SWEDEN LOW-DOWN

I think Rob Buckley of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (The link to the UK's fourth most popular TV blog is to the left, Team Toobworld!) should be considered Toobworld Central's news correspondent. Just about every day he provides links to news stories that could have an impact on Earth Prime-Time, many of which I never would have found otherwise.

And it fills me with dread every time he announces that he's taking a vacation or bank holiday......

Thanks to Rob, we can now add a little more "world" to Toobworld......

TV4, which is a Swedish TV network, will be presenting a sitcom about a fictional Swedish royal family in 2013. It will be called "Familjen Holstein-Gottorp".

In this show, Sweden is ruled by King Erik XV (one of the 'Lost' numbers!) and his Queen, Ulrika. The rest of the family are described as loveable but self-centered. (I'm getting a 'Soap' vibe.....) There will also be a press officer doing her best to present the best possible image of the royal family to the public, and a hopeless bodyguard (good for slapstick value, I guess.)

Here's the press release description of the Holstein-Gottorp Royal Family. (Warning - it's via the Google translator):

Holstein-Gottorps head - King Eric XV - played by John Ulveson. The king is nice but a bit clueless and doesn't have much confidence in his ability to improvise in new situations.

His wife, Queen Ulrika, played by Sissela Kyle, have complex [has contempt?] for their petty nobles background and would rather be queen in the 1700s when the subjects were treated little as one pleased.

The royal couple have children Crown Prince Oscar (Robin Stegmar) and Princess Louisa (Cecilia Forss).

The Crown Prince feels trapped in his role and is really not interested in taking over the throne. He had rather busy with music or movies instead of having to look for Sweden's next queen. 

Louisa is a very kind-hearted but not very "street smart" princess who wants to save the rain forests and all the animals of the world - but preferably without making any effort.

The family's immediate vicinity are also their competent but long-suffering press officer Tova Unger (Lisa Linnertorp). She is constantly putting out fires and struggling to maintain the image of the perfect royal family.

Together with the hopeless bodyguard Torbjörn (Ola Norén) and King's best friend, Philip "Foffe" von Fersen (Christer Fant), they form the core of humor series family of Holstein-Gottorp.

I'll probably never get the chance to see the show, unless Netflix, Hulu, or YouTube load it up, but I can't wait to welcome it into the general TV Universe (but definitely NOT Earth Prime-Time!)

There's an O'Bvious home for "Familjen Holstein-Gottorp": in the TV dimension of fictional sitcom American Presidents, currently represented on HBO with 'Veep'. (I don't really have a name for that dimension as of yet.)

'Veep' follows a long tradition of POTUS sitcoms:

• 'Nancy'
• 'Hail To The Chief'
• 'Mr. President'
• 'DAG'
• 'Cory In The House'

There are ancillary sitcoms that would exist in this TV dimension as well, including 'Spin City', which had Randall Winston as the mayor of New York City at the same time as Rudy Giuliani was the mayor in the real world as well as in Toobworld. ('Seinfeld', 'Mad About You', 'Cosby', and 'Law & Order')

Because 'Veep' was created by Armando Iannucci, I'd like to think that also brings in 'The Thick Of It' and its Cineverse sequel "In The Loop". I think 'Yes, Minister' and 'Yes, Prime Minister' also belong in this TV dimension.

(Just because 'Cory In The House' was a spin-off from 'That's So Raven', that doesn't mean that sitcom is also in the same TV dimension. It probably is, but it could likely be still kept in the main Toobworld at the same time.)

I mentioned that this is a dimension of fictional sitcom presidents. The TV dimension for sitcom presidents based on our line of succession would be Earth Prime-Time/Doofus, which includes 'The Secret Files Of Desmond Pfeiffer' and 'That's My Bush!'

So here's a head's-up to my friends Carola & Henry and all the Swedish visitors to my blog (which according to my blog stats has been a total of... none? There's a fan base in Norway, but not in Sweden.... That can't be right. I see Taiwan isn't listed either and I KNOW I have the father of my god-daughter reading it daily!  At least, I hope so.....)

Well, anyway, here's to the continued global expansion of the TV dimension for fictional sitcom presidents......

Vi ses!