Saturday, February 25, 2012

PROGRAMMING NOTE


Just to give you a head's up (or in the case of Terry Crews - head's off), tomorrow's entries for the Video Weekend will be rife with blipverts. Predominant. Inundated, even.

BCnU!

TOP TEN TV CROSSOVER EPISODES


Here's a list of 10 TV crossover episodes, complete with videos to illustrate them.....


(My thanks to author Bill Crider for finding that!)

BCnU!

MEDDLING MONK MUSIC


In writing up my report on those alternate TV dimensions in which other languages besides English are dominant, I mentioned the Time Meddler known as the Monk as mayhaps being responsible (and irresponsible!) in creating those divergent timelines for TV dimensions in which all TV characters spoke French, or Spanish, or Russian, etc.

So since it's another Video Weekend, and I always like to include some 'Doctor Who' content, here's a musical tribute to a 'Doctor Who' villain who has been sadly under-used over the years (and yet the boring Daleks keep going and going and going.....)

Speaking of being irresponsible.....


Another bit of serendipiteevee - this is the first week of Lent, which is mentioned in the song.....

BCnU!

CARLA CROSSING - FROM SISCO TO GOODALL


It looks like everybody on the production side of the FX series 'Justified' is on board with the suggestion that Miami-based US Marshal Karen Goodall is actually Miami-based US Marshal Karen Sisco - after a name change following two divorces. Skimming about the internet, I don't see Elmore Leonard speaking up against the idea.  (Although I'm sure they can't come right out and claim it's so because somebody - not just Mr. Leonard - would have to be paid some bucks......

So here's the trailer for the episode of 'Justified' which featured Carla Gugino as our featured Literary-TV character of the day. Probably.....


BCnU!

LA VIE DEVITO


This is from that same episode of 'Karen Sisco' which was dubbed into French, but Ms. Sisco doesn't appear in it. I just thought it was interesting - and funny - because of the participation of Danny DeVito....


Au Revoir!

LINGUA SISCO


When a TV series is re-dubbed into another language, that copy has full membership status in the TV Universe, but in the TV dimension where that language holds sway. At some point in the timeline for that particular language, historical events had a different outcome so that the country of origin now had control of that particular Toobworld.

Here's the first example, using today's "As Seen On TV" character, Karen Sisco:


The theory for the Spanish Toobworld, which I guess for all intents and purposes should be called Tele-Mundo (so long as Toobworld Central doesn't get sued for it!), is that the outcome to the English battle against the Spanish Armada was dramatically different. Instead of getting their galleon asses kicked by the smaller, swifter English ships and then limping to Ireland to create the "Black Irish", the Spaniards vanquished the English fleet and went on to conquer the rest of the British Empire.

And here's another example of Karen Sisco to be found in an alternate TV dimension:


Perhaps Napoleon Bonaparte wasn't crushed underfoot at Waterloo by Wellington's Wellingtons. And instead of being banished to Elba where he would become the subject of a famous palindrome, Napoleon carried the day to conquer the rest of the world. And that's why French was the predominant language all over the world, even in Miami's Gold Coast.

In both cases, those events which spun off new timelines could have been triggered by the Gallifreyan Time Lord known as the Meddling Monk.

BCnU!

THE SISCO VIDS


To salute our featured Literary-TV character in today's "As Seen On TV" showcase, here are some videos from the short-lived TV series 'Karen Sisco'.







BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: KAREN SISCO (GOODALL?)



AS SEEN IN:
'Karen Sisco'
'Justified' (maybe.....)

AS PLAYED BY:
Carla Gugino

CREATED BY:
Elmore Leonard

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

STATUS:
Multiversal
(Book & Movie - "Out Of Sight", Short Story - "Karen Makes Out")

From Wikipedia:
'Karen Sisco' is a television series about a fictional United States Marshal created by novelist Elmore Leonard. The series debuted in October of 2003 on ABC.

As a U.S. Deputy Marshal, based on Miami, Florida's Gold Coast, Karen must deal with the underbelly of South Beach nightlife and Palm Beach high-life while tracking down fugitives. She also struggles to win the respect of her fellow officers. Karen occasionally gets advice from her father, a retired Miami police officer turned private investigator. He’s Karen’s confidant, counselor, and confessor. He is also her rock when her confidence wavers.


