Monday, February 7, 2011

AQUA-SPLAININ

From:
'The Mentalist' - "Red Alert"

When a traffic cop in Crane Creek, California, pulled Patrick Jane over for speeding, Jane tried to convince Officer Rowley that they were part of the same fraternity, that they were like a version of the Justice League.

"Would Aquaman give Batman a ticket?"

We know Batman exists in the main TV dimension of Earth Prime-Time - he had his own series back in the sixties, appeared in two TV specials in 1979, and he also made a few commercials and PSA's over the years as well.

But as far as the main Toobworld is concerned, Aquaman should be nothing more than a character in a comic book. And yet he did exist in Earth Prime-Time, which is why Patrick Jane spoke of him as being as real as the Batman......
We know Aquaman exists in the Tooniverse, thanks to 'Super-Friends' and other cartoons based on the DC superheroes. And the dimension of 'The West Wing', in which we also find 'Smallville', has two Aquamen - one appeared in an unintentional back-door pilot episode of the series about Kal-El before he donned the cape and tights; and the other was an actual pilot which never made it to American airwaves, although it did show up in iTunes and other online venues, as well as in overseas TV markets. (And that guarantees its place in the overall TV Universe.)





That second pilot didn't have any connections to 'Smallville', but the producers did admit that if it had gone to series, they would have eventually made the connection through a crossover.
In the main Toobworld, the only major mention of Aquaman has been the motion picture directed by James Cameron and starring Vincent Chase. (There was also a sequel, but that starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Aquaman.)

The way the movie was treated in 'Entourage', it was supposed to be based on the DC comic book hero. But that Aquaman looks nothing like Vince or even Gyllenhaal. He's supposed to be blonde, wearing an orange and green scaly wetsuit. Even Raj Koothrapally knew that!

Unlike the comic books and the Tooniverse, the DC superheroes are staggered in the Toobworld timeline. Wonder Woman was active in the 1940's and then resurfaced again in the 1970's. Superman stood for Truth, Justice, and the American Way in the 1950's, until his death in the early 1960's (according to a Toobworld Central theory). Meanwhile, back in Gotham City (That sounds a lot cooler in my head with the voice of William Dozier!), Batman and Robin patrolled the streets of Gotham City. And then there's the Flash, who had a brief run (Sorry about that, Chief!) in the 1990's. He may still be alive, but I have a feeling his powers have dissipated.

So, based on what Patrick Jane said, if there was a Justice League of America in operation in the main Toobworld today, Aquaman and Batman probably served together at the same time. That's not to say, however, that the real Aquaman of Earth Prime-Time was around in the 1960's when 'Batman' was on the air. I believe the Batman started his crime-fighting career back in the 1950's, when the Justice League of America consisted of him, Superman, and Wonder Woman (with probably the Scarlet Cyclone {left} as well). And because of those two TV specials in 1979, Batman and Robin were probably still active by 1980.

Speaking of those TV specials, we saw other members of the Justice League of America, including the aforementioned Scarlet Cyclone, but not Wonder Woman, Superman, the Flash, or this Aquaman that I claim existed. Wonder Woman was probably on Paradise Island; Barry Allen was more than a decade away from gaining his super-speed powers; and as I mentioned, Superman was dead.

As for Aquaman, he was probably on a mission for the Foundation For Oceanic Research... as seen in 'Man From Atlantis'.





Yep, I'm going there - I'm claiming that "Mark Harris" became better known as Aquaman and teamed up with Batman and the other members of the Justice League - after he quit the Foundation For Oceanic Research once 'Man From Atlantis' ran its course on our TV screens.

