TIDDLYWINKYDINKS: RETURN OF THE NOID

Domino's Pizza is bringing back the Noid to help raise money for St. Jude's Hospital.

Check out the news story here.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: WALT DISNEY

Walt Disney was born on this day in 1901....

WALT DISNEY

AS SEEN IN:
"A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story"

AS PLAYED BY:
Len Cariou

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the twentieth century. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion.

Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created a number of the world's most famous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse. He received fifty-nine Academy Award nominations and won twenty-six Oscars, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual. He also won seven Emmy Awards. He is the namesake for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, Japan, France, and China.

Disney died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966, a few years prior to the opening of his Walt Disney World Resort dream project in Florida.
(from Wikipedia)

Several years ago, he was also made an honorary member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.
BCnU!

SKED ALERT! NEW WHO!

Fantastic news from Airlock Alpha about the BBC-A sked for the last two 'Doctor Who' episodes. They'll air the day after their BBC broadcasts:

http://www.airlockalpha.com/node/6936

Finally they have figured out the best possible way to thwart the bit torrents. Took the suits long enough to wise up!

BBCnU!

(Thanks for the tip, Rob!)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS WITH THE DOCTOR

My thanks to Rob Buckley for pointing this out. (Check out his blog "The Medium Is Not Enough, folks. The link is to the left!)



This will probably win out as being my favorite Christmas station identification for 2009. But for all-time? Definitely the 1966 one for CBS by R.O. Blechman. I'll post that next week....

BCnU!

MR. MONK AND THE MIDNIGHT CALLER

Tonight, we say good-bye to 'Monk' as the series wraps up its two-part finale. I always enjoyed the show, but I will admit that many times - watching the episodes the next morning after I got home from work - I would fast-forward through a lot of the scenes in which Monk was being his obsessive-compulsive self, which you have to admit was often-times padding out the hour. A little goes a long way.

But like I said, I liked the show a lot. I just wish they could have done some cross-overs during its run with other USA Network shows, besides what we'd see in those alternate universe promos where he'd meet the characters from 'Psych', 'The Dead Zone', and 'The 4400'.

Still, every so often an unintentional crossover would pop up with some other show from the past. And I'm not just talking the Numbers from 'Lost' or other theoretical possibilities.

One such example came in an episode earlier this season, "Mr. Monk And The Critic", in which John Hannigan, the murderer, worked at the San Francisco Dispatch as a theater critic. He's not the only TV character who worked there. Back in the 80s series 'Midnight Caller', the gossip columnist at the Dispatch was Becca Nicholson (played by Eugenie Ross Leming. And Deacon Bridges was a reporter for the paper as well, often working in tandem with radio talk show host Jack Killian, the show's main character. (Mykelti Wiliams played Bridges.) The only reason we didn't see them in the 'Monk' episode (working from an inner reality perspective)? Deac was out working a lead for a story and Becca was in the ladies' room.....

My thanks to Jerome Holst of TV Acres for his help on this......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ANDREW MARVELL

ANDREW MARVELL

AS SEEN IN:
"The Tragedy of John Milton (August 13, 1660)"
- 'You Are There'

AS PLAYED BY:
Richard Kiley
(We spared no expense! Sorry, couldn't resist.....)

Andrew Marvell (31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, Parliamentarian, and the son of a Church of England clergyman (also named Andrew Marvell). As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert. He was a colleague and friend of John Milton.

Marvell was born in Winestead-in-Holderness, East Riding of Yorkshire, near the city of Kingston upon Hull. The family moved to Hull when his father was appointed Lecturer at Holy Trinity Church there, and Marvell was educated at Hull Grammar School. A secondary school in the city is now named after him.

His most famous poems include To His Coy Mistress, The Garden, An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland, and the Country House Poem, "Upon Appleton House".

