THE 2014 TOOBITS AWARDS PART THREE -THE CHARACTERS

2014 TOOBITS AWARDS

It's that time of year again, when we all make lists and think back over the past year, in whatever field of interest concerns us, and chronicle the high points and the lows. For the past few years I've been presenting this compilation as an awards show, the Toobits, which of course celebrates my two bits about Toobworld.

As it is with any such list you'll find in TV columns across the country these last few weeks, these are my opinions. You're welcome to your own and I hope you'll share them, but I'm sticking to my weapons of choice. (It could be you won't see something that was a favorite of yours because I just never got around to seeing it. There's only so much time in the world - even for a do-nothing-else-anyway sort like me! - and I've only got the two eyes, even if they do operate independantly of each other at times.)

Unlike the Emmy Awards which will just keep handing out trophies to some shows forever, only shows, characters and what-not that debuted in 2013 can be considered. (And by "debuted", I mean that which I first came in contact with in 2013. It could be a few years old, but if it's my first time seeing it, it's new.)

This one-time-only rule includes characters who have been recast; those are still the same characters who already exist in Toobworld. (But there were a few notable appearances that deserved honorable mention, and they get it.)

So without further ado, let's have at it:

BEST RECASTAWAY
OVERALL
Brigadier Sir Alastair Lethbridge Stewart, 'Doctor Who'
Sadly, Nicholas Courtney died a few years ago and his role as the former head of UNIT was also retired in death. He was definitely irreplaceable. But Moffatt, that cunning bastid, found a way out of it by transforming his soul and corpse into a Cyberman. But his emotion inhibitor was incapacitated and so the Brigadier was able to save his daughter from death and come to the Doctor's aid at a time of great need. (He may have spared the Doctor from having to kill the Master/Mistress, but I think she teleported the hell out of there before she could be blasted.)

'Father Brown'
It's become one of my "comfort food" murder mysteries, but the character and stories from the G.K. Chesterton stories had already been adapted for TV in the early 70s and so that televersion is the official portrayal for Earth Prime-Time.

Alfred Pennyworth, 'Gotham'
Sean Pertwee's former Royal Marine turned manservant and guardian for young Bruce Wayne ain't your father's butler. If this was the past history for Alfred in all media, he may have not been in fighting trim since WWI as far as the Alan Napier Alfred was concerned. (And I think it possible that he worked in military intelligence against the Hun back then, side by side with Alexander Waverly.)

FEMALE
Missy, 'Doctor Who'
Recasting the next regeneration of the Master as a woman served two purposes well. First, it shut the door on a return by RTD's vision of the Master as hyper-crazy madman. John Simm was great in the part, but it was so over-the-top that there was nowhere to go with it. Secondly, Michelle Gomez' sly performance may prepare the more recalcitrant members of the audience into accepting a female Doctor whenever the time comes.


Young Louie, 'Louie' ("Elevator Part 4")

WORST RECASTAWAY
Daario Naharis, 'Game Of Thrones'
It's bad enough that the Mountain has gone through three recastings since the series started, but he wasn't in the series as a central character and he was encased in armor most of the time he was on screen. But Daario serves at the side of the Khaleesi and is involved in scenes of long dialogue as well as action scenes. At least they could have found an actor who looked like the original Daario, but nooooo.......

BEST NEW MALE CHARACTERDRAMA
TIE:
Marty Hart & Rust Cohle - 'True Detective'
One reason I prefer the Toobits Award method in selecting winners over the Emmy Awards - it's one and done for the most part. None of this being nominated year after year. I'm sure Bryan Cranston was fantastic in the role of Walter White in 'Breaking Bad' (the show just wasn't for me), but the Emmy voters get into a mental lock-step and start voting out of habit for the same actors year after year. If those awards were done my way, Lauren Graham might have finally won for 'Gilmore Girls', and Hugh Laurie for 'House'.

This should have been the year for either Matthew McConnaughey or Woody Harrelson and the sad thing is that it was the only year for their characters. Without giving away the ending of the show, this was a year-long anthology series and next season will have a whole new cast, location, and storyline. Theoretically we have seen Rust again in those Lincoln commercials, but this should have been the year both of them won joint Emmy awards. (I'm sure they shared a joint or two during production though.) At least here they get the Toobits Award, small compensation though that may be.

COMEDY
Jimmy Shrive-Overly - 'You're The Worst'
I'm not a big fan of cringe-worthy comedy - it's what kept me from fully enjoying 'The Office' and it's what makes 'The Comeback' unbearable for me.  But this is stealth cringe.  I should be hating these characters, but I can see that deep down they have what it takes to keep me coming back to watch.  And with Jimmy, the ex-pat Brit author who will probably never see another book published, there's the little boy lost Peter Pan about him.  You also can't beat that expression on his face at his moment of glory - a possible three-way with two women, only to "culminate" too soon.







BEST NEW FEMALE CHARACTER
Miss Phryne Fisher - 'Miss Fisher Mysteries'
Racy, sexy, witty and a free-thinker, Phryne is a breath of fresh air in the history mystery genre.  Solving murders in 1920s Australia also gives us a chance to see her in fabulous outfits... and out of them.

