LIVE FROM TOOBWORLD, IT'S "30 ROCK"! (TWICE BAKED)

Rob Buckley, who runs the fourth most popular TV blog in the UK*, has put together a series of NBC clips showing the differences between the East Coast and West Coast versions of the live broadcast of '30 Rock' this week.

My friend Sean over in Taiwan watched both of them and he preferred the West Coast version. But that was also the first one he watched. While I naturally watched the East Coast version first and preferred that one. (Tracy Morgan didn't flub his line the first time around; and the black hand transplant was funnier than the PSA with the woman's hand.)

It's like reading a book and then watching the movie made from it, or vice versa - Order determines Preference.

O'Bviously the discrepancies between both demand a televisiological splainin and there's an easy one. The East Coast version is how the episode played out on the original Toobworld timeline. But after the 'Primeval' reboot of that timeline, the West Coast version is how it now played out. For the most part it remained the same, only

As for the difference in its look from how the series normally appears? The show provided its own splainin: the live on tape look and feel was all an alcohol-deprived point of view from Jack Donaghy. That doesn't quite splain why scenes in the cockpit with Carol also had that look, but it doesn't really matter. Lots of TV series in the Earth Prime-Time universe have different looks to them, based on being taped or filmed, but in the end that's just perception. They still share the same world.

Anyhoo, Rob put a lot of work into compiling those NBC clips and I thought it would be nice to re-direct traffic from my site over to "The Medium Is Not Enough" so that you can watch them there. (Not that he needs my help - his site is the fourth most popular TV blog in the UK, after all*.)

Check out the differences here:
http://www.the-medium-is-not-enough.com/2010/10/30_rock_live_-_the_differences_between_east_and_we.php

As one of the two fake commercials during the broadcast, Dr. Drew Baird received a black convict's hand in a transplant the first time around, only to get a woman's hand in the new timeline. (And both of them were possessed, a la "The Hand Of Borgus Weems" from 'Night Gallery'.)

For the differences between the two PSA's with Doctor Baird and his new hands, take a trip over to the Vancouver Sun:
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Video+Jonn+Hamm+hilarious+Rock+commmercials/3678407/story.html

BCnu!

* And that's official! You can check out "The Medium Is Not Enough" for yourself. You'll find the link there to the left, Tooblings.

VIDEO SATURDAY POTPOURRI

This was the water-cooler clip after last Sunday's episode of 'The Simpsons'. But I'll bet the majority of the audience had no clue who Banksy is. I only knew he was an artist, but nothing else......

This is my favorite Tom Jones song.....

Back when TV Land was actually enjoyable all the time (which means before there were reality shows and theatrically released movies), they created their own version of what life was like back when the Boomers were a hell of a lot younger.....

Jonathan Winters has always been one of my idols. One of the most daring performers out there - because he let the audience into his mind.....

Here are the credits to his old series:

God bless Don Pardo, still going strong in his 90's! He helped out with the promos for the live edition of '30 Rock', which probably primed the audience that it would like a 'Saturday Night Live' sitcom.

We don't often get to see that - despite what an 'SNL' sketch once claimed - Don Pardo is more than just a voice......

BCnU!

THE CW'S CROSS-COUNTRY CROSSOVER

I've never seen an episode of 'Life Unexpected' before - that genre just isn't my thing, and I'm way outside the intended demographic. And yet I just watched as much as I could* of the latest episode because it had a crossover with its lead-in, 'One Tree Hill'.

(* Don't take that for the way it sounds. The site where I was trying to watch it claimed I was already online there for 65 minutes for free and if I wanted to see more, I think they wanted me to pay. Bleep that! And besides, I was only in that site for about twenty minutes tops.)

Anyhoo.....

Ryan Thomas hosted the Sugar Magnolia Music festival for the Portland radio station where he hosts "Morning Madness". Two of the performers at the concert were Haley James Scott and Mia Catalano. They came to Portland, Oregon, from North Caroline (where their own TV series 'One Tree Hill' is located.)

When Cate Cassidy met Haley at the festival, the two learned that they share similar pasts, having both spent their teenage years as nerdy overachievers who got pregnant in high school. Later, Cate reached out to Haley for advice when one of Cate’s secrets got out.

In addition to Galeotti and Voegele, the festival’s other music performers include Sarah McLachlan, Ben Lee, and Rain Perry. (Rain Perry's song "Beautiful Tree" serves as the theme song for 'Life Unexpected'. It's apparently a testament to the power of blood relations.) So it was an episode rich in appearances by the League of Themselves, music department.

First up, one of Ben Lee's songs at the festival:

Here's Sarah McLachlan as she performed "Forgiveness" to cap off the festival......

Here's a short clip of Haley unexpectedly singing at the Sugar Magnolia Music Festival:

The episode also supplied an in-joke, something David Bianculli (Check out his site "TV Worth Watching" linked on the left.) calls "Extras". Emma and Baze were finally getting to know each other, breaking past their previous conceptions of each other.....

