THE TVXOHOF CHRISTMAS HONORS LIST - EARTHA KITT

I apologize.  I was sick for Christmas, and just couldn’t work up the energy to do the annual Christmas Honors induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.

I don’t want to waste any more time excoriating myself for being late so… ON WITH THE SHOW, THIS IS IT!

EARTHA KITT

Ms. Kitt is represented in the Hall of Fame already, but as an actress.  I conflated three of her characters into one when we did the superhero theme year.  But this time she is entering as a member of the League of Themselves.  And you should all know the reason why Ms. Kitt was chosen as the Christmas honoree….

Here are the shows which qualified Ms. Kitt for membership:

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES
(1966-68)
36 episodes

THE NANNY

A PUP IN PARIS
(1996)

At a nightclub in Paris, Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield and Fran Fine, his children’s nanny, saw a performance by Eartha Kitt. The song she sang she performed was “C'est si bon” (Music by Henri Betti, Lyrics by André Hornez.)

O’Bservation – At one point, Fran referred to Eartha Kitt as Catwoman, the character she portrayed in the 1966 series ‘Batman’.  This is NOT a Zonk, as the exploits of the Dynamic Duo in Toobworld would be a natural draw for the interest of TV producers.  Eartha Kitt was cast because of her resemblance to the cat burglar Tina “Angel” Mara who took on the persona of the Catwoman when the original one died (and before she was replaced by the goddess Bastet.)

JEOPARDY!

(1996)

O'Bservation - Ms. Kitt appeared appeared as a celebrity contestant.

OZ

MEDIUM RARE
(2001)

O’Bservations - "Up Your Ante," a game show, was one of the TV shows watched by the prisoners.  It was hosted by Gordon Elliott, with Don Pardo as his announcer, Eartha Kitt as the resident celebrity champ and John Carpenter looking to dethrone her.  At least, I think that was the game plan.

When she was introduced, Eartha Kitt was described as "Purrrfect."  As mentioned earlier, this reference to ‘Batman’ is not a Zonk!

Here is the transcript of her appearance, at least as much as we saw.

DON PARDO:

Live, from Burbank Studios in Burbank, California, it's time to play "Up Your Ante." And here's your host, Gordon Elliot.
ELLIOT:
Hello, and welcome to "Up Your Ante." And let's meet our first contestant tonight, Mr. John Carpenter. Now let's meet our star. Joining us this evening, the lovely, the divine, the purr-fect Miss Eartha Kitt.  Eartha, thank you so much for being here. The category is "Style and Fashion", take a look at this photograph. Can you tell me what kind of beard this man is wearing?
Carpenter:
I think I need a hint.
Elliot:
Eartha?
Kitt:
Well, I can give you a hint: It can also be called a "Rob Petrie."
Elliot:
Oh.
Carpenter:
"Rob Petrie?"

The prisoners thought they had the answer....

Morales:
Come on, just say it, just say, 'goatee.'
Beecher:
He could say goatee, but he'd be wrong.
Busmalis:
That's not a goatee?
Beecher:
Van Dyke.
Hoyt:
Van Dyke?
Beecher:
"Rob Petrie?" You get it?
Hoyt:
No. Who's Rob Petrie?

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES

October 06-10, 2003

Ms. Kitt was a multidimensional.  She appeared as herself in several alternate Toobworlds - the Tooniverse, Skitlandia, and the interface Borderland.

First up, the Tooniverse....

THE SIMPSONS

ONCE UPON A TIME IN SPRINGFIELD
(2010)

O’Bservation - Eartha Kitt recorded her lines shortly before her death in 2008, more than a year before the episode aired.

And she was portrayed by T'Keyah Crystal Keymah in Skitlandia....

IN LIVING COLOR

(She's seen here having coughed up a hairball, yet another 'Batman' reference.)

And finally, that Borderland....

SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST

BATMANTIS

O'Bservation - This might not actually be a separate dimension, but just a way for the people of Earth Prime-Time to converse with the citizens of the Tooniverse.  So Ms. Kitt was interviewed by the space superhero, Space Ghost.

