THE HAT SQUAD: PAUL NEWMAN

The real "Old Blue Eyes", Paul Newman, has passed away in Connecticut at the age of 83 after battling cancer.

He's best known as a true movie star, one of the last of the legends who straddled the transition of Hollywood from the old stuido system, one of those who should get the full front page treatment of The Daily News. (That's my personal standard for what marks greatness when someone dies.)

Some of his best known pics were "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid", "The Sting", "Cool Hand Luke", "The Verdict", "Absence Of Malice", "The Towering Inferno", and the "H" movies - "Hud", "Hondo", "Harper". He finally won the Oscar for Best Actor with "The Color Of Money", a year after getting a lifetime achievement award.

He was also a race car driver and did a lot of good with his charity organizations, especially through the sale of his popcorn and salad dressings under the label "Newman's Own".

But Paul Newman also made his mark in Toobworld when he first started out, returning to it near the end of his career. He starred in two different productions of my favorite play, "Our Town" at both ends of the spectrum: in the fifties he played young George Gibbs, and then in the 21st Century, he appeared as the Stage Manager.

Here's a look back at his career on television:
Empire Falls (2005) (TV) .... Max Roby

Our Town (2003) (TV) .... Stage Manager

"Freedom: A History of Us"

- Democracy and Struggles (2003) TV episode .... Justice Earl Warren

- Safe for Democracy (2003) TV episode .... Woodrow Wilson

"Playhouse 90" .... Christian Darling
- The 80 Yard Run (1958)

"The Kaiser Aluminum Hour"

- The Rag Jungle (1956) .... Charlie Correlli

- The Army Game (1956) .... Danny Scott

"The United States Steel Hour"
- Bang the Drum Slowly (1956) .... Henry Wiggen

- The Five Fathers of Pepi (1956) .... Giorgio

- The Rise and Fall of Silas Lapham (1954) .... Tom Corey

"Playwrights '56" .... The Battler
- The Battler (1955)

"Producers' Showcase" .... George Gibbs

- Our Town (1955)

"The Philco Television Playhouse" .... Billy the Kid

- The Death of Billy the Kid (1955)

"Appointment with Adventure"

- Honeymoon in Spain (1955)

- Five in Judgment (1955) .... Mack

"Danger"

- Knife in the Dark (1954)

"Armstrong Circle Theatre"

- The Contender (1954)

"Goodyear Television Playhouse"

- Thunder of Silence (1954)

- Guilty Is the Stranger (1954)

"The Mask"

- The Party Night (1954)

"The Joe Palooka Story" .... Fight Spectator

- The Big Blow-Off (1954)

"The Web" .... Alex
- The Leech (1953)

- One for the Road (1953)

- The Bells of Damon (1953)

- Deadlock (1952)

"You Are There"

- The Fate of Nathan Hale (September 22, 1776) (1953) .... Nathan Hale

- The Death of Socrates (399 B.C.) (1953) .... Plato

- The Assassination of Julius Caesar (March 15, 44 B.C.) - Brutus

"The Aldrich Family" (1949) .... Occasional Cast Member (1952-53)

"Suspense" .... Capt. Radetski

- Woman in Love (1952)

"Tales of Tomorrow" .... Sergeant Wilson

- Ice from Space (1952)

I saw the "You Are There" episode at the Museum of Television and Radio (now the Paley Center for Media). The most interesting aspect of it was that it addressed a rumor that I never heard brought up before, not in my history books from school or in Shakespeare's play - that Brutus was the illegitimate son of Julius Caesar. (It also starred Robert Culp as Cassius and Milton Selzer as Caesar.)

There were news reports that Newman was ailing for a year now, at least. But even so, it's hard to believe that a man who seemed so alive in his movies, with clear blue eyes so blazingly bright, could have left us.

Rest in peace, Mr. Newman.....

