McBAIN!!!! (A THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY)

Pinky Pinkston was the heir to her father's fortunes via the Pink Chip Stamps Factory. But she wasn't the only daughter of Pincus (Pinchas?) Pinkston - as a result of an affair he had with another woman, the elder Pinkston was the father of a young woman named Lisa who was Pinky's identical half-sister. (A closer genetic possibility than an identical cousin, you have to admit!)

Lisa may have been disowned by her father, rebuffed by her half-sister, and so in retaliation she turned to a life of crime. In alliance with Jervis Tetch, AKA the Mad Hatter, Lisa helped kidnap the various members of the jury who put Tetch away in Gotham State Prison......

(Diane McBain played both roles.)

BCnU - same Toob-time, same Toob-channel!

MUG SHOT REVEALED!

Friday's "Mug Shot", as Andy figured out, was Peter Vaughan. He was pictured as Horace Dorrington, a scalawag of a private detective in a 1971 episode from the anthology series 'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes'.

Forty years on, and he's on TV again as Maester Aemon in 'The Game Of Thrones', a life-long resident of the Knight's Watch stationed at The Wall.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: WARREN BUFFETT

Of all the famous names in the 2008 financial crisis to be portrayed in the HBO movie "Too Big To Fail", only one proved problematic for Toobworld:

WARREN BUFFETT

 AS SEEN IN:

"Too Big To Fail"

AS PLAYED BY:

Ed Asner

STATUS:

Recastaway

Unlike all of the other televersions in this historical replay, Warren Buffett had already been portrayed in the main Toobworld. (Timothy Geithner had been portrayed previously, but that was over in Skitlandia on several editions of 'Saturday Night Live'.) Added to that quandary is the fact that it was Warren Buffett as a member of the League of Themselves in an episode of 'All My Children'.

The billionaire may have even been playing himself in the season finale of 'The Office'. Who knows why a man of his status would want to take the position of manager for a paper company branch in Scranton, Pa.? (Perhaps there's even more trouble with the Berkshire Group than previously known.....) Although we don't give credence to credits, Buffett was only listed as "Interviewee". So he could have been playing himself, or he could have been an identical cousin, or some other Doppelganger.)

Leaving his appearance on 'The Office' out of the equation, we still have the recastaway problem between 'All My Children' and "Too Big To Fail".

The HBO TV movie was a re-creation of true events, based on a book chronicling the collapse of the financial markets in 2008. Using documented evidence like scheduled meetings as a guide, certain characters would have met with each other, as seen on TV. There might have been transcripts of those meetings from which dialogue could be drawn. But not all of that interplay could be public record. A lot of dialogue which occurred behind closed doors must have been from the imagination of the screenwriter only.

So at least one aspect of the story had to be fictionalized. Why not then take a quantum leap into supposition and suggest other aspects may have only happened in Earth Prime-Time but not on Earth Prime?

How about this - Warren Buffett was replaced by a time traveler from the Future? (Speaking of 'Quantum Leap'.....)

To the audience viewing at home, if you're familiar with 'Quantum Leap', the Leaper would be visible as himself. But to those within the Toobworld reality, the Leaper would look like the "Leapee".

So, as realistic as "Too Big To Fail" strove to be, it was still the Toobworld version of events, and that is never exactly the same as what happens in the Trueniverse.

We've seen History change all the time in Toobworld - historical figures having their lives changed by the Doctor (Van Gogh, Dickens, Queen Victoria, for example), the Enterprise crew (Mark Twain, for one), and time travelers coming into contact with Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy (as seen on the old and new versions of 'The Twilight Zone'.)

So why can't it happen in recent history as well?

Therefore, the Warren Buffett of "Too Big To Fail" was from the Future (farther along in the timeline than Dr. Sam Beckett), sent back to that critical time in History "to make right what once went wrong." And having accomplished the task, the Leaper returned to the Future and Buffett rejoined his life, already in progress.....

BCnU!

MY BIRTHDAY RANT

BBC-America made a big mistake in bumping 'Doctor Who' on Memorial Day Weekend. The core fan base would have watched no matter where they were or what plans they had. DVR recordings are factored in nowadays.

So now I'm sure their ratings for the last two episodes of this first half of the season will probably dip because eager fans sought other outlets to catch those episodes as quickly as possible.

