IN MEMORY OF THE PROFESSOR

An article celebrating the inventions of the Professor from 'Gilligan's Island':

http://mentalfloss.com/article/54580/11-professors-best-inventions-gilligans-island......

NO BUDDY OF MINE!

I rely a lot on Wikipedia and the IMDb, but I'm not unaware of their shortcomings.  The problem is that just about anybody can go in to the system and edit their listings.  

So this one from the IMDb bugs me.  There was an episode of 'MacMillan & Wife' called "Requiem For A Bride".  (The type of title you expect to hear "A Quinn Martin Production" after it.)  In one scene, Commissioner MacMillan arrives at an apartment complex to find an assault victim being comforted by a guy who could be the building's super.

 

 

The IMDb says he's just a resident of the building.  But that's not what I have a problem with:

No way is that Buddy Hackett!  But if they wanted to hire somebody to play Buddy Hackett's brother back when he was still with us, this would be the guy I'd hire.

Whoever this actor is, I hope someday he gets the proper acknowledgement.....

BCnU!

CAPTAIN AMERICA IN SLEEPY HOLLOW

"Not to mention a confession from Brooks, who says he'll plea-bargain, 

but only if he talks to you and Captain America here."

Captain Frank Irving

'Sleepy Hollow'

"Pilot"

Usually when there is a pop culture reference with no allusions to its source (which I love!), I take the position that it's based on reality.

But I think in this case, I'm going to go with it being a reference to the comic book character.

First off, this show doesn't take place in Earth Prime-Time, in which not only is the character from the original story real and adherent to that plot-line, but characters in other TV shows are familiar with the Washington Irving story.  (See the 'Murder, She Wrote' episode "Night Of The Headless Horseman".)  And as with many "true" stories in the main Toobworld, it is regarded as fiction by the general public.

In the main Toobworld, Captain America, like Ichabod Crane, is a real person.  Known by the public as Steve Rogers, he was briefly seen in the late 1970's (played by Reb Brown).  He may still be in service for our country, but working behind the scenes.  Or he may have followed the storyline from the source material and was killed off a few years ago.  At any rate, he is no longer a visible vigilant in Toobworld.

Captain Irving would not have been referring to the Captain America as seen in the Marvel movies, as he is active in the TV dimension of Marvel Toobworld (or ComicBook Toobworld to be more inclusive of other publishers' heroes.)  He has not yet been seen in that dimension, currently on display in 'Marvel Agents Of SHIELD', but it is rumoured that he will be making a crossover to the small screen come the Spring (closer to the opening of the next movie, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier".)

It could be that another televersion of Captain America, played by Matt Salinger in the 1990's, resides in the dimension shared by 'Sleepy Hollow' and 'Elementary', but I think that would just complicate things.  I think Salinger's Steve Rogers should remain in the Land of Remakes.

So that leaves the comic book character.  'Sleepy Hollow' is already over-burdened with its own mythology without me heaping any more on top of it.....

BCnU!

LITTLE BIG SCREEN: "CASABLANCA" - SON OF STRASSER 2

So last week we brought up Karl Strasser, the son of Major Heinrich Strasser, who served as a link between the televersion of 'Casablanca' to 'Foyle's War'.  This week, we'll take a look at his other son....

We don't know the first name of Major Strasser's younger son, (I favor Bernd), but he never joined the Nazi Party.  So he was able to avoid any retribution after the war.  

Strasser went into politics and joined the diplomatic corps of West Germany.  In 1966, Herr Strasser was one of the international delegates who were reduced to powder by those nefarious no-goodniks Catwoman, the Joker, the Riddler, and the Penguin.  Luckily, Batman was able to reconstitute them back together again.

Strasser found the ordeal so distressing that he resigned from the West German diplomatic service on the spot.  He applied for U.S. citizenship and changed his name.  Feeling safer if Batman was nearby, he moved to Gotham City where he opened an art gallery under the name of Benson Parkhurst.

However, he did run afoul of the Clock King at one point....

This is purely conjecture, but it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that Strasser/Parkhurst was attacked by a Weeping Angel, the same one who transported its victims back to the wild, wild West.  There, once having adjusted to his new life, Strasser offered his services to the German Empire and once again became an ambassador.  He came to the attention of the Trueniverse audience one last time in a Secret Service case involving the midget madman Dr. Miguelito Loveless.....

'LUX VIDEO THEATRE' - "CASABLANCA"

"BATMAN 1966" (MOVIE)

'BATMAN' - "THE CLOCK KING'S CRAZY CRIMES"

'THE WILD, WILD WEST' - "THE NIGHT OF THE SURREAL McCOY"

Here's lookin' at you, Kid.....

(All of these characters were portrayed by Ivan Triesault, who played Major Strasser in the TV adaptation of "Casablanca".)

TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY: FRED McCONNELL

Fred McConnell owned a music store in Boulder, Colorado, in the late 1970's when the Orkan alien Mork came to Earth.  Later Fred became the conductor of that city's symphony's orchestra.

