THE SHAME OF TOOBWORLD - THE MIS-FILED CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

This was the guest cast listed for the 'Sherlock Holmes' episode "The Red-Headed League". None of these three characters were in the episode. The episode in which these actors appeared was actually "The Case Of The Eiffel Tower".

I think this was probably butchered by somebody packaging the show for syndication decades ago. (May they be nibbled to death by ducks!) I have a feeling the orignal credits are long lost by now.....

BCnU!

ZONKS - KEEPING "LAW & ORDER" IN TOOBWORLD

For years I've been trying to pass off any mention of 'Law & Order' (and its spin-offs) as being references to a reality show, or at the very least, it was a different TV show altogether from the one seen in the real world.  That at least was easy enough to pull off for most of the references.  Most of those were along the lines of "You watch too much 'Law & Order'."  That sort of thing....

Here's a list of TV shows which have mentioned 'Law & Order' as a TV show:

• 'Seinfeld'
• 'Frasier'
• 'Friends'
• 'V.I.P.'
• 'Girlfriends'
• 'MythQuest'
• 'Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'
• 'Monk'
• 'Witchblade'
• 'Joan of Arcadia'
• 'The Sopranos'
• 'Wonderfalls'
• 'Corner Gas'
• 'Weeds'
• 'Boston Legal'
• 'The King of Queens'
• 'Joey'
• '30 Rock'
• 'Psych'
• 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'
• 'House M.D.'
• 'Hrysa koritsia'
• 'In Plain Sight'
• 'Hannah Montana'
• 'The Starter Wife'
• 'Degrassi: The Next Generation'
• 'Supernatural'
• 'Drop Dead Diva'
• 'Heroes'
• 'Greek'
• 'Community'
• 'The Big Bang Theory'
• 'Glee'
• 'The Office'
• 'Justified'
• 'In Plain Sight'
• 'Atop the Fourth Wall'
• 'Awkward.'
• 'Parks and Recreation'
• '2 Broke Girls'
• 'Switched at Birth'
• 'The Middle'
• 'I Hate My Teenage Daughter'
• 'Supernatural'
• 'White Collar'
• 'Community'
• 'Raising Hope'
• "Snow Bride" [TV movie]

From alternate TV dimensions:

• 'The West Wing'
• 'Castle'
• 'Blue Bloods'

At least two TV characters have appeared on the show, (Joey Tribbiani of 'Friends' and one of the 'Girlfriends') which makes the version seen in Toobworld a different show from the one seen by the Trueniverse audience.

Out of all the mentions of 'Law & Order' as a TV show, it was on 'Friends' where we finally saw the actual televersion of the show.....

Rachel: I am so proud of Joey, I can't believe he's going to be on 'Law & Order'!

Phoebe: I know. But don't you think that it should be called 'Order and Law'?

Rachel: No, because first they arrest the guy and then they try him.

Phoebe: Don't get me started on that.

Joey Tribbiani being in an episode is enough to change the show from the reality.  But there are ripple effects, like the change to the plot:

[Time Lapse, the gang is now watching 'Law & Order'.)

Joey: Okay, see that blind guy right there? I'm gonna bash his head in later.

(His grandmother asks him something.)

Joey: Oh umm, my big scene is coming up. Big scene coming up.

Joey: Okay, here's my big scene. My big scene's here! (They have two of the cops on the street, then they cut to where they're entering an apartment.) Oh my God.

Monica: What?

Joey: (smiling) Okay, everybody just keep smiling. It'll kill my grandmother if she finds out.

Chandler: (smiling) Well, what is it?

Joey: (smiling) Oh, they cut me out of the show.

Rachel: (smiling) What?!

Ross: (smiling) Are you sure?

Phoebe: (smiling) Maybe your scene's coming up?

Joey: (smiling) Not likely.  'Cause you see that body bag right there

Rachel: (smiling) Yeah.

Joey: (smiling) I'm in it.

And then we learn that the actors playing those roles in the real world are also playing the role in Toobworld......

Grandma Tribbiani: (Something in Italian to Joey.)

Joey: Soon, soon, I'm gonna be on soon. There I am! (Points to the screen, of course it isn't him.)

Grandma Tribbiani: (pointing at the screen) No! Sam Waterston!

Joey: No-no-no, that-that's me, that's me.

Grandma Tribbiani: No, it's Sam Waterston! "Crimes and Misdemeanors", "Capricorn One".

