WINDING DOWN.....

Probably the best 'Doctor Who' meme I saw all year.....

I AM AN IDDIOT VIDDIOT LYDDIOT - IN MEMORY OF LYDIA DOYLE

Since 1995, I have belonged to an internet group known as The Idiot's Delight Digest, which started out as a celebration of all music, befitting the deejay Vin Scelsa who was a free-form radio dinosaur heard on stations like WNEW, WXRK, WFMU, and an "Idiot's Delight" show on Sirius satellite radio.  If not one of the first online discussion groups, the IDD must certainly rank as one of the longest-lasting - although it has branched out to appear mostly through splinter groups on Facebook and the like.

The IDD may have started as being about Scelsa, his radio show, and music in general, but it quickly grew beyond that (fueled in those early days by Bosnia and the OJ trial) to cover any topic imaginable.  And then we decided to take the plunge and finally meet each other face to face, which led to the annual tradition of IDD BBQs as well as going to concerts, plays, movies, and even baseball games.  Several marriages have resulted from this group of Iddiots, and I - who can proudly claim to have invented the term "Iddiot" to define us - am even prouder to be the godfather to a lovely young Iddiette of the next generation.

The reason I bring this up is that on Friday, the Iddiot clan lost one of its own - Lydia Doyle, an emergency room nurse in Long Island who finally lost her brave battle against "The C Word".  

In her memory, I want to share this rarity - the pilot for long-running soap opera 'General Hospital'.  You'll have to forgive the sound quality - nobody back then could have guessed there would be anyone interested in seeing old TV shows, let alone studying them!  O'Bviously it doesn't accurately reflect the world of the ER, let alone Lydia's experiences, but I saw it as a novel way to salute the memory of someone just as novel.  

Good night and may God bless, Lydia Doyle.  BCnU......

DUCKS IN THE WIND

And finally, an odd little bit o' nature....

Thanks, Bruddah Bob Cohen - especially for the subject heading!

BCnU!

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - AND OFF

Saturday, March 19, 2011:

Both of my locks on my front door bit the dust today. So in order to maintain peace of mind, I had to call out from work tonight. I've only done that once before in the 21 years I've worked there. So my plans are to write up a few posts for future editions of my blog Inner Toob and to listen to "Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight" in real time.
You can as well - Vin is on WFUV 90.7 FM, public radio from Fordham University. And if you're out of the listening range, you can hear him online from at wfuv.org.

Streaming content costs money, however, and with the latest idiocy (NOT "Iddiocy"!) from the Republican-controlled Congress slashing all funding for NPR, WFUV could use your help.

But at least consider contributing to the NPR outlet in your area. Don't let "them" kill something so vital!

Thanks!

TELEFFLUVIA: NOW WITH ULTRA-SHEEN!

I posted this to Alan Sepinwall's column about the "Net Work" episode of 'The Good Wife', which had a Zuckerberg vs. Sorkin court case where it was the Sorkin clone who came out as the bad guy......

This has been the second episode of a TV show that has created its own version of Zuckerberg. 'Lie To Me' had a Zuckerberg clone in a recent murder mystery episode. For a while there it seemed like everybody had their own versions of Nancy Grace and Blackwater Security. I wonder how many more Zuckerbergs we're likely to see in other shows, and if there have been any others already? It seems like he's a character that could provide more plot possibilities than just his own.....

And now I'll bet you we're going to see plenty of Charlie Sheen clones hit the airwaves, especially on "Ripped From The Headlines" shows like those in the 'Law & Order' franchise (what's left of them......)
~
Is there anybody out there in my readership who has the first season of 'I Dream Of Jeannie' on an officially released DVD set? There was an episode called "This Is Murder", which had a Princess Tarji visting Cocoa Beach on a state visit. I'd like to know what the captioning says is the name of her home country. It sounded like Paquait (or was it Parquait), but I'd like to be sure. If you can get back to me, I'd appreciate it...
~
One thing I enjoy about treating all of TV as one big fantasy world is finding new names of characters that feel like they stepped out of a fantasy trilogy. My latest find - Hobey Jabko, a soldier played by Howard Duff in an episode of 'Combat!'.....
~
This occurred to me at work one night - in "A Christmas Carol", the latest 'Doctor Who' Christmas special, if the Doctor went back in Time and altered the life of Kazran Sardick, then why didn't that trigger an attack by the Reapers from "Father's Day"?

