MISSED MANORS - "COLUMBO" & "REMINGTON STEELE"

'Columbo'

"Dagger Of The Mind"

In the Autumn of 1972, Lt. Columbo traveled to Great Britain as part of an exchange tour between the Los Angeles Police Department and New Scotland Yard.  While there under the supervision of Detective Chief Superintendent William Durk, Columbo uncovered the truth about the death of Sir Roger Haversham: the honored theatrical producer did not die in a fall at his mansion in the countryside but instead had been murdered elsewhere.  (Backstage at his theatre by the leading players in his production of "MacBeth".)

'Remington Steele'

"Blue Blooded Steele"

Over a decade later, Remington Steele, posing as heir to the title of Duke of Rutherford, uncovered a murder plot to gain the late Duke's estate.  Steele and his partner were staying at the ancestral Rutherford estate for that weekend and one thing should have been noticeable to the discerning eye of the Trueniverse audience.

Both the Haversham and Rutherford estates looked exactly the same, inside and out of the mansion.

 

 

 

Here's the easy splainin for such a Zonk:

One of the Duke of Rutherford's relatives mentioned that the estate had been the ancestral home of the Rutherfords.  Therefore, there was no way it could have been the home of Sir Roger Haversham a decade earlier.  And based on what Sir Roger's butler Tanner said, Sir Roger had been living in his mansion for many many years.

Therefore, I believe Sir Roger had his mansion built to the specifications of the Rutherford mansion's design.  Perhaps he had been the Duke's guest on several occasions, accompanying the Lady Astor to some lawn fete or costume ball.  Having seen the splendor of the Rutherford mansion, Sir Roger may have decided to have a copy made for himself.

And in that way we would avoid a Zonk.

BCnU!

STATUS UPDATE - "FLASH" BACK?

'ARROW'

"TIME OF DEATH"

A little while ago, I banished 'Arrow' to a second life in an alternate dimension after thirty episodes.  This was due to the introduction of a new Barry Allen, who will soon become the new Flash and be spun off into his own series.  The main Toobworld already has its own Flash/Barry Allen from the 1990 series "The Flash", as played by John Wesley Shipp.  But I decided those preceding 'Arrow' episodes could remain in the main Toobworld and after that the focus just shifted to the new world.

It's the sort of thing that's happened before with 'The Dead Zone' (suddenly a new President and Vice President of the United States) and 'Alias Smith And Jones' (due to the death of Pete Duel, Hannibal Heyes was then played by Roger Davis.)

The great thing about the Toobworld Dynamic is that it's malleable.  If the scriptwriters can go back and change their show's own history, I can do the same with the TwD.   And after some consideration, I think I can modify that decree somewhat.

From now on, as long as the Flash or Barry Allen is not mentioned or seen in the show, then we can assume we're watching an episode of 'Arrow' which is set in Earth Prime-Time.  After all, just because it got shunted off to an alternate TV dimension, that doesn't mean it ceased to exist in the main Toobworld.  Should Barry Allen or the Flash show up again, then our P.O.V. has switched over to the other world.  (I'm thinking the International House of Remakes. Nah, that's not a very good name for the Land of Remakes.  Gotta keep looking....)

And when it comes to him being mentioned, I might be able to loosen the rules a little more and claim that they're talking about the original Flash.  But I'm kind of committed to the theory that the speed powers exhibited by Shipp's Flash have dissipated, if they didn't outright kill him!

The reason for my change of heart is Black Canary, mostly.  I'd hate the idea of losing her to another world (but not 'Another World'.)  Plus there have been so many other great characters translated from the comics who have shown up and who have never been seen before in Earth Prime-Time - like Deathstroke, Count Vertigo, China White, Solomon Grundy, KGBeast, the Dollmaker and the Huntress.  (Her previous appearance was in 'Birds Of Prey' and that had to go to a different TV dimension, probably Evil Toobworld.  Solomon Grundy also appeared before in "Legend Of The Superheroes", but that's in Doofus Toobworld.  Most of the others may have appeared in animated series but of course those all go to the Tooniverse.) 

Ra's Al Ghul has been mentioned on the series, and his daughter Nyssa and his League of Assassins have shown up, but we have yet to meet him.

