THE HAT SQUAD - JEAN STAPLETON

In the "reality" of Toobworld, Archie and Edith Bunker were reunited soon after Carroll O'Connor passed away. Since nobody else could have played Archie, it was best to think of him as having died as well. And Edith died during the run of 'Archie Bunker's Place'......

Good night and may God bless, Jean Stapleton.....

TOOBMUSIC - ROSIE AND HIM

BOOK 'EM BLIPVERT

It's time to pay the bills.....

But this time, it's a pleasure since it's for a book co-authored by Lee Goldberg:



LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - DAVID WAIN

DAVID WAIN

AS SEEN IN:
'Children's Hospital'
"Behind The Scenes"

From Wikipedia:

David Benjamin Wain (born August 1, 1969) is an American comedian, writer, actor and director. He is most widely known for directing the feature films "Role Models" and "Wet Hot American Summer", the 1990s' sketch comedy series 'The State' and for producing/directing/writing the Adult Swim series 'Childrens Hospital'. Wain was a founding member of Stella, along with Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black.

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD - LAWRENCE HADDON

Recently, character actor Lawrence Haddon passed away.  He was in his 90s.  For me, he was best known for playing one half of the gay couple who moved into the neighborhood of 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'.  It was a low-key storyline that - if I remember correctly - didn't cause the tumult one would have expected from a TV show more than thirty years ago.

Another recurring role was that of Mr. Brady on 'Dennis The Menace'.  Brady, perhaps a cousin to the architect Mike Brady, was a blow-hard whose son Johnny was a nemesis to Dennis.

Lawrence Haddon played the role in six episodes.  Here's the list from the IMDb:

• The Soapbox Derby (30 April 1961) - Charles Brady 
• Dennis and the Picnic (25 June 1961) - Charles Brady  
• Dennis and the Pee Wee League (19 November 1961) - Charlie Brady
• Horseless Carriage Club (1 April 1962) - Charles Brady  
• Community Picnic (24 June 1962) - Jack Brady 
• The Big Basketball Game (24 February 1963) - Mr. Brady 

As you can see, there's a glitch with the episode "Community Picnic" in that his name is listed as "Jack Brady" when all the others are either "Mr. Brady" or "Charles Brady".

I was all set to provide a splainin that his full name was John Charles Brady and that some people knew him by the nickname "Jack".  (And it would be assumed that his son Johnny was thus named after him.)

But I just watched the episode on Hulu, and not once is he mentioned by his first name - neither as Jack nor as Charles.  And the credits at the end, not always reliable when it comes to a character's identity, list him as "Mr. Brady".  

I don't know who sabotageed the IMDb page, but O'Bviously there's no need now to splain it away......

Good night and may God bless, Mr. Haddon.....

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - SIR TERENCE CONRAN

SIR TERENCE CONRAN

AS SEEN IN:

'Pie In The Sky'

"In The Smoke"

SYNOPSIS:

As Henry Crabbe passed by Cantina del Ponte, a restaurant next door to the Design Museum at Butler's Wharf on the Thames, he passed by the restaurant's owner, Sir Terence, who was enjoying a cigar outside.

From Wikipedia:

Sir Terence Orby Conran, FCSD (born 4 October 1931) is an English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer.

Conran started his own design practice in 1956 with the Summa furniture range and designing a shop for Mary Quant. In 1964, he opened the first Habitat shop in Chelsea with his third wife Caroline Herbert, which grew into a large chain selling household goods and furniture in contemporary designs. In the mid-1980s, Conran expanded Habitat into the Storehouse plc group of companies that included Mothercare and Heals but in 1990 he lost control of the company. His later retail companies include the Conran Shop and FSC-certified wood furniture maker Benchmark Furniture, which he co-founded with Sean Sutcliffe in 1983.

He has also been involved in architecture and interior design, including establishing the architecture and planning consultancy Conran Roche with Fred Rochein 1980. Projects include Michelin House (which he turned into the restaurant Bibendum) and the Bluebird Garage both in Chelsea. Conran had a major role in the regeneration in the early 1990s of the Shad Thames area of London next to Tower Bridge that includes the Design Museum which is managed by the Conran Foundation.

