THE CENTENNIAL CLAMPETT

This past week marked the 100th anniversary of Bob Clampett's birth.  Mr. Clampett may be best known for creating Beany and Cecil, but he also was an innovator in the field of animation.

You can read more about his incredible career here.

Here are some examples of his work, including the first appearance of Porky Pig......

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SKED ALERT! "DOCTOR WHO" - "NIGHTMARE IN SILVER"

Coming tonight!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - THE BERGENS

According to my blogging buddy Ivan:
Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy debut on THE CHASE AND SANBORN HOUR seventy-six years ago [this past Thursday.]

EDGAR BERGEN

[Also appearing: Frances Bergen and a few wooden friends.....]

AS SEEN IN:

'Bachelor Father'

"A Visit With The Bergens"

From Wikipedia:

Edgar John Bergen (February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist and also the father of actress Candice Bergen.

Charlie McCarthy was always presented as a highly precocious child (albeit in top hat, cape, and monocle) – a debonair, girl-crazy, child-about-town. As a child and a wooden one at that, Charlie could get away with double entendres which were otherwise impossible under broadcast standards of the time.

They were given their own show, as part of "The Chase and Sanborn Hour". Under various sponsors (and two different networks), they were on the air from May 9, 1937 to July 1, 1956. The popularity of a ventriloquist on radio, when one could see neither the dummies nor his skill, surprised and puzzled many critics, then and now.

In 1941, Bergen met 19 year old Frances Westerman, who had graduated from Los Angeles High School the year before, in the audience of Bergen's radio program as the guest of a member of his staff. Sitting in the front row, the young fashion model's legs caught 38 year old Bergen's attention and he asked to meet her. The two were married in Mexico after years of long-distance courtship, on June 28, 1945. On May 9, 1946 Frances gave birth to future actress Candice Bergen, whose first performances were on Bergen's radio show. They also became the parents of film and television editor Kris Bergen, born on October 12, 1961. 

It was in mid-September 1978 that he announced that he was retiring after 56 years in show business and sending his monocled, top-hatted partner to the Smithsonian Institution. He opened at Caesar's Palace Hotel Las Vegas on September 27, for a two week farewell to show business engagement. He died three days later in his sleep ofkidney disease at age 75.

For more, click here.

From YouTube:

Uploaded on Dec 17, 2010

SORRY, AUDIO IS OUT OF SYNCH DUE TO PROBLEMS WITH CONVERSION PROGRAM

[Seen here with Bentley Gregg]

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CALIFORNIA DREAMING

'The Rockford Files'

"To Protect And Serve"

At the beginning of the episode, Jim got home to find his Dad asleep on the couch.  Rocky had been watching a football game in which one of the teams was from California, according to the announcer.

There are two options as to what team this was in Toobworld.  If it was a professional team than it could be the California Bulls from '1st & Ten'.  But if Rocky was watching a college game, they could have been the California University Condors, who played in at least one episode of 'Beverly Hills, 90210'.

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LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - JUSTIN BIEBER

Here's a preview of the special guest star on 'The Simpsons' this Sunday night:

JUSTIN BIEBER

[Pictured with Scooter Braun, his manager]

AS SEEN IN:

'The Simpsons'

"The Fabulous Faker Boy"

TV DIMENSION:

The Tooniverse

SYNOPSIS:

“He tries to get into a talent show that Bart is playing piano in and they won’t admit him,”hinted Simpsons exec producer Al Jean, adding: “Draw your own conclusions.” (Thanks to Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly)

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THEORIES OF RELATEEVEETY - THE LeCLERC FILES

"The true pirates of the Caribbean were feared by all, and the most terrifying of them all was Francois Le Clerc.

Le Clerc had a black heart.  It was said by those who knew him that he needed no more reason to kill a man than a change in his mood.

His ship bore Le Clerc's flag.  It struck terror into the hearts of all who saw it.

Now, in the summer of 1563, heading home from the Azores, Le Clerc and his crew came across the Spanish galleon San Cristobal.  But they soon found themselves fighting not ordinary merchant seamen but the personal guard of King Phillip II of Spain.

Though he finally won the day and found a huge shipment of gold, Le Clerc took heavy losses and was himself badly wounded.  He was forced to take refuge here, in Sainte-Marie.