BCnU...
Toby O'B

TODAY'S TWD: THORNE IN MY ASIDE

By the 19th of September, I had figured out the basics of Eva Thorne's secret this season on 'Eureka'. If I had guessed Eva's theory of relateeveety to that 1938 project, I would have been wrong, however. I would have gone with the foremost traditional connection, just as "the other sandy" did.

Here's how it began in the Live Journal blog "Dr. Terror's House Of Pancakes" after the episode "Here Come The Suns" aired:

I knew Eva was interested in all the old records pertaining to whatever was going on in Eureka before the town was founded. She'd been gathering old records and watching archival footage, so it didn't surprise me at all that she snatched the old photos from Café Diem. However, with all the layoffs and shutdowns going on since she arrived, it totally blew past me that she'd want the town museum shut down just so she could have exclusive access to those records. Why do I think that one of the three bodies found in the old facility was a relative of Eva's? Unless there's another weird time thing going on, she isn't old enough for it to be a husband. Father, maybe? Guess we'll find out next week.

Comments

tele_toby wrote:
Sep. 19th, 2008 01:47 am (UTC)

Eva Thorne
Actually, I was thinking that Eva Thorne could be old enough to have been around since the 1930s project. Who knows what kind of techno-babble could have kept her so well-preserved to this point in time?

the_other_sandy wrote:
Sep. 19th, 2008 03:12 am (UTC)
Re: Eva Thorne

I kind of thought that at first too, but the 1939 experiment was 69 years ago. Eva's no spring chicken, but even if she were well into her seventies, she still would've been elementary school age back then. Of course, that's assuming that time is behaving itself. Henry still hasn't figured out what happened to the scientists whose bodies were recovered from the facility.

I'm GOOD!

Ow. I just sprained my arm patting myself on the back...

BCnU!
Toby O'B

ECHOES IN TIME

"You can't change History! Not one line!"
The First Doctor
'Doctor Who'

"You don't screw with Time!"
Mrs. Angela Petrelli
'Heroes'

TODAY'S TWD: GOOSEBERRY BUSH

When Rosemary Boxer found a baby out in the woods in "The Gooseberry Bush" episode of 'Rosemary & Thyme', Laura Thyme asked if was under a gooseberry bush.

Here's why:

Gooseberries are also associated with a wide range of meanings. Often, when British children ask where babies come from, they are told that they can be found “under a gooseberry bush.” This agrees with the Victorian flower meaning of the blossom: anticipation.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

TODAY'S TWD: THE REGENT'S PARK

In the 'Rosemary & Thyme' episode "Three-Legged Good", gardeners/landscapers/amateur sleuths Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme were working on the Victorian garden of The Regent's Park in Westminster. Over in the Tooniverse of the movie universe, The Regent's Park was a pivotal location from "One Hundred And One Dalmations" - it's where the Dearlys and their dogs first met.

Here's what I found out about the place, thanks to Wikipedia:

Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the northern part of central London partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden.

The land, which was formerly known as Marylebone Park, had been Crown property for many centuries, and had been leased to the Dukes of Portland as a hunting ground. When the lease expired in 1811 the Prince Regent (later King George IV) commissioned architect John Nash to create a masterplan for the area. Nash originally envisaged a palace for the Prince and a number of grand detached villas for his friends, but when this was put into action from 1818 onwards, the palace and most of the villas were dropped. However, most of the proposed terraces of houses around the fringes of the park were built.

Nash did not complete all the detailed designs himself; in some instances, completion was left in the hands of other architects such as the young Decimus Burton. The Regent Park scheme was integrated with other schemes built for the Prince Regent by Nash, including Regent Street and Carlton House Terrace in a grand sweep of town planning stretching from St James's Park to Parliament Hill. The park was first opened to the general public in 1845, initially for two days a week.

On 15th January 1867, forty people died when the ice cover on the boating lake collapsed and over 200 people plunged into the lake. The lake was subsequently drained and its depth reduced to four feet before being reopened to the public.

