"HAPPY DAYS" DE-ZONKED

During that 'Criminal Minds' episode set in Milwaukee ("In Birth And Death"), Detective Wolynski lamented the fact that before Jeffrey Dahmer, most people associated Milwaukee with 'Happy Days'.

As 'Happy Days' shares the same TV Universe as 'Criminal Minds', as hard as that may be to visualize, we can't allow this to be a Zonk about the TV show 'Happy Days'.

Since Wolynski never said anything else about the show but its title, I'm going to just consider it a reference to some other popular fiction - perhaps a musical......

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: DAMNED AND DAHMER

In the 'Criminal Minds' episode entitled "In Birth And Death", the BAU team traveled to Milwaukee to help out on a serial murder case. There they met Detective Vic Wolynski, whom Spencer recognized as having been part of the team who investigated the Jeffrey Dahmer case. (Wolynski was surprised that anybody would remember him for that - especially as there were so many other elements of the case that would be more likely seared into the memory. But then, that was just Spencer being Spencer.)

The connection of Detective Wolynski to the Dahmer case made be the first televersion link in Toobworld. The 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' episode "Want" was based on the Jeffrey Dahmer case, but this 'Criminal Minds' episode may be the first to actually absorb Dahmer into the TV Universe. (I'm fairly certain references have been made to it in other shows, however....)

Not wanting to give Dahmer too much of a spotlight here at Inner Toob, here are just some of the basics, edited from Wikipedia:
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994) was an American serial killer. Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, with the majority of the murders occurring between 1989 and 1991. His murders were particularly gruesome, involving rape, necrophilia and cannibalism.

By the summer of 1991, Dahmer was murdering approximately one person each week.

On July 22, 1991, Dahmer's intended victim escaped and alerted a police car, with the handcuffs still hanging from one hand. The would-be victim led police back to Dahmer's apartment, where Dahmer at first acted friendly to the officers, only to turn on them when he realized that they suspected something was wrong.

As one officer subdued Dahmer, the other searched the house and uncovered multiple photographs of murdered victims and human remains, including three severed heads and penises. A further search of the apartment revealed more evidence, including photographs of victims and human remains in his refrigerator.

On November 28, 1994, Dahmer and another inmate were beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver with a bar from a weight machine while on work detail in the prison gym. Dahmer died from severe head trauma in the ambulance en route to the hospital.

Ugh. Good riddance.

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE COMBATANTS OF NIMOY

Oooooh! Sounds positively skiffy, don't it?

"Hellooooo.... Newman."
Jerry Seinfeld
'Seinfeld'

In the past here I've mentioned that character names as spelled in the credits are not to be taken as fact in the TV Universe, since there could be changes within the actual show. In the last year I've seen this happen with episodes of 'Burke's Law' and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'.

And now I'm dismissing the name of a character as it is seen in the credits, but not because of a discrepancy with the program. It was probably meant the way it was written. However, it doesn't serve the greater good of Toobworld that way. And in this case especially, it's somewhat fitting to say that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one.

Leonard Nimoy appeared twice on 'Combat!'; his episodes separated by two years. But basically the characters were the same - soldiers attached to Sgt. Saunders' squad who were most useful because they spoke German, and fluently at that.

However, in his first appearance he was known as "Neumann" ("The Wounded Don't Cry"), and in "The Raider" he was called "Baum".It's my contention that these two characters were one and the same man, and that his name always was Baum.

It's that name "Neumann" as seen in the credits with which I'm taking issue. We hear him addressed as Neumann, but we never hear him referred to as Private Neumann, just Neumann.

What I'm always striving for is to find the simplest splainin as to the discrepancies of Toobworld. So instead of saying that there were two men attached to Saunders' squad who looked remarkably similar and then finding the reason why (identical cousins?), I'd prefer to find a reason why they can't be one and the same man, despite the name difference.

So here's my Occam's Razor splainin: When he was being addressed as "Neumann", Nimoy's character's name was really Baum. But he was new to the unit and that led to him getting a nickname. What we're hearing is not "Neumann" but "New Man". Had it been taking place today, they'd be calling him "Newbie".

(I remember in the movie "The Big Red One", which was based on director Samuel Fuller's experiences during World War II, the more seasoned soldiers in the squad tried to keep their distance from the new guys. There was some kind of superstition that they would be quicker to get killed in the next battle. Perhaps by tagging these guys with nicknames, it was a way to keep them ostracized.)

Only after "New Man" nearly died by stopping a Gestapo officer from killing them all with a potato masher did they stop calling him New Man and begin using his given name of Baum.

Perhaps they sometimes tweaked it to sound like the more Germanic spelling of "Neumann", or even wrote it out that way if they mentioned him in letters back home, because he was the go-to guy when it came to speaking German to their prisoners. That way, we can still allow for the spelling found in the end credits.

