REMEMBERING THE TWIN TOWERS AND THOSE WE LOST

I didn't know what to add to the dialogue for today, so as usual I'm letting Toobworld speak for me.......

The video has it right at the end - it should be all about those who died that day and those who tried to rescue them.

In October of 2001, the Twin Towers were inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame......

BCnU

SKED ALERT: "TRUE BLOOD" PREVIEWS

Tomorrow night (Sunday Sunday Sunday!), HBO presents the season finale of 'True Blood'. Here are some clips to whet your appetite. Or blood-thirst, whichever the case may be......

BCnU in Bon Temps!

THE LATEST NUMBERS RUNNING

Been filling up on 'The Numbers' from 'Lost' lately. Doesn't matter that show has ended - just because it's no longer visible to the Trueniverse doesn't mean that it doesn't keep on going in Toobworld.

First, a reminder of the numerical sequence:


Here are the numbers I've O'Bserved in the last few months:

From 'Maverick':

From 'Foyle's War':

From "A Cry For Help: The Tracy Thurman Story":

From 'Leverage':


From the pilot episode of 'No Ordinary Family':


From the pilot episode of 'Nikita':


I've also noticed that the number "23" keeps popping up in dialogue - the number of years since an event happened, the age of a character, etc. And I keep forgetting to write them down as soon as I hear them. The only one I remember is the age of an American soldier in an episode of 'Foyle's War'.......

BCnU!

"SHERLOCK" - BEHIND THE SCENES

Here are some behind the scenes clips of the creative talent behind the new series 'Sherlock', which has already aired in Great Britain and will be coming soon to 'Masterpiece Mystery' on PBS here in America.

Those who are interviewed here are Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Martin Freeman (Dr. Watson), and the creators of this modern retelling of a 2010 221 B Baker Street - Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: PAMELA ANDERSON

PAMELA ANDERSON

AS SEEN IN:
'Robot Chicken'

AS VOICED BY:
Herself

Pamela Anderson has two Golden Globes.

'Nuff said!

TELE-QUICKIES: TOOBWORLD TIMELINE

It's 1965 right now in the 'Mad Men' timeline, and it was said that Sally Draper is ten years old in "The Chrysanthemum And The Sword". So she was born in 1955 (making her the same age as me... if Matt Weiner lets her live through the sixties on the show.*)

Unless otherwise stated, Toobworld Central believes that TV characters are the same age as the actors who are playing them. So in the Toobworld timeline, Maureen Robinson was 40 years old in 1997 when the Jupiter Two blasted off and became 'Lost In Space'. That means she was born in 1957 and so she was eight years old in 1965, thus making her two years younger than Sally Draper (and me).

Wrap your mind around that.

BCnU!

* Weiner has the opposite problem with the young actress playing Sally than the producers of 'Lost' had with the kid who played Walt. If 'Mad Men' keeps jumping the storyline ahead a year or so with each season, she's never going to be able to keep up in her own personal growth.

TVXOHOF, 09/2010-B: MADELINE BRIGGS

In connection to the induction of Anthony Zuiker into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, we're also bringing in Madeline Briggs, as played by Amanda MacDonald. Madeline Briggs was one guest character who appeared in all three episodes of that 'CSI' trilogy.

Even so, she was still something of a minor character (even though the case was focused on her.) Toobworld Central would have to run out of every other candidate before she finally got a month to herself. So it's better that she ride in on Mr. Zuiker's coat-tails......

MADELINE BRIGGS

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"
{The Lost Girls}

"CSI: Miami"
{Bone Voyage}

"CSI: NY"
{Hammer Down}

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 09/2010: ANTHONY ZUIKER

In September, the TV Crossover Hall of Fame salutes those behind the scenes in the Trueniverse who make the various crossovers possible. In the past we've honored Dick Wolf, Jamie Tarses, Russell T. Davies, and Wm. T. Orr. (Orr pulled the strings on those cowboy and private eye crossovers from Warner Brothers and ABC back in the fifties. No, the cowboys didn't interact with the private eyes, but I'd watch those if they did!) This year we're honoring Anthony Zuiker, the man who came up with the 'C.S.I.' concept, which started out in Las Vegas and has since spread to Miami and New York City.