Queen Mary's Gardens in the Inner Circle were created in the 1930s, bringing that part of the park into use by the general public for the first time. The site had originally been used as a plant nursery and had later been leased to the Royal Botanic Society. In 1982 an IRA terrorist attack took place in the park; a bomb was detonated at the bandstand, killing seven soldiers (see Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings). The sports pitches, which had been relaid with inadequate drainage after the Second World War, were relaid between 2002 and 2004, and in 2005 a new sports pavilion was constructed.

On 7 July 2006 the Park held an event for people to remember the events of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Members of the public placed mosaic tiles on to seven purple petals. Later bereaved family members laid yellow tiles in the centre to finish the mosiac.

The only thing is, when Rosemary Boxer talked about the park's history, she focused on a William Nessfield who worked on the design of the garden in the 1860s and gave it the Italianate look it had in the episode. So I'm not sure he even existed. (As usual, I was too lazy to go too deep into Google for the information... information... information....

BCnU!
Toby O'B

TODAY'S TWD: FAMILY FEUD

'Mad Men' uses real products for the clients of the Sterling-Cooper ad agency back in the early 1960s. No fake companies like those represented by McMann & Tate on 'Bewitched'. However, small differences make these companies truly Toobworldian, distinct from their real world counterparts. In the first season, a new slogan for a coffee brand was introduced, one which had been already in use with the company since the 1920s/1930s.
This season, the Utz company had TV commercials made by Sterling-Cooper and which featured comedian Jimmy Barrett. The only problem was that Jimmy, known for his insult humor, zeroed in on the wife of the company's owner and made fun of her for being over-weight.

The owners were identified as Mr. and Mrs. Schilling. However, here in the real world, the owners were William and Salie Utz.

Here's the info from Wikipedia:

Utz Quality Foods, Inc. (rhyming with "nuts"), based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, is the largest independent privately held snack brand in the United States. The company was founded in 1921 and distributes a variety of potato chips and other snack foods throughout the eastern United States.

Utz Quality Foods began in 1921 as "Hanover Home Brand Potato Chips” when William and Salie Utz began making potato chips out of their home in Hanover, Pennsylvania, with an initial investment of $300. The hand-operated equipment used at the time produced approximately 50 pounds of potato chips per hour. After Salie cooked the chips, Bill delivered them to local grocery stores and farmers’ markets in the Hanover and Baltimore, Maryland, areas.

Success soon allowed Bill and Salie to move operations to a small cement building in the family’s backyard. In 1938, production was boosted with the purchase of an automatic fryer capable of producing 300 pounds of chips per hour.

In 1938, Francis Xavier “F.X.” Rice joined the Utz Company after marrying Arlene Utz, William and Salie Utz’s daughter. In 1949, post-war success allowed the company to build a new production facility on 10 acres in Hanover. F.X. Rice became president of the company in 1968, after the passing of Salie Utz in 1965 and Bill Utz three years later.
I have no clue if Mrs. Utz was a human blimp as Jimmy Barrett suggested about Mrs. Schillinger.

But I wonder if the Schillingers were any relation to Vernon Schillinger, the Aryan leader in Oswald Penitentiary in 'Oz'.....

BCnU!
Toby O'B

A FELICITOUS REBIRTH

Reincarnation is a proven spiritual phenomenon in Toobworld. We know this from 'My Mother The Car' and 'Poochinsky' (in fact, most humans are reincarnated as talking dogs).

Sometimes two souls are reincarnated together, like Ross and Demelza 'Poldark' who returned in the 20th Century as 'Greg and Dharma' Montgomery.

Sometimes the physical form that houses these souls is also recreated, like the Sam and Darrin Stephens of the Tooniverse (the opening credits of 'Bewitched' and an episode of 'The Flintstones'). However, it's more important that the basics of their personalities are recaptured and hopefully improved upon in the next incarnation.

Lady Clemency Eddison and her husband, Colonel Hugh Curbishley, hosted a garden party at their estate in 1926, according to the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Unicorn And The Wasp". It was the events of that weekend which triggered the disappearance of Agatha Christie - at least in Toobworld.

