FOX LIES!

FOX News really wants to make the participants in the Wisconsin protest rallies look bad, and like violent thugs (probably to protect their own interests and those in Big Business and the political far right.) They want the protesters to look so bad that they're doctoring video footage of the events, by slipping in scenes from other protests in other states.

Check out the trees in the background near the end of this "news" report:

Yeah, right. Palm trees in Wisconsin......

But at least the protesters are wise to the ploys being used by FOX and are calling them out on it:

It doesn't matter if he's working for FOX News or FOX Business News. It's still FOX.

If Roger Ailes has an Indian tribal name, it should be "Lying Fox".

BCnU!

SPACED OUT ON X-BOX

Whoever made this blipvert must be a manic fan of 'Spaced'.....

BCnU!

THUMB KIND OF WONDERFUL

This makes for a great Toobworld concept!

More than a hundred and fifty years before Dave Lister will sneak a cat named Frankenstein on board the 'Red Dwarf' (leading to future generations of sentient felines), it looks like the cats of Toobworld are already starting to evolve. This was an overt example, and I'll bet that guy called in 'MI-5' to eradicate the problem for the sake of Mankind, but who's to say it's not happening elsewhere in TV Land and the kitties are keeping it a secret?

Don't think it could happen, not even in Toobworld? Pal o' mine, it's already happening in the Trueniverse!

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: JANE RUSSELL

I went looking for a copy of those old Playtex Cross Your Heart Bra commercials in order to celebrate the memory of Jane Russell in Toobworld, but I think this League of Themselves appearance is more fitting.....

Ms. Russell contributed a few characters to the Toobworld registry, in shows like 'Hunter' and 'Death Valley Days', plus others in Skitlandia thanks to her work with Red Skelton. But her best known TV character would have been Rose Hollister (seen at the top) in the modern Western/prime-time soap 'The Yellow Rose'. The Yellow Rose Ranch was named after her by her brother Jeb Hollister......

As Red Skelton probably said on the episodes in which you appeared, "Good night and may God bless."

BCnU....

AS SEEN ON TV: "GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES"

In memory of Jane Russell, who passed away earlier this week at the age of 89.....

MARILYN MONROE & JANE RUSSELL

AS SEEN IN:
'French & Saunders'

AS PLAYED BY:

Marilyn Monroe - Jennifer Saunders

Jane Russell - Dawn French

1952 - Marilyn Monroe was given the much-desired role of Lorelei Lee in the movie "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in 1952, costarring Jane Russell. "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" may be the origin of the 'dumb blonde' stereotype; certainly the main character and narrator, Lorelei Lee, is the archetypal .

1953 - Monroe and Jane Russell revealed plenty of neck and throat in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", from the book by Anita Loos, made in 1953.

Apr 8, 1953 - Three page contract dated April 8, 1953, between MGM and actress Jane Russell approving the release of the soundtrack to "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", signed by her on the last page in blue ink.

May 1953 - LIFE magazine featured Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, "Just two little girls from Little Rock", as part of the publicity for their movie "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".

Jun 26, 1953 - At Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell captured their prints in cement for posterity to celebrate their success in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".

Jul 18, 1953 - "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is a romance comedy drama written by Charles Lederer and directed by Howard Hawks. It was released on July 18, 1953. The movie stars Marilyn Monroe as showgirl Lorelei Lee and Jane Russell as her best friend Dorothy Shaw. They go to Paris, where Lorelei intends to get married to millionaire Gus Edmond. Dorothy ends up falling in love with Private Detective Malone.

And here's the actual scene from the movie:

Once again, a big thanks to J.r. Klink for bringing this to my attention....

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 03/2011: JOAN OF SNARK

JOAN RIVERS

We probably all have fictional versions of ourselves in Toobworld - I myself can count 'The Ranger Andy Show', 'The Hap Richards Show', and 'The Late Show with David Letterman' as the credentials for my televersion (which is why I shamelessly inducted myself into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame for my big milestone birthday in 2005.) But somehow (as if we didn't know why), it's only the televersions of celebrities who seem to get any notice.