Oliver Cromwell died in 1658. He was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son Richard, but in 1660 the monarchy was restored to Charles II. Marvell eventually came to write several long and bitterly satirical verses against the corruption of the court. Although they circulated in manuscript form, and some found anonymous publication in print, they were too politically sensitive and thus dangerous to be published under his name until well after his death. He avoided punishment for his own cooperation with republicanism, while he helped convince the government of Charles II not to execute John Milton for his antimonarchical writings and revolutionary activities. The closeness of the relationship between the two former office mates is indicated by the fact that Marvell contributed an eloquent prefatory poem to the second edition of Milton's famous epic Paradise Lost. According to a biographer: "Skilled in the arts of self-preservation, he was not a toady."
(from Wikipedia)

BCnU!

FROM EUREKA TO OZ

The character of Dr. Tess Fontana was a great addition to the cast of 'Eureka' this past season. Unfortunately, her stay in town was short-lived as she headed off to Australia to do research.

Should she ever come back to the show, I doubt that this will ever be mentioned in the series: I think while she was in the land down under, Tess worked alongside the staff of the Royal Australian Observatory in the Outback. (Their adventures could be seen in the sitcom 'Supernova'.) And Tess may be coming back to Eureka soon, I'm guessing. Jamie Ray Newman, who played the character, left to star in 'Eastwick', the TV series version of Updike's "The Witches Of Eastwick". But that show has been cancelled, so.....

BCnU!

DATELINE: TOONIVERSE, 1961

Jerry Beck of Cartoon Brew (link to the left, me hearties!) was digging through the TV Guide collection of Stu Shostack and discovered a Tooniverse crossover gem:

This time I grabbed the July 1st 1961 issue, with the Flintstones cover, which contains a good article on the then-current trend towards prime time animation. It’s a pretty nice piece. The writer includes an intriguing list of forthcoming shows that were apparently never made: "Sir Loin and the Dragon", "Waco Wolf", "Muddled Masterpieces" and "The Late Late War".

Check out the story; Beck scanned in the pages of the article and for cartoon aficionados, it's a great time capsule of history.

In that picture reprinted above, we have Yogi Bear, Sylvester the Cat, Donald Duck, Vincent Van Gopher, Huckleberry Hound, Mickey Mouse, Dick Tracy, Flat-Top, Olive Oyl, Popeye, Quick Draw McGraw, Bugs Bunny, Pepe LePew, Augie Doggie and Augie Doggie's Daddy, Mr. Magoo, Pixie and Dixie, Tweety Bird, Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, Deputy Dawg, and Felix the Cat. (I was most pleased to see the inclusion of Deputy Dawg and Vincent Van Gopher.)

A classic look at "life" behind the scenes in the Tooniverse!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: WILLIAM PRYNNE

WILLIAM PRYNNE

AS SEEN IN:
"The Tragedy of John Milton (August 13, 1660)"
- 'You Are There'

AS PLAYED BY:
Philip Bourneuf

William Prynne (1600 – 24 October 1669) was an English lawyer, author, polemicist, and political figure. He was a prominent Puritan opponent of the church policy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. Although his views on church polity were presbyterian, he became known in the 1640s as an Erastian, arguing for overall state control of religious matters. A prolific writer, he published over 200 books and pamphlets.

He supported the Restoration, and was rewarded with public office. When the Convention parliament was summoned, Prynne sat for Bath. He was bitter against the regicides and the supporters of the previous government, trying to restrict the scope of the Act of Indemnity. He successfully moved to have Charles Fleetwood excepted, and urged the exclusion of Richard Cromwell and Judge Francis Thorpe. He proposed punitive and financial measures of broad scope, was zealous for the disbanding of the army, and was one of the commissioners appointed to pay it off. In the debates on religion he was one of the leaders of the presbyterians, spoke against the Thirty-nine Articles, denied the claims of the bishops, urged the validity of presbyterian ordination, and supported the bill for turning the king's ecclesiastical declaration into law.