A few years later, it's the contention of Toobworld Central that Colonel Curbishley passed away; his death was probably hastened by the murder of his son during that tragic weekend. Lady Clemency probably outlived him by at least another decade or so.

As such, the Colonel's soul was reincarnated first, sometime around 1934. And in this incarnation, he came back as Trevor Squires, who would grow up to be a horticultural expert at Kew Gardens. A little more than a decade later, the soul of Lady Clemency was reborn into Toobworld as Rosemary Boxer, who also became a horticultural expert.

After being sacked from the University of Malmesbury where she was a lecturer in applied horticulture, Rosemary teamed up with former policewoman Laura Thyme to run their own landscaping business. And occasionally solve murders on the side - this may have sprung from her previous incarnation's passion for the mysteries of Agatha Christie.....
Trevor Squires was an old friend and one of her mentors in the field. And as we saw in an episode of 'Rosemary & Thyme', their souls were once again reunited - but not as lovers in this go-round.

Near the end of that episode, the sins of Colonel Curbishley may have come back to haunt him. He deceived his wife into thinking that he was crippled, for fear that Lady Clemency might leave him. And when Rosemary Boxer might have needed his protection the most as they tried to escape the killer, Trevor Squires' leg betrayed him and he was left behind, slightly hobbled.

Somewhat appropriately, considering that they were once united in an episode of 'Doctor Who', the name of the 'Rosemary & Thyme' episode was "Seeds Of Time"......

BCnU!
Toby O'B

DIVVYING UP THE QUEEN

Near the end of the 'Rosemary & Thyme' episode "In A Monastery Garden", Rosemary and Laura were introduced to Queen Elizabeth II. For us viewing at home, this was the closest we got to actually seeing Her Royal Televersion:
Her Majesty's presence in this episode serves as a sort of link between 'Rosemary & Thyme' and other shows like 'Doctor Who' ("Voyage Of The Damned", "Idiot's Lantern"), 'Bremner' ("Bird And Fortune"), and even 'Hannah Montana' ("Grandmas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Favorites").

Several TV movies have offered televersions of Elizabeth II, many of which were focused on the life of Princess Diana. As there are so many alternate TV dimensions, I think it best to shuffle off Her Majesty from each of those TV movies to other Toobworlds.

Lisa Daniely (Queen Elizabeth II)

. . . Princess in Love (1996) (TV)

Rosemary Leach (Queen Elizabeth II)

. . . Margaret (2008) (TV)

Elizabeth Richard (Queen Elizabeth II)

. . . Gobble (1997) (TV)

Carolyn Sadowska (Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II)

. . . Women of Windsor, The (1992) (TV)

Anne Stallybrass (Queen Elizabeth II)

. . . Diana: Her True Story (1993) (TV)

Margaret Tyzack (Queen Elizabeth II)

. . . Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story (1982) (TV)

Amanda Walker (I) (Queen Elizabeth II)

. . . Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After (1992) (TV)

Dana Wynter (Queen Elizabeth II)

. . . Royal Romance of Charles and Diana, The (1982) (TV)

Queen Elizabeth has also appeared in the Tooniverse, which I covered in a previous post.

Whenever the Queen is finally inducted into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame, her official portrayer will be either Jeannette Charles, who's made a career out of imitating the Queen, or Elizabeth Richard. Ms. Charles has appeared as the British monarch in episodes of 'Rutland Weekend Television' and 'MythBusters'. But her most famous appearance in the role would probably be in "Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad", which is a movie universe extension of the TV series 'Police Squad'.

Ms. Richard, on the other hand, has played the Queen in the TV movie "Gobble", an episode of 'The Nick Cannon Show' ("Nick Takes Over London"), and in an episode of 'The Harry Hill Show', which would give her a presence in Skitlandia, the sketch comedy dimension.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

TODAY'S TWD: MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

Because of their work "In A Monastery Garden" at St. Anthony's ready for its millennium celebration, Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme (of 'Rosemary & Thyme') were introduced to Queen Elizabeth II when she arrived for the celebration. Afterwards, Rosemary told Laura that she ruined any chance she had to get an OBE because of what she said.....

