LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - VENTURA HI-DEF

From Roger Cormier:
A fan of 'The Young and the Restless' since his wrestling days, Jesse Ventura made an appearance on his favorite soap opera while he was the governor of Minnesota.

Knowledgeable fan that he was, Ventura insisted that if he was playing himself as the governor, he would only meet with the powerful character Victor Newman—so the writers were forced to scrap their original plan, which had Ventura sharing a scene with the lawyer character Cricket.

In the episode, Gov. Ventura asked international businessman Newman to become his running mate in a bid for the U.S. presidency. Things didn't work out between the two, because they couldn't decide on who would take the vice president position.

From Wikipedia:
Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American media personality, actor, author, former politician and retired professional wrestler, who served as the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003. He was the first and only member of the Reform Party to win a major government position, but later joined the Independence Party of Minnesota, and then joined the Green Party of the United States.

Ventura was a member of the U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition Team during the Vietnam War. After leaving the military, he embarked on a professional wrestling career from 1975 to 1986, taking the ring name Jesse "The Body" Ventura. He had a long tenure in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as a performer and color commentator, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004. In addition to wrestling, Ventura also pursued an acting career, appearing in films such as "Predator" and "The Running Man" (both 1987).

Ventura first entered politics as Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, from 1991 to 1995. Ventura was the Reform Party candidate in the Minnesota gubernatorial election of 1998, running a low-budget campaign centered on grassroots events and unusual ads that urged citizens not to "vote for politics as usual". 

Ventura's campaign was unexpectedly successful, with him narrowly defeating both the Democratic and Republican candidates. The highest elected official to ever win an election on a Reform Party ticket, Ventura left the Reform Party a year after taking office amid internal fights for control over the party.

As governor, Ventura oversaw reforms of Minnesota's property tax as well as the state's first sales tax rebate. Other initiatives taken under Ventura included construction of the METRO Blue Line light rail in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, and cuts in income taxes. 

Ventura left office in 2003, deciding not to run for re-election. After leaving office, Ventura became a visiting fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2004. He has since also hosted a number of television shows and has written several political books. Ventura remains politically active and currently hosts a show on Ora TV and on RT America called 'Off the Grid'.

As of September 2017, Ventura is hosting a variety news show on RT called 'The World According to Jesse'.  Ventura has repeatedly floated running for President of the United States on a Green Party ticket.

The great thing about Jesse Ventura as a member of the League of Themselves is that on his own, he's basically Zonk-free.  If he gets mentioned, it could be in connection to his past as the governor or his career in wrestling.  If the reference is to him as an actor, then we could claim they're talking about his roles in movies like "Predator" or "The Running Man".  The only problem would be specific references to appearances on TV... like that time he was on 'Small Wonder'.  A sitcom about an android that looked like a little girl?  Who could resist taking a crack at that?

It's just my opinion, but I think his appearance on 'The Young & The Restless' is the best of the bunch; at the very least it had more "oomph" to it.  And his other appearances add more connections to the popular soap opera.

However, his appearance on 'Small Wonder' gives it a run for its money.  Especially since the televersion of Jesse Ventura was not born James Janos.  His original name in Toobworld was Wally Crandall, and he was a 98 pound weakling in college.  Not as weird a deviation as Dennis Rodman being an extraterrestrial or Willie Mays being a warlock, but 'twill serve...

Here are the relevant TV shows for making Toobworld connections.  (All descriptions are from the IMDb.)

'Small Wonder'
- "Wally the Wimp" (1987)

Pro-wrestler, Jesse Ventura, is invited to the Lawson house for dinner. He has a surprise for Ted, as years before he was the nerdy little kid named Wally whom Ted teased in college.  

'Arli$$'
- "The Cult of Celebrity" (1999)  

Country music star Cooter McCoy wants Arliss to help him live a dream of playing professional baseball, not just playing music before the games. In the office, Stanley ends up having Rita and Kirby play matchmaker for him.
 [This description comes from TV.com]

'Young & The Restless'
- Episode #1.6921 (July 10, 2000)

O'Bservation: See the description in the Cormier excerpt above.

'The View'

- Episode dated 18 May 2009

- Episode dated 3 October 2010   

- Guest Co-Host Jesse Ventura (2013) 

O'Bservation: As I've mentioned in the past, the televersion of 'The View' is a valid part of Toobworld because it was fictionalized in an episode of 'SportsNight'.

'Cubed' 
- Episode 84 (2011) 

Pizzi and Bernie lap dance their way to an entertaining Thursday at the office, the group bonds over crying about ridiculous things, and Jesse "The Body" Ventura tells Pizzi about the CIA watch-list.  

As a member of the League of Themselves, the televersion of Ventura links 'The Young & The Restless' to those other shows.

You'll notice I didn't include any of his wrestling appearances.  Okay, I'm not a wrestling fan.  But I do accept that his appearances as a wrestler would be acceptable on a second tier of eligibility, as with talk shows, award presentations, variety programs, news reports etc.  (Sorry, Matt.)

And there's one other appearance I feel I should address.  In one of my favorite episodes of 'The X-Files' ("Jose Chung's From Outer Space"), he and Alex Trebek appeared as shadow operatives colloquially known as "Men In Black".

They weren't named, but I don't think we can extrapolate that Ventura and Trebek moonlighted as MiBs.  I think these operatives were groomed to look like famous people so that any reports to the authorities could be discounted for such absurdity.  "Jesse Ventura and Alex Trebek as Men in Black?  Get out of my office!"

So there you are, connections for 'The Young & The Restless' via Jesse Ventura to 'Cubed' and 'Small Wonder', with amplification for the connections with 'Arli$$' and 'The View'.  

One day, Governor Ventura will be inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

Until next time....