From TV Line:
In Season 3 of the acclaimed drama, Gugino will play Karen Goodall, a Washington, D.C.-based assistant director of the U.S. Marshals Service who used to work with Raylan back in Miami — and as such shares a history with our favorite trigger-happy lawman.

Goodall, who is twice-divorced and described as “tough, smart and funny,” comes to Kentucky to help safeguard hidden witnesses who have become vulnerable after the murder of a U.S. Marshal.
- Matt Webb Mitovich


From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Episode two [of the third season of 'Justified'] also introduces a character who may be familiar to fans of a previous TV series based on an Elmore Leonard character.

Carla Gugino, who starred as the title character in ABC's 2003-04 show 'Karen Sisco,' appears as a U.S. marshal from Miami. It sounds like 'Justified' producers wouldn't mind if viewers assume she's once again playing Karen Sisco.

"I don't think you ever hear her first name," Mr. Yost said, playing coy. "Deputy Director Goodall, is that what we settled on?"

But in the episode it's made clear Raylan and the deputy director have some sort of a history and he's surprised to hear her called Goodall -- her married name. So the character could still be Karen Sisco.

When asked if Ms. Gugino's character would have a father played by Robert Forster, who played Karen Sisco's father, Mr. Yost again dodged.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Mr. Yost said, smiling.
- Rob Owen


It feels as if the TV producers of 'Justified' are doing the work for me in this "Game Of The Name" theoretical connection. As such, I feel it's justified to consider the link to be real.

BCnU!

Friday, February 24, 2012

TERZI'S TV TA-TA


From my hometown newspaper, some big TV news on the local level.....

News anchorman Al Terzi and WFSB-TV will part ways on Friday after failing to agree on a new contract.

Terzi, 69, said Monday that he's pursuing other positions and hopes to continue in television news.


"I want to keep working - there's no question about that," he said. "I love what I do and I want to keep doing it as long as I can."


Terzi has spent 28 years with Channel 3 and 14 years with WTNH-TV, Channel 8. He has been in Connecticut television news for 44 years, and says he's healthy and still passionate about politics, consumer protection and legal issues.


"I'm not interested in retiring," Terzi said, "definitely not retirement."

- Jesse Buchanan
The Meriden Record-Journal

And here's a video from two years ago, looking back at his career on its fiftieth anniversary.....


His final broadcast should be starting in a few minutes....


WFSB-CnU!

DOWNTON ABBEY AND THE WILD, WILD WEST?



In the Christmas special of 'Downton Abbey', which in America served as the finale to Season 2, Lord Robert Grantham had a heart-to-heart talk with his oldest daughter, Lady Mary about the Kemal Pamook scandal. As a loving father (and as one who had his own brush with a near-miss affair), Lord Grantham not only forgave his daughter but gave her advice on how to proceed so that they all could weather the coming storm of scandal.

He told her to go to America to visit her grandmother, and since it looked at the time as though any chance for a reconciliation between Lady Mary and Robert's heir Matthew might be impossible, Lord Grantham had a suggestion for her love life as well:

Find a cowboy in the Middle West and bring him back to shake us up a bit!”

As soon as he said it, my mind began racing - what TV Western cowboy could she meet and bring back with her who was still alive - and eligible - in 1920? Many of them were probably dead; most of the others would have been too old.

I'm sure the possibilities were being considered by many 'Downton Abbey' fanficcers out there as well......


The first option I could think of was Brisco County, Jr., whose adventures were set at the dawn of the new century. Based on Bruce Campbell of today, it's not inconceivable that Brisco would still be around by 1920 as 'The Adventures Of Brisco County, Jr.' took place one hundred years before the time of their broadcast (as was the case with 'Bonanza'.) Yes, he'd be an older suitor, but as we saw with Mary's sister, Lady Edith, who was chasing a courtship with the much older Sir Anthony Strallan, that wouldn't have been an O'Bstacle.

I also considered that it should be a brand-new character, but there would still be no impediment in making a connection to a classic TV Western. To that end, I considered one of the many illegitimate sons of Secret Service Agent James T. West, who had all been established as officially part of the Toobworld Dynamic in the first reunion TV movie for 'The Wild, Wild West'. 

Even if this newly created TV cowboy were introduced with a different surname and with parents in tow, a splainin could be found to maintain the theory of "relateeveety" with Jim West.

But it was all moot by the end of the special, as Matthew Crawley finally came round to asking Mary for her hand in marriage and Lady Mary happily accepting.