Unlike many other TV crossover sites, the Toobworld Dynamic accepts televersions as legitimate crossover characters. And as such, they are just as worthy to be accepted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

March seems like as good a time as any to celebrate the televersion as a theme for the Hall of Fame, so we've found the perfect candidate this month: Joan Rivers!

The comedienne, actress, talk show host, fashion commentator, the acid (tongued) queen known as Joan of Snark, has not only established her presence in Toobworld, but she's also related to a fictional character over there in the TV Universe (as seen in 'Z Rock').

Here's the rundown of her "priors":

2004-2010 'Nip/Tuck'

2008-2009 'Z Rock'

2008 'Shrink Rap'

2006 'Boston Legal' 2004 'ALF's Hit Talk Show'


2004 'I'm with Her'

2002 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'

1990 '227'

1987 'The Dame Edna Experience'

(Actually, that's a picture from Joan's talk show from the mid-1980's. Dame Edna made her first American TV appearance on that show.)

And she even has a counterpart in the TV dimension code-named Earth Prime-Time/MOTW - the world of the American Presidents in TV Movies of the Week:

2004 "First Daughter"

So Joan Rivers is more than worthy to be the latest member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame!

Joan Rivers with a fellow member of the TVXOHOF:

Lucille Ball squeezes one off....

With so many "legitimate" qualifications for entry, I have no problem adding her talk show, the Comedy Central roast of her, her tenure in 'Celebrity Apprentice', and even her latest appearance - at this year's Super Bowl.....

BCnU!

FACE TIME

Just as a tease for a story coming up next week.....
Do you recognize the actor with Frank Converse in this picture?

BCnU!

HAPPY PUN DAY!

I'm setting this up on September 30th, 2010. By the time it's published, I wonder if anybody will even remember the show. I'm pretty sure it'll be cancelled.....

AS SEEN ON TV: CHARLES I

CHARLES I

AS SEEN IN:
'Charles II: The Power And The Passion'

AS PLAYED BY:
Martin Turner

From Wikipedia:
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was the second son of James VI of Scots and I of England. He was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles believed was divinely ordained. Many of his English subjects opposed his actions, in particular his interference in the English and Scottish Churches and the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent which grew to be seen as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch.

Religious conflicts permeated Charles's reign. His failure to successfully aid Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War, coupled with such actions as marrying a Catholic princess, generated deep mistrust concerning the king's dogma. Charles further allied himself with controversial religious figures, such as the ecclesiastic Richard Montagu, and William Laud, whom Charles appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Many of Charles' subjects felt this brought the Church of England too close to the Catholic Church. Charles' later attempts to force religious reforms upon Scotland led to the Bishops' Wars, strengthened the position of the English and Scottish Parliaments and helped precipitate the king's downfall.

Charles' last years were marked by the English Civil War, in which he fought the forces of the English and Scottish Parliaments, which challenged the king's attempts to overrule and negate Parliamentary authority, whilst simultaneously using his position as head of the English Church to pursue religious policies which generated the antipathy of reformed groups such as the Puritans.

Charles was defeated in the First Civil War (1642–45), after which Parliament expected him to accept its demands for a constitutional monarchy. He instead remained defiant by attempting to forge an alliance with Scotland and escaping to the Isle of Wight. This provoked the Second Civil War (1648–49) and a second defeat for Charles, who was subsequently captured, tried, convicted, and executed for high treason.

Off with his head!

The monarchy was then abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England, also referred to as the Cromwellian Interregnum, was declared.

Charles' son, Charles II, though he became king at the death of his father, did not take up the reins of government until the restoration of the monarchy 1660. In that same year, Charles I was canonised as Saint Charles Stuart and King Charles the Martyr by the Church of England and is venerated throughout the Anglican Communion.

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

A Toobworld side-note: Martin Turner would later play Prince Charles, the current Prince of Wales. As his portrayal of Charles is in some other TV dimension, I'm not sure if a case could be made for reincarnation......

BCnU!

TIME FOR A DOUBLE SHOT

Instant replays are incorporated into the TV Universe as temporal seismic activity. And these "time burps" don't just happen during televised football games.

