#2600 UPDATE: ONCE & AGAIN

The title of that old show "Do Over" would have worked even better......

::sigh::
I had so many topic options to choose from for Blog Post #2600.

1] The alternate TV dimension in which our TV shows - which are "real life" in Earth Prime-Time - are also "real life" (marking the behind-the-scenes look at the actors of 'Steptoe And Son' which stars Jason Isaacs).

2] My theory about 'Lost' Season Five and the Whispers.

3] The use of "The Numbers" from 'Lost' in a Spanish beer commercial.

4] Theories about Kinchloe of 'Hogan's Heroes'.

5] A Zonk about a Baldwin piano in 1840 'Dante's Cove'.

6] Or I could have just held off and waited until today to use it to celebrate the birth date of James Tiberius Kirk.

But noooooooooooo!

I had to waste it on a "Double Vision" theory combining two British sitcoms which I've never seen. Which of course means that I screwed it up.

It was just a couple of posts ago, but let's recap:

I wrote that Sheridan Smith, the actress who plays Janet on 'Two Pints Of Lager (And A Packet Of Crisps', made a cameo appearance in a 'Gavin & Stacey' episode as a take-out window clerk for a fast-food restaurant.

That part's fine, but then I tried to over-analyze the appearance in order to combine the two series in Toobworld:

"According to TV.com, her character's name was Rudi. So there goes the chance that she could have been Janet Keogh. Besides, Janet and the rest of the cast from 'Two Pints' were living in Runcorn in Cheshire. Stacey was originally from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales, while Gavin lived in Billericay, Essex, but she eventually moved in with Gavin. There's not much chance they'd ever get up to Cheshire just for fast food.

But in that second episode, Gavin's buddy Smithy went AWOL when he found out he got Nessa pregnant. So maybe that road trip of the guys took them up to Runcorn where they could have met up with Janet.....

Of course, there's still the matter of that name of Rudi.....

Janet was working in a bakery and then moved up to becoming the manager of the Archer bar. After it was closed down by the health inspectors, maybe she needed whatever job she could find to make ends meet for her and her child, Corinthian. (Her husband Jonny got killed off at the beginning of the seventh season.)

But after being the manager of Archer's, maybe Janet felt the fast food job was an embarrassment, so she used an alias there.....

However, that only works if Gavin's road trip to find Smithy took them to Runcorn......It would make for a nice little link between the two shows, not that they really needed one. All shows are one in the TV Universe."

My UK blogging buddy Rob of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (Link to the left, check it out!) wrote back last night. And since I'm not always sure visitors read comments, I wanted to make sure Rob's message was seen by everyone who travels in Toobworld here:

"Ooh, not sure about that. Trouble is, the character Sheridan Smith played was supposed to be Smithy's sister. Everyone at the drive-through called her Smithy, too. Plus she had something approaching an Essex accent. Good try, though, Tobes!"
Fair enough. I'm grateful for the extra info. I did give myself an out, using "maybe" and "could have" and "that only works if".... But still I'd much rather have something that could be viewed as a bit more solid in foundation.

So as I mentioned in my response to Rob, I should have gone with a far simpler splainin which works even better when it comes connecting Sheridan Smith's role in 'Two Pints' with that in 'Gavin & Stacey':

"I'll fall back on the 'Patty Duke Show' "Identical Cousin" theory: Since Janet's maiden name was Smith, then she and Rudi Smith were cousins who looked exactly alike."

And there's nothing unlikely about the idea that Janet Smith was raised in Runcorn, Cheshire, while Rudi "Smithy" Smith was raised in Billericay, Essex.

(Full disclosure: I also suggested that somebody in the previous generation may have been philanderin'. But again, that's too much supposition. We'll keep it simple with the Identical Cousin theory.)

My thanks to Rob for being so observant, and especially for visiting Toobworld!

One other note - all that talk about Cheshire and Essex - and the mention of Killingworth in that post about the 1822 copier - made me homesick for Connecticut!

BCnU!
Toby OB

"Regret is part of being alive."
Kerr Avon
'Blake's 7'