Still, she may be going to America anyway during the hiatus before Season 3. We already know that Lady Mary's grandmother, Cora's mother Martha Levinson, will be arriving from America to visit her family (and played by Shirley MacLaine.) So why couldn't this "Middle West cowboy" tag along to England anyway? Perhaps Lady Mary might have met him on the ship during the return voyage, and she might think of him as being a possible suitor for Lady Edith.

Like I said, it was all moot - and then I read about a tweet from actor David Boreanaz ('Bones', 'Angel') after the episode aired......

I'd like to be that American cowboy who shakes things up at Downton Abbey. I'm open for a visit Mr Fellowes

That would be wonderful casting! And not only because he would perfectly epitomize that idealized vision of the American cowboy, but also because Boreanaz is part of a long-standing theory of relateeveety I've had - that somehow James Garner should be considered a relation to one of Boreanaz' characters (preferably as the other grandfather for his FBI agent Seeley Booth.)


So how about David Boreanaz playing one of the sons of legendary TV Western character Bret Maverick?

SPOILER ALERT!

I say one of the sons, because the Toobworld Dynamic has accepted the film version of "Maverick" as part of the TV Universe. Mel Gibson was Bret Maverick Junior with James Garner as the original Bret Maverick (although throughout the movie we thought he was named Zane Cooper. As Bret Junior's father, he now took the same "title" as his own father - "Pappy".)

Of course, if 'Downton Abbey' were to follow through on this (and let's face it - this is all just ramblings by a madman in a box), and did make David Boreanaz a guest star as Bret Maverick Junior, then the movie "Maverick" would have to be sadly jettisoned back to the "Cineverse".

It would O'Bviously have to be just a guest appearance, as Boreanaz is tied up with his role as Booth in 'Bones'. But it would surely be a lot of fun! Think of his brash American ways clashing with the veddy proper style of the British. Maybe Lord Grantham and Matthew Crawley take him to a gentlemen's club in London where he could trounce Sir Richard Carlisle in a game of cards. Perhaps the butler Thomas could see this 'Young Maverick' as a mentor.

As to why he was in England? Perhaps he was coming to see his second cousin Beau Maverick, who might have returned to the land where he was once in exile for disgracing the family name of Maverick (by being a hero in the Civil War.)

And there could always be a chance, doomed though it would have to be, for a romance with Lady Edith.

Let's say Julian Fellowes did decide to take Boreanaz up on the offer and did create this cowboy character for him to play. Even if he was cut from whole cloth as being an original character with a name unassociated with any established TV cowboy, regular visitors to the Inner Toob blog know that wouldn't stop me from making some kind of connection for this character to Bret Maverick - or to James West, for that matter. (I've always said that the best actor to play a son of James West would have been Scott Reeves.)

It's likely not going to happen in any form, even without the participation of Boreanaz. I think Fellowes is going to have enough trouble dealing with the naysayers over the family background for Lady Cora's American kin. But it's fun to give in to a bit o' speculation.

If you stumble across any fanfic about an American cowboy shaking things up at 'Downton Abbey', or are thinking of writing some, let me know. I'd like the chance to read it....

BCnU!

NEVERWAS TV



In his blog "News From ME" (link to the left, Team Toobworld!), Mark Evanier pointed out this interestnig pop culture list of TV spin-offs that "luckily" didn't survive to realization......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: GUINEVERE



GUINEVERE

AS SEEN IN:
'Merlin'

AS PLAYED BY:
Angel Coulby

FIRST ADAPTED BY:
Chrètien de Troyes

TV DIMENSION:
Some alternate dimension TBD

STATUS:
Recastaway

From Wikipedia:
Guinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot. This story first appears in Chrétien de Troyes' "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart", and reappears as a common motif in numerous cyclical Arthurian literature, starting with the Lancelot-Grail Cycle of the early 13th century and carrying through the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur". Guinevere's and Lancelot's alleged betrayal of Arthur was often considered as having led to the downfall of the kingdom.

