlin from the old children's TV show, 'Andy's Gang'.
Certain shows in children's programming get a pass when it comes to Zonks. They exist as TV shows in the Trueniverse as well as in Toobworld. These would include 'Captain Kangaroo', 'Sesame Street', and 'Mr. Rogers'. Sometimes you just have to surrender to that or else the Zonks win.
And I would add 'Andy's Gang' to that list. However, as with the other shows mentioned, it comes with a caveat: in Toobworld, the puppets on those shows are real.
I don't often splain my view on puppets, but I go back to the second century AD (when TV was REALLY primitive!) for "True History" by Lucian of Samosata for their origins. The natives of the Island of the Blessed are invisible spirits without the webbing that gives them form. As Time passed, they developed puppet shells to serve as their bodies and they would take on the characteristics of that which they resembled. So for all intents and purposes, Kermit would be a frog, Globey would be a globe, and the McDonaldland Gobblins would be cartons of French Fries.....
Froggy the Gremlin not only took on the aspects of a frog (and thus might be considered kin to Kermit), but he O'Bviously applied himself to a trade as well. He was a frog who could do magic, and the sobriquet of "Gremlin" was probably more of a job description than a species classification.
The late Mr. Mumford probably was not aware of any of that. He just knew that 'Andy's Gang' was a treasured memory from his youth, and the frog statue reminded him of that.
And it ended up costing him his life. But at least there's no Zonk!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Last week I mentioned I watched a couple of old episodes of 'Charlie's Angels'. In the one with the reference to Harry S. Truman, "Consenting Adults", there was a near-Zonk that should be addressed.
A burglar named Mumford decided to take a ceramic frog from an antique store, not because it had any real value (little did he know!) but because it reminded him of Froggy the Gremlin from the old children's TV show, 'Andy's Gang'.
Certain shows in children's programming get a pass when it comes to Zonks. They exist as TV shows in the Trueniverse as well as in Toobworld. These would include 'Captain Kangaroo', 'Sesame Street', and 'Mr. Rogers'. Sometimes you just have to surrender to that or else the Zonks win.
And I would add 'Andy's Gang' to that list. However, as with the other shows mentioned, it comes with a caveat: in Toobworld, the puppets on those shows are real.
I don't often splain my view on puppets, but I go back to the second century AD (when TV was REALLY primitive!) for "True History" by Lucian of Samosata for their origins. The natives of the Island of the Blessed are invisible spirits without the webbing that gives them form. As Time passed, they developed puppet shells to serve as their bodies and they would take on the characteristics of that which they resembled. So for all intents and purposes, Kermit would be a frog, Globey would be a globe, and the McDonaldland Gobblins would be cartons of French Fries.....
Froggy the Gremlin not only took on the aspects of a frog (and thus might be considered kin to Kermit), but he O'Bviously applied himself to a trade as well. He was a frog who could do magic, and the sobriquet of "Gremlin" was probably more of a job description than a species classification.
The late Mr. Mumford probably was not aware of any of that. He just knew that 'Andy's Gang' was a treasured memory from his youth, and the frog statue reminded him of that.
And it ended up costing him his life. But at least there's no Zonk!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
DAHMER OUT!
My brother sent me a picture he cobbled together which either gives a casting suggestion for Ryan Seacrest, or makes you wonder whatever happens to the 'American Idol' rejects from the early rounds.....
And I just wanted to see if I can figure out how to use Thumbsnap.com. (More of a technodork than a technogeek here. So far, I'm not doing too well.......)
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
And I just wanted to see if I can figure out how to use Thumbsnap.com. (More of a technodork than a technogeek here. So far, I'm not doing too well.......)
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Saturday, March 3, 2007
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
Here in the United States, we're two weeks into the third season of 'Slings & Arrows', which tells the behind-the-scenes story of a Canadian Shakespeare festival and the madmen, lovers, fools, and ghosts who work there. (The third episode airs tomorrow night on the Sundance Channel at 8 o'clock EST.)
Obviously the Canadians have seen it already, as have the TV critics with their advance screeners. So if you folks are reading this - which will be my thoughts on what may come - PLEASE don't write in to tell me what actually does happen.
(I'm sure Brent would never do that, but then again, maybe it's a good thing he's using a crappy computer right now.....)
Like I said, I'm only two weeks into this season, but I can already sense that this may be its last. Events both on the screen and off are giving me indications of that.
Let's deal with the boring stuff off-screen in the Trueniverse first....
At least two of the show's writers are involved in other projects that should have kept them too busy to work on a fourth season of 'Slings & Arrows'. Bob Martin (with Don McKellar, who plays Darren Nichols in the show) has written the hit Broadway musical "The Drowsy Chaperone" and he's playing the lead role of Man In Chair. (I just saw it last week finally and loved it. I probably should go see it again while Georgia Engel is still in the cast!)
Mark McKinney, who also played Richard Smith-Jones in the series, is working in Hollywood as a writer and actor on 'Studio 60'. Granted, that show seems doomed at the moment, but McKinney didn't know that going in. He might have expected a run as long as Aaron Sorkin's previous series, 'The West Wing'.
As for Susan Coyne, who created 'Slings & Arrows', I don't know what lies in store for her in the Trueniverse, but she's certainly setting up an exit strategy for the character she plays on the show. Anna is caught up in the fate of a troupe of Bolivian musicians stuck in Canada without Visas while their homeland is besieged with a coup.
I think I can see where that's going - Anna will fall in love with the main musician and throw in her lot with them, no matter what happens in Bolivia.
So now that I've broached the subject of the characters, let me throw out my ideas on what lies ahead for the others, at least as far as the major characters are concerned.
'Slings & Arrows' has always reflected aspects of the Shakespeare plays the company is performing, as well as some from the other plays as well. There have been deaths, betrayals, young love, madness, and men transformed into asses in love. So I think the three stages that "King Lear" goes through - betrayal and loss, madness, and death - are being played out with three of the main characters.
ELLEN FANSHAW - Her major sub-plot from last season was re-introduced in Week Two - she still owes the $27,000 in back taxes. In this aspect, I think she'll be the one most likely to be stripped of everything she owns and left with nothing, forced out of her home.
I also think it's through Ellen that we'll see Betrayal. We've been introduced to her friend Barbara, who's moved in with Ellen and Geoffrey while she plays one of Lear's daughters at the festival.
Barbara is going through "The Change" and she seems to have embraced the idea that this means she's entitled to sex with no strings attached.
I think she's going to make a play for Geoffrey, which just might make Geoffrey's "faulty unit" rise to its former glory. (Barbara certainly seemed keen on the idea that Ellen gets to sleep with her director.)
Such a betrayal could be considered "Shakespearean", and would fit in with the motifs and character types from the plays that have been throughout the series - the young lovers, the ambitious schemers, the pair of clowns, even a door porter, and of course, the ghost.
So if Geoffrey cheated on Ellen with Barbara, first off you've got a gender switch on 'Othello' regarding race. And a gender switch when it comes to who feels like they've been wronged as well.
The betrayal doesn't have to actually happen, either; it could all be in Ellen's mind, just as it was for Othello. Stripped of everything else, if Ellen thought she lost Geoffrey as well she could snap and perhaps even kill him in revenge.
It would certainly be in keeping with the world in which they've immersed themselves.
GEOFFREY TENNANT - That brings me to this fear I'm having with the third season - that Geoffrey may die.