This was probably true with the mid-season cliffhanger finale, when many such fans were probably watching "A Good Man Goes To War" hours before "The Almost People" aired on BBC-America!

Not that I know of such things......

Birthday rant over.

TVXOHOF: 2011 BIRTHDAY HONORS LIST II

For my birthday, I decided there should be two new inductees into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame for the Birthday Honors List. This is usually reserved for those TV characters that normally would not technically qualify for the honor.

The two "honorees" today fall into the category that was begun with Dr. Miguelito Loveless - that is, they played at least three characters who had enough in common to be considered the same person. (As long as the argument held up.)

With the three characters played by Irene Gilbert all rolled into "Nurse Griffin", each of them was a nurse in Los Angeles, but only one who had a name.

I wrote about this next entry previously in the Inner Toob blog, so I'm taking that post and revamping it slightly to make the case for her inclusion into the Hall......

Until I bought the DVD collection for myself, I used to watch the opening minutes of the 'Burke's Law' repeat which American Life Network used to show, in order to see who the guest stars were going to be. Then I would watch the full episode when I got home in the morning from work.

One night, I had to look up who the actress was playing Lucy Brewer, the woman who discovered the murder victim. (Like Marlyn Mason who was also in "Who Killed Jason Shaw?", she didn't merit a major credit at the beginning of the episode.)

Joyce Jameson played the slightly addled woman who did "favors" as her profession, and according to the IMDb.com, she played several women named Lucille over the course of her career. Even better, none of those other roles had last names attached to them and all of them were to be found in Los Angeles!

'The Fall Guy'
- "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harold" (1982) .... Lucille

'Baretta'
- "They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To" (1976) .... Lucille

"Promise Him Anything" (1975) (TV movie) .... Lucille

'Emergency!'
- "Kidding" (1975) .... Woman Stuck in Door

(I threw that last one in as a gimmee. After all, why shouldn't we assume that her name may have been Lucille, and Lucy Brewer at that?)

So, it could be that Joyce Jameson as Lucy Brewer was the same woman in all those TV shows and that one TV movie. And therefore, Lucille "Lucy" Brewer can be added to the TV Crossover Hall of Fame as part of my birthday honors list.

Sadly, Ms. Jameson won't ever know about it. She took her own life back in the 1980s.

BCnU....

TVXOHOF: 2011 BIRTHDAY HONORS LIST I

Irene Gilbert convinced her mentor Stella Adler to open a chapter of her acting academy in Los Angeles and became one of its directors. She also appeared in about a dozen TV shows, mostly in single episode small roles.

Sadly, I never would have heard of her had she not just recently passed away.

But looking through her TV credits, the case could be made that she deserves entry into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame as a special Birthday Honors List inductee, thanks to three of those small roles back in the 1970's.

Here are those roles, in the order in which she played them:

'Medical Center' - "The Adversaries" (1969)
O.R. Nurse

'The Bold Ones: The New Doctors' - "One Lonely Step" (1971)
Desk Nurse

'Barnaby Jones' - "The Deadly Conspiracy: Part Two" (1975)
Nurse Griffin

So the argument could be made that each of those nurses were the same woman and her last name either was Griffin the whole time, or she eventually got married and Griffin was her husband's surname. But for ease in writing about her, we'll just call her Ms. Griffin, and leave her marital status undetermined. (Unless of course there's a good candidate named Griffin we can draft as her husband?)

Up to 1969 at least, Ms. Griffin worked in the operating rooms at the university-connected medical center in Los Angeles. But it is a stressful occupation - not as stressful as being an ER nurse! - and Nurse Griffin may have been keeping an eye open for new opportunities. So when the chance came to work as one of the nurses at the reception desk of the Craig Institute, she applied for the job and got it.

I can't say where Nurse Griffin was working by the time she got involved in the "Deadly Conspiracy" which was being investigated by Frank 'Cannon' and 'Barnaby Jones', because I haven't seen that two-part crossover since it first aired on CBS back in the mid-70's. And I have no idea if she survived the episode. But I'd like to think she went on to enjoy a long career in one of the most noble professions.

Perhaps, working outside the box, one could take this picture of Ms. Gilbert with Lindsay Wagner at the Stella Adler Awards of 2002 and make a suggestion to any 'Bionic Woman' fanficcers out there - perhaps this is Nurse Griffin with Jaime Sommers. Just as a suggestion of course, but maybe due to problems with the aging equipment installed in the 'Bionic Woman', Jaime needed a full-time nurse/companion.....

