CROSSING ZONE: "WALKING DISTANCE" & "MAD MEN"

Thanks to my buddy NYMarkie, I own the complete set of 'The Twilight Zone' episodes. And yet I went through the New Year's marathon schedule and programmed my DVR to pick up a couple of them for me. (You ever find yourself watching a show as it's broadcast, even though you own it on DVD? I know Joe Bua is like me in doing that with 'Doctor Who' when those episodes are on BBC-A.)

I tuned in just as "Walking Distance" was about to begin. This episode, starring Gig Young as 36 year old advertising executive Martin Sloan.is probably the best example of what 'The Twilight Zone' really was about at its heart. (Martin Sloan looks older than 36 - but considering his state of mind at the beginning of the episode, that's probably what accounts for his aging within the show. In real life, Gig Young was 46 at the time.)

Martin Sloan travels back to Homewood, NY, where he grew up, and finds himself back in the town at the same time as when he was a boy there. Learning a painful lesson from the experience, Martin headed back to NYC with a fresh outlook to begin life anew as vice-president in charge of media at his ad agency.

Which got me to thinking....

I'd love to see a scene next year in 'Mad Men' in which Harry Crane, as media exec for SCD&P, gets to meet his counterpart at another company and have it turn out to be Martin Sloan. I'm sure they can find an actor out there who looks like Gig Young at that age, be it 36 or 46....

BCnU!

GOOD COP, BABY COP

Just a little fun for the end of the year....

Good Cop, Baby Cop from Will Ferrell

BCnU!

DATELINE: TOOBWORLD

I've been setting up a lot of blog posts to run tomorrow - it looks like I may get a complete 24 hour cycle, well, near as. As such I never noticed that as of Tuesday's "As Seen On TV" post about James McNeill Whistler, the Inner Toob blog had reached 4500 posts!

So at some point in 2010, I'll probably hit 5000!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: NERO

We began the year in the daily "As Seen On TV" gallery with the Roman emperor Nero, so I thought we should end 2009 the same way.....

NERO

AS SEEN IN:
"Riverworld"

AS PLAYED BY:
Jonathan Cake
This was Nero reborn on another planet. So we can accept him as being the same as any official version of the fiddle-playin' version emperor. It's just that his new body - like all of those reborn on Riverworld - has been fine-tuned. And yet it is still recognizable to those who knew him in life.....
The Nero of the main Toobworld could be represented by the character as played by Christopher Biggins in 'I, Claudius'. But I like to think of all the characters in that fantastic min-series as being the "ghosts" in the memory of Emperor Claudius.

Then there's the Nero of 'Doctor Who' showcased on January 1st. Since the Doctor's time machine travels in Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, he could be a Nero from an alternate TV dimension should any Zonks arise from his portrayal.

Speaking of ghosts, as for the ghost of Nero who "appeared" in an episode of 'The Time Tunnel', no problem. All of the ghosts on Earth were transported to Riverworld to be reunited with the perfected clones of their bodies at some point in the near future.....
We who are about to blog, salute you!

And Happy New Year!

BCnU!

TCM REMEMBERS - 2009

AFRICAN ECHOES

I caught the repeat of the "Tyrant" episode of 'House', and I never caught any mention of the actual country that President Dibala was ruling in Africa.

So that means we can offer up a few nominees to be that "missing link" with some other TV series:

African East Victoria ("Mission: Impossible")

Bocamo ("Mission: Impossible")

Kembu ("Jake 2.0")

Ghalea ("Mission: Impossible")

Limbawe ("Airwolf")

N'Shoba ("Capitol")

The Nyamba Protectorate ("Danger Man")

Sahelise Republic ("The West Wing")

Topango ("The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.")

Western Natumba/Natsumba ("The Man From U.N.C.L.E.")

Equatorial Kuhndu ("The West Wing")

Of those, Equatorial Kuhndu and the Sahelise Republic belong in an alternate TV dimension, so they're out of the running. Some of those that were mentioned in TV shows that were broadcast later than 'Mission: Impossible', Kembu, Limbawe and N'Shoba, could have been some of the earlier countries renamed after a new regime took over.

I'm not making any definitive choice; it's not my place to lock it down without further clues to tie them together. But I like the idea of it being the Nyamba Protectorate, if only because I enjoy the vision of Dr. Gregory House in the same space as John Drake.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MATA HARI

MATA HARI

AS SEEN IN:
'The Improbable History Of Mr. Peabody'

AS VOICED BY:
Character never speaks
From Wikipedia:
Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "Grietje" Zelle (7 August 1876, Leeuwarden – 15 October 1917, Vincennes), a Frisian (Dutch) exotic dancer and courtesan who was executed by firing squad for espionage during World War I. During World War I, the Netherlands remained neutral. As a Dutch subject, Margaretha Zelle was thus able to cross national borders freely. To avoid the battlefields, she travelled between France and the Netherlands via Spain and Britain, and her movements inevitably attracted attention. She was a courtesan to many high-ranking allied military officers during this time. On 13 February, 1917, Mata Hari was arrested in her room at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris. She was put on trial, accused of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. She was found guilty and was executed by firing squad on 15 October, 1917, at the age of 41.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER

JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER

AS SEEN IN:
"The Improbably History of Mr. Peabody"

AS VOICED BY:
Paul Frees

AS SEEN IN:
'Monty Python's Flying Circus'

AS PLAYED BY:
John Cleese

BONUS:

"WHISTLER'S MOTHER"
[AS SEEN IN THE TOONIVERSE]

Two for Tuesday!