Here's a thumbnail biographical sketch of "Mark Harris" from the always reliable (koff! koff!) Wikipedia:
[Mark Harris was] an amnesiac man given the name of Mark Harris, believed to be the only surviving citizen of the lost civilization of Atlantis. He possesses exceptional abilities, including the ability to breathe underwater and withstand extreme depth pressures, and superhuman strength. His hands and feet are webbed, his eyes are unusually sensitive to light, and he swims using his arms and legs in a fashion suggestive of how a fish or marine mammal uses its flippers. Following his discovery, he is recruited by the Foundation For Oceanic Research, a governmental agency that explores the depths of the ocean in a sophisticated submarine called the Cetacean. The show only aired until 1978, which left "Mark Harris" on his own to lead whatever life he chose. So I prefer to think he took on the persona of Aquaman, as seen in the comic books, and used his abilities to become a super-hero. And eventually he teamed up with the Batman, which is why Patrick Jane mentioned the pairing. Perhaps even today he's still serving alongside whoever would be the current members of the Justice League of America.
But if he was a member of the JLA, how come he didn't show up in those January 1979 specials with Batman, Robin, the Riddler and the others? Tying into a real-world event as TV shows often do, perhaps he was still helping to battle the after-effects of Hurricane Rita which struck the Phillipines in October of 1978 and killed more than 400 people. (What kind of after-effects? I don't know - maybe the storm eventually jarred open an entrance into the undersea world of the Sea Devils and let some of them loose!) The look of "Mark Harris" would splain away why James Cameron cast the dark-haired Vincent Chase as Aquaman. Cameron may have bought the rights to the title of the comic book, but it was the "real-life" Aquaman's life story that he was interested in telling.

There was no way he would want to have called it "Man From Atlantis", because as so often happens in disabling TV Zonks, there was also a show by that name within the "reality" of Toobworld. Apparently the word got out about the existence of "Mark Harris" and so that same shadowy organization which made movies and TV shows about the Time Lord known as the Doctor, and about the agents of U.N.C.L.E., and others - in order to confuse the public about their actual existence (I call them "UN-REEL".) - did the same for "Mark Harris", thus keeping the public from finding out he was also Aquaman.

There were two mentions of this TV show over the years in the main Toobworld. Back in 1989, Del-Boy Trotter invoked the name of the show while talking about a fish stall he once worked. And at the 8:00 "Mr. Memory" nightclub show on April 4th, 1999, Mr. Memory correctly answered the question about the number of episodes for the show. (Just as in the real world, there were 17 episodes and that show within a show also starred Patrick Duffy.)

But it probably had even worse of a reputation than it did in the real world, so I'm sure Cameron would much rather have the right to use "Aquaman" as the title for his movie about the life of "Mark Harris".

So there you have it. Until such time -if any! - when an actual Aquaman surfaces (again, sorry about that, Chief!) in the main Toobworld, the DC comic book version is just that - a character in a comic book. But 'The Man From Atlantis' took on that identity after the TV series sank (I know! I know!), which is why the "Aquaman" movie within the "reality" of Toobworld had a dark-haired hero. And all that from a little pop culture reference on 'The Mentalist'.....

SHOWS CITED:
'The Mentalist'
'Man From Atlantis'
'Entourage'
'Batman'
'The Adventures Of Superman'
'Wonder Woman'
'The Flash'
'Super-Friends'
'Smallville'
'Aquaman'
'The Big Bang Theory'
'Doctor Who'
'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'
'The Lone Gunmen'
'Only Fools And Horses'
"Legends Of The Super-Heroes" (Parts One & Two)

BCnU!

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS STAYS IN TOOBWORLD

Tele-folks aren't the only members of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame; objects have been inducted as well over the years.

One of those member objects made a return appearance to 'CSI' this past week:

Playpen magazine - the most popular racy men's magazine in Toobworld - showed up at least once before in the Las Vegas-based forensic crime procedural. There was an episode in which a family was investigated after the baby was found murdered. The oldest son had issues of the skin mag in his closet.

This time they were found under the pillow of a deaf student's bed in a college dormitory. That round disk is a vibrating smoke detector for the deaf in case of emergency.

It looks like the other magazines were "Backside" and "Frolic". Either one of those could turn out to be gay magazines with those titles, so that student could have been a switch-hitter.

Bet that actor never considered such an interpretation when he was filming the scene!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: COACH VINCE LOMBARDI

Sort of a Monday-morning quarterback situation.....

VINCE LOMBARDI

AS SEEN ON:
'The Late Show with David Letterman'

AS PLAYED BY:
Dan Lauria




As seen in this context, Vince Lombardi is a character out of Skitlandia. He's been portrayed by other actors in other TV dimensions. But this marks Lauria's version as a multiversal, since he's currently playing the role on Broadway. I knew Dan Lauria back at UConn when he was a grad student. When we worked together on "Inherit The Wind" (He played the Clarence Darrow-like role.), he always referred to me as "Tim, his favorite prop man."

I'm not sure why he kept using my brother's name......

BCnU!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

McBAIN - THE MOVIE

Movie previews play a big part during the Super Bowl, right along with the Bud Light and eTrade commercials.

