"FRINGE" AUDITIONS

Unfortunately, 'Fringe' got bumped this past Friday due to there being a 7th game in the World Series as well as a rain postponement. But to keep you in the mood until the series comes back next week, check out these auditions for the show:



BCnU!

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE!

Here's a crossover that skips the Toobworld Dynamic entirely. (Unless you want to count the fact that it's a video on YouTube. But then it would be a Zonk since Ferrell doesn't look anything like Ron Burgundy here.)

This would be a multiversal crossover between the movie universe (dubbed the Cineverse by Craig Shaw Gardner) and the radio universe (Radioverse?) which is set in the radio universe (because of the aforementioned look to Will Ferrell.)

It's a shame that in those last few second, the radio host had to ruin the whole thing....

BCnU!
Thanks, Rob!

THE "COUGAR TOWN" CAMEO COLLECTION CONTINUES

The cameos by 'Cougar Town' actors in other TV shows continue, in their quest to stay in the public eye until their series comes back on the air. I have yet to find a video from 'Private Practice' when Courteney Cox and Christa Miller showed up as a lesbian couple looking to adopt, and so far they have yet to be on any other network (so far as I know).

But this is what we've got so far:

And by the way?  Toobworld Central does not consider these to be crossovers.

If you find out about any others, let me know!

BCnU!

LADIES & GENTLEMEN... THE STATE COWS!

Regular visitors to the Inner Toob blog might know that Steely Dan is my all-time favorite band. And yet it was only this year when I finally saw them perform in concert (back in September at the Beacon Theater.) I had seen Donald Fagen once before, when he was touring with the Rock and Soul Revue.

Also this year I saw Beau Bolero, a Connecticut cover band at Infinity Hall in Norfolk.

I've been contacted by a band called State Cows - Daniel Andersson, a member of the group, may have read about my fascination with Steely Dan here at the blog for Toobworld Central. (And if so, I thank him for visiting!)

"My name is Daniel Andersson. I have a Swedish band called State Cows. Steely Dan is a huge influence for us."

Their songs are very much in the Dan vein - smooth and jazzy, perhaps more in line with the mid-period works of Fagen and Becker.

Here are a couple of their songs to which I hope you'll give a listen......

I thought this next one was appropriate for Halloween, if only because I expected them to pelvic thrust their way into doing the Time Warp again....

And as an acknowledgment of the band that has inspired their sound, here's the State Cows' cover of one of my favorites.......

I haven't yet found that one song I can say this is Toby's State Cows song, but I'm sure I'll find it.

I hope you enjoy!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: RICK JAMES, BITCH

Welcome to the Halloween edition of Video Weekend. We kick it off by bringing back the dead.....

RICK JAMES

AS SEEN IN:
'Chappelle's Show'

AS PLAYED BY:
Dave Chappelle

BCnU!

THE CASE OF THE CAMERON CAMEO

I got an email from a member of Team Toobworld, Pat Coleman, who's always bringing interesting TV items to my attention:

Hi, Toby

I'm watching an old 'Perry Mason'. The murder victim's name is Kirk Cameron.

My response:

Lots of TV characters had real world relatives.

Maybe this was such a case?

Some examples from the past:

Megan Russert and Tim Russert - 'Homicide: Life On The Street'

Vera Novak (born Vera Louise Gorman) and Art Carney - 'Alice'

Luke Skywalker and Mark Hamill - 'The Muppet Show'

So, in this case ("The Case Of The Illicit Illusion"), maybe the televersion of the actor Kirk Cameron was named after this relative (from Toobworld only) as a memorial tribute.....

Thanks, Pat!

BCnU!

PAPER TRAIL

The tagline I came up with for my Toobworld novel is "An epic of trivial proportions."* And that's the kind of building block upon which the Toobworld Dynamic is founded - it's the bits o' trivia more than the big moments (like episode crossovers, timeline rebooting, the deaths and/or recasting of major characters, and other ratings stunts) which are more important to the expansion of the TV Universe.