Conran has also created various other London restaurants including the Soop Kitchen, Orrery, Quaglino's, Mezzo (restaurant), Pont de la Tour, Blueprint Cafe,Butler's Wharf Chop House, together with restaurants in various other countries. In 2005 he was named as the most influential restaurateur in the UK byCatererSearch, the website of Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine. In 2007, 49% of the entire Conran restaurant business was sold to D&D, a company run by two former Conran employees, Des Gunewardena and David Loewi. In 2008, he returned to the restaurant business on a personal basis by opening Boundary in Shoreditch, East London, a restaurant/bar/cafe/meeting room complex.This was followed in 2009 by Lutyens, a restaurant and private club within the former Reuters building in Fleet Street London.

He has written and published various books, particularly on interior design. Many were published by Conran Octopus, a division of Octopus Publishing Group, a cross-platform illustrated book publisher founded by Sir Terence and Paul Hamlyn.

O'BSERVATION:

I would not be surprised if the store in which the Crabbes went shopping for fancy saucepans belonged to Conran, and the cameo appearance was a way of saying thank you for use of the location.

BCnU!

MANNIX & THE CASE OF THE CASA DE BRADY

Here's the story of a guy named Mannix......

This screen captcha is from an episode of 'Mannix', in which future TV Crossover Hall of Fame member Joe Mannix went to a party at a friend's house. 

Everybody should recognize that set, slightly redressed, and claims that they're not old enough to know a TV show from the 1960s/70s are invalid. 

Since Mike Brady was an architect, and both 'Mannix' and 'The Brady Bunch' took place in the Los Angeles environs, I think it's within reason to claim that he designed both houses (using the same basic template.)

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - JEFF GARLIN

JEFF GARLIN

AS SEEN IN:

'Maron'

"Marc's Dad"

SYNOPSIS:

Larry Maron interrupts Marc's podcast chat with Jeff Garlin to give Garlin a batch of "vitamins", which quickly cause the comic actor to go through a heavy mood swing.

From Wikipedia:

Jeffrey "Jeff" Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, voice artist, director, writer, podcast host and author, best known for his role as Jeff Greene on the HBO show 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'. He is also a producer of the show.

As of January 10, 2013, Garlin is a host on the comedy podcast network Earwolf. His show "By The Way, In Conversation with Jeff Garlin" is a series of unscripted casual talks, rather than formal interviews, with his friends in the entertainment industry. The debut episode featured a chat with Garlin's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' co-star Larry David. The twice-monthly installments are recorded in front of a live audience at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles.

O'BSERVATION:

If anybody ever does a shared universe for podcasts, there's an early entry - Garlin appearing on Maron's and on his own show.

I always thought Jeff was playing himself on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'.  Shows how much I pay attention....

BCnU!

THEORY OF "RELATEEVEETY" - "ROUTE 66" & "DEFIANCE"

Just because a show has to be relegated to an alternate dimension because it conflicts with the tele-mosaic of Toobworld, that doesn't mean we wouldn't find the characters of Earth Prime-Time in that world as well.

 

For instance, we know the Muppets lived in the 'West Wing' dimension as well.  But even though we never saw them on the show, Felix Unger and Oscar Madison lived there as well.  The same goes for Sgt. Joe Friday, Ben Matlock, and Mary Richards.  There just wasn't any reason why they would have shown up in the context of the Jed Bartlet presidency.

 

'Defiance' is one of those shows that had to be automatically tossed into its own TV Universe.  Had it begun in 2046 (the year currently played out on the show), maybe I wouldn't have cared as much.  After all, I won't be around by then!  But the invasion by the Votans will take place at some point this year and I think I can safely predict we're not going to see it happen.

 

But just because it's in its own world, that doesn't mean we can't assume that TV characters from the past in Earth Prime-Time didn't have doppelgangers in that world as well.

 

And because most of them would now be dead, because of the massive terra-forming that occurred during the Pale Wars, - as well as because of the passage of Time - who's to say they weren't part of this world's history?

