The couch gags in opening credits of 'The Simpsons' don't always have to be considered part of the show's continuity, but I think this special presentation could be seen as a legitimate prequel.
Hey, anything goes in the Tooniverse!
And it's special because the concept was dreamed up by noted animator Bill Plympton. And even though his artistic style is radically different from that of Matt Groening, they're both part of the same TV dimension. (Those differences may be seen by us, but not by the inhabitants of the Tooniverse.)
I never realized this was a running bit on 'All In The Family' - of course, only four occurrences in 208 episodes isn't exactly a major theme, but still funny as all hell when gathered together like this:
I have many friends who have made contributions to the citizenry of Toobworld, most of whom have done so with characters in various TV shows. Actors with whom I went to UConn with, like Dan Lauria, Mary Cadorette, Shirley Jordan, Bill Marcus...... The late Brad Williams added puppet people, as seen in 'Pinwheel' on Nickelodeon.
And then there are others who have, like me, joined the League of Themselves and created televersions of their lives back home in the Trueniverse.
One of those would be Maggie Bilder Cooke. And like me, she is qualified to join the TV Crossover Hall of Fame because of her appearances. I don't have any video of her hosting duties for a computer show that was once on CNet, but here are two of the other examples of her televersion......
First up, her appearance on '$10,000.00 Pyramid', in keeping with our remembrances of Dick Clark, in which she was partnered with Sal Viscuso......
And now that you know what she looks like, here she is as she shows off her skills as a serlinguist. (But here's a hint for those with short term memory loss - "No more barbecue!")
With the passing of Dick Clark last week, we're still not done taking a look at the life on Toobworld for this member of the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.
Here's a scene from his hosting chores on 'The $10,000.00 Pyramid' which never made it on the air....
In his blog several years ago, George R.R. Martin shared this fan-made film from 2005 that used epic footage from various fantasy movies to show what a film about the "Song Of Ice And Fire" series would look like....
Winterfell, southern progression of battlefields in Westeros, on Mondas
From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":
Robb Stark is a major character in the first and second seasons. He is played by starring cast member Richard Madden and debuts in the series premiere. Robb Stark is the King in the North, the ruler of the North. Following the death of his father, Lord Eddard Stark, at the order of Joffrey Baratheon, the King on the Iron Throne, Robb became the head of House Stark and the Lord of Winterfell. He was declared King by the forces of House Stark and its bannermen and allies after Eddard's execution. He is leading these forces in a rebellion against Joffrey, designed to break the North away from the control of the Iron Throne. He has adopted the direwolf named Grey Wind.
Robb is the eldest son of Eddard Stark by his wife, Catelyn. His father is the head of House Stark, the Lord of Winterfell, the lord paramount and Warden of the North. He has two younger trueborn brothers, Bran and Rickon, and two sisters, Sansa and Arya. He is also close to his bastard half-brother, Jon Snow, and to his father's ward, Theon Greyjoy, whom he counts as his best friend outside of the family. He has been trained from childhood to wield a sword and wear armor by Winterfell's Master-at-Arms Rodrik Cassel, and is highly proficient with both for his young age. He lives at Winterfell with his family.
Liz Lemon revealed that she walked in on Jenna Maroney as she was making love to the harmonica player from Blues Traveler. And that he was still wearing his harmonica holder.
This means Jenna was boinking John Popper.
Here's the thumbnail biography from Wikipedia:
John Popper (born March 29, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter.
He is most famous for his role as frontman of rock band Blues Traveler performing harmonica, guitar and vocals. He is widely considered a harmonica virtuoso, and is listed by harmonica manufacturer Hohner as a "Featured Artist", an accolade reserved for only the best and most successful harmonica players.
Popper won a 2008 Toobits Award for Best League of Themselves Appearance, mostly because he enthusiastically threw himself into playing a real sleazebag version of himself. This happened over several episodes of 'Z Rock', where he made it his life mission to bed Dina, the manager for the band. (And he eventually succeeded.)