Guinevere has been portrayed as everything from a weak and opportunistic traitor to a fatally flawed but noble and virtuous gentlewoman. In Chrétien's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, she is praised for her intelligence, friendliness, and gentility, while in Marie de France's Lanval (and Thomas Chestre's Middle English version, Sir Launfal), she is a vindictive adulteress, disliked by the protagonist and all well-bred knights. The early chronicles tend to portray her inauspiciously or hardly at all, while later authors used her good and bad qualities to construct a deeper character who plays a larger role. The works of Chrétien were some of the first to elaborate on the character Guinevere beyond simply the wife of Arthur. This is likely due to his audience at the time, the court of Marie de Champagne, which was composed of courtly ladies who played highly social roles.


In the alternate TV dimension of 'Merlin', Gwen is the daughter of the blacksmith, but still catches the eye of Prince Arthur.

BCnU!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

DOWNTON ABBEY'S NOT SO IRISH ROSE


The Jewish Week looked into the news that Shirley Maclaine would be joining the cast of 'Downton Abbey' in Season 3 as Lady Cora's mother, Martha Levinson:

A period drama set in the years before and after World War I, “Downton Abbey” follows the doings of the noble family and their servants on an impossibly gorgeous estate.... [T]he show’s press packet describes Cora’s father as “Isidore Levinson, a Cincinnati dry goods millionaire.” Sounds promising!


Sadly though for the social climbers, all historical evidence indicates it’s highly unlikely that anyone like the U.S.-born Lady Grantham would also have been Jewish. Baron Julian Fellowes, the show’s creator, has evaded repeated requests to comment, but a number of scholars feel duty-bound to let Jewish Downton fans down gently.


“I cannot offhand think of any Cincinnati Jew who actually married into European royalty,” said Brandeis professor Jonathan Sarna, who would probably be in the best position to know as he wrote a book called “Cincinnati Jews.”


This reminds me of the time when then-Senator Hillary Clinton wrote a letter to Josh Lyman, a fictional character on 'The West Wing', protesting his remarks about the closing of a New York military base (in the episode "Full Disclosure".)  They say now that it was meant to be tongue in cheek, but I don't know....

What people always seem to forget is that 'Downton Abbey' exists in Earth Prime-Time, not Earth Prime. We don't have extraterrestrial aliens living among us (although I'm not too sure about this couple at the far end of my floor), nor humanoid robots and talking horses. And yet they exist in Toobworld.

I'm the one writing about the fantasy world of the TV Universe, and yet I'm not the one who has problems distinguishing between reality and fiction.....


(
Thanks to my fellow "Iddiot" from the IDD, Sharon Goldberg, for pointing this out.....)

BCnU!


BTW - the pictures are of Shirley MacLaine as Coco Chanel.......

A RADIO-HEAD JOINS THE TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY


There's going to be a major transfer from the fictional universe of radio (still a viable alternate reality!) into the Toobworld Dynamic. However, this is going to happen over in the UK, so I don't think Americans will ever get the chance to see it.


Brian Cox ('Deadwood', 'Kings') will be bringing his Radio 4 character of Bob Servant to BBC Four. Bob Servant is a business man in Dundee who is multiversal, since he first appeared in a book by Neil Forsyth entitled "Delete This At Your Own Peril". (It was a series of email exchanges with internet scammers.) Bob Servant then invaded the Radioverse(?) in a show called "The Bob Servant Emails". (It aired first on BBC Radio Scotland.)

Since then, he's also appeared in two other books - "Why Me? The Very Important Emails Of Bob Servant" and "Bob Servant - Hero Of Dundee".

The name of the TV series will be 'Bob Servant, Independent', in which Servant runs for the Broughty Ferry seat in Parliament. Brian Cox said that the show will be a good example of the area's "unique East Coast humor."

Bob Servant even has an online presence. His website provides details of his background:

"In the 1970s, his window cleaning round was generally accepted as being the largest in western Europe while his key role in Dundee's cheeseburger wars of the 1980s saw him pushed to national prominence."

BCnU!

DATELINE TOOBWORLD: "MONK"


It's been a few years since Adrian Monk has been seen on our TV screens working a new case.

But the OCD detective will return soon enough, now that Andy Breckman just finished writing a 'Monk' reunion movie. It should be on the air by December.

Breckman even revealed the title: “I'll even tell you the title of it. 'Mr. Monk for Mayor'. He runs for mayor of San Francisco.” And the writer is hoping to follow it up with another sequel.

This would also count as Adrian Monk's second qualifier for entry into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.  So he needs only one more
... even though he would probably prefer there to be four in order to make it all even.

BCnU!