The series has always wrapped the characters' "real" lives into the great Shakespearean themes of the plays they are doing, and we're already seeing that with Geoffrey. He feels his "madness" returning; he's showing signs of age what with his "faulty unit"... all steps along the way for a Lear-like finale.
We're being prepped as an audience for Charles Kingman (the actor hired to play Lear) to die - perhaps even right on stage as he conclued the opening night of "King Lear".
But I keep thinking we're being set-up for a bait and switch. Remember that scene from "Jaws" (another great Shakespearean drama - LOL!) when Richard Dreyfuss is approaching the boat with the hole in its side? As the audience, we're being prepped for the shark to show up through the use of music and allegedly through subliminal images.
So we're sitting there thinking "Shark... shark... shark..." and then WHAM! Head in the boat!
I think that could happen here.
"Kingman dies..."
"Kingman dies..."
"Kingman dies..."
And POW! Geoffrey!
It certainly would be Shakespearean as a finale.
At the same time, it would be a depressing way to end what has been such a light and magical series, despite the milieu surrounding the characters. Not every play by Shakespeare ended with everybody dying on stage; we may yet get one of those happy endings with lots of weddings. After all, that sub-plot of the younger members of the company, with its rivalry between the classically trained and the singers and dancers from the musical, must be leading somewhere - perhaps a third variation on the "Romeo And Juliet" theme?
(And I say "we may yet get" knowing full well that officially in Toobworld, these events have already played out one way or the other.)
OLIVER WELLES - Whether he's a real ghost or just a figment of Geoffrey's madness, I think Oliver is approaching the end of his time on Earth as a spiritual manifestation. He's already losing control over his abilities to haunt and he fades away at inopportune moments. And then there's the fact that he just wants to move on to whatever the next stage may be.
Oliver has taken an interest in Charles Kingman, who's only got two months to live due to cancer. It could be that as Kingman gets closer to that moment, he will actually be able to see Oliver. Of course, if those types of scenes only occur when Geoffrey is around, we'll never have an answer as to whether or not Oliver was real.
(As for me, I exhult in what Toobworld has to offer. For me, 'The Prisoner' actually took place; it's not an allegory. 'St. Elsewhere' was not the daydream of an autistic boy. And Oliver Welles is really a ghost. 'Newhart' was just a Japanese food-inspired dream, however. The final scene left no wiggle room for interpretation on that score, as was the case with those other two series' finales.)
RICHARD SMITH-JONES - Richard doesn't fit in with that progression of Lear's character as the other three do. If anything, he may be the Fool, even though he started out in the series as a pale copy of Maccers in his role as a plotter.
I don't know if Shakespeare ever dealt with the Peter Principle, but Richard has reached his level of incompetence. God loves an idiot, they say, and no matter what happens - even if the New Burbage Shakespeare Festival burns to the ground - Richard will float above it all.
I suppose if they must find something of "Lear" to unload on Richard, it could be blindness - more symbolic than physical, of course. Blind to the chaos bringing the company down while he's immersed in the musical production of "East Hastings".
Then again, it could manifest physically. Something's bound to go wrong with that new car of his, I'm thinking....
There's one more reason why I think 'Slings & Arrows' has run its course - what big Shakespearean play could they possibly do next as a central theme for the season? "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was just ending its run when we were introduced to New Burbage. And "Romeo And Juliet" followed The Scottish Play at the end of Season Two.
(They may also have mounted a production of "Antony And Cleopatra" already without us seeing it. Geoffrey did promise Ellen the chance to perform the role at the end of the first season.)
"The Tempest"? "The Merchant Of Venice"? "Henry V"? Personally, in my Toobworld fantasy of what happens when we can't see the characters in action (mental fanfic, I know), Geoffrey and Brian, whom we met in Season Two, reconciled their differences and Brian came back to work at the Festival. I like to think we could have seen him on the Second Stage, performing the role of Sir John Falstaff in "The Merry Wives Of Windsor". Sadly, the actor who played Brian, Leon Pownall, passed away last year. Hopefully, Brian lives on in New Burbage.....)
But with each season of 'Slings & Arrows', the central Shakespeare play has been a steady progression for the ages of Man - the indecision of Youth, the ambitions of Middle Age, and now the conclusion of Life in "King Lear". Honestly, where could they go from there?
So anyways.....
I doubt I'll hit the mark on most of those musings. In fact, I hope I'm wrong on some of them.
It must seem strange that I'm so obsessed with 'Slings & Arrows', to the point one would expect from a fan of 'Star Trek' or 'Doctor Who'. But when I first saw the show back in 2005, it turned out to be one of only three series that year in which I eagerly anticipated the next episode as soon as the current one ended. (The other two shows were 'Doctor Who' and 'Lost'.)
I guess when all is said and done, I may even be glad that this season could be the last one. Let it go out on a high note and not just fade away.
One month more and it'll all be over. Then again, it already is in Toobworld, as I mentioned. This is just a Caretaker catching up......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Obviously the Canadians have seen it already, as have the TV critics with their advance screeners. So if you folks are reading this - which will be my thoughts on what may come - PLEASE don't write in to tell me what actually does happen.
(I'm sure Brent would never do that, but then again, maybe it's a good thing he's using a crappy computer right now.....)
Like I said, I'm only two weeks into this season, but I can already sense that this may be its last. Events both on the screen and off are giving me indications of that.
Let's deal with the boring stuff off-screen in the Trueniverse first....
At least two of the show's writers are involved in other projects that should have kept them too busy to work on a fourth season of 'Slings & Arrows'. Bob Martin (with Don McKellar, who plays Darren Nichols in the show) has written the hit Broadway musical "The Drowsy Chaperone" and he's playing the lead role of Man In Chair. (I just saw it last week finally and loved it. I probably should go see it again while Georgia Engel is still in the cast!)
Mark McKinney, who also played Richard Smith-Jones in the series, is working in Hollywood as a writer and actor on 'Studio 60'. Granted, that show seems doomed at the moment, but McKinney didn't know that going in. He might have expected a run as long as Aaron Sorkin's previous series, 'The West Wing'.
As for Susan Coyne, who created 'Slings & Arrows', I don't know what lies in store for her in the Trueniverse, but she's certainly setting up an exit strategy for the character she plays on the show. Anna is caught up in the fate of a troupe of Bolivian musicians stuck in Canada without Visas while their homeland is besieged with a coup.
I think I can see where that's going - Anna will fall in love with the main musician and throw in her lot with them, no matter what happens in Bolivia.
So now that I've broached the subject of the characters, let me throw out my ideas on what lies ahead for the others, at least as far as the major characters are concerned.
'Slings & Arrows' has always reflected aspects of the Shakespeare plays the company is performing, as well as some from the other plays as well. There have been deaths, betrayals, young love, madness, and men transformed into asses in love. So I think the three stages that "King Lear" goes through - betrayal and loss, madness, and death - are being played out with three of the main characters.
ELLEN FANSHAW - Her major sub-plot from last season was re-introduced in Week Two - she still owes the $27,000 in back taxes. In this aspect, I think she'll be the one most likely to be stripped of everything she owns and left with nothing, forced out of her home.
I also think it's through Ellen that we'll see Betrayal. We've been introduced to her friend Barbara, who's moved in with Ellen and Geoffrey while she plays one of Lear's daughters at the festival.