A case in point:

In "The Night The World Ended", an episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', a wino known as "Johnny Gin" was hoodwinked into believing that Mars would crash into the Earth by 11:45 PM. The proof he was given was a newspaper mock-up supplied by a reporter known for his cruel practical jokes.

Later, he learned the truth when he saw the real headlines on the three major newspapers available - the Daily Gazette, the Star-Dispatch, and the Press Herald; most of which have their place in the great tele-mosaic.

First off though, I should address a comment made by the newspaper vendor....



When "Johnny Gin" wanted to know where the later editions were with the big announcement about the end of the world, the Tom Waits fore-runner** said there was only those three papers available.

The action took place in Manhattan, and New York City was a big newspaper town back in the day. Even outside of Toobworld there should have been the Times, the Post, the Daily News, the Herald-Tribune.... The first three of those are still around and they show up often in TV-NYC. And I've seen Ritchie Petrie reading the Herald-Tribune in the "Word A Day" episode of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show', so it was around at least until the early 1960's. (Within Toobworld, it didn't shut down but instead went back to being just the Herald, which is where Oscar Madison toiled as the sports-writer.)

But in that cathode ray reality of Toobworld there has also been plenty of other papers:

The New York Ledger - the 'Law & Order' franchise, 'Castle', & 'White Collar'

The New York Sun - 'Ink'

New York Express - 'Honestly, Celeste!'

New York Dispatch - 'Ask Harriet'

New York Forum - 'The Andros Targets'

The Daily Bugle - 'The Adventures Of Spiderman'

The New York Register - 'Love & War'

The New York Globe - 'My Friend Irma' & 'The Reporter'

The Reporter - 'New York News'

The New York Herald - 'The Odd Couple'

New York Chronicle - 'Heroes', 'Patty Duke Show', 'McCloud'

The World Chronicle - 'The Chronicle'

New York Daily Record - 'The Roaring Twenties'

New York Bulletin - 'Saints & Sinners'

Plus fictionalized versions of real papers:

New York Observer - 'Sex And The City'

NewsDay - 'Everybody Loves Raymond'

The Village Voice - 'Ned & Stacey'

What I think the vendor was referring to would be the fact that those particular papers were the only late editions to be found that close to midnight before the early editions for the next day were delivere.

As for each individual paper seen in this episode.....



The Press Herald
The only reference I could find to any newspaper by that name was from Maine in the real world. So.... not much call for a Maine paper in the Big Apple. Unless it shows up somewhere else - and the odds are unlikely - then we could consider the New York Press-Herald to have gone the way of the Herald-Tribune.



The Daily Gazette
This could be a sub-edition spin-off of the New York Gazette, the paper at which Frank Flanagan worked in the 1940's and to which Jessica Fletcher would sometimes contribute in the late 1980's into the early 1990's. Or in that time between Flanagan and Fletcher, perhaps the paper changed its name to boost sales with a new image, only to revert back to the traditional moniker once that scheme failed.



The Star-Dispatch
This was the best of the bunch, which is why I saved it for last. As the Star-Dispatch***, an earlier edition of that mast-head from two decades before showed up in one of the greatest TV shows of all time:

We've got a 'Trek' connection!

Extra! Extra!

* I just don't want to say what the title of my novel is because I don't want it stolen. I can't believe no one has used it yet (so far as I know).

** The news vendor may have been related to an old trail hand back in the Wild Wild West days by the name of Wishbone (since both roles were played by Paul Brinegar.....)

*** Decades later, the paper could have changed its name to be just the Dispatch, as seen in the 1998 sitcom 'Ask Harriet'.