The latest to join those ranks, and who was also instrumental in changing my mind about the status of 'Arrow' was the Clock King, an alias used by William Tockman.  

Unlike the Huntress and Solomon Grundy, the Clock King has appeared in Earth Prime-Time before.  And yet I think the main Toobworld can support them both.  That's because "Clock King" is an alias which could be assumed by anybody.  And during his two-episode stint in 'Batman' during the 1960s, his name was never mentioned as being William Tockman.

And so what if it was?  There has been enough time elapsed for the Tockman family tree to feature both grandfather and the grandson named after him.  

The Clock King had no special powers, just a keen sense of timing and an obsession with Time.  (It's a trait shared with the late Clockwise.)  So there's no problem with two such similarly named characters with similar modus operandi existing in the same TV dimension.  This is unlike the case with Barry Allen becoming the Flash.  It's such a random occurrence - working in the Central City police forensics lab, getting doused with chemicals which give him super-speed, that red costume with the lightning bolt - that it would stretch the willing suspension of disbelief.

Although I have to admit....  I am tempted to try and get away with it if the reports of John Wesley Shipp being a recurring character on the new 'Flash' means he's playing Barry Allen Senior!  (However, I suspect he'll be Jay Garrick, the Flash from an earlier period in a parallel dimension.)

So them's the New Rules: if an 'Arrow' episode features Barry Allen or the Flash, or probably even mentions him, then that's an episode which belongs in the Land of Remakes.  (Toobworld Remake?  Simple and definitive......)  But if it's Flash-free, then we're back in Earth Prime-Time.

By the way, this episode did have mention of Central City - Mrs. Lance, the mother of Laurel and Sarah, is now living and teaching there... and has a new man in her life, much to the chagrin of her ex-husband.  There is no problem in this because Central City does exist in the "Telemerica" of Toobworld.  No mention was made of the Flash so it's all good.

BCnU!

MISSING LINK ZONK - "HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER" & "BODY OF PROOF"

Not that I was planning on developing this idea for posting, but I had it in mind that the new ABC series 'How To Get Away With Murder' would fit in nicely with a previous ABC show set in Philadelphia - 'Body Of Proof'.  In fact, I had this secret wish that perhaps Dana Delany might return to her role of Dr. Megan Hunt in a special guest appearance on the Viola Davis starrer.  (I think ABC made a big mistake in canceling 'Body Of Proof'.)

But with the second episode of 'How To Get Away With Murder', executive producer Shonda Rhimes and her production team may have thrown a monkey wrench into that idea.

As part of her defense for a millionaire playboy and huntsman, Annalise Keating called a medical examiner to the stand.  This woman, who went unnamed, had been the chief medical examiner in Philadelphia for the last 13 years until she left two months before the trial to become the head of the pathology department at UPenn.

According to 'Body Of Proof', the chief medical examiner in Philadelphia was Kate Murphy:

Now, we could claim that Lynn Ann Leveridge was playing Kate Murphy; that in the time since 'Body Of Proof', Kate had let herself go.  (My apologies to Ms. Leveridge for that appraisal.  It's geared towards the character, not the actor.)  The Recastaway rules of Toobworld would allow for that, but 'How To Get Away With Murder' is not sci-fi.

At this point in the game, depending on whether or not this new law drama survives, it looks like the crossover suggestion between both shows could work as long as we play with the Toobworld timeline.  

Since 'Body Of Proof' is the show that's already cancelled, we're going to reposition it on the timeline.  As it was on the air in the middle of the Obama presidency, pretty much any topical references can stay on point if we move it to within the timeframe being established for 'How To Get Away With Murder'.  (Damn, that title is cumbersome if you have to keep typing it!)

The new series already has a flexible timeline, with the present day represented by the students of Ms. Keating covering up a murder.  The meat of the show begins three months prior to that event and will eventually lead up to the cover-up (hopefully by the end of the season.)

So as 'Body Of Proof' was broadcast from 2011 to 2013, I have no problem pushing it forward in Time so that it is now concurrent with 'H2GAWM'.  (Not liking that acronym.....)  That way, Kate Murphy was given the job as Chief Medical Examiner for Philadelphia after Leveridge's unnamed character left the job.  We could also push 'H2GAWM' backwards in Time by a year as well.  Perhaps even by two years.......