Barbara is going through "The Change" and she seems to have embraced the idea that this means she's entitled to sex with no strings attached.
I think she's going to make a play for Geoffrey, which just might make Geoffrey's "faulty unit" rise to its former glory. (Barbara certainly seemed keen on the idea that Ellen gets to sleep with her director.)
Such a betrayal could be considered "Shakespearean", and would fit in with the motifs and character types from the plays that have been throughout the series - the young lovers, the ambitious schemers, the pair of clowns, even a door porter, and of course, the ghost.
So if Geoffrey cheated on Ellen with Barbara, first off you've got a gender switch on 'Othello' regarding race. And a gender switch when it comes to who feels like they've been wronged as well.
The betrayal doesn't have to actually happen, either; it could all be in Ellen's mind, just as it was for Othello. Stripped of everything else, if Ellen thought she lost Geoffrey as well she could snap and perhaps even kill him in revenge.
It would certainly be in keeping with the world in which they've immersed themselves.
GEOFFREY TENNANT - That brings me to this fear I'm having with the third season - that Geoffrey may die.
The series has always wrapped the characters' "real" lives into the great Shakespearean themes of the plays they are doing, and we're already seeing that with Geoffrey. He feels his "madness" returning; he's showing signs of age what with his "faulty unit"... all steps along the way for a Lear-like finale.
We're being prepped as an audience for Charles Kingman (the actor hired to play Lear) to die - perhaps even right on stage as he conclued the opening night of "King Lear".
But I keep thinking we're being set-up for a bait and switch. Remember that scene from "Jaws" (another great Shakespearean drama - LOL!) when Richard Dreyfuss is approaching the boat with the hole in its side? As the audience, we're being prepped for the shark to show up through the use of music and allegedly through subliminal images.
So we're sitting there thinking "Shark... shark... shark..." and then WHAM! Head in the boat!
I think that could happen here.
"Kingman dies..."
"Kingman dies..."
"Kingman dies..."
And POW! Geoffrey!
It certainly would be Shakespearean as a finale.
At the same time, it would be a depressing way to end what has been such a light and magical series, despite the milieu surrounding the characters. Not every play by Shakespeare ended with everybody dying on stage; we may yet get one of those happy endings with lots of weddings. After all, that sub-plot of the younger members of the company, with its rivalry between the classically trained and the singers and dancers from the musical, must be leading somewhere - perhaps a third variation on the "Romeo And Juliet" theme?
(And I say "we may yet get" knowing full well that officially in Toobworld, these events have already played out one way or the other.)
OLIVER WELLES - Whether he's a real ghost or just a figment of Geoffrey's madness, I think Oliver is approaching the end of his time on Earth as a spiritual manifestation. He's already losing control over his abilities to haunt and he fades away at inopportune moments. And then there's the fact that he just wants to move on to whatever the next stage may be.
Oliver has taken an interest in Charles Kingman, who's only got two months to live due to cancer. It could be that as Kingman gets closer to that moment, he will actually be able to see Oliver. Of course, if those types of scenes only occur when Geoffrey is around, we'll never have an answer as to whether or not Oliver was real.
(As for me, I exhult in what Toobworld has to offer. For me, 'The Prisoner' actually took place; it's not an allegory. 'St. Elsewhere' was not the daydream of an autistic boy. And Oliver Welles is really a ghost. 'Newhart' was just a Japanese food-inspired dream, however. The final scene left no wiggle room for interpretation on that score, as was the case with those other two series' finales.)
RICHARD SMITH-JONES - Richard doesn't fit in with that progression of Lear's character as the other three do. If anything, he may be the Fool, even though he started out in the series as a pale copy of Maccers in his role as a plotter.
I don't know if Shakespeare ever dealt with the Peter Principle, but Richard has reached his level of incompetence. God loves an idiot, they say, and no matter what happens - even if the New Burbage Shakespeare Festival burns to the ground - Richard will float above it all.
I suppose if they must find something of "Lear" to unload on Richard, it could be blindness - more symbolic than physical, of course. Blind to the chaos bringing the company down while he's immersed in the musical production of "East Hastings".
Then again, it could manifest physically. Something's bound to go wrong with that new car of his, I'm thinking....
There's one more reason why I think 'Slings & Arrows' has run its course - what big Shakespearean play could they possibly do next as a central theme for the season? "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was just ending its run when we were introduced to New Burbage. And "Romeo And Juliet" followed The Scottish Play at the end of Season Two.
(They may also have mounted a production of "Antony And Cleopatra" already without us seeing it. Geoffrey did promise Ellen the chance to perform the role at the end of the first season.)
"The Tempest"? "The Merchant Of Venice"? "Henry V"? Personally, in my Toobworld fantasy of what happens when we can't see the characters in action (mental fanfic, I know), Geoffrey and Brian, whom we met in Season Two, reconciled their differences and Brian came back to work at the Festival. I like to think we could have seen him on the Second Stage, performing the role of Sir John Falstaff in "The Merry Wives Of Windsor". Sadly, the actor who played Brian, Leon Pownall, passed away last year. Hopefully, Brian lives on in New Burbage.....)
But with each season of 'Slings & Arrows', the central Shakespeare play has been a steady progression for the ages of Man - the indecision of Youth, the ambitions of Middle Age, and now the conclusion of Life in "King Lear". Honestly, where could they go from there?
So anyways.....
I doubt I'll hit the mark on most of those musings. In fact, I hope I'm wrong on some of them.
It must seem strange that I'm so obsessed with 'Slings & Arrows', to the point one would expect from a fan of 'Star Trek' or 'Doctor Who'. But when I first saw the show back in 2005, it turned out to be one of only three series that year in which I eagerly anticipated the next episode as soon as the current one ended. (The other two shows were 'Doctor Who' and 'Lost'.)
I guess when all is said and done, I may even be glad that this season could be the last one. Let it go out on a high note and not just fade away.
One month more and it'll all be over. Then again, it already is in Toobworld, as I mentioned. This is just a Caretaker catching up......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Friday, March 2, 2007
WONDER ZONK III
Here's a quickie:
I've gone over this before - Wonder Woman actually exists in the TV Universe, and just about everybody knows it. And as a result, they also know she has an "invisible" plane.
So there's no Zonk when Jack mentions it on '30 Rock'.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
RIDIKKALIS:
"What kind of plane you want to buy?"
JACK DONAGHY:
"Clear, like Wonder Woman's."
'30 Rock'
"What kind of plane you want to buy?"
JACK DONAGHY:
"Clear, like Wonder Woman's."
'30 Rock'
I've gone over this before - Wonder Woman actually exists in the TV Universe, and just about everybody knows it. And as a result, they also know she has an "invisible" plane.
So there's no Zonk when Jack mentions it on '30 Rock'.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
NICKED CAVE
Two years ago, I chose the Capital One "Visa-Goths" over the Geico Cavemen for best commercial characters in the annual Toobits awards. I thought the barbarians had more staying power.
They're still making commercials but the concept is running out of steam, whereas the Cavemen are still going strong with blipverts that have them at the airport, on talking heads news shows, at a psychiatrist's office, and just taking it easy at parties.
Now ABC plans to expand on the idea with a half-hour sitcom dealing with the trio of cavemen fighting prejudice as they carve out a niche for themselves as 'thirtySOMETHING's in modern-day Atlanta.