Emma: "Say you could conjure up your ideal woman from scratch, who would she be? You know what, let me guess...pint sized, big eyes, looks like that chick from 'Roswell'?"

And the joke? One of the stars of 'Life Unexpected' is Shirl Appleby, who plays Cate Cassidy, the woman Baze is fixated on. She starred in 'Roswell' as Liz Parker back at the turn of the millennium, so Emma pretty much nailed that description!

Haley and Mia are now just one TV series away from becoming eligible for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, and there are plenty of opportunities still available on the CW - '90210', 'Gossip Girl', 'Hellcats', even 'The Vampire Diaries'. ('Smallville' takes place in 'The West Wing' TV dimension, and I don't think 'Supernatural' and 'Nikita' would be good fits.)

So, it's not a show I'll return to, but it kept me pleasantly entertained with the crossover, the musical performances, and that in-joke. Oh! And a pozz'ble theory of relateeveety for the character played by Cynthia Stevenson......

"Bent or broken
It's the family tree
Each branch a part of a part of me."
Rain Perry
"Beautiful Tree"

BCnU!

"THE NEW PHIL SILVERS SHOW" - A LOOK BACK

Thanks to Mick Clews and the British appreciation society for the work of Phil Silvers, I was finally able to see some examples of what the second Phil Silvers sitcom was like.

Apparently, CBS cancelled the 'Bilko' show (officially, 'You'll Never Get Rich') so that they could bring on a new sitcom which they had more control over - especially its profits. But it failed within a year, probably because the audience still wanted more of Ernie Bilko.

The character of Harry Grafton wasn't too far off the mark from Sgt. Bilko, - this time a grafter in a factory rather than an army base. But some of the elements were off in fantasy land; it was just too much. And when it focused more on his home life, there was no way I could believe those two kids could be his children. (Maybe Elena Verdugo's character as his wife cheated on him. Or, more likely, they adopted.)

See for yourself what the show was like with these excerpts:

















And then there's this song, "The Bilko Growl", by Silvers' son-in-law. Phil Silvers recorded his bits shortly before his death.




Thanks for sharing that with us, Mick!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JUSTIN BIEBER

JUSTIN BIEBER

AS SEEN ON:
'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'

AS PLAYED BY:
Jimmy Fallon

REFLECTIONS with JUSTIN BIEBER

BCnU!

THE PHANTOM'S FANDOM

There was another dubious addition to the Toobworld timeline recently on '30 Rock', one which I think Ivan of "Thrilling Days of Yesteryear" was one of the few to spot.

Kenneth the NBC page was seen holding a framed picture of Fred Allen, which was signed to Kenneth. According to the acerbic radio comedian, Kenneth was the "TOPS!"

Kenneth is about 37 years old, and Fred Allen died about 17 years before he was even born.......

There are those who think Kenneth is immortal, and supposedly there is dialogue from the show that supports this theory. (I've been laughing too hard from watching '30 Rock' that sometimes whole sequences pass me by. So I can't judge.)

But I think there is a simpler splainin: Fred Allen in the TV Universe is a ghost, haunting the NBC studios, and especially Studio 8H.

Somehow Kenneth befriended the spirit of the late comic; and to show his appreciation, Mr. Allen signed that picture over to him.

See? Simple.

UPDATE
Maybe not so simple after all.....

Looking at a larger version of the picture I noticed that Fred Allen supposedly signed it on February 21st, 1947. Maybe there's some truth to the idea that Kenneth is immortal.

Or maybe.... in an untelevised, unwritten adventure, the time-traveling Gallifreyan known as the Doctor may have picked up Kenneth as a Companion after he was fired from NBC and before he came back to work there as a page. And they had an adventure which brought them into contact with Fred Allen... and some alien creature.......

Any fanficcers out there who want to run with that idea? Here's a clue they have to decipher: the phrase "It's in the bag"!

BCnU!

DATING JENNA - NO, NOT THAT WAY! BUT.....

At one point during the live presentation of '30 Rock' this week (at least with the East Coast version), Jenna Maroney boasted “I was on stage in ‘Pippin’ with Irene Ryan when she died, and I kept going.”

Irene Ryan, better known to Toobworld watchers as Granny on 'The Beverly Hillbillies', died in 1973 of a brain tumor at the age of 70 while she was playing Pippin's grandmother in the Broadway musical. If Jenna is the same age as Jane Krakowski (the actress who plays her and who has her own Toobworld presence in those Tropicana 50 orange juice commercials), then she's 42 years old. And that would mean she was five years old when she appeared on the Broadway stage with Irene Ryan in "Pippin".

This is not a problem. Really.

The "Pippin" seen on Broadway in the real world only had one small child, the son of the woman Pippin loved at the end of the show. But with its televersion, there may have been other children integrated into the show, or at least just one other one - a little five year old girl.

It could have happened. And like with reasonable doubt, that's all you need.

