THE "BIG BANG THEORY" BIG BOARD OF BIG NAMES

A lot of good stuff to work with in the 01/30/14 episode of 'The Big Bang Theory' ("The Convention Conundrum").  Since this won't be posted for months after it aired, we can proceed with details....

Basically, the Gang of Four were locked out of getting tickets to the San Diego Comic-Con, so Sheldon decided to stage his own comic book convention.  And to do so, he needed celebrities to sit on a panel.  So he made up a list and began contacting them:

Here are the list of names he had on his wish list:

Zachary Quinto           Stan Lee

Patrick Stewart           Andy Serkis

Shatner                       Martin Freeman

Harrison Ford              Wil Wheaton

George Lucas             Ahmed Best

Mark Hamill                 Robert Downey, Jr.

Matt Smith                   Leonard Nimoy

Billy Dee Williams       Bill Nye

Simon Pegg                Carrie Fisher

Favreau                      Adam West

Ian McKellan

Anyone who played Uncle Ben

Anyone who shot Uncle Ben

O'BSERVATIONS:

As you can see on the Big Board, most of those names have a red line through them.  Sheldon was shot down even before he could tell their agents that the convention would be held at a Marie Callendar's restaurant and every panelist would get a free slice of pie!

Even his "good friend" Wil Wheaton turned him down.  He was going to be too busy shampooing his beard.

Two people on that list have been inducted into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame as themselves - Billy Dee Williams and Stan Lee and Adam West.  Three!  Three people on that list have been inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame as themselves.

Martin Freeman had to be on the list because of his connection to 'The Hobbit', which is why Andy Serkis and Sir Ian McKellan were on the list.  Had Freeman been invited for 'Sherlock', wouldn't Benedict Cumberbatch's name be up there as well?

(So far, 'Sherlock' is located in Limbo or an alt. dimension, so it should be unknown to Toobworldlings as a TV show anyway.)

"Shatner" refers to William Shatner, of course, and "Favreau" refers to Jon Favreau.

Sheldon wanted Leonard to call four people from the list: Leonard Nimoy, Stan Lee, Bill Nye, and Carrie Fisher.  With the first three, Sheldon was legally restrained from ever calling them.  With Carrie Fisher, he was just afraid of her crazy reputation.

The other names on the list that were not yet crossed off were George Lucas, Matt Smith, Simon Pegg, and Ahemd Best.  Smart as he is, Sheldon probably realised that he should wait until at least daybreak to call Smith and Pegg, since they were in England and thus in a different time zone.

I know it's cruel, but Ahmed Best might have said yes because where else would he get invited?  ("Missa m a bombaaaaaad boy....")

I'm not going to twist myself into a pretzel trying to splain away why Matt Smith is on the list.  Sooner or later all the actors who played the Time Lord in 'Doctor Who' are mentioned, referenced, or seen in other TV shows as having played the Doctor.  (Examples: David Tennant - 'Extras', Tom Baker - 'Kingdom', Jon Pertwee - 'Supernova')  Especially with the bow ties and the fezzes, the same will happen for Smith.

   

As far as the "Spiderman" movies go, Cliff Robertson played Uncle Ben but has since died.  Martin Sheen could still go, however.

None of those names on the board presented insurmountable Zonks......

BCnU!

TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY - JACKIN' UP THE MILES

In the Toobworld timeline that existed before Nick Cutter stepped through the anomaly and changed the history of Earth Prime-Time from the prehistoric era onwards, a single woman named Eddie Gordon ran public access Channel G in New York City.  After the temporal reboot, she was now known as Roxie Brinkerhoff and was married to Michael Brinkerhoff.  And Roxie worked at WNYU, a NYC cable channel (pozz'bly, just pozz'bly, connected to New York University?)

Also at that station in the first timeline was Jack, a college student working as a director for school credit.  In the second timeline we saw him a few years later, but now known as Miles Silverberg who was working as the producer for the network news magazine 'F.Y.I.' in Washington D.C.

The only thing was... there was no change in his life brought on by the temporal reboot.  Jack was Miles and Miles was Jack.

Both characters were in the profession they loved - television.  And Miles did get his "dream" job at the age of 25, after a short stint in Public Television.  Jack was in film school in 1986, just two years before first being seen by the Trueniverse audience at 'F.Y.I.'.  This would seem to leave little room between his two appearances - let's say he was in senior year of college in 1986, wouldn't that mean he was 21, 22 tops?  And then to be 25 in 1988?  But what if he had finished college and was now just taking additional courses in television production before landing the PBS job?