Too bad this sitcom wasn't being developed for CBS; they could have brought back the Sugarbakers for a very special episode during Sweeps!
The show is being written by Joe Lawson, who was behind the idea for using the Cavemen in the ads, so there might be some legitimate linkage involved - especially if the same actors are involved.
Producer Lorne Michaels got pissed when he heard NBC was going with Aaron Sorkin's take on 'Saturday Night Live' and wanted to make sure the one from his production company had a shot as well. So this season we had both 'Studio 60' and '30 Rock'.
Maybe now he'll demand the chance to produce a Caveman sitcom as well, since the late Phil Hartman played "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" on 'SNL' over a decade ago.
And maybe CBS should jump into the act as well since it's been forty years since they introduced the idea of cavemen from the prehistoric past being brought forward in Time to live in Los Angeles on 'It's About Time'.
And then the "Visa-Goths" can swoop in and slaughter them all!
What's in your wallet?
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
They're still making commercials but the concept is running out of steam, whereas the Cavemen are still going strong with blipverts that have them at the airport, on talking heads news shows, at a psychiatrist's office, and just taking it easy at parties.
Now ABC plans to expand on the idea with a half-hour sitcom dealing with the trio of cavemen fighting prejudice as they carve out a niche for themselves as 'thirtySOMETHING's in modern-day Atlanta.
Too bad this sitcom wasn't being developed for CBS; they could have brought back the Sugarbakers for a very special episode during Sweeps!
The show is being written by Joe Lawson, who was behind the idea for using the Cavemen in the ads, so there might be some legitimate linkage involved - especially if the same actors are involved.
Producer Lorne Michaels got pissed when he heard NBC was going with Aaron Sorkin's take on 'Saturday Night Live' and wanted to make sure the one from his production company had a shot as well. So this season we had both 'Studio 60' and '30 Rock'.
Maybe now he'll demand the chance to produce a Caveman sitcom as well, since the late Phil Hartman played "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" on 'SNL' over a decade ago.
And maybe CBS should jump into the act as well since it's been forty years since they introduced the idea of cavemen from the prehistoric past being brought forward in Time to live in Los Angeles on 'It's About Time'.
And then the "Visa-Goths" can swoop in and slaughter them all!
What's in your wallet?
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
A DIFFERENT SHADE OF AMBER
I'm trying to avoid thinking - even reading! - about the TV pilots being picked up by the networks because it just confuses the issue when it comes to Toobworld. The basic rule is that if it's broadcast, then it becomes part of the TV Universe. That's when I would have to start worrying about how the new show fits in (and where).
But even so, sometimes I read the description for one of these pilots and I have to share it with you.
This could be part of the CBS line-up next season:
20th Century is developing 'Babylon Fields', which promises to be "an apocalyptic comedic drama about the dead being resurrected and trying to resume their former lives".
In the show, Amber Tamblyn will play a young woman who helped her mom kill her father because he was so abusive to the both of them. And then dear dead old dad goes and comes back to pick up where he left off.
If this had been the plotline for 'Baby, I'm Back', it would have lasted a couple of seasons.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
But even so, sometimes I read the description for one of these pilots and I have to share it with you.
This could be part of the CBS line-up next season:
20th Century is developing 'Babylon Fields', which promises to be "an apocalyptic comedic drama about the dead being resurrected and trying to resume their former lives".
In the show, Amber Tamblyn will play a young woman who helped her mom kill her father because he was so abusive to the both of them. And then dear dead old dad goes and comes back to pick up where he left off.
If this had been the plotline for 'Baby, I'm Back', it would have lasted a couple of seasons.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
AMBER IN PORTRAIT
It's been almost a year now since my Mom passed away, and I've been thinking a lot about her lately. And because I yam what I yam, invariably my thoughts drift to TV.
From 12:30 to 1:30 pm weekdays, you couldn't pry her away from 'The Young & The Restless', so today - after reading an item about 'Y&R' in the New York Daily News that had a connection to the family name, - I thought I'd check out the soap opera again. Hadn't seen it since a couple of months before Mom died.
And I was surprised to see Amber, a character from her other fave soap, 'The Bold & The Beautiful' on 'Young & The Restless' instead.
A quick search provided an interview Adrienne Frantz, who plays Amber Moore, did for cbs.com in which she talked about returning not only to daytime TV, but also to the character she'll always be most famous for.....
ADRIENNE FRANTZ: I got the call saying they wanted me to come over to 'The Young and the Restless' to play Amber. And I always said that was the only character I would want to play in Daytime because I think she's so much fun to play.
CBS.com: Isn't it great that you've become a character that can cross over to both shows?
ADRIENNE FRANTZ: It's really great that we've created a character that is known and can transfer to different shows and have just the same fan base and people know who she is. It's very comforting to know that I've created a character like that. It's an honor in a way knowing that I could go to [either show] and play the same character.
The character of Amber Moore is ready for her close-up in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame because her third qualification was a strange crossover with 'The Price Is Right'. She designed the dresses to be worn by "Barker's Beauties" on an episode of the game show, and Bob Barker and two of the girls arrived at Forrester Fashions to inspect the finished product. In a later episode of 'The Price Is Right', the girls were indeed wearing those designs.
From 12:30 to 1:30 pm weekdays, you couldn't pry her away from 'The Young & The Restless', so today - after reading an item about 'Y&R' in the New York Daily News that had a connection to the family name, - I thought I'd check out the soap opera again. Hadn't seen it since a couple of months before Mom died.
And I was surprised to see Amber, a character from her other fave soap, 'The Bold & The Beautiful' on 'Young & The Restless' instead.
A quick search provided an interview Adrienne Frantz, who plays Amber Moore, did for cbs.com in which she talked about returning not only to daytime TV, but also to the character she'll always be most famous for.....
ADRIENNE FRANTZ: I got the call saying they wanted me to come over to 'The Young and the Restless' to play Amber. And I always said that was the only character I would want to play in Daytime because I think she's so much fun to play.
CBS.com: Isn't it great that you've become a character that can cross over to both shows?
ADRIENNE FRANTZ: It's really great that we've created a character that is known and can transfer to different shows and have just the same fan base and people know who she is. It's very comforting to know that I've created a character like that. It's an honor in a way knowing that I could go to [either show] and play the same character.
The character of Amber Moore is ready for her close-up in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame because her third qualification was a strange crossover with 'The Price Is Right'. She designed the dresses to be worn by "Barker's Beauties" on an episode of the game show, and Bob Barker and two of the girls arrived at Forrester Fashions to inspect the finished product. In a later episode of 'The Price Is Right', the girls were indeed wearing those designs.
But if that's not good enough for the nitpickers, then they just have to wait until March 27th, when Amber will be involved in a 'Y&R' crossover with 'As The World Turns'. Amber will face off against Emily Stewart of 'ATWT' regarding Emily's sister Alison.
You can read the full Adrienne Frantz interview here.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
THE TRUMAN SHOW
Also on that 'Charlie's Angels' disk was an episode entitled "Consenting Adults" which provided a link to 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' through an historical tele-revision.
The link begins with 'Charlie's Angels'. The client in that episode was Maggie Cunningham who hailed from the South. When asked about a picture of her with Harry Truman, she told them an anecdote in which she was the one who first uttered the phrase, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
Apparently, President Truman liked it so much, he told Maggie that he planned on using that phrase for himself.