Of course, it could have all been a delusion due to Jack's abstinence from alcohol......

BCnU!

THE SUPER SIX LIST: "THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW" CONNECTIONS

'The Andy Griffith Show' recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and we're still celebrating here at Toobworld Central. In honor of this milestone, Inner Toob presents a Super Six List of six other TV shows with connections to 'The Andy Griffith Show' - some legitimate, some hypothetical.

1) 'Make Room For Daddy'
This is where it all started. On a family trip back north through North Carolina, Danny Williams got caught in Mayberry's speed trap. Because of his famed Lebanese temper, Danny ended up in the jail cell where he got a first-hand look at how Mayberry operated.

Only thing was, Aunt Bea wasn't Aunt Bea. Frances Bavier played an elderly widow who only looked like Aunt Bea. It could be that Aunt Bea's father (probably Andy Taylor's grandfather), taking a page from that scoundrel Seth Taylor's playbook, was tomcattin' around town back in the day. And as a result, he fathered another daughter out of wedlock. She grew up looking exactly like Aunt Bea, but folks in Mayberry were too polite to point that out.

2) 'Gomer Pyle, USMC' & 'Mayberry RFD'
Okay, we're cheating here, listing two shows instead of one - the heirs to the legacy, the spin-off and the sequel.

Gomer Pyle left Wally's Service Station to join the Marines in the first one; while 'Mayberry RFD' switched the focus to a local farmer who became a member of the town council. Most of the townsfolk from 'The Andy Griffith Show' were still around, and even Aunt Bea remained as a housekeeper for Sam Jones and his son Mike* for a time. In fact, Sam started dating Howard Sprague's ex-flame, Millie.

(She was Millie Hutchins when she dated Howard back on 'The Andy Griffith Show', and almost married him. But she was Millie Swanson when she started dating Sam Jones. Between those appearances, she did get married to a man called Swanson, who could have been related to Henrietta Swanson and her daughter Darlene. Either Millie was divorced or widowed not long after.)

Gomer Pyle, on the other hand, was pretty much on his own at Camp Henderson in California, but he did get visits from Andy, Opie, and Aunt Bea.
3) 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'
This connection is actually via 'Gomer Pyle, USMC' and is the first of our hypotheticals...... For Ted Baxter, it all started at a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California, which must have been the city closest to Camp Henderson. Only he was using a stage name for his radio gig - "Don Mills". As Don Mills, Ted Baxter interviewed Gomer Pyle because of a heroic deed he allegedly performed. (In reality, it was Sgt. Carter who was "The Would-Be Hero".)
4) 'Fringe'
Inner Toob actually covered the story of Deputy Warren Ferguson's son earlier this year.....

5) 'The Twilight Zone' - "Hocus Pocus And Frisby"
Mr. Frisby lived in Pitchville Flats, in an extremely rural area of North Carolina, but probably not too far from Mayberry and Mt. Pilot. At least it was probably close enough for Floyd Lawson's father to visit another woman in that town, because Floyd had an identical twin named Mitchell (Mitchell Lawson?) who liked to hang around Frisby's general store and listen to Somerset Frisby spin his tall tales - even if he didn't believe them.

(Toobworld bloodlines are strong, so it could be that Floyd and Mitchell don't have the same father, but instead can trace their ancestry back to the area's first Indian agent, Daniel Lawson.)

6) 'Star Trek' - "Mira"
Those aliens who visited Mr. Frisby (and unsuccessfully tried to kidnap him) were so taken with the architecture of Mayberry that they recreated it on the planet FGC-347601 III. (By the time we got to see it, it was already at least 300 years old.)
Ya'll come back now, y'hear?

Oops.... wrong show.....

BCnU!

* AKA Mike The Idiot Boy as he's known in "Mayberry Mondays", a weekly feature by my blogging buddy down South, Ivan of "Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear" fame. (The link for which is to the left....)

AS SEEN ON TV: CHRISTINE O'DONNELL

O'Donnell dodges evangelical issues in Senate race
By BEN EVANS (AP)

NEWARK, Del. — Suddenly, Christine O'Donnell doesn't want to talk about values and religion.

The Republican Senate nominee from Delaware, who said four years ago that she heard the "audible voice of God" encouraging her to run for office, is shying away from the evangelical views that built her career as a television pundit and conservative activist.

Trailing badly in the polls, O'Donnell has bobbed and weaved recently on her previously bold and provocative positions that are sure to alienate the all-important centrist voting bloc in politically moderate Delaware.

"What I believe is irrelevant," she said under the bright lights of a nationally televised debate Wednesday when asked if she still believes evolution is a myth and schools should be teaching creationism as science.

CHRISTINE O'DONNELL

AS SEEN ON:
'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE'

AS PLAYED BY:
KRISTEN WIIG

The 'Wizard of Oz'-styled stockings were a nice touch.....

BCnU!