However, neither the treasure nor LeClerc was ever seen again.  Some people believe the treasure is still buried here, somewhere on the island.

The treasure is said...to be cursed.  Cursed by Le Clerc himself.

It is said that whoever disturbs the treasure that bears his blood will then join him... in hell."

FRANCOIS LeCLERC 1

FRANCOIS LeCLERC 2

History records the exploits of a real pirate named Francois LeClerc, but he also has a fictional televersion who can link several TV shows together through theories of "relateeveety".

The island of Sainte Marie has legends of the dread pirate Francois LeClerc which help feed the local economy with sales of souvenirs to tourists.  Legend has it that LeClerc buried his treasure somewhere on the island.  

Not much is known of LeClerc's family tree, but these TV characters can probably trace their lineage back to the buccaneer:

• Roger & Ernest LeClerc ('Allo, Allo')
• Joel LeClerc ('Plus Belle La Vie')
• Martine LeClerc ('M*A*S*H')

MARTINE LeCLERC

(with Major Charles Emerson Winchester)

And each of them probably had family ties between themselves closer than just having a pirate as their great+ grandfather a few hundred years back.

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LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - SPARKY ANDERSON

 SPARKY ANDERSON

AS SEEN IN:

'WKRP In Cincinnatti'

"Sparky"

From Wikipedia:

George Lee "Sparky" Anderson (February 22, 1934 – November 4, 2010) was a Major League Baseball manager. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976championships, then added a third title in 1984 with the Detroit Tigers of the American League. He was the first manager to win the World Series in both leagues. His 2,194 career wins are the sixth most for a manager in Major League history. He was named American League Manager of the Year in 1984 and 1987. Anderson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Anderson was the first manager to win a World Series for both a National League and American League team. Either manager in the 1984 Series would have been the first to win in both leagues, since San Diego Padres (NL) manager Dick Williams had previously won the series with the Oakland Athletics (AL) in1972 and 1973. Williams' 1972 club had defeated Sparky Anderson's Reds club.

In 1979, Sparky guest-starred as himself on an episode of (appropriately enough) 'WKRP in Cincinnati'. The episode (titled "Sparky"), features Anderson as a talk-show host on the fictional station. Eventually Sparky is let go, which causes him to say, "I must be crazy. Every time I come to (Cincinnati) I get fired!"

SPARKY ANDERSON

(with Bailey Quarters)

Anderson appeared as himself in 'The White Shadow' season 3 episode "If Your Number's Up, Get it Down" in 1980. Falahey introduces him to Coolidge, but Coolidge replies with "Sorry you lost, but I voted for you." Coolidge mistakenly thought he was 1980 independent presidential candidate John Anderson.

Anderson appeared as himself in the 1983 Disney Channel movie "Tiger Town".

O'BSERVATION:

Because of his involvement in episodes from 'The White Shadow', 'Arli$$', and 'WKRP In Cincinnatti', Anderson was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame in November of 2010, soon after his death.

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THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - HUGH LAURIE'S PAIR O' DOCS

'Daniel Boone'

"The Printing Press"

Captain Thurlow was a British officer stationed in Philadelphia, in command of a regiment on the eve of the American Revolution.

Thurlow had a family back in England, but that didn't stop him from acquiring a mistress in the Colonies, by whom he had at least one child.

Generations passed until both bloodlines produced boys who shared the same DNA sequence.  And although they were by now only distantly related, they were basically "Identical Cousins".

And both of them seemed to follow the same life pat - up to a point.

Paul Slippery was 'Fortysomething' doctor in the London suburb of Putney with a beautiful wife and three sons.  His American cousin, Gregory 'House, M.D.', was a brilliant diagnostician in Princeton, New Jersey.  

Peter suffered through the mundane madness of a mid-life crisis, but House endured an injury to his leg that crippled him somewhat (although it may have been mostly in his mind) and which left him addicted to Vicodin and other pain-killers.

This theory of relateeveety, as well as the speculations about Thurlow's private life is all conjecture on the part of Yours Truly.  It's just that there were several moments in the 'Daniel Boone' episode when Peter (Captain Thurlow) Bromilow's facial expressions reminded me of Hugh Laurie.  And since I always wanted to make a familial link between Hugh Laurie's two TV doctors, I thought Thurlow made for a good base root to that family tree.

Is that a Hugh Laurie squint, or what?