POLL FAULT

I'm a subscriber to the CliqueClack TV website; they've always got interesting and timely articles on a variety of shows - everything from reality to sitcoms and even analyses of commercials.

But a recent poll they're running just for fun has rubbed me the wrong way.

I'm used to seeing articles all over the web in which either the author or the commenters suffer from amnesia - never remembering the TV of the past from before 1980 unless it's something so huge it can't be ignored. Like 'Star Trek' or 'I Love Lucy'.

But it's inexcusable when they acknowledge that past but then deliberately exclude it because it doesn't fit their own time-frame mind-set.

And so it is with this poll.

Here's the headline they had for it:


What's with the contradiction? How can you pick an all-time character in any category and at the same time limit it to the last two decades?

The person who wrote up this CliqueClack poll even admits that they're going to rig the outcome:

Although I shaved the poll down to favorite sitcom (non-animated) slackers of the past two decades, some people got totally old school during the process.

By doing so, I believe the person was aiming to steer the results to a character he or she preferred. They may deny that it's so, but that's the impression they give.

But at least in the roundtable discussion of "all-time" slackers, someone did finally speak up for the one person who should have been the clear winner of "All Time"........

Jane: Of ALL time? Then Maynard G. Krebs from Dobie Gillis should be mentioned. At least here. Because no one besides me and probably Michael will remember him. Since we’re old. But only old enough to have watched Dobie Gillis in reruns. I do think Maynard may be the original TV slacker, though.

Michael: *applauds Janey, agrees*

Chuck: Hey I’m the oldster here (I think)! I know Maynard (aka Gilligan).

And yet Maynard skews the list to betray the pollster's desire to be hip (again, that's the impression given) so there was no way he could be included. And the same goes for any candidate you might have considered from before 1991.

This is what I wrote in response:

And yet then you exclude him from the poll and claim that “All Time” is only from 1991 – 2011.

Bogus. Fixed.

Can’t vote in such a poll……

Not that my opinion matters outside these padded walls.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: HOT LIPS!


MAJOR MARGARET HOULIHAN

AS SEEN IN:
'M*A*S*H'

AS PLAYED BY:
Loretta Swit

CREATED BY:
Richard Hooker

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

STATUS:
Multiversal

From Wikipedia:
Major Margaret J. "Hot Lips" Houlihan is a fictional character first created in the book "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors" by Richard Hooker. Actress Sally Kellerman portrayed the character in the Robert Altman film adaptation (where she is sometimes referred to as O'Houlihan). Houlihan was later portrayed by Loretta Swit in the long-running television series.

The character of "Hotlips Houlihan" was inspired by real-life Korean War MASH head nurse Hotlips Hammerly, also a very attractive blonde, of the same disposition.

Over the run of the show, Margaret mellowed from a completely "by-the-book" head nurse (who was also not above using her romantic contacts with superior officers in attempts to get her way, nor going against regulations for her personal benefit), to a more relaxed member of the cast who tempered her authority with humanity. Key episodes in this development were "The Nurses", in which Margaret gave an emotional tirade to her nurses about how their disdain of her hurt her and thus stuns them, and "Comrades In Arms", where Hawkeye and Margaret make peace once and for all while lost in the wilderness.

Despite her being a patriotic American, Houlihan was accused by a conniving Congressional aide of being a communist sympathizer, due to a long-ago relationship. Thanks to the help of her friends, the plan to accuse her was foiled.

When the show ended, Margaret was on her way back to the US to take up a position in an Army hospital. Not coincidentally, the change for her character came when Linda Bloodworth-Thomason joined the show's writing team. The last time she took a hardline stance with one of her nurses was in Episode 8.7, "Nurse Doctor", where she tells nurse Gail Harris, "If you think I was tough on you before you're in for seven weeks of 'You ain't seen nothing yet'. If you even think of stepping out of line your butt will be tattooed with my boots." Unlike other incidences, this chewing out was deserved and immediately after it Margaret offered to help Gail with her medical studies.

IN THE LITERARY UNIVERSE:
In the series of novels co-written with (or ghost-written by) William E. Butterworth, Houlihan reappears as the twice-widowed Margaret Houlihan Wachauf Wilson, both husbands having expired untimely on the nuptial couch through over-strain caused by excessive indulgence in her still-outstanding physical charms. Her career has taken a new direction as the Reverend head of the "God Is Love In All Forms Christian Church, Incorporated", a cult or sect with the unusual distinction that its entire congregation consists of homosexual men. Most of these are extremely flamboyant and the Reverend Mother herself is conspicuously glitzy and glittery. However, it appears that Margaret genuinely cares for her flock and is not merely shaking them down in pursuit of material gain.


