NUMBERS RUNNING - FROM "THE WHISPERS"

Here we have two of "the Numbers" from 'Lost', combined to be the hospital room number for "John Doe" in the pilot episode of 'The Whispers'......

Coincidentally, if you didn't already know, today is 4/15/16 - which is three of "the Numbers".

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, APRIL 2016 - JACK CARTER

Better late than never.....

JACK CARTER

From Wikipedia:
Jack Chakrin (June 24, 1922 – June 28, 2015), known by his stage name Jack Carter, was an American comedian, actor and television presenter. Brooklyn-born Carter had a long-running comedy act similar to fellow rapid-paced contemporaries Milton Berle and Morey Amsterdam.

He hosted an early television variety program called 'Cavalcade of Stars' on the DuMont Network. He was lured to NBC to host his own program titled 'The Jack Carter Show'. Carter recommended Jackie Gleason take his place as host of 'Cavalcade of Stars'. 'The Jack Carter Show' appeared under the banner of the 'Saturday Night Revue', NBC's two-and-a-half-hour Saturday night programming slot. Carter hosted his show for one hour each week followed by the 90-minute 'Your Show of Shows' starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. Carter remained friends with Sid Caesar his entire life and delivered the eulogy at his funeral.

His only major Broadway appearance was opposite Sammy Davis, Jr. in the 1956 musical "Mr. Wonderful". He had previously replaced Phil Silvers in the Broadway show "Top Banana". He was a frequent guest on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' during the 1960s and early 1970s, and was known for his impression of Ed Sullivan. He appeared as himself (along with his then-wife Paula Stewart) in the comedy series 'The Joey Bishop Show'. In the late 1960s, he was the host of a game-show pilot called 'Second Guessers'. The pilot did not sell. 

He was also a frequent panelist on the television game show 'Match Game' during the 1973–1974 season and again during the early 1980s. In 1975, he appeared as a guest star on the quiz show '$10,000 Pyramid' with contestant Liz Hogan Schultz.

He made appearances on many television series, including 'Diagnosis: Unknown', 'The Dick Van Dyke Show', 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington', 'The Rockford Files', 'The Wild Wild West', 'Tales of Tomorrow', 'The Kallikaks', '7th Heaven', 'The Road West', 'Sanford and Son', 'Tattletales', 'Monk', 'Desperate Housewives', and 'Shameless'. His last round of work included a cameo on 'New Girl' and a voice on 'Family Guy'.

Carter died on June 28, 2015, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, of respiratory failure. He was 93.

I really dropped the boat and missed the ball on this one.  When Jack Carter died last June, I celebrated the many characters he contributed to the populace of Earth Prime-Time.  But I never considered his appearances on a host of TV shows as a member of the League of Themselves.  Jack Carter should have been one of the [too] many memorial inductions last year.  But failing that, I decided the televersion of the motormouth comic would be the perfect representative for the month of April.  

Just look at the list of his appearances as himself......

 'Make Room for Daddy' 
- Danny's Replacement (1962)The club books Jack Carter, as Danny's replacement, while he's on a European tour. 

'The Joey Bishop Show' 
- Jack Carter Helps Joey Propose (1964) 

'The Name of the Game'
- I Love You, Billy Baker: Part 1 (1970) 

Las Vegas entertainer Billy Baker doesn't like interviews - especially when they concern that girl who died so mysteriously, Jeff Dillon investigates.

- I Love You, Billy Baker: Part 2 (1970)

In the second half of this two-part episode, the world of entertainer Billy Baker begins to unravel completely.

'Empty Nest'
- Final Analysis (1992)

'Blossom'
- Only When I Laugh (1992) 

Blossom and Six get fake IDs so that they can attend a friend's nightclub performance. Feeling bad for a comedian that dies in his ambulance, Anthony decides to use the family home to host his funeral.

'Cybill'
- See Jeff Jump, Jump, Jeff, Jump! (1995) 

Jeff decides to give up his career as a stuntman, so Cybill tracks down his mentor to change his mind. Meanwhile, Maryann becomes engrossed in the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

'Caroline in the City'
- Caroline and the Comic (1996) 

An old friend of Richard's father, Ben, appears. Ben was a struggling stand-up comedian and they now want him for a benefit. Richard has issues with his father so Caroline intervenes to get them together.

'Touched by an Angel'
- Cry and You Cry Alone (1998) 

Maury and his comedy partner split their act years ago in anger, but now are being inducted into the Hall of Fame. They try to get along to perform an act for the induction ceremony, but argue about who is the real star.