Like many Puritans he was strongly opposed to stage plays and he included in his "Histriomastix" (1632) a denunciation of actresses which was widely felt to be an attack of Queen Henrietta Maria. This led to the most famous incidents in his life, but the timing was accidental. About 1624 Prynne had begun a book against stage-plays; on 31 May 1630 he obtained a license to print it, and about November 1632 it was published. "Histriomastix" is a volume of over a thousand pages, showing that plays were unlawful, incentives to immorality, and condemned by the scriptures, the fathers, modern Christian writers, and the wisest of the heathen philosophers. Fortuitously the queen and her ladies, in January 1633, took part in the performance of Walter Montagu's "The Shepherd's Paradise": this was an innovation at court. A passage reflecting on the character of female actors in general was construed as an aspersion on the queen; passages which attacked the spectators of plays and magistrates who failed to suppress them, pointed by references to Nero and other tyrants, were taken as attacks on the king, Charles I.

William Noy as attorney-general instituted proceedings against Prynne in the Star-chamber. After a year's imprisonment in the Tower of London, he was sentenced (17 February 1634) to be imprisoned during life, to be fined £5,000, to be expelled from Lincoln's Inn, to be deprived of his degree by the university of Oxford, and to lose both his ears in the pillory.

On 14 June 1637 Prynne was sentenced once more to a fine of £5,000, to imprisonment for life, and to lose the rest of his ears. At the proposal of Chief-justice John Finch he was also to be branded on the cheeks with the letters S. L., signifying 'seditious libeller'. Prynne was pilloried on 30 June in company with Henry Burton and John Bastwick, and Prynne was handled barbarously by the executioner. He made, as he returned to his prison, a couple of Latin verses explaining the 'S. L.' with which he was branded to mean 'stigmata laudis' (("sign of praise", or "sign of Laud").
(edited from Wikipedia)

This is why Prynne remained hooded during this particular episode of 'You Are There'......

BCnU

CAST-OFFS: THE SALAHIS

Let's talk about ass-holes.

Specifically, a couple of salamis named the Salahis - those spotlight-seeking ass-holes who crashed the first State Dinner of the Obama White House in hopes of securing themselves a place in reality television programming..... This is the type of story that could possibly get the TV treatment with a made-for-TV movie.

And I have suggestions for casting.....

Esai Morales and Janel Moloney as Mr. & Mrs. Salahi.

Both are far better choices than the real-life couple actually deserve.

I'll bet even money that 'Law & Order' has already begun work on a script for that "ripped from the headlines" quality about the story.

And hopefully the fictionalized versions of these ass-holes are the murder victims.

BCnU!

REMEMBERING WOODWARD

The BBC Online Gift Shop has a nice remembrance of Edward Woodward running in its pages:

For those of you who think the British Invasion of American TV started with Hugh Laurie and "House", we were reminded this week, sadly, that Laurie is just part of a long and glorious tradition. This Monday, Edward Woodward passed away. Woodward became an American TV icon in the 80s when he starred the CBS series "The Equalizer", which ran four seasons. But Woodward had already had a long and illustrious career in British TV. One of our great treats this past year has been watching his first television series, "Callan", which only became available on DVD this July. This series about a British Intelligence assassin living on the edge of society and sanity may be the most uncompromising television we've ever seen, and Woodward's work in the premiere season earned him a Best Actor BAFTA Award. And for his post-Equalizer career, check out "Hot Fuzz". Actor/writer Simon Pegg, who cast Woodward in the film, recently released a statement saying that "Hot Fuzz" rehearsals "were often gleefully tossed aside just to hear [Woodward] recount stories from his life and career. Edgar Wright and myself sought him out because we were fans of his work, by the time the cameras stopped rolling, we were devoted fans of the man."

I've since added 'Callan' to my Netflix queue, a show I've always been interested in seeing since it sounds like the kind of spy thriller I enjoy most - more 'Danger Man' than 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'.....

And 'The Equalizer' came around before I got a VCR, so I never saw as many as I would have liked but I enjoyed every one that I did see.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: THOMAS ELLWOOD

THOMAS ELLWOOD

AS SEEN IN:
'You Are There'
"The Tragedy of John Milton (August 13, 1660"

AS PLAYED BY:
Michael Higgins

Thomas Ellwood (1639-1713) was an English religious writer.He was born in Oxfordshire, the son of a rural squire. Educated at Lord Williams's School, he later joined the Quakers and became a friend of William Penn and John Milton. However, he was persecuted for his faith and spent some time in prison. His best-known work, "Davideis" (1712), is a poem about the life of King David. His autobiography, "The History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood", published posthumously, is a valuable historical document.