Does it really matter? Of course not! Let's face it, none of this does! But it's fun, so stuff it.

With this splainin, we don't have to worry about two Leonard Nimoy characters running around Occupied Europe during the Big One. Because I know somebody would want to claim that one of them was really Mr. Spock, sent back by the Guardian of the Gate of Forever!

Oh... just one more thing....

It's also my contention that Private Baum has a teenaged son back home in the States whose heart is set on becoming a professional magician. One day he'll go by the name of "The Amazing Paris" - perhaps it's a stage name he adopts to honor the fact that his father took part in the liberation of Paris, France? ('Mission: Impossible')

BCnU!

Toby OB

"Perhaps there's more to Newman than meets the eye."
Elaine Benes
'Seinfeld'

SPITZ TAKE II

If they do make a TV movie about the Eliot Spitzer scandal, here's my casting suggestion:

Marc Vann.

He plays Conrad Ecklies on 'CSI' and can currently be seen in 'Lost' as the doctor on board the freighter.

But I'm sure the suits will probably go for a bigger name even if they don't look like Spitzer.

Just sayin', is all.

BCnU!
Toby OB

Oh. And Edie Falco as his wife, Silda....

NEWS VIEW : LLANVIEW SNOOP SCOOP

On 'One Life To Live' May 8th and 9th, rapper Snoop Dogg will be traveling to Llanview, Pennsylvania, to perform at the Ultra Violet nightclub. He'll be performing two songs from his new album "Ego Trippin'" (and the show's theme song will be his special remix as well.)

This isn't the first time Snoop Dogg has been seen in Toobworld as himself. He's definitely a candidate for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, thanks to these appearances:

"Entourage"

- The Dream Team (2007)

"The Naked Brothers Band"

- VMAs (2007)

"Weeds"

- MILF Money (2006)

"Las Vegas"

- Two of a Kind (2004)

"Player$"

- Impin' with a Pippin! (2004)

"The Tracy Morgan Show"

- Miracle Street (2004)

"Just Shoot Me!"

- Finch in the Dogg House (2001)

"Martin"

- No Love Lost (1994)

And he's appeared as himself in the following blipverts, which are just as much a part of the TV Universe as TV shows are:

2002: TV commercial for XM Satellite Radio.

2003: TV commercial for AOL 9.0.

2004: TV commercial for T-Mobile.

2005: TV commercial for BelCompany (Dutch cellphone retailer).

2005: TV commercial for Chrysler Corp.TV commercial for WWE Raw Nation.

(And I know there was a commercial for Orbit gum as well......)

I'm also throwing in this appearance:

"Cops"

- Mardi Gras '02 (2002)

But that's only because 'Cops' has become part of the fictional TV Universe thanks to 'My Name Is Earl' and 'The X-Files'.

BCnU!
Toby OB OUT!

TODAY'S TWD: KING OF KING'S

John:
History. Fascinating.

Eva:
Right.
John:
I taught history. At Columbia, ages go.
It was still Kings College.
Eva:
Of course you did.
'New Amsterdam'

One thing I'm enjoying about 'New Amsterdam' is that John is sharing information about his past lives with his colleagues and others truthfully, but they just don't believe him.

Here's what I gleaned about King's College from Wikipedia"

Columbia College is one of the prominent undergraduate colleges at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus of Morningside Heights in the Borough of Manhattan in the City of New York. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II of Great Britain. Columbia College is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States.

Due to the American Revolution, instruction was suspended from 1776 until 1784, but by the beginning of the war, the college had already educated some of the nation’s foremost political leaders. Even at this young age, ‘’King‘s College‘’ had already educated Alexander Hamilton, who served as military aide to General George Washington, then as the first Secretary of the United States Treasury and author of most of the Federalist Papers; John Jay, the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court; Robert Livingston, one of the five men who with Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence; and Gouverneur Morris, who authored the actual text of the United States Constitution.

With the successful completion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, the domestic situation was stable enough for the college to resume classes in 1784. With the new nation's independence from Great Britain, the name of the institution was changed from King’s College to Columbia College, the name by which the institution continues to be known today.

So it had to be at some point between the years 1754 and 1776 when John Amsterdam taught at King's College. And it probably had to be even later than 1754 because for a time Samuel Johnson was its only teacher. In the beginning, classes were all in Latin, so it's likely John Amsterdam is fluent in that dead language.

BCnU!
Toby OB

BOOK 'EM, BENNU

Don't worry, American viewers of 'Torchwood'.... This doesn't give away anything about the upcoming episode...