'Stark Raving Mad'
- The Hypnotist (2000)
After Ian hypnotizes them into believing they're Romeo and Juliette, Jake and Tess vanish.

I'm sorry you're no longer around to evoke the brash vaudeville style, Mr. Carter, but I hope this small tribute helps keep your memory alive, at least among the members of Team Toobworld......

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD - DOUGLAS WILMER AS SHERLOCK HOLMES

From BBC News:

Sherlock Holmes actor Douglas Wilmer has died at the age of 96.

He donned the famous deerstalker in the mid-1960s to play Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character in a BBC series.

Wilmer died in hospital in Ipswich on Thursday after suffering from pneumonia, Roger Johnson, spokesman for the Sherlock Holmes Society Of London, confirmed.

"He was a great actor, he was a gentleman, he had a long and distinguished career," Mr Johnson said.

Wilmer first appeared as Sherlock Holmes in 1964, with Nigel Stock as his Watson.

After he left the show he was replaced by Peter Cushing - but he retained his affection for the character throughout his career.

Wilmer played the role of Sherlock Holmes two more times in the greater fictional multiverse.  Most obituaries will only mention his appearance in 1975's film comedy "The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother".

But there is another......

In Roman Catholic theology, Limbo is a realm on the borders between Heaven and Hell.  There the souls of unbaptized infants and those who led good lives but who died before the coming of The Christ reside for eternity.  I'm sure it's supposed to be a very nice place... so long as you don't know about Heaven and what that place offers.....

For the Toobworld Dynamic, Limbo exists.  But there are more residents there than suggested by that description above.  For Toobworld, Limbo is the realm where souls go to be prepared for their eventual transition... elsewhere.  Could be Heaven, could be Hell, or it could lead to reincarnation.

We have seen Limbo portrayed on the small screen in several TV series.  The finale of 'Lost' could be the most recent example.  The series 'Life On Mars' (the original UK version, that is) and its sequel 'Ashes To Ashes' took place in Limbo. 

There was a TV adaptation of the movie "Madigan" with Richard Widmark reprising his role as the police detective.  Most people would consider the show to be a prequel as SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!! Madigan died at the end of the movie.  But for me, it's a sequel.  The series is about the soul of Detective Daniel Madigan after he died in the movie.  (This of course means that the 1968 film has to be absorbed into the Toobworld Dynamic.)

There is another TV show which I consider to be taking place in Limbo as well, and that is where we will find Douglas Wilmer's other portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.....

Currently, there are two versions of the Sherlock Holmes mythos being played out on our television screens in which the Great Detective and his companion Dr. Watson - along with many of the supporting players from the Conan Doyle version to be found in BookWorld - are to be found in the modern world: 'Sherlock' and 'Elementary'.  'Elementary' takes place in the same TV dimension as 'Sleepy Hollow'.  I have dubbed this world "Lit-Less Toobworld" - it is the TV dimension in which the original source material for their main subject matter never existed and yet the characters came to life there anyway... eventually.

But with 'Sherlock', we have something else entirely in mind for that show.  And the premise and events of 'Ashes To Ashes' play into my theory.  In that sequel to 'Life On Mars', we learned that Gene Hunt was the soul of a young constable from the 1950s who died on the job.  His soul seems to be a permanent tenant of Limbo, where he serves as a "training officer" for other British cops who died on the job; he prepares them through recreations of historical events as well as realistic simulations of crime scenarios for their eventual transition to What Lies Beyond.

And we also learned during the course of 'Ashes To Ashes' that the original Gene Hunt looked nothing like the representation of his soul in Limbo:

So....  The game's afoot!

It's my theory that the Sherlock Holmes we see in 'Sherlock' is in fact the soul of the official Sherlock Holmes of Earth Prime-Time, the one played by Jeremy Brett in several series and TV movies through the 1980s and into the 1990s.  His performance hewed the closest to the original source material and came so very close to completing the entire canon.  (If my memory serves, which it doesn't usually, I think Brett was four stories shy of completion.  But I'm too tired now to check.)

Yes, Douglas Wilmer, Peter Cushing, and Ronald Howard played Holmes on TV long before Brett came along.  But many of their cases were not based on the original stories.  Therefore I feel compelled to place them in alternate TV dimensions.  (This holds true for the many one-shot portrayals from TV movies and foreign productions - their placement in other dimensions are probably the easiest of all.)

For Toobworld purposes, Benedict Cumberbatch is playing the soul of Jeremy Brett's Holmes.  Cumberbatch looks nothing like Brett, but as I pointed out with the two Gene Hunts, there is obviously some kind of transfiguration of the body to the soul.  They may not look the same, but they are the same nevertheless.