But until the early 1970's, McConnell made his living as a video technician for one of the major TV networks (probably NBC).  He may have based in Boulder, but he worked wherever the network sent him.

Apparently he didn't like the work - the stress made his hair fall out eventually.  So when the opportunity came to follow his love of music by purchasing the music store, he jumped at it.  And it kept him closer to home with his daughter, Mindy.

• 'BANACEK' - "LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE LIVING LEGEND"
• 'MORK AND MINDY'

WORLD TOOB: DANISH TOOBWORLD IN THE RADIO UNIVERSE

The Danish TV series 'Borgen' proved not only a huge hit in its native country but in several other countries as well - not just other Scandinavian countries, but also the United Kingdom.

'Borgen' - which translates as "The Castle" - is focused on the backroom dealings of the Danish Parliament.  In the series' first season, the political maneuvers all led up to Birgitte Nyborg becoming the Prime Minister of Denmark.  As far as I know, Ms. Nyborg still holds that office, three seasons later.  (It will also be the final season.)  

But I imagine she does not hold the office in Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld.  I would imagine other Danish dramas (and their sitcoms as well, most likely) make references to the current holder of that office from the Trueniverse, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, in much the same way American TV shows refer to Barack Obama as the current POTUS.

So I think 'Borgen' needs to be relocated to the 'West Wing' TV dimension which would be a perfect fit... even if some celebrities and politicians may have played themselves during the course of the political series.

And now there are reports that 'Borgen' also exists in two different dimensions of another fictional universe, that based on radio programs and audio-plays.  

Not that I am any kind of expert in the Radioverse (Audioverse more expansive/inclusive?), but its main dimension already houses the Danish adaptation of a side story that focuses more on the world of the civil servants, the bureaucrats who do the actual work of government.  

But now there will be a British-produced version starring Tim Pigott-Smith as Hans Gammelgaard, the Private Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment.  It will follow the same storyline and despite being produced in English will be tailored to sound as Danish in flavor as possible, right down to the sound effects.  (It will be broadcast on BBC Radio Four.)

The storylines will complement each other, but you don't necessarily have to follow the TV show to understand what's going on in the radio version.  Or vice versa.  

"It's just an added bonus that when they talk about this politician or this minister you can go, 'Ok, I remember her from TV'," said Anders Lundorph, the radio version's director.

"Borgen: Outside the Castle" started on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 16th December 2013 at 14.15 GMT. 

BCnU!

SPLAININ TO DO: WINSTON CATLOW

Even though many TV shows have continuity "bibles", there are still TV series which will ignore those "facts" in order to serve the needs of a script.  And this continues to this day, even when the show-runners know fans have access to DVDs and streaming services to bring those discrepancies to light.

But these Zonks just need a televisiologist to splain them away.

'WINGS'

"TAKE MY WIFE, PLEASE"

Helen Chappell mentioned that her first cello teacher was a woman.

"THE GIFT, PART ONE"

In this episode, we learned that Helen's first cello teacher was Winston Catlow.

This is very easy to splain.

Winston Catlow had a sex change.

If ever a Winnie Catlow shows up in some TV show, I'd say we've got our man.

So to speak.....

BCnU!

MISSING LINKS: "DOWNTON ABBEY" & "THE LOST WORLD"

"Anna, help me do battle with this monstrosity. 

It looks like a creature from the lost world." 

Lady Violet Crawley

'Downton Abbey'

The Dowager Countess was referring to a hideous floral bouquet chosen by Lady Cora to decorate one of the rooms in the mansion, but it was still stated in such a way as to suggest that the reference was to the actual location and not to the work of fiction by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

There have been a few TV portrayals of Professor George Challenger, protagonist of the novel (and member of the Wold Newton family).  But as it was the first to involve a TV series, I give the main Toobworld position to the Challenger played by Peter McCauley.  (Although I preferred Bob Hoskns or John Rhys-Davies; Claude Rains from the Cineverse for that matter.)

The televersion of 'The Lost World' ended on a cliff-hanger at the end of Season Three, but plans for two more seasons were revealed by the producers of an eventual return to the civilized world by most of the adventurers - only to the year 2005.  I think Challenger at least would have been returned to his original timeline, and back in London.  (To have returned them all might have been too much of a disruption for the flow of History.)  And in order for Lady Violet to have made that cutting remark about the cuttings, Challenger had to have returned before November of 1916.

Unlike the Society of 2005, the earlier incarnation of the London Zoological Society debunked Challenger's claims (once he returned.)  This would be why his return to that timeline (by the Doctor?) did not disrupt the established events.  But eventually there was no hiding the truth that he had found a plateau in South America which was the land that Time forgot.

And I would not be surprised if Lady Violet had been one of the financial backers of that expedition, which is why she was conversant with that lost world......

BCnU!