AS SEEN ON TV: DOCTOR SIR FRANCIS LAKING

SIR FRANCIS LAKING

AS SEEN IN:
'Edward The King'

AS PLAYED BY:
Kenneth Gilbert

From Wikipedia:
Sir Francis Henry Laking, 1st Baronet, GCVO, KCB, (9 January 1847 Kensington - 21 May 1914 London) was an English physician who was Surgeon-Apothecary in Ordinary to Queen Victoria, and Physician in Ordinary to King Edward VII and King George V.

He was knighted in 1893, created Baronet Laking of Kensington, Middlesex, on 28 July 1902, a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903, and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 3 June 1910.

In addition he held foreign orders from the crowns of Denmark, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Norway and Greece, and was also a Commander of the Légion d'honneur.

In 2004, Norwegian biographer Tor Bomann-Larsen put forward the hypothesis that King Olav V of Norway was not the biological son of King Haakon VII, but his mother, Queen Maud, had been, in 1902 in London, artificially inseminated by Sir Francis Laking.

Now THAT would make for a nice little mini-series on 'Masterpiece Theater'!

BCnU!

A LOOK AT CHARLIE HARPER (NO, NOT THAT ONE)

The father of the late Charlie Harper and his brother Alan was Frank Harper. He either died of food poisoning or was driven to suicide by his wife, the domineering Evelyn. (That's all established in the series 'Two And A Half Men'.)

From this point on, it's all conjecture on the part of Toobworld Central.....

Frank had a brother after whom Charlie was named. Uncle Charlie Harper was a low-life thief, known mostly for stealing furs. He would switch their inner linings and lose the labels before shipping them back East to be re-sold by an unknown partner.

But in 1956, he stole a crystal mink stole from a Mrs. Wilson while she was in Las Vegas. Needing some cash quickly, Charlie set up an elaborate scheme to sell it cheap for 400 dollars to Paula Hudson. (Her husband's family may have founded Hudson University in New York many generations before.)

When there was too much scrutiny on his cohorts once the police got involved, Charlie Harper tried to buy the fur back from Mrs. Hudson, even offering her a profit of 200 dollars. Finally, he had to resort to stealing it - which got him arrested once he tried to sneak it back to its original owner.

So Uncle Charlie most likely wouldn't have been around to serve as the godfather at his namesake's baptism in 1965.... Hard to be a role model from behind bars.

Although it wasn't brought up in the episode, Uncle Charlie was married and had an infant son of his own back in 1956. But when he got arrested and his wife found out about his "relationship" with a hairdresser named Lucille, she divorced him once he was sent off to jail. She later met a man named Saltzman who married her and adopted her young son. Charlie Harper's son grew up better known as Pepper Saltzman and became friends with Cameron Tucker and his husband Mitchell Pritchard.

So an episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' entitled "The Mink" can serve as a theoretical link between 'Two And A Half Men' and 'Modern Family' (with the added bonus of 'Law & Order', thanks to that Hudson University mention......)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: NICHOLAS RAY

"Rebel Without A Cause" premiered in movie theaters on this date in 1955......

NICHOLAS RAY

AS SEEN IN:
"James Dean: Race With Destiny"

AS PLAYED BY:
Charles Guardino

From Wikipedia:
"Rebel Without a Cause" is a 1955 American drama film about disturbed suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments. Over the years, the film has achieved landmark status for showcasing cult figure James Dean (who died before the film's release) in his definitive role. In 1990, "Rebel Without a Cause" was added to the preserved films of the United States Library of Congress's National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

The story of a rebellious teenager, who arrives at a new high school, meets a girl, disobeys his parents and defies the local school bullies was a groundbreaking attempt to portray the moral decay of American youth, critique parental style, and explore the differences and conflicts between generations. The title was adopted from psychiatrist Robert M. Lindner's 1944 book, "Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath". The film itself, however, does not reference Lindner's book in any way.

Warner Bros. released the film on October 27, 1955, almost one month after Dean's fatal car crash.

BCnU!

If you're interested in reading more about the life and career of Nicholas Ray, there was a blogathon celebrating him on his birthday back in early September.  You can find the details here......

