TOOBWORLD CENTRAL NEWS FOR THANKSGIVING

I'll be on vacation for the next week, but I will be leaving behind a major project about Jack the Ripper in Toobworld. (That's the reason why postings this past week were scant.)  Hopefully those Ripper essays will publish automatically without a hitch. Also, the same goes for the "As Seen On TV" showcase.

For the "ASOTV" showcase, I decided to run with a theme. Once before I featured a week-long salute to characters played by the late Phil Hartman and I thought I might do something similar again.

And so for Thanksgiving week, who better to put the spotlight on than that butterball, the late Chris Farley....?

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MARY JANE KELLY

MARY JANE KELLY

AS SEEN IN:
'The Outer Limits'

AS PLAYED BY:
Mary Ann Skoll

From Wikipedia:
Mary Jane Kelly (c. 1863 – 9 November 1888), also known as "Marie Jeanette" Kelly, "Fair Emma", "Ginger" and "Black Mary", is widely believed to be the fifth and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London from late August to early November 1888. She was about 25 years old, and living in poverty at the time of her death. Reports of the time estimated her height at 5 feet and 7 inches (1.70 metres Her hair colour is somewhat uncertain as her various nicknames imply.

She has been variously reported as being a blonde or redhead and "Black Mary" suggests a dark brunette. Her reported eye colour was blue. Detective Walter Dew, in his autobiography, claimed to have known Kelly well by sight and described her as "quite attractive" and "a pretty, buxom girl". He said she always wore a clean white apron but never a hat. Sir Melville Macnaghten of the Metropolitan Police Service, who never saw her in the flesh, reported that she was known to have "considerable personal attractions" by the standards of the time. The Daily Telegraph of 10 November 1888 described her as "tall, slim, fair, of fresh complexion, and of attractive appearance". She was said to be fluent in the Welsh language.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: "LONG LIZ"

LIZ STRIDE

AS SEEN IN:
'The Outer Limits'

AS PLAYED BY:
Marnie Alton

From Wikipedia:
Elizabeth "Long Liz" Stride (née Gustafsdotter) (27 November 1843 – 30 September 1888) is believed to be the third victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer called Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London from late August to early November 1888.

She was nicknamed "Long Liz". Several explanations have been given for this pseudonym; some believe it came from her married surname "Stride" because a stride is a long step, while others believe it was because of her height, or the shape of her face. At the time of her death she was living in a common lodging-house at 32 Flower and Dean Street, Spitalfields, within what was then a notorious criminal rookery.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ANNIE CHAPMAN

ANNIE CHAPMAN

AS SEEN IN:
'The Outer Limits'

AS PLAYED BY:
Deni DeLory

From Wikipedia:
Annie Chapman (September 1841 – 8 September 1888), born Eliza Ann Smith, was a victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated five women in the Whitechapel area of London from late August to early November 1888.

On 1 May 1869, Annie married her maternal relative John Chapman, a coachman, at All Saints Church in the Knightsbridge district of London. For some years the couple lived at addresses in West London, and they had three children:

Emily Ruth Chapman, born on 25 June 1870.

Annie Georgina Chapman, born on 5 June 1873.

John Alfred Chapman, born on 21 November 1880.

In 1881 the family moved to Windsor, Berkshire, where John Chapman took a job as coachman to a farm bailiff. But young John had been born disabled, while their firstborn, Emily Ruth, died of meningitis shortly after at the age of 12. Soon afterward, both Chapman and her husband took to heavy drinking and separated in 1884.

By the time of her death, young John was said to be in the care of a charitable school and the surviving daughter Annie Georgina, then an adolescent, traveling with a circus in the French Third Republic.

BCnU!

LIFE DURING PRIME-TIME: MY ODD COUPLE

Two of my friends already have their televersions in place.......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MARY ANN NICHOLS

For the rest of this week, we're going to feature four of the "Canonical Five" of the victims of Jack the Ripper*, just to set the stage for next week's week-long look at the Ripper's "career" in television.....