In that same 'Columbo' episode I just wrote about, "Lady In Waiting", a temporal glitch occurred during the police investigation of the crime.

Take a look at about 19 minutes and 50 seconds into the running time - we see two of the detectives approach the door in the background and one pats the other on the shoulder.

Once Columbo is left alone with the characters played by Leslie Nielsen and Susan Clark, nearly 25 minutes into the show, we see the same scene occur as the other cops leave. But this time it's at a slightly different angle, zoomed in closer a bit.

This might have been due to a temporal glitch caused by a malfunctioning time machine in the vicinity.

And that doesn't mean it would have to be the Doctor. Come on! I'm not THAT O'Bsessed with 'Doctor Who'!

It could have been a TARDIS which belonged to the Rani or to the Master.....

BCnU!

GLEANED GARRY

I suppose I should be grateful to my brother Bill for coming down with the flu and being bed-ridden for a couple of days; otherwise I might never have discovered this "Game of the Name" missing link between two classic shows from the 1970's - 'Columbo' and 'Quincy, M.E.'.

Both of these series, starring Peter Falk and Jack Klugman respectively, would seem perfect for a crossover: a police detective and a medical examiner from Los Angeles who were both known only by their last names, work together to solve a murder. And since they overlapped on the NBC schedule back then, and were produced under the Universal aegis, I'm surprised no one ever broached the pozz'bility.

(If they did, I'm unaware of it. And from what I've read, Klugman was considered to appear on 'Columbo' - but as a murderer. Apparently the role of Riley Greenleaf in "Publish Or Perish" was written for him in mind, but it was yet another opportunity given to Jack Cassidy instead. However, as Mark Dawidziak noted in his excellent book about the 'Columbo' TV show, Klugman falls into a category of actor that would just be the wrong type on 'Columbo'. An appearance by Quincy would have been a better fit.

So Bill was laid up with the flu and decided to watch a run of old' 'Columbo' episodes (I think from the beginning.) We were e-mailing back and forth when he mentioned that he was currently watching "Lady In Waiting" with Susan Clark, Jesse Royce Landis, Richard Anderson, and Leslie Nielsen.

The reason I owe the following missing link to Bill's flu is because I've only seen this episode twice - its first run and the first repeat So I haven't seen it since 1972 and I've forgotten a lot of it. But I do remember that I'm not a fan of it, finding it particularly weak (although not as void of logic as "Make Me A Perfect Murder" starring Trish Van Devere.) And Susan Clark was not very compelling as the guest lead.

So after Bill mentioned a few of the other people in the cast - specifically Marcia Wallace and Fred Draper (yet again!) - I looked it up in the IMDb and learned that Garry Walberg was listed in the credits as "First Detective".

In Toobworld, Garry Walberg is best known for two roles, each representing a side of the traditional theater mask - comedy and drama. In sitcoms, he was Speed on 'The Odd Couple' and for drama, he appeared in 'Quincy, M.E.' as Lt. Frank Monahan of the Los Angeles Police Department. (And, by the way, both series starred Jack Klugman.)

So you can see where I'm going with this - if Garry Walberg showed up as an unnamed L.A. detective in an episode of 'Columbo', why can't we make the assumption that he's appearing as Frank Monahan? As "First Detective" in the 'Columbo' episode, Monahan was most likely not yet a lieutenant, which is why it wasn't a co-investigation between equals. But I think that even though it was Columbo who did most of the heavy lifting mentally, the successful solution to the crime left everybody involved in the case smelling like a rose afterward. Frank Monahan would have received the promotion to lieutenant soon after that. Are there any other TV series or TV movies in which we might find a Garry Walberg role that could be considered Frank Monahan? Well, he was a detective in the pilot episode of 'The Immortal' and a sergeant in the TV movie/pilot "Man On A String". I can't speak for certainty regarding 'The Immortal' pilot, but "Man On A String" did take place in Los Angeles. And in an episode of 'Mannix' ("Little Girl Lost"), he played a bartender - maybe Monahan was moonlighting to make some extra quatloos. I'll look into those as best I can (To the Cloud - er, To the Paley Center!), but in the meantime I think we finally have a decent connection between 'Columbo' and 'Quincy, M.E.'

