RAPPING HAMM

Here's Jon Hamm of 'Mad Men' fame, rappin' about 'Taxi'.....

BCnU!

"COMMON RAW"?

My thanks to Matthew Hickman of the Crossovers Forum in Facebook for finding this odd bit of a crossover. I think this could belong not only in Earth Prime-Time, but in the Promoverse as well.....

BCnU!

"TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS"

'MAD MEN'

"LADY LAZARUS"

The producers of 'Mad Men' paid a fortune for just a snatch of "Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles for use near the end of the episode. Any piece of psychedlia music might have worked in showing how disconnected Don Draper has become with the times (which are a-changin'), but it was important and integral to the plot that it should be the Beatles. In the advertising game, they would want nothing but the best to promote their clients.

Here's the song in full:

Don couldn't make it past one minute of the song....

BCnU!

A SENDAK SEND-OFF

The late Maurice Sendak made his mark in television as well as in literature and that movie. So here's his collaboration with Carole King......

Good night and may God bless......

AS SEEN ON TV: KATNISS EVERDEEN

KATNISS EVERDEEN

CREATED BY:

Suzanne Collins

FIRST SEEN IN:

"The Hunger Games"

PORTRAYED BY:

Abby Elliott

AS SEEN ON:

'Saturday Night Live'

TV DIMENSION:

Skitlandia

From Wikipedia:

Katniss Everdeen is a fictional character and the protagonist of Suzanne Collins's "The Hunger Games" trilogy. Her name comes from an edible plant called katniss. Jennifer Lawrence portrays Katniss in the movie The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross.

Katniss and her family come from District 12, a coal-mining district that is the poorest and least populated district in the dystopian fictional autocratic nation of Panem. In the course of the first book, "The Hunger Games", Katniss volunteers to replace her sister, Primrose Everdeen, after she is called forth during Reaping Day, a day in which, annually, one male and one female tribute in the age bracket of 12 to 18 are called forth from each district to fight to the death in an arena in what are known as the Hunger Games.

Katniss, after an alliance with Rue from district 11 (who reminded Katniss of her own sister), a 12 year old who had a very touching death, she joins up with fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark, to compete in the Games together. She uses her knowledge of hunting and archery to survive, and the two become the victors after defying the Capitol's attempt to force one to kill the other.

BCnU!

WORD OF THE DAY

SIBILANCE

the state or quality of a hissing sound.

(Used in the penultimate episode this season of 'Person Of Interest' as the code name for a government covert action.)

BCnU!

BEHIND THE SCENES

I wouldn't blame you if you didn't notice, but there was kind of a theme running through the blog this week:

• MONDAY: 'Grey's Anatomy' & 'St. Elsewhere'
• TUESDAY: 'The Rogues' (with a dash of Duke and Van Dyke)
• WEDNESDAY: 'Mayberry'
• THURSDAY: 'Eureka'
• FRIDAY: 'Batman'

Looks like Monday might have one as well, with 'Veep'......

BCnU!

JOKIN' AROUND

'ANGEL'

"SMILE TIME"

I get a lot of leads and inspiration from my comrades in the Crossover Forum over in Facebook, especially from Robert Wronski, Jr. Recently he posted this:

In the Angel episode "Smile Time", one of the lab workers at Wolfram and Hart suspects the Joker is behind the large amount of children dying with big smiles on their faces.

The Joker seems to be mentioned as if he was a real person, which in Toobworld he was. The Clown Prince Of Crime was visually active (and what a visual!) in Gotham City during the 1960's. Before that, he had been a schizophrenic operative named Victor Gervais working for THRUSH in New York City. But then, after the post-traumatic stress of being shot, he was a double agent in Washington, D.C. using the alias of Kinsey Krispen.

After he nearly drowned in a vat of the pasty white liquid which was used in making his statuary, his mind finally snapped and he became the arch-criminal The Joker.

The Joker, like the actor who portrayed him in Earth Prime (Cesar Romero), died at some point around 1994. But that was Gervais/Krispen. "The Joker" is a nom de delit that could have been assumed by any other criminal.

In fact, 1994 on the Toobworld timeline could mean that the Joker might have been murdered by the Trickster, who either wanted the sobriquet for himself, or was just following the tradition of the young gun supplanting the legend.

So The Joker could still be out there, with the same hideous facial distortion and coloring, but with some other splainin as to his origins than the one I supplied for Gervais/Krispen. And since The Joker's real identity was never supplied (within the TV series 'Batman'), then anybody else could now be accepted in Earth Prime-Time as the heir apparent to the Clown Prince.