MARY ANN "POLLY" NICHOLS

AS SEEN IN:

'The Outer Limits'

AS PLAYED BY:
Sophie Olson (Young Prostitute)
or
Bonnie Catterson (Blonde Woman)

From Wikipedia:
Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols (née Walker; 26 August 1845 – 31 August 1888) was one of the Whitechapel murder victims. Her death has been attributed to the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who is believed to have killed and mutilated five women in the Whitechapel area of London from late August to early November 1888.

BCnU!

* Catherine Eddowes is not represented here, because we're only using the women as seen in the "Ripper" episode of 'The Outer Limits'.  Catherine Eddowes was seen only fleetingly as she was abducted by the mortally wounded Liz Stride in a back alley.  It didn't even merit a cast credit.

MAYOR BOBBY OF "CASTLE" - A CITY HALL FACE-LIFT IS COMING

The producers of 'Castle' have recast the role of the Mayor of New York City, Richard Castle's friend Bobby.  Probably nothing worse to deal with in the TV reality is a recastaway.  At least for me, it takes me right out of the believability of the storyline.

I'm saving a temporal reboot and the DNA shake-up at conception for when 'Castle' can fully come back into the main Toobworld timeline. For now, this will just have to be chalked up to extreme plastic surgery unless y'all think a quantum leaper might be involved......

I've written about "Mayor Bobby" before......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: LORD ROSEBERY

LORD ROSEBERY

AS SEEN IN:
'Edward The King'

AS PLAYED BY:
Edward Hardwicke

From Wikipedia:
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.

Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who favoured strong national defence and imperialism abroad and social reform at home, while being solidly anti-socialist.

The fifth Earl (the son of Archibald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny), was a prominent Liberal politician. He served as Foreign Secretary in 1886 and between 1892 and 1894 and as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1894 and 1895. In 1911 he was honoured when he was created Baron Epsom, of Hyde in the County of Surrey, Viscount Mentmore, of Mentmore in the County of Buckingham, and Earl of Midlothian, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Lord Rosebery was married to Hannah de Rothschild, the wealthy daughter and heiress of Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, through which marriage the Mentmore Towers estate in Buckinghamshire came into the Primrose family.

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! "BORED TO DEATH" TONIGHT!

I've really come to love 'Bored To Death' on HBO with the adventures of Jonathan, George, and Ray in that magical land known as Brooklyn.

A new episode airs tonight at 9 PM EST. Here are a couple of clips:

I'm wondering how Ted Danson's involvement with 'CSI' will affect his participation in this show should there be a fourth season? (He filmed this before signing on to be the new forensics chief in Las Vegas.) Well, I guess we'll just have to keep watching to find out.....

BCnU!

DATELINE: TOOBWORLD - "BEING HUMAN"

Russell Tovey, who plays George on the original 'Being Human' over in the UK, has announced that he's leaving the series. It's unclear whether it will happen during Season 4 or at the end of the season. Aiden Turner, who played the vampire Mitchell, left the series at the end of Season 3 when George fulfilled Mitchell's request to be staked. (Turner is now off in New Zealand filming 'The Hobbit' as one of the 13dwarves.)

There's some question as to whether the series could continue with two-thirds of its original cast now gone and there's no word yet from the production company as to there being a fifth season or not. But I don't see Tovey's departure as being an insurmountable problem.

First off, there's still the third member of that original tirumvirate, Annie the ghost (played by Lenora Crichlow). The only roadblock for continuation when it comes to Annie is that ghosts shouldn't age. So there's definitely a time limit on her participation.

Then there's George's girl-friend, Nina. As far as I can tell, the lovely Sinead Keenan is still connected to the series and has a major plotline still in the works with Nina being pregnant. See, she's also a werewolf, having been accidentally scratched by George. She's already a member of the household and could easily be the werewolf peg upon which to hang the premise.

If they need to bring in another vampire, why not bring back Adam? He appeared in the episode "Adam's Family" - a vampire in his mid-forties who still looked fifteen, the age at which he was embraced into the kindred.

But I think they should go in a different direction - vampires are old top hat now, don't you think? Toby Whithouse should consider finding a new kind of supernatural character who could be the third flat-mate. Russell Tovey joked that it could be a giant or a robot, but why not a genie? It would give the plots a bit of a goose and serve as a convenient deux ex machina. And there's always witches and warlocks to choose from; they're a fine old English tradition.