When he finally did so, he said it Mary Richards' aunt, legendary journalist Flo Meredith. But as she admitted, Truman didn't exactly say it to her - she was standing in the way when the President said it to the chef.
Even though Harry S. Truman isn't seen in either of those episodes (except in a photo in "Consenting Adults"), both shows will be included in his body of work when it comes time to induct him into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame because they expand his TV presence in a fictional sense.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
The link begins with 'Charlie's Angels'. The client in that episode was Maggie Cunningham who hailed from the South. When asked about a picture of her with Harry Truman, she told them an anecdote in which she was the one who first uttered the phrase, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
Apparently, President Truman liked it so much, he told Maggie that he planned on using that phrase for himself.
When he finally did so, he said it Mary Richards' aunt, legendary journalist Flo Meredith. But as she admitted, Truman didn't exactly say it to her - she was standing in the way when the President said it to the chef.
Even though Harry S. Truman isn't seen in either of those episodes (except in a photo in "Consenting Adults"), both shows will be included in his body of work when it comes time to induct him into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame because they expand his TV presence in a fictional sense.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
ONE FOR THE ANGELS
As a treat for the guys I work with, I ordered a disk from the "Best of 'Charlie's Angels' set through Netflix. Of course the one I got included "Angels In Chains", the legendary episode in which Farrah supposedly popped out of her prison shirt while running through the swamp.
Well, no matter how slow I ran it or when I froze the scenes altogether, we couldn't find exactly where it's supposed to happen, although we had a few viable candidates. But the guys I work with are easy to please, and they were quite happy with the "darts" shot earlier in the episode when Farrah was without bra in a yellow top.
"Angels In Chains" had the girls working undercover in a women's prison. There they befriended another young woman named Linda Hunter who also had been wrongfully imprisoned. Later, at the end of the episode, Charlie Townsend offered Linda a job as a receptionist for the detective agency. So it's to be assumed that from that point on in future episodes, Linda was sitting just outside the main office at her reception desk.
And it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that on one or more of the many cases we never saw dramatized from Toobworld, Linda joined in with the other Angels in working undercover to solve the mystery. She may not have had police training, but she was smart and probably picked up skills while in prison that came in handy in times of distress. And I think she'd be eager to help out in their fights for justice after being wrongfully accused herself.
There I go, enabling fanficcers again. I know somebody who's going to be upset with that.....
But here's the thing; why I bring it up. The actress who played Linda Hunter was Kim Basinger. So in the long line of Angels who worked for Charlie Townsend, unofficially there was one who was portrayed by a future Oscar winner!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Well, no matter how slow I ran it or when I froze the scenes altogether, we couldn't find exactly where it's supposed to happen, although we had a few viable candidates. But the guys I work with are easy to please, and they were quite happy with the "darts" shot earlier in the episode when Farrah was without bra in a yellow top.
"Angels In Chains" had the girls working undercover in a women's prison. There they befriended another young woman named Linda Hunter who also had been wrongfully imprisoned. Later, at the end of the episode, Charlie Townsend offered Linda a job as a receptionist for the detective agency. So it's to be assumed that from that point on in future episodes, Linda was sitting just outside the main office at her reception desk.
And it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that on one or more of the many cases we never saw dramatized from Toobworld, Linda joined in with the other Angels in working undercover to solve the mystery. She may not have had police training, but she was smart and probably picked up skills while in prison that came in handy in times of distress. And I think she'd be eager to help out in their fights for justice after being wrongfully accused herself.
There I go, enabling fanficcers again. I know somebody who's going to be upset with that.....
But here's the thing; why I bring it up. The actress who played Linda Hunter was Kim Basinger. So in the long line of Angels who worked for Charlie Townsend, unofficially there was one who was portrayed by a future Oscar winner!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Thursday, March 1, 2007
NUMBERS RUNNING: LEVEL 42
According to Outpost Gallifrey, here is a list of episode titles known so far for the coming season of 'Doctor Who':
1. "Smith and Jones" by Russell T. Davies, directed by Charles Palmer
2. "The Shakespeare Code" by Gareth Roberts, directed by Charles Palmer
3. Episode 3 by Russell T. Davies, directed by Richard Clarke
4. "Daleks in Manhattan" (part one) by Helen Raynor, directed by James Strong
5. Episode 5 (part two) by Helen Raynor, directed by James Strong
6. "The Lazarus Experiment" by Stephen Greenhorn, directed by Richard Clarke
7. "42" by Chris Chibnall, directed by Graeme Harper
8. "Human Nature" (part one) by Paul Cornell, directed by Charles Palmer
9. "The Family of Blood" by Paul Cornell, directed by Charles Palmer
10. "Blink" by Steven Moffat, directed by Hettie MacDonald
11. "Utopia" by Russell T. Davies, directed by Graeme Harper
12. "The Sound of Drums" (part one) by Russell T. Davies, directed by Colin Teague
13. Episode 13 (part two) by Russell T. Davies, directed by Colin Teague
Five with RTD's name attached. That's troubling....
But the one that seems most intriguing, based only on the title and from a Toobworld perspective, is of course Episode Seven: "42" by Chris Chibnall.
Will there be any connection to 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy'? Perhaps even to 'Lost'?
We know there is a connection to HHG2TG already - the Fourth Doctor was once seen reading "The Origins Of The Universe" by Oolon Colluphid. And the Tenth Doctor revealed that he knew Arthur Dent.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
1. "Smith and Jones" by Russell T. Davies, directed by Charles Palmer
2. "The Shakespeare Code" by Gareth Roberts, directed by Charles Palmer
3. Episode 3 by Russell T. Davies, directed by Richard Clarke
4. "Daleks in Manhattan" (part one) by Helen Raynor, directed by James Strong
5. Episode 5 (part two) by Helen Raynor, directed by James Strong
6. "The Lazarus Experiment" by Stephen Greenhorn, directed by Richard Clarke
7. "42" by Chris Chibnall, directed by Graeme Harper
8. "Human Nature" (part one) by Paul Cornell, directed by Charles Palmer
9. "The Family of Blood" by Paul Cornell, directed by Charles Palmer
10. "Blink" by Steven Moffat, directed by Hettie MacDonald
11. "Utopia" by Russell T. Davies, directed by Graeme Harper
12. "The Sound of Drums" (part one) by Russell T. Davies, directed by Colin Teague
13. Episode 13 (part two) by Russell T. Davies, directed by Colin Teague
Five with RTD's name attached. That's troubling....
But the one that seems most intriguing, based only on the title and from a Toobworld perspective, is of course Episode Seven: "42" by Chris Chibnall.
Will there be any connection to 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy'? Perhaps even to 'Lost'?
We know there is a connection to HHG2TG already - the Fourth Doctor was once seen reading "The Origins Of The Universe" by Oolon Colluphid. And the Tenth Doctor revealed that he knew Arthur Dent.
As for 'Lost', regular readers of "Inner Toob" might remember a few weeks ago when I theorized that Desmond unknowingly met the White Guardian in the shop when he wanted to buy a ring for Penny. And there's one more connection I think I can make to the Seventh Doctor, but I'm not yet ready to spring that one.....
Just getting the titles for the coming season with only a month to go before the season debut has been difficult enough, so I guess I'll just have to wait to satisfy my spoilerish curiousity until it's closer to that episode's broadcast....BCnU!