Oh, and Bill? Thanks for getting sick, my brother!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ERIC KRIPKE

ERIC KRIPKE

AS SEEN IN:
'Supernatural'

AS PLAYED BY:
Micah A. Hauptman

From Wikipedia:
Eric Kripke (born April 24, 1974 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American television writer, director, and producer. He is best known for creating the television series 'Supernatural'.

In 2005, Kripke created the series 'Supernatural' and currently serves as a hands-on executive producer on the series after serving as the show's primary showrunner for the first five seasons of which he was noted for creating a uniquely detailed five-year plan. 'Supernatural' first aired on The WB. It now airs on The CW, which was created by The WB's 2006 merger with UPN.

BCnU!

"MODERN FAMILY" & THE OSCARS: A NEW CROSSOVER!

'Modern Family' showed up in an ABC commercial to promote the Academy Awards for this year. And it was produced to look like a scene from the series itself.

As far as Toobworld Central is concerned, this blipvert promo actually was the show, and as such it's a leading Toobits Award contender for 2011.

BCnU!

DOING "THE FRENCH MISTAKE"

Sam Winchester as Jared Padalecki:
"For whatever reason, our lives are a TV show."

Dean Winchester as Jensen Ackles:
“Why would anybody want to watch our lives?”

Sam Winchester as Jared Padalecki:
“Well according to the interviewer, not very many people do.”
'SUPERNATURAL'

Actually, they were Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester as Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester as Jensen Ackles......

What a mind-bleep that Sweeps-ending episode of 'Supernatural' was for an old televisiologist like myself! If you didn't see it, "The French Mistake" had angel Balthazar toss Sam and Dean into a parallel TV dimension in order to "protect" them from the wrath of Raphael.

And that parallel dimension into which they landed? It was a world in which they were recognized not as Sam and Dean Winchester, but as Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles who play Sam and Dean Winchester on a TV show called 'Supernatural'. Genevieve Cortese Padalecki played herself as Jared's wife, but Dean as Jared only recognized her as the dead demon Ruby. When they saw Castiel the angel, they thought they were saved. But it turned out that this guy was Mischa Collins, the actor who played Castiel in the TV version - just like the guy back in the Trueniverse (our world).
But it wasn't our world, because in this TV dimension several of the counterparts to real-life figures were killed off.
Other people from the production side of 'Supernatural' showed up in the episode - Robert Singer, Eric Kripke, Jim Michaels, and Kevin Parks - but they were played by actors. (And apparently that really was the voice of producer Sera Gamble heard over the intercom, 'Charlie's Angels'-style.) You can expect to see Singer and Kripke at least in the "As Seen On TV" gallery. (I was hoping Eric Kripke would speak with an Elmer Fuddesque speech impediment, like "Bawwy Kwipke" on 'The Big Bang Theory'. "Ewic Kwipke" - heh heh.....)

It was easy enough to figure out which TV dimension they landed in. It was the home of 'Hi Honey, I'm Home' and all of those TV movies that dished the behind-the-scenes gossip on TV shows like 'Three's Company', 'Dynasty', and over in the UK, 'Steptoe And Son'.

February Sweeps don't make nearly as much of a splash as they once did, but I can't complain when this one did have some doozies like the 'Hot In Cleveland'/'All My Children' crossover, this episode of 'Supernatural', and best of all, the death of Justin Bieber on 'CSI'.
One final note on this 'Supernatural' episode.... The title "The French Mistake" came from "Blazing Saddles" - It was the song and dance number being rehearsed for the Buddy Bizarre movie musical when the cast of the Mel Brooks musical came crashing through from their own soundstage.

(Unfortunately, "BitchKitty" has disabled the ability to embed the video, but you can see it here.)