So how about a fictional movie from the TV Universe?

From the Tooniverse, actually....

Somebody took all of the scenes about the action hero "McBain" from episodes of 'The Simpsons' and edited them together to make a pretty decent movie short. I get the feeling that the producers of 'The Simpsons' planned this all along and were just waiting for somebody to figure it out.

Very "Lost"......


See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.


MENDOZAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

SUPER BOWL BLIPVERTS: REIN-CAR-NATION

The idea that tele-folks can be reincarnated as cars has been around at least since the "glory" days of 'My Mother The Car'. (Maybe even farther back if there were talking cars in TV commercials before now.)

As seen in a recent spate of Volkswagen blipverts, these living cars with human souls have become more accepted in Toobworld society. Whereas Dave Crabtree had to hide the existence of his mother reborn as a 1928 Porter, Max the Jetta and a classic VW bus (whom I call "the Dub Dude") live openly in the suburbs......




The Dub Dude abides.

Max has even gone on to host his own talk show on TV, where his automotive appearance and even his German accent have not been impediments to his aspirations:




So it's not really a surprise to see a "drove" of reincarnated cars get together and get all up in each other's grills.....




(And that's another blipvert that will be seen during the Super Bowl.)

BCnU!

SUPER BOWL BLIPVERTS: CHIMP CHANGE

Careerbuilder.com stuck with the theme they've been running for the last few years, so it must be working for them....





This poor schmuck is stuck in that same alternate TV dimension in which you can find 'Lancelot Link', and 'The Chimp Channel'.

It could be that the future timeline of this TV dimension is where the two astronauts from Earth Prime-Time landed and were befriended by the chimp Galen (as seen in the TV adaptation of 'The Planet Of The Apes'). If so, then their belief that the current state of that world had been the result of human Armageddon was a lie. (They were already under the delusion that they were in the future of their own world.)

It would appear that the blame for the devastated landscape of that future ape-world rested on the great apes. And probably the chimps were solely responsible......

Hey! Is Mata Hairy flipping me off?

BCnU!

TELE-VADER

The only reason I bother recording the Super Bowl is for the commercials. (So be prepared for a lot of posts analyzing several of the blipverts and their place in the TV Universe. Just warning ya.....)

This one has already been leaked for about a week now, and just in my small circle of friends on Facebook it's already been passed around quite a lot:





So a little kid dressed as Darth Vader shouldn't be a Zonk, since "Star Wars" is part of the movie universe, right?

Wrong. Especially in Skitlandia and the Tooniverse, "Star Wars" is part of the TV Universe. But it is mostly through other commercials that Darth Vader has made his presence known in the main Toobworld.....

We know that R2-D2 and C-3PO, along with Luke Skywalker, were brought forward in time through a wormhole and they ended up at the Muppet theatre. We saw that happen on 'The Muppet Show'. (And somehow Luke and actor Mark Hamill turned out to be related.) Although it aired after the "first" movie (now known by the boring title "A New Hope"), this happened after the (now) sixth movie. The two droids struck out on their own and could later be seen at movie theatres, fast food restaurants, and other Toobworld locations.

As for Darth Vader, he also found his way from the distant past in the movie universe to the "present" day in Toobworld. But this must have occurred for him after the events of "A New Hope" and he made it back to his own universe before the events of "The Empire Strikes Back".

While in the TV Universe, it looks as though Lord Vader tried to fit in with society.....





And when it came time for him to return to the "Cineverse", it looks as though a few characters from Toobworld followed him back......





Somebody else must have also come through the vortex and, as with the mysterious Time traveler who came from the Future to guide Gene Roddenberry in sharing the secrets of Starfleet, that somebody mentored George Lucas in memorializing that far-off galaxy from long ago with the "Star Wars" movies.

Perhaps to better prepare Earthlings when the "real-life" characters crossed over into Toobworld. And that's why TV characters can refer to "Star Wars" as a movie and as "real" people.....

Hey, these peyote buttons are tasty! But they're making me kind of thirsty.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: GALE SAYERS

It's Super Bowl Sunday. It's Black History Month. So.......

GALE SAYERS

AS SEEN IN:
"Brian's Song"

AS PLAYED BY:
Billy Dee Williams

From Wikipedia:
Gale Eugene Sayers (born May 30, 1943) also known as "The Kansas Comet", is a former professional football player in the National Football League who spent his entire career with the Chicago Bears.