"In an exclusive private school, students sexually assaulted and mutilated their teachers, then savagely turned on one another... At a seaside resort, thousands of people joined in a monstrous act of self-destruction... In a lonely room, an old lady was shredded and eaten by her beloved pet cats... In the city, mass copulation and insane slaying spread. Time was running out for mankind..." (Synopsis & illustration taken from cover)

That's from the book flap of "The Fog", a horror novel by James Herbert.

And for some reason, the alien race known as the Arcturians have come through the Cardiff Rift and found that book to be good enough to be translated into their native tongue.

Oooooooh....... Maybe they saw it as a primer for eventual conquest of Earth......

A copy of the Arcturian translation can be found in the alien artifacts collection of reclusive billionaire Henry Parker, as seen in the 'Torchwood' episode "A Day In The Death".

BCnU!
Toby OB

UPDATE: JOHN'S HOPKINS

I heard from John O'Creagh this afternoon. He's the friend who's playing Stephen Hopkins in the HBO production of 'John Adams', which begins this Sunday.....

JOHN: Thanks for the "John's Hopkins" mention.

TOBY: You're welcome! Made two people I know in two days I wrote about in TV productions playing historical characters. (the guy upstairs played Walt Whitman in 'New Amsterdam' Monday.)
(EDITOR'S NOTE: somewhere in that is a coherent sentence)

JOHN: Oh, great! We're all trying to keep busy, you know.

TOBY: I hope you got to wear your hat when it came time to sign, LOL! And it'd be a shame if you didn't get to utter that line. That's good stuff!

JOHN: We never got to the signing. I think they're saving that for the sequel, at which point I shall declare, "My hand trembles, my heart does not.! " See you soon.

TOBY: Take care!

KING WITHOUT A COUNTRY

In the 'Burke's Law' episode, "Who Killed Cassandra Cass?", one of the suspects was King Dimitri, a monarch living in exile in Los Angeles. King Dimitri's country wasn't named, but according to one of the other characters, it had not appeared on a map since 1915.

The possibility to link this country to one from some other show is hampered by that trivial tidbit. O'Bviously it can't be any of the many fictional Balkan countries seen in TV shows like 'Mission: Impossible' or 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' as they would be found on Toobworld maps in the 1960s.

So I went back to a series set before 1915 - 'Sherlock Holmes', the version starring Ronald Howard that aired back in 1954. Unfortunately, the episode I had in mind didn't name any of their countries involved either....

The Case of the Royal Murder: As payment for detective services rendered, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are invited for a weekend in the Balkans. Their holiday is cut short when the visiting Prince Stefan is poisoned and their host is accused of the murder. Only Holmes can uncover the truth - but first he must avoid being the next victim.
(Description from the IMDb.com)

Prince Stefan was the son of King Johan from the neighboring country. It was Stefan's cousin King Conrad who was under suspicion for his murder.

I've always held that King Conrad's country was Caronia, which was featured in three episodes of 'Get Smart' and which had an ocean liner named after it. ('The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour')

So even though I have no name for that second country, it will be my contention that it is the country that would one day be ruled - for a short time, anyway, - by King Dimitri.

More than likely, Dimitri's country was absorbed by neighboring Caronia after World War I and that's why it disappeared from maps after 1915.

BCnU!
Toby OB

SPIN-OFF CITY: 90210-B

The CW is thinking about bringing back an updated version of 'Beverly Hills 90210', perhaps as a companion show to its hit 'Gossip Girl'. It's being produced by CBS Paramount Network TV, which took over the TV arm of the late Aaron Spelling production empire. They're now talking with Rob Thomas, creator of 'Veronica Mars', about creating the overall concept for the series as well as writing the pilot episode, if not the entire series.

As to who might be brought into the new series from the original (if any!), that's still up in the air at this early stage. But if any of them do show up, and they also happened to cross over to the other spin-off, 'Melrose Place', then they'd be eligible for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: JOHN'S HOPKINS

'John Adams', the seven part mini-series about the American patriot, debuts this coming Sunday on HBO. It's based on the book by David McCullough; it's produced by Tom Hanks; and it stars Paul Giamatti as Adams.

The American Revolution is one of my favorite areas of interest - yes, there is more that occupies my mind than the TV Universe! Along with the Revolution, there's also Sherlock Holmes, Greek mythology, American Indian myths, tall tales and legends, and urban fantasy. Oh yeah. And porn. (All of which sooner or later shows up in TV anyway.)

But there's another reason now why I'm eager to see this mini-series. One of my friends, John O'Creagh, will be in at least three episodes, maybe four, as Stephen Hopkins, a fellow member of the Continental Congress who hailed from Rhode Island.

Even though he's in the background, Stephen Hopkins can easily be seen in that famous painting of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence. He's the one wearing his hat.