Keeping Annie and Nina and adding a third roomie would certainly change the dynamic. From being about two guys and a girl, it would either become two girls and a guy or why not even all of them being females? A ghost, a werewolf, a witch/genie? Or maybe a succubus if you want to get close to that vampiric type.

If it's another guy they need, are there male succubi? (Hugh informs me that the male version of a succubus is an incubus.  Thanks, Hugh!)  Still, there are male genies and of course, warlocks. I'd like to see a young version of the kind of warlock Maurice Evans played on 'Bewitched' - rich, aristocratic, arrogant; the kind of snobbish dilettante who would feel above his surroundings and those around him. Sort of like Major Charles Emerson Winchester on 'M*A*S*H'.......

Well, eventually we'll find out what their plans are. For alls I know, they could just end the series with the fourth season......

BCnU!
 
Thanks to Rob Buckley of the UK's Number Four blog about TV, "The Medium Is Not Enough" for clueing me in on that story.  (You can find the link to the left, boggarts.)  
 
When it comes to bringing you news stories of televisiological import, you can trust Inner Toob to get it to you third-hand....

AS SEEN ON TV: THE THATCHER KIDS

CAROL & MARK THATCHER

AS SEEN IN:
"The Long Walk To Finchley"

AS PLAYED BY:
Carol - Julia Joyce
Mark - Michael Selwood

From Wikipedia:
Carol Thatcher (born 15 August 1953) is a British journalist, author and media personality. She is the daughter of Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, a former British Prime Minister, and Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt.

Thatcher has published biographies of both her parents. Additionally, she produced a documentary of her father which contained his only public interview. Thatcher won the fifth series of the reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. In early 2009, she was removed from her on-air position at BBC One after refusing to apologise for making an off-air comment backstage that was deemed a racial pejorative about tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet (born 15 August 1953) is the son of Sir Denis Thatcher and Baroness Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, and twin brother of Carol Thatcher. In addition to his prominence as the son of one of the world's best known politicians, Thatcher has attracted headlines for his early youthful playboy lifestyle, involvement in motorsports, business associations, and for the role he played in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, for which role he was fined three million rand (approximately $500,000) and received a four-year suspended jail sentence.

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! TONIGHT'S "BOARDWALK EMPIRE"

Tonight, HBO presents the next installment of 'Boardwalk Empire' at 9 PM EST. Here's a preview and a couple of scenes.....

BCnU!

Ep. 20: Two Boats and a Lifeguard - Preview

"JACK THE RIPPER" - WHODUNNIT!

Since I'm in the midst of a multi-part essay on the TV version of Jack the Ripper, (which I will be publishing throughout the week of Thanksgiving), I thought I'd share with you these final scenes from the eponymous TV movie which was first broadcast in 1988.....

As I said, these are the final scenes, so their theory as to the identity of "Jack The Ripper" will be revealed, so let that stand as a spoiler for you. I'm not saying it's the truth - whether in the real world or Toobworld - but if you don't want to know, don't watch.

Also, the second part is missing because, of the four parts, it was the only one YouTube deemed in violation of copyright. Yet the story continues in an easy-to-follow fashion without it.

Oddly enough, the Big Reveal is in the third segment, and yet part four is the one for which embedding has been disabled upon request. Part four is merely the "mopping up" of the investigation, with a look at the lives of the participants afterwards, plus the closing credits.

If you want to see it, click here.

Oh, by the way, this post serves as the "As Seen On TV" showcase for today. I didn't want to trumpet that fact in the beginning, so as not to spoil the revelation in the clips.....

Inspector Frederick Abberline - Michael Caine

Sgt. George Godley - Lewis Collins

Dr. Sir William Gull - Ray McAnally

Ann Castle - Lady Gull

Richard Morant - Dr. Acland

Hugh Fraser - Sir Charles Warren

Sandra Payne - Mrs. Acland

George Sweeney - John Netley

Here you'll find the complete list of characters and the actors who played them, including Armand Assante, Jane Seymour, Lysette Anthony, and Susan George....

BCnU!