But as for Holmes' "Boswell", Martin Freeman is NOT playing the soul of the Earth Prime-Time Watson who was portrayed in the Jeremy Brett series first by David Burke and then by Edward Hardwicke.  (No Zonk here.  The Toobworld splainin: Victorian plastic surgery.)

The Dr. John Watson of 'Sherlock' is the soul of a man by that same name who died in combat during the first Persian Gulf war.  Only he doesn't know that he's dead; he thought he was wounded in battle while serving as a medic in Afghanistan.  And so he found himself in Limbo where the soul of the actual Sherlock Holmes takes him under his wing and mentors him in a modern world setting before sending him on his way, "One Step Beyond".  

(As for other characters they meet, I think only his brother Mycroft and his parents are the souls from the originals of Earth Prime-Time.  The rest are other guardian angel souls recruited to act out these scenarios for the benefit of Dr. Watson.  For instance, the soul whom we are led to believe is that of Inspector Greg Lestrade was also the soul we knew as Danny Moore in the second episode of 'Ashes To Ashes'.  

 

As to whom he could have been in "real life"?  One likely candidate could be big game hunter John Riddell, the Lord John Roxton wannabe who knew the Time Lord known as the Doctor... as seen in the 'Doctor Who' episode "Dinosaurs On A Spaceship".  Then again, maybe Riddell is an alias - Riddell/Riddle? - and he really was Lord John Roxton.  Or rather the soul of Lord John Roxton, since the official televersion of Roxton is played by William Snow in the TV series 'The Lost World'.  And since the TARDIS can travel between dimensions, maybe it took the Doctor to Limbo in order to fetch the soul of Roxton/Riddell.  Story for another day, I suspect.)

Freeman's Dr. Watson is not the first soul of a Dr. John Watson who had been shepherded in this way through Limbo by Sherlock Holmes.  I think I might even consider Ronald Howard's Holmes to be yet another modification in the appearance of Holmes' soul, perhaps the first one after his death.  This would mean that the Watson played by Howard Marion Crawford was the embodiment of the soul of a Victorian era doctor by the same name who had passed away around the turn of the century.  

(I don't always hold to the theory that a TV character who dies "off-screen" probably died in the same manner as did the actor who played him.  However, it is tempting in this case, as Crawford passed away from an overdose of sleeping pills.  Perhaps this Dr. Watson was involved in the treatment of the Queen Victoria of Earth Prime-Time?  And when she died on January 22, 1901, he felt responsible, no matter that she was an old woman.  And so he took his own life out of a misplaced sense of guilt, which led him to be taken under the mentorship of Sherlock Holmes' soul in its first incarnation.  But that's just a theory.  I'm not sure either that Dr. Watson or Mr. Crawford would like it.....)

There are many incarnations of Toobworld.  Among those TV dimensions are the heavy-hitters like Skitlandia, Evil Toobworld, ToobStage, the Tooniverse, and the Land O' Remakes.  And then there are the others, like Zombie Toobworld, Fem Toobworld, Black Toobworld, Doofus Toobworld, and the many Toobworlds in which one country or another held sway over the planet to the point where everybody spoke their language, even if they were known to be originally English speakers in the main Toobworld.  (With Sherlock Holmes, he exists in French Toobworld, Spanish Toobworld, and most notably in Russian Toobworld.  Still English, but in a world where the United Kingdom has been under the domination of those other countries.)

But there is only the one Limbo for all of those dimensions.  That would mean various recastaways of certain characters could meet up with each other.  (And characters from vastly different Toobworlds - say Earth Prime-Time and the Tooniverse? - who meet up are probably doing so in Limbo.  If that is the case, when Drew Carey met Daffy Duck in the opening of 'The Drew Carey Show' for only one episode, what we were seeing could have been a vision of Drew Carey's after-life, hopefully far into the Future.  The Drew Carey of Earth Prime-Time would be the comedian, the game-show host, the improvisational impresario.  But after he dies?  You have to admit, working in a soul-crushing job like that office at Winfred-Louder - with a demon like Mimi sitting behind you - would be the perfect embodiment of what awaits him when he exits Limbo.)

And so, after all of that tele-babble, we come to the other appearance by Douglas Wilmer as Sherlock Holmes.  In the 'Sherlock' episode "The Reichenbach Fall", the soul of Dr. Watson goes to the Limbo version of the Diogenes Club to meet with the soul of Mycroft Holmes.  And there he encounters a rather irritable old club member who shushes him for daring to speak in the common room of the Club.

