FRIDAY HALL OF FAMERS 03/06/20 - PENNY MARSHALL

Last year, Laverne DeFazio was inducted into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame in tribute to Penny Marshall.  (She had been eligible for years, but it always felt as though we had time to do it.)

This year we complete the tribute to the late actress and director by inducting her as herself during the month in which we celebrate the League of Themselves.

From Wikipedia:
Carole Penny Marshall (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director, and producer. She came to notice in the 1970s for her role as Laverne DeFazio on the television sitcom ‘Laverne & Shirley’ (1976–1983), receiving three nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for her portrayal.

Marshall made her directorial debut with “Jumpin' Jack Flash” (1986) before directing “Big” (1988), which became the first film directed by a woman to gross more than $100 million at the U.S. box office. Her subsequent directing credits included “Awakenings” (1990), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, “A League of Their Own” (1992), “Renaissance Man” (1994), “The Preacher's Wife” (1996) and “Riding in Cars with Boys” (2001). She also produced “Cinderella Man” (2005) and “Bewitched” (2005), and directed episodes of the TV series ‘According to Jim’ and ‘United States of Tara’.

Here are the TV series in which she played herself and which qualified her for membership in the TVXOHOF:

Bosom Buddies
- Cablevision (1982)

From the IMDb:
Kip & Henry and their friends put together a cable TV show, to help keep a client and advertise his business. As well as promising him celebrity guest Penny Marshall.

Taxi
- Louie Moves Uptown (1983)

From the IMDb:
Louie has a revelation, he lives like he is so he sets his sights on a high rise condo. All he needs to do is borrow money from Jim and beat out Penny Marshall for the flat.

Tracey Takes On...
- Hollywood (1998)

From the IMDb:
Chic heads to Hollywood with a hot property left behind in his cab by Penny Marshall.

I'm with Her
- The Kid Stays in the Picture (2004)

O'Bservation:
I have no information on this....

Entourage
- Crash and Burn (2006)

PENNY MARSHALL:
- Hey, Ariel Gold.
ARI GOLD:
- Hey, Penny. Only my mom calls me that and still I better have a fever of 103.
PENNY MARSHALL:
- How are you?
ARI GOLD:
 - Okay.
PENNY MARSHALL:
- I was just up seeing one of your guys.
ARI GOLD:
 - Oh yeah? Who?
PENNY MARSHALL:
We're looking at Jimmy Whitaker for the Encyclopedia Brown trilogy.
ARI GOLD:
Jimmy Whitaker, the pride and joy of my young burgeoning teen division.
PENNY MARSHALL:
Yeah, I'll tell you what, let's make a deal. You do the whole "schlemiel, schlimazel, Hasenpfeffer Incorporated"
ARI GOLD:
- he's all yours, all right?
PENNY MARSHALL:
- Don't be a schmuck, Ari, okay?
ARI GOLD:
- What?
PENNY MARSHALL:
- It's a great project. It's gonna be a heck of a franchise. The first one takes place in the Kremlin.
ARI GOLD:
Really? Good luck faking Moscow in Vancouver.
PENNY MARSHALL:
No no no. The hell with Vancouver. We're doing it right.
ARI GOLD:
- Kazakhstan?
PENNY MARSHALL:
- Mm-hmm.
ARI GOLD:
Jimmy Whitaker is a spoiled prick. You want to hire Max Ballard. He's Dakota Fanning with a dick.
PENNY MARSHALL:
I heard Ballard was difficult.
ARI GOLD:
He's my next-door neighbor. He is humble as pie. I have been trying to sign that kid for years.
PENNY MARSHALL:
Wow, Ari. He's not even one of your guys.
ARI GOLD:
I am a team player. Boom! You owe me.
PENNY MARSHALL:
Come here.
[They hug it out.]
ARI GOLD:
- Max Ballard.
PENNY MARSHALL:
- Ballard.
ARI GOLD:
 - Quit smoking.
PENNY MARSHALL:
 - All right.

Bones
- The Woman at the Airport (2006)

REPORTER:
I'm here with Penny Marshall, one of the most prolific "hyphenates" in Hollywood. Actress, producer and director of such hits as "A League Of Their Own" and "Big". Her latest project is "Bred In The Bone", a thriller based on the bestselling novel by crime-fighting anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan. OK, so how did this all come together?
DR. TEMPERANCE BRENNAN:
I have no idea.
PENNY MARSHALL:
Well, my brother Garry gave me the book, and I liked it, And then this whole bidding war started, and I usually don't get into that kind of thing, but in this case….
REPORTER:
A bidding war? That's got to be a thrill for a first-time author.
DR. TEMPERANCE BRENNAN:
I wasn't actually there.
REPORTER:
You must be a big fan of Penny's films. So which one's your favorite? I enjoyed her humorous treatment of the time/space paradox.
REPORTER:
"Big"! Very funny.
PENNY MARSHALL:
"Time/space paradox"….
REPORTER:
Penny, who is going to write the script?
DR. TEMPERANCE BRENNAN:
Don't I get to do that?
PENNY MARSHALL:
We'll talk.

