TVXOHOF MEMORIAL TRIBUTE - OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

“Brunettes have no place in show business.”

Olivia Newton-John

‘Glee’

From NBC News:
Aug. 8, 2022, 3:41 PM EDT / Updated Aug. 8, 2022, 7:33 PM EDT
By Ethan Sacks
Olivia Newton-John, a British Australian pop star who dominated the pop culture of an era, has died after repeated treatments for cancer, her family announced Monday. She was 73.

"Dame Olivia Newton-John ... passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends," John Easterling, her husband, said in a statement on her official Facebook page. "We ask that everyone please respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time."

"Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer. Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer."

In the late '70s and early '80s, Newton-John was one of the most recognizable celebrities in the world. She stole hearts in the 1978 blockbuster "Grease" and dominated the charts with songs like the 1981 hit "Physical," which was the No. 1 single of that decade, according to Billboard.

She is credited with selling more than 100 million records over the course of a five-decade career.

In more recent years, however, Newton-John became best known as an advocate for breast cancer survivors, being one herself since first her first diagnosis in 1992.

"I think, you know, what you think creates your reality. So it's a decision. You have to make that decision," she told the "TODAY" show in March 2019. "You can be a victim, or you can be a winner and enjoy your life.”

By all accounts, Newton-John lived a winning life.

I knew I would have to check her list of TV credits because I felt certain that her televersion had amassed enough appearances as a member of the League of Themselves to warrant induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame; she was that iconic a personage.

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

From Wikipedia:
Dame Olivia Newton-John AC DBE (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-born Australian singer, songwriter, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included five number-one hits and another ten top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200; If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975).

Eleven of her singles (including two Platinum) and 14 of her albums (including two Platinum and four 2× Platinum) have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With global sales of more than 100 million records, Newton-John is one of the best-selling music artists from the second half of the 20th century to the present.

In 1978, Newton-John starred in the musical film Grease, whose soundtrack remains one of the world's best-selling albums of all time. It features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta; "You're the One That I Want" – which ranks as one of the best-selling singles of all time – and "Summer Nights".

Her signature solo recordings include the Record of the Year Grammy winner "I Honestly Love You" (1974) and "Physical" (1981) – Billboard's Top Hot 100 Single of the 1980s. Other hit singles include "If Not for You" and "Banks of the Ohio" (both 1971), "Let Me Be There" (1973), "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (1974), "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), "Sam" (1977), "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (also from Grease), "A Little More Love" (1978) and from the 1980 film Xanadu, "Magic" and "Xanadu" (with Electric Light Orchestra).

Newton-John was an activist for environmental and animal rights causes, and advocated for breast cancer research. She died of breast cancer after decades of fighting the disease.

Although originally from the United Kingdom and living in the United States for most of her adult life, she considered herself an Australian.

I really wasn’t a fan of hers, although I do like “You’re The One That I Want”.  I’ve never seen “Grease”, but I watched the music video for that song recently and I couldn’t believe people liked that as a movie.  (I’m sure as a whole, it works better on stage.)  

I wasn’t sure if I would find enough material to give her fair representation in her induction ceremony.  So I’d like to salute a very dedicated fan site, “Only Olivia”, which had a ton of information on all things Ms. Newton-John; certainly more than I needed for this tribute.  If you are a devotee of Olivia, click on the link.

Here are the Toobworld appearances made by her televersion:

Ned and Stacey

- Reality Check (1995)

From OnlyOlivia:
Olivia's guest appearance playing herself is clearly written as a joke about her sweet and wholesome image. The lead male character, Ned, wants Olivia to present a commercial about his computer so he takes her out to lunch at a restaurant where Stacey is waitressing. Stacey is star-struck by THE Olivia Newton-John delivering lines such as "I'm Hopelessly Devoted to taking your order" and presenting Olivia's drink, singing: "Here's your fizzy cola, your fizzy cola, let's get into fizzy cola" to the tune of “Physical.”

However, Stacey makes a mess of Olivia's order giving her straight scotch instead of cola and then on realizing her mistake blurting out to Olivia "Sorry, you're an alcoholic aren't you?" To add insult to injury Stacey then gives Olivia a cloth covered with ketchup. This causes Olivia to lose her cool and to our delight becomes all angry and just downright mean. (All in the name of acting of course!)