Douglas Wilmer played that old duffer.  Looking at it from the perspective of a Trueniverse outsider, it was a very nice in-joke, a gesture of affection for the history of Sherlock Holmes as seen on TV.  A tip of the hat to what came before and an acknowledgement of the character's heritage.

But within the reality of the greater Toobworld Dynamic?  Once again, Wilmer was playing Sherlock Holmes.

His portrayal of the Great Detective was to be found in the alternate dimension of Prequel Toobworld.  Although not the first to play the role on the small screen, he did come before Jeremy Brett.   But for the reasons mentioned above, Brett holds sway in Earth Prime-Time, and so Wilmer had to be relegated to Prequel Toobworld. 

As stated above, Ronald Howard's Holmes also can be found in Limbo as a variation of the soul of Jeremy Brett's Holmes.  That left Prequel Toobworld open for Wilmer's televersion.  But he only played the role for thirteen episodes of 'Sherlock Holmes' over two years (1964-65).  With the same actors playing Dr. Watson (Nigel Stock) and Inspector Lestrade (Peter Madden), Peter Cushing assumed the role in 1968.  Now I suppose I could posit the theory that these are two different TV dimensions, perhaps the one housing Cushing's Holmes would be the same in which Roger Davis is Hannibal Heyes/Joshua Smith instead of Pete Duel in 'Alias Smith & Jones'.  But I think I can keep both incarnatisons in the same TV dimension.

SHERLOCK HOLMES
AT HOME IN SUSSEX DOWNS

In Prequel Toobworld, Sherlock Holmes retired early from his consulting detective business and retired to Sussex Downs.  There he kept bees and performed experiments in human longevity using the queen bee's royal jelly.  But England was in dire need of a Sherlock Holmes to at least preserve the illusion that the Empire was safe so long as Holmes was around to solve even the most baffling problem.  So an early incarnation of "UNReality" came up with the idea of substituting another man for Holmes, having him take over the persona of the consulting detective.  The actual Sherlock Holmes probably came up with this plot himself and approved of its undertaking.  He probably even conducted the exams in which a suitable replacement could be found - ideally a man with similar features but more importantly, a man of high intellect.  Holmes participation would probably be the only reason why Watson and Lestrade went along with the scheme.

(As to who that other Sherlock Holmes might have been?  I'm sure there must be a Victorian era TV character played by Peter Cushing who could fit the bill.  But that investigation must wait for another day.  Today we are tipping our deerstalker to Douglas Wilmer.)

Eventually, despite his successful work in extending his own life through royal jelly, the real Sherlock Holmes of Prequel Toobworld eventually died.  (I'd like to think he made it well past the age of 100, perhaps twenty years more - making it sometime in the 1970s when he died.  And it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that he made appearances in other TV shows - but ones which should be found in Prequel Tooboworld - until his death.  One such appearance would be as "The Old Man" in "The Public Duck", an episode of the British anthology series 'Love Story'.)

After death, this Sherlock Holmes found himself in the æthereal dimension of Limbo which, as I mentioned earlier, would be common to all dimensions of greater Toobworld.  And I don't think he was happy about it, as seen by his reaction to this new Dr. Watson.

By the way, I would not be surprised to find that the souls of the many other incarnations of Sherlock Holmes were all members of the Diogenes Club in Limbo.  Some might have passed on to their final rewards; others might have reincarnated in their home dimension or elsewhere as new geniuses.  But Wilmer's televersion of Holmes didn't seem inclined to go anywhere else.

Well then.  That post certainly grabbed hold and wouldn't let go until it ran its course.  I hope you enjoyed my tribute to the role for which Douglas Wilmer was best known in the TV Universe... and elsewhere.  In fact, I think his Sherlock Holmes just might be a good candidate for a Birthday Honors list induction next year in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame!

Good night and may God bless, Douglas Wilmer.......

LITTLE BIG SCREEN - "BRUNCH IN ACAPULCO"

'GET SMART'

"THE AMAZING HARRY HOO"

Hoping to catch the same plane to San Francisco as the KAOS agent they were trailing, Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 nearly missed the flight because Max objected to the in-flight movie.  Trans-State Airlines was showing "Brunch In Acapulco" - starring George Brent and Joan Bennett, co-starring Edward G. Robinson and Lynn Bari, with cameo appearances by Joan Blondell and Cab Calloway.  As far as Max was concerned, the movie was a bomb and not even Joan Blondell could save it.