INDIANA CASTLE

Richard Castle:

“So you were like the female Indiana Jones,

only without the hat and whip.”

Serena Kaye:

“Well – without the hat.”

Richard Castle:

“It’s getting hot in here.”

'Castle'

I've written about this before - Castle was not speaking about a fictional character. In Toobworld, the swashbuckling archeologist was an actual person.

Read about it here.

Not that it really matters in the long run.  'Castle' takes place in an alternate TV dimension.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: AN ESHER SKETCH

LORD ESHER

AS SEEN IN:
'Edward The King'

AS PLAYED BY:
Basil Hoskins

From Wikipedia:
Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, GCVO, KCB, PC, DL (30 June 1852 – 22 January 1930) was a historian and Liberal politician in the United Kingdom.

Brett was the son of William Baliol Brett, 1st Viscount Esher and Eugénie Mayer (1814–1904). Born in London, Brett was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.

He began his political career in 1880, as MP for Penryn and Falmouth. However, five years later, he elected to withdraw from public politics, after losing an election at Plymouth, in favour of a behind the scenes role. In 1895, he became Permanent Secretary to the Office of Works. Upon his father's death on 24 May 1899, he succeeded him as Viscount Esher.

In 1901, Lord Esher was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Berkshire and became Deputy Constable and Lieutenant-Governor of Windsor Castle, and remained close to the royal family until his death. He lived at 'Orchard Lea' at Winkfield on the edge of the Great Park. During this period, he helped edit Queen Victoria's papers, publishing a work called Correspondence of Queen Victoria (1907). He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of the County of London in 1909.

Behind the scenes, he influenced many of the pre-World War I reforms carried out by the Liberal governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Herbert Henry Asquith, and was a supporter of the British–French Entente Cordiale. He was a member of Lord Elgin's South African War Commission, which investigated Britain's near-failure in the Boer War, and chaired the War Office Reconstitution Committee, which recommended radical reform of the British Army. He was offered many public offices, including the Viceroyalty of India and the Secretaryship for War, but declined, accepting instead an appointment to the Privy Council in 1922. In 1928 he became Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle, an office he held until his death in 1930.

Lord Esher was also a historian; besides the aforementioned work, he also published works on King Edward VII and Lord Kitchener. Together with Liberal M. P. Lewis ("Loulou") Harcourt he established the London Museum, which opened its doors on 5 March 1912.

Lord Esher's younger daughter, Sylvia, became the last Ranee of Sarawak on 24 May 1917, following the proclamation of her husband Charles Vyner Brooke as Rajah. His second son, Maurice Vyner Baliol Brett, married the famous musical theatre actress Zena Dare.

More than you needed to know.....

BCnU!

ONE THAT GOT AWAY

Every so often, an idea comes to me for a Toobworld post which unfortunately doesn't pan out once I have done the research.

As you might know, I'm currently enjoying 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' which airs several times a day on Antenna TV (currently the TRUE TV Land, in my opinion!) And in one of those episodes, Hitch was fiddling with a voodoo doll and a hypodermic needle. He claimed he was going to surprise an old friend with it.

I figured - hey! Why not make the claim that the serlinguistic televersion of Alfred Hitchcock actually killed the televersion of some celebrity or historical figure who died on the same day as the original broadcast via voodoo?

The episode in question was "The Cheney Vase" (Darren McGavin, Patricia Connige, Carolyn Jones, and George MacReady), and it was broadcast on Christmas Day, 1955. (My first Christmas!)

I thought it would be a given! Lots of celebrities have died on Christmas Day over the years - Eartha Kitt, Vic Chesnutt, Dean Martin, James Brown, Denver Pyle, Charlie Chaplin, Joan Blondell, Billy Martin, W.C. Fields, and TV Crossover Hall Of Fame member William T. Orr.

Unfortunately, none of them died on Christmas Day, 1955.