Stacey tries to calm Olivia down with the fact that she played Sandy in high school but Olivia isn't to be mollified and replies with a voice dripping with sarcasm "Oh what a coincidence I was in the mooovie!" Then telling Ned to shut up and shouting at the top of her voice that the computer he's selling sucks, Olivia rushes out of the restaurant declaring that she's never felt so good!

Murphy Brown

- I Hear a Symphony (1997)

From OnlyOlivia:
Murphy and Olivia meet up at a charity auction both bidding for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to conduct an orchestra. Murphy wins but not until she's had to out bid Olivia to the tune of $2000 (proceeds going to the National Zoo). But Olivia has the last laugh when she reveals that she was put up to bidding to get a good donation for the zoo! Olivia's parting words are a triumphant "Yeeessss."

Olivia's appearance on set is met with cheers from the studio audience as this was one of her first appearances on network US TV since discovering breast cancer. The episode also touches on Olivia's breast cancer when Olivia gives encouragement to Murphy.

Bette

- The Invisible Mom (2001)

From the IMDb:
While volunteering at Rose's school, Bette finally learns why Olivia Newton-John has been holding a grudge against her.

From OnlyOlivia:
Olivia and daughter Chloe played themselves in a guest slot for Bette Midler's sitcom "Bette".

Olivia, playing against form, is really quite nasty to both Bette and the school headmaster. This provides Olivia with some good lines and the opportunity to act very annoyed and peeved.

Glee

- Bad Reputation (2010)

From the IMDb:
Sue Sylvester, played by Jane Lynch, becomes the laughing stock of the school when members of the Glee club find an embarrassing personal video of her dancing to Physical on the internet. She gets the last laugh when Olivia finds out about the clip and asks Sue to help her remake the song.

O’Bservation:
This may be the only time she comes off as being nice in her Toobworld appearances.

- Journey to Regionals (2010)

From OnlyOlivia:
Olivia plays a mean judge in her second appearance in the first season of Glee.

"I'm just so sick of being nice!"

Olivia Newton-John

‘Ned & Stacey’

O'Bservations:
Every so often a member of the League of Themselves shows why they are appearing as characters and not as true representatives of who they are in the real world.

In Toobworld…

• Kevin Bacon is a jerk and kind of an asshole. (‘Bored To Death’)
• Emma Thompson was born in Akron, Ohio. (‘Ellen’)
• Dennis Rodman is an extraterrestrial. (‘Third Rock From The Sun’)
• Jean-Claude Van Damme died in Las Vegas back in 2004.  In the real world, he is still alive (as of this writing.) (‘Las Vegas’)
• Lloyd Bridges was a cross-dressing, kleptomaniacal Neo-Nazi. (‘Ned & Stacey’)

So it looks as though the writers of these various shows in which Ms. Newton-John appeared all thought the same thing – take her public image and turn it on its head.  In Toobworld, the televersion of Olivia Newton-John is cruel, manipulative, mean, a bad drunk, and vindictive.  If you were hoping to find examples of her being sweet and kind, you’d better check her movies or TV shows in which she played other characters.

Good night and may God bless, Ms. Newton-John.  Thank you for being a good sport when it came to lampooning your image.

Welcome to the TVXOHOF….

“At a certain point in life,

you realize that all the time in the world isn't all that long.”

Murphy Brown

Remember:
Fans of Olivia Newton-John should visit Only Olivia…. 

A MARVEL-OUS CROSSOVER

 
If you have ever fantasized about comic book characters from different companies teaming up – more often than we got decades ago – you should check out Ross Piersall’s blog SUPER TEAM FAMILY.

Here’s an example from back in January.  And of course it’s Who-related!

Ross:

My guess is that a phone booth was first used as the exterior for Doctor Who's Tardis partly because of budgetary reasons, as those original shows were produced inexpensively.  Whatever the reason, It's always been an interesting look for the Doctor's travelling headquarters.  Now that phone booths have all but become a thing of the past, it seems even cooler that a time traveler would use such a retro design.  Doctor Who may alter his appearance every few years, but I hope the Tardis never does.

