MUSEUM PIECE - THE ANDREWS SISTERS MEET THE SUPREMES

One last video celebration of Black History Month via the League of Themselves.  (And in the process, a tip of the hat to Patty Andrews, who recently passed away......)

O'BSERVATIONS - OBAMA'S "JEDI MIND-MELD"

Talking about the obstinance from the Republicans in Congress in forcing the budget cuts, President Obama said Friday:

"[E]ven though most people agree that I’m being reasonable, that most people agree I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don’t take it means that I should somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what’s right."

That blending of 'Star Trek' with "Star Wars" set the social media fandoms into high gear as fans of both franchises howled in protest.

But I say, what's the big deal?

The world of "Star Wars" exists in the TV Universe. This is evidenced by at the very least the Ewoks TV movie and - although George Lucas will hate that I claim this - the live action segments of the "Star Wars" holiday special. Plus there were the many appearances by C-3PO and R2-D2 in commercials and even 'The Muppet Show'. (Somehow Lucas got hold of the Empire's history in a far away galaxy a long time ago and capitalized on it.)

We know the Doctor visited Vulcan in an early episode of 'Doctor Who' and later used the Vulcan mind-meld. So why couldn't some Jedi knights visited our galaxy and learned the mind-meld themselves. And even if they didn't, why couldn't they have developed their own form of mind-meld and included it in their repertoire of Jedi mind tricks.

Remember, it's mind tricks, not just one trick. A mind-meld could be one of those.

It's a situation like this that needs the Skitlandian televersion of William Shatner to tell those who got upset to "get a life"!

BCnU!

"THE HONEYMOONERS" AROUND THE WORLD

There are a lot of shows which have originated in the United States, but which have then been adapted for various foreign markets. (And America has done the same, probably beginning with 'All In The Family', adapted from the British 'Til Death Do Us Part'.)

Some TV shows have counterparts all over the world, but as long as cultural differences have been addressed - and most importantly, the names of the characters have been changed! - then they can all exist in the same TV dimension of Toobworld. (This is why I had to banish the Americanized 'Being Human' to another dimension - it was too specifically similar to the original British version. The same with 'Shameless', where the family had the same names as in the original.)

Here's a video compilation of a good example - several different incarnations of seminal classic 'The Honeymooners', yet all of them can remain in Earth Prime-Time. (Although as you'll see, some of the versions had casting changes. Those second versions would be from the Land of Remakes or from Evil Toobworld, perhaps. But definitely from an alternate TV dimension.)

Thanks to my Little Buddy Sean Cleary, currently living in Poland, for finding this........

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - SAMUEL L. JACKSON

As we head into Saturday.....

SAMUEL L. JACKSON

From Wikipedia:

Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film "Goodfellas" before meeting his mentor, Morgan Freeman, and the director Spike Lee. After gaining critical acclaim for his role in "Jungle Fever" in 1991, he appeared in films such as "Patriot Games", "Amos & Andrew", "True Romance" and "Jurassic Park". In 1994, he was cast as Jules Winnfield in "Pulp Fiction", and his performance received several award nominations and critical acclaim. Jackson has since appeared in over 100 films.

AS SEEN IN:

'Saturday Night Live'

["Monologue"]

{December 15, 2012 - Martin Short host}

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

AS SEEN ON:

'Saturday Night Live'

["What Up With That?"]

{Same episode}

TV DIMENSION:

Skitlandia

TWIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES

AP - One-time Jedi Master Samuel L. Jackson nearly dropped the f-bomb on 'Saturday Night Live' [December 15, 2012].

Pretending to be miffed at getting interrupted as a guest on the mock talk show “What Up with That?” Jackson said what sounded very much like an F-bomb, followed by the term sometimes shortened to “B.S.”

Playing the host of “What Up with That?” Kenan Thompson looked startled by Jackson’s vulgarities but kept going.

“C’mon, Sam. That costs money!” he quipped, cracking up the studio audience.

