DOUBLE VISION - THE DALTON GANG

Are you sick of anything to do with presidents yet?  Sorry about that, Chief.

In the alternate Toobworld in which 'Madame Secretary takes place, Keith Carradine portrays the President of the United States Conrad Dalton.

It hasn't been spelled out exactly when the timeline for this Toobworld diverged from that of Earth Prime-Time, but at least one fictional POTUS was in office before Dalton.  

Just about everybody in Toobworld has a doppelganger in the many alternate TV worlds, and the same should hold true for those other Toobworlds, that the people that live in their dimensions can be found on Earth Prime-Time as well.  

So... since the Commander-in-Chief for Earth Prime-Time should always be the same as the one of Earth Prime, we know Conrad Dalton isn't the President in Toobworld.  So could Dalton have a different life on the main Toobworld, and better yet... could we have seen him already in some other show?

I think we have.  

First off, the role of President Dalton is played by Keith Carradine.  So, unlike other examples of the same character found in several dimensions but with different genetics (Real World splainin: recasting) - which would include Clark Kent, Dr. Richard Kimble, Hannibal Heyes, Gomez & Morticia Addams - I think in this case we should focus only on other TV characters played by Carradine.

O'Bviously, that rules out Wild Bill Hickock of 'Deadwood'.

I've also posited theories in the past that two characters played by the same actor, but with different names, could have been the same character in parallel worlds.  The splainin could be chalked up to adoption in that case.  

I don't think it's any fun for me as a televisiologist to just pick any character played by Carradine who would definitely be found in Earth Prime-Time and just say the alternate dimension was a case of adoption.  Borrring!

And I wanted to avoid his longer-lasting roles, like Frank Lundy ('Dexter'), Julian Decker ('Damages'), and Nick Savage ('Complete Savages'), because they all have more baggage in their back-story the longer a show goes on.  

But I did narrow down the options to three of his one-shot roles on TV.

The first possibility was a washed-up country rocker who got caught up in an 'NCIS' investigation.  His name was Mannheim Gold - that is the type of name that could have been made up for his stage career.  He may have been born Conrad Dalton and followed his muse rather than political ambitions.  (Episode: "Rock And A Hard Place")

I can hear his fans now.  We love you, Conrad... Oh yes, we do....  Oops, wrong Conrad.

With the other two characters, they could both have the name of Conrad Dalton even if we never heard it being used in their shows.

We never even see the next candidate on the screen!  He was allegedly named "Carl" and he had called in to Dr. 'Frasier' Crane's radio show when he broadcast on KQZY in Spokane.....

Carl: Well, it's hard to talk about.  She hasn't technically dumped me yet, but I'm pretty sure it's coming.  And I don't know if I should bring it up first, or just avoid the whole subject and hope things get better.

Sure, he identified himself as "Carl", but he could have been using the anonymity of the call to hide who he really was. (Episode: "Frasier Has Spokane")

Or maybe not.

And that's why I'm eliminating him from consideration.  Instead, it's more intriguing to conflate him with another one of Keith Carradine's characters - FBI Security Agent Carl McGowan.  Even though he appeared in three 'Numb3rs' episodes ('The Decoy Effect', 'Blowback', and 'Jack Of All Trades'), his story line was concerned with his obsession against Agent Don Eppes so relationship troubles would be a back-story that never came up.

But Carl McGowan at least is two/thirds of the way toward joining the Television Crossover Hall of Fame!

So that leaves one option.

I think that in the main Toobworld, Conrad Dalton - under that name even though it never came up - was actually the president of the film division of an entertainment corporation.  He once romanced (and perhaps even married) a rising movie star back in the 1980s.  So instead of running the entire country, Dalton ran a movie studio.

I'm not sure if their relationship lasted, mainly because Conrad was not truthful at the beginning when they met.  He tried to pass himself off as a poor guy driving an old pick-up truck.  Who knows how the sultry actress reacted when she found out.  

So where did I dig up that character.....?

What do you think?