Here's another with the very popular Fourth Incarnation:

The Doctor is not the only character from the long-running series who has graced the covers of Ross' fantasy comic books.  He also put together a team called Robo-Force which often faces off against "Rival Robo-Force"....

And finally, with the introduction of Kang into the MCU via the 'Loki' series....

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. HOLMES!

It's true that I'm O'Bsessed with television as a fantasy realm.  But tisn't my only area of interest.  What got me on the Fantasy kick in general was my introduction to JRR Tolkien with "The Hobbit" in 10th Grade.  (Thank you, Mr. Kostrezwa!)  But there is also a certain consulting detective who once lived at 221-B Baker Street.

For several years now, Toobworld Central has celebrated Sherlock Holmes on what many Sherlockians/Holmesians consider to be his birthday.  (For that splainin, click here.)  

And we continue that tradition today....

This image was shared by one of my Crossoverist associates on Facebook (Win Scott Eckert, I believe?) and it led me to learn more......

From the review by "Lucky Ladybug" at Amazon:

The story is somewhat difficult to explain. The "summary" given on the product page is very vague and doesn't really tell enough, but in the interest of not spoiling as much as possible, I'll try not to reveal plot details, either. It's an intricate web woven through two time periods: Victorian England and present-day Hollywood. By the end I still wasn't fully certain I understood what had happened, but after taking a few moments to process it I felt I'd come to make sense of most of it. It wasn't quite what I'd hoped; I had wanted more of an active role of the supernatural. Holmes never quite stumbled across that angle, as I had hoped he would. Holmes and the supernatural are an interesting combination I greatly enjoy seeing in others' works.

I had also hoped for more of an active role concerning Kolchak's awareness of Holmes having tried to solve the case first. Instead he only knows of Holmes' role seemingly through a manuscript (which is, I think, Watson's account of the unsolved events). I had wanted him to also have photographs, letters, etc. With just a manuscript it's too easy to say that Kolchak's world has Holmes as a fictional character, as in real life, and that the manuscript was just a fictionalized account of real events, told as the fictional Holmes' adventure. But I prefer to think that Holmes is indeed a real person in Kolchak's world, or was during the Victorian era, and that Watson did indeed author the manuscript (which is hinted, but not outright stated).

You can read another review here.

I'm glad to see that the prevalent conception of Sherlock Holmes is as he looked when he was portrayed by Jeremy Brett, the official portrayer of Holmes in Earth Prime-Time.  And it doesn't seem as though wild leaps had to be taken for them to actually meet in person.  Despite the fantastic nature of the tale, it's kept bound to reality by having each of them work on this case in their own time periods, linked only by the manuscript left behind by Dr. Watson.

Here's to the memory of Sherlock Holmes on the anniversary of his birth.....

A VENETIAN HISTORY LESSON

One problem I had with the ‘Doctor Who’ episode “Vampires In Venice” was the prominence of the character of Guido in Venetian society in the year 1580.  This had nothing to do with the talent of Lucian Msamati, whom I already knew and enjoyed  his work in ‘The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.’  No, it was because of his race.

I just couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that a black man could rise to such an honored position in at that time in Venetian society.  But that's my failing. I was looking at it from the perspective of one who grew up with the cultural depictions of blacks in early American history.

Luckily, Jess Nevins offered up this historical tidbit….

So I’ve been set straight on that score.

Jess has done incredible work in the past as a researcher into Victoriana literature, most of that of a fantastic nature.  I first learned of him when I read his annotations on Alan Moore’s concept of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  With the art contributed by Kevin O’Neill, Moore told a ripping yarn about the team of Victorian literature’s greatest heroes, anti-heroes, and villains.

And Jess was there with his splainins to do for each issue, which I bet Moore would never have dreamed possible.

Jess Nevins is a published writer and researcher and he’s tossed out an interesting idea for the Eastern Connecticut area, especially around Windham County.

Should Jess ever write it up, I’d love to find a way for a Waysider or three to have an adventure in his lycanthropic location in Connecticut. 

BCnU!

FOR WOLD NEWTON DAY - VRIL

As this is Wold Newton Day (see the previous post for today), Toobworld Central likes to look at someone or something in the TV Universe which has a correlation in the Wold Newton Universe.

This year, it’s a What….

HUNTERS
(Ruth: 1:16)

Lonnie Flash found copies of a book at the homes of two fugitive Nazis and took them to a friend for her to decipher….

ANNIKA:
It seems this is a republication of a late 19th century sci-fi tale called Vril. "A master race living underground with plans to launch a fight, a revolution. Their plan: to take over the entire world. " The Nazis used Vril as a spiritual inspiration.

But this version has been updated.

Here we go. Not just inspiration, but instructions. Thus, the title, “Book of the Coming Race”. No, sorry. “Manual for the Coming Race”.

Plans of a war they swear they will fight to the death….

From Wikipedia:
“The Coming Race” is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, published anonymously in 1871. It has also been published as “Vril, the Power of the Coming Race”.

Some readers have believed the account of a superior subterranean master race and the energy-form called "Vril", at least in part; some theosophists, notably Helena Blavatsky, William Scott-Elliot, and Rudolf Steiner, accepted the book as based on occult truth, in part.

One 1960 book, “The Morning of the Magicians”, suggested that a secret Vril Society existed in Weimar Berlin. However, there is no evidence for the existence of such a society.

Vril Energy has been incorporated into the Wold Newton Universe with the addition of Derrick Ferguson’s adventurer Dillon and perhaps in other works.  Sean Lee Levin pointed out the Dillon connection:

Here are the crossovers in the more recent "Dillon and the Prophecy of Fire," which previously appeared on Derrick's Patreon.

Dillon brings his friends to his home in Grand, Pennsylvania. A group of villains seek the Vril energy from Dillon. The mastermind behind the Vril plot is revealed as Li Shoon, the leader of the Ui Kwoon Ah-How.
[Edited]

The Vril is from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's THE COMING RACE.

Now, the reference in “Hunters” keeps it within the covers of Bulwer-Lytton’s book, and that might make it limited to Jasper Fforde’s BookWorld universe in the Thursday Next series of books.  But there could be a way to still make it work for Toobworld.

It could be that Bulwer-Lytton took the Truth about the Vril-ya and the Vril energy and fictionalized it in his book.  As such, he could have been working as an agent of the early version of the shadow ops organization of UNReel, which took inspiration from the writings of Sherlock Holmes – UNReel helps the heroes of Toobworld to hide in plain sight by convincing the general public that those heroes are fictional.

It's easy to see why UNReel needed to “fictionalize” the underground empire of the Vril-ya, a superior race who could finally decide to take over the surface world.  While diplomats from all over that surface world negotiate with the Vril-ya to maintain the status quo, UNReel does its job to keep interlopers from trying to explore that world and disrupt the balance.

So while Annika might think Bulwer-Lytton’s work is fiction, that just proves UNReel’s plan is still working.  (Or at least it still was in 1977.)

So ‘Hunters’ introduced the concept of Vril energy into Toobworld, but left hanging the possibility that it actually exists in the TV Universe.  Perhaps energy creatures from ‘The Outer Limits’ might theoretically be connected to Vril, but that doesn’t make it definite.

Who knows?  Someday it might happen.  But for now, the Wold Newton Universe has Vril, while Toobworld will just have to wait.

And so it goes…..

Happy Wold Newton Day to all who O’Bserve!

HAPPY WOLD NEWTON DAY!

We’ve got an annual rerun today…..

Today is Wold Newton Day!

From the Introduction to Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Family by Win Scott Eckert:

The Wold Newton Family is a group of heroic and villainous literary figures that science fiction author Philip Jose Farmer postulated belonged to the same genetic family. Some of these characters are adventurers, some are detectives, some explorers and scientists, some espionage agents, and some are evil geniuses.
According to Mr. Farmer, the Wold Newton family originated when a radioactive meteor landed in Wold Newton, England, in the year 1795. The radiation caused a genetic mutation in those present, which endowed many of their descendants with extremely high intelligence and strength, as well as an exceptional capacity and drive to perform good, or, as the case may be, evil deeds.

 Popular characters that Philip Jose Farmer concluded were members of the Wold Newton mutant family include: Solomon Kane; Captain Blood; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Harry Flashman; Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty (aka Captain Nemo); Phileas Fogg; The Time Traveler; Allan Quatermain; Tarzan and his son Korak; A.J. Raffles; Professor Challenger; Richard Hannay; Bulldog Drummond; the evil Fu Manchu and his adversary, Sir Denis Nayland Smith; G-8; The Shadow; Sam Spade; Doc Savage, his cousin Pat Savage, and one of his five assistants, Monk Mayfair; The Spider; Nero Wolfe; Mr. Moto; The Avenger; Philip Marlowe; James Bond; Lew Archer; and Travis McGee.

As the Curator for the Toobworld Dynamic, I am a great admirer of the work done by Mr. Farmer and Mr. Eckert and Sean Lee Levin and others in detailing the lineage of these great pulp characters.  The Wold Newton Universe was an early influence on the Toobworld Dynamic.

But although there are similarities between the two shared universes, the TwD is NOT the WNU.  The main reason being that the Wold Newton meteorite is not a fixed point in the history of Earth Prime-Time.  At least, not yet.  (I have hopes one day it will be dramatized for TV.)

In the meantime, Toobworld does share many members from the original core of the Wold Newton Family listed above.  They would include:

• Sherlock Holmes
• Lord Greystoke aka Tarzan
• Nero Wolfe
• Fu Manchu
• Sir Denis Nayland Smith
• Bulldog Drummond
• Allan Quatermain
• Phileas Fogg
• Professor James Moriarty*
• Professor George Challenger
• Richard Hannay
• Philip Marlowe
• James Bond
• Travis McGee
• Lew Archer
• Harry Flashman
• Captain Nemo*

And there are others, some perhaps within the extended family, others from the Wold Newton Universe in general, who also have counterparts in the TV Universe:

• Arsene Lupin
• Lord Peter Wimsey
• Monsieur Lecoq
• Hercule Poirot
• Charlie Chan
• Dracula
• The Frankenstein Family
• Ivanhoe
• Robin Hood
• Zorro
• The Lone Ranger
• The Saint
• Father Brown
• Carnacki
• Dr. Thorndyke
• Dr. Jeckyll
• Horatio Hornblower
• Miss Marple

And plenty more who sprang from the "Glass Furnace" first.

So I'd just like to take this moment to salute my comrades across the dimensional vortex with their continuing adventures on this anniversary.

Here's to that chunk of space debris that made it all possible!

BCnU!

* O’Bservation:
Mr. Farmer’s assertion that for the WNU, Captain Nemo and Professor Moriarty are one and the same is the best indicator that Toobworld is not the Wold Newton Universe.  For Toobworld, Nemo and the Napoleon of Crime are two different men.

FRIDAY'S HALL OF FAMERS, 08/21/2020 - BENITO JUAREZ

 We’re getting closer to catching up….

We have an historical figure for this week’s TV Western candidate for the Television Crossover Hall of Fame….

BENITO JUAREZ

From Wikipedia:
Benito Pablo Juárez García (21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican lawyer and politician, who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in 1872. He was the first president of Mexico who was of indigenous origin. Born in Oaxaca to a poor Zapotec rural family and orphaned young, he moved to Oaxaca City at the age of 12 to go to school. He was aided by a lay Franciscan, and enrolled in seminary, later studying law at Institute of Sciences and Arts and becoming a lawyer. After being appointed as a judge, in his 30s he married Margarita Maza, a socially prominent woman of Oaxaca City.

From his years in college, he was active in politics. Appointed as head justice of the nation's Supreme Court, Juárez identified primarily as a Liberal politician. In his life, he wrote briefly about his indigenous heritage.

When moderate liberal President Ignacio Comonfort was forced to resign by the Conservatives in 1858, Juárez, as head of the Supreme Court, assumed the presidency and the two governments competed. His succession was codified in the Constitution of 1857 but he survived in internal exile for a period. He weathered the War of the Reform (1858–60), a civil war between the Liberals and the Conservatives, and the French invasion (1861–1867), which was supported by Conservative monarchists.

Never relinquishing office, although forced into exile to areas of Mexico not controlled by the French, Juárez tied Liberalism to Mexican nationalism. He asserted his leadership as the legitimate head of the Mexican state, rather than Emperor Maximilian, whom the French had installed.

When the French-backed Second Mexican Empire fell in 1867, the Mexican Republic with Juárez as president regained full power. For his success in ousting the European incursion, Latin Americans considered Juárez's tenure as a time of a "second struggle for independence, a second defeat for the European powers, and a second reversal of the Conquest."
Juárez is revered in Mexico as "a preeminent symbol of Mexican nationalism and resistance to foreign intervention."

He understood the importance of a working relationship with the United States, and secured its recognition for his government during the War of the Reform. He held fast to particular principles, including the supremacy of civil power over the Catholic Church and part of the military; respect for law; and the de-personalization of political life. Juárez sought to strengthen the national government, asserting its central power over the states, a position that both radical and provincial liberals opposed.

After his death, the city and state of Oaxaca added "de Juarez" to their formal names in his honor, and numerous other places and institutions were named for him. His birthday (March 21) is celebrated as a national public and patriotic holiday in Mexico. He is the only individual Mexican to be so honored.

In January 1959, the episode entitled "The Desperadoes" of the ABC/Warner Brothers western television series, ‘Sugarfoot’, starring Will Hutchins in the title role, focuses upon an imaginary plot to assassinate Juárez. Set at a mission in South Texas, the episode features Anthony George as a Catholic priest, Father John, a friend of the series character Tom "Sugarfoot" Brewster.

O'Bservation - President Juarez doesn't appear in this episode, but his existence is confirmed.

The actor Jan Arvan (1913-1979) was cast as President Juárez in the 1959 episode, "A Town Is Born" on the syndicated television anthology series, ‘Death Valley Days’, hosted by Stanley Andrews. Than Wyenn played Isaacs, a storekeeper in Nogales, Arizona Territory, who hides gold for the Mexican government in the fight against Maximilian. Jean Howell played his wife, Ruth Isaacs.

Frank Sorello (1929-2013) portrayed Juárez in two episodes of Robert Conrad's ‘The Wild, Wild West’, an American espionage adventure television program: "The Night of the Eccentrics" (1966), and "The Night of the Assassins" (1967).

O’Bservation – All four of these episodes would have to take place before July of 1872, the month and year in which Juarez died.
Trying to “reschedule” the dates for the televersions of historical figures.  The only time I felt comfortable in doing so was with Jules Verne, whose televersion in ‘The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne’ was at least a decade younger than he was in the Real World.

As for Juarez, I think it makes things simpler on a global scale even in Toobworld to stick with the facts as they truly stand.

I've seen a WWW timeline in which "The Night Of The Assassins" takes place in 1873.  One of these days I'll have to let them know about this glitch; they do incredible work otherwise.

Welcome to the Hall, Mr. President!

"President Benito Juarez" with
fellow Hall of Famer James West

TVXOHOF, APRIL 2020 - WOKKA WOKKA WOKKA!

With the April showcase for the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, we celebrate the Fool.  Now, this could be the wise fool on the level of Feste, or of Lear’s Fool.  Or it could be someone like Gilligan.

The TVXOHOF Committee always wants to get at least one puppet character into the Hall each year and while they are usually consigned to June, it was felt that April was the better choice for our candidate this year….

FOZZIE BEAR

From Wikipedia:
Fozzie Bear is a Muppet character known for his lack of innate and effective comedy skills. Fozzie is an orange bear who often wears a brown pork pie hat and a red and white polka dot necktie.

The character debuted on ‘The Muppet Show’, as the show's stand-up comic, a role where he constantly employed his catchphrase, "Wocka Wocka!" Shortly after telling the joke, he was usually the target of ridicule, particularly from balcony hecklers Statler and Waldorf. Fozzie was performed by Frank Oz until 2001; Eric Jacobson has since become the character's principal performer.  

Fozzie also appeared alongside his fellow Muppets in the Halloween 2011 episode of ‘WWE Raw’, where he and Gonzo encountered Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, and Vickie Guerrero backstage.

I’m only counting on the TV appearances for his tally which fall into Earth Prime-Time.  (This will include any serlinguistic work done in commercials and interstitials.  Fozzie is a performer and would be expected to toil for the Empire.)

The movie roles were not technically of Fozzie but of characters he played, including the fictionalized versions of himself.  But I stipulate that it was Fozzie who played those roles in the movies.

(The difference for ‘Big City Greens’ is that we have behind-the-scenes footage of him working on the cartoon.  The same holds true for the Muppets' version of "The Wizard of Oz".)

Maybe one day the Tooniverse version of Fozzie will gain entry into the Hall.  But as to including the ‘Family Guy’ appearances into the official tally?

Here are the TV shows I am including in his qualifications for Hall membership.

• The Muppet Show (1976–1981)
• Muppets Tonight (1996-1998)
• It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)
• The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005)(Appearance as Himself and the Cowardly Lion)
• A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)
• Studio DC: Almost Live (2008)
• Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular (2013)
• The Muppets (2015-2016)
• Big City Greens (2019)(Appearance as the voice of Dr. Enamel)

In one episode of ‘Sesame Street’, another Jim Henson production, Baby Bear says that "Fozzie" is a terrible name for a bear. (So they probably knew about Fozzie Bear.)

Fozzie was a contestant on the May 24, 2016, episode of "@midnight" and beat Kristen Schaal and John Hodgman.

Here is a list of appearances compiled by the fine folks at the Muppet Wiki:

TV Shows

• The Muppet Show (1976-1981)
• Little Muppet Monsters (1985)[But only as a puppet, not animated]
• The Jim Henson Hour (1989)
• Episode 103: Power
• Episode 108: Videotape
• Miss Piggy's Hollywood
• Muppets Tonight (1996-1997)
• Episode 103: Billy Crystal
• Episode 104: John Goodman
• Episode 108: Jason Alexander
• Episode 109: Whoopi Goldberg
• Episode 110: Martin Short
• Episode 204: Pierce Brosnan
• Episode 208: The Cameo Show
• Muppets TV
• The Muppets
• The Muppet Babies (2018)
• Carpool Karaoke: The Series (2018)

TV Specials

• Kagayake! Gorō Mapetto Geba Geba 90-pun! (1976)
• The Bob Hope All Star Christmas Comedy Special (1977)
• Julie Andrews: One Step Into Spring (1978)
• The Muppets Go Hollywood (1979)
• A Christmas Together (1979)
• The Muppets Go to the Movies (1981)
• I Love Liberty (1982)
• The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show (1982)
• Rocky Mountain Holiday (1983)
• The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years (1986)
• A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
• The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990)
• The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson (1990)
• Studio DC Hosted by Selena Gomez (2008)
• A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)
• Lady Gaga & the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular (2013)

TV Appearances

• Kagayake! Gorō Mapetto Geba Geba 90-pun! (1976)
• The Orson Welles Show (1979)
• Good Morning America (1992, 2004, 2005)
• Saturday Night Live (2004, 2011)
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2005, 2010)
• Jimmy Kimmel Live (2005)
• America's Funniest Home Videos (2005)
• Chuck the Movie Guy (2008)
• The View (2008)
• Hollywood 411 (2008)
• D23 Expo (2009)
• Andrea Bocelli & David Foster: My Christmas (2009)
• The Early Show (2010)
• WWE (2011)
• Good Luck Charlie (2013)
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009, 2014)
• The Arsenio Hall Show (2014)

Commercials

• Polaroid (1981)
• National Wildlife Federation (1985-1990)
• MasterCard Commercials (2002-2003)
• Pizza Hut Commercials (2004-2005)
• Disney Channel Bumpers (2005)
• Will Rogers Institute (2006)
• The ESPYs (2008)
• Give a Day, Get a Disney Day (2009)
• Lipton (2014)
• Warburtons (2015)
• Facebook Portal (2019)

From Facebook:
Though his main job was to be the show's comedian, he has had a number of other roles on ‘The Muppet Show’. He sang and danced in many musical numbers, and frequently acted in sketches (most famously his recurring sketch “Bear On Patrol” where he plays an unlucky police officer). He also often helps backstage and even attempts to plan out the show in one episode, and write the script in another.

Welcome to the Hall, Fozzie!

My thanks to the Muppets Wiki for the list of shows.  And I'm sure in my search for pictures of Fozzie via Google Image Search, I probably grabbed quite a few of their pictures.

I hope they forgive me....

Wokka wokka!