PRODUCT UNBECOMING: A BRIT'S EYE VIEW

My UK tele-blogging buddy Rob (Check out his site "The Medium Is Not Enough" which is listed to the left) also had a few thoughts this morning about product placement (Serendipiteevee!), specifically about the use of KFC in 'Running Wilde'.

He includes a clip from the show, highlighting this particular example.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I think the writing was handled better than in my earlier example about 'Chuck' and Toyota. But I'm also not a big fan of Will Arnett; and if there are others like me out there*, is it a bad thing to have your product associated with him?

Just sayin', is all.....

BCnU!

* And there must be others out there who feel the same way as I do about Arnett, because 'Running Wilde' isn't doing a very good job of holding onto the audience it inherits from 'Raising Hope'.......

PRODUCT UNBECOMING: "CHUCK" & "HIMYM"

It's a sad fact of life in Toobworld that product placement intrusions into our TV shows are here to stay. I accept that; I just don't like it.

But if they have to beat us over the head with these stealth ads, the least they can do is make them entertaining and not obtrusive.

Within the first ten minutes of this week's episode of 'Chuck' ("Chuck vs. The Coup D'Etat"), we were offered up two examples of the current trend. First up, here's a good example of bad product placement:





(I have no delusions about clips from Hulu. This could disappear at any time. If it does, it was a scene in which Ellie pointed out that her hot husband had gone overboard with the protective daddy mode by driving a mini-van. Devon responded that it was an "Awesome" mini-van and then proceeded to deliver clunky dialogue about the Toyota Sienna. Or Sierra. I'm not sure; I blanked on what he was saying.)

But just a few minutes later, the show redeemed itself with a bit of product placement that was actually pretty funny. They played on the relationship the show has had with the corporation that just might have saved them from cancellation the first time around.....





(And again, just in case it's deleted too quickly: In promoting the safety of the country of Costa Gavras, the Colonel mentions that they now have Subway franchises.)

'How I Met Your Mother' had the perfect example of product placement. It was just there in the scene; "make of it what you will" seemed to be the mood:

No real harm in that. People need to use search engines all the time. However, as a Toobworld caretaker, I wish Ted used Finder-Spyder........

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JONATHAN LIPNICKI

An "As Seen On TV" portrayal made the news this week.....

JONATHAN LIPNICKI

AS SEEN IN:
'Family Guy'

From the New York Daily News:
['Family Guy'] had Peter trying to get his friend's wife back.

"If I've learned anything from romantic comedies, it's that the ex-wife always falls in love with her husband again after he befriends a little kid," he says."And the kid needs to be really cute so I ordered Jonathan Lipnicki."

The doorbell rings and off-camera Peter can be heard screaming, "Oh my God, what happened to you?!"

Lipnicki is drawn as a sort of frog man with big livery lips and shaggy brown hair, his trademark glasses still on his face.

"We've got to get you to the hospital! You're hideous," he yells. "Who did this to you?"

But the now 19-year-old actor, who is currently focusing on theater work and TV cameos on "Monk" and "Glenn Martin DDs," wasn't offended by the shout out.

"Hey guys thanks for the love, but I don't feel bad about what they said on family guy," he tweeted. "It was all in good fun, I’ve worked on that show B4."

BCnU!

LICENSE TO ZONK

There are times when I despair that I'll never find any more stories to write about Toobworld, that I'll be reduced to just Zonk-adjusters ("The mention of 'The Brady Bunch' wasn't a Zonk because yada yada yada....")

And then something like this lands in my lap:

On the latest episode of 'Castle', Detective Ryan handed a murder victim's driver's license to Detective Beckett as they gathered around the body in Central Park. She took one look at it and declared that the victim was 25 and lived down in SoHo. Well, she got his age right anyway......

Even with my bad eyes, sitting the distance I was from the TV, even I could tell that the license said the address was in the 80's. Grabbing the screen capture provided the details: Admittedly there are differences between the New York City of the real world and TV-NYC - subway lines that run in different directions, as seen in 'Clubhouse', for instance. But it would be too much of an upheaval to expect SoHo - which stands for "South of Houston" - to suddenly appear on the Upper West Side!

Rick Castle repeated the information that he lived downtown, rather than across the park. (They were closer to the East 80's.) But then he didn't see the license. Detective Ryan, however, said nothing, and surely he saw the information listed. And yet he said nothing.

My tele-blogging buddy Joe Bua (his ling for "I Am A TV Junkie" can be found to the left, Team Toobworld!) had some suggestions as to why this happened:

Maybe there was a change of address thingy attached to the back? She's psychic? Her hotness allows her to read men's minds? She actually said, "the victim lives with Some Ho"?

I was trying to come up with some "Ho" reference as well.....

I try to apply Occam's Razor when it comes to splainin discrepancies, so here's what I think happened.

Beckett simply made a mistake; she meant to say "Upper West Side", but said "SoHo" instead. And that's because she had other things on her mind, namely the good-looking guy she was dating (who showed up at the end of the episode).