Chandler: Doesn't know "Hello." But she knows "Capricorn One".

On an episode of 'Psych', Shaun and Gus had a discussion of the actors who played the D.A.s over the years.  One was Angie Harmon and they threw in the cop played by Mariska Hargitay as well.  (Those horndogs!)  Then there's 'The Sopranos' mentioned one of the show's producers, Rene Balcer!

And as so often happens in Toobworld, the actors are cast because they look so much like the real people portrayed in the shows.  In this case, Sam Waterston landed the plum role because of his amazing similarity to Jack McCoy.

So no more splainin my way around it.  It'll be a lot easier around Toobworld Central now that I've accepted it.

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 05/2014 - THE VOICE OF SHAARON CLARIDGE

Last year when Inner Toob was running the daily showcase for the League of Themselves, Shaaron Claridge was featured on July 30.  She was the voice you heard in every episode of 'Adam 12' as the police dispatcher.  Producer/star Jack Webb wanted that voice to have an air of authenticity and who better than an actual dispatcher for the LAPD?

She may not have been heard in every single episode's storyline, but she was always in the opening credits:

But that wasn't the only L.A.-based TV show in which Ms. Claridge made a vocal appearance as a police dispatcher.  

Here's a list of the others:

'Dragnet 1967'
"Public Affairs: DR-14" (1968) 

'Sarge'
"A Push Over the Edge" (1971) 

'Lou Grant'
"Housewarming" (1977) 

'Columbo'"Make Me a Perfect Murder" (1978) 
 

In a perfect Toobworld, it should just be accepted that all of those shows are in the same reality, in the City of Angels to be found on Earth Prime-Time.  But a trivial link like the voice of Shaaron Claridge makes it a legitimate connection.

And that's why Shaaron Claridge is one of our inductees into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame this month.

Welcome to the Force, Ms. Claridge!

BCnU!

TOOBWORLD CENTRAL: DEALING WITH HISTORICAL RECASTAWAYS

There are certain events in the History of the Trueniverse that get plenty of attention in Toobworld:

• The American Civil War
• The Kennedy Assassination
• The Titanic
• Lincoln's Assassination
• The Whitechapel Murders
• The Life of Marilyn Monroe
• The Attacks on 9/11
• World War II

And for one thankfully brief lapse of reason, the Amy Fisher/Joey Buttafucco case.....

When such events are repeatedly hashed over in mini-series and TV movies, Toobworld Central just ships them off, each to their own alternate dimension of the TV Universe.  That way we don't have to wrestle with the thorny Zonks like Recastaways.

However, we have to find splainins when those events are woven into episodes of the TV series which are the foundation of Earth Prime-Time.  As I mentioned, Recastaways are a particular bugaboo for the Splainin Department, but we've come up with a reasonably good excuse - historical figures may look different from one series to the next because the Truniverse audience is seeing them from the perspective of one of the other TV characters in the storyline.

A recent example would be Edward the VIII, the British king who abdicated the throne for the love of Wallis Simpson.  My personal preference as to his portrayal would be that by Edward Fox in the mini-series 'Edward And Mrs. Simpson'.  But his appearance in TV series like 'Dancing On The Edge' and 'Tales Of The Gold Monkey' would take precedent.  

In the current season of 'Downton Abbey', he appears as the Prince of Wales alongside his father, King George V.  A different actor plays him than seen in those previously mentioned series, so it's splained away as being the point of view of Lady Rose MacClare who was being presented to the Royal Family.

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD TVXOHOF ENTRY: JERRY VALE

From The LA Times:

Jerry Vale, a smooth-voiced singer who reached the top of the pop charts in the 1950s and '60s with his interpretations of romantic ballads, died Sunday at his home in Palm Desert. He was 83. Vale's attorney, Harold J. Levy, confirmed his death after a long illness.

If I don't induct the worthy (if not urgent) candidates into the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame upon learning of the relevant death, I tend to forget.  So that's why the televersion if Jerry Vale is joining the TVXOHOF in a month usually reserved for the Queens of May. 

Here are the shows that qualified him for entry in the League of Themselves wing:

'Who's the Boss?'

- "The Fabulous Robinson Sisters" (1990)

'Growing Pains'

- "Divorce Story" (1990)

- "Midnight Cowboy" (1990)

- "Weekend at Mike's" (1990)

'Midnight Caller'

- "That's Amoré" (1991) 

Vale's presence in these TV shows has no connection to his portrayal of himself in movies like "Casino" and "Goodfellas".  Those "cineversions" do make him a Multi-versal, however. 