He became a Quaker after visiting Isaac Penington and his family at Chalfont St. Peter in Buckinghamshire. He later lived with the family as a tutor to the children. He married Mary Ellis in 1669 and lived in Coleshill, Buckinghamshire for the rest of his life. His close friendship with William Penn, George Fox and many leading Quakers made him an influential figure in the Quaker movement. His autobiography has been published almost continually since 1714.
(from Wikipedia)

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 12/2009-A: A IS FOR ANDY

At last! It's the final month in our celebration of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame's 10th anniversary! I don't think I could take the pressure of a weekly induction for much longer; it'll be nice to get back to a monthly schedule in January!

O'Bviously, December is traditionally the time we find a holiday theme for the latest member to join the Hall of Fame, and that will be true with each week's category: the League of Themselves, As Seen On TV, the Tooniverse, and Location Location Location.

First up, since we "inducted" Bob Hope back in the "Proto-Hall", before the TVXOHOF actually existed, it seemed like the only other viable candidate with strong ties to the holiday was:

ANDY WILLIAMS!

Take a look at all the shows he appeared in that tied in to Christmas:

"TV Land's Top Ten" - Holiday Moments (2005)

Happy Holidays: The Best of the Andy Williams Christmas Specials (2001)

The Daily Show Andy Williams Christmas Special (1997)

"Late Show with David Letterman"
- Episode dated 23 December 1993 (1993)

A Musical Christmas at Walt Disney World (1993)

Season's Greetings: An Evening with John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra (1988)

Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa (1985)

Andy Williams' Early New England Christmas (1982)

The Bob Hope Christmas Special (1981)

Johnny Cash: Christmas in Scotland (1981)

Bob Hope's Overseas Christmas Tours: Around the World with the Troops - 1941-1972 (1980)

"The Mike Douglas Show"
- Episode dated 15 December 1978 (1978)

The Andy Williams Christmas Show (1974)

The Andy Williams Christmas Special (1973)

The Andy Williams Christmas Show (1971)

"The Bob Hope Show"
- Episode dated 18 December 1969 (1969) TV specials, like talk show appearances, usually aren't the fodder for true membership in the Hall of Fame. But Andy Williams made plenty of appearances as his fictionalized televersion in other shows:

"As the World Turns"
- Episode #1.13055 (2007)
- Episode #1.13054 (2007)
- Episode #1.13052 (2007)

"The Larry Sanders Show"
- As My Career Lay Dying (1998)

"The Muppet Show"
- Episode #4.22 (1980)

"America 2-Night"
- Celebrity Night (1978)

"The Joey Bishop Show"
- Andy Williams Visits Joey (1964)

"The Jack Benny Program"
- Andy Williams Show (1964)

And because of those episodes, we can claim that it was the televersion who hosted (or took part in) all of these shows:

Andy Williams Presents (1974)

"The Andy Williams Show" (1969-1971)

Movin' (1970)

"The Andy Williams Show" (1962-1969)

"The Andy Williams Show" (1959)

"The Chevy Showroom Starring Andy Williams" (1958)

"The Andy Williams and June Valli Show" (1957)

"Tonight!" (1953) (1954-1957)

Here's one last picture of Andy Williams in the holiday mode: Of course, the younger generation today will think that he was somehow connected to "The Chronicles Of Narnia".....

Well Come to the Hall, Sir!
(LOL - I just got this image of Andy Williams as Number Six in 'The Prisoner'!)

BCnU!