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LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - CHET HUNTLEY

CHET HUNTLEY

From Wikipedia:

Chester Robert "Chet" Huntley (December 10, 1911 – March 20, 1974) was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, for 14 years beginning in 1956.

In 1956, coverage of the national political conventions was a major point of pride for the fledgling broadcast news organizations. NBC News executives were seeking to counter the growing popularity of CBS' Walter Cronkite, who had been a ratings success at the 1952 conventions.

They decided to replace their current news anchor, John Cameron Swayze, but there was a disagreement on who the new anchorman should be. The two leading contenders were Huntley and David Brinkley. The eventual decision was to have both men share the assignment. Their on-air chemistry was apparent from the start, with Huntley's straightforward presentation countered by Brinkley's acerbic wit.

This success soon led to the team replacing Swayze on the network's nightly news program. It was decided to have the two men co-anchor the show; Huntley from New York City, Brinkley from Washington, D.C. The Huntley-Brinkley Report began in October 1956 and was soon a ratings success. Huntley and Brinkley's catchphrase closing of "Good night, Chet" - "Good night, David... and good night for NBC News" was developed by the show's producer,Reuven Frank. Although both anchors initially disliked it, the sign-off became famous. 

Huntley and Brinkley gained great celebrity themselves, with surveys showing them better known than John Wayne, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, or the Beatles. The gregarious Huntley remained the same, a friend commenting in 1968 that "Chet is warm, he's friendly, he's unaffected, he's--well, he's just so damned nice."

Huntley's last NBC News broadcast was aired on July 31, 1970.

AS SEEN IN:

"Vanished"

TV DIMENSION:

Toobworld MOTW

O'BSERVATIONS:

"Toobworld MOTW" is the Movie Of The Week TV dimension which holds those TV movies that can't fit into Earth Prime-Time.  The heart of the dimension are those TV movies which have fictional Presidents of the United States, such as:

• "Of Thee I Sing" (President John P. Wintergreen)
• "Washington: Behind Closed Doors" (President Richard Monckton)
• the Alex McGregor trilogy (President Jonathan Hayes)
• and the President in "The Second Civil War"

This world does not include TV series with fictional presidents like 'The West Wing' and 'Scandal'.

In this TV dimension, Huntley was not teamed up with David Brinkley, but with an alternate world version of TV Crossover Hall Of Fame member Betty White.

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RUMPELSTILTSKIN OF TOOBWORLD

'Grimm' played with a variant of the Rumpelstiltskin legend in the episode "Nameless".  I like to think they were thumbing their nose at rival fairy tale show 'Once Upon A Time' in which old Rumpy is the main character.  Even if that was not so, there was no Zonk involved here - Mr. Gold, as the goblin is known in the ABC series, is a fictionalized version of the fairy tale character come to life.  Like most of the citizens of Storybrook, Maine, he is an escapee from the Land of Fiction from 'Doctor Who'.  As for Trinket Lipslums, as he was known in the 'Grimm' episode seen on NBC, he is a descendant of the original beastie.

 

From Wikipedia:

Rumpelstiltskin is the title character and antagonist of a fairy tale that originated in Germany (where he is known as Rumpelstilzchen). The tale was collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales. It was subsequently revised in later editions.

Wikipedia has the details of the plot, which should be familiar to one and all by now.....

 

As I said, Rumpelstiltskin Jr. is descended from the original.  As to which version of the character should be the official portrayal for Toobworld, I was surprsised to find that the 1982 episode of Shelley Duvall's 'Fairy Tale Theater' is the only one which adheres to the original tale.  And that would mean that Herve Villechaize is the televersion of Rumpelstiltskin.  (But that does not mean that every story from that series is Toobworld canon.  As an anthology series, we would consider their inclusion into Earth Prime-Time on an episode by episode basis.)

 

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LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - RALPH MACCHIO & WILLIAM ZABKA

WILLIAM ZABKA & RALPH MACCHIO

AS SEEN IN:

'How I Met Your Mother'

"The Bro Mitzvah"

SYNOPSIS:

Barney Stinson wanted the Karate Kid at his bachelor party.  But to him, the Karate Kid wasn't Macchio's character; it was Zabka's Johnny.  He got them both without knowing it at first.