IN THE MOVIE UNIVERSE:
The name "Hot Lips" originates from an infamous scene in M*A*S*H, the movie, in which Margaret Houlihan is played by Sally Kellerman. During sex with Frank Burns, Margaret is initially unaware that the public address microphone has been planted beneath their cot, broadcasting graphic details of their rendezvous throughout the camp on its public address system. Other members of the camp overhear her saying to Frank "Kiss my hot lips."

BCnU!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

"NCIS" & "NYPD BLUE"




In the "Forced Entry" episode of 'NCIS', Agent Tony DiNozza made a rather personal admission......


Tony DiNozzo:
"I dated a woman who used to wear my police uniform
and make me call her Detective Sipowicz."

Within the reality of the Toobworld Dynamic, this isn't a Zonk reference to 'NYPD Blue', only to one of its characters. But Andy Sipowicz shares that same reality with Tony DiNozzo, so there had to be a reason why some woman would have Tony call her that.

We don't know who this woman was, but there have been plenty of women in Tony's life.

 We know this because he can't shut up about them.

From Wikipedia:
During the entire run of NCIS Tony consistently speaks at great length about women. He pursues girls on a regular basis, typically
indiscriminately, though he has shown an aversion to women who don't shave. Most of these relationships fail to progress past a certain point, and he has admitted to having commitment issues.

In season nine episode Secrets introduces his ex fiancee.

One of the women he was attracted to turned out to be a terrorist working with Ari Haswari; another to whom he was attracted, and kissed, turned out to be a pre-operative transsexual who had murdered one of Tony's co-workers. He once dated a social worker named Michelle who, after he ended their relationship, broke into his apartment and filled his closet with dog feces. He also had a short relationship with NCIS Special Agent Paula Cassidy. He also broke up with a Navy lieutenant (who had left her then-fiance for him), and shortly after Tony broke up with her, she posted his name, identity and information on a herpes alert website.

In a flashback in the episode "Baltimore" Tony mentions proposing to his long term girlfriend Wendy, also his high school music teacher, but he never got married.

That last one is key because it shows that Tony was not adverse to dating older women. And so I'm going to make the claim that Tony DiNozzo once dated Katie Sipowicz, the ex-wife of Detective Andy Sipowicz of the NYPD.

When Andy was deepest in his alcoholism, he became estranged not only from Katie but from his son Andy, Jr. They were out of his life for a long time once Katie and Andy divorced, and may have been out of the New York City area as well. It could be that they spent time in Philadelphia or later in Baltimore when Tony was working for those police departments back in the 1990's (spending about two years at each of them.)

Although about 19 years his senior, Katie could have taken Tony as her lover. (I don't think Tony was always chasing the runway model types. After all, that Wikipedia entry - always the bastion for Truth! - said that Tony pursued women indiscriminately, so on occasion he might have enjoyed the pleasure to be found with a full-figured older woman.)

Once she felt comfortable with him, Katie may have revealed her kinky side when it came to making love - by wearing Tony's police uniform. And that's why she had Tony call her "Detective Sipowicz" - she wasn't making a pop culture reference to some TV character. She was using her own last name, which she retained even after divorcing Andy Sipowicz.

They probably broke up when Tony was moving on to his next career move.  (Which is why I think the relationship happened while he was in Philadelphia, when both of them were younger and more impetuous.)

Otherwise, Tony could have left her when Katie stopped shaving her legs....

Dirty, dirty girl....

BCnU!

JUST DUCKY ABOUT ILLYA


I was very happy to see the 'NCIS' episode "Meat Puzzle" although I didn't know it when it started.

Kate Todd:
"What did Ducky look like when he was young?"
Gibbs:
"Illya Kuryakin."

Kuryakin was a Russian agent working for the United Network Command for Law Enforcement (an international organization that might be connected to the United Nations.) But in the years between the end of 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' and the reunion movie fifteen years later, Ilya became a world famous fashion designer.


And that's the life of Ilya Kuryakin which Gibbs was familiar with. (He probably had to shell out the big bucks for several Kuryakin originals in a futile effort to placate one of his ex-wives.)