I LOVE A PARADE

I spent Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy's Parade, flipping back and forth between the coverage by NBC and that of CBS. When it came to the musical numbers, NBC cornered that market. (Out of the selections which included 'Hair', 'Bye Bye Birdie', and 'Billy Elliot', it was "I'm A Believer" from 'Shrek' that worked best in that setting.) However, CBS did have nice presentations for their Broadway tunes in appropriate settings around the City: Battery Park with Lady Liberty in the background for 'Ragtime', a tenement-like rooftop for 'West Side Story', and 125th Street outside the 'Dreamgirls' theater.

But as far as covering the actual parade, I have to give it to CBS. On NBC, the balloons and the marchers seemed like an after-thought, only seen when leading out to the commercial breaks. Since NBC gave up the Times Square location to broadcast from outside Macy's (which actually does make sense), CBS set up camp at one of the theme restaurants (the Hard Rock?) with another camera at the Marriott Marquis. So they showed all the new balloons first, including the Pillsbury Doughboy, at least ten minutes before NBC. And they spent time on most of the floats, which I was not getting for the most part from the Peacock network.

As for the expected reports farther north along the parade route, it was a draw. Jamie Kennedy's spots were kind of stupid, to my mind, while Al Roker's interview/plugs were kind of sad. A couple of actors from 'Law & Order', 'Parks & Recreation', and 'Days Of Our Lives'. Jillian Michaels from 'The Biggest Loser' proved to be a real ass when she suggested people should throw away their leftovers. I don't know if a food bank would have taken them, but at least she might have suggested that people could look into that option instead of wasting food.

CBS had the quality interview/plugs though back at their booth, with mostly theater actors - Christine Lahti and Jimmy Smits as half of the new cast in "Gods Of Carnage" and Michael McKean of "Superior Donuts". As for their in-house promotions, they had Bruce Greenwood who plugged Sunday night's Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, "The Dog Who Saved Christmas".

My favorite moment in the parade coverage was due to the rivalry between both networks. Jimmy Fallon was on a float with the band for his 'Late Night' show, The Roots. But he never faced the CBS camera and Dave Price of CBS only referred to them as a rock band, never naming any of them.

All in all, a pleasant way to waste a few hours while my brother bawled buckets making his onion pies.....

BCnU

Traditionally, Santa's arrival caps off the parade, and this year he had a new float..... And now, I accept that it is Christmas season!

AS SEEN ON TV: SAINT ELIGIUS

SAINT ELIGIUS

AS SEEN IN:
'St. Elsewhere'

AS PLAYED BY:
Robert Evan Collins

December 1 is the feast day for St. Eligius, which is why he's being honored today in Inner Toob........
St Eligius is particularly honored in Flanders, in the province of Antwerp, and at Tournai, Kortrijk, Ghent, Bruges, and Douai. During the Middle Ages his relics were the object of special veneration, and were repeatedly divided and transferred to other resting-places, in 881, 1066, 1137, 1255, and 1306. A mass of legend has gathered round the life of Saint Eloi, who as the patron saint of goldsmiths is still very popular. He is the patron of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and all workers in metal. He is generally represented as a bishop, a crosier in his right hand, holding a miniature church of chased gold on the open palm of his left hand. St. Eligius is also the patron saint of cattle and horses. (Dr. Wayne Fiscus, an intern at St. Eligius Hospital, would say that he was the patron saint of longshoremen and bowlers.)

Fiscus "met" St. Elligius in a coma dream after he was shot in the episode "After-Life"......

And to make this a "Two For Tuesday", here is the Boston hospital that was named after him..... My Iddiot friend and companero Brian Leonard secured for me these images of Saint Eligius and my VERY grateful thanks go out to him.....

BCnU!

FROM THE PIE POOL HE RISES!

On the night before Thanksgiving, I found a little shout-out for myself as well as for my late Dad while watching 'The Late Show with David Letterman'.

At the end of his annual pie-guessing chat with his Mom back in Indianapolis, Dave held up the Pie Pool chart for 2009 to show who had the winning combination this year. (The pies baked by Dave's Mom were the usual pumpkin and a raspberry pie.)

Among those who entered in the competition was a "Tom O'B". In fact, he bought a chance on two squares.