BEST NEW MALE SUPPORTING CHARACTERDrama
Abe, 'Forever'

Comedy
Cash, 'Sirens'

BEST NEW SUPPORTING FEMALE CHARACTERDrama
Fish Mooney, 'Gotham'

Comedy
Lindsay Jillian, 'You're The Worst'

BEST NEW RECURRING MALE CHARACTER

BEST NEW RECURRING FEMALE CHARACTEREvanka, 'Louie'

BEST NEW MULTIVERSAL CHARACTER
Male
John 'Constantine' (from DC Comics)
Female
Lorelei, 'Agents Of SHIELD' (from Marvel Comics)

BEST CROSSOVER CHARACTERS FROM ANOTHER MEDIUM
Dr. Evil of the Austin Powers movies
on 'Saturday Night Live'
Lady Sif of the "Thor" movies
Agent Carter & Dum Dum Dugan of 'Captain America: The First Avenger'
in 'Agents Of SHIELD'

BEST NEW CAST ENSEMBLE
Drama
'Gotham'

Comedy
'You're The Worst'

BEST INTRODUCTION OF A CHARACTER
FEMALE:
Missy, 'Doctor Who'

MALE:
Edward Mortdrake, 'American Horror Story: Freakshow'

BEST ADDITION TO AN EXISTING CASTMALE

FEMALE
Bobby Morse aka Mockingjay, 'Agents of SHIELD'

BEST NEW GUEST APPEARANCE
COMEDY
MALE - Bill, 'Maron'
FEMALE - Vanessa, 'Louie'

DRAMA
Karim Fataris, 'Verbrechen'/'Crime Stories' (episode "The Hedgehog")
Harold Levenson, 'Downton Abbey'

BEST HISTORICAL CHARACTER
Joseph Merrick, 'Ripper Street'
BEST HISTORICAL CHARACTER REVISION
Jane Cobden, 'Ripper Street'

MOST TRIVIAL HISTORICAL CHARACTER
Marcel Guillaume, 'The Murdoch Mysteries'
Had it not been for the digital description courtesy of my cable company, I never would have known that Monsieur Guillaume would one day be the inspiration for the character of Inspector Jules Maigret in the books by Georges Simenon. I'm glad it didn't come up because that would have been one more Zonk to splain away....

BEST NEW ALIEN CHARACTER
The Teller, 'Doctor Who'

BEST NEW CHILD CHARACTERBOY
Martin Moone, 'Moone Boy'
GIRL
Bo, 'Believe'

CHILD CHARACTER WITH THE BEST LINES
Archie, 'Sherlock' - "The Sign Of Three"

CHARACTER MOST DESERVING TO RETURN
Jon Worth, 'Major Crimes'

BEST NEW COMMERCIAL CHARACTER
Captain Obvious, 'Hotels.com'

BEST LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES APPEARANCEDRAMA
Gloria Steinem, 'The Good Wife'

COMEDY
Kate Micucci & Riki Lindholme, 'Garfunkle & Oates'
Amy Poehler, 'Welcome To Sweden'

BEST LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES APPEARANCE IN A COMMERCIAL
Gary Busey

BEST LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES CROSSOVER
Chris Hardwicke - 'Maron' & 'Garfunkle & Oates'

BEST CHARACTER RETURN
Drama:
Pindar, 'Franklin & Bash'
Technically this is a dramady, but our first sight of Pindar upon his return was pretty dramatic.....

Sitcom:
Gary Blauman, 'How I Met Your Mother'
Because his appearance triggered a slew of cameos from past characters who got one last go-round before the series ended: Zoey Parsons, Kevin, Sandy Rivers, Jeanette Peterson, Steve Henry, Scooter, Blah Blah, as well as Patrice and Rajit who were recurring anyway.

BEST CHARACTER RETURN ONLINE:
Dr. Michaela Quinn and the residents of , "Dr. Quinn, Morphine Woman"
(Even if it is in Skitlandia)

BEST LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES RETURN:The gathering of the eleven hosts from 'The View' for Barbara Walters' penultimate show as a host on that series.

BEST NEW ALIENS
The Boneless, 'Doctor Who'

WORST NEW ALIENS
The Turtle-Sapiens, 'Metal Hurlant Chronicles' - "Master Of Destiny"

BEST NEW MALE VILLAIN
John Garrett, 'Agents Of SHIELD'

BEST NEW FEMALE VILLAIN
Missy, 'Doctor Who'

BEST EXIT FOR A CHARACTER
TOOBWORLD
DOMESTIC DRAMA:
Bertram Cooper, 'Mad Men'

INTERNATIONAL DRAMA:
Brian Lane, 'New Tricks'

COMEDY:
Professor Proton, 'The Big Bang Theory'

BEST EXIT FOR A LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES MEMBER
Barbara Walters, 'The View'

BEST DEATH SCENE
King Joffrey Baratheon, 'Game Of Thrones'

HONORARY MENTION
Will Gardner, 'The Good Wife'

SADDEST DEATH
Tracy McConnell, 'How I Met Your Mother'

WORST DEATH SCENE
DI Richard Poole, 'Death In Paradise'