So I thought, okay.... maybe it was a delayed reaction; maybe it took a couple of days to die.....

Nobody died on the 26th or the 27th either.

There wasn't any other event of note to happen on that day either.

Oh well, it was a nice idea.

Right - hoping a celebrity died on a particular day is a nice idea.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: A COUPLE OF PALMER'S

Once again, I'm reviving the "Two For Tuesday" edition of the "As Seen On TV" showcase....

SIR EDWARD CLARKE

AS SEEN IN:
'Edward The King'

AS PLAYED BY:
Geoffrey Palmer

From Wikipedia:
Sir Edward Clarke QC (15 February 1841 – 26 April 1931) was a British barrister and politician, considered one of the leading advocates of the late Victorian era and serving as Solicitor-General in the Conservative government of 1886–1892. His legal career included representing Oscar Wilde in his disastrous prosecution of the Marquess of Queensberry for libel, and representing the plaintiff in the "Baccarat Case", during which Sir Edward cross-examined the Prince of Wales.

SIR JOHN CROWDER

AS SEEN IN:
"The Long Walk To Finchley"

AS PLAYED BY:
Geoffrey Palmer

From Wikipedia:Sir John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder (10 November 1890 — 9 July 1961) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Finchley from the 1935 general election until the 1959 general election, when he was succeeded by Margaret Thatcher (who went on to become the first female British Prime Minister).

He won Finchley in 1935 by a majority of 18,040 over Thomas Robertson, who had been Liberal MP for the seat 1923-24. In Parliament, Crowder was an influential member of the 1922 Committee and Second Church Estates Commissioner.

He appears as a character in "The Long Walk to Finchley", on Thatcher's selection to succeed him as Conservative candidate for his seat - he is played, in a less than flattering light, by Geoffrey Palmer.

I probably should have posted this on Sunday and dubbed it "Palmer Sunday".....

BCnU!

KEITH COWING - A TOOBWORLD SALUTE

I have a lot of old friends and school acquaintances, mostly from my UConn Drama days, who have made their mark in Toobworld. Chief among these would be Dan Lauria, who knew me as "Tim, his favorite prop man" during a production of "Inherit The Wind", but also Shirley Jordan, whose many nurse and doctor roles were condensed into twin sisters for an Inner Toob post. (Her two roles on 'Ally McBeal' and 'Boston Legal' were combined into one character as well.)

There's also Tom O'Leary, who showed up in character for a quick cameo on 'Wheel Of Fortune' when he was playing the lead in the Broadway production of 'Phantom Of The Opera', but who's also made appearances on 'Law & Order', 'Monk', 'Related', and three soap operas. My friend Ray Amell is getting started as one of the "atmosphere people" in such shows as 'Boardwalk Empire', 'The Good Wife', 'Mildred Pierce', and 'Pan Am'. (Well, they can't all be winners.)

Then there's the late Elisa Heinimann showed off her serlinguistic skills in a Dow Chemical commercial, which caught me off-guard when I watched the Robert Culp episode of 'Roots: The Next Generations' at the Paley Center for Media.

There are those who have shown up in more realistic settings as members of the League of Themselves, usually in news broadcasts - Mark Thompson in a rights march and Norm the former security guard at work who proved he was on the job when he stopped an undercover team for CBS' Early Morning show from getting into the building.

And then there's an old friend from my high school days, Keith Cowing.....

This is from Keith's website:

Keith is editor and webmaster of the somewhat notorious "NASA Watch", an online publication devoted to the free and uncensored exchange of information on space policy and NASA operations. This website is read regularly within NASA, Congress, and the global space community. Keith is also editor of SpaceRef.com an online space news and reference resource he runs with his business partner Marc Boucher as well as the newly launched OnOrbit.com.

Keith has appeared hundreds of times on television and radio including ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, NPR, CNN, PBS, CBC, CTV, Discovery Channel Canada, NHK, BBC, Travel Channel and has been quoted in a number of newspapers and magazines ranging from "Wired" and the "Washington Post" to the "Economist" and "Pravda", among others.