Even though he wasn't seen in this episode of '30 Rock' (and unlike Kevin Sorbo, not even named), this still counts towards his televersion tally in the League of Themselves.
And that means 'Z Rock' and '30 Rock' can be linked together in Toobworld.
We're coming down to the last few showcases for 'Game Of Thrones' in the "As Seen On TV" feature, and today the spotlight goes to my least favorite character in the whole series.....
PETYR BAELISH
"LITTLE-FINGER"
CREATED BY:
George R.R. Martin
PORTRAYED BY:
Aiden Gillen
AS SEEN IN:
'Game Of Thrones'
TV LOCATIONS:
King's Landing, Storm's End, Westeros, Mondas
From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":
Petyr Baelish, popularly called Littlefinger, is a major character in the first and second seasons. He is played by starring cast member Aidan Gillen and debuts in "Lord Snow." Petyr Baelish is the Master of Coin on the small council. He is a skilled manipulator and uses his ownership of brothels in King's Landing to accrue intelligence on political rivals. He betrayed Eddard Stark to side with House Lannister and King Joffrey Baratheon following the death of King Robert Baratheon. Petyr Baelish is Lord of the Fingers, an extremely minor lordship, ruling over just a small area of the shores of the Vale of Arryn (known as The Fingers) as the head of the tiny House Baelish. In reference to his family's humble origin and the small size of his poor landholdings in the Fingers, he earned the derogatory nickname "Little-finger", which would stick with him throughout his life. Eventually even Baelish sarcastically embraced the nickname, due to the fact that it demonstrated how far he had risen, from a poor minor noble from the "little Finger" peninsula to one of the most powerful officials in the Seven Kingdoms. Despite this, his extreme financial acumen has seen him rise to the small council and the rank of Master of Coin, the treasurer of the Seven Kingdoms, under King Robert Baratheon. He is a friend of Lady Catelyn Stark, one of the few contacts she has at court. He was fostered with her family at Riverrun in his youth and developed unrequited feelings for her. He challenged her betrothed Brandon Stark to a duel and was severely injured. Brandon was later killed by King Aerys II Targaryen but Catelyn married his younger brother Eddard Stark in his place. He owns a number of brothels in King's Landing. Though the symbol of his family is the head of the Titan of Braavos, Petyr prefers to use a personal sigil, that of an unthreatening mockingbird.
Here we are, the month of April almost over, and we have yet to induct the intended new member into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame. Traditionally the April inductee fits the role of the classic Fool, and this would have been no different.
But we were delayed in making this announcement by the death of Mike Wallace and as is our new custom, those who pass away who were deserving of the honor (as themselves or for a character) get inducted immediately. So I wanted enough time to pass between both choices to give them the chance to shine on their own.
And so, I'm proud to announce our April Fool 2012:
BARNEY FIFE
Don Knotts' portrayal of the jittery deputy from Mayberry deserves every accolade he gets, and the Television Academy agreed - Knotts won five Emmy Awards for the role while he was on 'The Andy Griffith Show'.
Barney and the Taylor family also made appearances in blipverts for Sanka and Post cereals in the early days, back when TV characters often continued their existence in the commercials for their sponsors.
After leaving to seek his fame and fortune in the movies and with a variety show, Knotts returned to Mayberry in the first episode of the sequel, 'Mayberry RFD', in order to stand by Andy's side as his best man.
A few years later, Barney was visiting Greenwood, North Carolina, where he ran into Mayor Andy Sawyer.
They seemed to be old friends, and yet Barney never mentions how similar Andy Sawyer looks to his cousin, Andy Taylor.
My reasonin' is that Andy Sawyer and Andy Taylor were identical cousins, and perhaps on the side of the family which had no blood connection to Barney. So they've known each other for years, but as friends not family, and that any need to mention the similarity in appearance had long since passed.
The IMDb - which as we all know, is SUCH a reliable source! - lists Barney Fife as appearing in an episode of 'The Joey Bishop Show' in its third season. But I haven't found any mention of that elsewhere on the web. So I can't say whether this is possible or not. However, 'The Joey Bishop Show' did have a continuing crossover with 'The Danny Thomas Show' when Rusty Williams moved in as a boarder while going to college, and since that was the show that launched 'The Andy Griffith Show', it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble.....