FIRST MAJOR TV CHARACTER TO DIE IN 2014
Pierce Hawthorne, 'Community'

BEST NEW CHARACTER NAME
Dandy Mott, 'American Horror Story: Freakshow'WORST NEW CHARACTER NAME
Fish Mooney, 'Gotham'

WORST CLASSIC CHARACTER NAME
Doctor Herpies, 'McMillan & Wife'

BEST NEW ALIAS
Sketchy Jeff, T-Mobile's Family Plan commercial

THE 2014 TOOBITS AWARDS PART TWO - THE CROSSOVERS AND SPIN-OFFS

2014 TOOBITS AWARDS

It's that time of year again, when we all make lists and think back over the past year, in whatever field of interest concerns us, and chronicle the high points and the lows. For the past few years I've been presenting this compilation as an awards show, the Toobits, which of course celebrates my two bits about Toobworld.

As it is with any such list you'll find in TV columns across the country these last few weeks, these are my opinions. You're welcome to your own and I hope you'll share them, but I'm sticking to my weapons of choice. (It could be you won't see something that was a favorite of yours because I just never got around to seeing it. There's only so much time in the world - even for a do-nothing-else-anyway sort like me! - and I've only got the two eyes, even if they do operate independantly of each other at times.)

Unlike the Emmy Awards which will just keep handing out trophies to some shows forever, only shows, characters and what-not that debuted in 2013 can be considered. (And by "debuted", I mean that which I first came in contact with in 2013. It could be a few years old, but if it's my first time seeing it, it's new.)

This one-time-only rule includes characters who have been recast; those are still the same characters who already exist in Toobworld. (But there were a few notable appearances that deserved honorable mention, and they get it.)

So without further ado, let's have at it:
_______________________________________________________________________
BEST CROSSOVER
'Chicago Fire'
'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'
'Chicago P.D.'
Of course, it was easy to pull off, since they're all Dick Wolf productions. But the story jumping back and forth between Chicago and New York at least made sense, unlike past attempts with geographical nightmares like 'Crossing Jordan' in Boston and 'Las Vegas'.

BEST CROSSOVER PLOTLINE
'The Flash' & 'Arrow'
Boiled down to its essence, it was basically the two heroes visiting each other's city and teaming up to fight first Rainbow Raider and then Captain Boomerang. But so much was revealed and plot lines advanced in each episode so that they became integral for each show's fanbase if they wanted to be completists. These weren't cast-off, one-shot, throwaway stories.

BEST HISTORICAL CROSSOVER
'Republic Of Doyle' - "If The Shoe Fits"
Following up from the 'Murdoch Mysteries' crossover episode "The Republic Of Murdoch", the story jumped to the present time so that a descendent of William Murdoch teamed up with Jake Doyle on a case. (Doyle's ancestor Jacob worked with Detective William Murdoch in the first part of the crossover.)

BEST TOONIVERSE CROSSOVER
'Family Guy'
with
'The Simpsons'
'Bob's Burgers'
'The Cleveland Show'

BEST SKITLANDIA CROSSOVER
'The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'
The Final Show - the ending
Craig and his robot skeleton sidekick Geoff Pierson realized that after ten years they had never seen who was really inside the Secretariat Pantomine Horse costume.  In a big reveal, it turned out to be Bob Newhart who told Craig that this was his dream.  It then morphed to Craig in bed - but he was now Mr. Wick from 'The Drew Carey Show' and he was married to Drew!  Craig tells him that he dreamt that he had been the host of a late night talk show and that Carey was the host of a game show.  As the scene faded, the camera panned over to a snow globe on the night stand which showed Craig, Geoff, Secretariat and the TARDIS.  It was a wonderful blend of other shows' finales - 'Newhart', 'St. Elsewhere', - with tips of the hat to 'The Drew Carey Show', 'The Price Is Right', 'Doctor Who'.

BEST HOLIDAY CROSSOVER
Target commercial: "What D'Ya Get?"
A variety of toys - from Barbie to toy soldiers to a Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtle - are all excited at the prospect of what toy may be joining them from the little kid's Christmas present. 



BEST TRIVIAL CROSSOVER
'Gracepoint' & 'Doctor Who'
Phone messages to be found on Detective Carver's desk were from Rose Tyler, Dr. Martha Jones, and Donna Noble. The contents of each of the notes tied in with the storylines for each of those Companions to the Tenth Incarnation of the Doctor.

My theory is that UNIT detected the rerun atmosphere surrounding the town of Gracepoint and how much it resembled an earlier case in the town of Broadchurch. And the fact that Detective Carver resembled not only Detective Alec Hardy from the first case, but also the Tenth Doctor, led them to investigate. Perhaps these notes were meant to trigger some sort of reaction should he prove to be the Doctor trapped in some alternate aspect of himself.

Just sayin', is all......



BEST THEORETICAL CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR
'Mad Men' & 'Doctor Who'
Many of the 'Mad Men' cast were huddled around their TV sets to watch as Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, the first human* to do so. And that's when the Doctor sent out the recorded video of the Silence who suggested that humans should kill the Silence on sight. Because you can't remember having seen the Silence once you look away, no one remembers this happening in Toobworld. That's why nobody mentioned it in that episode of 'Mad Men'.
(* In Earth Prime-Time, this was the first "Official" landing on the Moon. Men had been going to the Moon on secret missions for at least a decade.)