When the Queen asked what was the name of the plant that Laura was holding, she replied, "Mind Your Own Business".

Usually I go to Wikipedia for info, but to keep this TV related, here's some information... information... information... from the BBC's gardening site:

Common Name: Mind your own business

Genus: Soleirolia

Species: soleirolii

Skill Level: Beginner

Exposure: Full sun, Partial shade

Hardiness: Hardy

Soil type: Well-drained/light, Clay/heavy, Dry, Moist, Boggy, Sandy

Height: 5cm

Spread: 90cm

Time to divide plants: April to May

Best known as an indoor plant, baby's tears, or mind your own business, makes an attractive and maintenance-free alternative to grass as ground cover in moist, shady areas. It will tolerate sun or shade. Frost hardy, its leaves are killed by winter frost, but it will recover to grow vigorously in spring. The masses of tiny leaves clothe slender spreading stems that root as they run, forming a dense deep-pile carpet. As it covers the ground it will run over rocks, fallen logs, and so on, clinging to their shape so the features of the landscape are picked out. Quick to establish, it survives periodic dry spells and recovers quickly afterwards. It is a superb substitute for moss in a Japanese garden or shady courtyard. Propagate by division from spring to mid-summer.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

A ZONK YOU CAN SINK YOUR TEETH INTO!

With the third episode of 'True Blood', we got a Zonk combo similar to one from this summer's episode of 'The Middleman' entitled "The Vampire Puppet Lamentations".

Sam Merlotte, owner of the bar where Sookie Stackhouse works, has it bad for her and would love for nothing better than to have his chief rival removed from the competition. As he told his dog, Sam would love it if Buffy and Blade came to Bon Temps; that way the vampire Bill Compton would soon be dispatched.

So as I posted a week or so ago about both Buffy and Blade, they share the same universe as Sam, Sookie, and Bill. Not only do they share the same TV dimension, they've become public figures and their activities public knowledge. I would think that by now in the Toobworld timeline, since her show went off the air in our world, Buffy Summers has even been profiled in People magazine Howard publication).

So this wasn't just wishful thinking on Sam's part about fictional characters. If he really made the effort, he could probably get in touch with either Buffy or Blade to come down to Louisiana in order to root out vampires in general, but Bill Compton in particular.

BCnU!

Toby O'B

"Z ROCK" ZONKS

In this week's episode of 'Z Rock', the Z Brothers delivered an NBC line-up of Zonks that hit Toobworld like a steaming pile of peacock dung.

At the beginning of the episode, Paulie Z burst into the apartment doing an impression of Cosmos Kramer - Michael Richards' character from 'Seinfeld'. The "show about nothing" was never actually named, but Joey C did point out that the show had been canceled for ten years.

I could have worked with this. The Z Brothers might have known Kramer personally; that would certainly have worked. And as for the mention of a TV show canceled ten years before?

I'm going to suggest that Kramer was the focus of a "reality" show - probably one that dealt with his year of incarceration for violating the "Good Samaritan" law of Massachusetts. Either it ran for just one year or it was quickly canceled almost a decade before Joey mentioned it.

So that Kramer Zonk can be considered rendered kaput. But then Joey threw out suggestions for other long-canceled NBC shows that Paulie could imitate - 'Blossom' and 'ALF'.

No more was said about either show, so we could disable them by saying these were Toobworld TV shows that just happened to share the same titles as real world shows.

'Blossom' could have had a horticultural theme - maybe even as a murder mystery program about crime-solving gardeners. It could even be based on the "real life" exploits of Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme (of 'Rosemary & Thyme').

As for 'ALF', it's a nickname just as much as it is an acronym for "Alien Life Force" - Alf Landon, Alf Garnett.

It could have been a sitcom about some guy named Alf. And like 'Whoopi', 'Arnie', and 'Meego' before him, the show was named after him.