Welcome to the Hall, Ms. Kitt.

Thank you for the sexiest Christmas song!

DECEMBER, 2022 TVXOHOF - BLANCHE DEVEREAUX

The Television Crossover Hall of Fame wraps up its mini-salute to ‘The Golden Girls’ with the December induction of Blanche Devereaux.  I saved her for last because her name is from the French word for “white” and I think she would like to delude herself that when everyone is singing “I’m Dreaming of A White Christmas”, they are really singing about her during the holiday.

BLANCHE DEVEREAUX

From Wikipedia:
Blanche Devereaux is a character from the sitcom television series ‘The Golden Girls’, and its spin-off ‘The Golden Palace’.  

Blanche was portrayed by Rue McClanahan for 8 years and 204 episodes across the two series.  Outside [those two series], Blanche appears in the ‘Empty Nest’ episode "Fatal Attraction" and the ‘Nurses’ episode "Moon Over Miami".  

(O’Bservation - She also appeared in the Earth Day TV special in a sketch with her other three roommates.)

Blanche Elizabeth Marie Hollingsworth grew up near Atlanta, Georgia, at her family's plantation, Twin Oaks. Her parents were the late Elizabeth-Ann Margaret Bennett (later seasons named her "Samantha Roquet") and Curtis "Big Daddy" Hollingsworth.

Much to young Blanche's dismay, her father married a young widow named Margaret Spencer years after Blanche's mother died, but she begrudgingly accepted the marriage. As a young child, she had a mammy (nanny) named Viola Watkins who took care of her before abruptly leaving one day. After her father's death, she learned that he and Viola had been secret lovers for many years and Viola left their family after Blanche's mother found out.

Blanche is a member of "the Alpha Gams" (Alpha Gamma Delta), but which university she attended is not known. On a few occasions, Blanche states that she is of the Baptist faith. She is proud of her status as a Southern debutante, but was shocked to learn, when tracing her family history, that she had a New York born Jewish great-grandmother, Rosalyn Feldman of Buffalo, New York, which prevented her from joining the Daughters of the Old South.

Blanche is the third of five Hollingsworth children. Charmaine Hollingsworth is the spoiled oldest sister, who infuriated Blanche when she wrote a sordid novel which Blanche thought was about her. When it was revealed that the book was about Charmaine and not Blanche, they made up and apologized to each other.

The next sibling is Blanche's brother Tad.  (Near the end of ‘The Golden Palace’, Blanche was revealed to have a mentally challenged older brother, Tad Hollingsworth, who spent most of his life in a Chattanooga institution.)

Blanche's sister Virginia Hollingsworth Warren, with whom Blanche shares a mutual loathing, is one year her junior. They buried the hatchet when Virginia went into kidney failure and Blanche offered her kidney to her sister. However, their relationship became strained once more after their argument following Big Daddy's death, in which Virginia accused Blanche of being too selfish and self-centered to say goodbye to her own father.

The fifth Hollingsworth child is Clayton Hollingsworth, who appears in season four (1988) and season six (1991). When Clayton tells Blanche that he is gay, she struggles to accept his sexuality, but eventually does after Clayton intends to marry his boyfriend Doug.

Blanche was faithfully married for decades to her husband, George Devereaux. George died (in a car accident) in either 1981 or 1982, three or four years before the start of the series in 1985, and at some point earlier they had moved from Atlanta to Miami.

At various times over the course of the series, Blanche mentions the names of five children: Janet, Rebecca, Matthew "Skippy", Doug, and "Biff". However, in the third-season episode "Bringing Up Baby", when Dorothy questions an impulsive car purchase, Blanche says to her: "I have had four children, I have never had a Mercedes". She mentions three sons – Skippy, Biff, and Doug – in the episode "Bringing Up Baby", and Skippy's proper name (Matthew) was mentioned in the episode "To Catch a Neighbor".  Blanche seems very protective of her youngest child, as when hilariously offering one of her sons to Dorothy in exchange for a Mercedes she says: "Which one do you want? Biff, Doug, Skippy? No, don't take Skippy. He has asthma."  (“Skippy” appeared on an episode of ‘The Golden Palace’.)