BEST REALITY CROSSOVER
Aisha Tyler - 'Who's Line Is It, Anyway?' & 'Let's Make A Deal'
('Let's Make A Deal' host Wayne Brady also appears on 'Who's Line Is It, Anyway?')

BEST PAN-UNIVERSAL COMMERCIAL CROSSOVERRocky & Bullwinkle; Geico
You can never go wrong with an appearance by Moose and Squirrel. And these were the Rocky and Bullwinkle from the Cineverse, not the cartoons.....

BEST COMMERCIAL/SERIES CROSSOVEREARTH PRIME-TIMEAutotrader & 'The Dukes Of Hazzard'
Not once did they break the fourth wall during this mini-adventure and they even advanced the story by trading in their old General Lee for a newer model.

WORST COMMERCIAL/SERIES CROSSOVER
Time Warner Cable & 'Suits'
Although they were in character, there were too many references to what was happening in their lives as being part of a TV series.

BEST CROSSOVER WITH A DIFFERENT MEDIUM

BOOKWORLD
'True Detective' & "The King In Yellow" (1895 book)

"Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa."

- Robert W. Chambers,
Excerpt from "The King In Yellow", 1895

THE MAGAZINE UNIVERSE
Drunk Uncle, played by Bobby Moynihan during the "Weekend News Update" segments on 'Saturday Night Live', graced the holiday cover of 'Time Out New York'.....

COMIC BOOK WORLD
'Doctor Who' & "Abslon Daak, Dalek Killer"
That fact that Daak had to be seen as a drawing from a comic book can be splained away as being a police sketch.

THE CINEVERSE
'Endeavour' & "That Thing You Do!"
A call came in from Mr. White of Playtone Records in Hollywood. It was quick, under-played, and effective.

BEST THEORETICAL COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER
Lincoln & 'True Detective'
I have no problem believing that Matthew McConnaughey was appearing as Rust Cohle in that Lincoln.

WORST THEORETICAL COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER
Sprint Wireless iPhone6 & 'Married'
Of course, this is theoretical as we don't know for certain that Judy Greer is playing Lina Bowman from that sitcom. But we're all about being tidy with the proliferation of characters in the TV Universe. If we can conflate two characters into one, we will!



BEST TOONIVERSE CROSSOVER
'The Simpsons' & 'Family Guy with 'Bob's Burgers' + 'The Cleveland Show'
Runner-Up
'The Simpsons' & 'Futurama'
Homer meeting Bender may have been funnier, but the four-way 'Family Guy' crossover was more involved and involved three different production companies. And they had a great understanding of the characters they were borrowing.

BEST ONLINE CROSSOVER
'Downton Abbey' & 'Mr. Selfridge'
Almost a shame that it was set in Skitlandia, but hell - it was for charity after all......


MOST TRIVIAL TOONIVERSE CROSSOVER
'The Simpsons' & 'It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'
Time has no meaning in the Tooniverse for the most part, so Charlie Brown wll always be that little blockhead in the hole-filled sheet collecting nothing but rocks from houses on Halloween.

LAST CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR
'White Collar' & 'Lost' (among others)
Mozzie built his own version of the algorithm machine and to test its capabilities, he fed the Oceanic airline and JFK airport and warehouse 1097 into the machine and got a flight rerouted there with a shipment of Federal Reserve money.  (Oceanic Airways is a member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame already.)

THIS JUST IN!
'White Collar' was trumped in the final days of the month by young upstart 'The Librarians'!
"And The Apple Of Discord" made mostly theoretical connections to 'Lost Girl', Irish mythology, 'The Hobbit', a role-playing game called "Iron Kingdom" and even a numerical reference to 'Lost'.  But best of all was a mention of Wold Newton, which probably had hundreds of Crossoverists pumping their fists in the air, and an appearance by a representative from the World Crime League.  This is a direct link to the movie "Buckaroo Banzai: Across The Eighth Dimension" which promised a sequel about the World Crime League.

THE 2014 TOOBITS AWARDS PART ONE

2014 TOOBITS AWARDS

It's that time of year again, when we all make lists and think back over the past year, in whatever field of interest concerns us, and chronicle the high points and the lows.  For the past few years I've been presenting this compilation as an awards show, the Toobits, which of course celebrates my two bits about Toobworld.

As it is with any such list you'll find in TV columns across the country these last few weeks, these are my opinions.  You're welcome to your own and I hope you'll share them, but I'm sticking to my weapons of choice.  (It could be you won't see something that was a favorite of yours because I just never got around to seeing it.  There's only so much time in the world - even for a do-nothing-else-anyway sort like me! - and I've only got the two eyes, even if they do operate independantly of each other at times.)

Unlike the Emmy Awards which will just keep handing out trophies to some shows forever, only shows, characters and what-not that debuted in 2013 can be considered.  (And by "debuted", I mean that which I first came in contact with in 2013.  It could be a few years old, but if it's my first time seeing it, it's new.)  