(Using the word "bomb" at the ticket counter would have TAS down on Max in no time today.  And when they found all the spy contraband he would have been carrying.....?)

Back in February, TCM showed "Brunch In Acapulco" as part of their half-day celebration of Joan Bennett's birthday.  Being the trivia-seeking televisiologist that I am, I watched the movie and I gotta say... Max was right.  The movie stinks to high heaven.  It's no wonder that TCM skedded it deep in the overnight.

But the odd thing is, it is kind of hypnotic, this romantic lark about two naval officers on weekend leave in Acapulco and the women they meet that Sunday morning just as their leave is about to end.  Hijinks ensued as they tried to maneuver a way to spend at least one full night with the young ladies.

Ralph Bakshi must have thought it was fascinating as well, since he made an animated film short with the same title, rotoscoped from the big nightclub dance scene that was the frenetic high point of the movie.

Here are some of the actors from "Brunch In Acapulco" as they looked in the cartoon version:

JOAN BLONDELL

CAB CALLOWAY

EDWARD G. ROBINSON

BCnU!

 

AS SEEN ON TV - BERNIER OF THE NORTH

'MURDOCH MYSTERIES'
"THE BIG CHILL"

Another historical figure has finally been "immortalized" in the universe of Earth Prime-Time - Captain Joseph-Elzéar Bernier
 

From the 'Murdoch Mysteries' Wikia:

Someone is trying to sabotage Captain Bernier grand expedition to the North Pole. He accuses the Swedes.Bjorn Nordenskjold wants nothing more than to beat him to the North Pole. Before Murdoch investigates the sabotage, he must first determine the validity of murder accusations made at the exhibition.

The CGS Arctic, commanded by Captain Joseph-Elzear Bernier, was one of Canada's first Arctic patrol ships. A wooden vessel built of oak and pitch-pine by the German government, it was originally intended for service in the Antarctic. However in 1904 it was purchased by Canada and put to use in the Arctic.

Joseph-Elzéar Bernier (1852 - 1934) was a Quebec mariner who led expeditions into the Canadian Arctic in the early 20th century and was given the Royal Geographical Society Award for his work.

From Wikipedia:

Joseph-Elzéar Bernier (January 1, 1852 – December 26, 1934) was a Quebec mariner who led expeditions into the Canadian Arctic in the early 20th century.

He was born in L'Islet, Quebec, the son of Captain Thomas Bernier and Célinas Paradis. At the age of 14, he became a cabin boy on his father's ship. Three years later, he became captain of his own ship and commanded sailing ships for the next 25 years. Bernier was named governor for the jail at Quebec City in 1895. From 1904 to 1911, he explored the Arctic archipelago on annual voyages in his ship the CGS Arctic and officially claimed the islands for Canada. Bernier retrieved documents that had been stored in caches by earlier Arctic explorers. He also established Royal Canadian Mounted Police posts in the Canadian north. During World War I, Bernier commanded a ship which transported mail along the eastern coast and carried goods in convoys across the Atlantic. He returned to patrolling the arctic after the war's end, continuing until his retirement in 1925, when he was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Back Award.

Bernier died of a heart attack in Lévis at the age of 82.

He published Master Mariner and Explorer: A Narrative of Sixty Years at Sea ... in 1939.

It's doubtful that Captain Bernier will be seen in any other TV show, especially outside of the Great White North, but stranger things hav happened. In the meantime, Remy Girard's portrayal of the explorer stands as the official televersion in Earth Prime-Time.

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD - REMEMBERING PATTY DUKE

Good night and may God bless Patty Duke. In the Cineverse, she earned the Oscar for playing Helen Keller in "The MIracle Worker." Then in one of the dimensions of the TV Universe, she returned to that story... but this time playing Annie Sullivan, Keller's teacher.

So many characters she contributed to Earth Prime-Time, many of them one-shots or TV movie appearances (including both versions of 'Hawaii Five-O' and a continuation of the story of "Rosemary's Baby".)  Besides Annie Sullivan, another historical figure she played in the greater TV Universe was Martha Washington.

Patty Duke had starring roles in several TV series:

• 'Captains And The Kings'
• 'Amazing Grace'
• 'It Takes Two'
• 'Karen's Song'

And in an alternate dimension, she was Julia Mansfield, the President of the United States. (This was a TV dimension which is also home to 'Corey In The House', '1600 Penn', 'Nancy', and 'Mr. President'.)

Of course, first and foremost for fans of Classic TV, Patty Duke will always be remembered for playing Patty and Cathy Lane, identical cousins in 'The Patty Duke Show'. It wasn't such a long shot for two cousins to be nearly identical in this case, since their fathers were twins as well. (It's tele-genetics, don't question it!)