It's something that will have a slim chance of ever being a factor in what we see on the screen, but for the purposes of the Toobworld Dynamic the motion should be sustained.

But should my ruling be overturned, I will fall back on Lynn Ann Leveridge playing Jeri Ryan's Kate Murphy......

BCnU!

O'BSERVATIONS - "BAD JUDGE"

The pilot episode of the new sitcom of 'Bad Judge' certainly didn't offer anything to make it worthy of the long-abandoned NBC phrase for Thursday nights: "Must See TV".  But neither did it present anything that would "condemn" it to life in some other TV dimension other than Earth Prime-Time.  It's presenting a watered-down version of bad behavior on the part of its main character, gamely played by Kate Walsh, without willing to run the risk of losing the audience's interest in her.

Depending on how well I can do to stay afloat and ahead of the game with the number of shows rapidly filling my DVR, I may stick with "Bad Judge" if for no other reason than Thursdays aren't offering up much else that might interest me.

However, 'Bad Judge' did expand the TV Universe with three new offerings for movies to be found only in Toobworld and even then only on Cinemax.  

The bailiff caught the judge and her psychologist lover en flagrante in chambers and compared it to some Cinemax movie which used the legal system as their subject matter.  The psychologist was familiar with a few of those flicks:

"Juror's Box"
"Sequestered Sisters"
"Witness For The Sexecution"

My Facebook friend Caeric ArcLight specializes in his own brand of TV Universe expansion with artistic renderings of posters and DVD cases (even vintage VCR boxes) for fictional movies.  Perhaps he might find inspiration in these.....?

BCnU!

BIG SCREEN TV: TWO LANE BLOG TOPIC

Here's a post-script to the blog post from earlier today.....

The idea of a cross-dimensional protection program is intriguing, and hopefully I'll find a way to use it in some other splainin - such as when a character disappeared from a show without any reason given.  Had it not been for the fact that the role was recast with Noel Neill, I might have used it for the disappearance of Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane in 'The Adventures Of Superman'.

I'm still mulling over that one, but I think I'm going to go with the splainin that Ms. Coates was the original Lois Lane of Earth Prime-Time.  However, she must have been kidnapped between Seasons One and Two of the show and brought to an alternate TV dimension.  In Superman's futile search of the countless Earths in the multiverse, he discovered another Lois Lane [played by Noel Neill] in another universe outside of the Toobworld Dynamic - in one of the dimensions of the Cineverse.  ("Superman vs. The Mole Men" is officially absorbed into the TwD, just like the movies "Batman" {1966}, "Maverick" and the "Star Trek" franchise - up until the entry of Spock into the black hole in the first JJ Abrams movie.)

This world must have been without a Superman. although we know it once had one.  He might have died in trying to prevent the cataclysmic explosion of the molten core that would soon destroy that Earth in the movie universe.

Realizing that he might never find his own Lois ever again, Superman of Earth Prime-Time did what little he could for this soon to be extinct Toobworld: he carried that world's Lois back through the vortex to Earth Prime-Time.  She must have been unconscious during the journey because she never acted as though Earth Prime-Time was not her own Cineversal Earth.  

As for the original Lois Lane?  Somehow she ended up escaping her captors on an alternate Toobworld where Lois Lane was not yet born.  (And that is the Toobworld on which we would find the series 'Lois & Clark'.)

Taking matters into her own hands as an independent woman, she changed her name to Ellen (Or "L N", perhaps based on the initials of her first and middle name - Lois Nancy* for example?)  She then deliberately set out to meet and marry a man named Lane so that she could have a daughter whom she would name Lois.

Or did she?  "Mister Lane" wasn't seen when Lois was about to marry Lex Luthor, only Ellen Lane.  I don't know if Lois ever mentioned her father, but one pozz'bility would be that "Ellen Lane" got pregnant without bothering to marry anybody and just told her daughter that her father died before she was born.

Like I said, it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble.....