RALPH MACCHIO

From Wikipedia:

Ralph George Macchio, Jr. (born November 4, 1961) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Daniel LaRusso in the "Karate Kid" series, Eugene Martone in "Crossroads", Billy Gambini in "My Cousin Vinny", and Johnny Cade in "The Outsiders". 

He is also known to American television audiences for his recurring role as Jeremy Andretti in the fifth season of the television comedy-drama 'Eight Is Enough'. He also appeared on the television comedy 'Ugly Betty' in the recurring role of Archie, a local Queens politician. He competed on the twelfth season of 'Dancing with the Stars'.

WILLIAM ZABKA

From Wikipedia:

William Michael "Billy" Zabka (born October 21, 1965) is an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. Zabka is best known for his villain roles in several iconic 80s films, such as his role as Johnny Lawrence in 1984's "The Karate Kid". In 2004, he was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing and producing the film "Most".

Zabka also co-starred on the CBS television series 'The Equalizer' with Edward Woodward (1986–1989) and he played Jack, Audrey's jock boyfriend, in "National Lampoon's European Vacation".

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"DEFIANCE" - NOT OF THIS TOOBWORLD

I have no delusions - I know I won't see much of the coming Future and the Toobworld Dynamic will probably fade away with me.  (Of course, there are plenty of alternatives out there and one day I'll provide the links to many of them for you to check out.)

But even though I won't be there to play the Caretaker for TV's timeline, I know that it's pretty much set in stone even several hundred years into the Future - thanks to shows like 'Babylon 5' and the 'Star Trek' franchise.

So along comes Syfy's new show 'Defiance' and it's O'Bvious that it has to be relegated to an alternate TV dimension even though it takes place about fifty years in our future.  The Votan fleet of sleeper ships was mysteriously destroyed and terraforming technology was unleashed in an uncontrolled manner on the Earth's surface, totally destroying the balance of Nature as we know it.  New creatures will be spawned in wild hybrid combinations, and established landmarks like the Missouri arch in St. Louis will be severly damaged if not outright destroyed.

It will no longer be the Earth that will be found when Starfleet establishes its headquarters in San Francisco (the setting for the online game connected to 'Defiance'.)

If the major Votan races arrived on Earth and learned to co-habitate with the native humans, perhaps it might have been absorbed into the world of Earth Prime-Time.  The main Toobworld was able handle the 300,000 Tenctonese in the 1990s (as seen in the TV version of 'Alien Nation'), but then that's because we can now hypothesize that most of the "Newcomers" have since left Earth for a new world of their own.  (I think a certain Time Lord had a hand in that.....)

I believe that in the world of Earth Prime-Time, the seven Votan races do exist, but that there was no reason for them to seek out a new life on Earth.  Either their star system survived, or the refugees found a new home elsewhere in the galaxy.  (Again, there's a Gallifreyan out there who could probably take credit for that.) 

Another possibility tied to the Time Lord - the Votan star system was trapped in the locked Time War zone.

At any rate, no matter how enjoyable 'Defiance' proves to be, it's still not Toobworld per se.  Personally, I'd like to see its transformation of the world write "Finis" to the '24' dimension......

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - SUSAN POWTER

SUSAN POWTER

From Wikipedia:

Susan Powter (born 22 December 1957) is an Australian-born motivational speaker, nutritionist, personal trainer and author, who rose to fame in the 1990s with her catchphrase "Stop the Insanity!" She hosted her own talk show 'The Susan Powter Show' in the 1990s.

AS SEEN IN:

'The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air'

"Will Steps Out"

SYNOPSIS:

The Banks Family hired Powter to be their personal trainer.

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HIGH SCHOOL STITCH

This week's ToobMusic entry:

ONCE UPON A TOON.....

Meanwhile, over in the Tooniverse.....

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - SAMMY DAVIS JR.

SAMMY DAVIS, JR.

AS SEEN IN:

'Chico And The Man'

"Sammy Steps In"

SYNOPSIS:

Sammy's car is having problems so he pulls into the closest garage where he meets not only Ed and Chico, but every Sammy Davis Jr. fan for miles around.  (Added bonus - a dance number with two old vaudevillians, Sammy and Jack Albertson who plays Ed Brown.)

O'BSERVATION:

This episode links 'Chico And The Man' to 'All In The Family' and 'Archie Bunker's Place', and to 'I Dream Of Jeannie' as well.....

BCnU!