Sayers is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. His friendship with fellow Chicago Bear Brian Piccolo was the basis for the 1971 movie Brian's Song. He is a successful entrepreneur in the information technology field and an active philanthropist.

Sayers' friendship with teammate Brian Piccolo, and Piccolo's struggle with cancer (embryonal cell carcinoma, a type of lung cancer, presenting as a large tumor in his chest cavity, and which would shortly result in his death), became the subject of the made-for-TV movie "Brian's Song". The movie, in which Sayers was portrayed by Billy Dee Williams in the 1971 original, and by Mekhi Phifer in the 2001 remake, was adapted from Sayers' account of this story in his 1971 autobiography, "I Am Third".

A notable aspect of Sayers' friendship with Piccolo, a white man, and the first film's depiction of their friendship, was its effect on race relations. The first film was made in the wake of racial riots, escalating racial tensions in the wake of Martin Luther King's assassination, and charges of discrimination across the nation. Sayers and Piccolo were devoted friends and deeply respectful of and affectionate with each other. Piccolo helped Sayers through rehabilitation after injury, and Sayers was by Piccolo's side throughout his illness.








BCnU!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

PURELY SHIRLEY

Just in time for Black History Month, this YouTube video mash-up between 'Friends' and - is it 'Sealab 2020'? - a cartoon provides a rap song about the egregious lack of color in the entire history of the sitcom 'Friends'.....



That computer did a pretty good job of analyzing the content of the series and extracting every example of a black person on 'Friends', didn't it?

Wrong, Buffalo Breath!

They forgot a character who, for me, was the most important black character in the whole history of 'Friends':
PHOEBE'S BABY DOCTOR!

And why is she so important to me? Because the actress who played that role is my twin sister!

Well, okay. Not exactly, but she's one of my dearest friends, Shirley Jordan. Shirley is an actress who has garnered a lot of supporting roles in Toobworld over the years - among them 'ER', 'Shark', 'Better Off Ted', 'Desperate Housewives', 'Strong Medicine', and 'Boston Legal' & 'Ally McBeal'. (I combined those two characters into one.) Last year she was in "Munched", an acclaimed play in the Los Angeles area, and has an upcoming role in an episode of 'Friends With Benefits'.

I was able to combine all of her nameless medical roles into two characters who happened to be sisters. I'm even thinking she should receive the Birthday Honors List induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. (I'm already in there myself, and I could use the company. Everybody else shuns me......) So I just wanted to set the record straight and make sure Shirley Jordan got her due as a black person on 'Friends'.......
BCnU!

REALI-TV: MILAN FALL

A word of warning from Milan - don't get too deeply engrossed in your gaming! Luckily for this ten year old, an off-duty cop sprang into action!




BCnU!

WHO'S ON TV: TURKISH DAFFY

Every Video Weekend, we add a 'Doctor Who' clip to the mix, something out of the ordinary to shake things up. This week? It's so far out of the ordinary to be just plain weird.

Turkish TV and movies are notorious for ripping off concepts without regard to copyrights. I own copies of their versions of "The Wizard Of Oz" and "Young Frankenstein", and I know that there are versions of "Star Wars" and 'Star Trek' out there as well.

But this is bizarre. It's the Turkish adaptation of 'Doctor Who'. And the only way you can tell it's supposed to be 'Doctor Who' is by the presence of the police box TARDIS. Otherwise it's just some horny hippie beating up an Apis-Cervidae, an insectoid-ruminant hybrid.

In other words, a "Bee-Deer". Or as the subtitles put it: a "beedeer".



The people who crap-slapped this together didn't even bother with getting the basic principles of the Doctor's character established (which, despite the changes in personality with each regeneration, remained the same.) Why should they, when they couldn't even be bothered to get the "Doctor" to actually act as if he's running down that green screened road?

And yet.... this is still a part of the main Toobworld. This guy will never be an incarnation of the Doctor, but apparently he's a renegade Time Lord who survived the Time War (depending on when this was broadcast in Turkey.) The way I see it, this Time Lord is similar to that alien from Gore Vidal's "Visit To A Small Planet" - maybe more powerful and smarter than the people of Earth, but considered retarded back home on his own world.

This was a Time Lord hopped up on some alien narcotic until his brains were fried and he acts it!

BCnU!

WHATCHOO CROSSING OVER?