SHOWS CITED:

• 'The Adventures Of Superman'
• 'Lois & Clark'
• "Superman" {1948}
• "Atom Man vs. Superman"
• "Superman vs. The Mole Men"
• "Batman" {1966}
• "Maverick"
• The "Star Trek" Franchise

* In the comic books, her middle name is Joanne, but that is a different universe.  Not everything from that world would have an influence on what happens in Toobworld.

BCnU!

TUESDAY NEWS DAY - NEWS "FLASH"!

Later tonight, the new version of 'The Flash' premieres on the CW.  Because there was already a version on CBS back in 1990, this Scarlet Speedster will be found in the Land O' Remakes.  Barry Allen, aka The Flash, will now be played by Grant Gustin, but in a nice "Shipp O' The Hat" to the original series, the first Flash - John Wesley Shipp - will have a recurring role as Barry's father Henry.

Because it's in the Land O' Remakes, that means any episodes of 'Arrow' in which Barry Allen appeared will also be in that alternate TV dimension as well.  However, for the most part, the 'Arrow' we see is taking place on Earth Prime-Time otherwise.  

It may be that 'Arrow' is the first series to alternate episodes between dimensions like that on a regular basis.  There have been shows with a few isolated examples (like 'Batman' with three dimensions worth of Mr. Freeze.)  But on the whole, there's been a clean break between the dimensions we see and there's no viewing back - like 'Alias Smith And Jones' (due to the recasting of Hannibal Heyes) and 'The Dead Zone' (because the show introduced a new Commander-in-Chief who was not the same POTUS as in Toobworld and the Real World.)

Besides the tip o' the hat in casting Shipp, 'The Flash' is bringing on board Amanda Pays from the original cast.  And even more Toobworthy, she'll once again be playing Dr. Tina McGee!

Not every character in the Land O' Remakes has to be recast.  Because this Barry Allen was born decades after the original from Earth Prime-Time, his spin of the wheel in the telegenetic lottery made him look different from Shipp's Barry Allen.

But that doesn't mean Remake Tina McGee couldn't have been born at the same time as the original.  More importantly, she must have been conceived under the same circumstances so that they are cross-dimensional twins.  (As as you should know, despite the original series being cancelled after one season, that world's Tina McGee lived on in Earth Prime-Time.)

The temptation was there to claim that this "new" Tina McGee is actually the "old" Tina McGee; that for some reason the Flash brough her through the dimensional vortex (a trick he could do in the comic book world by the vibrational shift of his molecules at high speed or something.)  But the series hasn't even premiered yet and I won't interfere in the unfolding of their storyline in such a way.  (Post cancellation, a TV show becomes fair game for speculation!)

BCnU!

"COLUMBO" AND DR. FRANKENSTEIN

It's standard Toobworld practice to accept any reference to another fictional character or place as being proof that it's real and that it shares the same TV dimension as the TV character who mentioned it.  That is, just so long as no mention is made of the source material.

Since it's October, the month of Halloween, let's take Dr. Frankenstein as an example

It's easy enough to accept that at least one of the doctors in the Frankenstein family (there are several) would exist in the same dimension as TV shows like 'The Munsters', 'Struck By Lightning', and of course one of the "younger" generation (as of 1891) can currently be seen in 'Penny Dreadful'.  But to find validation in a non-horror series would be even better. 

And we have such a reference in an episode of 'Columbo'!

'COLUMBO'

"LOVELY BUT LETHAL"

Carl Lessing:
Take courage, Sir. Just think how many years Dr. Frankenstein must have spent on his research.

Dr. Murch Murchison:
Yes, but he only made one little monster. He didn't live in our jungle; he didn't have to succeed.....

No mention of the movies, nor the book by Mary Shelley.  Murch and Lessing spoke of Frankenstein as a real person in their world.  For me, that's validation.....

BCnU......

TV-GPS - STAYING AT THE GREAT NORTHERN?

At the time I'm setting up this post, I have yet to see the actual episode.  Right now I don't even know the name of it, but knowing who that actor is will help track down that information... information... information....  So I don't know yet if the "Location Shot" mentioned herein can be actually linked to David Lynch's classic contribution to the TV landscape.....

BCnU!