My actual name is Thomas O'B, but I'm also Thomas O'B III in my family. Even before birth I was being called by the sound-out of my initials: TO'B... Toby. I've always preferred being known as Toby and would have legally changed it long ago, except that I hold my original name in trust and in memory of my Dad.

I'm pretty sure I haven't done a very good job in keeping it with honor.... Oh well. Anyhoo, all O'Briens are kin (Nuts to you, Hugh O'Brian!) so I'm claiming this particular Tom O'B as a cuz!

BCnU!

IN THE VILLAGE.....

It could be that the Mexican village near the border of the United States that served as the base of operations for the attacks on US forts (as seen in the three-part 'Branded' episode "The Mission") could have been the same village where Dave Blasingame saw a local despot brought down by the peasants he was trying to control. This happened in an episode of 'The Westerner' which I had seen on TV Land once - back when TV Land actually showed some interesting TV classics. I'm not sure which episode it was, but I get the feeling it could have been "Ghost Of A Chance":

Dave has been promised $50 to deliver a message to a man's brother in a small, sleepy little village across the border in Mexico-- but when he arrives, he finds the whole town totally deserted.

"Ghost of a Chance": Dave and a Mexican woman free a terrorized town from bandits.

Hopefully someday I can track down that episode of 'The Westerner' so that I can do a screen captcha for comparison. In fact, now I'm in the mood to seek it out on bootleg DVD!

BCnU!

A NICK OFF THE OLD BARKLEY BLOCK

Everybody who ever watched 'The Big Valley' knows that Tom Barkley, the deceased patriarch of the Barkley clan, was a horndog. He had an illegitimate son named Heath by an Indian woman who was accepted into the family. (I'm not sure if we ever found out if that had been a loving relationship, or the result of a one-night stand... heck, for alls I know, it could have been rape!)

Tom Barkley cheated on his wife Victoria once; who's to say he didn't do so other times as well, all over the American West?

Perhaps even south of the border.....? In a small village just over the border in Mexico which served as the base of operations for General Arriola's sorties against US forts, undercover spy Jason McCord made first contact with one of Arriola's men, a thuggish bandito named Crispo.

Because of his similarity in appearance to Nick Barkley, it will be my assertion that Crispo was the bastard son of Tom Barkley by some Mexican peasant woman. Crispo was finally captured by US troops and was more than likely hanged for his crimes, including the murder of Colonel Harry Snow. He probably went to the gallows never knowing that he may have been the son of Tom Barkley. But then, he probably would not have cared...... (For those not familiar with the Toobworld concept, this is just a "splainin" as to why both characters - both of whom were played by Peter Breck in the real world - looked similar within the reality of the TV Universe.)


BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT

SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT

AS SEEN IN:
"The Tragedy of John Milton (August 13, 1660)"
'You Are There'

AS PLAYED BY:
Grant Gordon

Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March 1606 – April 7, 1668), also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras, and who was active both before and after the English Civil War and the Interregnum.

Following the death of Ben Jonson in 1637, Davenant was named Poet Laureate in 1638. He was a supporter of King Charles I in the English Civil War. In 1641, he was declared guilty of high treason but was, ironically, knighted two years later by the king following the siege of Gloucester. He was then appointed Emissary to France in 1645 and treasurer of the colony of Virginia in 1649 by Charles II. The following year, he was made lieutenant governor of Maryland, but was captured at sea, imprisoned, and sentenced to death. He spent all of 1651 in the Tower of London, where he was imprisoned at the time "Gondibert" was written. Having been released in 1652, he was only pardoned in 1654.

In order to avoid the strict laws of censorship in force in all public places at the time, he turned a room of his home, Rutland House, into a private theatre where his works, and that of others considered seditious, could be performed. A performance of his "The Siege of Rhodes" at Rutland House in 1656 is considered to be the first performance of an English opera, and also included England's first known professional actress, Mrs. Coleman.

After suffering from syphilis for nearly four decades, he died in London on April 7, 1668, shortly after his final play, The Man's the Master, was first performed. He is buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey where the inscription on his tablet reads "O rare Sir William Davenant."
(from Wikipedia)

BCnU!