We were fortunate enough for the chance to revisit the cousins in a TV movie reunion, "Still Rockin' In Brooklyn Heights", which found that Cathy had married since the show's ending. (Her new last name was MacAllister.)

Unfortunately there never were - at least as far as I can tell - any crossovers with other sitcoms of the day, nor any return appearances in later sitcoms a la Alan Brady showing up on 'Mad About You'. Just off the top of my head, I would have loved to have seen a cameo by both Cathy and Patty as passengers in a Sunshine Cab for an episode of 'Taxi', for instance.

The closest we came was in her last TV appearance: Ms. Duke played Grandma Janice and Great Aunt Hillary last year in "Grandma-A-Rooney", an episode of 'Liv And Maddie'.

'The Patty Duke Show' is a major influence for the Toobworld Dynamic because of that concept of "Identical Cousins". I use it to splain how two characters played by the same actor but on different shows could be related. (Of course, cynic that I am, the usual reason behind identical cousins is that they are really half-brothers/half-sisters who had philandering fathers.)

In my first Toobworld novel, "Live From New York", I invoke 'The Patty Duke Show' because of my main characters - Toob and Thom Cooper. Toob is more carefree, the wild and crazy guy type like Patty was. (Although I don't think a hot dog would make him lose control.) Meanwhile, Thom was the more reserved half of that equation, but without the Scottish accent.

This is shaping up to be a horrible year for fans of Classic TV as we keep losing the actors and actresses who provided so much of the populace for Toobworld. Sadly, Time - and Prime-Time - marches on. As for Patty and Cathy's continued existence in Toobworld, I'm inclined to let them enjoy their later years as "golden girls". Eventually though, yes, both of them will pass away, but I don't think it should happen at the same time.....

I don't think there's any reason to fear that some network suit (May they be nibbled to death by ducks!) would do an exact remake, rebooting the same characters. And a major reason for that would probably be due to Patty Duke's name in the title. She is indelibly connected to those roles because of that. (However, the premise is viable for re-use and I have no problem with a new iteration of identical cousins in the new millenium. It would actually be a nice tip of the hat to what she gifted us.

My condolences to her family and to her friends, and to all of the many fans of her television and movie roles. She will live on in our memories and in syndication......

TWO FOR TUESDAY 2 - "STITCHERS" & "AGENT CARTER"

'STITCHERS'

"2.0"

 

As he began his first prep check for the latest stitch after his near fatal heart attack, Cameron referred to Kirsten as "Agent Carter".

 

Again, the audience would know what he was talking about.  Peggy Carter is a member of the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, thanks to her own series plus appearances in episodes of 'Agents Of SHIELD' as well as in several of the cinematic branch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe which have been absorbed into Comix Toobworld 1.  But within the reality of 'Stitchers', this reference to 'Agent Carter' could play out three different ways.

 

1]  'Stitchers' is to be found in the Marvel Universe. 

And in that world, the modern day audience would assume that all the crazy events from the movies and TV shows (which includes 'Daredevil', 'Jessica Jones', and the upcoming 'Luke Cage' and 'Iron Fist', all from Netflix) and even that Coca-Cola Super Bowl commercial with Hulk and Ant-Man were happening just off-stage from the action in 'Stitchers'.

The reason I don't like this idea is that I would rather keep 'Stitchers' in Earth Prime-Time, the main playground for this televisiologist.  Comix Toobworld 1 is busy enough, especially when you consider it also contains 'Arrow', 'The Flash', and 'Legends Of Tomorrow'.  (It has now been established by the second coming of 'The Flash' that there are multiple Comix Toobworlds as off-shoots from Comix Toobworld 1.  Comix Toobworld 2 contained Jay Garrick as the Flash and Professor Zoom, while Comix Toobworld 3 is the world of 'Supergirl'.  'The Adventures Of Lois & Clark' and 'Superboy' are to be found in Comix Toobworld 4 and as for 'Smallville'?  That is in the same TV dimension as 'The West Wing' and 'Mr. Sterling'.)

2]  There is an Agent Carter doppelganger in the world of Earth Prime-Time.

This could work, but her life would be far different from that of Peggy Carter's over in Comix Toobworld.  First off, the Captain America for the main Toobworld is unfortunately the one to be found in two TV movies - "Captain America" & "Captain America II: Death Too Soon" with Reb Brown as Steve Rogers.  With this version, there is no Steve Rogers from World War II as the ultimate super-soldier.  Rogers gains his powers after being injected with "FLAG" to save his life due to a vicious beating.