This one-time-only rule includes characters who have been recast; those are still the same characters who already exist in Toobworld.  (But there were a few notable appearances that deserved honorable mention, and they get it.)

So without further ado, let's have at it:

BEST NEW TV SHOWIMPORT
DRAMA
'Nicolas Le Floch'
A police detective in pre-Revolutionary France - nothing I like more than a good "History Mystery" and this show delivers.  As far as I can tell it has the period details down and in such a way that only the French could have done.

COMEDY
'Moone Boy'
This is a brilliant spin on flashback reminiscense stories which we've had since at least 'The Wonder Years'.  The show is narrated from the present day, looking back at the life of young Martin Moone growing up in 1990 Ireland - told from the perspective of his imaginary friend.  The concept has been optioned to be remade as an American TV show and I think Earth Prime-Time can handle both of them being in the same dimension.  In fact, I think it's a show that could be adapted in plenty of countries, much like 'The Office' and 'Betty de la Fea'.

DOMESTIC
DRAMA:
'True Detective'
Trippy and gritty, treating a ritualistic murder in bayou country as though it was black magic in some fantastical landscape.  I doubt this could have worked with lesser talents than Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the lead roles.  And best of all, even though many of the characters live on in Toobworld, our memories of them won't be diminished by dilution through multiple seasons (as was the case with 'The Sopranos'.)  This is an anthology series - one season and done - and already work has begun on a new case, new location, new mood, and new characters.

COMEDY:
I really didn't want to choose one over the others with these three:

'You're The Worst'
I'm not one who enjoys shows about characters I'm not supposed to like but at least this is full-out cringe comedy as could be found in 'The Comeback' as an example.  I actually like Jimmy and Gretchen and their poisonous relationship, but I don't think I'd last a day as one of their "friends".

'Sirens'
It's not often a TV show I watch all by my lonesome can make me laugh out loud, but it happened all the time with this sitcom.  Especially during that disasterous wedding ceremony!

'Garfunkle & Oates'
Sweet televersion display of "life" for this Internet sensation duo.  Songs are catchy and only slightly cringe-worthy at times.

WORST NEW TV SHOW
'Intruders'
It was an intriguing premise, a great cast, but that first episode was dull as dishwater and I had no interest in going any further than that......

BEST TV MOVIE"Murder On The Homefront"
Gripping murder mystery during the War Years.  Thankfully no historical personages to bleep things up with conflicting recastaway issues.

WORST TV MOVIE
"Sharknado 2: The Second One"
And yet I watched....  My face still hurts from all the face/palm action.  This takes place in Disaster Toobworld.

WORST TV SPECIAL
'The Maya Rudolph Show'
A terrible train wreck for a talented woman.  She deserved better.  And didn't the 'Columbo' episode "Make Me A Perfect Murder" teach the people in the industry anything?  The ship has sailed on live variety specials in today's world.

BEST MINI-SERIES
'The Game'
There was a suggestion at the end of the sixth and final episode that we might see further adventures among these office drones in the MI-5 of the early 1970s.  I hope not.  This was just so perfect in feeding my love for the dreary life a spy, Le Carre style.

BEST ONLINE TV
The full song rendtions by the comedy-singing duo of Garfunkle & Oates.

BEST COMMERCIAL
"Memory Lane"
A slice of life as a grandmother takes her granddaughter to see the spot where she met the grandfather - under a tree on the Woodstock property where the epic music festival was held.  Or was it that tree.....?  Man that made me feel old!

BEST MUSIC VIDEO
"Bang Your Drum"
('The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson' - Final Show Opening
It started out with Craig lip-synching to the song by Dead Man Fall, filled with images from the past decade of his show.  Plus there were shots of nearly fifty celebrities - including the Thing from the Fantastic Four! - banging on drums or drum like objects (like Julia Louis-Dreyfuss banging on Tony Hale's head) or Kristen Bell banging on her own pregnant belly). And then it went "live" in the studio with Craig taking over the vocals and Bone Patrol providing fantastic musical backup.  Love the drums!   

BEST EPISODE, ANY GENRE
'Sherlock' - "The Sign Of Three"I could watch this over and over.....


BEST SERIES RETURN
'The Comeback'
Even though I wasn't a fan of the travails in Valerie Cherish's life, and a little Lisa Kudrow goes a long way, I like the fact that this is a show that wouldn't say "Die".  It came back for a second season nine years after it went off the air, proving that Life goes on in Toobworld even though we no longer get to see it.

BEST SEASON FINALE
Nothing jumped out at me this year.

BEST SERIES FINALE
'Psych'
This is because of a theoretical crossover with 'Monk'.  It was so trivial, we never even got to see Adrian Monk! But we know that in the final scene, he was just off-screen - alphabetizing the pantry.....

BEST CLIFF-HANGER
'Grimm'
A grimm without his powers in a frenzied crowd of Wesen - and the series returned in the Fall without a quick resolution to Nick Burkhardt's troubles.



WORST SERIES CONCLUSION
'Franklin & Bash'
It wasn't meant to be the series finale and so it ended on an unresolved cliff-hanger.  I think we have to accept that Stanton Infeld has shuffled off this mortal coil.