Moments after the show ended, Jackson tried to explain in a Twitter posting.

“I only said FUH,” he insisted, adding that Thompson was supposed to cut him off with his second eruption, but “blew it!!”

"FUH!"

O'BSERVATIONS:

It is accepted that 'Saturday Night Live' is a TV show in Toobworld as well. So anything that happens during the monologue or the closing sign-off would be considered part of Earth Prime-Time, seen by the audience in Toobworld as well as in the Trueniverse.

So, on December 15, 2012, when Martin Short sang his way through the hallways at Studio 8H, he was surprised/shocked/scared to see the menacing Samuel L. Jackson in the corridor. That would be Jackson's televersion in the main Toobworld.

But later, when Samuel L. was appearing on the latest installment of "What Up With That?", that was a TV show within a TV show firmly rooted in the sketch comedy dimension of Skitlandia.

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD - BONNIE FRANKLIN

From The New York Times:

By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Bonnie Franklin, whose portrayal of a pert but determined Ann Romano on the television show “One Day at a Time” in the 1970s and ’80s spun laughter out of the tribulations of a divorced woman juggling parenting, career, love life and feminist convictions, died on Friday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 69.

Good night and may God bless.....

THEORIES OF RELATEEVEETY: SISTER, SISTER

 

Sister Jacqueline was a nun at the convent of San Tanco in Puerto Rico. She served as a protective aunt figure for novice Sister Bertrille and tried to help her, most times unwillingly, in her schemes which involved the younger nun's ability to fly in her cornet.

Sister Jacqueline had an identical cousin from another (unidentified) country who was another family member to join an order of nuns. Sister Annette* looks to have been a traditional Sister of Mercy who was doing missionary work in the African country of Katara. Despite being so far outside the mainstream, Sister Annette was very worldly. Her greatest material joy came from being the president of the Dale Robertson fan club - and thanks to OSI agent Steve Austin, she was able to meet the TV Western star.  (More on that next week in our League of Themselves tribute to Mr. Robertson.)

Sister Jacqueline had a sister, Mrs. Eleanor Bateman, who also resembled her.  She was the imperious head of the secretarial pool for all the government agencies in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, we never learned what her maiden name was. We then would have known the last name for Sister Jacqueline at least.  (But when it comes to that, Sister Jacqueline's name may have been taken when she joined her order......)

SHOWS CITED:

'The Flying Nun'

'The Six Million Dollar Man' - "Little Orphan Airplane"

'The Rockford Files' - "The Battle-Ax And The Exploding Cigar"

Marge Redmond played all three roles.  Originally I had Sisters Jacqueline and Annette as actual sisters as well as "sisters".  But Caeric ArcLight informs me that not only did Sister Annette have an accent, but that they stated they were not from America.  I could have splained my way around the accent - too long among the Kataran population - but being non-American.  Still, if Corporal Randolph Agarn could have identical-looking family members from all over the world.....

BCnU!

* Most online sites have her name listed as "Annett", while the show's wikia had it as "Anneti".  But a DVD frame grab supplied by Caeric ArcLight had a caption that listed it as I would expect it to be spelled - "Annette".

My thanks to fellow Crossoverist Caeric ArcLight for all of his help on this post.  Without his help, I never would have known about Sister Annette......

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - T.O.

TERRELL OWENS

From Wikipedia:

Terrell Eldorado Owens (born December 7, 1973) is an American football wide receiver for the National Football League (NFL). A six-time Pro Bowl selection, Owens holds or shares several National Football League records, and features in the all-time top-five in several receiving categories, including yards and touchdowns.

Popularly known by his initials, T.O., Owens is as renowned for his flamboyant touchdown celebrations and public persona as he is for his talent on the field. His actions on and off the field have led to many league fines, as well as frequent penalties for his team.

