Something a little different to end the week......On Thursday night's episode of '30 Rock' ("Apollo, Apollo"), we got the chance to see the world through Kenneth Parcells' eyes. And in his world, everybody looks like a Muppet.
At the top of the post is a picture of Jack Donaghy, the NBC vice president, and his tailor. And this is how Kenneth sees 'TGS' producer Liz Lemon.
He also sees Tracy Jordan, one of the stars of 'TGS', as a Muppet as well. On the other hand, in the way Tracy Jordan sees the world, everybody else is Tracy Jordan as well. This is how he sees Kenneth and Jack: 
BCnU!Toby O'B
Aaron Sorkin, creator of 'The West Wing', had a quick cameo in the final episode of the series - "Tomorrow". He's seen in the viewing stands for the inauguration of Matt Santos to be the President Of The United States.
The three of them join a pretty select group, and luckily for them, they're at least still alive to enjoy it. Most of the other members of this group were dead long before TV started adapting their works - Mark Twain, Shakespeare, etc. - and so when they show up in a program, it's as a tele-version.
Above is a picture of Maya Rudolph as Donatella with host Matt Damon playing Axl Rose, demonstrating her latest invention, microwave-able Versace Pockets.
BCnU!
I dealt with one such case, two judges played by David Lippman: Morris Torledsky on 'Law & Order' and 'Law & Order: Trial By Jury', and Arthur Cohen on 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'. In his case, I said that Lippman was playing identical half-brothers who went into the same field of endeavor. (Not so far-fetched in a world where there are identical cousins a la 'The Patty Duke Show'!)
I also noticed that a lot of actors appeared twice, with one of those roles being that of a jury foreperson. So I figure - why not just have both characters be the same person? Eventually everybody in NYC gets called upon to serve on a jury, and the fact that they may have been involved in a previous case (or in some cases, are later involved in a case after their jury service).
So, thanks to "Repeat Offenders", here's a sampling of such characters:
I'd say they have to be dopplegangers from another TV dimension, but I'm not sure which one.....
BCnU!
My blog buddy and fellow crossoverist* Thom Holbrook has run with this in his Crossovers And Spinoffs site (top o' the links to the left, folks!). He's started his own Westphallian-like subset of shows that are connected because of mentions of Van Damme and/or his movies or - in the case of 'Friends' - appearances by Van Damme as himself. Thom says that within this mini TV universe, Van Damme must be considered dead.
They kicked off during the Super Bowl (Not sorry about that, Chief!) with a blipvert featuring Alec Baldwin performing serlinguistic duties as he took the audience on a tour of Hulu's secret headquarters. And he revealed to the real world that he was in fact an alien - using the TV content providing online service to prepare our brains for alien consumption.
So I'm thinking the Muscles from Brussels - if he's seen in Toobworld or if his films are mentioned - is an alien as well. Whether or not he belongs to one of those races or of yet another one, I don't know.
As for Dennis Rodman, we know he's an alien because of an episode of '3rd Rock From The Sun'. But the inference there is that he's always been an alien; I don't think he replaced the original (unless it was in childhood).
BCnU!
But what a crossover that could have been, right? And Sugarfoot had enough "book-larnin'" and an open mind willing to accept the many wonders he might have seen of the Universe, had he tagged along as a Companion.
BCnU!
But no matter, Fernwood has three series to its credit, the number needed for induction, plus an offshoot as well.
Once Kappler was imprisoned after the war ended, his only visitor was Msgr. O'Flaherty, his opponent regarding the search for escaped prisoners of war. Msgr. O'Flaherty visited once a month, every month, and by 1959 he baptized Colonel Kappler into the Catholic faith.
This picture is from a movie she made that was based on the story of Othello ("All Night Long"). But it has Patrick McGoohan in it as well (as the Iago-like character), so I'm running it as an example of the connections that run through the obituary tally each year. (McGoohan passed away back in January.)
This is Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, who became known as "the Pimpernel of the Vatican". He was the leading force behind a scheme to smuggle out of Rome over 4,000 Allied POWs who escaped from the Nazis. 
Among his disguises were a cart-pusher, a Gestapo SS officer, a nun (top row), a street-sweeper, a one-eyed peddler, and a mailman (bottom row).