That's the way I'd run with it, but you fanficcers may have other ideas.

Good night and may God bless, Ms. Gilbert. And welcome to the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame!

My thanks to Lydia Doyle in the preparation of this piece.

BCnU!

This is the first of two new members via the Birthday Honors List.  I have so many of these "By Any Other Name" hypothetical connections that I thought I should take advantage of my birthday being in June, for which the Zodiac sign is Gemini (the Twins), that my birthday is a double number (6/6), I was born in a double number year (never mind), and that my first name officially is Thomas, which means "twin".......

NEW 2 VIEW @ TOOB HQ: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Sure, it's my birthday now, but I get myself presents all the time.

At any rate, here are the latest acquisitions for the Toobworld Central DVD Library:

1) BENNY HILL: THE LOST YEARS

2) THE BENNY HILL SHOW MEGA-SET

3) MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS - THE COMPLETE SERIES MEGA-SET

4) SHERLOCK HOLMES (with Peter Cushing & Nigel Stock)

5) JOHN ADAMS

6) TERRY PRATCHETT'S THE COLOUR OF MAGIC

7)  FLYING BLIND

8) STEPHEN SONDHEIM'S PUTTING IT TOGETHER

With that last item, there's a personal connection - my sister and I were at the recording of that show, so we got to see Carol Burnett's fashioin faux pas.  And with 'Flying Blind', I can get the screen grabs to illustrate a new theory of relateeveety that will connect the show to 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea'......

ONE O'BRIEN LINE

Since it's my birthday today, I thought it was a good time to put the spotlight on one of the four main branches of the televersion of my family. Although I don't think my televersion is descended from this particular branch......

May O'Brien was an Irish prostitute working in one of the seedier districts in London during the late 1800's. She was accused of the murder of one of her sister doxies; but luckily for her, Dr. John Evelyn Thorndyke was able to discover the true murderer.

It's possible that in the course of her sordid profession, May O'Brien got pregnant - not just once, but perhaps at least twice. Rather than visit some back-alley butcher to terminate the pregnancies, she may have given birth to a boy who would carry on the family name. Ultimately, down through the generations in Toobworld, May O'Brien's branch of the family tree (certainly not mine!) would lead to Miles Edward O'Brien, Chief Engineer of the Deep Space Nine space station.

If May O'Brien had another child, it could have been a girl... and born before she got into trouble with the Law. If so, this daughter could have grown up to become the personal maid to Lady Grantham of Downton Abbey.


SHOWS CITED:
'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes' - "A Message From The Deep Sea"

'Star Trek - Deep Space Nine'

'Star Trek - The Next Generation'

'Star Trek' - "The Trouble With Tribbles"

'Downton Abbey'

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ROBERT F. KENNEDY

Although this should be a happy occasion, I'm using the ASOTV showcase to highlight the saddest event I can remember happening on my birthday, involving one of my heroes......

 ROBERT F. KENNEDY

AS SEEN IN:
'The Kennedys'

AS PLAYED BY:
Barry Pepper

From Wikipedia:
The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a United States Senator and brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, took place shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California. After winning the California primary election for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, Kennedy was shot as he walked through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel and died in the Good Samaritan Hospital twenty-six hours later. Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian immigrant, was convicted of Kennedy's murder and is serving a life sentence for the crime. The shooting was recorded on audio tape by a freelance newspaper reporter, and the aftermath was captured on film.

Kennedy died at 1:44 a.m. PDT on June 6, nearly 26 hours after the shooting.

Kennedy's body lay in repose at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York for two days before a funeral mass was held on June 8. His body was interred near his brother John at Arlington National Cemetery. His death prompted the protection of presidential candidates by the United States Secret Service. Hubert Humphrey went on to win the Democratic nomination for the presidency, but ultimately narrowly lost the election to Richard Nixon.

As with his brother's death, Robert Kennedy's assassination and the circumstances surrounding it have spawned a variety of conspiracy theories. As of 2011 Kennedy remains one of only two sitting United States Senators to be assassinated.

Inner Toob featured a different televersion of RFK as a Tiddlywinkydink back in 2008 on the occasion of his birthday.

For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Robert_F._Kennedy

BCnU.......

THIS CONCLUDES OUR BROADCAST DAY......