There's still the matter of the names, Jack vs. Miles.

Miles Silverberg is a timid nebbish, trying to make it in the cut-throat world of TV production.  He knew he was never going to stand a chance as a "Miles".  So he used the diminutive of his middle name, perhaps.  He looks like he could be named Jacob....

On behalf of Toobworld Central, I'm calling this a conflation of the characters of Miles Silverberg and Jack.

BCnU!

TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY - IT'S ONLY ROXIE'S ROLES

'THE PATTY DUKE SHOW'

"THE BIRDS AND THE BEES BIT"

'KATE & ALLIE'

"STAGE MOTHER"

'ROXIE'

"Do you remember your first date?"

Martin Lane

'The Patty Duke Show'

When Patty Lane was twelve years old (1958), she went to Herman Brinkerhoff's birthday party.  He took her into the closet and tried to kiss her.  But their braces locked and they got stuck.

Herman is the brother-in-law of Roxie Brinkerhoff, who is married to Herman's younger brother Michael.  In the late 1980s, Roxie was a programmer at WNYU, a UHF station in New York City.

But that happened in the Toobworld timeline generated by Professor Nick Cutter when he traveled back in Time to the primeval world through an anomaly.  Before that temporally seismic event, Roxie was known as Eddie Gordon and she was single, not married.  Otherwise, her life was similar - Eddie was the station manager at Channel G, a public access cable channel which put on such shows as 'Dingo Bob', 'Cavalcade Of Pasta', 'Mothers And Daughters', and 'Dimmers And Switchers - The Choice Is Yours'.

"And so we'll end on that note, whatever that note is."

Eddie Gordon

'Kate & Allie'

SHOWS CITED:

• 'The Patty Duke Show'
• 'Kate & Allie'
• 'Roxie'
• 'Primeval'

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 05/2014-B: SAM PRENTICE

Huey Prentice was a member of a jazz combo in Kelly Gregg's high school and he had a sister named Samantha.  (But everybody called her Sam.)

After granduation, Sam Prentice moved to New York City in order to continue her education at Hudson University.  In order to support herself while there, Sam took a job at a telephone reception company where it often felt as though she exclusively worked for private detective Richard Diamond.

Eventually, Diamond moved his operations to California, but Sam remained in New York.  (Sam must have made quite an impression on Richard Diamond, because his next operator was also named Sam.....)

She got a job as the receptionist for Drew Patton, publisher of Emperor magazine.  (Drew didn't hire her for her natural beauty, he would claim.  He hired his personal assistants because they were the best at what they did.  But Sam did have incredible gams!)

All of these characters were played by Mary Tyler Moore, making this her third character in the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame. 

'Bachelor Father'

- "Bentley and the Combo"Huey's Sister (as Mary Moore)

'Richard Diamond, Private Detective'
- "The Runaway"
- "Bookie"
- "Act of Grace"
- "Two for Paradise"
- "Charity Affair"
- "Matador Murder"
- ''The Sport" 

Sam / Sam #1

'The Dick Van Dyke Show'
- "The Man from Emperor'' 

Sam

The 'Law & Order' franchise

Three different TV series that can be linked by the participation of Mary Tyler Moore, with a fourth thrown in as a gimmee.

And that's why Sam Prentice is another May Queen being inducted into the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame.....

Remember, this is our fifteenth anniversary and what I say, goes!

Welcome aboard, Sam!

TUESDAY NEWS DAY: "BARBARELLA"

Nellie Andreeva of Deadline.com has reported that Gaumont International Television’s 'Barbarella' has been set up at Amazon Studios.  'Barbarella' is based on the character created by Jean-Claude Forest for the Comic Book Universe and made famous in the Cineverse back in 1968 when Jane Fonda portrayed the sexy space-age adventuress.

Barbarella will be the latest multi-versal character in the fictional Omniverse. 

BCnU!

TUESDAY NEWS DAY - "GOTHAM" O'BSERVATIONS

Another TV dimension will be getting its own version of Bruce Wayne (if not Batman) and Gotham City on Fox.  'Gotham' will be exploring the origins of the future commissioner James Gordon and of the villains who have an attachment to the city.  (With the 1960s series 'Baman', I always wondered why the villains kept coming back to Gotham City after being defeated by the Caped Crusader again and again.  Why not try their luck elsewhere where there were no super-heroes?  Why not Llanview?  Genoa City?  Bay City?  Fernwood?)