Finally, Barney made a "Return To Mayberry" in his old age to run for sheriff, only to find that Andy Taylor returned soon after with the same goal in mind. By the end of the election, Andy had won his old job back and offered Barney the chance to be his deputy once again.
(Personally, that left a bad taste for me. I would have had Andy become the new Mayor of Mayberry, and let Barney become the sheriff. I hated seeing him so disappointed by the outcome.)
Like the actor who played him, Barney is gone now. I like to think he's buried there in Mayberry and Thelma Lou still tends to his grave. But he will live on in our memories and in reruns. And I hope this little salute doesn't do too much damage to his video immortality.
When a woman in the halls of NBC at '30 Rock' complained that "Murphy Brown lied to us!", she was talking about the "actual" newswoman and not about the TV sitcom. The same holds true for when Liz talked about the support system which helped Murphy in the raising of her baby. Her co-anchor Jim Dial, and reporters Corky Sherwood and Frank Fontana, Miles Silverberg the producer, and especially Eldon the painter.
Never once was the TV show mentioned.
Everybody in Telemerica knows about Murphy Brown. Not only was she the anchor on 'F.Y.I.' (as seen on 'Murphy Brown'), but she also inspired two TV shows about her. One was a "roman a clef" sitcom called 'Kelly Green' (as seen on 'Murphy Brown') and the other was a dramatized version of her life in which Cosmo Kramer had a small role in the eponymous sitcom (as seen in 'Seinfeld').
So there's no Zonk here and there never will be when it comes to this member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame!
The "Game Of Thrones Wiki" concerns itself with the TV series only, which is why I draw information from that, rather than from "The Wiki Of Ice And Fire". I don't want the show spoiled for my readers who - like me - have not yet read the books.
However, this entry for Tywin Lannister seems to have more details than have yet been revealed in the series. But after reading it through, I don't really see anything that ruins the experience for the viewer. It appears to be mostly background material that would only be told in some future episode, not shown.....
LORD TYWIN LANNISTER
CREATED BY:
George R.R. Martin
PORTRAYED BY:
Charles Dance
AS SEEN IN:
'Game Of Thrones'
TV LOCATIONS:
The battlefields, Harrenhahl, Westeros, Mondas
From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":
Tywin Lannister is a major character in 'Game of Thrones'. He is played by guest star Charles Dance and débuts in the seventh episode of the first season. Tywin Lannister is the head of House Lannister and the lord paramount of the Westerlands. He is rich, powerful and entitled. His primary concern is with the legacy of his house.
Tywin is the head of House Lannister, one of the Great Houses and among the richest and most influential families in Westeros. He is a widower with three children, Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion. He is the Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West and the lord paramount of the Westerlands.
Tywin is the son of Tytos Lannister. His father Tytos Lannister presided over a period of decline for the house. He frittered away much of their fortune on poor investments and allowed himself to be mocked at court creating a perception of weakness. Their vassals House Reyne of Castamere rebelled against Lord Tytos. Tywin put down the rebellion personally, extinguishing their house and re-establishing the fearsome reputation of House Lannister. His ruthlessness gave darker meaning to the common phrase "A Lannister always pays his debts" and was immortalized in the song "The Rains of Castermere".
Tywin married Joanna Lannister and their first children were the non-identical twins Cersei and Jaime. She died after giving birth to Tyrion. During Robert's Rebellion Tywin initially feigned loyalty to King Aerys II Targaryen. His son Jaime killed Aerys II when he threatened to burn the capital city of King's Landing and Tywin was responsible for the sack of the city after Aerys' death. After the rebellion Robert Baratheon took the throne and married Tywin's daughter Cersei. Cersei's son Joffrey Baratheon is the heir to the throne. She has two younger children Myrcella Baratheon and Tommen Baratheon. Tywin is close to his younger brother, Kevan who is his chief advisor. Kevan's son Lancel is King Robert's squire.