He should have been scooped up by 'Eureka' or 'The Big Bang Theory' for a guest spot long before now!  (Those are a couple of shots of Keith at the top of the page, from several dozen appearances on CNN.)

So why am I bringing this up today?

Because Toobworld Central just wanted to wish an old high school buddy a happy birthday......

BCnU!

WHAT I LEARNED FROM TV THIS WEEK

"None of this would have happened

If he only stayed home and watched television.

And he would have learned many things....."

Alfred Hitchcock

'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'

I've always said that TV was a teaching tool, and sometimes it teaches me a little something about the TV dimension......

Here's what I learned about the TV Universe last week:

There are at least 5500 alternate dimensions to the Tooniverse.
('Batman: The Brave And The Bold')
The live-action TV universe isn't the only world to have multiple variations. The animated Batman wound up in Universe #5501 through a dimensional rift.  There he teamed up with Abraham Lincoln to destroy a steam-punk cyborg John Wilkes Booth. By his tone of voice as he departed that world, Batman seemed glad to know that at least one version of President Lincoln survived.



909 Lexington Avenue in New York City used to be a boarding house until 1958.
('Alfred Hitchcock Presents' - "Bull In A China Shop")
But after the final events transpired in that episode, the area was rebuilt. It now looks like this:

All mystery writers go to heaven.
('Alfred Hitchcock Presents' - "Whodunit")
And not even the angels know why......

BCnU!

AFTER THE CREDITS: "ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS" - "WHODUNIT"

One of my co-workers, Kevin "Boomer" Brown, clued me in to Antenna TV and I easily found it on my cable line-up. Since then my DVR is in danger of being stuffed to the cyber-gills.

Of all the goodies from my youth I could be enjoying - 'Hazel', 'Dragnet', 'Rin Tin Tin', 'Burns & Allen', 'Father Knows Best', etc. - the one that I'm wallowing in is 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'. Back in August, my classic TV fixation was 'The Rifleman'. (Hopefully you were paying attention.) That month just seemed perfect for a dusty trails TV Western. But this time of year is better suited to a darkly humorous murder mystery anthology series.....

I'm finding that I can see beyond what the episode actually offers to find other theoretical slices o' life during prime-time. These don't necessarily have to be crossover suggestions; sometimes it's just an expansion beyond the script of the events depicted in that episode.

A case in point - the first episode I saw upon my re-immersion into 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' was "Whodunit". It starred John Williams (practically a regular in this anthology series!), Alan Napier, Amanda Blake, Jerry Paris, Philip Coolidge (another frequent guest star), and Ruta Lee. The framing scenes were set in Heaven, and best of all they didn't conflict with the basics established in other shows like 'Second Chance', 'The Twilight Zone', and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', among others.

But it wasn't the possibility of a crossover that intrigued me with this episode; it was the chance to explore what happened after the credits rolled.

John Williams played a mystery writer named Alexander Arlington who wrote under the name of Slade Sanders. (It could be "Slade Saunders" - I heard both pronunciations during the episode.) He appears to have written a series of mysteries that began with "Murder Of A ____", although there may have been other title themes as well. One of his published books was "Murder Of A Moneybags" and his last novel, apparently rejected by his publisher, was "Murder Of A Mannequin". (Moneybags... Mannequin.... It could be his title theme was even more specific: "Murder Of A M_____".)

During the episode, Arlington received word from his publishers that they were not satisfied with his final draft for the latest Slade Sanders novel. And we also learned that his assistant Talbot felt confident enough to be able to continue the Slade Sanders line without Arlington. (Although I'm not saying that made him the murderer.....)

It's not giving anything away to reveal that Arlington would be murdered at midnight that same day. We learned that in the beginning when he arrived in Heaven. But in the Terran-bound Toobworld timeline, the story basically ended on that day.