Or Joey C could have been referring to the actual ALF, who had his own talk show in Toobworld (a lifelong dream!) once his identity and presence on Earth Prime-Time had become public knowledge.

Sure, they're a bit flimsy as splainins go, but 'twill serve.

God bless Kramerica!

BCnU!
Toby O'B

NEW @ TOOBWORLD CENTRAL

I've been in a buying mood for DVDs lately - anything to do my part for this economy! - and the fruits of those purchases are beginning to show up.

"GOLDEN AGE CLASSICS" - Two early TV adaptations of literary classics - "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court" & "The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn", both with Thomas Mitchell. Boris Karloff stars as Merlin in the former, while John Carradine appears in the latter.

'THE LAIR' - from the people that brought 'Dante's Cove' to here!, this is the first season collection of a gothic soap opera about gay vampires. I figure it'll be good for a larf when I'm visiting with my buddies Mark & Michael. (It might at least spare me being dragooned into watching one of Michael's splatter-fest horror movies.)

'THE WILD, WILD WEST' (SEASON FOUR) - This completes the run of the series. But had I waited, I could have purchased the complete series in one box set which supposedly contains even more extras. Oh well. I just need to get the sequel movies; they may not have been very good, but at least it was a chance to see Jim and Arte in action one last time.

Having now seen 2 1/2 episodes of 'Lost in Austen' via YouTube (which seems to have clamped down on the possibility of seeing any more that way), I ordered an honest-to-God bodice-ripper novel by Gwyn Cready - "SEDUCING MR. DARCY", in which a modern day woman goes back in Time and disrupts the events of "Pride & Prejudice". Like minds thinkg great..... I wonder if Ms. Cready might end up suing?

BCnU!
Toby O'B

TODAY'S TWD: SEWARD'S FOLLY

In this year's version of "Journey To The Center Of The Earth", we weren't told when it was taking place exactly, only that the main characters were in San Francisco. But by the clothing, we could tell it was during the Victorian Age, would could be called the Wild, Wild Northwest.

But we soon learned that it had to be 1867. When Mrs. Dennison mentioned that her husband went missing in Alaska four years earlier, Professor Brock called it Russian territory. She quickly reminded him that it now belonged to America.

And it already had its most infamous nickname: "Seward's Folly".

From Wikipedia:

The Alaska Purchase (otherwise known as Seward's Folly or Seward's Icebox) by the United States from the Russian Empire occurred in 1867 at the behest of Secretary of State William Seward. The territory purchased was 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 km²) of the modern state of Alaska.

Seward's Day, in honor of William H. Seward, is a holiday in Alaska on the last Monday of March which celebrates the United States' purchase of Alaska from Russia. Seward's Day is also an alcohol-free day in many cities such as Ketchikan, one of Alaska's major port cities — though the one-day alcohol ban is not observed in all cities.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

CHARLIE, DENNIS, & MAC: F TROOP AS THE A-TEAM

In the second half of the season premiere for 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia' this past week, "The Gang Solves The Gas Crisis". And to do so, Mac had to splain to Charlie and Dennis about the dynamics of their partnership - Mac was the brains, Dennis was the looks, and Charlie was the wild card. And he provided three succesful examples of this:

"The A-Team did it... Scooby Doo did it.... the Ghost Busters did it."

Since Mac ended up dressed as an Arab terrorist by the end of the episode, we'll de-Zonk that list from right to left.

"Ghostbusters" is a movie in Toobworld as well as the Real World. This is what Mac was referring to. The TV series was animation, therefore it's relegated to the Tooniverse and it's possible that characters in Toobworld could watch it, even if someday a cartoon character from the show found himself in the live action world (like Superman in the Amex blipverts).

By a long shot, maybe Mac was referring to the old kids' show which starred Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch. If so, he probably knew of their agency and applied the dynamic to their team as well - with Jake Kong as the brains, Eddie Spencer as the looks (such as they are) and Tracy as the Wild Card.