Tywin despises and hates his younger son, seeing him as misshapen and perverse. When Tyrion was very young, Jaime set him up with a prostitute. Jaime posed her as a common girl in distress that they rescued from bandits. Jaime chased the bandits off while Tyrion comforted the girl. They married, but when Tywin found out he was furious and got Jaime to reveal the truth. Tywin paid her for everyone of his guards to have sex with her and forced Tyrion to watch. Tywin's hatred of Tyrion has been reciprocated since.
On '30 Rock', Jack Donaghy mentioned that Kevin Sorbo introduced him to his podiatrist. Normally, such a mention of a celeb's televersion wouldn't be worthy of a mention here in the blog. (But it would still count towards that televersion's presence in Toobworld.)
However, Kevin Sorbo is no ordinary celebrity televersion. Within the reality of Toobworld, he also starred in the TV show 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'. But he's also the actual demi-god Hercules, only working under the alias of "Kevin Sorbo".
Jack's mention of Kevin Sorbo as part of his fictional life connects '30 Rock' to both 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys', the various TV movie prequels and sequels, and to 'Xena, Warrior Princess'.
Kevin "Hercules" Sorbo may one day find himself on the Birthday Honors List for the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.
Osha is a recurring character in 'Game of Thrones'. She is played by guest star Natalia Tena and debuts in the sixth episode of the first season. Osha is a wildling, now in service to House Stark at Winterfell. She is one of the 'free folk' who live north of the Wall. She worships the Old Gods of the Forest and is knowledgeable about the mythical creatures found in the far north.
It's because her name was already established on the show that the decision was made to change Asha Greyjoy's name to Yara Greyjoy to avoid the Osha-Asha confusion.....
In the first episode of 'Touch', a Japanese girl asked her friend:
And since both 'Touch' and 'Heroes' were created by Tim Kring, I'd like to
think that he meant that Ando's full name was Ando Masahashi, as seen in
'Heroes'.
However, he's the Ando of the "original" Toobworld timeline* - before
Future Hiro came back and created a new timeline. Once that happened, the TV
show followed Peter Petrelli and pals along that new timeline.
Usually when the timeline is rebooted, the Toobworld Dynamic follows
along. As major a change as that could be, the differences are only noticed in
the relevant series. (Like the loss of Claudia Brown in 'Primeval'.) However,
since the changes to Toobworld in the new 'Heroes' timeline were so seismic (a
new President of the United States, for example) that it had to be abandoned for
the greater good.
The greater good.....
So for Earth Prime-Time, Ando Masahashi never developed powers of his
own. But his friend Hiro may still be traveling the timestream. At any rate,
we can at least expand Ando's family tree with this cousin named
Takezo.....
BCnU!
* "Original" being a relative term when the timeline is being changed all
the time in shows like 'Primeval', 'Star Trek', 'Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The
Galaxy', and of course, 'Doctor Who'.....
Winterfell, Crossroads Inn, the Eyrie in the Vale of Arryn, various
battlefields
BOTH CREATED BY:
George R.R. Martin
AS SEEN IN:
'Game Of Thrones'
From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":
Maester Luwin:
Luwin is a recurring character in Game of Thrones. He is played by guest
star Donald Sumpter and débuts in the first episode of the first season. Luwin
is the Maester of Winterfell and a loyal servant to House Stark. He is a
surrogate parent to Bran Stark and Rickon Stark in the absence of their family.
Luwin is a maester, a learned man of science and medicine, and serves House
Stark. He is very loyal to the Starks and they value his wise counsel and
experience. He has delivered all five of Catelyn's children. He serves as a
tutor to the male children.
Ser Rodrik Cassel:
Rodrik Cassel is a recurring character in 'Game of Thrones'. He is played
by guest star Ron Donachie and débuts in the first episode of the first season.
Ser Rodrik Cassel is Master-at-Arms at Winterfell and a loyal servant to House
Stark.