With each launch of a new series, a character or two from the previous series has been involved in the pilot episode. So this confirms that each series is connected. Last year, there was a three-way crossover between all of the 'CSI' shows, with Dr. Raymond Langston as the central linchpin. (He was inducted back in February.) It was a cross-country tale of human trafficking that got too bloated and convoluted to make much sense. But at any rate it served to solidify Zuiker's qualifications for entry into the Hall.

(Thom Holbrook, still king of the crossover websites, goes into far more detail about this 3-way than I would choose to.....)

So here's to Mr. Zuiker, who saw the possibilities in a TV show about forensic science - and in such a way as to make it look cool and sexy. BCnU!

SHERLOCK 2010 - CAN'T WAIT!

Apparently 'Sherlock' was a big hit on the BBC when it aired about a month ago. O'Bviously it's about Sherlock Holmes, but a Sherlock that exists in 2010. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson.*

I can tell that it was wildly popular, because there are so many music video tributes to be found for it at YouTube.

It hasn't arrived in America yet, but since the DVD will be on sale by early November, I expect we'll be seeing it quite soon on 'Masterpiece Mystery'. And I can't wait, being a big fan of Cumberbatch since first seeing him as Hugh Laurie's oldest son in 'Fortysomething'.

I'll have to watch the three episodes first**, but right now I'm leaning toward letting it remain in Earth Prime-Time, even though it might appear that it conflicts with the classic view of the character, especially as portrayed by the incomparable Jeremy Brett. However, the theory I'd like to employ would be that this Sherlock Holmes is descended from the original (but not via Nero Wolfe who is considered the son of Holmes by Irene Adler).

Toobworld has often seen characters repeat, although usually with different names. And most often these reoccurrences are lateral copies - that is, within the same time frame. For example - the proliferation of clones for 'The Office' and 'Ugly Betty'.

Usually shows like this end up in the TV dimension of remakes, as did the second versions of 'Flipper', 'The Addams Family', '87th Precinct', and soon, 'Hawaii Five-O'. (Shows like 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', 'Young Maverick', 'Knight Rider', 'Burke's Law', and the 'Bonanza' TV movies are continuations.) But I have high hopes I can pull off the claim that this version of the Great Detective can remain in the primary Toobworld. But again, I'll have to watch it first. BCnU!

* My sympathies to Freeman - apparently he lost out on the role of Bilbo Baggins in the movie version of 'The Hobbit' because he had already signed up for the second season of 'Sherlock'. If only there was a way he could have done both!

** My British blogging buddy MediumRob tried to warn me off from watching the middle episode (three in all of 90 minutes in length), but I'll have to see it - there might be some nugget of trivia within it that could prove necessary for Toobworld.

AS SEEN ON TV: ALAN TURING

ALAN TURING

AS SEEN IN:
"Breaking The Code"

AS PLAYED BY:
Derek Jacobi

From Wikipedia:
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954), was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist. He was influential in the development of computer science and providing a formalisation of the concept of the algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, playing a significant role in the creation of the modern computer.

During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE.

Towards the end of his life Turing became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis, and he predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s.

Turing's homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952—homosexual acts were illegal in the United Kingdom at that time—and he accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. He died in 1954, several weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined it was suicide; his mother and some others believed his death was accidental. On 10 September 2009, following an Internet campaign, then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for the way in which Turing was treated after the war.

It was serendipiteevee that I found out on Tuesday that today was the one year anniversary of that "too little, too late" apology. And besides, it wasn't just him that deserved an apology.....

BCnU!

THE "NIKITA" PREVIEW

Here's an extended preview of 'Nikita' which premieres tonight on the CW:

I'll have to do some research to see if this can co-exist with 'La Femme Nikita', which starred Peta Wilson. My first reaction is that it could; after all, "Nikita" is just a code name that could be recycled.

Some outside the box serendipity: Peta Wilson went on to appear in the movie version of "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen", which co-starred Shane West as Tom Sawyer. West is now playing the former handler of Nikita in the new series.

BCnU!

FIDDLING ABOUT WITH A ZONK

Open Channel D!

The 'Mad Men' episode "The Chrysanthemum And The Sword" had a major Zonk when Sally Draper REALLY enjoyed watching Illya Kuryakin in an episode of 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'.

Illya Kuryakin and Sally Draper should be sharing the same world. But at least with this clip we have a better splainin than the clips from 'The Defenders' about abortion, or a recent 'Sky King' clip.