On Friday we inducted the character of Arnold Jackson-Drummond, primarily known for 'Diff'rent Strokes', into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame. So here are a couple of videos which show him in crossover mode....

First up, Arnold meets poor little rich kid Ricky Stratton in an episode of 'Silver Spoons'. This is a clip that definitely is confined to its own time, just based on that computer alone!




With this next clip, we're visiting a different dimension, not only of sight but of sound - sorry, runaway train of thought!

In this dimension, the Tele-folks watch the same shows as we do, but those TV show characters can cross over from Earth Prime-Time. So it's a TV world in a TV world in our TVs......

This was the central theme to a TV show called 'Hi Honey I'm Home', which was about a family of sitcom characters living in the "real" world. A lot of classic TV characters made the jump from Earth Prime-Time to this other TV dimension over the course of the series in cameo appearances.

Arnold was yanked out of the main Toobworld to replace this guy's son in his world in the "Remote Control Man" episode of 'Amazing Stories'.....



BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: MARGARET JOHN

First off, it's a bit of a downer as we pause to remember a British character actress who passed away earlier this week....

Margaret John appeared in two 'Doctor Who' stories - one with Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and the other was "The Idiot's Lantern" with the Tenth Doctor played by David Tennant. As far as Toobworld is concerned, she holds the record for the longest span of time between appearances in 'Doctor Who'. (But if you count the Peter Cushing movies as canon - which I don't - then it's Bernard Cribbins who holds the record.)

Her presence hasn't left us yet in the TV Universe, as Ms. John will be seen in the upcoming HBO fantasy series 'Game Of Thrones', which I'm eagerly anticipating.

But it was her 'Gavin And Stacey' role as Doris, the randy old neighbor on the island of Barry in Wales, for which I'll remember her best. If you've never seen the show - well, first off, you're missing something special! - Doris was something akin to Mother Dexter on 'Phyllis' thirty years ago. Tart-tongued, potty-mouthed, sexually active, and you're never quite sure if she was telling you the truth about her latest exploits or if she was just slinging the bleep.

Here's an example of Margaret John as Doris...




Efallai y nos da a Dduw bendithia

BCnU!

IT'S SUPER BOWL VIDEO WEEKEND!

It's that time of the week again - Video Weekend! All week long I've been adding videos here and there to the blog's Saturday & Sunday schedule to run automatically so that I can have a couple days off.

And with this being Super Bowl Weekend, we've got that theme to work with on Sunday. For today, it's quite the hodge-podge of clips.

So let's get started!

AS SEEN ON TV: NANCY HANKS LINCOLN

On this date in 1784, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, mother of Abraham Lincoln, was born......

NANCY HANKS LINCOLN

AS SEEN IN:
"Swing Out, Sweet Land"

AS PLAYED BY:
Celeste Holm

From Wikipedia:
Nancy Hanks Lincoln (February 5, 1784 – October 5, 1818) was the mother of Abraham Lincoln (the 16th President of the United States) and of Sarah Lincoln; she also was the wife of Thomas Lincoln.

On June 12, 1806, she married Thomas Lincoln. Thomas proposed to her at what is now Lincoln Homestead State Park. A record of their marriage license is located at the Washington County, Kentucky, courthouse. They had three children:

Sarah Lincoln Grigsby

(February 10, 1807 – January 20, 1828)

Abraham Lincoln

(February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865)

Thomas Lincoln

(died in infancy, 1812)

In 1816, Nancy Hanks and her family moved to southern Indiana.

Nancy Hanks Lincoln was thirty-four years old when she died on October 5, 1818, and her son Abraham was nine.

BCnU!

Friday, February 4, 2011

TVXOHOF, 02/2011: ARNOLD JACKSON-DRUMMOND

It's been the tradition for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame to observe February as Black History Month by inducting a person of color - whether it's a fictional character or the televersion of an historical figure, or even a member of the League of Themselves - into the Hall.

This month's "honoree" follows that lead, but in truth, he should have been a member of the Hall of Fame long before this. Not only because he has an impressive amount of credits to qualify, more than the minimum requirement, but also because he was such an iconic figure in the Toobworld landscape during the 1980's........
ARNOLD JACKSON DRUMMOND

Full disclosure: the main impetus to induct him now is the sad fact that Gary Coleman, who played Arnold, died last year at the age of 42.