AS SEEN IN:

'Go On'

["Pilot"

&

"Comeback Player Of The Year"

&

"Go Deep"]

O'BSERVATIONS:

T.O.'s appearance in the pilot episode is what gave me the idea to devote the entire month of February to the black celebrities who played themselves in TV shows. As it turns out, however, I never got around to using him in the shortest month. So better late than ever....

BCnU!

THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - HOW ROOD!

Carlton Rood was a highly successful defense attorney in New York City whose clientele consisted mostly of the criminal element. It was rare for any of his clients to ever get convicted, but this wasn't entirely due to his ability to convince the jury to accept his interpretation of the facts in the case.

Sometimes key witnesses met with untimely ends, but Carlton Rood could never be implicated as having been involved.

Simon Templar set up a con to get a conviction against one of Rood's clients, which led to the death of Carlton Rood - thus removing him from the scene as a shady lawyer. (I'm still not sure if this was the intended result of Templar's scheme.)

Carlton Rood had a brother who was also in the legal system. Once a lawyer himself, the older Rood got elected to the bench and served as a judge in New York City. Judge Rood was just as corrupt as his brother Carlton, and he often used his position to his own advantage. He not only ruled on cases from which he could profit, but he also used great influence to persuade politicians and elected officials to change laws so that he could profit.

After the death of his brother, Judge Rood found his stellar career begin to dim. A whisper campaign was mounted against him with claims that he was just as crooked as his brother. Former friends in positions of power stopped returning his calls. It looked as though he was finally going to lose a re-election.

Judge Rood was approached by a secret organization with an offer to join them. Accepting the dire circumstances of his future as it currently stood, the Judge accepted their offer. The judge was brought into the organization and they made it look like he completely vanished from the world, like Judge Crater before him.

For a few years, Judge Rood served as a bureaucratic functionary in the organization. But then in the late 1960's, he was given charge of a new project - he would be in charge of a village full of kidnapped operatives and any others with government secrets that needed to be extracted.

And these "Villagers" were from governments all over the world, for this Village was a microcosm of the world. (Like so many before him, the Judge never knew for what side the organization worked. And it probably didn't matter.

The Judge was installed as the new "Number Two" of the Village and given one specific task before all others - more than on any other prisoner, Number Two was to focus on Number Six and force him to reveal why he resigned. It was believed that if they could break the resolve of Number Six and make him answer that, then they could get all his secrets.

The Judge used a deadly mind control experiment with a live action role playing game of "Cowboy". But the role-playing was just as intense for the other participants working for the Judge - although Number Six never broke, the others did. One of his assistants went mad and then choked the girl working with him to death before plunging to his own demise.

It was not long afterwards that the Judge was removed from his office in the Green Dome building and never seen again in the world.

Unless of course he changed his name and resurfaced somewhere else, leading a new life....

SHOWS CITED:

• 'The Saint' - "Element Of Doubt"
• 'The Prisoner' - "Living In Harmony"

David Bauer played both roles.......

 

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - BILLY DEE OCHO

Here we are, the last day of this abbreviated month, and of course we have to end our salute to the black celebrities who played themselves in TV shows for Black History Month with the February inductee into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame......

BILLY DEE WILLIAMS

AS SEEN IN:

'Robot Chicken'

["P.S. Yes, In That Way"]

TV DIMENSION:

Alternate Toobworld for Stop Motion Dolls - er, Action Figures

This doesn't mean we're done with the salute to black celebrities, however. We're going to play out the week with a few more since we had so many from which to choose for this theme. And then we'll wrap it up on Sunday with one last taste of Mr. Billy Dee goodness.

BCnU!

SUPER SIX LIST - TV CHARACTERS WHO SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS

SIX TV CHARACTERS 

WHOSE REAL NAMES ARE UNKNOWN

1] THE DOCTOR - 'Doctor Who'

Note: As we enter the show's fiftieth anniversary year, the answer to the question "Doctor Who?" may finally be answered.