It's likely (but never impossible - this is TV, after all, where coincidence reigns supreme!) that Agent Carter's path never crossed that of Captain America.  And she would have been a woman in her sixties by that point.

3]  For Earth Prime-Time, Agent Carter is just a character in the movies.

I'm afraid this would have to be the case due to the many Zonks that must have been generated by now with movies about Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Avengers, Hulk, and Ant-Man.  I'm fairly certain that the number of references to these films in other TV shows has become almost unmanageable.  So we'll leave Peggy Carter as a fictional character in Earth Prime-Time.

And dat's de name of dat tune....

Two for Tuesday!

BCnU!

TWO FOR TUESDAY 1 - "STITCHERS" & "iZOMBIE"

'Stitchers' returned last week, but now their home network, formerly ABC Family, is now known as "Freeform".  And in that Season Two premiere episode, entitled "2.0", there were two pop culture references which were more than just in-jokes and could have an impact on the TV Universe.

 

The Stitchers program now has a chief of security from the NSA to make sure all the "squints" - oops, wrong show! - all the technicians on the project are safe.  After everything that happened last year, it was time for them to stop playing cerebral cowboys.  Not that it's likely to happen.

During his first experience watching a "stitch", the NSA Agent protecting them (seen above, to the far right) wanted to know if Kirsten had to eat brains in order to gain the information... information... information... out of the heads of the victims.

Maggie couldn't believe he asked that. "She's not a zombie. This is science."

 

On its surface, treating 'Stitchers' as just a TV show, this is a reference to the CW show 'iZombie'.  In that series, Liv Moore was a semi-zombie who needed to eat brains in order to survive but she wasn't a mindless "walker" as well.  Luckily for her, she worked in the morgue and was able to get a fresh supply of the cranial snacks.

 

Liv and her co-worker, Ravi Chakraburti, thought they were operating under the radar, but the government, more than likely one of the shadow agencies which were really in charge, probably had a complete dossier on her.  And as long as she could be considered "under control" for her zombie tendencies, then it must have been decided that she could continue fighting the good fight in solving those victims' murders....

 

And news of this zombie must have spread from one government agency to the other.

 

So much for that potential Zonk.  It's the second reference, however, that causes a bit of a problem for the integrity of the Toobworld Dynamic. And we'll be covering that in the second post for today.....

BCnU!

THE ROOTS OF AN OTTOMAN DYNASTY

Starz is offering non-subscribers the chance to see the first season of 'Outlander' for free online. I'm two episodes in and I'm enjoying it, but I don't see myself taking on another premium network at this time.

Anyhoo, in the second episode ("Castle Leogh"), Claire found herself stuck at the castle as The Mackenzie's "guest" for five days until the tinker came around on his weekly travels.

We can see the tinker here as Claire thought she was making her goodbyes. He's on the left, standing next to his horse....

 

He doesn't really play much of a role in the events of Claire's life, trapped in 1743. No, his importance Earth Prime-Time will occur long after he is dead. And all because of the name he bears:



It will be the theory of "relateeveety" that Sean Petrie is the forefather of the family tree for several characters in Toobworld. First and foremost there are the Petries originally from Danville, Illinois: Sam Petrie, his sons Robert and Stacy, his grandson Richard ROSEBUD, and their great grand uncle, Hezekiah.

And there are two black men, more than likely cousins, both named Mark Petrie. One was a detective in New York City, while the other was an angry father seeking revenge against a faith healer in Toronto. It's my belief both of those men are descended from Hezekiah Petrie, who had a fondness for the ladies of color back at the turn of the 20th Century.

Between 1743 and 1863 - when Hezekiah shows up in the Toobworld timeline - that's an awful lot of generations that need to be filled in!

By the way, I hope you understand my choice of a heading for this post, considering this cast of characters, even though the action took place in Scotland.....

BCnU!

TVXOHOF - A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO FRANK, JUNIOR......

FRANK SINATRA JR.
IN THE TOONIVERSE
R.I.P.

Back on December 12th, I inducted Frank Sinatra into the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame on the 100th anniversary of his birth.  And now, less than four months later, his son Frank is joining him - sadly, in memoriam.

From Wikipedia:
Francis Wayne "Frank" Sinatra (January 10, 1944 – March 16, 2016), professionally known as Frank Sinatra, Jr., was an American singer, songwriter and conductor.

Frank Jr. was the son of singer and actor Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. He was the younger brother of singer and actress Nancy Sinatra, and the older brother of television producer Tina Sinatra.

