Thursday, January 11, 2018

THE HAT SQUAD THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY FOR ROSE MARIE - MEET THE TARANTINOS




"Mrs. Tarantino is a nice lady who has to work hard for a living."
Dobie Gillis
'THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS'

In Toobworld, fictional TV characters can be related to people from the real world.  Of course, those "real people" are actually "televersions" of themselves in a fictional setting. 

This means - as an example - Sammy Davis Jr. as seen in episodes of 'All In The Family' and 'Archie Bunker's Place' was just as fictional as Archie himself.

Here are the best examples of TV characters related to "real people":

'ALICE'
Vera Gorman & Art Carney

'THE NANNY'
Sammy & Bryant and Greg Gumbel

'THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM'
Little Jimmy & Nat King Cole

'HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET'
Detective Megan Russert & Tim Russert (and by extension, Tim's son Luke)

So why are we bringing that up now when we're celebrating the career of Rose Marie?  


'THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS'
"THE PRETTIEST COLLATERAL IN TOWN"

From the IMDb:
To help his father's chances of securing a loan, Dobie agrees to date the banker's spoiled-brat daughter.

Herbert is applying for a much needed loan for the business. Dobie inadvertently threatens the loan by his actions in front of the loan officer, Mr. McCurdy. But Mr. McCurdy ends up being a spineless man when it comes to his wife and daughter, the latter, Mignonne McCurdy, who, like her mother, is a rigid and self-assured person. What Mignonne wants is a pliable man she can mold into her vision, that man being Dobie, who she wants to be her date at a party she is hosting on Saturday night. McCurdy infers that Herbert's loan is dependent on Dobie keeping that date, which Herbert would like him to do. Dobie, who has not even yet met Mignonne, has to decide what to do: keep the date to help his hard working father get the loan, or be true to his heart and not keep the date as Dobie is already in love with Melissa Frome, who he considers the perfect girlfriend as she sees in him 
the perfect boyfriend.
Written by Huggo


In this episode of Dobie Gillis, Rose Marie played a Mrs. Tarantino.

So why couldn't she be related to film director/writer and actor Quentin Tarantino?

There is a televersion of Tarantino in Toobworld, but it's mostly through implication.  Here are the credits which I consider to be representative of Tarantino's televersion:

"The Muppets' Wizard of Oz"
Kermit's Director


If a director looks like an actual director, why shouldn't it be that guy?

'Saturday Night Live'
Guest Host


'SNL' is established as a TV show within the TV Universe.

'The Golden Girls' - "Sophia's Wedding: Part 1" (1988) 
... Elvis Impersonator


This was before he hit it big with "Reservoir Dogs" and probably needed the gig.  See if you can pick him out of the crowd....

But his existence in Toobworld is buoyed by all of the mentions of him and his talent/career to be found in other TV shows.

Here are just a few examples:

Melissa & Joey
Auction Hero
(2011)

Lennox Scanlon is having problems in writing her novel.
Ryder Scanlon:
"You know, when I'm editing my digital films I use index cards.
All the great filmmakers use them -
Quentin Tarantino, Tyler Perry...."

Hot in Cleveland
God and Football
(2012)
Victoria donates blood as a publicity stunt and wakes up thinking Elka is God.

Victoria:
“Who do I have to sleep with to win an Oscar?
It certainly wasn't Quentin Tarantino.
I wish I could take that back.”

Person of Interest
Pretenders
(2014)
John and others try to prevent a fake detective from getting himself killed.

Carl Elias:
Chicago's a mess, John.
It's like a damn Tarantino movie out there.

The IT Crowd
Moss and the German (2007)
Just as Moss and Roy start to watch a Tarantino bootleg, Jeff (who wants to be called “Dominator”) calls in hopes of spoiling it for them.

Jeff (The Dominator):
I was just wondering, have you seen the new Tarantino film? 
Roy:
I'm just about to watch it, Jeff. 
Jeff:
I’ve already seen it! Anyway, at the end, there's a very unusual twist.
[Roy hangs up.]


Psych
This Episode Sucks
(2011)
Shawn and Gus investigate a string of murders which appear to have been committed by a vampire.

Shawn Spencer:
What did I tell ya'? 
No one remembers "Blacula"
except us and Quentin Tarantino.

Call My Agent!
Cécile
(2015)
Actress Cécile de France is thrilled to work with one of the best American film directors. Unfortunately her agent has bad news for her.


 Those are just a few examples.  Other TV shows which treat Tarantino as a fictional member of their world are:
  • ‘Ray Donovan’
  • ‘Camp’
  • ‘White Collar’
  • ‘The Mysteries Of Laura’
  • ‘American Horror Story’

and over in another dimension,
  • ‘Castle’

 And so to expand this fictional televersion of Quentin Tarantino, we’re going to add Mrs. Tarantino who lives with her crippled husband in the same town where the Gillis family lives.  And there she works in the local teenage hangout as a waitress, always cracking with the jokes.


Mrs. Tarantino is not related to the movie wunderkind by blood.  He’s actually related to her by marriage; it’s her unseen husband who can claim to be the actual member of the family.  They weren’t a close family as Mr. and Mrs. Tarantino live in the Midwest while Quentin was born in Knoxville, Tennessee.  (By the time he was four years old, he and his mother moved to Torrance, California.)


By the way, at the time of the ‘Dobie Gillis’ episode, the televersion of Li’l Quentin wasn’t even born yet.  “The Prettiest Collateral In Town” took place in 1960 and QT came along three years later.  Like I said, in Toobworld they probably weren’t very close.

Thumbs up!





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