"THE MASKS OF DEATH"

Video-wise, I'm in a Sherlock Holmes frame of mind lately. I watched the first disk of the 1971 series 'The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes' and an episode from the 1965 series starring Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock. Only five episodes remain of that series and based on "The Hound Of The Baskervilles", it looks pretty good.

Here's a later TV movie from the mid-1980's, also starring Cushing as Holmes, but this time with Sir John Mills as Dr. Watson. If I ever find a worthy splainin for the recasting of David Burke with Edward Hardwicked in the Jeremy Brett series, I think it would also apply to the TV dimension in which we find Cushing's consulting detective.

I hope you enjoy!

BCnU!

"GAME OF THRONES" - PREVIEW FOR EPISODE 8

I think the sign of a successful series could be the number of clips sent out for preview - if it's doing well in the ratings, there aren't that many clips available for the next episode.

If that's true, 'Game Of Thrones' must be doing great! We've only been getting one clip each week for the last several episodes.

Here's the preview for tonight's episode of 'Game Of Thrones', the 8th for this season:

'Game Of Thrones' is on HBO Sunday nights at 9 PM, ET.......

BCnU!

"GAME OF THRONES" PARODY

As my little buddy Sean (the "GoT" Boy) commented, this is rather weak, but I'm still in that stage where I can't get enough of anything connected to 'Game of Thrones'.....

BCnU!

RAISE YOUR GLASS!

With 'Community' and 'Cougar Town' completed for the season, and 'Psych' coming up quite quickly, this is the perfect video to bridge the gap between them.....

Being rather mired in my own personal cultural tastes, I never heard anything by Pink before. (If she's been on 'Saturday Night Live', I have to confess I fast-forward nowadays through the musical numbers, even for those artists I like.)

But I admit I really like this song!

BCnU!

HOLY EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES!

Time for our weekly PSA......

I believe that infernal incendiary device would indicate the infamous involvement of the Clock King......

This counts towards the TV Crossover Hall of Fame requirements for Batman & Robin and Batgirl.......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: SPALDING GRAY

Spalding Gray, American actor, writer, and monologist, was born on this day in 1941......

SPALDING GRAY

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Michael McKean

From Wikipedia:
Spalding Rockwell Gray (June 5, 1941 – ca. January 10, 2004) was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist, and monologuist. He was primarily known for his "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP, quiet mania." Gray achieved celebrity for writing and acting in the play Swimming to Cambodia, adapted into a film in 1987.

He began his career in regional theatre, moved to New York in 1967 and three years later joined Richard Schechner's experimental troupe, the Performance Group. He co-founded the Wooster Group ensemble in 1975. He died in New York City of an apparent suicide. A documentary film about his life, entitled And Everything is Going Fine, was released in 2010 and is directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Gray was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to Rockwell Gray, Sr., the treasurer of Brown & Sharpe, and Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" Horton, a homemaker. He also had two younger brothers – Channing Michael and Rockwell, Jr. He was raised in the Christian Scientist faith and grew up in Barrington, Rhode Island, spending summers at his grandmother's house in Newport.

After graduating from Barrington High School, he enrolled at Emerson College as a poetry major, where he earned his B.A. in 1963.

In 1965, Gray moved to San Francisco and became a speaker and teacher of poetry at the Esalen Institute. In 1967, while Gray was vacationing in Mexico City, his mother committed suicide at the age of 52. After his mother's death, Gray moved away from the west coast and permanently settled in New York City.

Gray's books "Impossible Vacation" and "Sex and Death to the Age 14" are largely based on his childhood and early adulthood.

He would have been 70 years old today.....

BCnU!

END OF THE BLOG-CASTING DAY

"GOODNIGHT BURBANK"

My tele-bloggin' buddy Joe Bua (of "I Am A TV Junkie" fame - you'll find the link to the left, blokes!) clued me in to this new online sitcom called 'Goodnight Burbank'.

It's not really for me, although it's mostly because I just don't do longform online TV very well. My attention begins to wander and there's so many tangents I want to explore in the Internet.

And I'm puzzled as to why Dominic Monaghan is slumming in this. As a favor to a friend, perhaps?

But I did like this episode because it offered up a leading contender for a 2011 Toobits Award with the presence of John Barrowman as himself.....

BCnU!

ALT-COLUMBO

Here's another TVXOHOF member as he appeared in Skitlandia:

BCnU!