A LOOK AT "SLAPSGIVING 2"

As the Thanksgiving weekend winds down, it's time to take a look at a holiday-themed episode that debuted this past week....

"Slapsgiving 2" of 'How I Met Your Mother' was a sequel to the original "Slapsgiving". The best thing about that first one was the flashback depiction of Robin's "older" boyfriend - in Ted's mind, "Old Bob" looked like Orson Bean (who had the best line: "We's gonna get silly, bitches!") "Slapsgiving 2" gave Toobworld lots of new board games created by Lily's father Mickey Aldrin. My favorite one was "There's A Clown Demon Under My Bed", but the one that everyone will remember will be "Diseases". This game had a ticking gall bladder that finally exploded, leaving a goo (consisting of lead paint from China and horse bile) everywhere - especially on the turkey.....

And it's that turkey that was part of the episode's Zonk. At the very beginning of the episode, Marshall got out of the taxi while on his cell phone as he told Lily about how great the bird was - low cost, big yield, and organic to boot. And as he was talking , the taxi pulled away.

I was at first afraid this would be the crux of the episode and it seemed beneath the show's possibilities. However, it was quickly found by Robin and Ted who thought to check the Lost & Found at Port Authority and there it was in the fridge.

However, that could only happen in Toobworld. Taxis have nothing to do with Port Authority. If items are lost in Manhattan taxis, they're supposed to be turned in to one of two police precincts.

So that could be considered a Zonk, or it could be just chalked up to how things happen in the tele-version of NYC. But there could also be a splainin - in order to save not only Thanksgiving, but also their friend Marshall, Ted and Robin could have bought an identical turkey from the same source and passed it off as the original.

And in any lesser sitcom, that splainin would have been played up. But 'HIMYM' is better than that....

BCnU!

WISH-CRAFT: MARY TRAVERS

During my semi-hiatus, Mary Travers of the Peter, Paul & Mary folk trio passed away. As a member of the League of Themselves, Mary Travers had a presence in Toobworld - which the PBS pledge drives will attest.

Keeping in mind that there never is an exact match when it comes to casting historical figures (Remember Richard Crenna as H. Ross Perot?), here is my choice to play Mary Travers should there ever be a TV movie about her life.....

JENNIFER COOLIDGE

Just sayin', is all.......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: SIR CHARLES SEDLEY

SIR CHARLES SEDLEY

AS SEEN IN:
"The Tragedy of John Milton (August 13, 1660)"
'You Are There'

AS PLAYED BY:
Richard Waring

Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet (March 1639 – 20 August 1701), was an English wit, dramatist and politician, ending his career as Speaker of the House of Commons.

Sedley died at Hampstead on 20 August 1701 and was buried at Southfleet Church on the 26th.

Sedley is famous as a patron of literature in the Restoration period, and was the Francophile Lisideius of Dryden's "Essay of Dramatic Poesy". However, it was above all Sedley's wit that his contemporaries admired him for.

Sedley is also occasionally associated with a notorious gang of unbridled revellers who called themselves Ballers and who were active between 1660 and 1670. It was probably Sedley who wrote the "Ballers' Oath" on behalf of them.

Sedley's parliamentary career started in the 1660s but around 1677/78 he joined the Whig cause. When Charles II died in 1685, Sedley was illegally excluded from the parliament of his successor James II, which convened on May 1685. There can be no doubt that Sedley opposed the Catholic James and supported William of Orange in the crucial year of 1688. It was in the second Pariament of William, elected in March 1690, that Sedley was returned, his political career reaching its zenith through his becoming Speaker of the Commons. More speeches and parliamentary motions followed in 1690, including discussions on the Bill for regulating trials for High Treason, which sheds light on Sedley's political commitment after the Revolution. Sedley's speeches were included in the 1702 edition of "The Miscellaneous Works". Sedley kept his seat in Parliament until his death in 1701.
(from Wikipedia)

BCnU!