Tele-Toby
POPPING A RESURRECTION
It doesn't have any bearing on the lives of those who live in Toobworld, but I found it interesting nevertheless that in less than one week, two different shows resurrected two great old pop songs by 3 Dog Night.
Last Thursday, 'My Name Is Earl' used "Black and White" to appropriate effect in the episode "Guess Who's Coming Out Of Joy", while last night's 'Lost' ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead") had Hurley grooving to "Shambala" as he tooled about the island in his VDub Dharma microbus.
Now, if a bullfrog named Jeremiah shows up before the end of the day in some cartoon animal show, we've got ourselves a trifecta!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Last Thursday, 'My Name Is Earl' used "Black and White" to appropriate effect in the episode "Guess Who's Coming Out Of Joy", while last night's 'Lost' ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead") had Hurley grooving to "Shambala" as he tooled about the island in his VDub Dharma microbus.
Now, if a bullfrog named Jeremiah shows up before the end of the day in some cartoon animal show, we've got ourselves a trifecta!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
TVXOHOF 3/07 - LOUUUUUUU!
For the March induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, we turn to the world of Toobworld journalism (as we will once again before the year is out). We've already inducted several newspapers into the Hall - the NY Ledger, the LA Sun, and the LA Tribune - and now it's time to have one of their editors join the ranks.
Lou Grant.
Here's some information... information... information gleaned from the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. (Their link is to the left.)
Ed Asner is one of U.S. television's most acclaimed and most controversial actors. Through the miracle of the spin-off, Asner became the only actor to win Emmy awards for playing the same character in both a comedy and dramatic series.
James L. Brooks, Allan Burns and 'M*A*S*H' executive producer Gene Reynolds began adapting the Lou Grant character to a dramatic role for CBS, in which Asner would star as the crusading editor of the fictional L.A. Tribune. Despite a shaky start, the beloved comic character gradually became accepted in this new venue. More than just moving to the big city and losing his sense of humor, however, Asner's more serious Grant become a fictional spokesperson for issues ignored by other mass media venues, including the mainstream press. At the same time, the dramatic narrative offered opportunities for exploring the character more deeply, revealing his strained domestic relationships and his own complex emotional struggles. These revelations, in turn, complicated the professional persona of Lou Grant, the editor.
This series drew on the comedy character of the executive producer of TV news in the long-running 'Mary Tyler Moore Show'. But it transformed that comic persona into a serious, reflective, committed newsman at a major metropolitan newspaper.
Reynolds risked undercutting issue-oriented themes by importing Ed Asner from the long-running comedy about a flaky TV newsroom to act as city editor of a daily newspaper. Asner... effectively adapted the original comedic character to the serious role of Lou Grant.
'Lou Grant' is also significant in the history of MTM Productions as the "bridge" program between comedies such as 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and later, more complex dramas such as 'Hill Street Blues'. Few independent production companies have had such visible success in crossing lines among television genres. The transformation of Asner's character, then, and the focus on serious social issues pointed new directions for the company and, ultimately, for the history of American television.
The singularity of his Emmy wins puts him in the same company as Dr. Frasier Crane (3 Emmy wins for the same character in three different shows) as being one of the main reasons he deserves the "accolade" of Hall membership. However, the two series wouldn't be enough to qualify save for an Honors List technicality without that one last appearance.
And in 1974, Lou Grant showed up in New York City for the two-part wedding celebration of his old friend 'Rhoda' Morgenstern.
There was talk back in the late 1990s that there might be a second MTM reunion movie after "Mary And Rhoda", this time with Mary and Lou. But it's probably safe to say that the idea was scuttled.
Still, Lou Grant did appear again in Toobworld, but this time in an alternate dimension, that of Skitlandia - the world of sketch comedy.
There it is the norm for characters to suddenly change appearance due to casting revisions. (Look how many alterations Bush has gone through on 'Saturday Night Live' alone.)
So Lou Grant once showed up on 'Saturday Night Live' (allegedly) in a spoof on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' hosted by Steve Martin and looking more like John Belushi than Ed Asner. But later, actor and character were reunited when Lou Grant led a band of South American rebels in a rescue mission to free Mary Richards from the endless loop of syndication repeats.
And he did so during one of her parties, always a focal point for disaster!
Lou Grant:
Mary, you've been stuck here for seven years in syndicated reruns, doing the same things over and over and over. You've been promoted to Producer, you met Walter Cronkite, you went to the Teddy Awards, you went to Chuckles the Clown's funeral - not once, but hundreds of times! Two, three, four times a night, in some cities! You're in a rut!
There's a big, wonderful world out there, and you've missed it! I mean, you missed MTV, you missed Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, you missed "The New Odd Couple" show.
And, all of you would like it out there! Murray, you know what they have now? Hair weaving. Rhoda! Your mother's making a fortune out there, selling Bounty paper towels!
["Lou Grant Rescue Mission" from 'Saturday Night Live']
For all of these reasons, we salute Lou Grant as the March 2007 inductee into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.
Go on. You can shout it out. You know you want to.....
Oh, Mr. Grant!!!!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Lou Grant.
Here's some information... information... information gleaned from the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. (Their link is to the left.)
Ed Asner is one of U.S. television's most acclaimed and most controversial actors. Through the miracle of the spin-off, Asner became the only actor to win Emmy awards for playing the same character in both a comedy and dramatic series.
James L. Brooks, Allan Burns and 'M*A*S*H' executive producer Gene Reynolds began adapting the Lou Grant character to a dramatic role for CBS, in which Asner would star as the crusading editor of the fictional L.A. Tribune. Despite a shaky start, the beloved comic character gradually became accepted in this new venue. More than just moving to the big city and losing his sense of humor, however, Asner's more serious Grant become a fictional spokesperson for issues ignored by other mass media venues, including the mainstream press. At the same time, the dramatic narrative offered opportunities for exploring the character more deeply, revealing his strained domestic relationships and his own complex emotional struggles. These revelations, in turn, complicated the professional persona of Lou Grant, the editor.
This series drew on the comedy character of the executive producer of TV news in the long-running 'Mary Tyler Moore Show'. But it transformed that comic persona into a serious, reflective, committed newsman at a major metropolitan newspaper.
Reynolds risked undercutting issue-oriented themes by importing Ed Asner from the long-running comedy about a flaky TV newsroom to act as city editor of a daily newspaper. Asner... effectively adapted the original comedic character to the serious role of Lou Grant.
'Lou Grant' is also significant in the history of MTM Productions as the "bridge" program between comedies such as 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and later, more complex dramas such as 'Hill Street Blues'. Few independent production companies have had such visible success in crossing lines among television genres. The transformation of Asner's character, then, and the focus on serious social issues pointed new directions for the company and, ultimately, for the history of American television.
The singularity of his Emmy wins puts him in the same company as Dr. Frasier Crane (3 Emmy wins for the same character in three different shows) as being one of the main reasons he deserves the "accolade" of Hall membership. However, the two series wouldn't be enough to qualify save for an Honors List technicality without that one last appearance.
And in 1974, Lou Grant showed up in New York City for the two-part wedding celebration of his old friend 'Rhoda' Morgenstern.
There was talk back in the late 1990s that there might be a second MTM reunion movie after "Mary And Rhoda", this time with Mary and Lou. But it's probably safe to say that the idea was scuttled.