TIP TOP TAPS

Big thanks to J.r. Klink for digging up this chestnut. As a big fan of everybody in this clip from Dean Martin's show, I had a big grin on my face when I first saw it......

BCnU!

U68? U-BET!

I remember watching "Nocturnal Transmissions" from U68 back around 1982, when MTV wasn't on the Manhattan cable system yet. It was grainy and on a black & white set in my bedroom, but it opened up a whole new, yet very transitory, world of TV music.

When I finally got the chance to see MTV, I actually preferred the low-rent flavor of U68.

Thanks to my friend Scully, here's a collection of station IDs by mostly famous personalities for U68.....

BCnU!

MAYBERY IN SKITLANDIA

Both Sheriff Andy Taylor of 'The Andy Griffith Show' and comedy legend Bob Hope (as himself) are members of the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.

With this sketch from a 1963 Bob Hope comedy special, we learn that Andy Taylor also exists in Skitlandia - where he proves himself to be tele-cognizant and able to come back from the dead.....

BCnU!

"DOCTOR WHO" - "THE ALMOST PEOPLE" PREVIEW

Tonight is the mid-season finale for 'Doctor Who' - at least in the UK. Because of Memorial Day weekend, the show was bumped from BBC-A last Saturday. So tonight American audiences will be watching the second part of the "Rebel Flesh" story - "The Almost People".

I've seen it. I follow the mantra of "Trust In Moffat", but the Doctor's actions at the end? I don't know....

Anyhoo, here's the trailer and three clips from "The Almost People" for my fellow Americans.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: THE MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS

June 4, 1783 – The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon).

THE MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS

AS SEEN IN:
'Monty Python's Flying Circus'

AS PLAYED BY:
Terry Jones (Joseph)
&
Eric Idle (Jacques)

"Inner Toob" previously wrote about the event three years ago as a Tiddlywinkydink.....

BCnU!

FRIDAY MUG SHOT

I haven't done a Friday Mug Shot in a while.......

This is for the fans of 'Game Of Thrones'. If you can, identify the actor. But at least identify the character he plays in the HBO fantasy series.

Bonus points if you can name the series from which this was purloined.....

The answer on Monday!

I've already had one partial answer - Andy knew who the actor is.  And he let me know I forgot to change the name of the jpg file.  So I've replaced the picture and added Andy's answer to my files, and we begin again.

Andy already has locked in the name of the actor.  I'm still looking for the name of this character, the show he was in, and who he's playing in 'Game Of Thrones'......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JAMIE DIMON

JAMIE DIMON

AS SEEN IN:
"Too Big To Fail"

AS PLAYED BY:
Bill Pullman

From Wikipedia:
James "Jamie" Dimon (born March 13, 1956) is the current CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co, and previously served as a Class A director of the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve, a three year term which started January 2007. Dimon was named to Time Magazine′s 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011 lists of the world's 100 most influential people.

In March 2008 he was a board member of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and CEO of J.P. Morgan and made decisions in connection with the $55 billion loan to J.P. Morgan to bail out Bear Stearns.

Following the acquisition of Washington Mutual by JPMorganChase, President Barack Obama had this to say about Dimon's handling of the real-estate crash, credit crisis, and the banking collapse affecting corporations nationwide, including major financial institutions like Bank Of America, Citibank, and Wachovia:

"You know, keep in mind, though there are a lot of banks that are actually pretty well managed, JPMorgan being a good example, Jamie Dimon, the CEO there, I don't think should be punished for doing a pretty good job managing an enormous portfolio."

We've got one more ASOTV showcase to do from this HBO movie, but it's the only one that needs a Toobworld splainin. I'll write it up over the weekend and have it available on Tuesday.

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 06/2011: THE HOTEL EDISON

In the fifth season opener for 'Sex And The City', Carrie met a woman named Joan in a coffee shop. That scene was filmed in the Cafe Edison of the Hotel Edison and adds to the location connections for the hotel's televersion.

Also in that circle of friends:

'Seinfeld' (George was handcuffed to a bed.)

'Becker' (Becker trashed one of the hotel rooms.)

'The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show' (Jack Benny mentioned that George and Gracie stayed there for three years when they were first married. Gracie couldn't remember its name because George checked them in.)

'Naked City' (Detective Adam Flint made out with his girlfriend in front of the building.)

'CBS Sunday Morning' (Aaron Sorkin walked by.)