 

I'm going to make the case for one in particular as part of a theory of relateeveety - Tod Stiles.

 

From Wikipedia:

Tod Stiles is a fictional character portrayed by actor Martin Milner on the 1960s American prime-time dramatic television series 'Route 66'. Tod was one of three main regular characters on the program, and the only one to appear in all 116 episodes of the show's four seasons.

 

In 1964, Tod married Margo Tiffin, per the dictates of her father's will (not that he would have said no otherwise!)  And that was the last we saw of Tod in the main Toobworld.  In 1993, the Corvette was now in the possession of Buzz Murdoch's nephew, so we can assume Tod's former road partner was dead, but how did he come to own the car? 

 

As both Martin Milner, who played Tod, and Barbara Eden (Margo) are both thankfully still alive.  The chance may be slim, but it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that they might return one day to our TV screens. 

 

It's not unheard of - after more than thirty years, Alan Brady finally came back on 'Mad About You'.  So why couldn't we see Tod Stiles again?  Because of that, I'm not going to make any declarations about his fate in Earth Prime-Time.

 

Over in the 'Defiance' dimension, however, we have no such compunction.  We can create an entire history for him from 1964 onwards, including a family tree.

 

I'll bet most of you have forgotten about Margo Tiffin, if you even knew she existed. 

 

But I wouldn't be surprised if you knew at least one other, very magical, citizen of Toobworld whom she resembles......

 

So a beautiful woman like Margo, let's face it - Tod would be all over that, to put it bluntly.  And I'm sure children would have resulted.  And quickly!

 

It's my contention that in 2003, one of his grandchildren, now bearing the last name of Nolan, had a son named Joshua.  And they lived in the St. Louis area (where Tod and Buzz worked for a time, as seen in the episode "Hey, Moth, Come Eat The Flame"). 

 

When Josh was ten years old - this year! - he was witness to the arrival of the Votani ships.  And with the debut of the show, we've been following his life since his return to St. Louis - now known as Defiance - with his Irathient step-daughter Irisa, including his career as the Lawkeeper in town.

 

 

Take a look at both Tod Stiles and Josh Nolan together.  Don't you think there's enough of a resemblance that they could be related, separated by a few generations?

 

Since it's all conjecture in a different TV dimension anyway, I'll just claim that any argument you have against the idea is invalid and save us both the hassle....

 

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - GEORGE LUCAS

Originally, I wanted to run this showcase on or just before the anniversary of the "Star Wars" premiere.  But with my fading memory, I completely forgot.  I'd fire the Toobworld Central manager if there were more than just me working here......

GEORGE LUCAS

AS SEEN IN:
'The O.C.'
"The O.Sea"

SYNOPSIS:
Seth and Zach squabble over who should take Summer to the prom and who will meet George Lucas for dinner over the publishing of the graphic novel. (IMDb)  

Lucas makes Seth realize that there is more to life than his geeky pursuits.

From Wikipedia:
George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director, and entrepreneur. He founded Lucasfilm Limited and led the company as chairman and chief executive before selling it to The Walt Disney Company on October 30, 2012. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise "Star Wars" and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. Lucas is one of the American film industry's most successful filmmakers financially.

Charles Lippincott was hired by Lucas's production company, Lucasfilm Ltd., as marketing director for "Star Wars". As 20th Century Fox gave little support for marketing beyond licensing T-shirts and posters, Lippincott was forced to look elsewhere. He secured deals with Marvel Comics for a comic book adaptation and with Del Rey Books for a novelization. A fan of science fiction, he used his contacts to promote the film at the San Diego Comic-Con and elsewhere within fandom. Worried that "Star Wars" would be beaten out by other summer films, such as "Smokey and the Bandit", 20th Century Fox moved the release date to the Wednesday before Memorial Day: May 25, 1977. However, fewer than forty theaters ordered the film to be shown. In response, 20th Century Fox demanded that theaters order Star Wars if they wanted an eagerly anticipated film based on a best-selling novel titled "The Other Side of Midnight".

And who remembers that movie today?

BCnU!