BEST SPIN-OFF
'Chicago P.D.'
This is all due to the gritty portrayal of the main character, Sgt. Voight, played by Jason Beghe. 

BEST SEQUEL
"Veronica Mars" - The Movie

BEST PREQUEL
'Gotham'
I'm really enjoying this look at how the legend of the Batman began, along with all of the supporting players in his world.  However, it has to be remembered that this is yet another TV dimension and not the main Toobworld.  It's far too gritty and too modern (cell phones, for example) to have any connection to the "true" Batman and Gotham City from 1966.

BEST REMAKE
'Father Brown'
This is located in the Land O' Remakes because the Father Brown played by Kenneth More in the early seventies has dibs on Earth Prime-Time.  But there are nice touches of the period without beating you over the head with it, and Mark Williams is perfect in the role.

BEST PILOT
'Scorpion'
Edge of your seat excitement which isn't always matched in the following episodes (as one would expect - production costs would have been too prohibitive.)  But they are a genial team, sort of an action-adventure version of the 'Big Bang Theory' characters.  And how could I resist a TV series that not only has an O'Brien as the main character but also a Toby as part of his team?

BEST HISTORICAL RECREATION
'Nicolas Le Floche'
I mentioned this earlier - they take great pains to display historical details in the ways of Life without calling attention to themselves: "Look how clever we are in showing you how they used to cook food in those days!"  And the locations chosen to evoke the time period could only be found in France.  These weren't studio sets......

BEST SENSE OF ONE'S OWN HISTORY
'Endeavour' - Season Two
The series would introduce characters and places that would come into play a few episodes later and also re-introduce us to places and items that we knew from the original series of 'Inspector Morse'.  (Two examples - the prison and the Wolvercote belt buckle.)

BEST BLEND OF TOOBWORLD AND REAL WORLD CELEBRITY
'Welcome To Sweden'
It's hard to believe, considering the show took place in Stockholm, but the main character must have been a really good tax accountant for all of his celebrity clients to make the trip over there - Will Ferrell, Gene Simmons, Aubrey Plaza (for Amy Poehler)......

BEST REVIVED SERIES
'Agents Of SHIELD'
It began with the crossover by Sif from the "Thor" movies and Lorelei from the comics.  Then the tie-in to "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and it picked up speed with the attacks by HYDRA.

BEST CLASSIC TV EXPERIENCE
IMPORT
'The Adventures Of Robin Hood'
DOMESTIC
'The Rogues'

CHRISTMAS EVE IN TOOBWORLD

Mary Boylan was a character actress who seems to have only made three appearances in TV shows during her career.  Most of her performances were probably in the movies (among her movies - "The Exorcist", "Night Of The Iguana", and "Annie Hall") and in the theater.  Considering one of those TV shows was filmed on the streets of New York City, I think the theater work was a given.  In fact, the IBDb lists four Broadway shows in her resume:

• "Live Life Again"
• "The Walrus And The Carpenter"
• "Suzanna And The Elders"
• "Dance Night"

The reason we're posting about her today on Christmas Eve is because her first TV credit took place on Christmas Eve, 1958.  As Marie, she was caught by Detective Frank Arcaro shoplifting in a liquor store in the 65th Precinct.  Apparently it was the same liquor store she always frequented as a shoplifter.  Asked why she didn't take her "business" elsewhere (preferably out of the precinct), she said the cut-rate bargains on such quality merchandise were too good to pass up - even if she wasn't paying for it.

One of her other roles was a flower seller whose name was not given.  And since the story was about identical cousins Patty and Cathy Lane, I'm going to assume she was working out of that area at the time.  As I said, she liked the deals at that particular liquor store, so if Marie was the flower seller then she thought the schlep from Brooklyn Heights to the 65th Precinct was worth the trip.

SHOWS CITED:

• 'Naked City' - "And A Merry Christmas To The Force On Patrol"
• 'The Patty Duke Show' - "Will The Real Sammy Davis Please Hang Up?"

(The photograph is from the movie "The Wrong Man".  I should have snapped my own screencap when I had the chance last December.)

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 12/2014 - READY FOR FREDDIE

 

When I was a kid, Red Skelton - along with Jonathan Winters - was in my pantheon of great performers. Still is.  He's why I don't have that fear of clowns which seems to afflict nearly all of my friends. His show on Tuesday nights were required viewing for me, especially for the Silent Spot and anything to do with Freddie the Freeloader.

In the Toobworld Dynamic, Freddie is a character to be found in both Skitlandia (as to be expected) and Earth Prime-Time as well. We know he's in Skitlandia because Red would do sketches about him on his variety show. But as for the main Toobworld, Freddie stood on his own as a "real" character thanks to an HBO special: "Freddie The Freeloader's Christmas Dinner".



In this holiday special, Freddie did his best to help bring Christmas cheer to some young unfortunates and then have a nice dinner with his friend Professor Humperdoo who was also "down on his luck."

