DOUBLE VISION: JOHN & LINDA

Robert Culp wasn't the only subject I researched at the Paley Center for Media on Thursday. I also watched an episode of 'Bachelor Father' in tribute to the late John Forsythe.

The only episode they had that was in their new digital collection was "A Crush On Bentley"; all the rest of the ones available are still in tape format and have to be viewed down in the console room.

"A Crush On Bentley" is probably the most famous episode of 'Bachelor Father' now, because of its pop culture resonance. The story concerned a young high school friend of Bentley's niece Kelly, Liz McGavin. Liz fancied herself more sophisticated than the girls her age, and she set her sights on Bentley Gregg as a romantic target.

Liz McGavin was played by Linda Evanstad, who would dye her hair, shorten her last name, and one day would play Krystle, the wife of Blake Carrington - another John Forsythe character - in 'Dynasty'.

No Toobworld connection in that, really. The TV Universe is full of "echoes" in which the dopplegangers of characters find the doppelgangers of character in later TV projects, just as the original characters did. (I know that just sounds confusing.) Here's another example: Felix Unger and Oscar Madison of 'The Odd Couple'. Decades later, there would be two brothers running a garage named Jack and Tony who looked exactly like them. No connection; it's just that the cosmic powers that be must like to see such doppelgangers approximate the lives of the originals. (Tony and Jack appeared in an episode of 'Brother's Keeper', a short-lived sitcom.)

BCnU!