BCnU!

NUMBERS RUNNING: TOUCHED FOR THE 23rd TIME

'TOUCH'

"ZONE OF EXCLUSION"

Martin Bohm's son has some cosmic affinity for the interconnection of the world through numbers, even though he seems to be very autistic. With each episode small sequences of numbers figure into the lives not only of Martin and his son Jake, but of people around the world who wind up linked to each other in some way.

So with that emphasis on numbers, I knew it would only be a matter of time before one numeral from the 'Lost' sequence showed up in the series....

BCnU!

BATMAN IN THE MODERN TOOBWORLD

The Batman's career as a heroic vigilante working with the Gotham City Police Department was at its peak through the 1960's into the 1980's - at least for Earth Prime-Time (and not necessarily always on screen.)

After that, it was the Toobworld Central conceit that Bruce Wayne retired his secret identity as the "Caped Crusader". And as long as Adam West is alive (if not for longer), then Bruce Wayne continues to reside in Toobworld's Gotham City.

Usually, any mentions in other shows of Bruce Wayne, the Batman, the Batcave, the Bat Signal, etc. could be splained away as being common knowledge, thanks to Bruce Wayne's life story finally going public. Perhaps Wayne published his memoirs which were then adapted for comic books and movies. There may even have been a TV series in Toobworld which starred an actor named Adam West, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Bruce Wayne. (This would be just in case both West and Wayne are referred to in connection to 'Batman'.)

That's how most of the references play out - as pop culture Zonks that can be splained away.

But two new references raise the possibility that the Batman is back on the scene. And most likely there's a new crime-fighter under the cowl.

"Every time Batman goes looking for Justice,

He kills hundreds of people."

Walter Sherman

'The Finder'

"Batman can't catch me"

From a note

left by a serial rapist

'Law & Order: SVU'

Walter Sherman could have been speaking about the Batman of the comics or of the movies, which took liberties with the life story of Bruce Wayne. (It sounds like something that might have happened in a Frank Miller comic story.) Maybe he's been the inspiration for a novel by the Richard Castle of Earth Prime-Time.

As for the line in that rapist's note, Batman was acknowledged to be just as real as the police and the vigilantes and the press, who were all mentioned in the note as well.

Both references treat the Batman as though he's actually still out there fighting crime, just as he was when he was last seen in Toobworld on a regular basis over forty years ago.

I doubt the present day Batman is the original. Bruce Wayne is up in his eighties and everybody already knows about his past life. He'd be easy to track down. And if it was him, he probably killed all those people mentioned by Walter through senile incompetence (NOT incontinence!)

An example of this would be Wayne getting confused and hitting the gas instead of the brakes on the Batmobile. As it is, he probably drives the Batmobile with the left turn signal on all the time.....

Of course we're rejecting that suggestion as it is no way to show respect for the Caped Crusader.

So these two references must be to a new Toobworld character who has assumed the mantle of the Dark Knight. And unlike the straight-arrow Boy Scout whom Bruce Wayne embodied, this Batman is kicking ass and taking names.

So someday the Batman might return to the main Toobworld. And if so, he'll most likely be named Bruce Wayne again. However we could claim that he is the grandson of the original (just in case they decide to do an origin story similar to that told in the comic books.)

By the way, I didn't even consider 'Birds Of Prey' to be part of the main Toobworld. There was too much of that nearly futuristic, slightly dystopian Gotham City that seemed more influenced by the movies. As such, it probably can be found in the "Borderlands" that are adjacent to that part of the Cineverse. Or in the Evil Mirror TV dimension.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: DR. HABER

DR. WILLIAM HABER

CREATED BY:

Ursula K. LeGuin

PORTRAYED BY:

Kevin Conway

AS SEEN IN:

"The Lathe Of Heaven"

TV STATUS:

Recastaway

(But the original)

TV LOCATION:

Portland, Oregon

From Wikipedia:

[SPOILERS!]

[William Haber is] an ambitious psychiatrist and sleep researcher. [George] Orr claims that he has the power to dream "effectively" and Haber, gradually coming to believe it, seeks to use George's power to change the world. His experiments with a biofeedback/EEG machine, nicknamed the Augmentor, enhance Orr's abilities and produce a series of increasingly intolerable alternate worlds, based on an assortment of utopian (and dystopian) premises familiar from other science fiction works:

When Haber directs George to dream a world without racism, the skin of everyone on the planet becomes a uniform light gray.

An attempt to solve the problem of overpopulation proves disastrous when George dreams a devastating plague which wipes out much of humanity and gives the current world a population of one billion rather than seven billion.

George attempts to dream into existence "peace on Earth" – resulting in an alien invasion of the Moon which unites all the nations of Earth against the threat.Each effective dream gives Haber more wealth and status, until late in the book where he is effectively ruler of the world. Orr's economic status also improves, but he is unhappy with Haber's meddling and just wants to let things be. Increasingly frightened by Haber's lust for power and delusions of Godhood, Orr seeks out a lawyer named Heather to represent him against Haber.

Haber, who has George dream another dream in which the aliens are actually peaceful. For a time there is stability, but Haber goes on changing things. His suggestion that George dream away racism results in everyone becoming gray; Heather, whose parents were of different races, never existed in this new reality.

Haber, frustrated with Orr's resistance, uses what he has learned from studying George's brain during his sessions of hypnosis and controlled dreaming, and decides to take on effective dreaming himself. Haber's first effective dream represents a significant break with the realities created by Orr, and threatens to destroy reality altogether. Orr is able to shut off the Augmentor – even as coherent existence is dissolving into undifferentiated chaos – reaching the "off" switch through pure force of will. The world is saved, but random bits of the various recent realities are now jumbled together. Haber's mind is left broken.

BCnU!

HOUR OF THE LUPO

'EUREKA'

"NOCHE DE SUENOS"

Jo Lupo, head of security at Global Dynamics in the town of Eureka, Oregon, said she grew up with no mother and three brothers. This would mean her mother died or left when she was young.

One of those brothers could be Cyrus Lupo, now a detective at the 27th Precinct in New York City.

Near the beginning of this final season of 'Eureka', Jo visited her old family home while on her "walkabout". Because she got back to Eureka fairly quickly after that, I have to assume that she was still in Oregon, maybe in Washington state. So Detective Lupo must have moved to New York City after high school or college. (He went to a Catholic school earlier back in the Pacific Northwest, and is now attending law school at Brooklyn College.)

Like his sister, Cyrus Lupo served overseas - Jo was with the US Army Rangers, while he was working with the NYPD Intelligence Division investigating terrorist cells in the Mideast.

BCnU!

PS:

Jo may have had an identical half-sister by the name of Bowers in Seattle, Washington, (as seen in 'Dead Like Me'). This would suggest each of them had a parent who was fooling around......

WHO YA GONNA VIEW?

'EUREKA'

"FRIENDLY FIRE"

When Douglas Frisco saw Sheriff Carter and Jo Lupo (GD's head of security) decked out in special fire-fighter uniforms complete with helmets, he exclaimed, "You look like the Ghostbusters!"

Before I could reach for my pen, Doug added, "Holly loves that movie."

The "Ghostbusters" don't have a Toobworld counterpart. They exist mainly in the Cineverse, with doppelgangers in the Tooniverse.

Should a live-action team of Ghostbusters come along, more than likely they[d unfortunately have the same names as in the movies. For Toobworld's purposes, it would be preferable if they were new characters in a multiverse continuation. Otherwise, any splainin for characters who finally showed up nearly thirty years after the movie and resultant references might be too far-fetched to believe.

The earliest Toobworld references came out in the same year as the movie - in 1984:

• 'Gimme A Break'
• 'Charles In Charge'
• 'Simon & Simon'
• 'Diff'rent Strokes'
• 'Three's A Crowd'

BCnU!  

ECHOES: THE TRUTH OF THE LIE

"A good story told often enough,

That could become the Truth."

Buffalo Bill Cody

'The Murdoch Mysteries'

"Man tells a lie often enough,

It becomes the Truth."

Esther Walton

'The Waltons'

It could be that what Buffalo Bill told Detective Murdoch that day in the Toronto environs back in the late 1890s was something he said often on his circuit of "The Show Business". And maybe - when she was a young woman - Esther Walton got the chance to attend one of his Wild West shows and heard the legendary frontier man say something similar....

Maybe..... Maybe if I stick to that story long enough, it'll become the Truth......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JAY GATSBY

JAY GATSBY

CREATED BY:

F. Scott Fitzgerald

PORTRAYED BY:

Toby Stephens

AS SEEN IN:

"The Great Gatsby"

TV LOCATION:

West Egg & East Egg, Long Island

TV STATUS:

Recastaway

From Wikipedia:

[SPOILERS!]

Jay Gatsby (born James Gatz) is the title character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. The character has become an archetype of self-made American men seeking to join high society, and the name has become synonymous with successful businessmen with shady pasts in the US, dealing with prohibition.

James Gatz, a bright young man from a poor family in Minnesota, despises the imprecations of poverty so much he drops out of St. Olaf College in Minnesota after only a few weeks because he is ashamed of working as a janitor in order to pay his way. 

Renaming himself Jay Gatsby, he learns the ways of the wealthy while working for a copper tycoon named Dan Cody, but upon Cody's death is cheated out of a $25,000 bequest by Cody's mistress. While training in 1917 to join the infantry and fight in World War I he meets and promptly falls in love with a beautiful young woman named Daisy, who represents everything he is not: she is rich, and she is from a patrician East Coast family.

During the war he reaches the rank of Major, commands the heavy machine guns of his regiment, and is decorated "for valour" for his participation in the bloody battles of Marne and Argonne. After the war, he supposedly attends Trinity College, Oxford, but he lies throughout the story that he did. While there he receives a letter from Daisy telling him she has married the equally aristocratic Tom Buchanan. Rather than admit defeat, he commits his life to becoming a man of the sort of wealth and stature he imagines could win her love.

Gatsby returned home to an America transformed by prohibition in 1919, a period in American history in which gangsters were able to earn vast wealth and sometimes mix with the connected upper classes, an era in which "all the old boundaries that separated the classes were being broken, and a new wave of instant millionaires, like Gatsby himself... mingled with the polo-players who inhabited the stiff enclaves of the established rich of Long Island's gold coast." This era later came to be known as the Jazz Age, after Fitzgerald's own coinage.

Gatz made a fortune in bootlegging thanks to his association with gangsters like Meyer Wolfsheim (patterned after real-life American gangster Arnold Rothstein). With his income Gatsby set himself up in a mansion in the fictional West Egg, Long Island, a haunt of the nouveau riche. This is across an inlet from the old-line money East Egg, where Daisy and Tom Buchanan live. Despite being a bootlegger, Gatsby never drinks (while working on Dan Cody's yacht, he witnessed Cody almost fall overboard in a drunken stupor). Every weekend, Gatsby hosts parties open to all comers, in the hopes that Daisy will attend and he can win her heart. He eventually catches up with Daisy, but fails to convince her to leave Tom.

After his failure to change Daisy's mind is clear to all but him, Daisy drives Gatsby's car with Gatsby in the passenger seat and she accidentally strikes and kills Myrtle, the lover of her husband Tom, in a hit-and-run accident. Myrtle's grieving husband George Wilson tracks the car back to the Buchanan home, where Tom tells him that Gatsby was the owner of the car that killed his wife. Wilson goes to Gatsby's house and murders him, before taking his own life. Only one of Gatsby's high society friends attends his funeral, accompanied by his father and Nick Carraway, the story's narrator and Gatsby's only real friend.

BCnU!

DARK GOOBER

Several people in Mayberry, North Carolina, had exact look-alikes who could be found in other locations, other TV shows.

Andy Taylor had an identical cousin named Andy Sawyer, who was mayor of Greenwood, North Carolina. They were named after the grandfather they shared. ('The New Andy Griffith Show')

Floyd Lawson had a half-brother named Mitchell Lawson (although we only know him addressed as Mitchell.) As seen in "Hocus Pocus And Frisby", an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'.....

Besides her sister Nora, Aunt Bee Taylor had an identical half-sister in Mayberry named Henrietta Perkins. That one of their fathers had fooled around with the other's mother was a scandal which the good people of Mayberry never spoke about... in public. ('The Danny Thomas Show' - "Danny Meets Andy Griffith")

But Goober Pyle was the only citizen of Mayberry to have an evil twin.....

Pierce was the deputy sheriff in a small town further west and south of Mayberry. He was a racist and had hatred in his heart for his fellow man in all walks of life. In fact, it may have been the overwhelming bile in his soul that contributed the most when there was a severe atmospheric change above the town in 1964 - on the morning of a prisoner's execution, the sun never "came up". The sky over the town remained dark as pitch.

The anger and hate in the hearts and souls of the townsfolk contributed and may have caused the "event".  At least that's the way Reverend Anderson saw it:

"In all this darkness, is there anybody who can make out the truth? He hated, and he killed, and now he died. And you hate, and you kill. And now there's not one of you, not one of you, who isn't doomed. Do you know why it's dark? Do you know why it's night all around us? Do you know what the blackness is? It's the hate he felt. The hate you felt. The hate all of us feel. And it's too much of it, it's just too much. And so we had to vomit it up, and now it's coming up all around us and choking us. So much hate, so much misery and hate."

As far as I can imagine, the situation remains that way to this day. The government probably cordoned off the town; perhaps not even letting those people to leave, due to fears of contamination of the skies over the rest of the country. (As the episode ended, the townsfolk learned that it was happening in Dallas and all over the world.)

The town has been forgotten by the general populace of "Telemerica". It's now probably just a an entry in some misplaced dusty old folder in 'The X-Files'.....

BCnU!

THE MAYBERRY TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY

Those townsfolk of Mayberry whom we "knew" and who are still alive (as are the actors who played them) include:

• ANDY TAYLOR (Andy Griffith)
• OPIE TAYLOR (Ron Howard)
• GOMER PYLE - Jim Nabors
• THELMA LOU FIFE* (Betty Lynn)
• SAM JONES (Ken Berry)
• MIKE JONES (Buddy Foster)
• WARREN FERGUSON (Jack Burns)
• DEAN DARLING (Dean Webb)
• RODNEY DARLING (Rodney Dillard)
• DOUG DARLING (Doug Dillard)

(Sometimes also known as Jebbin, Ward, and Frankie. The fourth brother, Othor/Mitch Darling, passed away.)

• CHARLENE DARLING WASH (Maggie Peterson)
• DUD A. WASH (Hoke Howell)

(At one point, Dud was the victim of an early "Quantum Leap" experiment in which either a sailor named Gilligan replaced Dud in his life due to some catastrophe typical of that clumsy oaf, or maybe it was Maynard G. Krebs' "expanded" consciousness took over Dud's life.)

Some of them may have moved away, but I'm sure they - like many of us - carry a little bit of Mayberry in their hearts.

BCnU!

* I'd like to think Barney did the right and finally married Thelma Lou.....

TVXOHOF - 05/2012(A): GOOBER PYLE

There will always be people living in Mayberry, North Carolina, over in Toobworld. But those that we actually "knew".....?

The population dropped by one the other day with the passing of George Lindsey, who played Goober Pyle on 'The Andy Griffith Show' and 'Mayberry RFD', and then returned over a decade later to the character with the 1980s TV reunion movie "Return To Mayberry".

'Gomer Pyle, USMC' got "A Visit From Cousin Goober" when he was stationed at Fort Henderson, and he traveled to Greenwood, North Carolina, with Howard Sprague and Emmett Clark to visit Mayor Andy Sawyer, the identical cousin of Andy Taylor (as seen in 'The New Andy Griffith Show'.)

Lindsey also played Goober Pyle on the syndicated variety show 'Hee Haw' (sort of a cornpone 'Laugh-In'). So this places a Goober doppleganger in the sketch comedy dimension of Skitlandia.

And my fellow crossoverist Robert Wronski has pointed out that the actor was listed in the credits for "Take This Job And Shove It" as "Man At Gas Station". Robert's theory is that this could be considered as a movie version of Goober. If so, for the Toobworld Dynamic he'd be the Goober of the Cineverse.

So that gives Goober Pyle more than enough credits to join Andy & Opie, Aunt Bee, and Barney Fife (who just joined last month!) in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. And as is our tradition now here at Toobworld Central, when such an actor passes away, we induct their character right away.

"You're one of us now, Goob.
One of us... one of us.... one of us...."

So welcome to the Hall of Fame, Goob.

Good night and may God bless......

AS SEEN ON TV: SEVEN LITTLE MONSTERS

"SEVEN LITTLE MONSTERS"

CREATED BY:

Maurice Sendak

VOICED BY:

Sean Cullen ... Five & Others
Dwayne Hill ... Three
Debra McGrath ... Mama
Colin Mochrie ... Two
Michele Scarabelli ... Six
Joanne Vannicola ... One

From the IMDb.com:

This children animated series follow seven little monsters, whom are apparently not little but big ones, in their adventures on learning about life. And each monsters' name is an number, 1-7.

• One, the eldest of all of them, as well as the most athletic and yet to be the tattletale of the siblings.
• Two, the most helpful out of the monster with a long nose.
• Three, the most dramatic of the seven, and usually seen taking on a different persona in each episode.
• Four, the middle child who is the epitome of rambunctious angst in his family.
• Five, the childish sibling who does weird things with his tongue. He usually seen with Four.
• Six, who is the resident ballerina, and believes she's the most beautiful monster.
• And the youngest, Seven, who can unscrew his head. Despite his frightful appearance as well as be the youngest, he is the tallest amongst his siblings and is the most gentle as well. 

By rocknrollunderdawg

Today's ASOTV post is dedicated to the memory of Maurice Sendak, who passed away yesterday at the age of 83.

Good night and may God bless.......

AS SEEN ON TV: THE WIZARD OF OZ

THE WIZARD OF OZ

CREATED BY:

L. Frank Baum

VOICED BY:

Carl Banas

('The Tales Of The Wizard Of Oz')

Daws Butler

('Off To See The Wizard')

From Wikipedia:

The Wizard of Oz, known during his reign as The Great and Powerful Oz, is the epithet of Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum.

The Wizard of Oz is the title character of the first book. In that book, the characters journey to him for assistance with their problems. It is later revealed that he is a humbug circus performer named Oscar Dibbs from Omaha, Nebraska; and that he had usurped Ozma's throne with the assistance of Mombi. The Wizard later returns to Oz in the fourth book and later learns real magic from Princess Ozma.

Two for Tuesday!

BCnU!

TDVDS@50: NEWS-TIME

In that same debut episode of 'The Rogues', another publication appeared which I could use to make a connection with 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'.

And a good thing too, since I need a post about the greatest sitcom ever for this month!

A picture of a reclusive millionaire was featured in an issue of News-Time magazine (August 23, 1964 edition). But the photo was replaced in a particular copy of the magazine with that of cousin Alex Fleming, posing as the millionaire.

 

News-Time is the same magazine which sent a reporter to write about Alan Brady. Only, Laura Petrie made it look as though Rob was the true genius of the show.

Both issues were published in 1964 (as far as Toobworld is concerned.) The cover story on Alan Brady came out at the beginning of the year, while the issue featuring "Colin Lassiter" was dated August 23.  By the time of the August edition, the masthead for the magazine had a change in its font - probably to boost sales.

(August is the eighth month of the year. 8-23...... There are two numbers from the 'Lost' sequence again.....)

And I realize it's probably just me, but doesn't the cover photo of Alan Brady look like Glenn Close......?

If it didn't before, I think this might be something you now can't "un-see".....

BCnU!

CHRONICLE OF MISSING LINKS III

With that first episode of 'The Rogues', I found a link that could be made to several other TV series, but primarily to 'The Patty Duke Show'.

The headline of the most recent edition of the New York Chronicle (Paris edition) - as of September, 1964 - nearly threw the latest scheme by the Fleming-St. Clair family for a loop.

Patty Lane's father (and Cathy Lane's uncle) Martin Lane was the editor of the NY Chronicle around that same time.

I wrote about the Chronicle here.

BCnU!

REGARDING "THE ROGUES"

My latest series for lunch hour viewing at work is a ten episode compilation of 'The Rogues'. It's the story of an international family of swindlers, led by David Niven, Gig Young, and Charles Boyer, with Robert Coote and Gladys Cooper providing backup from the British base of operations.  It sets the standard for later shows like 'Leverage' and 'Hustle'.

When I was much younger and reading all my books on TV history, 'The Rogues' was one of those shows I always wished I had the chance to see.  (Back in 1964, my family was primarily a CBS family......)  So this is another reason I love the DVD age which is always in search of TV nuggets like this!

I started off with "The Personal Touch", and it felt like the series launch that it was. (I'm so accustomed to every pilot episode simply being called "Pilot", which I detest!) All of the principles appeared (although Boyer was a voice-over), but check out this guest cast:

Walter Matthau

Dina Merrill

Alfred Ryder

John Dehner

With a great supporting cast of characters:

Marcel Hillaire

John Banner

Dabbs Greer

Johnny Silver

And so far, the episodes are maintaining that level of quality.

BCnU!

STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO

There was one other comment in that 'Grey's Anatomy' thread that spoke to my televisiological O'Bsessions:

As a San Franciscan, I can tell you one flaw in the "rush me to the Boards" plotline. Taxis are ALLOWED in the bus lane. It's for both Taxis and Buses. That whole part about "that lanes for buses" was poorly researched. Come on, writers!
GrlJam

As Muskie Muskrat would say in those old 'Deputy Dawg' cartoons - It's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that traffic regulations in Tele-Frisco could be different from those in the San Francisco of the real world.....

BCnU!

THE CRAIG LIST

Normally I don't read the comment threads attached to various reviews and recaps I read online. I don't mind learning what various critics and columnists may think about a particular episode, but I don't want to be influenced any farther than that when it comes to the posts I may write about the same subject.

But then I read this in the Entertainment Weekly recap of the latest episode of 'Grey's Anatomy' ("Let The Bad Times Roll"):

In Cristina's neck of the woods, she found herself sitting opposite none other than Mr. Feeny. (Well, technically, it was guest star William Daniels -- but let me have my moment.)

It didn't surprise me - I've found a lot of online reviewers nowadays suffer from amnesia when it comes to any television program that was broadcast before 1990. It should have obvious to anyone who writes about the medium with any authority that Daniels was supposed to suggest that he was appearing as Dr. Mark Craig from the classic crossover series 'St. Elsewhere'!

So before I scribbled out my own castigating comment, I decided to surf the responses - using "Craig" as my search term so I wouldn't have to read all the dreck about the sex scene in the bathroom, the dying old friend, and Meredith's vomit marathon. (As you can see, I wasn't entirely successful.)

And thankfully, most EW readers rallied to the cause:

Note to reviewer. It may not have been nice for Christina to be yelling at Mr, Feeny but in a past life, he was a doctor as well. Please check out a classic show: St. Elsewhere.
Jeff Geller

I did love that William Daniels was one of the examiners. Not because of Boy Meets World - I never watched that show - but because of his years on St. Elsewhere.
Jennifer

Actually, Christina was being tested by Dr. Mark Craig from St. Elsewhere. And William Daniels did a wonderful job with the verbal smackdown at the early end to the exam.
Deborah

Yeah, it kinda makes me sad seeing all the references to Mr. Feeny everywhere when Daniels portrayed what I assume to be TVs original Cardio God.
KA

Having William Daniels as an examiner was a classy nod to St. Elsewhere, the first "realistic" hospital show that paved the way for ER and Grey's. I'm only sorry Daniels didn't get a chance to answer to "Dr. Craig" one more time.
JaneC

Thank heaven someone else is old enough to understand the beauty of the casting of William Daniels. Dr. Craig was St. Elsewhere's Christina! The same kind of arrogant, ambitious, talented doctor that we love/hate with Christina.
Guest

Even if the recapper didn't pick up on the obvious reference to the two-time winner of the Cushing Left Anterior Decending Artery award winner, some EW editor should have set the young buck straight. It would be like Don Knotts guesting on some series and referring to him as the landlord on Three's Company, instead of Deputy Barney Fife.
RockGolf

I agree. Yeah--the "Boy Meets World" reference(s) by EW staff is cute (and a fair pop-cultural callback) but this is "Grey's Anatomy", Christina Yang and Dr. MARK CRAIG from "ST. ELSEWHERE"...i.e. the most appropriate stunt casting of the entire series! Focusing on the Mr. Feeny aspect more than acknowledging the pure awesomeness of this historic television cardio god connection is *almost* like the young Twitter twits in Twitterverse questioning the significance of a Johnny Depp cameo in the new "21 Jumpstreet".
Nic

St. Elsewhere ended almost 25 years ago and the cast of the show are not primarily remembered for their roles on it. Considering 18-49 is the demographic both shows aimed for the VAST majority of people watching Grey's would have been too young or not even alive to watch it. Referencing Mr. Feeny isn't being disrespectful to the in joke about St. Elsewhere. Most viewers know Mr. Feeny and most would never have heard of Dr. Craig. It was a great connection to make for those who got it, it is just that it is a very dated reference.
LisaP

The importance of William Daniels was not that he was Mr. Feeney -- but that he played Dr. Mark Craig in St. Elsewhere and was chief of cardiology.
Fan of St. Elsewhere

I think the intelligence and irony of his casting is lost of probably 80% of Grey's viewership. St. Elsewhere was on between 1982-1988, most of the viewers weren't even born yet, or were old enough to appreciate a show like that.
Eva

Seeing William Daniels (one of my favorite actors from St. Elsewhere) made my night. Ed Begley Jr. (Erhlich) should've made a cameo!
Lucey

MR. FEENY!
AND OH MY GOD....before everyone attacks me, I know he was also on St. Elsewhere. Doesn't mean I can't have some love for Mr. Feeny.
K8910

I can't believe you didn't recognize that the Doctor who was testing Cristina was none other than arrogant surgeon Mark Craig, from the 1980s show St. Elsewhere. Google him . . . I'll wait . . .
Smarty

St. Elsewhere went off the air in 1988 (I googled). I can guarantee I was not watching hospital dramas when I was 10. I guarantee there are a lot of younger viewers that have never watched that show and know him best as Mr. Feeny. I'm not even that young, I'm 34 but the first hospital drama I watched was ER in 94.
Dianne

Exactly! I was 5 when it went off the air. All these grumpy OLD ppl commenting today
Melizaberry

Sad for you. I'm two years younger than you and distinctly remember St. Elsewhere watching. Great show! You missed out.
Kelly

Absolute casting genius to have William Daniels play an examiner for Christina's cardiac boards. He is supposed to be a respected heart surgeon (hence running Christina's board examination). Daniels played Dr. Craig on St. Elsewhere, who was a, wait for it, heart surgeon!! The fact that the recapper focused on his stint on 'Boy Meets World' shows us the writer's depth. Oy.
BQuick, BConcise, BSeated

Cristina's interrogator was not Mr. Feeny. It was Dr. Mark Craig from St. Elegius Hospital in Boston. And it was always perfectly all right to be rude to Dr. Craig. He was an obnoxious surgeon--the generational equivalent of Cristina Yang--and when people were rude to him it made him a better man. Oh, I hope Shonda brings William Daniels back next season, as Dr. Craig! He and Cristina are a riot together!
Anewman

I hope they bring him back as a patient who specifically asks for Yang because "in my 25 years of board certifications, you're the first person not to back down when you were right. Cardiac surgery is war. What you did took balls the size of cannons. That's why I want you on this procedure."
RockGolf

The minute Mr. Feeny showed up, I paused the show and did Eric's Feeny call. Might have scared my neighbors a little, but so worth it.
Laura

NO! NO! NO! That wasn't Mr Feeny! That was Dr. Mark Craig from St Eligius Hospital in Boston, developer of the Craig 9000 artificial heart and two-time winner of the Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery award.

Get it right, Ehrlich!
RockGolf

Mr. Feeney. Really? How about Dr. Mark Craig, cocky Dr from hell from St. Elsewhere? Does that make a little more sense?
I Didn't Think I Was THAT Old!

William Daniels played the one of the top doctors in Boston on St. Elsewhere years ago and I don't know who Mr. Feeney is but as soon as I saw him I figured that was why they chose him for the role, because he has "MD" credibility with lots of folks who remember the series ( as I do!) Whatever reason they chose him, it was a pleasure to see him again -- he's a fabulous actor
SandyPo

I salute everybody who tried to set the record straight, especially RockGolf. 

Down with the Feenyians!

BCnU!

THE "GREY'S ANATOMY" - "ST. ELSEWHERE" CROSSOVER

'GREY'S ANATOMY'

"LET THE BAD TIMES ROLL"

Thanks to a head's-up warning from Brent McKee, blogmaster of "I Am A Child Of Television" (Link is to the left, Team Toobworld!), I watched the latest episode of 'Grey's Anatomy' on Hulu......

Watching the previews at the end of tonight's "Grey's Anatomy" offered a huge possible X-over. Next week the various residents will be doing their surgical board exams. This includes Christina who is of course a heart surgeon. It appears that one of her board examiners is played by William Daniels! And of course William Daniels played Mark Craig on "St. Elsewhere"!! Naturally we'll know more next week, but I'm sure we can all see the implications here.

It was a good tip! As you can see from the following frame grabs, the character played by William Daniels was not identified by name:

From TVRage.com

From the "Grey's Anatomy" Wiki

So for all intents and purposes, I believe he was playing Dr. Mark Craig - older, quieter, but no less acerbic. And that he - as a "cardio god" (as one commenter at the Entertainment Weekly recap described him) - was in charge of Dr. Cristina Yang's three sessions made his identification as Dr. Mark Craig even stronger.

The "boards" were conducted in San Francisco, with doctors flown in from all over the country to examine each applicant (not just those residents from Seattle Grace). So there's no obstruction to Dr. Craig flying in from Cleveland to take part. (I'm assuming he was still in Cleveland - by the end of 'St. Elsewhere' in 1988, his wife had taken a post in the city and so he reluctantly agreed to move with her.

By the way, I'm one of those crossoverists who does not subscribe to the Westphallian Universe Theory- the belief that all of the 'St. Elsewhere' series took place in the mind of an autistic boy. For me, the dream-world began as Tommy Westphall was looking out the window and he began imagining a world in which Dr. Auschlander was still alive (and his grandfather to boot), while his father, Dr. Donald Westphall, was now a construction worker.

So this appearance by Dr. Craig was the real deal.

This just may be the top crossover of the year, but I don't mind listing it as the Best Theoretical Crossover for Toobits Awards consideration.  It also puts Dr. Craig in contention for the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.....

Thanks, Brent!  I never would have seen this had it not been for you.  'Grey's Anatomy' just isn't my cuppa (although I had no complaints about watching the bathroom sex scene!)

BCnU!