'The Red Skelton Hour' has a televersion in the main Toobworld, so we know Red would do his own version of a "real-life" tramp. Freddie and the televersion of Red must have crossed paths at some point and Red must have seen in him the universal humor and pathos of the great tramp clown characters. I'm sure he got Freddie's permission to do sketches based on him... with some sort of financial remuneration to tide him over, of course.

We get further proof that the televersion of Red Skelton performed as Freddie The Freeloader in an episode of 'The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour'. Red was gracious enough to let the Ricardos and the Mertzes share his hotel room because the hotel in Alaska was booked solid. And Lucy got to play a fellow tramp in a sketch with Red portraying Freddie for a special performance at that hotel.

I bring this all up because as I've been yammering about all year, this is the 15th anniversary of the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame. As such, I've been following my mantra of "What I Say, Goes" in choosing the new members each month, some with very tenuous connections to one TV show, let alone three. (I'm eye to eye with you, Nick Fury!) I even inducted a TV character that technically didn't even exist: It was mentioned in 'Downton Abbey' that Lavinia Swire had a cousin and I combined her with a character's girlfriend named Ellie mentioned in an episode of 'Torchwood'. Thus, Ellie Swire. And because she gave her cousin and her intended Matthew a wedding gift of music from the Future, I decided Ellie Swire was a never-seen Companion to the Time Lord known as the Doctor.

 

 



So knowing that I could have a free hand in the selection process, I decided that somehow I would make sure Red Skelton found a home in the TVXOHOF. And I knew Freddie the Freeloader was the perfect choice for the Christmas (Not So Silent) Spot because of the HBO holiday special. Freddie's big heart and spirit embodies the true meaning of Christmas.

Also in Skitlandia, Freddie met Herman Munster and The Poor Soul:

 



And he even existed - at least as a character played by Red Skelton - in the Tooniverse. (He was mentioned by Kent Brockman in an episode of 'The Simpsons'.)



But then I realized that Mr. Skelton his own red-haired self was eligible for membership in the Hall. His TV series is acknowledged as existing in the main Toobworld thanks to 'CSI', 'The Honeymooners', and 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'. (Respectively, Grissom mentioned the show in an episode as did Ralph Kramden. And Sally Rogers pointed out that Alan Brady always sent a Christmas card to Red Skelton's writers.)

Red Skelton played himself in a great behind-the-scenes look at the TV industry in a 'Desilu Playhouse' special called "The Man In The Funny Suit". This was Rod Serling's salute to Ed Wynn, who played the trainer for a boxer in Serling's "Requiem For A Heavyweight". It was a warts-and-all script about Serling's fears that Wynn wasn't up to the job and that he would blow the live performance. A lot of the actors involved in the first production - minus Jack Palance - played themselves in this, even Serling who doesn't let himself look good in how he acted towards Wynn.

To this we can add that appearance with Lucy and Ricky to have enough shows for him to qualify.

So we have a "Two for Tuesday" with this month's induction: Red Skelton and Freddie the Freeloader.

Welcome, gentlemen.........

THEORIES OF RELATEEVEETY - CONNIE AND JO

Probably in two years, Consuela "Connie" Rubirosa will be joining other 'Law & Order' alumni in the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame.  She was a regular on the flagship as an ADA before moving to Los Angeles to work there in 'Law & Order: LA'.  And she was also a guest character on 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.

In the "Captive" episode of 'Law & Order', Rubirosa told her boss, Jack McCoy, about her sister, who had been in an abusive relationship.

I think this sister was Connie Rubirosa's twin, Jo Martinez, who is currently working in TV-NYC as a police detective, as seen in 'Forever'.

The difference in last names is easy to splain away: we know Detective Martinez is a widow.  But she could also have taken the last name of their step-father, who married their mother after she divorced their father.  Connie chose to keep her father's name.  (But I think the last name of Jo's husband makes an easier splainin.)

The abusive relationship was before Jo married her husband.  She talks too fondly of him with her "partner in crime", Dr. Henry Morgan.

Should it ever come up that a sister of Detective Martinez appears in an episode of 'Forever', then she would be another sibling never mentioned by Connie.  (She did mention a brother once in a 'Law & Order' episode.)  And if Martinez claims that she has no sister at all, well....  There must have been bad blood between Connie and Jo at some point.

BCnU!

"LAVERNE & SHIRLEY" - FROM A TO ZONK

One of the biggest Zonks in the new TV season is the fact that Zelda and Stephie lived in the same building that served as the exterior for the credits sequence of 'Laverne & Shirley'. Once they found that out upon moving in, it became a ritual for them to re-enact that scene as they left for work each morning.

A few years ago, ye olde caretaker of Toobworld threw up his hands in defeat over so many Zonks created by the mentions of other TV shows which should be sharing the same TV dimension. But we've come to accept that just about everyone on Earth Prime-Time will have their lives documented in one kind of TV show or another eventually.

Sometimes those Zonks can be splained away as being movies rather than TV shows. ('Starsky & Hutch', for example) Other times we can claim the shows mentioned have nothing to do with the show we in the Trueniverse got to see. (Some of the police procedurals with generic names - like 'Naked City' or 'N.Y.P.D.' could be documentary/reality series, so long as the actors were never mentioned. Unfortunately the franchises for 'CSI' and 'Law & Order' violate that rule, mostly due to David Caruso and Sam Waterson especially.)

