LITTLE BIG SCREEN - "THE PINK PANTHER"

The year is winding down for our look "Little Big Screen" theme about the connections between Toobworld and the movies. And on November 6th, two different series shared their riffs on the classic slapstick film that spawned a franchise about the French police inspector, Jacques Clouseau - "The Pink Panther".

'A To Z'
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

 

"The Pink Panther" was a seminal film in the lives of Andrew and Stu when they were little kids. Andrew was taking lessons in karate and in order to keep him in fighting shape, Stu would often hide in unexpected places (like a school locker) and attack Andrew when he least expected it. The inspiration for this came from Inspector Clouseau's assistant Kato in the movie..... 

'White Collar'

"Borrowed Time"

In what may be the over-riding arc for this final season of the show, con artist Neil Caffrey and his FBI handler Peter Burke hatched a plan to infiltrate a gang of high-stakes thieves who called themselves the Pink Panthers. O'Bviously they took their inspiration from the movie.
The movie has been mentioned in several other TV shows:

• 'Caroline In The City' 
• 'Modern Family'
• 'Orange Is The New Black'
• 'House M.D.'

among others.

 

And even the tie-in merchandise (mostly from the cartoon spinoffs based on the movie credits) have been seen in Toobworld, most notably a stuffed Pink Panther doll owned by 'Mr. Bean'.

At one point during Claudia Donovan's career with 'Warehouse 13', she asked "Are these the Pink Panther's calling cards?"

Forgive her; she's young. She was probably referring to the cartoon character, but she could easily have meant Inspector Clouseau in much the same way as a previous generation thought "The Thin Man" referred to William Powell as Nick Charles when in fact it was to the murder victim in the first movie. 

Should reference ever be made to the unique diamond known as the Pink Panther, in such a way as to suggest it exists in Toobworld, I'd have no problem with that. It would be easy enough to claim that the movies were based on the "real" life events. And the fact that the movies date back to the early 1960s doesn't matter either....

After all, diamonds are forever.

BCnU!