Toobworld Central has established in the past that UNIT and U.N.C.L.E. and any other subsidiaries of the United Network (which is just code for the United Nations) use another agency to protect the identities of their operatives (and time-traveling consultants) by hiding them in plain sight - as characters in TV shows and movies which are produced by that agency. The "Doctor Who" movies starring Peter Cushing are just movies in the TV Universe as well. They are slightly based on true facts, but just different enough so that most of the population come to think any mention of the Doctor must be about the fictional character.

When another TV series shows scenes from the actual TV version of 'Doctor Who' (as opposed to creating their own as 'Extras' did), those are Toobworld recreations of actual events which are cast with actors who look like the Doctor and his companions.

The same holds true for 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'. If anybody outside the intelligence community ever hear the names of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, they would just assume it was a reference to some TV characters.

So that's what happened in the case of Sally Draper watching 'The Hong Kong Shilling Affair". She wasn't um, having a good time while watching Illya Kuryakin; that was an actor who was playing the U.N.C.L.E. agent.

Maybe it was the televersion of David McCallum; maybe it was an actor character played by David McCallum in some other TV show or TV movie. (Does anybody out there know if McCallum ever play an actor on TV?)

By the way, in case you'd like to see that full scene from 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', here's the YouTube link. I'm afraid the capability to embed the video has been denied. However, this is also the finale, so consider this a spoiler warning........

BCnU!

FEY DONE THIS WAY

'True Blood' has given Toobworld a brand new dimension, a new alien species, and access to one of the foundations for Fantasy in the introduction of the Faerie....

This should be quite a boon for Inner Toob theories!

Here's a reminder - the season finale for 'True Blood' is coming up this Sunday on HBO! As the classic saying goes, check your local time and listings!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: LUCILLE BALL

LUCILLE BALL

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Gilda Radner

BCnU!

SHAKES' FACE

A new History Channel special called "Death Masks" will premiere on September 13, featuring this 3-D image of what William Shakespeare supposedly looked like: It doesn't look too far off the mark from the way "The Bard" looked when he visited the early 1960's by way of 'The Twilight Zone': BCnU!

THE BROTHERS LEBEC

During "The Morning After Job" on 'Leverage', hedge fund thief Mark Vector (the scam's mark) claimed that he beat up hockey player Marty Lebec, back when Vector was still a nationally known hockey player himself. (He even named his investment firm "Slapshot".) I don't see any reason why we can't assume that Marty was the brother of Guy Edouard Raymond Lebec, better known in the hockey world as "Eddie". (As his widow Carla pointed out in an episode of 'Cheers', it was too "weenie" to use his first name of "Guy".) Eddie Lebec was killed in a tragic ice rink accident when he was run over by a rogue Zamboni while dressed as a penguin for an ice capades-type show. During the funeral, the attention of the audience was mostly drawn to the fact that there were two Mrs. Eddie Lebec's in attendance, but maybe Marty Lebec was there as well among those other hockey players.

In fact, I think this player, who followed Norm in the viewing line and who struck the casket with his hockey stick in tribute, could have been Eddie's brother: Like Mushrat would say, "It's pozz'ble, it's pozz'ble....."

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BURTON WEINSTEIN

After a break for the Two For Tuesday edition of the "As Seen On TV" showcase, we're back to conclude our theme about the Tracey Thurman case from Connecticut - with a native Nutmegger.....

BURTON WEINSTEIN

AS SEEN IN:
"A Cry For Help: The Tracey Thurman Story"

AS PLAYED BY:
Bruce Weitz

Suing the city of Torrington as well as twenty-nine individual police officers, Tracey Thurman claimed a violation of her constitutional rights set forth in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which says, "nor shall any state... deny to any person within its jurisprudence the equal protection of the laws."
Originally, the equal protection clause was applied only to cases of race discrimination, but in 1961, the Supreme Court held that Section 1982 of the U.S. Code afforded a more general "federal right in federal courts because by reason of prejudice, passion, neglect, intolerance or otherwise, state laws might not be enforced and the... rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment might be denied by state agencies."