'CBS' The Early Show' (The Hotel Edison was featured in a report on hotel security. Of the hotels shown in the story, only the Edison passed the reporter's test by not allowing two women with a hidden camera to get in.)

'The Incredible Hulk' (The Hulk ran past just before smashing the newspaper stand on the corner of W 47th & Broadway.)

'McCloud' (McCloud may have rode his horse through the lobby - not yet verified.)

Over in the movie universe, it's also famous for the hallway up which Luca Brasi walks in "The Godfather", and down which Jack Warden and John Cusack walk in "Bullets Over Broadway".

There's another very important connection for the building: the 2005 TV Crossover Hall Of Fame inductee (Birthday Honors List) works there.

By extension, these appearances would also be connections to 'Late Night with David Letterman', 'The Hap Richards Show', 'The Ranger Andy Show', 'Cosby', 'Everybody Loves Raymond', 'The King Of Queens', 'The Nanny', 'Mad About You', 'Friends', 'Caroline In The City', 'Frasier', 'Hope & Gloria', 'Cheers'.....

(If the 'McCloud' connection eventually pays off, then there would also be connections to the original 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Galactica 1980' which would lead to links with 'America 2Night', 'Fernwood 2Night', and 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'.)

And that's why the Hotel Edison is being honored with induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame itself.....

Thanks to Brian-El for help in compiling this entry.....

BCnU!

FROM PAWNEE TO SCRANTON... LITERALLY

Kona Gallagher of CliqueClack TV has made the case for a TV crossover character to be the new manager at the Dunder-Miffline/Sabre branch in Scranton.

All it would take would be a move from Pawnee.....

BCnU!

GIVING HEAD TO AMERICA

On NBC's schedule for the fall is a remake of a Britcom called "Free Agents".

Here's the official press release about the show:

Alex is recently divorced, and Helen lost her fiance a year ago. Obviously, these two are definitely not ready to be dating again. So naturally, they end up in bed together one night. Oops. And they're co-workers. Double oops. At least they have one thing in common: they're both in need of getting back on the horse again but unable to figure out how.

Despite their little romantic encounter, however, they decide to just remain friends. Helen insists this has nothing to do with Alex crying like a baby after sex. And Alex tries to reassure Helen that she'll have no trouble finding a new boyfriend as soon as she removes the pictures of her dead fiance that are all over her apartment. The rest of the office tries to get Alex back out there... but no matter how many douchey shirts they make him buy, he's never going to be a ladies' man. His colleagues aren't actually much help: from the boss who can't wait to hear about Alex's sexual exploits to the eternal "player" who wants Alex as his new wing man. When he finally gets up the courage to go on a date, Helen finds herself just a little jealous... which is what Alex secretly wanted all along. And one drunk-dial later, they end up back in bed together. Looks like this might be the start of something (awkward) big.

This crooked workplace/romantic comedy written by John Enbom (Party Down) and directed by Emmy Award winner Todd Holland (Malcolm in the Middle) proves you can try to put yourself back out there, but sometimes what you need is right in front of you. Even if it's a really bad idea.

The interesting part about this for Toobworld is that Anthony Head has been cast as the boss, Stephen - a role he played in the original series.

I don't know yet if he's playing the same Stephen, Stephen Caudwell, or if he'll have a different last name and a different life previous to this series. The fact that Alex and Helen have the same first names and are in the same situation as their counterparts in the British version may mean this series will have to be transplanted to the land of TV remakes. (I don't know why show creators are so "married" to the names of their original characters! I'm looking at you, 'Shameless'!)

We've seen British TV characters repeat into the Americanized versions before - Jane Carr with 'Dear John', for example. And Richard Ayoade reprised his character of Moss for the pilot of 'The IT Crowd'.

Outside the box, this may mean Head will have to leave 'Merlin', which would be okay by me. I still watch that, even though it had to be removed from the main Toobworld for a variety of reasons, and I think having Uther Pendragon still around was holding back the characters of both Arthur and Merlin.

Just my two quatloos......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JOHN MACK

JOHN MACK

AS SEEN IN:
"Too Big To Fail"

AS PLAYED BY:
Tony Shalhoub

From Wikipedia:
John J. Mack (born on November 17, 1944) is the current Chairman of the Board at Morgan Stanley, the New York-based investment bank and brokerage firm. Mack announced his retirement as Chief Executive Officer on September 10, 2009, which was effective January 1, 2010. Former Co-President James P. Gorman succeeded him as CEO.

