WHITE DIAMONDS TELEFFLUVIA

Mark Evanier wrote a piece about the cruel jokes that were made about Elizabeth Taylor during her lifetime and it did give me pause, mainly because I'm featuring one of those videos next weekend. And I have to admit that my favorite Joan Rivers joke was about Ms. Taylor's problems with her weight back in the 1980's, and the 'SNL' Weekend News Update interview with "Ms. Taylor" after her choking scare is a show highlight.

But at the same time, these sketches do serve as part of her television legacy, portraying the cultural perception of her at the time - in much the same way political cartoons should be included in an examination of a President's standing during his lifetime, before History has a chance to air-brush the details.
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I always say television is a teaching tool and I learned something about Elizabeth Taylor on 'Good Morning, America' the day after she died: She did NOT like to be called "Liz". I've used that in the past here at Inner Toob, and also the nickname "La Liz" (which was used in her TVXOHOF post headline - see below). But from now on, it'll always be Elizabeth, no familiarity in addressing her story.
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I'm glad Ms. Taylor was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame back in May of 2009, as one of the Queens of May for that year. (Being the tenth anniversary for the Hall, there was a special celebration by inducting four new members each month.)

Here's the blog post for the occasion.....
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She also appeared in a previous "As Seen On TV" showcase as the Wild West gambling queen Poker Alice.
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This week's episode of 'Castle' (cleverly titled "One Life To Lose") gave Toobworld two new additions to the retinue of TV shows on TV. One was an old telenovela called 'Chiquitas' and the other was the show where most of the suspects came from - 'Temptation Lane'.
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While watching my copy of the first year of 'N.Y.P.D.' episodes, the numbers from 'Lost' popped up with the ID number for one of the squad cars - #234. It's a combination of 23 and 4, in much the same way the Oceanic Airways flight number was #815 - 8 and 15.
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While watching those episodes of 'N.Y.P.D.', I kept an eye out for actors in small roles who would later hit it big, or at least become better known. Among them - Tony Musante, Roy Scheider, Vincent Gardenia, Charles Grodin.... But I never expected to see somebody I actually knew!
That's Frank Nastasi, whom some of you may remember as Soupy Sales' sidekick on his old show. I worked with him in two Off-Off-Broadway shows for the old Meat & Potatoes Theatre Company. We'd all sit around backstage and imitate his style of "speech" for White Fang and Black Tooth, but in iambic pentameter.....

Sadly, he passed away about six years ago....
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While watching a couple of episodes of 'Vengeance Unlimited' for a future story about James Coburn, I saw another guy I used to know: That's Fred Sanders, who's shown up in a couple of series and whose brother is Jay O. Sanders. Fred was the director of the shows we put on at the Thomaston Opera House back in the summer of 1977 - "A Little Night Music", "Company", "Little Mary Sunshine", and "Two Gentlemen Of Verona" (the musical).
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It was Nick Lowe's birthday on Thursday. You can see a performance of his on the TV show 'Countdown' here. (Embedding was disabled.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md7lfg181HI

Apparently, the Doctor wasn't the only one who plundered the Riddler's wardrobe. (Thanks to Dan Aloi for pointing that out!)
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FX has canceled 'Lights Out' after only one season. I'm not surprised. I think I'm in the majority of the viewing public who has no interest in anything connected to boxing, no matter how ancillary it was to the main storyline.
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But here's what I consider great news! 'Fringe' has been renewed for a fourth season. It's O'Bvious that my whining about it the other day paid off! LOL

BCnU