Here's a partial reprint of Hopkins' entry at Wikipedia:

Stephen Hopkins (March 7, 1707–July 13, 1785) was an American political leader from Rhode Island who signed the Declaration of Independence. He served as the Chief Justice and Governor of colonial Rhode Island and was a Delegate to the Colonial Congress in Albany in 1754 and to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776.

Hopkins spoke out against British tyranny long before the revolutionary period. In 1764 he published a pamphlet "The Rights of the Colonies Examined" whose broad distribution and criticism of taxation and Parliament built his reputation as a revolutionary leader.

In 1773, he freed his slaves, and the following year, while serving in the Rhode Island Assembly in 1774, he introduced a bill that prohibited the importation of slaves into the colony. This became one of the first anti-slavery laws in the new United States.

He led the colony's delegation to the Continental Congress later in 1774, along with Samuel Ward, and was a proud signer of the Declaration of Independence. He recorded his name with a trembling right hand, which he had to guide with his left. Hopkins had cerebral palsy, and was noted to have said, as he signed the Declaration, "My hand trembles, my heart does not."

Hopkins' knowledge of the shipping business made him particularly useful as a member of the naval committee established by Congress to purchase, outfit, man and operate the first ships of the new Continental Navy. Through his participation on that committee, Hopkins was instrumental in framing naval legislation and drafting the rules and regulations necessary to govern the fledgling organization during the American War for Independence.

In September 1776, his poor health forced him to resign from the Continental Congress and return to his home in Rhode Island. From 1777 to 1779, Hopkins remained an active member of Rhode Island's general assembly.

I found this elsewhere:

Hopkins served in the Congress, distinguishing himself as a bold orator. "The liberties of America would be a cheap purchase with the loss of but 100,000 lives," he confessed to a colleague.

McCullough has stated that this mini-series is quite authentic, so I'll be interested to see if they had John play the role of Stephen Hopkins with his trembling hand and wearing his hat. Hopefully, he'll also get to say that line of dialogue about his shaky signature, as I think it's a powerful quote.

There's another reason why I'm happy John O'Creagh is playing the role of Stephen Hopkins..... That headline wrote itself!

BCnU!
Toby OB

RUMBLINGS

Over at TVNewser, "FishbowlNY writes about the response of 'Mad Money''s Jim Cramer yesterday to the Eliot Spitzer scandal. The CNBC host and the current (for now) New York Governor have been friends since their days in Harvard Law.

Part of what he said on the air yesterday showed his shock at the news. "I hope it's not true," said Cramer. "And there were no rumblings. Someone earlier said there were rumblings. There's no rumblings about this. Eliot's my friend."

Oh, there were rumblings. Toobworld Central has it on good authority that this was known down on Centre Street back in December......

BCnU!
Toby OB

PROVIDENTIALLY SPEAKING

Julianna Margulies held a teleconference last week in order to promote her new series on FOX, 'Canterbury Tales'. The series is supposed to take place in Providence, Rhode Island, but you'd only knkow that from the establishing shots, the type of thing used for to con you into thinking 'Boston Legal' was being filmed in Boston, and that 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' actually was filmed in Minneapolis.

The ruse might have worked if somebody, at least the secondary characters, spoke with Providence accents.

"No, I do not speak with a Rhode Island accent, which was a very conscious decision," Julianna Margulies said. "I think it would have taken away a little bit; people would have been like, huh?"

Margulies believes that "this woman [Elizabeth Canterbury] ended up there; she's not necessarily from there."

So if they weren't going to try to simulate Providence with the accents, why was it chosen? Margulies explained: "Boston has been done, New York has been done – they've all been done. Let's try Rhode Island. And you can double New York as Rhode Island anytime. Rhode Island is just sort of the backdrop of where this takes place and where someone could feasibly have a law firm, as opposed to New York City and Boston. And we didn't want to make it New Jersey."

I can understand that! They probably didn't want people expecting to see the Soprano mob family as clients. And it keeps down the possibility that she might run into her character from 'The Sopranos'.

Well, if they wanted to avoid the problem of accents, and yet stay in the expanded area of NY filming stages, I would have set the series in Hartford, Ct. I'm from Connecticut, so I don't feel as if they have accents up there.

And besides, it'd be a great way to do a crossover with the old 'Judging Amy' series! Oh well, maybe there might be a suggestion that the show is crossing paths with the show 'Providence'......

BCnU!
Toby OB

OR ARE YOU LOVEY-DOVEY?

My brother's newspaper is running an online poll linked to the news about Dawn Wells getting busted for possession of pot.

Who would you rather be stranded on an island with?

Ginger? Mary Ann? Or Mrs. Howell?

