GAME OF THE NAME - "THEY CALL ME MISTER TUBBY"

J. Edward McKinley was a fun character actor who was probably a charter member of the "Hey, It's That Guy!" club.  He was great for playing pompous businessmen and crooked politicians.  Or vice versa.

He's probably best known for appearing in ten episodes of 'Bewitched' as a variety of McMann & Tate clients.  Also for playing the governor of North Carolina in 'The Andy Griffith Show', the mayor in 'The Munsters', and several episodes of 'Gunsmoke', 'Bonanza', 'Batman', '77 Sunset Strip', 'Little House On The Prairie', and 'Maverick' - in which he had one of my favorite TV Western names: Loftus Jaggers.

And I have a Super Six List of my favorite one-shot roles played by Mr. McKinley:

• 'The Wild Wild West'
• 'Bret Maverick'
• 'Hec Ramsey'
• 'My Favorite Martian'
• 'McHale's Navy'
• 'The Rockford Files'

What I like best about that last one is that his character's name was a bit of an in-joke.  He was a lawyer named Lee Melvin - a reference to both F. Lee Bailey and Melvin Belli.

Anyhoo, he was pretty good (McKinley died in 2004) and deserved to at least be treated with respect when it came to his credits.

In 1969, he had a key role in the 'Ironside' episode "And Be My Love", in which he played a wealthy man named John Evans.  He proved instrumental when Ironside set up a sting to catch a cat burgler.

Mr. McKinley was always a stocky man, but he certainly carried it well.  So it didn't sound right to hear Chief Robert T. Ironside address him as "Tubby".  Especially since he wasn't exactly svelte himself.

But what was even worse was that in the final credits, he was listed simply as "Fat Man."

He should have been listed as "John Evans", perhaps even as "John 'Tubby' Evans" in order to make certain that viewers would remember him apart from the other men in the episode.

But no.  He was just listed as "Fat Man".

At least the IMDb got it right:

Ironside (TV Series)
John Evans
- And Be My Love (1969) ... John Evans

I don't know if J. Edward McKinley was ever bothered by that, but it bothered me.  I hope he was at least compensated well for his work on the episode.

BCnU!

VIDEO SUNDAY - "AN INSPECTOR CALLS"

Today's offering is the televersion of a JB Priestly play best remembered as a movie starring Alastair Sim back in 1954.  This adaptation stars Bernard Hepton, Nigel Davenport, Simon Ward, and Margaret Tyzack.

This production is to be found in the TV dimension dedicated to staged plays. It is known as ToobStage.

BCnU!

VIDEO WEEKEND - THE RUSSIAN CAPTAIN NEMO

There are several Toobworlds out there in the Multiverse of the TV Universe which are defined by the language spoken by EVERYONE in that world.  Spanish Toobworld - everybody speaks Spanish; German Toobworld? German.  And it's parle français for French Toobworld.
Those TV shows produced in other countries are automatically included in the makeup of those Toobworlds. It's a given. But that doesn't mean they couldn't exist in the main Toobworld, Earth Prime-Time. I want Toobworld to acknowledge that you can't spell "Toobworld" without the "world". French shows like 'Commissioner Magellan' and 'Mongeville' belong in the main Toobworld just as much as 'Mannix' and 'Magnum P.I.'.

But the reason for these extra TV dimensions is because of the English-based TV shows which have been dubbed into the native languages. If you look around YouTube, you should be able to find 'Hondo' in Portuguese. So the life of Hondo Layne played out the same in that dimension, only this time he spoke Portuguese and not English.

How did the Portuguese come to dominate the entire world? Not my concern; just is.

But you have to know how far back the takeover of the world actually took place. With French Toobworld, I think it can be pinpointed to the success of the Cardinal Richelieu in that world to make France the dominant world power.

In Russian Toobworld, the entire world speaking Russian didn't grow out of the Cold War. It's much older than that. In that world, Russia controlled England before Stanford introduced Dr. James Watson to Sherlock Holmes. (I'm told the Russian TV series about Holmes and Watson is one of the best presentations of the Baker Street partnership.) Around that same time, Holmes' fellow member of the Wold Newton Universe was also seen in Russian Toobworld. And we have the proof of this as our presentation for today......