BCnU!

ZNN REPORT


At the beginning of the 'NCIS' episode "Enemy On The Hill", a TV reporter for ZNN hounded a bystander for a man-on-the-street interview until the guy stepped in front of a speeding van.

ZNN has shown up in other TV shows - '7 Days', 'Spy Game', and the parent show for 'NCIS', 'JAG'. It serves as a great link via TV networks like WNWK, but not on such a grand scale.

BCnU!

BAYLISS-WATCH 2

Several years ago, I wrote about the half brother of Detective Tim Bayliss ('Homicide: Life On The Street') who had the same name (as seen in 'Stand-Off').

So now I'd like to build a case for another relative by that last name....

Detective Tim Bayliss worked out of Baltimore in the Homicide Division. Until he was arrested for murder, that is.

Closer to the nation's capital, Bayliss may have had a cousin named Chuck who worked as a taxi dispatcher for a company that hired many drivers from Burundi. It was because of those drivers, and who one of them might be, that Bayliss got himself killed.

SHOWS CITED:
'Homicide: Life On The Street'
'NCIS' - "Designated Target"

BCnU!

PROGRAMMING NOTE


While I was down in Florida a few weeks ago to visit my godmother, Auntie Ellie and I watched a marathon of 'NCIS' episodes. (It's one of Auntie Ellie's favorites. A telephone operator who used to work at my place of business also loved that show. I guess it's the 'Matlock' of forensic procedurals....)

It must have been Fate that I caught that marathon, because on the whole I don't watch the show (unless there's a planned crossover.)   Each of those episodes had a little something Toob-worthy.  

So I'll be posting those today.....


And they're all dedicated to my Auntie Ellie - not that she has a computer to see them......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: "BONES" BRENNAN



DR. TEMPERANCE "BONES" BRENNAN

AS SEEN IN:
'Bones'

AS PLAYED BY:
Emily Deschanel

CREATED BY:
Kathy Reichs

From Wikipedia:
Re: The TV version:
Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan, Ph.D. (born Joy Keenan), is a fictional character portrayed by Emily Deschanel in the American Fox television series Bones. A anthropologist, forensic anthropologist and kinesiologist; she is widely considered to the series as a leading authority in the field of Forensic anthropology, Brennan first appeared on television, along with other co-protagonists, in the "Pilot" episode of Bones on September 13, 2005.

While Brennan is loosely based on author Kathy Reichs, her name originates from the heroine in Reichs's crime novel series. The main similarity the two characters share is their occupation as a forensic anthropologist.

Re: the book version:
Temperance Daesee Brennan is a fictional character created by author Kathy Reichs, and is the hero of her crime novel series (which are usually referred to as the Temperance Brennan novels). She was introduced in Reichs' first novel, Déjà Dead, which was published in 1997. Like her creator, Brennan is a forensic anthropologist, who divides her time between work in North Carolina, and working in Montreal for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. In a number of novels it is indicated that Brennan's background lies in archaeology, rather than medicine, and throughout the novels she stresses the importance of correct crime scene processes.

The character shares the same name with the protagonist of the American television series, Bones, whose character was not based on Reichs' books or the Brennan of her books but rather on the author herself. In the TV series, Temperance Brennan is played by Emily Deschanel. Reichs herself has stated that she sees the Tempe of the television series as a younger version of the novel Tempe. Reichs is an executive producer of the show, and oversees the forensic science aspect of the series. She also wrote the fifth season episode "The Witch in the Wardrobe," which shared some plot elements with her novel Devil Bones. On the show Temperance "Bones" Brennan writes crime novels with a fictional forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs as the protagonist.

Temperance Brennan also appears in the Jasper Fforde novel First Among Sequels.

From the source:
My name is Temperance Deassee Brennan. I'm five-five, feisty, and forty-plus. Multidegreed. Overworked. Underpaid.

Dying.

Slashing lines through that bit of literary inspiration, I penned another opening.

I'm a forensic anthropologist. I know death. Now it stalks me. This is my story.

Merciful God. Jack Webb and Dragnet reincarnate.

More slashes.

I glanced at the clock. Two thirty-five.

Abandoning the incipient autobiography, I began to doodle. Circles inside circles. The clock face. The conference room. The UNCC campus. Charlotte. North Carolina. North America. Earth. The Milky Way.