Here are the shows that qualify Arnold Jackson-Drummond for entry into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame:

'Diff'rent Strokes'

'The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air'

'The Facts of Life'

'Silver Spoons'

'Amazing Stories'
'Diff'rent Strokes' was his base, in which he appeared in 189 episodes during its run. The rest of the series listed were basically guest appearances:
'The Facts Of Life' was a spin-off featuring the former housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett, who was now working at a school for girls in upstate New York. In a two-part episode, Arnold came for a visit.
'Silver Spoons' also featured a rich kid growing up in New York City, so NBC saw the benefits in crossing them over.
And Arnold, accompanied by his "Dad", Phillip Drummond, appeared in the final episode of 'The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air' - along with George and Louise Jefferson from the classic CBS sitcoms 'The Jeffersons' and 'All In The Family'. "Remote Control Man", the episode of 'Amazing Stories' in which Arnold appeared, isn't part of the main Toobworld like the other TV shows listed. It took place in a TV dimension similar to the Trueniverse in one respect: they have the same TV shows we do. Arnold was just one of the TV characters summoned up by that magic remote control. Others included the Hulk, June Cleaver, The Face of 'The A-Team', and Ed McMahon, among many others. In effect, Arnold was pulled out of the main Toobworld and into this other dimension which is also shared by 'Hi Honey, I'm Home'. Gary Coleman appeared in a cameo on 'Married... With Children', but not as Arnold. In fact, his building code inspector was adamant that he was not Arnold Jackson and that he was not Gary Coleman of 'Diff'rent Strokes'. Because the show got mentioned, this is nothing more than a Zonk to bedevil my day!
As for this publicity picture? If anything, it belongs in the "Promoverse" with those USA Network blipverts.......

Fully grown, Arnold Jackson-Drummond was only 4'-8", but he stands tall in the Toobworld pantheon. And for that, we're inducting him into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame for February of 2011.

THE 2011 TVXOHOF ROSTER:
JANUARY - Aunt Bee Taylor
FEBRUARY - Arnold Jackson-Drummond

BCnU!

LOCATION SHOTS: ON 12th & HUDSON.....

Continuing with the contributions made by members of Team Toobworld, Vincent Audette sent along these two locations that link a lot of shows set in New York City:

I'm watching 'Blue Bloods' - "Hall of Mirrors" on CBS who try to stop a terrorist attack in NYC. The Reagans are family of cops, Tom Selleck plays the police commish and his sons (Will Estes and Donnie Wahlberg) both work in the 12th Precinct. First, This precinct is the home of TV's 'McCloud', 'Barney Miller', 'The Unusuals', 'Can't Hurry Love', 'Castle' and 'The Beat'.

Secondly, in tonight's episode the suspect is an engineering student at Hudson University. A fictional college used in all of the 'Law & Order' franchise and was mentioned in 'Without A Trace' and 'Tru Calling'.
With Hudson University, we can add 'The Cosby Show' and 'DeGrassi: The Next Generation' as two more shows with connections to that seat of learning. And those four shows, along with all of the 'Law & Order' dramas, share the same TV dimension: Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld.

It gets trickier with the 12th Precinct. Of the shows mentioned by Vince, these are the ones that exist in the main Toobworld:

'McCloud'
'Barney Miller'
'The Unusuals'
'Can't Hurry Love'
'The Beat'

'The Beat', although it only lasted a few episodes is a key addition to the Toobworld Dynamic, as it's one of the shows in which Detective John Munch appeared over the years. And it was on UPN, so it adds to his list of many networks as well.

With the end of 'Barney Miller', the original station house was closed down to become a museum dedicated to former police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt. So a new location was chosen which is what we saw each week in 'The Unusuals'. (I wish that show was still on the air.) But with 'Castle' and 'Blue Bloods', each of them had to be relegated to other TV dimensions. And they couldn't share one either. This is because both shows have different mayors for New York City who have appeared in episodes. I've stated in the past that the main Toobworld shares the same mayor as the NYC to be found in the Trueniverse. Currently, that's Mike Bloomberg. He's portrayed himself in episodes of '30 Rock', 'Law & Order', and in a Christmas TV movie with the Muppets. But for 'Blue Bloods', the mayor is named Russo and he's played by Bruce Altman as something of a thorn in the side of Commissioner Reagan. On 'Castle', he's a black man named Bill. Had Bill Thompson won the election vs. Bloomberg in 2009, we could have said that the series was set in the very near future and was not synchronous with the timeline of the real world. ('Castle' debuted in March of 2009.)