So what might have happened afterwards?

I'm thinking that with the notoriety of Arlington's murder, the publishing company would have had a change of heart and published "Murder Of A Mannequin" as it was. And even though they originally thought it was far from Arlington's best work, they would have touted it as his final and greatest work to boost the sales.

However, I also think that they would have then hired Talbot to continue the line of Slade Sanders novels in the Arlington tradition - in much the same way that Eric Van Lustbader has continued the Jason Bourne novels after the death of Robert Ludlum.

By the way, it's the Toobworld Central position that any publishing house that goes unnamed in a TV series must be either Coventry House (from 'Murder, She Wrote') if it's a high-end publication, or Whitestone Publishing (from 'Dream On') for books of lesser quality. So I'm thinking that even though Whitestone could count Dame Margot Woodhouse, who wrote "Death Rinses Out A Few Things", among their authors, Alexander Arlington's "Slade Sanders" series made their home at Coventry House.

BCnU!

BOYS 'N' THE FALSEHOOD

I've always wanted to start an Internet rumor and this one seemed as good a one as any.....

You know, it really would be an interesting way to end the framing device.  Most people seem fixated on how the series is going to end in the flashback - cut it off with the first appearance of the Mother, for example......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: RUPERT OF THE RHINE

RUPERT OF THE RHINE

AS SEEN IN:
'The Devil's Whore'

AS PLAYED BY:
Harry Lloyd

From Wikipedia:
Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness (German: Ruprecht Pfalzgraf bei Rhein, Herzog von Bayern), commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS (17 December 1619 – 29 November 1682) was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century. Rupert was a younger son of the German prince Frederick V, Elector Palatine and his wife Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of James I of England. Thus Rupert was the nephew of King Charles I of England, who created him Duke of Cumberland and Earl of Holderness, and the first cousin of King Charles II of England. His sister Electress Sophia was the mother of George I of Great Britain.

Prince Rupert had a varied career. He was a soldier from a young age, fighting against Spain in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), and against the Holy Roman Emperor in Germany during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48). Aged 23, he was appointed commander of the Royalist cavalry during the English Civil War, becoming the archetypal Cavalier of the war and ultimately the senior Royalist general. He surrendered after the fall of Bristol and was banished from England. He served under Louis XIV of France against Spain, and then as a Royalist privateer in the Caribbean. Following the Restoration, Rupert returned to England, becoming a senior British naval commander during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch wars, engaging in scientific invention, art, and serving as the first Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Prince Rupert died in England in 1682, aged 62.

Rupert is considered to have been a quick-thinking and energetic cavalry general, but ultimately undermined by his youthful impatience in dealing with his peers during the Civil War. In the Interregnum, Rupert continued the conflict against Parliament by sea from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, showing considerable persistence in the face of adversity. As the head of the Royal Navy in his later years, he showed greater maturity and made impressive and long-lasting contributions to the Royal Navy's doctrine and development. As a colonial governor, Rupert shaped the political geography of modern Canada (Rupert's Land was named in his honour) and played a role in the early African slave trade. Rupert's varied and numerous scientific and administrative interests combined with his considerable artistic skills made him one of the more colourful individuals of the Restoration period.

For More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert_of_the_Rhine

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! "BORED TO DEATH" COMING THIS MONDAY

Every time I see an episode of 'Bored To Death', it makes me want to explore the borough of Brooklyn. It just feels like such a magical place.

The third season of the show is currently on Monday nights at 9 PM EST on HBO.

Here are a couple of clips from this coming episode with the ominous title of "The Black Clock Of Time".

I'm pretty sure it's "Clock".....

BCnU!

REMEMBERING CLIFF ROBERTSON....

With the death of Oscar-winner Cliff Robertson a month or so ago, I've been thinking about this TV movie he made and how much I would love to see the whole thing again. I think a trip to the Paley Center might be in order. (I also want to see if they have any full episodes of 'Norman Corwin Presents' in their archives.)