Mack guided the firm through the financial crisis of 2008, building its capital position and overseeing the firm's conversion to a bank holding company. To stabilize the firm, he forged strategic alliances with China Investment Corporation and Mitsubishi UFJ Group and entered into a joint venture with Smith Barney, forming at the time the world's largest wealth management firm. During the crisis, Mack was advised by U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and the head of the Federal Reserve Bank Ben Bernanke to sell Morgan Stanley. He has stated that during negotiations he was under considerable pressure from the president of the New York Federal Reserve, Tim Geithner, to sell or merge Morgan Stanley to one of his competitors such as JP Morgan. Mack saw this as being contrary to the interests of Morgan Stanley shareholders and employees, similar to the demise of Bear Stearns in a forced sale to JP Morgan for $2 per share, (the deal was later revised to $10 a share), and insisted on finding other sources of financing instead.

BCnU!

ART OF THE DALZIELS

In 1932, Lord Peter Wimsey and his valet Bunter were in Scotland on holiday when they assisted the police in a case dubbed "The Five Red Herrings". Among the policemen involved was Sgt. Dalziel (which is pronounced somewhat like "Dee-el").

It's the Toobworld Central theory of relateeveety that he was the grandfather of Yorkshire Detective Superintendant Andy Dalziel, as seen in the series 'Dalziel & Pascoe'. (From Wikipedia: Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel is described by the actor who portrays him [Warren Clarke] as 'a perfect pig', who is politically incorrect and often insensitive. He likes to do things in the old fashioned way.)

It's standard procedure in Toobworld Central to use an actor's birth year as the same for the character he plays - unless otherwise stated by the script or by the time period in which the character appears. Therefore, Andy Dalziel was probably born circa 1947, just as Warren

Clarke was.

By 1932, Sgt Dalziel could have had a son nearly old enough himself to soon get married and perhaps then move to Yorkshire. For some reason, the name of Andy Dalziel's father is engraved on a memorial in Sheffield. It may have had something to do with World War Two.

Of course, the scripts for the 'Dalziel And Pascoe' series could bleep this all up. Andy's father could have shown up, looking nothing like the actor who played the Sergeant; mention might have been made as to his profession. But it would have to be something from the TV series that would derail this theory. Whatever happened in the novels doesn't apply, even though it's the stated intention of the author.

What happens in the novels is part of the literary universe only, and that's more the purview of Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague DeCamp of the "Incompleat Enchanter" series. Toobworld is the TV Universe and never the twain should meet. (Especially since the novels apparently have a sci-fi bent not seen in the series - or so I'm informed by Wikipedia.)

And based on the liberties taken in most TV adaptations from their bookish sources, they never have that much in common anyway. (For a good example, read "At Bertram's Hotel" by Agatha Christie, and then watch the second TV adaptation of the stories, featuring Geraldine McEwan as Miss Jane Marple.......)

I suppose by extension through the connection to Lord Peter Wimsy, this theory of relateeveety could be considered a minor part of the Wold Newton Universe as well.  But I'll leave that up to Win Scott Eckert to decide; the WNU is his bailiwick and he does a fantastic job in maintaining it.  (Far better than I do with Toobworld!)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JIM WILKINSON

JIM WILKINSON

AS SEEN IN:
"Too Big To Fail"

AS PLAYED BY:
Topher Grace

From Wikipedia:
James Richard Wilkinson is a former U.S. government employee who works in the field of public relations (PR). Wilkinson, a Republican, began his government career under former Texas congressman Dick Armey. Before joining the George W. Bush administration, Wilkinson helped sell the idea that Al Gore claimed to have "invented the internet".

While part of the Bush administration, he worked to help convince the U.S. public to support the Iraq War, was involved in the handling of the Jessica Lynch story, and bolstered Condoleezza Rice's image. Overall, Wilkinson was a "well-traveled utility man for the Bush administration's PR team".

While Chief of Staff in the U.S. Treasury department, Wilkinson worked under Hank Paulson. A Wilkinson September 2008 email regarding the government's approach to Lehman Brothers appeared in a 2010 Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission document. Wilkinson emailed "can’t stomach us bailing out lehman. Will be horrible in the press." Wilkinson declined to comment on his emails.

BCnU!