Of course it's sexist - what about the women who'd like to be stranded with a brainy guy like the Professor? Or the chubby-chasers who'd prefer the Skipper? Gold-diggers targeting Mr. Howell? Or the cougars who'd see Gilligan as a boy toy? (And even then... what about the guys who'd like a chance at those options as well?)

But them's your choices. If you want to voice your choice, go to:

http://www.rep-am.com/

BCnU!
Toby OB

I GOTCHER UNIT RIGHT HEAH!

Russell T. Davies, the potentate behind 'Doctor Who', 'Torchwood', and 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' has said that the acronym of UNIT no longer stands for "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce". Which is just as well since the United Nations took umbrage at the use of their name, just as they did when it came to what U.N.C.L.E. really stood for. (Just for the record, it's United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.)

But that's not to say that it wasn't the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce originally in Toobworld. It could be that there was a restructuring of the taskforce during the tenure of Kofi Annan as Secretary-General. So UNIT was now able to stand on its own without being tied to the capricious whims of the member states in the United Nations.

And I still believe Thomas R. Sloane III was an agent for that same version of UNIT in 'A Man Called Sloane'....

BCnU!
Toby OB

A TRIP TO SOSHUNIS

Over forty years after the fact, Toobworld Central has a new planet to add to the firmament of the TV Universe - Soshunis.

Here's the TV Cream description of the show where it could be found:

THE STRANGER (1966)

ABC (AUSTRALIA)
A stranded alien in the outback going by the name of Adam Suisse gets befriended by headmasters' kids Bernie and Jean Walsh, and Peter. The alien's mate, Varossa, lives in the Blue Mountains, and takes the kids on a trip to their home planet, Soshunis. As so often in these things, the grown up world of government and media take against the aliens, but the kids, the headmaster and (eventually) the Aussie PM manage to bring peace.

Having never seen the show, and as I mentioned above, having only just learned about it, I don't know enough about Soshunis to make any theoretical link between 'The Stranger' and any other sci-fi series. For instance, is the native population naturally humanoid? Do they have any special powers that can be found in other alien races? Could the name Soshunis be translated into being a different planetary name on some other series?

If there are any visitors here from the Land Down Under who remember this show and know where I can access trivia about it, let me know!

You can find a link to TV Cream over to the left...

BCnU!
Toby OB

(Pictured above: Not exactly the kind of connection Toobworld is looking for between planets... but that would be cool to see!)

TODAY'S TWD: A WHITMAN SAMPLER

After seeing the first episode of 'New Amsterdam', I knew that the series would be a great source for my historical Tiddlywinkydinks, and would most likely wind up winning the 2008 Toobits award for Best Blend of Toobworld and History.

I just never thought I'd see one of my neighbors playing a role in all of it!

In the latest episode ("Soldier's Heart"), John flashed back to his days as a battle surgeon during the War Between The States. There he was teamed up with Walt Whitman (CJ Wilson) as his nurse at Antietam in 1862.

Here's what Wikipedia had to say about that battle:

"The Battle of Antietam (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the South), fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties."

And here's their take on Whitman's service during the war:

"As the American Civil War was beginning, Whitman published his poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" as a patriotic rally call for the North.

Whitman's brother George had joined the Union army and began sending Whitman several vividly detailed letters of the battle front.

On December 16, 1862, a listing of fallen and wounded soldiers in the New York Tribune included "First Lieutenant G. W. Whitmore", which Whitman worried was a reference to his brother George.

He made his way south immediately to find him, though his wallet was stolen on the way.

"Walking all day and night, unable to ride, trying to get information, trying to get access to big people", Whitman later wrote he eventually found George alive, with only a superficial wound on his cheek.

Whitman, profoundly affected by seeing the wounded soldiers and the heaps of their amputated limbs, left for Washington on December 28, 1862 with the intention of never returning to New York.

In Washington, D.C., Whitman's friend Charley Eldridge helped him obtain part-time work in the army paymaster's office, leaving time for Whitman to volunteer as a nurse in the army hospitals.

He would write of this experience in "The Great Army of the Sick", published in a New York newspaper in 1863 and, 12 years later, in a book called Memoranda During the War."

So I'm not sure if the armies of the North and the South were still entrenched at Antietam by December when - if - the real Whitman may have shown up. But in Toobworld, Whitman was there by the time of the actual battle.

CJ is not the first actor to play Walt Whitman in Toobworld. Donald Moffat portrayed the poet in the episode "The Body Electric" on 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman'. That series took place about two decades later, so we can chalk up the casting differences in appearance to aging.

BCnU!
Toby OB

SPITZ SKIT

Over in Skitlandia, that televersion of Governor Eliot Spitzer has found that his phone has been ringing off the hook since the news broke two days ago about his sex scandal.

Luckily for us (if not Spitzer), David Letterman was able to get hold of the tape from the Governor's answering machine....