2] THE WAITRESS - 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia'

3] 'THE VIRGINIAN'

Note: It's amazing that in all the years the show was on the air, never once did the Virginian's fellow ranch hands call him by name. Sometimes people addressed him simply as "Cowboy".

4] 'STINGRAY'

Note: He was referred to as "Ray", but that was because of his car.

5] AGENT 99 - 'Get Smart'

Note: In the Toobworld Dynamic, her real name is Mandy Stephenson, a character played by Barbara Feldon in 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' She used an alias of "Susan Hilton" in one episode of 'Get Smart'. And - again according to my theories in the Toobworld Dynamic, she used the alias of Lauren Hudson when having a once-a-year fling with Sam Malone on 'Cheers'. (By that point she was a United States senator and needed to protect her secret.)

6] NUMBER SIX, 'The Prisoner'

Note: Officially we don't know what his name was, but that was for purely outside-the-box legal reasons. I think we can all agree that he was actually John Drake of 'Danger Man'.

I originally thought I might use Mr. Big in this list, but one of the movie sequels - which have been absorbed into the TV Universe - revealed his name to be John James Preston. Meh. It should have remained a secret if it was going to be that boring.......

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - WENDY WILLIAMS

Tonight! On NBC!

WENDY WILLIAMS

From Wikipedia:
Wendy Williams Hunter (born Wendy Joan Williams; July 18, 1964) is an American media personality, actress and New York Times best-selling author. She hosts her own syndicated talk show, 'The Wendy Williams Show'. Williams has gained notoriety for her on-air spats with celebrities. Williams was a contestant on the twelfth season of 'Dancing with the Stars'. She was eliminated on April 5, 2011. Wendy Williams also sells a line of jewelry products on the home shopping network, QVC, called "Adorn by Wendy Williams".

AS SEEN IN:
'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'
["Funny Valentine"]

From NBC.com:
When a famous rapper brutally assaults his girlfriend, the SVU squad must battle music industry politics in pursuit of justice. Dave Navarro, Jeffrey Tambor, Wendy Williams and Perez Hilton guest star.

BCnU!

LUCKY/QUEEN

Ellery Queen and Mr. Lucky both began life in the printed page- cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee created Ellery Queen, and Milton Holmes wrote the story which introduced Mr. Lucky to the world. So their home-base would be the fictional universe of BookWorld.

They both could next be found in the movie world known as the Cineverse. Ellery Queen had more incarnations, with most of his films starring William Gargan or Ralph Bellamy in the role. There was only one version of Lucky, but he was played by Cary Grant, so there yuh go......

And then we come to my favorite realm - the fictional universe for television which I have dubbed "Toobworld".

Although there have been plenty of incarnations of Ellery Queen in the TV Universe, Toobworld Central has broken its own rule and decreed that the first version is NOT the official portrayal for Earth Prime-Time. That honor goes to the 1975 adaptation which starred Jim Hutton. That show got the character, the time period, and most importantly the quality of the mysteries perfectly.

And of those three fictional universes - BookWorld, the Cineverse, and Toobworld - it's only in Earth Prime-Time where it can be theoretically established that Ellery Queen and Mr. Lucky share the same world. They might even know each other.

Here's what I wrote in Facebook last week:

In the "Gordon Caper" episode of "Mr. Lucky", he called Lt. Rovacs to report a murder. But the Lieutenant wanted to know who was calling. "What did you tell him?" asked his assistant Andamo (grandson of Artemus Gordon.) "I said I was Ellery Queen," replied Lucky. "I don't think he believed me."

Nothing about that disputes the existence of EQ in Lucky's world.....

Too often these days, TV writers feel they have to over-explain their references, and in doing so, they just destroy the effect of that reference. It also ruins the chance to use those references as connections.

But Lucky never mentioned Ellery Queen as a fictional character. It could easily be interpreted as a mention of a "real" person in Toobworld. Perhaps Lucky actually knows Ellery Queen!

And that's the way I'm going to consider it for the Toobworld Dynamic!