On March 16, 2016, the Sinatra family said in a statement to the Associated Press that Sinatra had died unexpectedly of cardiac arrest while on tour in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the age of 72.

Being the third in my family to bear my name, I at least got off lucky because everybody called me "Toby" before I was born, based on my initials: "T O'B".  So I was able to create my own identity and not be in the shadows of my father and grandfather.  But I also didn't have to worry about having such a looming shadow hanging over me either.  Ol' Blue Eyes never did his son any favors by saddling him with the full name.  Just being a Sinatra would have been enough to help the kid get into the business as well.

At any rate, as a member of the League of Themselves, Frank Sinatra Jr. established his fictional televersion in Earth Prime-Time with the added "benefit" of having the key event in his life be dramatized on the History Channel.  And that would be the time that he was kidnapped and held for ransom as a young man.  (There was also a 2003 theatrical movie about it as well.)

Here's how his fictional life shaped up in Toobworld:

'The Jack Benny Program'
- "Frank Sinatra Jr. Show" (1962)
Jack's guest, Frank Sinatra, Jr., makes his national TV debut and sings "My Kind of Girl." Don brings out his son Harlow to proudly announce it's the boy's 19th birthday; Jack and Harlow snipe at each other while Don does the Jell-O commercial.

After seeing Don with his son, and Frank Jr. performing, Jack imagines what it would be like if he had a boy: Playing his own imaginary son, Jack Benny Jr., he appears with Harlow and Frank Jr. as typical teenagers in a wild spoof of the "Twist" dance craze. The group performs the rock & roll tune "She Has a Wig, Contact Lenses, and a Nose Job." - IMDb

"Once Upon a Tour" (TV Movie)
A grandmother saves up her pennies and goes on a tour of TV studio, and her dream of interacting with show business personalities comes true!
 
This show and its companions, "The Toy Pony" (1974), "Rose on Broadway" (1978), and "Imagine That" (1979) were vanity projects financed by Dora Hall's husband Leo Hulseman, the founder and president of the disposable cup manufacturer, Solo Cup Co. The programs were syndicated as TV "specials" and designed to showcase Hall's virtuosity as an entertainer. In "Once Upon a Tour" and "Rose on Broadway," for example, Dora Hall - a grandmother in her 70's with limited show business experience - sings, dances, and swaps jokes with her celebrity guests. The specials were a spin-off from the vanity sound recordings waxed by Dora Hall in the 1960s and distributed free (through mail-in offers) along with the cups and paper plates Solo Cup manufactured. - IMDb

'The Sopranos'
- "The Happy Wanderer" (2000)
Before the card game, Christopher Moltisanti grooms Matt Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte giving them the dos and don'ts when they arrive at the game. Furio Giunta arranges the game to be held at the Teittleman motel, and is derisive when Hillel Teittleman complains about the criminal enterprises the mob has brought into his family's establishment, noting that the Hasid enjoys the services of their prostitutes. At the card game, the players include Frank Sinatra, Jr., Johnny Sack, Silvio Dante, and Dr. Ira Fried. - Wikipedia

'Family Guy'
- "Brian Sings & Swings" (2006)
Brian and Stewie go on tour singing classic tunes with Frank Sinatra, Jr.  (After a near-death experience (caused by Peter), Brian decides to live for the moment, and ends up joining (along with Stewie) Frank Sinatra Jr.'s stage show. Although things are great for them at first, Brian takes the hard living too far and nearly drinks himself to an early grave.)

- "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing" (2008)
Brian and Frank Sinatra Jr. buy the nightclub, and Stewie turns it into a trendy hotspot.
[The tattoo Frank Sinatra Jr. sports on his upper right arm is the Japanese character for "sheep". It insinuates that he and Brian have accepted the change in the club and are blindly going along with it.]

"The Jackie Bison Show" (TV Pilot) 1990

This was going to be NBC's answer to 'The Simpsons', but this one pilot, in which a buffalo voiced by Stan Freberg tried to emulate the classic comedy of 'The Jack Benny Show' died with the pilot.  Frank Jr. showed up in the third act as himself.  And he was able to communicate with the Tooniverse from Earth Prime-Time.

'The Defenders'
- "Pilot" (2010)

In the pilot, the two main characters got front row seats in Vegas to see Frank Jr. in concert.

- "Nevada v. Greene" (2011)
- "Morelli v. Kaczmarek" (2011)

So with this induction, I hope your passing is easier for those who mourn you.

Welcome to the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, Frank Jr......

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