BCnU!

(Blog post #4500!)

AS SEEN ON TV: VERY WITTY WITS

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: KATHERINE HEPBURN

KATHERINE HEPBURN

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Kristen Wiig

Supposedly from the 1954 TV special, "The Vincent Price Christmas Special" (with Bill Hader as Price....)

BCnU!

"THE VINCENT PRICE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL"

As a bridge between the latest "As Seen On TV" posts, here's the 1954 "Vincent Price Christmas Special", as seen on 'Saturday Night Live':



BCnU!

BROKEBACK CHRISTMAS

If "White Christmas" existed in the TV Universe, would it really be this different from its Cineverse counterpart?



BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JAMES DEAN

JAMES DEAN
[with LIBERACE]

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
James Franco
[with Fred Armisen as Liberace]

Still in the holiday spirit, this was the capper to the sketch about "The Vincent Price Christmas Special", supposedly from 1954. Price introduced Dean by plugging his movie "East of Eden". And when Dean blurted out that he was confused, Liberace saw it as the chance to give himself a Christmas present.

Let it blow, let it blow, let it blow.....

BCnU!

"OH, MITHRAS!": AN ALTERNATE LOOK AT DEC. 25

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: A LITTLE BOGIE FOR CHRISTMAS

Christmas Day marked the 110th birthday of Humphrey Bogart, but the ASOTV gallery was celebrating the birthday of somebody a little more closely identified with the holiday.

So even though Christmas has passed, we still want to honor the legendary tough guy. And what better way to bring it all together than with Humphrey Bogart as the Ghost of Christmas Past?

HUMPHREY BOGART

AS SEEN IN:
"Rich Little's A Christmas Carol"

AS PLAYED BY:
Rich Little

As the Ghost of Christmas Past, Bogie is seen here with Ebenezer Scrooge - who is also played by Rich Little. The impressionist channeled W.C. Fields as the inspiration for the miserly Scrooge.

BCnU!

REMEMBERING PATRICK SWAYZE ON CHRISTMAS

BCnU......

AS SEEN ON TV: THE BABY JESUS

THE BABY JESUS

AS SEEN IN:
"Mary, Mother Of Jesus"

AS PLAYED BY:
Gabor Gulyas

From Wikipedia: Scholars conclude that Jesus was born 7–2 BC/BCE and died 26–36 AD/CE.

There is no contemporary evidence of the exact date of Jesus' birth. The common Western standard for numbering years, in which the current year is 2009, is based on an early medieval attempt to count the years from his birth. The Gospel of Matthew places his birth under the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC/BCE, and the Gospel of Luke describes the birth as taking place during the first census of the Roman provinces of Syria and Iudaea in 6 AD/CE. Scholars therefore generally assume a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC/BCE.

The earliest evidence of celebration on 25 December of the birth of Jesus is of the year 354 in Rome, and it was only later that the 25 December celebration was adopted in the East, with the exception of Armenia, where his birth is celebrated on 6 January. Indeed there is no month of the year to which respectable authorities have not assigned his birth.

According to Matthew and Luke, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea to Mary, a virgin, by a miracle of the Holy Spirit. The circumstances of the two gospels differ by 9 years, and are historically incompatible. In Luke, the angel Gabriel visits Mary to tell her that she was chosen to bear the Son of God.[Lk. 1:26–38] An order of Caesar Augustus had forced Mary and Joseph to leave their homes in Nazareth and come to the home of Joseph's ancestors, the house of David, for the Census of Quirinius. After Jesus' birth, the couple was forced to use a manger in place of a crib because of a shortage of accommodation.[Lk. 2:1–7] An angel announced Jesus' birth to shepherds who left their flocks to see the newborn child and who subsequently publicized what they had witnessed throughout the area (see The First Noël).

In Matthew, the "Wise Men" or "Magi" bring gifts to the young Jesus after following a star which they believe was a sign that the King of the Jews had been born.[Mt. 2:1–12] King Herod hears of Jesus' birth from the Wise Men and tries to kill him by massacring all the male children in Bethlehem under the age of two (the "massacre of the innocents"). The family flees to Egypt and remains there until Herod's death, whereupon they settle in Nazareth to avoid living under the authority of Herod's son and successor Archelaus.[Mt. 2:19–23]

BCnU!

IF YOU SEE IT IN THE SUN, IT'S SO......

"DEAR EDITOR:
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there.

Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Francis Church
"The New York Sun"
BCnU.......
And Merry Christmas!

(Pictured: Charles Bronson as Frank Church in "Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus")

"COUSIN" CONAN'S YULE LOG

SANTA CLAUS MEETS THE MUMY

No, it's not an MST3K production.....

