(WHAT? No FOX? Liberal bias!)
For the November "election" into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, it's been traditional to induct newsmakers and politicians since it is the month in which we hold our noses as we go into the voting booth.
Presidents of the United States have been inducted into the past, and not all of them are represented in just Earth Prime-Time only. The many TV movies and mini-series about John F. Kennedy have each been sent to a different TV dimension, just to spread the wealth. And there are a lot of presidents who won't ever get enough credits to qualify, unless it's in the Tooniverse only. (I'm looking at you, Millard Fillmore!)
Surprisingly, Franklin D. Roosevelt doesn't have that "oomph" one might expect for a man who served four terms in the Oval Office during the most difficult time faced by America in the 20th Century - from the Great Depression into most of World War II. And yet there isn't the plethora of productions as can be found for not only JFK but Lincoln, Washington, and Nixon as well.
I think John Adams got a better deal than FDR in TV portrayals over the years (George Grizzard, Burgess Meredith, and Paul Giamatti for example.)
There have been a few actors who have played the role of our 32nd President several times over. And yet I think with each of them, we need to send them off to alternate TV dimensions.
For quantity of portrayals of Roosevelt, you can't beat Ralph Bellamy who played him in seven episodes of 'The Winds Of War' mini-series and in eleven episodes of 'War And Remembrance', the sequel. (However, because of several major casting changes from one to the next, I think each of those mini-series takes place in different dimensions.)
Plus, Bellamy played the role in the Cineverse in "Sunrise At Campobello", as well as on stage.
Next up would be Stephen Roberts with four TV movies and a mini-series:
"Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb"
"The Long Days of Summer"
"Ike: The War Years"
"Ring of Passion"
But again, I think they each have to be packed off to other dimensions because of the recastaways with the other key figures in history.
The same holds true for Jonah Triebwasser:
"Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America"
- Einstein's Letter
"History in the Making: FDR"
"The Company He Kept"
And there's John Anderson in a very nice characterization for the 'Backstairs At The White House' mini-series.
It would be nice if, as was the case with Abraham Lincoln, FDR showed up in a regular TV series so that we could claim him to be the official portrayal of Roosevelt in Toobworld. (I was kind of hoping that Edward Herrmann would make one last mini-series or TV movie appearance as FDR because I thought he gave a great performance in the role... but then so did Bob Gunton, twice over.)
But the closest we have is an animated picture of him in a book brought to life by the teen-aged witch Sabrina. (And that falls into the same category of magic as Tabitha creating the portal into the picture book about the Giant's beanstalk.)
So he's not the Franklin Delano Roosevelt of Earth Prime-Time, but for now we'll be using a picture of Ralph Bellamy to represent the President's televersion.
Welcome to the Hall, Mr. President.
BCnU!