Still, Lou Grant did appear again in Toobworld, but this time in an alternate dimension, that of Skitlandia - the world of sketch comedy.
There it is the norm for characters to suddenly change appearance due to casting revisions. (Look how many alterations Bush has gone through on 'Saturday Night Live' alone.)
So Lou Grant once showed up on 'Saturday Night Live' (allegedly) in a spoof on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' hosted by Steve Martin and looking more like John Belushi than Ed Asner. But later, actor and character were reunited when Lou Grant led a band of South American rebels in a rescue mission to free Mary Richards from the endless loop of syndication repeats.
And he did so during one of her parties, always a focal point for disaster!
Lou Grant:
Mary, you've been stuck here for seven years in syndicated reruns, doing the same things over and over and over. You've been promoted to Producer, you met Walter Cronkite, you went to the Teddy Awards, you went to Chuckles the Clown's funeral - not once, but hundreds of times! Two, three, four times a night, in some cities! You're in a rut!
There's a big, wonderful world out there, and you've missed it! I mean, you missed MTV, you missed Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, you missed "The New Odd Couple" show.
And, all of you would like it out there! Murray, you know what they have now? Hair weaving. Rhoda! Your mother's making a fortune out there, selling Bounty paper towels!
["Lou Grant Rescue Mission" from 'Saturday Night Live']
For all of these reasons, we salute Lou Grant as the March 2007 inductee into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.
Go on. You can shout it out. You know you want to.....
Oh, Mr. Grant!!!!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
SHIRT HAPPENS
Because of a decision made late in the editing process for James Woods' TV series 'Shark', the color of the shirt he was wearing switched from purple to black and back again to purple. Apparently there was no time delay between the scenes to indicate that he had changed his wardrobe several times over; it was supposed to be that each scene followed the previous one closely in the show's timeline.
The producer has stated that the error happened because he decided to go with a different scene (already filmed) in which to end the show, something more emotional involving Woods' character and his daughter. But there had been no prior indication that script continuity would even be needed for that scene because it wasn't even planned to be used at that time.
That's fine as far as a Trueniverse splainin goes, but what about in Toobworld? How come Sebastian Stark and his daughter Julie never noticed the color change? And what caused it?
Ever see those fashion commercials in which models will be walking along and their clothing instantly changes into something else and they seem to take it in stride? There's a car commercial out there now that has the same effect happen to a guy as he drives his new vehicle.
They don't even notice the change is happening.
Now, these occur in blipverts, but commericals are a part of Toobworld. So those models should have noticed the effect just like Stark, and yet for the most part it goes unnoticed.
I think the answer lies in magic.
There could be sudden overlapping breaches in the dimensional veil which separates TV dimensions, causing a TV character to be momentarily replaced by his doppelganger from another world. (This was the plotline for an episode of 'The Twilight Zone' - "Mirror Image".)
But more likely there's just some bored warlock out there who enjoys magically futzing about with mortal fashion, and making sure the "victims" don't even notice it (someone on the order of Uncle Arthur from 'Bewitched', perhaps).
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
The producer has stated that the error happened because he decided to go with a different scene (already filmed) in which to end the show, something more emotional involving Woods' character and his daughter. But there had been no prior indication that script continuity would even be needed for that scene because it wasn't even planned to be used at that time.
That's fine as far as a Trueniverse splainin goes, but what about in Toobworld? How come Sebastian Stark and his daughter Julie never noticed the color change? And what caused it?
Ever see those fashion commercials in which models will be walking along and their clothing instantly changes into something else and they seem to take it in stride? There's a car commercial out there now that has the same effect happen to a guy as he drives his new vehicle.
They don't even notice the change is happening.
Now, these occur in blipverts, but commericals are a part of Toobworld. So those models should have noticed the effect just like Stark, and yet for the most part it goes unnoticed.
I think the answer lies in magic.
There could be sudden overlapping breaches in the dimensional veil which separates TV dimensions, causing a TV character to be momentarily replaced by his doppelganger from another world. (This was the plotline for an episode of 'The Twilight Zone' - "Mirror Image".)
But more likely there's just some bored warlock out there who enjoys magically futzing about with mortal fashion, and making sure the "victims" don't even notice it (someone on the order of Uncle Arthur from 'Bewitched', perhaps).
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
THE GAME OF THE NAME: OWEN HARPER
At the 'Torchwood' facility in Cardiff, one of the team members is a doctor named Owen Harper. But he's not the first in Toobworld to bear that name: there was also an Owen Harper in America, who worked as an assistant prosecutor on 'A.U.S.A.'.
But that doesn't mean there has to be a connection between them. You know how many Thomas O'Briens I've met in my life, including my Dad (and then there's my Grand-dad, but he died before my parents even met)? That's why I go by my initials to create "Toby". And even then I've stumbled across at least a few others by that name!
Besides, I'm still not convinced that Dr. Owen Harper of 'Torchwood' is even human.
This suspicion was initially raised by the unique bone structure to the actor Burn Gorman's face. I was kind of hoping he'd turn out to be.... well, not alien, but perhaps an evolutionary side-step for humanity from some parallel dimension.
And then that strange sneer he gave to the Weevil in the episode "Combat" convinced me that there was something... "other" about him.
Even so, if he does turn out to be human, he's Welsh and the one from the sitcom played by Eddie McLintock is American. I wouldn't be surprised if you had to go back many generations to find a common ancestor, and what would be the point?
Had there been a genetic similarity due to casting, now that would have been a different story!
But that doesn't mean there has to be a connection between them. You know how many Thomas O'Briens I've met in my life, including my Dad (and then there's my Grand-dad, but he died before my parents even met)? That's why I go by my initials to create "Toby". And even then I've stumbled across at least a few others by that name!
Besides, I'm still not convinced that Dr. Owen Harper of 'Torchwood' is even human.
This suspicion was initially raised by the unique bone structure to the actor Burn Gorman's face. I was kind of hoping he'd turn out to be.... well, not alien, but perhaps an evolutionary side-step for humanity from some parallel dimension.
And then that strange sneer he gave to the Weevil in the episode "Combat" convinced me that there was something... "other" about him.
Even so, if he does turn out to be human, he's Welsh and the one from the sitcom played by Eddie McLintock is American. I wouldn't be surprised if you had to go back many generations to find a common ancestor, and what would be the point?
Had there been a genetic similarity due to casting, now that would have been a different story!
However, he still could be related to an Owen Harper who was played by Christopher Llewellyn in an episode of 'The Bill' ("474") this year......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
ZONKS: THE "GILMARS" GIRLS
Wallace:
"What?"
Veronica:
"I'm just trying to figure out which Gilmore girl you are."
'Veronica Mars'
"What?"
Veronica:
"I'm just trying to figure out which Gilmore girl you are."
'Veronica Mars'
I've pretty much surrendered to the fact that mentions of 'Gilmore Girls' will always be Zonks; there's just no way around the fact.
The show has been mentioned in shows like 'Scrubs' and 'My Boys', and on 'Six Feet Under' the characters were seen actually watching it!
But what really bothers me about the above quote from 'Veronica Mars' is that it cancels any chance there might have been for that show to have a crossover with 'Gilmore Girls' now that they're both on the same network.