A federal court jury heard the case in 1985, found twenty-four of the officers liable, and awarded Tracey Thurman $2.3 million in compensatory damages. Tracey Thurman was fortunate in that an extraordinary man came forward and offered to represent her. Burton Weinstein was not only a good lawyer, but a genuinely good human being who believed that a major injustice had been done and that Tracey Thurman had the right to be heard in a court of law to rectify that injustice.
- Raoul Felder & Barbara Victor
"Getting Away With Murder
(Weapons For The War Against Domestic Violence)"

BCnU!

IVAN & DAISY: A "BEING HUMAN" PREQUEL

IVAN, 1773

When Mitchell mentioned that Ivan was 237 years old on a recent episode of 'Being There', the Russian vampire said nothing to dispute the claim. So that means Ivan was "embraced into the Kindred" around 1773. And there were two major events in Russia around that time when vampires had plenty of opportunities to feed and create new vampires:

Emelian Pugachev started a rebellion in Russia.

&

The Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russian forces failed to take Silistria in 1773.

Under the chaotic cover of such carnage, Ivan may have been a mortally wounded Russian soldier who was turned by some vampire who took a fancy to him....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: EUSTACIA GRANDIN & DR. CARLOCK

EUSTACIA GRANDIN

AS SEEN IN:
"Temple Grandin"

AS PLAYED BY:
Julia Ormond

From Wikipedia:
Julia Ormond as Eustacia Grandin, mother of Temple. When Temple was younger, Eustacia was in denial over the doctor's diagnosis of Temple's autism. Eustacia was determined to have her daughter receive an education and lead a normal life despite the diagnosis.

Temple was diagnosed with classic autism, a severe case of autism in which she seemed aloof, lacked eye contact, had no language, and avoided human affection and touch. At this time, science classified autism as a form of schizophrenia, blaming mothers as the cause for the disorder and claiming that they were cold and brutal to their autistic child, naming them "refrigerator mothers". The diagnostician suggested placing Temple in an institution. Temple's mother refused to listen to the diagnostician and helped Temple adapt to the everyday world. Her mother hired a speech therapist, who worked one-on-one with Temple and enabled her to acquire language.

From Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith:
Ormond says her own biggest challenge in making the highly acclaimed movie was "struggling with the uncertainty that I was representing parents of autistic children fairly. I've had a few people who've intersected with my life who have autistic children, and I know it's hard, very hard."

She had read Eustacia Grandin's book, but didn't meet her real-life alter ego until the movie's premiere. "Her whole wisdom was that she had to be able to do things for herself," notes the actress. Meeting the strong, tough-minded woman "was terrifying and wonderful at the same time. She was wonderfully sweet and supportive."

DR. CARLOCK

AS SEEN IN:
"Temple Grandin"

AS PLAYED BY:
David Strathairn

Temple Grandin talked about him while promoting the movie.

From the Time magazine interview:

What do you hope people will get from this film?
I hope they'll get that somebody who is severely autistic really can achieve. Another thing I hope they get is the importance of the mentor teacher. I'm seeing a lot of smart, geeky kids and there's no Dr. Carlock [a high school science teacher played by David Strathairn] around to mentor them. Actually, my teacher was Mr. Carlock. I noticed they'd made that mistake in the script, but I decided he deserved an honorary doctorate so I didn't change it. He was just so important to my success.

And this is from NPR's "Talk Of The Nation":

FLATOW:
Temple, you credit much of your success to a high school science teacher. Tell us about that, please.

Dr. GRANDIN:
Yes. Yes, Mr. Carlock(ph). I was a goof-around student who just wasn't interested in school, just didn't want to study, totally bored with school. High school was a disaster. I got kicked out of a large girls' school because I threw a book at a girl after she teased me. And I was sent away to a special boarding school for emotionally disturbed children.

You've got to remember, this is the ‘60s. And so they now know that autism's not an emotional disturbance. But they didn't know that in the ‘60s. And I was still a goof-around student. Now, they had horseback riding. That was one of my favorite things to do. We had model rocket club. We had electronics club. These were all activities where I could get away from teasing and get in with other students where I had shared interests, you know.

FLATOW:
Mm hmm.

Dr. GRANDIN:
People with autism aren't interested in social chit-chat. And Mr. Carlock, I mean, took my interests and used that as a way to motivate me to study science. And I mean Mr. Carlock was an extremely important mentor in helping me to develop. And when you look at, let's look at the people with the milder forms of autism that are successful. They have their area of strength, you know, built-up on. I have a career that involves using my visual thinking skill for designing. And then mentor teachers, another really, really important thing because the autistic brain tends to be a specialist brain, good at one thing, bad at something else.