'Batman' is the official televersion for the Dynamic Duo and Gotham City in Earth Prime-Time.  The TV special years later, even though it starred Adam West and Burt Ward, has been deemed ineligible because of incarnations of other super-heroes who contradict their official portrayals in the main Toobworld.  'Birds Of Prey' takes a different approach to the Bat-mythos, but it also must occupy a different TV dimension.  For that one, I'm thinking Evil Toobworld suits it best.  Ladies, suit up!

For this new 'Gotham', the first villain announced to be given his own origin story is the future Penguin, Oswald Cobblepot. (I always hated that name.  Whoever came up with it was treating this member of the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame as a joke.  Luckily it never came up in the 'Batman' series, so we might not have to accept that as his name in Earth Prime-Time.)

Apparently, Cobblepot is a low-level psychopath whose ambitions are masked by a civilized veneer.  Before he becomes a lawless legend, Oswald Cobblepot will be working for a gangster named Fish Mooney.

As the series progresses, Fox has promised that it will delve into the early lives of Catwoman, the Joker, and the Riddler.

For fans of 'Doctor Who', the son of Third Doctor Jon Pertwee, Sean Pertwee, will be adding another alt-dimensional character to his resume of TV characters.  Having already appeared in 'Elementary' as a modern-day Lestrade, and after being summarily dispatched as the King's cousin in the first five minutes of 'The Tudors', Pertwee will now be playing the new version of Alfred Pennyworth, the butler at stately Wayne manor.  In this incarnation, Alfred is a former Marine, (probably Royal and not a US one), who cares for young Master Wayne after his parents are murdered.

Since the series is being produced for Fox, I'll be curious to see if 'Gotham' eventually has a crossover with 'Sleepy Hollow'.  At least then we'll know what dimension should house the new series.  

I'll be checking out the first couple of episodes.  Eventually I guess I'll just wander off, since it won't have any impact on my main area of focus, Earth Prime-Time.....

BCnU!

WISH-CRAFT IN PARADISE

WARNING!  THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!

"Wish-Craft", a term I cribbed from 'Bewitched', is Toobworld Central's version of "What If?" scenarios - things that probably could never happen in Earth Prime-Time... but should have.  

At least I wish they would.

Later tonight, Season Three of 'Death In Paradise' will be wrapping up in the greater New York area with the presentation of Episode Eight on WLIW-21.  

The first episode of this third season saw the "hand-over" of the series lead from Ben Miller to Kris Marshall - in much the same way as happened with the very first episode of the series three seasons previous.

So here's the "wish-craft" I have for the series:

What if the spirit of DCI Richard Poole remained anchored to the island of Sainte Marie and acted as a guardian angel of sorts for his replacement, DI Humphrey Goodman?

The great thing about this wish-craft is that we never had to see it actually happen; Poole could have been there anyway but invisible to the mortal eye.

The only thing is.... Richard Poole, unlike Humph, would never be caught dead wearing an Hawaiian shirt.  LIterally.....

This picture, however, is closer to the mark.  Richard is in his standard buttoned-down suit while this is basically the outfit Humphrey was wearing when he arrived on the island......

BCnU!

MOTHER'S DAY IN TOOBWORLD

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

In recent years I've shared dark Mother's Day blog posts with you - Queen Cersei from 'Game Of Thrones' and Helena Vesey from 'Mother Love'.  I did those as jokes about the day, but it occurs to me that it reflects badly on me and my relationship with me own Mum.  

So instead, we're going totally in the opposite direction to share the day with one of the sweetest Moms Toobworld ever had.  And to make it slightly personal, her children's names were Billy & Toby - just like me and one of my own brothers!

We're spending Mother's Day at the Webb Ranch, just outside San Francisco, with Doris Martin.  The greater TV Universe has two Doris Martins because of a shift in the premise of 'The Doris Day Show'.  In the alternate TV dimension, Doris Martin was widowed early, before she could have any children, and is now considered a long-time single girl at her workplace.  

But the first Doris Martin is located in Earth Prime-Time and we're tipping our Toob Top Hat to her this Mother's Day......

For all the mothers out there, Real World and Toobworld, I hope you have a very special day today!

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS IN ADVANCE!

If you're a fan of this show, then check out the running feature at Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear (Link to the left, my Tooblings!)  in which my blogmate Ivan is putting the spotlight on each episode of the series, no matter how much it pains him.....

BCnU!