But those shows that are made within Toobworld's reality about the lives of various TV characters should have something about them that would make them worthy of a TV series. One that is often Zonked is 'The Brady Bunch' - so there must have been some interest back in the late sixties about such a blended family with three boys and three girls (the youngest one in curls.) The ditzy housewife married to a Cuban bandleader and her legendary attempts to break into show business herself would be enough inspiration for a series about her. (Gee, I can't seem to remember the name of that show.....)

So what about 'Laverne & Shirley'?

The series was a spin-off of 'Happy Days' and took place on the Toobworld timeline back in the late 1950s, early 1960s. Decades later it became a TV series in both the Real World and in Toobworld. But since Ms. DiFazio and Ms. Feeney were real life people on Earth Prime-Time, what was so unique about their lives that warranted a TV show?

We never saw how Laverne's and Shirley's lives played out after the series was cancelled. And being so long ago, anything could have happened since then. Maybe they became the "Thelma And Louise" of their times and the TV show mentioned within other TV shows was an attempt to show how their lives led up to the pivotal moment that made them household names across America.

I'd like to think that they killed a guy......

BCnU!

MARY RICHARDS AND WONDER WOMAN

'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'

"Anyone Who Hates Kids And Dogs"

MARY: What are you reading there?
STEVIE: Comic book.
MARY: What’s it about?
STEVIE: (sarcastically) I don’t know, that’s why I’m reading it.
MARY: (reading the cover) “The Fantastic Blob.” Huh. Is he a good guy or a bad guy?
STEVIE: They don’t give bad guys their own comic books.
MARY: Right, of course, they don’t. I should have realized that. I used to like comic books when I was your age. I used to love Wonder Woman. Do you know her?
STEVIE: Sure.
MARY: I used to love the way she’d ward off bullets with her golden bracelets. Gee, every month I couldn’t wait for the next issue to come out. Oh, I remember this one story when Egg Fu, her archenemy, had her trapped in this giant mustache of his. And he had her tied up in one end of the mustache, and in the other end of the mustache was her boyfriend, uh …
SUE ANN NIVENS: (excitedly) Steve Trevor.
MARY: Right. Right. Well anyway just before Egg Fu was about to crush them both, Wonder Woman worked her arm free and twirled her magic lasso around his head and she cracked it into a thousand pieces, and the world was safe for democracy once again. I just thought it was wonderful. Do you like Wonder Woman?
STEVIE: Naw, she’s too butch.

The issue of 'Wonder Woman' which Mary Richards was talking about had to be this one:

And there is no Zonk when it comes to 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' sharing the same TV dimension as 'Wonder Woman.'  UNReel would have been hard at work even during World War II to protect such people as the Amazon princess from public scrutiny - by creating examples of plausible deniability.  In this case it would have been a comic book about Wonder Woman's exploits.  

Not that it came up in conversation, but Wonder Woman was active once again during the 1970s, and in such a way as to bring her notoriety from the general public.

BCnU!

MISSING LINKS: "WONDER WOMAN" AND "BATMAN"

Lloyd Moreaux:

"All of Henry's so-called statues are, as you are about to discover, flesh and blood individuals delicately frozen by a minute stream of electrons controlled by a neuro-impulse modulator - developed by that brilliant neurophysiologist, Robert Henderson.

"Presently known to his friends as Henry Roberts....."

'WONDER WOMAN'

"THE FINE ART OF CRIME"

I don't think this was Henry Roberts' first encounter with a costumed crime-fighter.  But he wasn't known as Henry Roberts then.  Nor was he known as Robert Henderson - at least, not during his criminal career.

Back in the mid-1960s, I think he used the alias of Bookworm in a thwarted attempt to steal the greatest trove of priceless books in Gotham City!

Robert Henderson, the nephew of Inspector Bill Henderson of Metropolis, was more inspired by the sordid lifestyle his uncle sought to eradicate rather than by the straight and narrow path Inspector Henderson chose to follow.

But Henderson lacked the human trait of originality and had to borrow all of his ideas from other sources.  Having been a nerdish "bookworm" as he was growing up, young Henderson chose that as his nom de crime and he set about basing all of his crimes on plots from books.

This lack of originality didn't deter him from developing scientific gadgets geared to help his criminal career, but he did have to pilfer from the work of others to get started on the projects (like the many traps he laid out for Batman in Gotham City.)  

After he served his time in Gotham State Prison, Robert Henderson retired the Bookworm persona and continued to pursue his technological creations.  But at the same time, he changed his name to Henry Roberts and by that moniker he became world famous as a sculptor.

The inspiration for his living statues probably came from the myth of Pygmalion in which one of Pygmalion's statues came to life.  The actual technology which he developed was probably first designed by some other scientist and then stolen/purchased by Lloyd Moreaux for his plans to steal the great works of art all around the world.

The Bookworm - er, Henry Roberts - probably welcomed the chance to have a patron like Moreaux so that he didn't have to tax himself trying to come up with ideas for his crimes.  

Not that it did him any good.  Both he and Moreaux were soon captured by Wonder Woman......

BCnU!