Two Sundays ago, David Strathairn and Julia Ormond both won the Best Supporting Emmy Awards for their work as Dr. Carlock and Eustacia Grandin, respectively.

Two for Tuesday!

BCnU!

SUPER SIX: THE WORST JOBS IN TOOBWORLD

It's Labor Day, the time when we salute the American workforce. And that's why this Super Six list is going to take a look at a few of the thankless jobs to be found in Toobworld:

1) Security officer on the starship Enterprise in 'Star Trek'

It's a simple formula. Red Shirt = Expendable

2) Secretary for 'Murphy Brown'

The 'FYI' newswoman was notorious for firing her secretaries, usually just for some off-beat personal quirk but also for their incompetence. My friend Mary Cadorette played the very first secretary seen in the series, Sherry French. (That pilot episode had three altogether, culminating with the late great Kathleen Freeman.) Eventually many of them came back and kidnapped Murphy to put her on "trial" for the way she treated them (in the ninth season episode "Defending Your Life").
3) Mayor of Rome, Wisconsin ('Picket Fences')

When the Dancing Bandit was offered the opportunity to serve as the town's mayor rather than serve out her jail term, she saw it as a death sentence. One mayor died from spontaneous combustion; another was conked over the head with a frying pan and locked in a deep freezer; a third, already suffering from age-related dementia, was shot in the back of the head by his own son.

4) Henchman in Gotham City vs. 'Batman'

Let's face it - Crime doesn't pay.

5) Prosecuting attorney vs. 'Perry Mason' or 'Matlock'

I don't know how these people were able to keep their jobs, after losing so often to defense attorneys Perry Mason and Ben Matlock. Hamilton Burger was able to savor the sweet taste of victory only once in his series, but eventually Mason snatched it away from him. Oh well. At least he never slept with Mason like ADA Julie March probably did with Matlock......

6) Human resources representative for Dunder Mifflin at 'The Office'

I'd feel sorry for anybody who found themselves to be Michael Scott's nemesis, even if their name wasn't Toby.....
Have a happy Labor Day, every-a-body!

AS SEEN ON TV: PETROVITS = DANZIGER

OFFICER DANZIGER

AS SEEN IN:
"A Cry For Help: The Tracey Thurman Story"

AS PLAYED BY:
Graham Jarvis

Of the main characters in this tele-movie, the police officer who first showed up at the time of the stabbing had his name changed for his televersion. The real police officer's name was Petrovits......

"That's me!"

Thurman v. City of Torrington
United States District Court D.
Connecticut
October 23, 1984
595 F.Supp. 1521

[The following is an excerpt from the case.]

RULING ON MOTION TO DISMISS
BLUMENFELD, Senior District Judge.

On June 10, 1983, Charles Thurman appeared at the Bentley-St. Hilaire residence in the early afternoon and demanded to speak to Tracey. Tracey, remaining indoors, called the defendant police department asking that Charles be picked up for violation of his probation. After about 15 minutes, Tracey went outside to speak to her husband in an effort to persuade him not to take or hurt Charles Jr. Soon thereafter, Charles began to stab Tracey repeatedly in the chest, neck and throat.

Approximately 25 minutes after Tracey's call to the Torrington Police Department *1526 and after her stabbing, a single police officer, the defendant Petrovits, arrived on the scene. Upon the arrival of Officer Petrovits at the scene of the stabbing, Charles Thurman was holding a bloody knife. Charles then dropped the knife and, in the presence of Petrovits, kicked the plaintiff Tracey Thurman in the head and ran into the Bentley-St. Hilaire residence. Charles returned from within the residence holding the plaintiff Charles Thurman, Jr. and dropped the child on his wounded mother. Charles then kicked Tracey in the head a second time. Soon thereafter, defendants DeAngelo, Nukirk, and Columbia arrived on the scene but still permitted Charles Thurman to wander about the crowd and to continue to threaten Tracey. Finally, upon approaching Tracey once again, this time while she was lying on a stretcher, Charles Thurman was arrested and taken into custody.

If you check the video of the attack which I posted earlier, you'll see that the actual events differ in the real world than they do in Toobworld.....

BCnU