"Messages Left on Eliot Spitzer's Answering Machine"
10. "Hey, what's new?"

9. "It's Barack Obama. Remember our conversation about being my running mate? Never mind."

8. "Ralph Nader here. Glad to hear I'm not the only politician who has to pay for it."

7. "Hi, I'm calling from the 'New York Post.' Would you rather be known as 'Disgraced Governor Perv' or 'Humiliated Whore Fiend'?"

6. "This is John McCain. If it makes you feel better, I once got caught having sex with Lincoln's wife."

5. "It's Dr. Phil. Call me if you need any horse**** advice."

4. "This is Sen. Larry Craig. Do you ever go through the Minneapolis airport?"

3. "It's Wolf Blitzer. Call me if you ever want a hot Spitzer-Blitzer three-way."

2. "Paris Hilton here. I would have done it for free."

1. "It's Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thanks, I'm no longer America's creepiest governor."

[from 'The Late Show with David Letterman']

BCnU!
Toby OB

TOOBWORLD CENTRAL IS ON THE GO!

I'm working out of the mobile base for Toobworld Central for the next 24 hours; this time out we're at the Markhael Lair in the East Village. Should be an interesting experience.......




(Help me! Send food!)

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE DEEP SIX: THE GOVERNATORS

With the big news out of the Governor's office here in New York state, I thought it might be a good time to present another of my Deep Six lists.

This time, it's a list of state governors found only in Toobworld......

1] Judge Henry Garth, played by Lee J. Cobb on 'The Virginian'
When Lee J. Cobb wanted to leave the long-running Western, the producers of 'The Virginian' wrote him out by having Judge Garth become the territorial governor of Wyoming. What's great about this is that I can use this as a link to 'Alias Smith & Jones', in which Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry were promised a pardon by the governor of Wyoming, just so long as they stayed out of trouble for one year.

So why not have it be Judge Garth who made the deal?

2] Eugene Xavier Gatling, played by James Noble on 'Benson'
This was probably the biggest role in Noble's career, and it served as a Toobworld link as well. Eugene X. Gatling was the cousin of Jessica Tate of 'Soap' and she was the one who persuaded Benson to take the job in the Governor's mansion in order to help her cousin.

The state at first was suggested to be Connecticut, where Dunn's River of 'Soap' is located, but it never was actually pinned down as such.

3] William Drinkwater, played by Dan Dailey on 'The Governor And JJ'
All we know about the state governed by William Drinkwater was that it was located in the Midwest. Personally, I always saw it as being Minnesota or Michigan. I suppose Dailey was pleasant enough in the role, for what I remember of the show which I watched as a kid. I mainly remember the sitcom for his daughter JJ, played by Julie Sommers on whom I had a crush at the time.

4] Paul Jameson, played by Richard Denning on 'Hawaii Five-O'
Jameson became something of an adjunct to the cast of 'Five-O'. He wasn't the first governor for the 50th state, as the great Lew Ayres held that office in one episode as well. But when it came time to having the role filled on a recurring basis, Denning was elected. Back then, having McGarrett deal directly with the Governor showed how much power Five-O had. Nowadays that type of relationship would inevitably lead to episodes about corruption....

5] Robert Ritchie, played by James Brolin on 'The West Wing' & Frank Tancredi, played by John Heard on 'Prison Break' (tie)
I couldn't make up my mind between these two governors from alternate TV dimensions, based entirely on the actors in the roles. Heard has always been one of my ten favorite actors since I first saw him in "Between The Lines", and it's always good to see Brolin get the chance to be more than Mr. Streisand.

6] James Devlin, played Zeljko Ivanek on 'Oz'
What a great lizardly character actor Ivanek has been for Toobworld, with other roles on 'Damages', 'Lost', and 'Homicide: Life On The Street' as highlights on his resume. Governor Devlin was an integral character when it came to showing the forces affecting Oswald Penitentiary beyond its walls.

So there you have it, my picks for the six top fictional governors in the televersion of the United States. As for the worst? I've got two choices:

Richard Wechsler as seen in 'Monk' ("Mr. Monk Is On The Run, Part Two") - Everybody knows the governor of California at this time is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Having Wechsler in office probably means that 'Monk' must be tossed into an alternate TV dimension.

Michael Riordan as seen in 'Law & Order' ("Gov Luv") - At the time this episode aired, Connecticut's governor was John Rowland, who was embroiled in charges which led to his departure from office and eventual conviction. Those troubles were blended with those of former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey's sexual revelations to create a new character. But since both real world governors were being referenced in other TV shows, and since 'Law & Order' was already using real world politicians like Giuliani and Bloomberg, why couldn't they have said Riordan was the governor of some unnamed nearby state.