A brilliant reference and an early contender for the 2011 Toobits Awards, Best Episode Title!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ROBERT SINGER

ROBERT SINGER

AS SEEN IN:

'Supernatural'

AS PLAYED BY:
Brian Doyle-Murray

From the 'Supernatural' Wiki:
Mr. Singer has many credits to his name, here are a few: "Dracula" (1973/1) (T.V.), "Independence Day", "Cujo", 'V' t.v. series, 'Timecop' and 'Supernatural'. For a more complete list of credits you can visit www.imdb.com (Internet Movie Database).

Occupation: Producer, Director, Writer, Actor, Miscellaneous Crew, Production Manager

Yes, the show's Bobby Singer is named after him.

Sam Winchester:

“Wait, you’re kidding.

So the character in the show, Bobby Singer…”

Dean Winchester:

“What kind of a douchebag names a character after himself?”

Sam Winchester:

“Oh, that’s not right.”

BCnU!

MALICK IN WONDERLAND

In order to deflate a lot of Zonks, Toobworld Central had to concede that a lot of TV shows that we watch in the Trueniverse are also TV shows in Toobworld. Most of the time they are adaptations or re-enactments of the "real life" events depicted in the actual TV shows. 'The Brady Bunch', 'Gilligan's Island', 'Happy Days', and even 'Star Trek' are examples of this.

Some TV shows have their titles invoked in other TV series, but those shows have such generic titles they could be about anything (so long as no other details are revealed. 'Cold Case', 'Law & Order', 'General Hospital', 'CSI' - these are good examples of that. (Although it seems like they can't just mention 'CSI: Miami' without throwing in mentions - and even parodies! - of David Caruso.)

We've even seen clips from these TV shows within TV shows, the classic being a scene from the televersion of 'Murphy Brown'. As seen on 'Seinfeld', that also starred Candice Bergen as the reporter, just like in the real world, with Cosmo Kramer as her latest secretary.

Most recently, I wrote about the excerpt from 'Burke's Law' starring Gene Barry as seen in an episode of 'Burke's Law' starring Gene Barry!

Those and others like them were all quick clips, mostly serving as punchlines. But now, this may be the second biggest example ever, one that ran for several scenes throughout an hour-long soap opera. This is about the crossover between the sitcom 'Hot In Cleveland' and 'All My Children'.....

It's been a running gag on 'Hot In Cleveland' that fading soap opera queen Victoria Chase is bitter rivals with Susan Lucci of 'All My Children'. 'AMC' and its plots have been mentioned in other TV shows in the past, so we can't dismiss it as a generic TV show title, like it was a reality TV series or something. Toobworld Central had to accept that the televersion of 'All My Children' was a dramatization of the "real-life" events in Pine Valley. (When the show stars a soap opera diva who went for so long without Emmy award recognition, it was bound to be a magnet for pop culture references. Hey, had she won early and often for playing Erica Kane, Lucci might never have been asked to host 'Saturday Night Live'!)

Two episodes of 'Hot In Cleveland' were focused on the behind-the-scenes activities at a taping of "All My Children' with appearances by Darnell Williams, Michael E. Knight (more on him in a later post), and of course, Susan Lucci. Lucci played up her role beautifully, not afraid to show that she was different (maybe) from her true persona - as Victoria called her, "a conniving tea-cup poodle". I always enjoy seeing celebrities not afraid to portray themselves in a bad light on TV. Kevin Bacon on an episode last year of 'Bored To Death' comes to mind, but the all-time best was the late great Lloyd Bridges on 'Ned & Stacy", where he played himself as a kleptomaniac neo-Nazi cross-dresser!

Victoria Chase had gone back to Los Angeles to film a guest appearance on 'All My Children', and we got to see the blocking of that scene and its catastrophic consequences. When all was said and done, however, that hospital bed scene was scrapped and we learned that a new scene was written for her. That's proof right there that even though the Toobworld 'All My Children' was based on the "real life" events depicted in the actual show, sometimes characters and scenes are created with no basis in "fact".

And then, with the sitcom's two-parter over, the next day had the crossover's finale on the soap opera itself.....

Do you remember how I've stated in the past that the credits have no bearing on what we actually see in the TV Universe?

This is the exception: With that opening credit letting us know that Victoria Chase was the special guest star, the show was also announcing that we weren't watching the Trueniverse 'All My Children'. The following hour was probably a one-time only broadcast of a fictional episode from within the TV Universe.