Here's the actual episode if you want to see it in full. The reference to Ellery Queen occurs starting at the 8:50 mark....

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - SUE SIMMONS

SUE SIMMONS

Last year, long-time WNBC-4 news anchor Sue Simmons was let go from the New York City TV station when her contract expired, ending a very long and colorful tenure with the Live at Five broadcast.

From Wikipedia:

Sue Simmons (born May 27, 1942) is a former news anchor who was best known for being the lead female anchor at WNBC in New York City from 1980-2012. Her contract with WNBC expired in June 2012 and WNBC announced that it would not renew it. Her final broadcast was on June 15, 2012, in which she received farewells from long time co-workers, as well as from numerous sports figures and celebrities.

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

AS SEEN IN:

'30 Rock'

["My Whole Life Is Thunder"]

'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'

["Lost Reputation"

&

"Above Suspicion"]

"Exiled" (the 'Law & Order' spin-off TV movie)

TV DIMENSION:

The 'Elementary' alternate dimension

AS SEEN IN:

'Elementary'

["Leviathan"]

O'BSERVATIONS:

In Earth Prime-Time, Sue Simmons was the newswoman at WNBC-4 just as she was in the Trueniverse - at least until June of last year. With the 'Law & Order' franchise appearances, we saw her at that job. (Below is a behind the scenes picture from one of her 'SVU' appearances.)

But by the time she appeared on '30 Rock', she had already been let go from her position.

When she appeared at that empowered women's forum lunch, she seemed to have some residual resentment about what happened to her.

And based on that '30 Rock' frame-grab, her televersion seemed to be hitting the lunch-sauce a bit too much.....

Meanwhile, over in a still-undetermined alternate TV dimension, Sue Simmons bounced back from her firing at Channel 4 with a new job at Channel 10.

BCnU!

TELE-QUICKES - AT THE OSCARS 2

This is Sean Fine and his partner. They won the Oscar for producing the short documentary film "Inocente".

I gave him a new title at the party last night:

"Unfrozen Caveman Producer"

TELE-QUICKIES - AT THE OSCARS......

Of course this was the favorite Oscar moment for Toobworld Central:

Technically, I suppose this is the Skitlandia version of Captain Kirk. But could the argument be made that he's from the future of Earth Prime-Time?

Let me know what you think, Team Toobworld.......

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - BILLY DEE SEVEN

BILLY DEE WILLIAMS

AS SEEN IN:

'The Life And Times Of Tim'

["Keith To The Rescue"]

TV DIMENSION:

The Tooniverse

From HBO:

Billy Dee played the Boss in the TV production.....

BCnU!

SUPER BOWL BLIPVERTS 2013 - GOT MILK?

Let's take a look at another one of the Super Bowl commercials from this year.....

"We're sworn to protect The City.

And we're just going to have to face it:

that includes the sewers."

'The Tick'

Had it not been for the alien invasion at the end of this blipvert, I would have accepted it as part of Earth Prime-Time with no hesitation. Up to that point, everything that happened in the City could have happened in some unnamed sitcom location. All just part of a day in the life of The Rock.

It takes years before a world-wide alien invasion can be accepted into the Toobworld timeline. Enough time needs to have passed in order to blend the event in by way of collective amnesia about the specific events that occurred at that time. So it's been nearly fifty years since the Canamid invasion and the first major Cybermen invasion; around thirty years since the arrival of "the Visitors". We know how the Cybermen and the Visitors were thwarted, and we can assume that - with the help of the Doctor - the Canamid people-eaters never again came to Earth to sample the human fare - er, race.

The same could probably be done in this case, where we don't remember the details as to why nobody in other TV series remember being invaded by these little bug-eyed monsters who looked like the stick-up figures you'd find on a car window. Or we could say that the whole thing happened, and then was wiped from the history of Toobworld by yet another revision of the timeline.

Or.....