Or they could have made him the governor of Delaware. The real one doesn't seem to be making headlines lately.....

Waiting for the Spitz to hit the fan....

BCnU!
Toby OB

TOSH AND CIRCUMSTANCE

According to Alan Stanley Blair of ScyFy Portal, it can finally be confirmed that Naoki Mori's character of Toshiko Sato on 'Torchwood' is the same Toshiko Sato as seen in the 'Doctor Who' two-parter "Aliens Of London" and "World War Three". (I hate those titles! I would've named those episodes "The Gas Exchange" and "Number 10 Downing".)

There had been some question about that because in 'Doctor Who', Tosh was an intern at Albion Hospital. But now that she's working for Torchwood, Owen Harper is the go-to guy for the medical work, while Tosh has been their computer geek.

According to Ms. Mori, "Yes. I cleared it with Russell T. Davies and he said yes. Actually, that gets referred to a lot later on in the second season of 'Torchwood' as well. You have to keep watching the second series of 'Torchwood.' There's a lot of things that get cleared up."

She makes mention of one such topic, but as I didn't understand it (and the link that led me to the story seemed to be something of a spoiler), I'm not going to reveal what she said. That's for the benefit of those of us here in the States unfortunate enough to see 'Torchwood' on a delayed basis......

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: MARCEL, MORESO

Owen:
You take these things for granted.
It's only when they're slipping away
You realise how amazing they are.
Jack:
"Only in suffering do we recognise beauty".
Owen:
Yeah yeah, who said that?
Jack:
Proust.
Owen:
You've read Proust?
Jack:
Yeah, well, no.
We dated for a while. He was really immature.
'Torchwood'

I'll leave it to Wikipedia to summarize Proust:

"Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (July 10, 1871 – November 18, 1922) was a French novelist, essayist and critic, best known as the author of À la recherche du temps perdu (in English, In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past), a monumental work of twentieth-century fiction published in seven parts from 1913 to 1927.

Proust, who was homosexual, was one of the first European novelists to treat homosexuality openly and at length.

His life and family circle changed considerably between 1900 and 1905. In February 1903, Proust's brother Robert married and left the family home. His father died in September of the same year. Finally, and most crushingly, Proust's beloved mother died in September 1905, leaving him a considerable inheritance. (In today's terms, a principal of about $6 million, with a monthly income of about $15,000.) His health throughout this period continued to deteriorate."

Jack may have dated Proust before Mrs. Proust passed away. It would probably be Proust's reclusiveness and reluctance to leave his home and his mother that would make Jack tag the writer as being immature.

Proust may have been in the forefront of Jack's mind just prior to these last two episodes ("Reset" & "Dead Man Walking") because of Torchwood's experience with "Adam", who stole Jack's "remembrances of things past".....

And maybe Jack was attracted to Proust because he dressed like an earlier incarnation of the Doctor.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

NEWS VIEWS: A STITCH IN TOON

The Disney company is making a new TV show based on their character Stitch from the movie "Lilo And Stitch". But this time Stitch will have left Hawaii and instead move to Okinawa, Japan. There he'll end up living with a Japanese girl named Hanako. Based on the news story, I don't know if there will be any mention on 'Stitch!' as to why he left the orphan girl Lilo behind, and it's unlikely we'll be able to see the show ourselves to find out - it's going to air on Japan's Disney channel in October.

The original TV cartoon crossed over with 'Kim Possible', so I'd say the alien teddy bear could be eligible for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

BCnU!
Toby OB

SNOOPER, CRACKLE, POP!

Scriptwriter and comics enthusiast Mark Evanier loves old-time TV animation and the vocal work of Daws Butler, which are just some of the many topics he's covered in his blog, "News From ME". (Link to the left, gentle folk!) And because of that, I've now seen this cute, classic, commercial crossover of the Rice Kripies trio (Snap, Crackle, Pop) and the Hanna-Barbera cat and mouse duo of Snooper and Blabbermouse.

[CLICK HERE]

Of course, it all takes place over in the Tooniverse and has no effect on the main Toobworld. But who cares? It's just a fun bit o' nostalgia.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: BLEEP THE METS

In the pilot of 'New Amsterdam', Detective John York went looking for the owner of Omar's Bar & Grill, perhaps the one person who knew his secret. John found him behind the bar, slumped on the floor after getting a beat-down from his bookie over his unpaid gambling debts.

As he helped the older man up, John wanted to know if it was poker or the Mets, and Omar grumbled that it was the Mets. (He may have said "Damn Mets" or "Lousy Mets", but since it was broadcast TV, we know what that adjective could NOT be!)

So even though the episode was aired in March of 2008, the episode was taking place just after September 30, 2007.