Maybe this guy Josh lives down in SoHo, Beckett was planning to spend the night with him down there, and that's why she said it out loud......

As to why Kevin Ryan didn't correct her, we've seen in the past that the detective backs down easily from those in authority. Since Beckett is his boss, maybe he didn't want to be seen correcting her. (I'm giving Detective Esposito a break on this one by claiming that he never got the chance to look at the driver's license.)

So that's my splainin on that Zonk.....

Now, thankfully, I have some breaking 'Doctor Who' news that needs some attention. Toobworld Central is still in business!

BCnU!

YONDAH LIES THE PRECINCT OF MY "CASTLE"

This week's episode of 'Castle' provided the perfect screen capture to illustrate the connection between 'Castle' and 'Barney Miller' - once we can officially rescue 'Castle' from its alternate dimension via the 'Primordial' timeline reboot. (Don't ask; too complicated.) BCnU!

THE "CASTLE" TRIBUTE TO STEPHEN J. CANNELL

I'm still hoping that within the "reality" of 'Castle', there will be a mention of the passing of Stephen J. Cannell, one of Rick Castle's poker buddies - who just happened to be the name behind such shows as 'The A-Team', 'Wiseguy', 'Tenspeed And Brownshoe' and leading figure behind 'The Rockford Files'.

But until then, the production team of 'Castle', led by executive producer Rob Bowman (who got his start at the age of 19 working with Cannell), gave the Trueniverse audience a beautiful tip of the hat to Mr. Cannell:



I especially liked the way the page just kept fluttering downwards to make it distinct from all those piled pages from the original logos.......

BCnU......

THIS WEEK'S TELEFLUVIA

Well, if I'm going to follow 'The Event' via online episode recaps, I can forget about Alan Sepinwall as an option - he watched three episodes and declared that he's finished with it.
~
In "Faceless Killers", a 'Wallander' episode seen on 'Masterpiece Mystery!', Rune Bergman played Johannes Lovgren. And Michael Gould played Rune Bergman. Toobworld Central has already decreed that end credits play no part in the reality of Toobworld, but I just thought this was a pretty cool turn of events.....
~
My Little Buddy over in Taiwan asked me about a scene where a guy got tied to a light pole and then was struck with uncontrollable diahrrea. He said I showed him that scene. Sounds like the finale of an episode of 'Two And A Half Men' and definitely something that happened to Alan Harper. But when I googled enough of the relevant terms to confirm, all that came up was an angry VERY LONG screed against BP. Great. "AmericanNazi666" is the only one who can back me up.....
~
Did you watch 'Community' last week? Did you see Abed's storyline play out in the background? Come on - be honest. I totally missed it. And I blame Annie. Well, actually the way she fills out the t-shirt. (I have to admit Alison Brie's a great actress - I love her on this show, but don't like her character in 'Mad Men'. That's a testament to how she can separate the characters from herself.)

Here's a video compilation of Abed's "back-story" from last week. (Thanks to Rob for leading the way!)

Right now, there is nothing more annoying on television to me than the ring-tone on Wallander's cell phone.....

BCnU (for now)

THE SUPER SIX: 2010 TV SHOWS IN OTHER DIMENSIONS

The penultimate episode of 'Rubicon' on AMC climaxed with an event that might lead to the series being banished to an alternate TV dimension.

I hope not.

As it stands now, I think it could be saved and the "event" absorbed into the overall scheme of things played out in Earth Prime-Time, in much the same way as the Eugenics War has been.

We'll see what happens in next Sunday's finale.

But in the meantime, here's a Super Six List of those shows from this year that have already been banished to alternate TV dimensions (and probably none of them are sharing the same one).

1) 'BLUE BLOODS' - CBS
We've already discussed this series here at Inner Toob. It could have remained in the main Toobworld with Tom Selleck's Frank Reagan as the NYC Police Commissioner - Raymond Kelley of the real world has never been incorporated into the fictional world of Earth Prime-Time. But NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg has, with appearances on 'Law & Order', '30 Rock', and a Muppets Christmas special. Since 'Blue Bloods' has a different mayor played by Bruce Altman, OUT IT GOES!

2) 'HAWAII FIVE-O' - CBS
We already dealt with this show as well. If only this had been a continuation of the original series rather than a remake, it could have remained. Only the names needed to be changed to protect the originals, but noooooo! (And even then, we could have kept the new Danno and the new Chin Ho Kelly with the appropriate splainins.) But there can only be one Steve McGarrett in the main Toobworld, so OUT IT GOES!

3) 'THE EVENT' - NBC
This is the most common reason a show gets bumped to its own dimension: As the current President of the United States in Toobworld is Barack Obama, just like in the real world, and since the POTUS on this show is named Martinez, OUT IT GOES!

4) 'OUTLAW' - NBC
We went into this at length after it was announced that the show was going into hiatus. Some suit must have read my arguments (as if!) because now the show is cancelled. And the reason why it had to be dismissed? Not for the POTUS but for the SCOTUS: the members of the Supreme Court in this show were too different from the real world versions which were featured in shows like 'Boston Legal', 'Picket Fences', and in the TV movie "Recount". So OUT IT GOES!