From Wikipedia:
Although never named in the programme, the creatures were called the Reapers in publicity material. They bear a strong resemblance to the Chronovores (first featured in "The Time Monster") as portrayed in Paul Cornell's Doctor Who New Adventures novel "No Future", the Vortisaurs in the Eighth Doctor's first series of audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, and the Hunters in the New Adventures novel "The Pit" by Neil Penswick.
~
It's always fun to find TV characters with the same names as friends and family members. The latest one is an "Amy Booth" from an episode of 'Burke's Law'. Amy was the first "Iddiot" from the Idiot's Delight Digest group to visit the Lake.

I've got a name doppelganger in Toobworld as well. There was an L.A. cop named Toby O'Brien in an episode of 'Police Story' from the early 1970's.
~
As my DVR capacity reached 50% capacity, I noticed that I had two episodes of 'Harry's Law' on deck, but no real compulsion to watch them. I enjoyed the show, but it really wasn't must-see TV for me. I'm a big fan of David E. Kelley, but this just doesn't have the spark to keep me coming back to that law firm/shoe store in Cincinnatti.

For me, the DEK high point was 'Picket Fences', with his 'Boston Legal' and his work on 'L.A. Law' following close behind.

I wish 'Harry's Law' all the best, especially for Kathy Bates, and if I read of something truly off-the-wall happening in an upcoming episode - or a really special guest star - I'll pop in again.

And if you're still watching the show, let me know if there's ever any mention of the radio station WKRP.....
~
I could have been a "high priest Vatican assassin warlock" like Charlie Sheen, but I didn't keep up on my union dues. And I only have tiger moth's blood.....
~
Here's my prediction: The 'Two And A Half Men' backstage craziness will be the next behind the scenes TV movie in the style of those made about 'Dynasty', 'Three's Company', 'Gilligan's Island', and 'Mork & Mindy'.
~
If any TV show should have a movie made about its production, it should be 'Doctor Who'.
~
If Charlie Sheen is looking for a new role to play, how about Itchy in a remake of "Dick Tracy"?

~ BCnU!

ROCHE CLIPS

The topic of actors who can trace their later success to one particular role came up for me during a Facebook thread. Eugene Roche was a prime example.....

BCnU!

THE KING OF SKITLANTIS

Recently, Inner Toob took a look at Aquaman's place in the main Toobworld, and we acknowledged that his traditional appearance does exist in the Tooniverse.

But thanks to my friend Tay Mueller, I learned that the Superhero King of the Sea can be found in Skitlandia as well!

Thanks, Tay!

B-Sea-nU!

THE 2010 TOOBITS AWARDS: ALL THE LINKS!

The winners of the 2010 Toobits Awards were announced here in the blog today. In fact, if you scroll down, they descend in the proper order.

But this list of their links is being posted for my Facebook friends so that they can easily reach them all. (And hopefully they'll check them out! After all, some of them were winners this year!)

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/2010-toobits-awards-part-one_07.html

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/2010-toobits-awards-part-one.html

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/2010-toobits-awards-part-two.html

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/2010-toobits-awards-part-three.html

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/2010-toobits-awards-part-four.html

BCnU!

FRIDAY NIGHT BLIGHT: THIS WEEK'S TELEFLUVIA

Michael Ausiello reported this on Facebook:
VAMP DIARIES is casting a killer new bloodsucker. Character's name is Klaus. Described as in his late 20s to mid 30s (although he's really, like, 1000), he's devastatingly handsome, charming, intelligent, and quick-witted. He's also the only person who can out-Damon Damon. Strong series regular potential. At the very least recurring. Um, Jason Dohring anyone?!

Um... no. I mean, I like Dohring. I thought he was great in 'Veronica Mars' and in 'Moonlight'. I'll go along with him matching almost all of the description for this vampire named Klaus. But there's no way you can claim that he's "devastatingly handsome".

Besides, it's "been there, done that" I would think for Dohring and vampires. Toobworld Central would just have to make the claim that his character from 'Moonlight' is this same guy.
~
A quick note from fellow Iddiot Brian-El re: the passing of Leslie Nielsen:

"Just realized that Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves, and Barbara Billingsley all died this year...hmmm..."
~
In researching the various real-life people from 'Dynasty' that were portrayed in that behind the scenes movie, I discovered that Inner Toob screwed up and ran basically the same "ASOTV" showcase about Joan Collins twice. Once this year and once last year. I hang my head in shame......
~
While in an IM session with my Little Buddy Sean over in Taiwan, we got to talking about 'Fringe'. And Sean said: "Can not wait for the next ep. - in bed with the wrong Olivia" I realized that he came up with a great lyric for a Country Western song!
~
Here's a comment I made about a recent episode of 'Human Target'. I was glad to see that somebody agreed with me!

Toby O'B
I thought the ending had a big flaw - Chicago was a "cleaner", and all of them had seen his face. If you were in that bunch, would you really drink from a bottle he supplied, no matter how tempting the booze inside? Otherwise, a fast-moving and always fun hour.....

RocketDigitalPro
I'm with Toby O'B in that I would never ever consume or even accept a "gift" from him.
~
I'm about four days ahead of schedule in my pre-programmed blog posts. Sadly, that's all due to the passing of Leslie Nielsen. Just posting videos for him took only minutes to set up my video weekend.
~
From an EW interview with Kevin Bacon about his Logitech commercial:

"So I started to talk with the director, this guy Ringan Ledwidge."

Ringan Ledwidge..... Like "Doonesbury" once said about Newt Gingrich - sounds like a creature from "Dune". Or "Star Wars". Or "The Lord Of The Rings". Or.....

BCnU!

VIDEO WEEKEND HEADS "DUE SOUTH"

Leslie Nielsen was Canadian, born of a Welsh mother and a Danish father who was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I doubt that was a factor when he played a senior Mountie Officer in an episode of 'Due South' however, since Ingvard Nielsen used to beat his wife and children severely. I doubt he'd do the role to honor his father.....

Here's a couple of scenes from that 'Due South' episode which suggests that Lt. Frank Drebin may have had family ties north of the border.....

[Thanks to fellow "Iddiot" Richard Gordon for pointing out that first clip.....]

BCnU!

VIDEO WEEKEND: HOW SMALL IS YOURS?

My thanks again to FB friend J.r. for posting these clips from 'Corner Gas'......

I'd never be involved in this argument. I don't even have one.

BCnU!

VIDEO WEEKEND: THE ANGRY BIRDS PEACE TALKS

I didn't know if I really had another Video Weekend Sunday in me, but thanks to fellow "Iddiot" Steve Lederman, I have this to share with you.....

BCnU!

"MAKE IT WORK, JIMMY!"

Well..... After that gruesome bit of nastiness, how about something to cleanse the palate?

Here's the opening musical sketch from Sunday night's presentation of the 63rd annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards.

I had to look up one of these people, so I can understand if you don't know all of them.

Here are the people involved:

Jimmy Fallon
Lea Michele
Chris Colfer
Cory Monteith
Amber Riley
Tina Fey
Kate Gosselin
Jon Hamm
Betty White
Jane Lynch
Jorge Garcia
Joel McHale
Nina Dobrev
Tim Gunn
Randy Jackson

I'm pretty sure I caught everybody with that list.

My IDD friend Esther noted in Facebook that the ensemble could have used a vampire, but I guess they came close by including Nina Dobrev.

I wish Jorge Garcia had a better entrance, but seeing him next to Jon Hamm made me think - there's a buddy movie I'd like to see!

This has already been nominated for the 2010 Toobits Awards for Best League Of Themselves Appearance (Group)......

BCnU!

OUR PAPPY, WHO ART IN HEAVEN... MAYBE

What the hell.... I know the rest of the posts today were centered around Mark Twain, but I couldn't help myself to one last article about 'Maverick' to finish off the TV Western theme.

And since it concerns another writer, one played by Kevin McCarthy who also portrayed Mark Twain on TV, why not?

Thanks to my fellow Iddiot, the Kryptonian Uncle Brian-El, I now have my own copy of "Between Time And Timbuktu" which was based on the various stories by Kurt Vonnegut.

My favorite character in the tele-play is the gentle holy man in the forests of San Lorenzo, Bokonon. A lot of this can be attributed to the fact that Kevin McCarthy played the role.

Bokonon was something of a con man, not unlike the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz; only instead of floating down onto the island of San Lorenzo in a balloon, he washed up on its shores some 47 years before we meet him. (As Stony Stephenson is being tossed about in Time and Space via the Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum, we have no clue as to when in Time he meets Bokonon. But I do like to think it's on Earth Prime-Time.)

No matter the intent Vonnegut had in mind for Bokonon in his original incarnation - the Literary Universe - we only deal with the televersion. And it occurred to me that he might be related to one of the most famous families in all of the Old West.

I think Bokonon could be descended from the Mavericks.

Here he is, washed ashore in a foreign land with no means to take care of his needs. Does he try to get a real job, make some money? Hardly. Instead he takes the L. Ron Hubbard approach.....

"When I washed ashore on this island, I found a people almost crushed by poverty and political repression. I have given them a religion of harmless lies, and you can see how happy they are." - Bokonon

With his religion came the best-seller: "The Books of Bokonon". It's filled with such aphorisms as:

"When the truth of your life is too terrible, that truth becomes your enemy."

and

"You have to be careful what you pretend to be.... Because one day you may wake up to find that's what you are."

Those are the types of sayings one would expect to hear being quoted as being the words of wisdom from Beauregard "Pappy" Maverick, the head of the Maverick clan back in the mid-1800's. He was known for the following "Pappyisms":

"Some men are afraid of the dark, and some men are afraid to leave it."

"A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero dies but one. - A thousand to one is pretty good odds."

"A man does what he has to do - if he can't get out of it."

"Early to bed and early to rise’ is the curse of the working class."

"If at first you don't succeed, try something else."

"If you haven't got something nice to say about a man, it's time to change the subject."

"Love your fellow man, and stay out of his troubles if you can."

"Man is the only animal you can skin more than once."

"Marriage is the only game of chance I know of where both people can lose."

"Never cry over spilled milk... it could've been whiskey."

"Son, stay clear of weddings because one of them is liable to be your own."

And those aren't bad proverbs on which to found a religion.

Somewhere along the branch of that family tree, I'd hazard a guess that a veteran of the Civil War married into the Maverick clan. (Well, the odds would suggest there'd have to be a girl Maverick eventually.) And that man would be later known as Walter Jameson; he'd go on to outlive most of his in-laws and probably all of his children and grandchildren as well.
It would be his introduction into the Maverick genetic line that would account for the... Face of Bokonon, as it were.....

SHOWS CITED:
"Between Time And Timbuktu"
'Maverick' - "Pappy" (many others)
'The Twilight Zone' - "Long Live Walter Jameson"

BCnU!

HAT SQUAD VIDEO: DER STEINGRABBER

George Steinbrenner was the worst possible thorn in the side (and elsewhere) of the Red Sox. And that's high praise from a Red Sox fan.




At least the Boss has Bob Sheppard already there to announce his arrival.*

Good night and my God bless.

BCnU.......

*Thanks BruddahBob......

AS SEEN ON TV: ADOLPH HITLER

Today's "As Seen On TV" showcase is for Uncle Brian-El, who made these screencaps possible......

ADOLPH HITLER
aka
DEATH

AS SEEN IN:
"Prometheus 5 or Between Time And Timbuktu"

AS PLAYED BY:
Page Johnson

"I am Death. And I am final.
Oh, God, am I final!"
Hitler

BCnU!

KHAN & CHEKOV: TOGETHER AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME

While mapping out my theory about the recasting of Bunter during the investigation into "The Unpleasantness At The Bellona Club", I mentioned how Khan Noonian Singh recognized Pavel Chekov in the movie "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" - and yet never met him during the 'Star Trek' episode "Space Seed".

Here's the scene in the movie:



And here's an interview with Walter Koenig himself, the actor who will be forever associated with Chekov. (I apologize in advance for the quality of the sound on this video, but it doesn't interfere with Koenig's splainin.)



Considering the authoritative source*, Toobworld Central is happy to accept this as the official splainin for why the home audience never saw Khan meet Chekov on 'Star Trek'.

[And since I've been dedicating posts lately, this goes out to fellow Iddiot Jordan Hoffman.]

BCnU!

*Both Pavel Chekov and Walter Koenig have been inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, so I'm looking at this video clip as being inside the box......

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: "SEAN'S SHOW"

Sean is a friend of mine, the Little Buddy to my Skipper. He and his wife Gosia and their kids live in Taiwan where he teaches English. (I'm the god-father to their daughter Rhiannon.)

And every so often, Sean comes up with interesting Toobworld theories, including one which splains why the technology of 'Enterprise' was so far advanced of that seen in the original 'Star Trek' series. (And hopefully one day he'll write it up for me!)

Here's his theory about a Gallifreyan Time Lord in an alternate TV dimension......

My insomnia has been leading me to write odd Toobworld theories late at night. This one was for the ITV 'Marple' episode "Towards Zero"... It was nice to see [Tom] Baker in it...

Warned of upcoming danger by the TARDIS' Cloister Bell, the Doctor decides to stay out of trouble, and instead spends time fixing his broken chameleon circuit by extracting the measurements of a true police box on Earth in order to give to the mathematicians of the planet Logopolis. He is unaware that the Master is aware of his plan, and materializes his own TARDIS in a recursive loop with the Doctor's. The Doctor and Adric work out the recursion, and attempt to flush the Master out by materializing the TARDIS in the River Thames, but instead land on a boat on the river with no sign of the Master's TARDIS.

Outside, the Doctor sees a glowing white figure, the Watcher, who directs him to hurry to Logopolis. The Doctor does not follow the Watcher’s advice, and instead uses the Chameleon Arch to transform himself into a human, hoping to avert the crisis which is to come. He takes the TARDIS for one more flight, into Earth’s recent past, alerts Adric to his plan and instructs him to pilot the TARDIS to humanity’s primeval era where the Master can do no damage. Adric does so*, thus saving much of the Galaxy, including the Traken Union, from the Master’s plan of Galactic conquest.

The Doctor, unaided by an assistant and forgotten, assimilates himself into Earth’s 1930’s and 40’s era as Mr. Frederick Treves. He lives this life until he is unfortunately murdered, years later, [by someone] who takes advantage of his weak and aged hearts. Though the Doctor dies unknown and unaided on his favorite planet, it may be some small comfort that his killer is found out by one Miss Jane Marple of Saint Mary Mead.

Sean

*Due to an error in Adric’s piloting, he rematerializes into a core system on a Cyberman-controlled freighter, causing it to crash into the Earth and causing the extinction of the dinosaurs.

THE TOOBWORLD TAKE:
Why I like this -

First off, it takes place in an alternate TV dimension, so that it has no bearing on the events of Earth Prime-Time. No Zonks!

We know it's an alternate TV dimension because Miss Jane Marple is played in this episode by Geraldine McEwan. The Miss Marple of Earth Prime-Time was played by Dame Joan Hickson.

I'm looking at a previously established alternate TV dimension for this story - from the two-part 'Doctor Who' episode "The Age Of Steel" and "The Rise Of The Cybermen" (or vice versa). There was a feeling about that world that the Doctor was unknown there, that its Earth never was visited by the Time Lord. Even after Rose had been there for awhile, she never mentioned the arrival of the Doctor to once again save Earth in the nick of Time. As she was working for UNIT over there, surely she would have come across mention of him.

But perhaps the Doctor used to visit in the past, and since his death back in the 1930's, (and because of it), the world deviated from a path similar to Earth Prime-Time.

Since we know that there are fixed points in Time, Adric was always pre-destined to die in a somewhat similar fashion to the way he perished in "Earthshock". And not even a Big Finish audio-play - "The Boy That Time Forgot" - can change that.

The presence of those Cybermen in Earth's primitive past isn't negated by the creation of John Lumic's Cybermen in the new future. Despite RTD's "best" efforts, Mondas would still exist in that dimension.

Thanks, Sean!
Do you have some off-beat Toobworld theory of your own? Send it along and I'll give it a showcase here!

BCnU!

CALLAN & CALLEN

One of my friends from the IDD and Facebook, an Iddiette named Susan K, wrote to me after I posted "Brothers In Arms" (about David 'Callan' and Robert McCall 'The Equalizer' being brothers):

"Everytime I see Callan I think you're talking about G.Callen from NCIS:LA"

So I visited the Wiki for 'NCIS: Los Angeles' (every show seems to have a Wikia!) and learned this about Agent G Callen:

G. Callen's formative years were spent in the foster care system until he attained majority at the age of eighteen. He possesses little knowledge about his birth and infancy, this is attested to by the fact that not even he knows what his given name is apart that it begins with the letter "G." In the episode Pushback (1.7) we learn that Callen lived in more than thirty-seven foster homes starting from the age of five, the longest he stayed in one of them was only three months.

The argument could be made that G (who was born in 1969) is the illegitimate son of David Callan - that his last name was misspelled on his birth certificate or on the forms that entered him into the foster care system (presumably California's).

The timeline of his birth does make it possible.....

There'd have to be some theories tossed about:

that G's mother had an affair with David Callan, either in Britain or whenever he might have been in the United States (perhaps on assignment in Washington with Toby Meres?).

that they must have broken up before she knew that she was carrying Callan's child.

that after a few years she knew she couldn't care for him anymore, or she was unable to do so because of circumstances beyond her control, and that's why he was placed in foster care.

that blood will out - G Callen's natural talents in the field could mark him as being the son of David Callan. (A notion that sounds very Wold Newton....)

I'm just going to toss the idea out there as a possibility, but not one Toobworld Central is ready to commit to. Things might be different if William Zabka, who played Scott McCall on 'The Equalizer' had any other TV roles which could be considered an alias for Scott. Then we could run with a full family tree, maybe even taking it back into the past beyond Captain William McCall, or even far into the future with any potential McCalls on the various 'Star Trek'/'Babylon 5' shows.

But according to the IMDb, Zabka hasn't done any TV since 'The Equalizer'. (But he has kept mad busy with movies, even if most of them look like they're direct to video.)

So for now, this will be just a small addendum to the theory of relateeveety about Robert McCall and David Callan.....

And it will be blown all to hell once the show finally decides to do a show that explores G Callen's birth and infancy.

BCnU!

HAPPY ANNA HOWARD SHAW DAY!

"A HAPPY ANNA HOWARD SHAW DAY TO US ALL!"
Liz Lemon
'30 Rock'

You know who would have been perfect to play Ms. Shaw in a TV production?

Reta Shaw!

Hrmmm.... Anna Howard Shaw... Reta Shaw....?

BCnU!
[My thanks to Gosia for the inspiration!]