By September 12 of last year, the Mets had a seven game lead in the National League. But then they suffered what could be the worst collapse in baseball history by losing twelve of their last seventeen games - which knocked them out of the post-season.

By the 29th, they were tied with Philadelphia and were hoping to win the NL East the next day... or at least force a one-game playoff. But on the 30th, the Florida Marlins knocked Tom Glavine around for seven runs in the first inning while the Phillies enjoyed a 6-1 win over the Washington Nationals. And so it was the Phillies who were the Champs in the National League East instead of the supposedly pre-destined Mets.
No wonder Omar was pissed! He probably cursed the fact that he shared the same first name as the general manager of the team!

BCnU!
Toby OB

[Full disclosure: I'm a Red Sox fan living in NYC. So, nyeh heh heh.....]

OWEN'S NUMBER IS UP

Remember when I took Dr. Martha Jones' UNIT ID number from her first appearance on 'Torchwood' and added up all the digits to get "42", one of the 'Lost' Numbers (as well as the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything from 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy'?)
Well, when Martha began the autopsy on Owen's body in the episode "Dead Man Walking", she identified him for the record as Torchwood agent #565. (They've had a lot of Torchwood agents since 1869!) And it's not really giving anything away to say that Captain Jack does the same thing next week.

5-6-5. Add those digits up and you get another in the sequence of Numbers from 'Lost' = "16".

And it makes me wonder if these trivial details might be intentional....

BCnU!
Toby OB

"COUPLING" THE NUMBERS

Ever since that online "'Lost' Experience" tried to splain away "the Numbers", they have not had as much prominence in the TV series. (From Lostpedia: "It has been revealed in The Lost Experience that these six numbers are the core values of the Valenzetti Equation, a mathematical formula designed to predict the end of humanity. The numbers in actuality are said to represent human and environmental factors in the equation (given numerical form), though their precise meaning is uncertain.")

But still they are universal, and when we're talking about the Toobworld concept, "universal" means that they will show up in other TV shows, not just 'Lost'. Sometimes deliberately, as was the case in 'Veronica Mars', (maybe in 'Heroes' as well), or just as a fluke (as was the case with that 'Rosemary & Thyme connection yesterday).

So they may not be appearing on 'Lost' as much anymore, but Toobworld Central will continue looking for the Numbers in other programs.....

Take for instance, 'Coupling'....
For reasons unknown, the Numbers - at least the numeral "8" - is exerting its influence over the cast in their favorite hangout. And here we see Patrick the pole-vaulter donkey sharing the scene with it......

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: PERRY, PARIS, & "POIROT"

Today's Tiddlywinkydink is another biographical sketch of the real person behind the historical televersion.

In the 'Poirot' episode "Death In The Clouds", the Belgian detective was in Paris for a tennis tournament. And the star attraction during the tournament, the Roger Federer of his day, was Fred Perry. (Not being a tennis fan, that's as relevant as I can get.)

Here's what I learned from Wikipedia about Perry:

Frederick John Perry (May 18, 1909 – February 2, 1995) born in Stockport, Cheshire. was an English tennis player and three-time Wimbledon champion. He was the World No. 1 player for five years, four of them consecutive, 1934 through 1938, the first three years as an amateur. He was the last Englishman to win the Wimbledon Men's Singles. Perry is considered by some to have been one of the greatest male players to have ever played the game. In his 1979 autobiography Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, called Perry one of the six greatest players of all time.

Kramer, however, has several caveats about Perry. He says that Bill Tilden once called Perry "the world's worst good player". Kramer says that Perry was "extremely fast; he had a hard body with sharp reflexes, and he could hit a forehand with a snap, slamming it on the rise—and even on the fastest grass. That shot was nearly as good as Segura's two-handed forehand." His only real weakness, says Kramer, "was his backhand. Perry hit underslice off that wing about 90 percent of the time, and eventually at the very top levels—against Vine and Budge—that was what did him in. Whenever an opponent would make an especially good shot, Perry would cry out 'Very clevah.' I never played Fred competitively, but I heard enough from other guys that that 'Very clevah' drove a lot of opponents crazy."

[Toobworld note: So actually, he sounds like the John McEnroe of his day.....]

Kramer also says that in spite of his many victories, both as an amateur and as a professional, Perry was an "opportunist, a selfish and egotistical person, and he never gave a damn about professional tennis. He was through as a player the instant he turned pro. He was a great champion, and he could have helped tennis, but it wasn't in his interest so he didn't bother." "Death In The Clouds" was broadcast in January of 1992. As Perry lived for another three years, it's not unlikely he got to see this televersion of himself.

If Kramer's opinion is to be taken as fact, Fred Perry would have made for an excellent suspect in a 'Poirot' mystery. Or more likely, a murder victim.....

BCnU!
Toby OB