I had written about this in the past, that some excuse could be found to have Rory and Lorelei go out to the West Coast and visit Neptune on some pretext... like checking out Hearst College for grad school. Or maybe the plot could have had Keith and his daughter go to Stars Hollow, Connecticut in connection to some investigation. But for Veronica to make a joke about the Gilmores because she knows it's just a TV show seems to preclude that.
C'est le view.....
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES: CHRIS/TUCKER
I've stated in the past that news programs of the Trueniverse can appear in Toobworld and not cause a Zonk. So there was no problem having Jenna Maroney, star of 'TGS with Tracy Jordan' (the show within a show on '30 Rock'), appearing on an edition of 'Hardball' with Chris Matthew and Tucker Carlson.
The face time helped boost Matthews' already considerable body of work for the League of Themselves, while Carlson needs just one more fictional appearance as himself to make him eligible for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.
CHRIS MATTHEWS
'Dog Bites Man'
'Tanner On Tanner'
'Tanner '88'
There's also 'The West Wing' and 'Mister Sterling', which both take place in the same alternate Toobworld.
TUCKER CARLSON
'K Street'
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
The face time helped boost Matthews' already considerable body of work for the League of Themselves, while Carlson needs just one more fictional appearance as himself to make him eligible for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.
CHRIS MATTHEWS
'Dog Bites Man'
'Tanner On Tanner'
'Tanner '88'
There's also 'The West Wing' and 'Mister Sterling', which both take place in the same alternate Toobworld.
TUCKER CARLSON
'K Street'
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
TOONED OUT: TANAKA, TAKANAWA, TAKE YOUR PICK
'Family Guy' and 'Lost' take place in two separate TV dimensions; everybody must know that by now - the Tooniverse and the main Toobworld.
But certain characters from live action shows always pop up in the Tooniverse as cartoon characters themselves - Batman and Robin on 'Scooby Doo', 'The Prisoner' on 'The Simpsons', and Christopher Moltisanti of 'The Sopranos' on 'Family Guy'.
So why can't it happen in reverse?
We've seen actual cartoon characters cross over into the live action TV Universe, no matter which dimension - the pen and ink Man of Steel visited the Metropolis of Earth Prime-Time with Jerry Seinfeld in an Amex blipvert, and Daffy Duck applied for a job at Winfield-Louder in Cleveland, Ohio on 'The Drew Carey Show'. But how many cartoon characters (besides Superman and the Dynamic Duo) have flesh and blood doppelgangers?
'Lost' could have provided one tonight, but they missed it by that much, as Maxwell Smart would have said. The episode was "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead", which referred to an Asian-American TV news reporter who was inside the Mr. Cluck's restaurant owned by Hurley when it was struck by a meteor.
'Family Guy' has an Asian-American TV news reporter in Quahog, Rhode Island, by the name of Tricia Takanawa, who always gets the worst possible assignments.
It would have been so cool if they used the name of Tricia Takanawa rather than Tricia Tanaka for the character. After all, it's okay that they killed her off since she was the non-animated counterpart.
Maybe the writers and producers thought that viewers might think they killed off the Tricia from 'Family Guy'. But to confuse the Tooniverse with Toobworld? That's just crazy talk.
Well, I have to go work on my five part splainin as to why lions can speak English in the Taco Bell commercial......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
But certain characters from live action shows always pop up in the Tooniverse as cartoon characters themselves - Batman and Robin on 'Scooby Doo', 'The Prisoner' on 'The Simpsons', and Christopher Moltisanti of 'The Sopranos' on 'Family Guy'.
So why can't it happen in reverse?
We've seen actual cartoon characters cross over into the live action TV Universe, no matter which dimension - the pen and ink Man of Steel visited the Metropolis of Earth Prime-Time with Jerry Seinfeld in an Amex blipvert, and Daffy Duck applied for a job at Winfield-Louder in Cleveland, Ohio on 'The Drew Carey Show'. But how many cartoon characters (besides Superman and the Dynamic Duo) have flesh and blood doppelgangers?
'Lost' could have provided one tonight, but they missed it by that much, as Maxwell Smart would have said. The episode was "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead", which referred to an Asian-American TV news reporter who was inside the Mr. Cluck's restaurant owned by Hurley when it was struck by a meteor.
'Family Guy' has an Asian-American TV news reporter in Quahog, Rhode Island, by the name of Tricia Takanawa, who always gets the worst possible assignments.
It would have been so cool if they used the name of Tricia Takanawa rather than Tricia Tanaka for the character. After all, it's okay that they killed her off since she was the non-animated counterpart.
Maybe the writers and producers thought that viewers might think they killed off the Tricia from 'Family Guy'. But to confuse the Tooniverse with Toobworld? That's just crazy talk.
Well, I have to go work on my five part splainin as to why lions can speak English in the Taco Bell commercial......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
LITTLE ZONK, "LOST" ON THE PRAIRIE
On tonight's episode of 'Lost' ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead"), James Ford, aka Sawyer, admitted to Kate that he watched 'Little House On The Prairie' when he was growing up. His excuse was that he was really sick and confined to bed and they only had one station to watch.
This isn't a Zonk, because even though 'Little House On The Prairie' and 'Lost' exist in the same TV Universe, the Toobworld version of 'Little House' wasn't exactly the same as the one we saw in the real world.
There really was a Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote a series of books about her experiences growing up on the "final frontier", but in Toobworld, she looked like Melissa Gilbert when she was a little girl.
And just as her experiences were adapted into a TV series in the real world, so they were in Toobworld as well. Who knows what Laura Ingalls Wilder looked like in the version watched by Sawyer? She could have been played by Mindy Cohn for all we know. After all, if the televersion of Mindy became an actress as well, we know she wouldn't have been playing Natalie on 'The Facts Of Life' - that was actually happening in Toobworld.
So the TV habits of Sawyer in his childhood remain free for the moment of Zonk infestation.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
This isn't a Zonk, because even though 'Little House On The Prairie' and 'Lost' exist in the same TV Universe, the Toobworld version of 'Little House' wasn't exactly the same as the one we saw in the real world.
There really was a Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote a series of books about her experiences growing up on the "final frontier", but in Toobworld, she looked like Melissa Gilbert when she was a little girl.
And just as her experiences were adapted into a TV series in the real world, so they were in Toobworld as well. Who knows what Laura Ingalls Wilder looked like in the version watched by Sawyer? She could have been played by Mindy Cohn for all we know. After all, if the televersion of Mindy became an actress as well, we know she wouldn't have been playing Natalie on 'The Facts Of Life' - that was actually happening in Toobworld.
So the TV habits of Sawyer in his childhood remain free for the moment of Zonk infestation.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
ZONKS: HOLY NAME (DROPPING) SOCIETY, BATMAN!
"Come on, Mom. You spent a night in jail for smoking pot.
This family should have, like, a bat signal for things that good."
Sarah
'Brothers & Sisters'
This family should have, like, a bat signal for things that good."
Sarah
'Brothers & Sisters'
Sarah is proving to be the go-to girl for possible Zonks on 'Brothers & Sisters'. In the past she's mentioned 'Lost' and 'The Waltons'.
But once again, this is no Zonk. Batman actually operated in Gotham City beginning back in the 1960s, and the Bat Signal - used by the Police Commissioner to summon the Caped Crusader - became famous nationwide. O'Bviously Sarah Walker saw it on the news at some point while growing up.
So this Zonk is nothing but bat guano.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
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