Ser Rodrik Cassel is Master-at-Arms at Winterfell and has trained
many of its soldiers in the art of combat, as well as Robb Stark, Theon Greyjoy
and Jon Snow. Rodrik is a knight, which is somewhat unusual in the North where
most of the population holds to the Old Gods of the Forest. He fought in
Robert's Rebellion and is an old friend of Greatjon Umber, the Lord of Last
Hearth. His nephew Jory Cassel also fought in the rebellion and is the Captain
of the guards at Winterfell.
Continuing my search for the Wesen of 'Grimm' in other TV series....
From LostPedia:
Nathan was a tail section survivor of Oceanic Flight 815. He was suspected
by Ana Lucia of being one of the Others, due to his secretive behavior (which
was probably due to his personality), and was killed when his neck was broken by
Goodwin.
Nathan claimed he was in the tail section of the airplane at
the time of the crash and was in the bathroom for most of the flight. Little is
known about his life before boarding the plane, except that he stated he was on
a company retreat in Australia and stayed behind to 'sight-see', and claimed to
be from Canada, like Ethan.
While originally none of the other survivors
were suspicious of Nathan, that did not last long as people began to grow
suspicous after the second raid. Ana Lucia's suspicion that Nathan was "one of
them" led her to throw him into the pit.
Nathan spent four days in the
pit continuing to maintain his innocence. While in the pit he survived due to
Mr. Eko giving him food. After Ana Lucia promised to begin cutting Nathan's
fingers off the next day, Goodwin freed Nathan and then killed him by breaking
his neck. He hid the body in the jungle. Goodwin later defended his actions by
claiming Nathan was "not a good person". He also suggested that, if she tortured
Nathan and he still didn't confess, Ana Lucia might finally start to believe he
was telling the truth, and look for other suspects, putting Goodwin at risk of
being discovered.
As you can see, Nathan's last name is not listed.
I put it to you that it was Steinkellner.
If so, Nathan had a twin brother named Timothy Steinkellner. And both of
them were Klaustreich, Wesen who resembled humanoid alley cats in their native
form.
Nathan's Wesen qualities were not detectable, not even in death. As we saw
in the 'Grimm' episode "Love Sick", the bodies of two Wesen were discovered by
the police and all of their "CSI: Portland" examinations still pointed to them
as being human.
So after Goodwin snapped his neck, Nathan's body would still have retained
his human form.
Nathan's brother Timothy must have moved down from Canada to just outside
of Portland, Oregon, with his "wife" Robin. (She was a Seltenvogel, a bird-like
Wesen. He was an alley cat...... It was never going to work; think of the
children!)
I would not be surprised to learn that Nathan was not the first Wesen on
The Island, but I'm not going to be the one to keep looking. I've got this
candidate from 'Lost' and that's all I need for this unofficial connection to
'Grimm'.
So far, we've got 'Lost', 'The Wonderful World Of Color'/'The Jack Benny
Show', and 'Law & Order: SVU'. I'm sure we'll sniff out more....
Crossroads Inn, The Eyrie in the Vale Of Arryn, the Riverlands, King's
Landing
Westeros, Monday
From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":
Bronn is a major character in 'Game of Thrones'. He is played by starring
cast member Jerome Flynn and débuts in the fourth episode of the first season.
Bronn is a skilled and dangerous sellsword working for Tyrion Lannister.
A
sellsword [is] a warrior whose service is for hire. Despite his avaricious
nature, which is sneered at by more honorable knights, [Bronn] is a skilled and
dangerous fighter.
And as of the second season, he has become Commander of
the City Watch in King's Landing.
I don't know why people who upload videos to YouTube would still disable
embedding of their videos on blogs like mine. You'd think they'd want the
publicity which would lead to viewers checking out their other offerings.
At any rate, I can't embed the final episode of 'Perry Mason' - "The Case
Of The Final Fade-Out". This could be Dick Clark's best performance - aside
from being caught in the act of being himself - on TV. And the rest of the cast
was aces as well - including Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner as the
final judge on the series.
So instead of watching it here, you'll just have to follow via the links
below.......