That's looking at this invasion as being a world-wide attack by the alien race. What if it was regionally located to this one City, by just this one spaceship? That would be a lot easier to splain away as to why we never saw any mention of it happening in other TV shows. Those characters weren't affected and their topics of conversation thus had nothing to do with the news story, big as it was. Those TV characters were more concerned with investigating vicious felonies which were considered especially heinous, or just the simple act of making their way in the world today (which would take everything they've got.)

About the only characters who might have taken notice of such a small-scale alien invasion on a regular basis would be Dr. Walter Bishop and his colleagues, or that gang of CalTech nerds gathered in Stuart's comic book shop. And even then, we just never got around to seeing them mention it on air.

(Thirty years later, Ted Mosby just never got around to mentioning it during his long-winded conversation with his kids.....)

So where did this invasion happen? It couldn't be New York City or it would have to be a major plot point in 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit', 'CSI: NY', 'Person Of Interest', and 'Girls'. (And the same holds true for the New York City in alternate TV dimensions where 'Blue Bloods', 'Elementary' and 'Castle' take place.)

The same argument could be made for Washington, DC ('NCIS' and 'Bones'), Las Vegas ('CSI'), Chicago ('Happy Endings', 'Chicago Fire'), Vancouver ('Continuum'), and Los Angeles ('Californication', 'Modern Family', and 'NCIS: Los Angeles'.)

It's certainly a plotline that would put the lie to the title 'The New Normal'.

And that argument on smaller levels would apply to individual shows like 'Hart of Dixie', 'Parks and Recreation', 'The Office' or 'Suburgatory'.

So where could we stick this mini-invasion?

How about the City that's not currently being used for any TV series, but which would be the natural location for so many of the events that happen in this ad besides the invasion - like the escape of the circus animals, the bank robbery by masked wrestlers, or just the simple dilemma of a cat up a tree?

I'm talking about the nameless metropolis of 'The City'.

'The City' was a very short-lived (but very funny in my book) sitcom starring Valerie Harper. And The City was also the center of activity for the superhero team of 'The Tick' and his sidekick Arthur, the Moth. (Or if you prefer, the Bunny.) I wouldn't be surprised if other TV shows in the past were set in nameless cities which could also be considered "the City."

And when it comes down to it, it doesn't have to be such a nameless city at that.

Maybe by calling it "the City", the citizens were just making a short-hand reference to their hometown of Gotham City.

Why not? Gotham City seemed to be some kind of magnet for the costumed criminals in the past when Batman and Robin patrolled the streets. So why shouldn't it continue long after the Dynamic Duo seemed to have retired from the scene, when super-heroes like Bat Manuel and Captain Liberty were there to help fill the void?

Somewhere out there in the City, as seen from the view from the Rock's window (whoever he was playing if not himself), the Tick and his costumed companions were joined in the fight against the aliens. Meanwhile, at City Hall (said in the voice of the 'Batman' narrator), Liz Gianni and Roger Barnett were busy implementing the emergency protocols.

And eventually the Doctor would show up to save the day, and the government could finally sweep the whole affair into an X-Files folder with the splainin that it was mass hysteria caused by gas leak hallucinations......

SHOWS CITED:

• "Got Milk?" blipvert
• 'The Tick'
• 'The City'
• 'Batman'
• 'Fringe'
• 'The Big Bang Theory'
• 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'
• 'Cheers'
• 'The X-Files'
• 'How I Met Your Mother'
• 'Doctor Who'
• 'The Twilight Zone' - "To Serve Man'
• 'V'

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - MUHAMMED ALI

MUHAMMED ALI

AS SEEN IN:

'Diff'rent Strokes'

["Arnold's Hero"]

From Wikipedia:

Arnold's wildest dream is realized when he comes face-to-knee with "The Champ" -- special guest star Muhammad Ali. When the meeting arranged by Mr. Drummond between Arnold and his idol, Muhammad Ali, falls through, Kimberly and Willis concoct a wild scheme.

BCnU!