And since several citizens of the Pine Valley population were depicted in other scenes, O'Bviously this show within a show went to great lengths to find actors who looked exactly like the people they were playing....... (Leave me my delusions, please.)

This wasn't the first time in Toobworld history in which the actual show was abandoned for the show within a show. The best example is that of the interregnum between Clayton Moore's appearances as 'The Lone Ranger'. Those episodes which starred John Hart are actually the Toobworld episodes of the show which everybody refers to when the the classic Western is mentioned in other shows, like 'Happy Days' and 'The Fall Guy'. (John Hart appeared as himself in episodes from both shows.) John Hart was the TV Lone Ranger; the real Lone Ranger looked like the actor Clayton Moore. (Hart must have made such an impression as the televersion of the Lone Ranger that hundreds of years in the future, a Time Agent would be named after him - Jon Hart, as seen in 'Torchwood'.)

So Wendie Malick played Victoria Chase playing Gertie Stein, who was supposed to work for Erica Kane as a maid and then served her as a bartender in the bar owned by Erica's daugher. And in both cases, Erica got her fired. This was probably due to Susan Lucci's influence over the writers, giving her this on-air opportunity to humiliate Victoria (knowing that many in the audience would confuse the actress with the character and thus Victoria came off as a loser.) Lucci was probably also responsible for Victoria being saddled with a name like Gertie Stein. She probably wanted to equate Victoria in the minds of viewers with the unattractive looks of the famous writer Gertrude Stein. By Friday, everything was back to normal for the Trueniverse audience. The last episode of that week's 'All My Children' strip was the one that showed the "real" people of Pine Valley. If you wanted to see any more of the fictional version of the show, you'll probably have to keep watching shows like 'Hot In Cleveland' which might refer back to it. (But then, at best you may get just audio from the show.)

So thanks just to that one little screen credit for Victoria Chase, this was an actual crossover and not just actresses appearing on each other's show. And more than likely it was audacious enough to best any other candidates to be the Crossover of the Year at the 2011 Toobits Awards (to be held in January.)

Thanks to my friends Mark & Michael for making sure I saw that episode of 'All My Children'.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: THE DUKE & DUCHESS OF WINDSOR

In honor of "The King's Speech", which won several top awards at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards presentation Sunday night (Best Picture, Actor, Director, Screenplay), today's "Two For Tuesday" version of the ASOTV showcase features two of the historical figures who appeared in the movie. (This is not their first time in the spotlight "As Seen On TV", but it is the first time for this interpretation.....)

THE DUKE & DUCHESS OF WINDSOR

AS SEEN IN:
'Any Human Heart'

AS PLAYED BY:

THE DUKE OF WINDSOR
Tom Hollander
THE DUCHESS OF WINDSOR
Gillian Anderson

Compiled from both their entries at Wikipedia:
The King's desire to marry a woman with two living ex-husbands caused a constitutional crisis in the United Kingdom and the Dominions, which ultimately led to the King's abdication in December 1936 to marry "the woman I love".

Edward knew that the government led by British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have dragged the King into a general election and ruined irreparably his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, Edward chose to abdicate. He was succeeded by his younger brother Albert, who chose the regnal name George VI. With a reign of 325 days, Edward was one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British and Commonwealth history. He was never crowned.

After the abdication, the former king was created Duke of Windsor by his brother George VI. Edward married Wallis six months later, after which she was formally known as the Duchess of Windsor, without the style "Her Royal Highness".

Before, during and after World War II, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were suspected by many in government and society of being Nazi sympathisers.

After his abdication, he was created Duke of Windsor. He married Wallis Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Nazi Germany. During the Second World War, he was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France but, after private accusations that he held pro-Nazi sympathies, moved to the Bahamas as Governor. After the war, he was never given another official appointment and spent the remainder of his life in retirement in France.

In the 1950s and 1960s, she and the Duke shuttled between Europe and the United States, living a life of leisure as society celebrities.

After the Duke's death in 1972, the Duchess lived in seclusion and was rarely seen in public. Her private life has been a source of much speculation, and she remains a controversial figure in British history. BCnU!