Scooby-Doo falls into the same category. Mac could have either been referring to the movie version or the original animated series.

Finally, the one that could really be considered a Zonk - 'The A-Team'.

There's not a problem with this one, actually. The A-Team was well-known for their heroics in helping the little guy all across the country. Wherever they went, they got publicity - which could be a little awkward because they were still wanted for a war-time crime they didn't commit. And since the show has gone off the air, they've probably been finally able to clear their names in public and continue to help out others legitimately.

So, it's NOT always Zonky in Philadelphia - at least this time......

BCnU!
Toby O'B

CLASH OF THE NINE-TO-TENS

Ahhh, DVR! The GPS for a Couch Potato!

Even though I upgraded my digital TV to include DVR in time for last season's fall premiere, it's only now I'm finally getting a clash in scheduling. My TW system can only handle two programs at a time, so my problem begins with the Monday night at 9 hour - the DVR decided to boot 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' in favor of 'How I Met Your Mother' and 'Heroes'. I didn't have this problem last spring because the latter two series were on hiatus because of the writers' strike when the 'Connor Chronicles' (as my DVR prefers to call it) premiered. So with this head-to-head, the John Connor Come Lately is the one to get bumped.

Not a problem, though. I can always catch this next installment online soon after anyway, over at Hulu.

I should have had a conflict tonight, what with my desire to record the 60th Emmy presentation on ABC, but AMC did a solid by holding off on 'Mad Men' for a week. As the show will hopefully scoop up a load of the statuettes, it makes sense for them to do this favor to their audience.

I wish HBO had done the same - they're showing new episodes of 'True Blood' and 'Entourage' tonight. Traditionally rival networks used to refrain from broadcasting new content on Emmy night, more as a boon for their shows which were nominated than as a courtesy to their rivals, I imagine. Besides, payback would only come around eventually one they were hosting the awards show again. (If I'm not mistaken, it was FOX which first broke that unwritten rule... which kind of figures.)

I guess maybe they're counting on the numbers from those who record?

BCnU!
Toby O'B

TODAY'S TWD: THE HMS BEAGLE

It only took 8 months, but I finally saw the RHI production of "Journey To The Center Of The Earth", starring Rick Schroeder and Peter Fonda. Schroeder played Professor Jonathan Brock, whose father left big shoes to fill because of his own scientific accomplishments. Brock Senior made his name by being a companion to Charles Darwin in his historical journeys about thirty years before.

Here are the basics, from Wikipedia:

The HMS Beagle was originally scheduled to leave on 24 October 1831, but because of delays in her preparations the departure was delayed until December. She attempted to depart on 10 December but ran into bad weather. Finally, on the morning of 27 December, the Beagle left its anchorage in the Barn Pool, under Mount Edgecumbe on the west side of Plymouth Sound, on what was to become a ground breaking scientific expedition. After completing extensive surveys in South America she returned via New Zealand, Sydney, Hobart Town (6 Feb 1836), to Falmouth, Cornwall, England on 2 October 1836.

The second voyage of HMS Beagle from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836 was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after her previous captain committed suicide. FitzRoy, fearing the same fate, sought a gentleman companion for the voyage. The student clergyman Charles Darwin took the opportunity, making his name as a naturalist and becoming a renowned author with the publication of his journal which became known as The Voyage of the Beagle.

The Beagle sailed across the Atlantic Ocean then carried out detailed hydrographic surveys around the coasts of the southern part of South America, returning via Tahiti and Australia having circumnavigated the Earth. While the expedition was originally planned to last two years, it lasted almost five.

Darwin spent most of this time exploring on land; three years and three months on land, 18 months at sea. His work made his reputation as a geologist and collector of fossils, and his detailed observations of plants and animals provided the basis for ideas which he later developed into his theory of evolution by natural selection.

So the Toobworld version would have hewn closely to that account, save that Jonathan Brock's father was also on board.

BCnU!
Toby O'B