Good night and may God bless....

TUESDAY NEWS DAY - "NOTTINGHAM"

Leon Unczer, the real Sheriff of Nottingham, 

with Tim Pollard, a Robin Hood impersonator.

Usually I try to avoid writing up blog posts on prospective series before they're on the air.  Why waste the effort if it's not going to have any impact on Toobworld in the long run?  But this is one case which I think deserves to be featured since it has a very novel approach to its subject matter......

Yet another TV dimension will be getting its own version of the Robin Hood legend.  And that makes sense, since the network suits won't have to shell out any of the potential profits to a rights-holder.

Mostly because it originated on Showtime, I didn't see many episodes of 'Robin Hood' starring Michael Praed as Robin of Locksley (and later, Jason Connery as Robin of Huntington).  I liked it, but it wasn't the Robin Hood for Earth Prime-Time.  Ancient and creaky though it may be, Richard Greene's televersion from the 1950s serves as the Robin of Toobworld.  (But I did like the soundtrack album "Robin The Hooded Man" very much!)

And I gave the 2006 incarnation of the legend a pass.  After a while (at least for this TV Universe caretaker), if it has nothing to do with your main focus of study, why bother?  (There will always be exceptions - 'Castle' being the current one; 'The West Wing' being the best.)

One other Robin Hood TV series I did watch - "When Things Were Rotten".  It didn't matter if it was in Doofus Toobworld; it was by Mel Brooks!

But this new televersion by BBC America sounds intriguing at least: 

Here's the pitch from the series creator Cole Haddon:

"Nottingham centers on the Sheriff of Nottingham whose wife is killed by King John’s men. When nobody is brought to justice, the Sheriff launches a one-man war against the Crown. By day, he remains the reviled Sheriff, loyal servant of the King, but by night he puts on a hood and, using the intelligence he gains from his office, attacks the King where it hurts the most — his coffers."

The series will be called 'Nottingham'.

Haddon recently had NBC's revamped vampire series 'Dracula' on the air, so he has the experience in transforming an old chestnut into something new.  (Re: 'Dracula', it pained me to finally send it off to an alternate dimension, and only for recastaway reasons.  Otherwise, everything about the storyline would have been perfect for Earth Prime-Time.)

Perhaps that version of 'Dracula' can share the same dimension with this new 'Robin of Nottingham' character.  And because the series title is the location, maybe 'Nottingham' can be in the same dimension as 'Gotham'.....

At any rate, I'll be keeping watch for any casting news.  And should it become a series, then I will check it out; see if it's worth adding to my non-Toobworld viewing schedule......

BCnU!

WHITHER WAREHOUSE 14?

So with the penultimate episode of 'Warehouse 13' last week, it looks as though the Warehouse will be on the move to its new location in the series finale.  Benedict Valda tried to move it to Beijing, so perhaps that's where it's predestined to go.  

In the past, whatevever mysterious powers control the Warehouse (or if the Warehouse is a living entity, sort of like Moya the spaceship of 'Farscape'), it was decided that the Warehouse would eventually go to the next country of great development.  So the choice of China would probably make sense.

But what if the Warehouse decided it was time to think of Earth Prime-Time as one global community?  Wouldn't it be a better choice for the Warehouse to position itself in a place accessible for all Mankind?  

Why not Antarctica?

Personally, I would love to see the Warehouse take up residence in the Arctic Circle.  And it wouldn't have to be specifically spelled out, but perhaps it could occupy the carbon footprint of Superman's Fortress of Solitude.  In Earth Prime-Time, he no longer has any need for it... being dead.  

That's just my wish-craft, however.

But I think Warehouse 14 being situated in the Antarctic would be the more logical choice.  Going to China just doesn't feel right......

We'll find out later tonight with the series finale!

BCnU!

BLIPVERTS - THE AFLAC "SOPRANOS" FLASHBACK

The latest Aflac blipvert is actually a flashback to before the middle of 2007.  That's when New Jersey mobster Phil Leotardo was killed in a hit at a gas station.

So I would place the Aflac Duck's abduction by Leotardo probably in the Fall of 2006.

And I would not be surprised to find out that big goon of a henchman was some kind of Wesen from 'Supernatural'!

BCnU!