HISTORY CHANNELED: "AIN'T GONNA PLAY SUN CITY"

Here's the last tip of the hat to Black History Month from Toobworld Central. I'd say if anybody wanted to argue that Television changed the world, I'd like to think this played a small part.....

BCnU!

THE SUPER SIX LIST: JOSIE'S KNOB

When I saw Joan Chen was the guest star in a 'Fringe' episode a few weeks ago, my heart gave a little skip - but not because of the pozz'bilities for a connection to 'Twin Peaks'. (I already had that covered when Walter said that he was friends with Dr. Jacoby.)

It was simply because it had been far too long since I had seen her.

So no, I didn't start spinning splainins for her characters in 'Fringe' and 'Twin Peaks', but it did get me thinking about Josie Packard and her strange fate in the town of Twin Peaks.

In case you don't remember, Josie's physical form died, but her spirit was transferred into the knob on the small bureau by the side of the bed. This would become her own personal hell.

Since that occurred in 1991, what has since happened to the soul of Josie Packard? Is she trapped in the knob still? If not, wha' hoppint, as Ricky Ricardo would say.

Here are a few options:

1) She's still trapped in the knob.

2) A spiritualist released her soul to go to her final fate. (I'm thinking maybe defrocked priest John 'Strange'.)

3) The bureau was burned which extinguished her soul.

4) Josie's spirit was transferred to another vessel. (If this was the movie universe, maybe she got "back in de bowl"....)

5) Someone attuned to the spiritual plane touched the knob and became the host to her soul.

Pretty close to a Super Six List right there, but I did come up with a Super Six List connected to the theory that she was still trapped in the bureau:

SIX ORGANIZATIONS WHO WOULD WANT JOSIE'S KNOB*

(This is contingent on the premise that eventually the Great Northern Lodge would want to get rid of the bureau because of it being the locus for unusual occurrences in their hotel, and that they didn't just trash or burn it.)

Here are my six candidates for those who might have tried to gain possession of the possessed bureau. And as always, I cheated at the end......
1) CURIOUS GOODS, 'FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH'
Curious Goods used to be Vendredi Antiques, owned by Lewis Vendredi. He made a pact with the Devil to sell the accursed inventory which would spread the Devil's evil far and wide. But when he finally reneged on the deal and lost his soul, it was then up to his old friend Jack Marshak, Vendredi's niece Micki Foster, and her cousin Ryan Dallion to retrieve those items.

They could easily have mistaken the possessed bureau for one of those damned objects and brought it back to the Curious Goods store. (This would have happened at least two years after the 'Friday The Thirteenth' series ended. So we have to assume all three of those characters were still alive by late 1991.)
2) THE CANDLEWICK INN, 'HARPER'S ISLAND'
When a hotel decides to get rid of furniture, it could just toss it out if its badly damaged, or it might try to recoup some of its original cost by selling it off - to consignment shops, antique dealers, collectors, or maybe even to another hotel.

An inn like the one on nearby Harper's Island might have been interested in any cast-offs from the Great Northern to heighten their outdoors-y theme in some of the rooms. But the tortured aura of Josie Packard's doomed soul would have proven to be a deadly influence on a youngster who spent summers on the island......
3) 'WAREHOUSE 13'
This is the archive of strange items that are either imbued with mysterious powers, or even have lives of their own. Its curator, Artie Nielsen, calls it America's attic.

Not understanding the reason why, the WH13 agents would have collected the bureau - or at the very least, it's knob - once their detection system picked up on the source of the disturbance. This means that the agents involved would not have been Mika and Pete, who didn't join the Warehouse team until two years ago.
4) THE METROPOLITAN PUBLIC LIBRARY, "THE LIBRARIAN" TRILOGY
The Metropolitan would be the biggest rival to Warehouse 13 for the acquisition of magical artifacts. (And with items in its collection like the Holy Grail, Excalibur (above, right), and Pandora's Box, Chief Librarian Judson would have dispatched the current Librarian (probably Edward Wilde) to retrieve it before the WH13 agents got their mitts on it.