Mayor Bill has not been seen since the one episode in which he appeared, but we have to assume he is still the mayor. It's through his friendship that mystery novelist Richard Castle is allowed to tag along with Detective Kate Beckett and her team. Once Bill is no longer the mayor, Castle will probably be outtadere. If the 'Primeval' temporal reboot also takes place in these two TV dimensions, we could consider them brought back into line with the timeline of Earth Prime-Time. But we'd only do that once the series have been cancelled. (That way, no more pesky fictional mayors can show up to ruin it all.) As is the case with a series like 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' with its fictional president, we in the Trueniverse audience will only be able to see the original timeline when watching reruns. But everything in those affected episodes will have been re-adjusted, so that Rick Castle had been friends with Mike Bloomberg, whose police commissioner would then be Frank Reagan.

Sorry, Ray Kelly - you don't have any presence in the main Toobworld.....

One last point - Hudson University also showed up in an episode of 'Castle' - That's where the frame grab came from! - as did the New York Ledger newspaper. So once we can realign the world of 'Castle' with that of Toobworld, it will fit in nicely in a world populated by so many 'Law & Order' spin-offs.


Thank you, Vince, for getting the ball rolling, which allowed me to be so long-winded on the topic. Others may not be so appreciative because of that......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BENJAMIN O. DAVIS

BENJAMIN O. DAVIS

AS SEEN IN:
"The Tuskegee Airmen"

AS PLAYED BY:
Andre Braugher

From Wikipedia:
Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. (December 18, 1912 – July 4, 2002) was an American born United States Air Force general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen.

Davis was the second African-American general in the United States Air Force. Daniel "Chappie" James Jr., became the first in 1975. Davis, was later advanced to four-star general., on December 9, 1998, by President Bill Clinton. During World War II, Davis was commander of the 332nd Fighter Group, which escorted bombers on air combat missions over Europe. Davis himself flew sixty missions in P-39, Curtiss P-40, P-47 and P-51 Mustang fighters.

For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_O._Davis,_Jr.

BCnU!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

CHARLIE'S BEAVER

I'm getting a lot of help in the last few days from members of Team Toobworld with suggestions for connections between various TV shows. Here's one from "Arclight":

I hope it's okay to respond to an old post like this but it reminded me of something very cool I caught on TV a long time ago. I was at my mom's and "Leave It To Beaver" was on. Specifically this episode:


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0630337/

Note the dream girl's name: Ginny Townsend. That's not why I'm writing. I'm writing because in the episode when June calls up information, she asks for the number of a Mrs. Charles Townsend.

(It's nice to see that serendipiteevee works for other people as well. Either that, or my own powers in that regard are far-reaching, making sure that others stumble upon these discoveries by "chance" to pass along to me.)

Arclight's message was in response to the blog post "
A Townsend Family Reunion", specifically to this line, quoted from a 'Charlie's Angels' website:

"He was once married but confessed to not be the monogamous type, and it is never indicated whether or not he has any legitimate children."

So it could be that instead of making paternity guesses for any of those other TV characters I listed, we may actually narrow it down to being Ginny in Mayfield - with the added bonus of learning who his previous wife was.

This could be Charlie Townsend and his wife with their daughter Ginny... and a son as well!

Charlie lived in California, with his detective agency in the Los Angeles area. But the Cleavers and all the people they knew are located in the town of Mayfield. The location for Mayfield was never nailed down in the series, but a blog dedicated to 'Leave It To Beaver' made a convincing suggestion that it should be in Ohio:

I have often thought that Ohio makes the most sense for the location of Mayfield, although the show was not very consistent in giving hints as to where Mayfield is located. However, in "Beaver Makes a Loan" from Season 3, the drug store is hanging Kent State banners! That seems rather strange for a drug store not in Ohio!
I'm willing to accept Ohio as the location for Mayfield. (The picture above is from that episode, "Beaver Makes A Loan".....)

The distance between both states can be reconciled. Mrs. Townsend probably met Charlie while they were in college in California. But when the marriage went bust (as might be depicted below), she moved back home to her native Ohio, taking Ginny with her. Thank you, Arclight, for that theory of relateeveety discovery!

BCnU!

Toobworld note: The pictures of John Forsythe, allegedly as Charlie and his "family", come from the movie "The Glass Web". O'Bviously, they're looking at somebody else..... Here's who got cropped out: