CLASSIC TV THEATER - "THE JIM BACKUS SHOW" AKA "HOT OFF THE WIRE"

As promised yesterday, here is today's episode of classic TV:

So by hiring Maurice Gosfield as the guest star in this episode, the creators of this show wanted their cake without having to pay for it.  They dressed him like Duane Doberman, had him act like Duane Doberman, and they even made a reference to the old 'Bilko' show when he told Mike O'Toole that he reminded him of his old sergeant.

I guess it was the eyeglasses and Mike's barking of the marching orders......

But I guess they didn't want to pay Nat Hiken for the use of the character of Duane Doberman, so they created a similar soldier by the suggestive name of Dilly Dillingham.

Trying to work up a splainin in which he really is Private Doberman with an alias (or vice versa for Dillingham) would violate the tenet of Occam's Razor.  Doberman/Dillingham isn't really that smart to pull off such a stunt and government records would have put the lie to such a ploy.

But they could be "Identical Cousins".  As established in 'The Patty Duke Show', Identical Cousins Patty and Cathy Lane were the off-spring of twin brothers Martin and Kenneth Lane.  But "Identical Cousins" for Toobworld has become a euphemism for two characters who look exactly alike because one of their parents from both families cheated on their marriage vows in true soap opera style.

So either Duane's father and Dilly's mother or vice versa carried on an affair that led to the birth of an identical half brother to the other.

Doberman and Dilly's paths may have crossed at some point during their Army careers.  Dilly may even have served under Bilko at some point, which is why he thought of the motor pool sergeant during this episode.  It's just something that falls under the Chekov-Khan Encounter rule - it happened; we just didn't get the chance to see it on our TV screens.

I'm hoping this is something I can do every week, presenting a classic TV episode and then mining it for its Toobworld gold.  I just have to find episodes that spark the Toobworld thought process......

BCnU!