And since Wilde bore an "uncanny resemblance" to FBI Agent Dale Cooper, he probably just bluffed the Great Northern Hotel staff into surrendering the bureau as "evidence".
5) THE TORCHWOOD INSTITUTE, 'TORCHWOOD' ('DOCTOR WHO')
Torchwood would be a major rival to both Warehouse 13 and the Metropolitan Public Library for collecting items, although their interest would lie more with alien technology. After all, their motto is: "If it's alien, it's ours." But they might have assumed the bureau was alien in origin, and like their rivals, national boundaries would not be seen as an impediment in reaching their target.

The way I'd play it out in Toobworld, it would not have been until the end of the 1990's before Torchwood would have become aware of the bureau's existence. And it would have been Torchwood Three, based in Cardiff, who would have been mobilized to bring it back to the Institute. But the presence of the bureau - and Josie's damned spirit - in the close quarters of the "Hub" would have traumatized the psyches of the team members. It would finally be team leader Alex Hopkins who would snap, killing all of the other agents of Torchwood Three on New Year's Eve, 1999.

Alien artifacts remained at the various sub-stations only long enough to be shipped to Torchwood One in the Canary Wharf area of London. So eventually Jack Harkness, who "survived" the New Year's massacre, would have shipped that bureau on to the main facility's storage area. And there it would have been destroyed as collateral damage in the battle of Canary Wharf between the Daleks and the Cybermen.

Finally.....

6) OPTIONS FROM 'DOCTOR WHO'
Yeah, I guess I'm always going to go to the Who well.....

'Doctor Who' serves as an umbrella for three options that appeared in the series. (Torchwood got its own entry because it was spun off to its own show.)
A] THE TARDIS
With the Doctor, he could have discovered the true nature of that bureau while on a trip to the Pacific Northwest (maybe while he was visiting the town of 'Eureka'?). The Time Lord would have then decided it would be safer to store it in the TARDIS (as he did the globe containing the three Carrionite witches) until he could properly dispose of it and/or free Josie Packard's soul.
B] U.N.I.T.
The Unified Intelligence Task-force (formerly the United Nations Intelligence Task-force) has its own warehouse of the alien and the bizarre, which was seen in an episode of the spin-off 'The Sarah Jane Adventures'. Since UNIT is international in scope, they would have no problem in superceding local authorities to O'Btain that bureau.
C] HENRY VAN STATTEN'S UNDERGROUND ARCHIVE IN UTAH
As with almost all of the options I've come up with, Van Statten's main interest lay in the alien ("Lay in" the alien. Heh heh. Heh heh....) But as with the others, he may have made a bid for that bureau as well. However, if he did acquire it, then Josie's soul would probably be doomed for eternity since the underground chambers will be flooded with cement in 2012.

So that's my Super Six List (Plus) on what could have happened to the bureau that contained the soul of Josie Packard. There could have been even more pozz'bilities - like former FBI agent Fox Mulder who used to work 'The X-Files' (and who had a doppelganger DEA agent helping Cooper in Twin Peaks back in the early '90's - Thanks, Sean!), the aforementioned John 'Strange', the NID in cooperation with the 'Stargate SG-1' project, and private collectors looking for items that might have come from 'The Lost Room'.

I do have one final O'Bservation - I don't think we can assume that Joan Chen's character of Reiko in 'Fringe' was the "Over There" counterpart to Josie Packard of the main Toobworld. Born in Hong Kong, it's like her name wasn't originally Josie, but it would have been a Chinese name. Reiko is Japanese in origin. Of course, she might have even been playing the long game about her nationality with Old Man Andrew Packard when he met and married her in Hong Kong so that it would be difficult for him to check her background if he got suspicious. At any rate, whether Reiko and Josie are dimensional counterparts or not is beside the point. It could be that Reiko does have a marriage to Andrew Packard in her background.

But O'Bviously, the "Over There" Josie didn't die and get knobbed up.....

BCnU!

* Yeah, I could have typed "Six Organizations Who Would Want Josie's Bureau", but where's the sport in that? Know what I mean? Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink......