THE "GRADE A" THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY

As part of our salute to 'Centennial' during this TV Western month, we featured the character of Tranquilino Marquez, as played by A Martinez, earlier this week. And as we do on occasion (with characters like Cass Caldicott from 'The Rifleman') we use certain TV characters to make hypothetical links between TV shows based on theories of relateeveety. Tranquilino is such a character - we claimed that many of Martinez's characters on other series were all descended from him.

One of these was Daniel Morales on 'L.A. Law'. I guess he was brought in to be the token Latino after Jimmy Smits as Victor Sifuentes moved on.

Here's the introduction to the show for Morales:

Morales' mention of Santa Barbara at the end is an in-joke reference to the soap opera in which A Martinez played his best loved role, Cruz Castillo.

Based on this, I'm going to claim that Cruz and Daniel were identical cousins, growing up together in 'Santa Barbara'. Being cousins, there doesn't have to be any reason why either one of them should have mentioned the other......

BCnU!

CAROL BURNETT AND "STAR TREK"

While jumping around in YouTube looking for clips to post during Video Weekend, I found this from the TV dimension of Skitlandia:

So it's not a Western. Sue me.

BCnU!

WESTVIEW: "DUSTY'S TRAIL" - "HORSE OF ANOTHER COLOR"

I couldn't find a full episode of 'Rango' on YouTube to "salute" the late Norman Alden, but for today's Westview feature, I chose another TV Western comedy screw-up:

THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING NORMAN ALDEN

Back in July, actor Norman Alden passed away; he was in his 80s. I think his best known role in Toobworld would have been Coach Leroy Fedders on 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'. And that was mostly because of the way he signed off.....

In my opinion, that has to be the best death scene actually seen on TV.

Alden did a lot of voice work in the Tooniverse. He was the first voice to be associated with the super-hero Plastic Man:

And since this is the month in which we celebrate TV Westerns, Norman Alden was a regular on Tim Conway's short-lived sitcom 'Rango' in which he was a bumbling Texas Ranger. Alden played his boss, Captain Horton at the Deep Wells Ranger Station. Horton wanted to get Rango transferred, but that was impossible when Rango's father was the head of the Texas Rangers.

Here's the opening credits and theme song......

Good night and may God bless......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROSE MARIE!

It was Rose Marie's birthday the other day and I can think of nobody better to sum up her life story than Rose Marie herself.....

AS SEEN ON TV: SHERIFF DUMIRE

SHERIFF AXEL DUMIRE

CREATED BY:

James Michener

PORTRAYED BY:

Brian Keith

AS SEEN IN:

'Centennial'

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

O'BSERVATIONS:

Not only one of the best characters in the book and series, but one of the best names as well.

From Wikipedia:

A range war develops between the cattle ranchers led by Seccombe, farmers led by Hans Brumbaugh, and sheep herders led by new settler Messmore Garrett (Clint Ritchie). New town sheriff Axel Dumire (Brian Keith) tries to settle the conflict peacefully but it soon escalates into violence.

Sheriff Dumire has suspected the Wendells of shady activities since their arrival and questions them about the missing businessman. He hounds the Wendells but they won't crack and without a body the sheriff can do nothing. The Wendells' young son Philip admires the sheriff and has no respect for his father. He wants to tell him the truth but cannot bring himself to betray his own flesh and blood. The sheriff is killed by remnants of the gang hired to drive the farmers out in the range war, and Philip begins to reveal the secret only as Dumire dies.

BCnU......

WESTVIEW/HAT SQUAD - "WAGON TRAIN" WITH PHYLLIS THAXTER

From the 8/16/12 L.A. Times:

Phyllis Thaxter, 92, an actress who had an active film career in the 1940s and '50s and capped it with her portrayal of Clark Kent's mother in the 1978 version of "Superman," died Tuesday at her home in Orlando, Fla., said her daughter, actress Skye Aubrey. She had Alzheimer's disease.

Thaxter also had numerous television parts in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Lux Video Theatre" and other anthology series as well as prime-time episodic programs.

One of those anthology show episodes was for 'The Twilight Zone'......

Among those episodic TV programs were episodes of 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Medical Center', 'Marcus Welby, M.D.', 'Coronet Blue', 'Cannon', and 'Barnaby Jones'. Plus, she did a number of TV Westerns, among them 'Lancer', 'Bonanza', 'Rawhide', and 'Wagon Train'.

This being the month in which we celebrate the TV Western, here's the 'Wagon Train' episode which was named after her character:

Good night and may God bless......

COWBOYS & ALIENS - TOOBWORLD STYLE

The 'V' alien invasion of Earth Prime-Time took place in the original Toobworld timeline. But it was wiped out with all of the following reboots and revisions. This was caused by the introduction of the rag-tag fleet of spaceships led by the 'Battlestar Galactica', which arrived in the Sol System in 1980. Three years later when the "Visitors" arrived, the Galacticans were well-established as the guardians of the Lost Colony of Earth. They destroyed the "Visitors" with the people of Earth being none the wiser about what happened.

But with or without the 'V' invasion, the same TV characters would still have existed in Toobworld, only their fates would be different.

Such a character would be Sancho Gomez.

SANCHO GOMEZ

From the 'V' wikia:

Sancho Gomez is a gardener in the employ of the Maxwells, Dupres, Bernsteins and several other neighborhood families at the time of the First Invasion. Though he regretfully stops working for the Maxwells as his other clients know of their scientist status, he helps them escape through the Visitor security checkpoints, however, Eleanor Dupres hears Katie Maxwell crying in his truck and alerts the Visitors to Sancho's location, and they arrest him after discovering evidence of him smuggling the family away. He is brutalized while in custody but is rescued by Mike Donovan and they, along with a now-captive Robin Maxwell, escape in a Visitor Skyfighter. During the chase by pursuing fighters, he shoots down the fighters and joins the Resistance upon reaching safety. Sancho is part of the discussion of whether to use the Red Dust to force the Visitors to leave Earth and part of the attack team on the Visitor Mothership orbiting Los Angeles, and helped secure the ship for the Resistance and return it to Earth under their control. He stated that his grandfather fought with Zapata during the Mexican Revolution of the early 1900s.

Since Sancho's grandfather fought alongside Zapata in the Mexican Revolution (which began in 1910), then his grandfather could have been the son of Nacho Gomez, left behind when Nacho fled to Centennial, Colorado, with his nephew Tranquilino Marquez.

IGNACIO "NACHO" GOMEZ

And so a theory of relateeveety can connect a traditional TV Western mini-series to an allegorical science-fiction TV mini-series......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV/HAT SQUAD - LEW VERNOR

As we celebrate the many characters from the epic mini-series 'Centennial' based on the book by James Michener, we're also paying tribute on the Fridays to the three actors from the show who passed away in July of this year.

This is the last of those tributes.......

PROFESSOR LEWIS VERNOR

CREATED BY:

James Michener

PORTRAYED BY:

Andy Griffith

AS SEEN IN:

'Centennial'

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

TV STATUS:

From Georgia, he may be related to Ben Matlock......

From Wikipedia:

Professor Lew Vernor (Andy Griffith) and writer Sidney Enderman (Sharon Gless) arrive in town to do research on the history of Centennial. Vernor goes to Paul Garrett to learn the history of the region. Later while exploring the town Vernor discovers a washed-out cave with human remains on the Wendell's property. Morgan, recognizing the scene from his father's tales, orders Vernor out and hides the evidence of the century-old murder that made his family wealthy.

While telling Vernor and Enderman the history of Centennial, [Paul Garrett] is persuaded to run against Wendell in the election for the new statewide office of Commissioner of Resources, an elected office that will balance economic growth with environmental and historical preservation.

From Felice's Log:

"The Scream of Eagles" picked up over forty (40) years after "The Winds of Death" in the late 1970s. A history professor named Lew Vernor has been hired by a magazine to examine the studies and work of a historian named Carol Endermann, whom they had earlier hired to research Centennial's history for an article. During his visit to Centennial, Vernor is given a tour of the region by Paul Garrett, the current owner of the Venneford Ranch. Not only does he become aware of the area's history, Vernor also becomes interested in a growing political showdown between Garrett and local landowner Morgan Wendell for the position of Colorado's new Commissioner of Resources, a position designed to balance the state's economic growth with environmental and historical preservation.

The episode featured some solid acting from the likes of Andy Griffith and Sharon Gless, who portrayed Lew Vernor and Carol Endermann - the two outsiders researching Centennial's past.

BCnU.......

WESTVIEW: "THE CISCO KID" - "THE BIG SWITCH"