5) 'HUMAN TARGET' - FOX
The second season will begin in November, but the show didn't debut until January of this year. Everything was going smoothly for this fun show - I even found a way to splain a way around the fact that it had already been a TV series back in the early nineties so that it could avoid the remake stigma, unlike 'H5O'. I was even using it as a tent-pole in my theory on how to track Redjac through the current Toobworld timeline! But then they had to introduce a totally different Queen Elizabeth, and have her heir apparent be designated as the Princess of Wales (which is a title that doesn't exist in the real world). And you know what that means..... OUT IT GOES!

6) 'THE WAKING DEAD' - AMC
This show won't debut until the very appropriate night of Halloween, but you can surely guess why this show had to go - a world decimated by a zombie virus has no place in the main TV Universe. So, what happens then, Team Toobworld? OUT IT GOES!

BRAINNNNNNNNSSSSSSS.........! (Hush, Maudling!)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MARK ZUCKERBERG

Mark Zuckerberg seems to be in the news a lot lately..... The new movie about how he created Facebook, "The Social Network", is Number One at the box office. So the genius misfit who just wanted to belong is now a member of the Toobworld Central "As Seen On TV" showcase.....

MARK ZUCKERBERG

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live' - "Weekend News Update"

AS PLAYED BY:
Andy Samberg

Go ahead... poke him.

BCnU!

PEERING INTO THE "HIMYM" FUTURE

Have you ever gone to bed, and just before you dropped off to sleep, an idea came to you that you had to get up and write it up? It happened to me tonight.

In Monday's 'How I Met Your Mother', Ted visited a website called "Grade My Teacher" in which students could leave comments about their professors. On his page, Ted found over sixty complimentary entries, calling him a "compelling" "visionary".

But then the dream was shattered by one lone dismissal of "boring".

It threw Ted into a funk for the rest of the episode.

So what was it about that scene that made me jump out of bed?

I'm thinking that there will be a call-back to that scene at some point in the future when Ted finally meets the "Mother" of the title. And after they've been dating for a while, he'll finally find out that she was the one who left the "boring" comment on "Grade Your Teacher" dot net.

It would certainly put a crimp in their relationship for at least an episode.....

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But if I'm right, I just wanted to document it here so that I can do my Toobworld Victory dance when it happens. (There will be no video of that, sorry. It won't be pretty.)

And just to show that it didn't just happen now, here's my Facebook status of when I first announced it, just after I jumped up out of bed, tracked down the video and made the screen capture.....
We shall see what we shall view.....

BCnU!

SNATCH THE ZONK FROM MY HAND....

On a recent episode of 'Two And A Half Men', Alan Harper thanked his brother Charlie for all that he had taught him over the years about women (and cheating on them). As such, he called Charlie "sensai", which is "used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill." (Wikipedia)

In response, Charlie said, "You're welcome, Grasshopper" as he slammed the door in Alan's face.

For us in the Trueniverse audience, the mention of "Grasshopper" was supposed to be a call-back to the TV series 'Kung Fu'. When he was a boy, the main character Kwai Chang Caine was often called "Grasshopper" by his teachers at the Shaolin temple. Its most famous, and most parodied, use was in the phrase "Snatch the pebbles from my hand, Grasshopper."

(I said "snatch". Heh heh. Heh heh. Heh heh.)

But for the inner "reality" of Toobworld, there should be a different reason why Charlie called Alan a grasshopper.

And I think it's just because Alan reminded him of the insect......

BCnU!

A TASTE OF LISBON PEPPER

When 'The Mentalist' Patrick Jane and his CBI boss Teresa Lisbon visited a traveling carnival for information, Lisbon was picked out right away as a cop. As one of the carny folk put it, "It's like Cagney and Lacey had a baby and named it Pepper."

We've dealt with 'Cagney And Lacey' Zonks in the past. It seems to be the go-to pop culture reference whenever female police detectives are involved. It's another Toobworld riff on Andy Warhol's famous quote: In Toobworld, anybody could have a TV show made about them.

It's the mention of "Pepper" that's a new twist. It could be that she was referring to Pepper Anderson, the character played by Angie Dickinson in 'Police Woman' back in the 1970's. But the last name wasn't given, so we can disregard that assumption if we wanted. And I'm going to ignore it. As a matter of fact, the reference didn't even occur to me when I heard it; I just thought of it as a funny name for a kid as I was watching it. Or maybe that she had a funny way of saying the name....

BCnU!

PS:
There was also a mention of the Cone of Silence from 'Get Smart' on a TV show last week, but I forgot to write down the name of the show. All I remember is that it was a young Jason Bateman type of actor saying that they would have to "cone of silence" something.

I really have to start taking better notes.......

AS SEEN ON TV: JAMES WHITMORE AS....