Here's "A Vision Of Sugar Plums", the first of the 'Bewitched' Christmas episodes. Aside from establishing that Santa Claus does exist in Toobworld, it also has the great Cecil Kellaway as Santa and a personal fave, Billy Mumy, as Michael.



Merry Christmas!

AS SEEN ON TV: EDMUND GWENN & NATALIE WOOD

EDMUND GWENN & NATALIE WOOD
as
KRIS KRINGLE & SUSAN WALKER
in
"MIRACLE ON 34th STREET"

AS SEEN IN:
"The Mystery Of Natalie Wood"

AS PLAYED BY:
Patrick McGrath
Grace Fulton

When it comes to casting for family relations or resemblance to real-life figures, I always study the nose. The difference between the noses of John Adams and Paul Giamatti, who played the Founding Father in the mini-series, was a serious roadblock in my accepting him in the role. I know, it's crazy, but that's how it goes. So Patrick McGrath's schnozz is nothing like Gwenn's, and it ruins the effect for me. He looks like he'd be better suited to play Victor McLaglen. And even then.....

At any rate, Merry Christmas and God bless us, everyone!

JACK BAUER: THE NAUGHTY LIST

Jack Bauer, as seen on '24', does not belong in the main Toobworld. Because of that show's line of succession for the President of the United States, it has to have its own TV dimension.

There might be only one Jack Bauer of Earth Prime-Time, and he was to be found in the late soap opera, 'Guiding Light'. For alls I know, as Stuart Best would say, the Jack Bauer who looks like an actor named Kiefer Sutherland could be that other Jack Bauer's illegitimate son... and he leads a quiet life in Springfield.

But he does exist in other TV dimensions, as can be evidenced by this clip from Skitlandia:



BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: VIRGINIA O'HANLON

VIRGINIA O'HANLON

AS SEEN IN:
"Yes, Virginia"

AS VOICED BY:
Beatrice Miller
BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 12/2009-D: SANTA'S WORKSHOP

This is our last induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame for December, the last one for the year 2009. And since our theme for the fourth week of the month during this tenth anniversary celebration of the Hall of Fame has been "Location Location Location", what else could we use but Santa's Workshop at the North Pole? These are only a few examples from various TV dimensions. I'm sure there are plenty more, but that rush leading up to the holiday is impinging on my prime-time, so......

SHOWS CITED:

'Saturday Night Live'

'Bewitched'

"The Great Santa Claus Switch"

"Muppets' Letters To Santa"

"Elmo Saves Christmas"

"The Year Without A Santa Claus" (stop-motion)

"The Year Without A Santa Claus" (live action)

MERRY CHRISTMAS
from
THE TV CROSSOVER HALL OF FAME!

SIGN OF THE CROSSOVER: IN THE MODE

I got this e-mail from Vincent Audette, a member of Team Toobworld who's helped me in the past with trivia about WNKW: I just checked out the third episode of TBL: The Beautiful Life on Youtube posted by Ashton Kutcher's company. They are airring the unaired eps online. In "The Beautiful Lie" episode three, the very first scene features a computer website article at MODE online. TBL is in NY about models. MODE is the fictional magazine on UGLY BETTY. This is the first non disney show to reference Ugly Betty. Previously it was referenced on ABC Family's Greek and on ABC's Grey's Anatomy.

Thanks, Vincent! This is a great trivia nugget.

And I'm glad I forgot the details of Vincent's e-mail when I checked out the episode myself, because I kept watching beyond that first scene. So I also found that the next scene had a Mode magazine poster hanging in the hallway...... Folks, if you see something like this in the TV shows you watch, let me know because my two peepers aren't going to be able to see everything by themselves!
BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: FRANCIS CHURCH

For this year's holiday-themed "Two For Tuesday".....

From Wikipedia:
Francis Pharcellus Church (February 22, 1839 – April 11, 1906) was an American publisher and editor.

He was born in Rochester, New York and graduated from Columbia College in New York City in 1859.

With his brother William Conant Church he established the Army and Navy Journal in 1863, and Galaxy magazine in 1866. He was a lead editorial writer on his brother's newspaper, the New York Sun, and it was in that capacity that in 1897 he wrote his most famous editorial, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".
AS SEEN IN:
"Yes, Virginia"

AS VOICED BY:
Alfred Molina

And then there was a 1974 cartoon special....

AS SEEN IN:
"Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus"

AS VOICED BY:
Sidney Miller

More from Wikipedia:
"Is There a Santa Claus?" was the title of an editorial appearing in the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun. The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", has become an indelible part of popular Christmas lore in the United States and Canada.

Some people have questioned the veracity of the letter's authorship, expressing doubt that a young girl such as Virginia would refer to children her own age as "my little friends." However, the original copy of the letter appeared and was authenticated by an appraiser on the 'Antiques Roadshow' in 1998. Its value was appraised by Kathleen Guzman, formerly of Christie's—now with PBS' 'Antiques Roadshow'—at $20–30,000.

Church died in New York City, aged 67, and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York. He was a member of the Century Association. He had no children.

BCnU!