"Stoogemania" has hit the country with the release of the new movie about
the Three Stooges (but this ain't no bio-pic!) However, it never really left
the life-blood of the nation.....
Dick Clark was not the only major name in the music business to pass away this week. Levon Helm succumbed to cancer at the age of 71. Best known for being the drummer and vocalist of The Band on hits like "Up On Cripple Creek" and "The Weight", Helm made some contributions as a member of the League of Themselves performing on 'Saturday Night Live' and here on 'SCTV':
He also contributed a few Toobworld citizens, one to be found in 'Midnight Caller' and the other in 'Seven Brides For Seven Brothers'.
From the Cineverse, you can check him out in 'Coal Miner's Daughter' and 'The Right Stuff'.
“The last 10 miraculous years gave Levon a sort of extended victory lap.
Fans got to tell him how much they loved him, musicians lined up to honor him
and Levon made 3 new albums, each of which won the Grammy Award. It was as if
heaven decided to give Levon an extra decade just so we could all hear his songs
one more time, just to give Levon and the people who loved him a proper chance
to say goodbye. In the whole history of rock ‘n’ roll, no one ever had a greater
encore than Levon Helm.” — Bill Flanagan, 'CBS Sunday Morning'
This commercial spoofs the opening credits of 'The Six Million Dollar Man', but it doesn't Zonk the existence of the 1970's sci-fi action series in the main Toobworld.
What we have here is a man - probably an engineer for Mazda, in fact, probably this guy:
- who is narrating his work journal in much the same way as former spy Michael Westen and U.S. Marshall Mary Shannon are narrating their autobiographies. And as is the case with 'Burn Notice' and 'In Plain Sight', the narrative of this work journal (which is probably him just reading it aloud to check for syntax and spelling errors) is illustrated with scenes from that research and development of the car for the benefit of the Trueniverse audience.
The opening for 'The Six Million Dollar Man' does exist in Toobworld, as a series was made about Colonel Steve Austin by that "UNREEL" division in order to make the general public of Toobworld believe that he was fictional. The theme song for 'The Six Million Dollar Man' heard as the work journal's activities are seen would be from that show within the world of shows and it's the tune that's running through the mind of that engineer at the time while he's reading.
It's because of the following shows set in the main Toobworld that there is a televersion of 'The Six Million Dollar Man' TV show in Toobworld:
Winterfell, Various battlegrounds, Westeros, Mondas
From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki"
Catelyn Stark, nee Tully, is a major character in Game of Thrones. She is played by starring cast member Michelle Fairley and débuts in the first episode of the first season. She was played in the unaired pilot by Jennifer Ehle but the role was recast.
Catelyn is from House Tully and married into House Stark. She is a devoted mother and is fiercely protective of her children. Her husband Eddard Stark is the Lord paramount of the North. He becomes Hand of the King to Robert Baratheon and travels south to the capital.
Following an assassination attempt on her son Bran she follows Eddard to warn him that House Lannister were involved. On her return journey she chances upon Tyrion Lannister and takes him into custody. This incites further conflict between the houses and Eddard is arrested for treason when Cersei Lannister becomes queen regent following the unexpected death of Robert. Catelyn is forced to release Tyrion when he proves his innocence in a trial by combat. She joins her son Robb Stark who has gathered the Stark banners to fight for Eddard's freedom. Eddard is executed on the order of King Joffrey Baratheon and Catelyn promises Robb that they will avenge him.
Catelyn was born into House Tully as the eldest daughter and child of Lord Hoster Tully. She has a younger brother, Edmure, and a younger sister, Lysa. Petyr Baelish was fostered with the Tullts and Catelyn grew up with him. She was betrothed to marry Brandon Stark of Winterfell, but he was brutally murdered by the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen after Prince Rhaegar had kidnapped Brandon's sister Lyanna. Catelyn instead married Brandon's brother, Eddard.
Catelyn and Eddard have five children: Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon. She is unhappy with Eddard's bastard son Jon Snow living with her family in Winterfell, the only source of friction between her and her husband.