A belated birthday salute.....

JAMES WHITMORE
as
LARRY FINE

AS SEEN IN:
'SCTV'

AS PLAYED BY:
Joe Flaherty

JAMES WHITMORE
as
COLONEL HARLAN SANDERS

AS SEEN IN:
'SCTV'

AS PLAYED BY:
Dave Thomas

From Wikipedia:
James Whitmore (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American film and stage actor. He won the title "King of the One Man Show" after appearing in the solo vehicles "Will Rogers' USA" (1970) (repeating the role for TV in 1972), "Give 'em Hell, Harry!" (1975) (repeating the role in the film version, for which he was nominated for an Oscar) and as Theodore Roosevelt in "Bully" (1977) although the latter production did not repeat the success of the first two.

Two for Tuesday!

BCnU!

TWIN PEAKS UNDERCOVERS

'Twin Peaks' ended on a cliff-hanger that was never resolved. (At least, not yet - a televisiologist should always have hope.)

FBI Agent Dale Cooper found a way into the other-dimensional Black Lodge in pursuit of his mentor Windom Earle. But Cooper was trapped in the Black Lodge and replaced back on Earth Prime-Time by an evil doppelganger - some evil spirit who only assumed the human form of Agent Cooper. (Based on the reflection in Cooper's cracked mirror, it most likely was either BOB or in communication with BOB.)








Knowing it could never maintain the illusion of the impersonation under constant scrutiny by those who knew Cooper, especially at the FBI, the doppelganger would probably have quit the Agency soon after.

That seems to be the likeliest scenario for the doppelganger's storyline. Anything extrapolated after that would be conjecture.

And as you've probably guessed, I've got one of those.....

The "Dark Dale" would probably need a power base from which it could carry out its evil designs, which perhaps included bringing others of its ilk over from the Black Lodge dimension.

Calling upon Dale Cooper's reputation as a former FBI agent, it could be that this "Anti-Dale"* set up its own security and protection corporation, a la the real life Black Water Corporation. As the world became more dangerous throughout the nineties, but especially after 2001, there would be quite a demand for such services. The doppelganger's agency could have built up quite a reputation, to the point where its clientele might feel comfortable in entrusting the agency with their financial and/or political information.

And the doppelganger would have collected this and analyzed it all in preparation for the time when the Black Lodge dimension wanted to take over Earth Prime-Time.

However, for alls I know, Anti-Dale was defeated before any of its plans could reach fruition - maybe by Mr. and Mrs. Mulder (C'mon! They must be married by now!); perhaps by the Winchester Brothers; or it could have been Buffy Summers and her Scooby Gang; even Carl Kolchak and his namesake nephew could have had a hand in its downfall. (I doubt it was by the firm of Spencer, Tracy, and Kong.)

No matter how it happened, I don't think the doppelganger is still existing as Dale Cooper, not that it means the real Agent Cooper has been returned to Toobworld. It's just that if Anti-Dale did have designs on Earth Prime-Time, wouldn't he have carried them out by now? Even a soap opera doesn't drag out a storyline that long!

But the security firm it established could still be in existence even after its death/departure from Toobworld. And we may have been given proof of its existence recently, which is why I came up with this theory.

In the second episode of 'Undercovers', Steven and Samantha Bloom were in pursuit of two brothers whom they believed were responsible for the kidnapping of a scientist skilled in the making of nuclear triggers. The brothers had gone rogue, separating themselves from the security firm for whom they worked: Black Lodge Protection. The doppelganger probably gave the firm that name in order for its other-dimensional brethren to easily locate him once they crossed over from the world of the Black Lodge.

It's an idea, and not likely to be either proven or dismissed... unless David Lynch and Mark Frost finally do get around to bringing the story of 'Twin Peaks' up to date. And they probably won't do that until 2016 - that's when Laura Palmer said that she would meet Dale Cooper again......

A big thanks to Andy for his help on the last part of this post!

BCnU!

* Which do you like better - Dark Dale or Anti-Dale? Or is there something even better out there? I'd love to use a term like "Walternate" from 'Fringe'......

OCTOBER 11, 1961: CHICO MARX

BCnU......

AS SEEN ON TV: CHICO MARX

CHICO MARX

AS SEEN IN:
"Groucho: A Life In Revue"

AS PLAYED BY:
Roy Abramsohn

From Wikipedia:
Leonard "Chico" Marx (March 22, 1887 – October 11, 1961) was an American comedian and film star. He was the eldest of the Marx Brothers and known for his use of a Tyrolean hat.

Marx used an Italian accent for his on-stage character; stereotyped ethnic characters were common with Vaudeville comedians. All the Marx brothers at some point in their careers performed "dialect characters," but Chico was the only one to continue this into his films.

Chico was a talented pianist. He originally started playing with only his right hand and fake playing with his left, as his teacher did so herself. Chico eventually got a better teacher and learned to play the piano correctly. As a young boy, he got jobs playing piano to earn money for the Marx family.