Around me, my colleagues argued minutiae with all the passion of religious zealots. The current debate concerned wording within a subsection of the departmental self-study. The room was stifling, the topic poke-me-in-the-eye dull. We'd been in session for over two hours, and time was not flying.

I added spiral arms to the outermost of my concentric circles. Began filling spaces with dots.

Four hundred billion stars in the galaxy. I wished I could put my chair into hyperdrive to any one of them.

Anthropology is a broad discipline, comprised of linked subspecialties. Physical. Cultural. Archaeological. Linguistic. Our department has the full quartet.

BCnU!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

TV TIMELINE BY DESIGN




In the episode of 'The Mentalist' entitled "Red Is The New Black", there young designers were arrested at an "Occupy Oakland" rally and spent the night in jail. In a way, this was a good thing, because it eliminated the trio as suspects in the murder of another fashion designer.

On January 28th of this year, 400 protesters were arrested at the "Occupy Oakland" protest, so now we know when this episode took place. (It aired on February 2nd, so that was a quick connection for the Toobworld timeline!)


Others may have been arrested in the past few months, but a number as large as that makes it easier to blend in a few fictional TV characters. Precedent for that has been established by larger historical events like Custer's Last Stand, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the sinking of the Titanic, and the World Trade Center Attack.

(My thanks to Rich Shapiro for pointing out the significance of their alibi.)

BCnU!

A COY THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY


On Sunday night, PBS presented the Christmas special for 'Downton Abbey' as the second season final for the series. And even though the American audience didn't get to see it (officially) until February, it still presented us with a Toob-worthy Christmas present.

George Murray returned to the show (having already been seen in the very first episode) as the lawyer for the Grantham family. It was early 1920 and he was advising the family (and the housemaid Anna) on the options before them now that Mr. Bates was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. (Mr. Bates was the valet for Lord Robert Grantham but more importantly, he was married to Anna.)

Farther into the future of the Toobworld timeline, although the character was portrayed decades earlier, there was a clerk working in the chambers of Horace Rumpole by the name of Henry.

As he appeared in episodes mostly set in the 1980's, we're going to file a brief that Henry was George Murray's grandson.  And that he followed his grandfather into the family business.

We never learned what Henry's last name was in the 'Rumpole' series (from what I can remember with questionable support from the IMDb), he could easily have been Henry Murray. If he does have a recorded surname that is different, that doesn't ruin this de-Zonking. Henry could be the son of George Murray's daughter!

(Both characters were portrayed by Jonathan Coy......)


BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BLAIR AND SERENA


BLAIR WALDORF & SERENA VAN DER WOODSEN

AS SEEN IN:

'Gossip Girl'

AS PLAYED BY:
Leighton Meester (Blair)
Blair Cornelia Waldorf is the main character of Gossip Girl, introduced in the original series of novels and also appearing in their television and manga adaptations. Described as "a girl of extremes" by creator Cecily von Ziegesar, she is a comical overachiever who possesses both snobbish and sensitive sides. Due to her position as queen bee of Manhattan's social scene, Blair's actions and relations are under constant scrutiny from the mysterious Gossip Girl, a popular blogger. (Wikipedia)
&
Blake Lively (Serena)
Serena Celia van der Woodsen is a fictional character and the protagonist in the young adult novel series Gossip Girl and its television adaptation. Serena is featured on the blog of the novel series' mysterious "Gossip Girl" narrator. Serena is Blair Waldorf's best friend, and is a character that appears to easily get whatever she wants because of her good looks, energy, and charisma. (Wikipedia)

CREATED BY:
Cecily von Ziegesar


From Wikipedia:
"Gossip Girl" is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite private school in New York City's Upper East Side. The books primarily focus on best friends Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen, whose experiences are among those chronicled by the eponymous gossip blogger. The novel series is based on von Ziegesar's experiences at Nightingale-Bamford School and on what she heard from friends.


From the source:
Luckily Blair and her friends came from the kind of families for whom drinking was as commonplace as blowing your nose. Their parents believed in the quasi-European idea that the more access kids have to alcohol, the less likely they are to abuse it. So Blair and her friends could drink whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, as long as they maintained their grades and their looks and didn't embarrass themselves or the family by puking in public, pissing their pants, or ranting in the streets. The same thing went for everything else, like sex or drugs—as long as you kept up appearances, you were all right.

But keep your panties on. That's coming later.

BCnU!