The Bronx Is Burning
- Past Combatants (2007)

O’Bservation:
Her appearance in this was archival footage, so somebody on the Yankees or at the police precinct was probably watching ‘Laverne & Shirley’.

Welcome to the Hall, Ms. Marshall....

MARK IN MARCH! 03/2020 TVXOHOF - MARK HAMILL

For me, March is a boring month, save for my brother’s birthday and the occasional Easter.  So for this month’s Television Crossover Hall of Fame big crossover induction – as well as for the weekly inductions as Friday Hall of Famers – we have what I believe is an interesting theme to liven things up.

The League of Themselves!  Those are the people – usually famous in some fashion – who appear as their own “televersions” in a fictional setting.

And this year, we have someone who became famous for one of the best known movie characters, a character he’s finally said goodbye to after 42 years (on-screen, that is.)

MARK HAMILL

From Wikipedia:
Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor, voice actor, and writer. Hamill is best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” films, which won him the Saturn Award for Best Actor three times. He is also known for his voice acting in animation and video games, especially for his portrayal of the Joker, beginning with ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ in 1992.  

In 1980, he also made a guest appearance on ‘The Muppet Show’, both as himself and as Luke Skywalker in “The Stars of Star Wars”; this episode also starred C-3PO and R2-D2 who were along with him on a search for Chewbacca.  

He appeared on ‘Saturday Night Live’ playing himself being sold on a “Star Wars”-themed home shopping sale.  Hamill appeared in single episodes of ‘3rd Rock from the Sun’ in 1997, ‘Just Shoot Me!’ in 1998, and ‘The Big Bang Theory’ – the episode in which Sheldon and Amy got married.

Mark Hamill is a member of a very select group within the TVXOHOF – he is being inducted twice over, once for his appearances as himself in Earth Prime-Time, and as his animated self in the Tooniverse.  Off-hand I can only think of one other League of Themselveser who pulled that off – Adam West.  Which figures – two genre icons.

Here are the roles he’s being inducted for in the main Toobworld: 

The Muppet Show
- The Stars of Star Wars (1980)

America 2-Night
- Legalizing Prostitution (1978)

3rd Rock from the Sun
- Fifteen Minutes of Dick (1997)

Just Shoot Me!
- The List (1998)

Player$
- May The Crunk Be With You (2004)

The Bronx Bunny Show
- Episode #1.3 (2007)

Nightcap
- The Show Must Go On: Part 2 (2017)

The Big Bang Theory
- The Bow Tie Asymmetry (2018)

In 1997, the Toobworld Mark Hamill communicated with Space Ghost in the Tooniverse:

Space Ghost Coast to Coast
- Switcheroo (1997)

As was the case with Ice-T, an inductee from last month, Space Ghost was interviewed the live-action Hamill while he had a Tooniversion Hamill available to be in the studio.

Hrmmmmm

And here are his qualifications from the Tooniverse:

Freakazoid!
- And Fan Boy Is His Name/Lawn Gnomes Chapter IV: Fun in the Sun/Freak's French Lesson (1995)

O'Bservation:
Just my opinion, but this was the best representation of Hamill in the Tooniverse.

The Simpsons
- Mayored to the Mob (1998)

Pepper Ann
- The Finale (2000)
- Unhappy Campers/The Search for Pepper Ann Pearson (2000) ...
- Beyond Good and Evel/One of the Guys (1999)
- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Milo/The Sisterhood (1998)

Johnny Bravo
- Johnny Bravo Goes to Hollywood (2004)

O'Bservation:
He was recognized as being the CGI version of himself.

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
- Amazamoose and Squirrel Wonder: Chapter Three (2019)

O’Bservation:
This might have been an appearance by the Toobworld Mark Hamill instead of a Tooniverse Hamill. That might be him in the picture, dressed as Shakespeare; I have no clue.

As mentioned in the Wikipedia excerpt, Hamill appeared as himself in a sketch on 'Saturday Night Live', but that belongs in Skitlandia.  One day he'll have enough credits playing himself in sketches - he might even have enough now! - to have his Skitlandean version inducted.

Hamill is also known for being the actor who has portrayed the Joker the most times.  And apparently there's an animated short out there in which the Joker kidnaps Mark Hamill.  But I don't know if that's just a rumor or if it actually exists.

Welcome to the Hall, Mark Hamill.

May the F--#  No.  I’m sure you must be sick of hearing that….