Groucho Marx once said that Chico never practiced the pieces he played. Instead, before performances he soaked his fingers in hot water. He was known for 'shooting' the keys of the piano. He played passages with his thumb up and index finger straight, like a gun, as part of the act. (He appears in the film A Year to Remember (1948) playing a "pistol shot" version of the Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda" to a group of Australian soldiers.) Another example of his keyboard flamboyance is found in A Night at the Opera, wherein he plays the piano for a group of delighted children.

Chico became manager of the Marx Brothers after their mother, Minnie, died. As manager, he cut a deal to get the Marx Brothers a percentage of a film's gross receipts—the first of its kind in Hollywood. Furthermore, it was Chico's connection with Irving Thalberg of MGM that led to Thalberg's signing the Brothers when they were in a career slump after Duck Soup (1933), made at Paramount Pictures.

Chico was the first Marx Brother to die, passing away on October 11, 1961, from cardiovascular disease. During his lifetime, his year of birth had commonly been given as 1891 instead of the true year of 1887, so obituaries tended to report his age at death as 70 rather than 74. He is entombed in a crypt in the Freedom Mausoleum in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chico_Marx

BCnU......

MUSICAL FINALE

Finally, this has nothing to do really with TV, except that I always liked the original music video which I featured here a few weeks ago.

I also like me some bluegrass, which is an added bonus to this cover song. I would have loved to have seen the Darling Family play this in Mayberry......

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find the original so that I may drink in Susanna Hoffs' eyes.....

BCnU!

THE BAIRD BEDOUINS

While doing research on videos involving Eddie Cantor for last week's Video Sunday, I found this listed among the related videos - the Bil Baird Puppets as they performed on Martha Raye's old variety show....

BCnU!

MY SO-CALLED LIFE: UP AGAINST "THE WALL"

My alma mater, UConn, is known for its puppetry courses - if you look into the educational background for many puppeteers in the last thirty years you just may find UConn listed.

I didn't take any of those course when I was in the Drama Department, but I was still influenced by puppetry when it came to my still-gestating Toobworld novel. One of the major characters has a puppet doppelganger over in the TV Universe, and several groups of characters are living puppets - the Rogue Cheddars, the Puppetrees of Twigganum, and the patrons of the Splinters nightclub.

This past Wednesday, I went to see Roger Waters at Madison Square Garden, where he performed "The Wall" in its entirety - something not done for nearly thirty years. And a big highlight during the show was the use of giant marionettes.

Here's the best example of those puppets, from "Another Brick In The Wall", as performed up in Canada early on in the tour:

BCnU!

DON'T SMOKE, FOOL!

A friend of mine made the effort to quit smoking, only to pick right up again once he got back from a trip to Europe. And somehow he got his boyfriend back into the habit, even though he stopped years ago.

I think he's way past the point where these classic anti-smoking PSAs would be of any help, but as they say in the lottery commercials - "Hey, you never know....."

BCnU!

SINGING SOLO - ER, SULU!

Time for a musical interlude......

BCnU!

SHAT, THIS DUDE SAYS

The other day we featured Larry Fine for the "As Seen On TV" showcase, in which vocal artiste Billy West portrayed the "Middle Stooge".

Here's West talking about William Shatner when the 'Star Trek' star was asked to appear on 'Futurama' as his own head......

BCnU!

THE DESPERATE HOUSEWIFE OF WALNUT GROVE

10/10/10!

Okay, first up for Video Sunday here at Inner Toob, a little something that is just so wrong:

As the king of crossover websites Thom Holbrook pointed out, it does need some return to actual video from the show by the end. Surely there must have been a time in 'Little House On The Prairie' when Charles noted that Caroline was late getting home and wondering where she had been?

Nevertheless, heh heh heh heh heh....

BCnU!

I AM NUMBER TWO (EASY ON THE COMMENTS!)

If there's any one TV character I'd like to be, it would Number Two from 'The Prisoner' - but the one played by Leo McKern. (It's a Toobworld Central theory that he's the identical twin brother to Horace Rumpole, but Horace never liked to speak of him.....)

This scene goes a long way to showing why I like his performance so much. It's broad strokes and subtle gestures and the timbre and cadence of his speech......

As Number Two himself says:

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: PARIS HILTON

PARIS HILTON

AS SEEN IN:
'Brothers & Sisters'

AS PLAYED BY:
Unknown

In the episode "Brief Encounter", Sarah Walker Whedon's daughter Paige thought she saw Paris Hilton at the Chad Ricardo "underwear party" held for Sarah's boyfriend Luc (the new advertising model). That was all we saw of Paris Hilton - if that was her......

Luc offered to take Paige over for a closer look, but we never did find out if it was really her.

I'm going with the assumption it was really supposed to be her - or at least her televersion.

Let her feel what it's like to be impersonated on TV. After all, she played Barbara Eden in an episode of 'American Dreams' (and badly).......

BCnU!