Here are a couple of scenes from the movie, showcasing one of the supporting players:

BCnU......

THE PASSWORD IS: "LINK" ("THE ODD COUPLE" & "MAMA'S FAMILY")

I suppose game shows are considered an automatic part of Toobworld's mosaic, but they don't carry any heft unless they tie in with another series. 'Jeopardy' and 'Cheers', 'Wheel Of Fortune' and 'L.A. Law', 'American Gladiators' and 'Family Matters', for example.

'Password' serves as the link between 'The Odd Couple' and 'Mama's Family':

This connection doesn't include 'Carol Burnett And Friends' because that version of Eunice, Ed, and Mama belongs in Skitlandia, not Earth Prime-Time.

BCnU!

MUSEUM PIECE: "DECOY" WITH BEVERLY GARLAND

Currently, the American version of 'Prime Suspect' is struggling in the ratings.  I figure it's a combination of too much deviation from the style of the British original, and also the TV audience can't see what's so special about a female cop in an all-male environment.  And I agree on that last point - what's the big deal after the headway made by the women in 'Cagney & Lacey' and in 'Decoy'?

Here's an episode of that old chestnut starring Beverly Garland:

I'm all for anything with Bert Freed, one of the unsung supporting players in Toobworld and the original Lt. Columbo on TV....

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! "LOST GIRL"

On Sundays, I usually serve up some trailers or sneak peeks at scenes from upcoming shows during the Video Weekend and today is no different.

I know nothing about the new Syfy presentation of "Lost Girl" than what I've seen in this video. I don't even know if it's a series or TV movie.

But it's definitely something I'll give a look-see when it premieres....

Now, there was a sneak peek video out there of a scene from the series and I had the link for it, but I have a feeling it's not going to work now.

I also have the full panel discussion of the series from Comic-Con:

And if this Canadian import is also the same show that's already been airing Down Under, here are a couple of blipverts about it:

But that could be either the original or a remake or something totally different......

Now... While looking for other videos, I've learned a little bit more about "Lost Girl".  It's going to be a series, about a girl on her own her whole life who's actually a succubus feeding off of sexual energy.  Okay, I'm there! 

We've had succubi in Toobworld before, most notably as a recurring girl-friend for Sock in 'Reaper'.  So there's a theoretical link right there.

This sounds like the kind of show in which Carl Kolchak would have felt right at home.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: VIDEO MUSIC "ARTISTES" FROM DAVE-TV

For my Sunday edition of the Video Weekend's "ASOTV" showcase, I'm offering up one of David Lee Roth's classic music videos from the 1980's. It was his birthday back on the Tenth of October, so consider this a belated birthday "gift".......

Unfortunately, for the "official" records, I don't know who the actors are impersonating the various big musical acts of that time in this video. But be prepared to see the following:

CYNDI LAUPER

CYNDI LAUPER'S MOM

MICHAEL JACKSON

WILLIE NELSON

BILLY IDOL

BOY GEORGE

RICHARD SIMMONS

There may be others who are either too generic to be anybody in particular, or I just didn't recognize who they were supposed to be.  (Specifically, the heavy metal band whose guitarist catches on fire.....)

As for its placement in the TV Universe, I'm leaning towards the TV dimension of Skitlandia, just for the framing device of the Dave-TV studios.  This is not a blanket placement for all music videos with storylines, however.  There is a musical TV dimension from which the demon Mr. Sweet hails.  (The TV Crossover Hall of Fame member was seen in an episode of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'.)  As an example, I'm thinking of the video for the song "Smuggler's Blues".

So without further ado, it's time to present David Lee Roth and his version of:

"JUST A GIGOLO"/"I AIN'T GOT NOBODY"

A big Toobworld thanks to J.r. Klink, a Facebook friend, for featuring this video back on Roth's birthday, but from a different video resource. (I just find YouTube less complicated to use.....)

BCnU!