During the series, Blanche learns that her husband George also had a son named David, as the result of an affair.

During the course of the show, Blanche is revealed not to have been very "hands-on" as a mother, as she frequently left her children to nannies and housekeepers. She had a strained relationship with both of her daughters, especially Janet, something that led to some of the most dramatic storylines, as she expressed regrets that she was not there for her children more, and it is loosely implied that she might have even been emotionally abusive to them when they were growing up.

However, Blanche slowly rebuilt her relationships with Janet and Rebecca throughout the series. By the time the series ended, both Rebecca and Janet had healed their relationships with their mother.

Blanche's daughter, Rebecca, was seen most often on the show, although Blanche and she had frequent falling outs and bitter fights. When Rebecca was introduced, she was overweight and about to marry a verbally abusive man.  Later in the series, they fought over a slimmed-down Rebecca's decision to be artificially inseminated and raising the baby without a father. Rebecca decided to visit a birthing center saying: "Hospitals have a rigid way of doing things." After hearing a frightening shriek, Rebecca changes her mind and lets her mother take her to a hospital and even lets her help with the labor in the delivery room, where Rebecca gave birth to her daughter Aurora. They then feuded again when Blanche's new suitor mistook her for Aurora's mother and Blanche, who was actually babysitting, went along with it.  Upon the truth being revealed, Rebecca accused Blanche of using Aurora to "get a man". In each case, they eventually made up again, which was something Blanche seems not to have entirely done with Janet.

Blanche seems very protective of her youngest child, as when hilariously offering one of her sons to Dorothy in exchange for a Mercedes she says: "Which one do you want? Biff, Doug, Skippy? No, don't take Skippy. He has asthma."

Besides Aurora, Blanche has at least three other grandchildren: David, Melissa, and Sarah, all born to Janet, who married a "Yankee". Blanche's 14 year-old grandson David visited the girls in the first season, but was unhappy and rebellious, due to problems in his home life. Sophia eventually hit him for being disrespectful. After David confided in Blanche, she told Janet that she wanted David to live with her, leading to a bitter falling out between mother and daughter.

Blanche also has a promiscuous niece named Lucy (Hallie Todd), who visits her during the first season.

Here are the shows which qualified Blanche Devereaux for membership in the TVXOHOF:

1985–1992

THE GOLDEN GIRLS
177 episodes

1988
EMPTY NEST
1 episode

1992

NURSES
1 episode

1992–1993

THE GOLDEN PALACE
24 episodes

Welcome to the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, Miz Devereaux.

I’m sure your pals and confidantes have been eager to reunite with you in Hall….

TVXOHOF, NOVEMBER 2022 - DOROTHY ZBORNAK

Dorothy Zbornak:

How do you do. I'm Dorothy Zbornak.

Laverne Todd:

Geriatrics is two doors down on the left.

“Empty Nest”

Continuing the Television Crossover Hall of Fame’s tribute to ‘The Golden Girls’ over this past year (with Rose Nylund and Sophia Petrillo already inducted), we’re O’Bserving the tradition of November being the month in which characters with political connections are inducted.

And of those “Golden Girls,” the one who came closest to that was….

DOROTHY ZBORNAK

From Wikipedia:
Dorothy Zbornak is a character from the sitcom television series 'The Golden Girls', portrayed by Bea Arthur. Sarcastic, introspective, compassionate, and fiercely protective of those she considers family, she is introduced as a substitute teacher, and mother. At the time, Dorothy was recently divorced from her ex-husband Stanley. She, her mother Sophia Petrillo (played by Estelle Getty), and housemate Rose Nylund (Betty White) all rent rooms in the Miami house of their friend Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan).

Dorothy often acted as den mother and voice of reason among the quartet, "the great leveler" according to Bea Arthur, though at times she also acted foolishly or negatively and would need her friends and family to help ground her again. Arthur also considered her the "great balloon pricker," someone who openly defied and called out hypocrisy, injustice, cruelty, delusion, short-sighted remarks, and behavior she simply found dull, ill-considered, rude, or unreasonable.

Bea Arthur portrayed Dorothy in every episode of 'The Golden Girls'. Arthur also portrayed Dorothy's maternal grandmother Eleanor Grisanti in flashback in the episode "Mother's Day". In the same episode and others that involve flashbacks, a younger version of Dorothy was portrayed by Lynnie Green. In the season 5 episode "Clinton Avenue Memoirs" (1990), Jandi Swanson portrayed Dorothy as a child in flashback.

Bea Arthur's departure from the show in the season 7 two-part finale "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest" marked the end of the series as well. Outside of the series, Arthur also appeared as Dorothy in an episode of 'Empty Nest' (a spin-off series), in the episode "Dumped", and in a two-episode story "Seems Like Old Times" in ‘The Golden Palace’ (a sequel series to 'The Golden Girls'). In the 1000th issue of Entertainment Weekly, Dorothy Zbornak-Hollingsworth was selected as the Grandma for "The Perfect TV Family".

Okay.  O'Bviously photoshopped.

During the run of the show, Dorothy repeatedly expresses liberal views but never declares her party affiliation, though she does have a Michael Dukakis bumper sticker (covering a Walter Mondale bumper sticker) on her car. When then-President George H. W. Bush visits Miami, Dorothy intends to angrily confront him regarding education, only to be rendered mute at the shock of actually meeting him. Dorothy shared many of Bea Arthur's political views, who in a 2005 interview remarked "that's what makes Maude and Dorothy so believable: we have the same viewpoints on how our country should be handled."

Maude Findley would be a perfect candidate for membership in the Hall in November… if only she had appeared in more than just ‘All In The Family’ and her own eponymous sitcom.  (Wikipedia says that Maude was never mentioned in the series ‘Good Times’.  And the characters’ backstories were revamped.)

Here are the appearances by Dorothy Zbornak which qualified her for membership in the TVXOHOF:

THE GOLDEN GIRLS (1985-1992)

177 episodes
…. Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak

EMPTY NEST

- Dumped (1989)
.... Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak

Barbara gets lessons from Carol about life as a "dumpee" after Dorothy Zbornak's nephew breaks up with her.

THE EARTH DAY SPECIAL (1990)

…. Dorothy Zbornak

THE GOLDEN PALACE

.... Dorothy Zbornak Hollingsworth

- Seems Like Old Times: Part 1 (1992)

Dorothy visits her ex-roommates at the Golden Palace, hoping to convince Sophia to come and live with her and her husband in Atlanta.

Dorothy visits her friends. The next day, Chuy does not show up for work so the girls need to replace him and Dorothy helps as a waitress. She is concerned that Sophia looks tired and has to carry heavy trays. She calls her husband and tells him she decided her mother should move in with them. Dorothy gathers her friends and tells them about her plans about Sophia. Blanche and Rose want to keep Sophia with them. Sophia says she wants to decide herself where to live and goes up to her room. When Blanche goes to see her and find out about her decision, she finds a note saying Sophia does not want to choose between her friends and daughter and that she is running away.

- Seems Like Old Times: Part 2 (1992)

Sophia runs away to her old rest home. When the other girls try to get her, they find that it is no longer anywhere near as bad as she said it was.

Now that Sophia is away, the girls need to work more to replace her. Dorothy actively searches her mother and blames the girls for her disappearance. A cab driver brings back Sophia's handbag and reveals that he has driven her to Shady Pines. They call her but she says that she does not want them to pick her up. Dorothy is afraid she will be miserable there since she remembers the place was awful. Actually, it turns out Shady Pines is a great place where Sophia gets massages and tennis lessons. Also, she does not want the girls to fight over her. Dorothy apologizes to the girls for not trusting them more and decides to let her mother work in the Golden Palace.

All summaries are from the IMDb....

Welcome to the Hall, Dorothy!

As mentioned earlier, Rose and Sophia are already in there and Blanche will be joining you next month for some cheesecake.