Igra prodolzhayetsya!

TVXOHOF, DECEMBER 2017 - THE LEBANESE AND HIS IRISH

Our last monthly induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame for the year; we still have the Christmas Honors list, but hopefully no more surprise inductions for the rest of the month.....

As this was a memorial year theme, paying tribute to a few actors who passed away in the last few years by inducting their Hall-worthy characters, there were several TV characters whom I just couldn't induct without their most famous partners.  Whether team-mates on the job or in their personal lives, it was unthinkable that I should hold off even if the other actor yet lived.

The examples this year were:

• Napoleon Solo & Illya Kuryakin
• Laura & Rob Petrie
• Officers Malloy & Reed

And Grizzly Adams' gentle friend Ben (NOT 'Gentle Ben'!) was inducted with him, and when it came to honoring Van Williams, I can't see bringing in Kenny Madison without acknowledging his most famous character, Britt Reid (better known as the Green Hornet.)

In the case of Ben the bear, he had passed away first, but long before I had started the TVXOHOF.  And that's the situation we have with this month's inductee.  One of the duo had passed away years before, so there was no need to put a rush order on that induction.  But now....

KATHY & DANNY WILLIAMS

 
Here are a few Wikipedia selections:

"MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY"
Thomas played Danny Williams, a successful comedian and nightclub entertainer at the Copa Club. Jean Hagen played his serious and loving wife Margaret, Sherry Jackson their daughter Terry, and Rusty Hamer their son Rusty. The show's premise dealt with Danny rarely having time to spend with his family and Margaret dealing with the children on her own. Margaret often felt neglected by her husband, and on several occasions felt like leaving him. Margaret was a society woman and strict with the children, but loved her family. Louise Beavers made several appearances during this era as the Williams' maid, Louise Evans, and often found herself at odds with Danny and sided with Margaret in most fights between the couple. 

For its first three years, Make Room For Daddy garnered decent ratings, but failed to make the list of the top-30 programs. Shortly after the third season finished filming, Jean Hagen left the show due to dissatisfaction with her role and frequent clashes with Danny Thomas. Thomas was upset with her for leaving, as he felt the show would not last without her, but he decided to push on without Hagen.  

Both Thomas and producer Sheldon Leonard were faced with a serious dilemma - how to explain Jean Hagen's absence on the show. To have Danny and Margaret Williams separate and divorce would have been unacceptable to television audiences at that time. So, it was explained that Margaret had died suddenly off-screen. It was a risky move. Until this time, no character on a situation comedy had died. Danny was now a widower juggling a performing career while raising two children on his own. Danny had Louise and his friends often looking after the children while he was still touring. He decided to move them to a boarding school, but later relented and the family moved into a new apartment. 

During the season, Danny dated a few other women and nearly got engaged to a widowed singer until he found out she did not like children. By season's end, the ratings had suffered and it was decided that a wife and mother was needed to complete the family unit. In a four-part story arc that began airing in April, 1957, Rusty fell ill with the measles and Danny hired Kathy O'Hara (Marjorie Lord), a young Irish nurse, to look after him. Kathy was a widow with a little girl (played by Lelani Sorenson). Danny and Kathy became fast friends and Danny fell in love with her very quickly, as did the kids. In the season finale, Kathy proposed to Danny (as Danny was too nervous to do so himself) and the two became engaged. 

At this time, ABC cancelled the series, which proved to be fortunate. In the spring of 1957, I Love Lucy, which had reigned as the top-rated show for almost all of its six-year run on CBS, was ending production. When CBS heard that ABC was cancelling The Danny Thomas Show, they picked it up for their fall season line-up, adding it to the 1957-1958 schedule.

"Make Room for Daddy" 
Danny: 344 episodes (1953-1964)
Kathy: 224 episodes (1957-1964)

"The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" 
    - Lucy Makes Room for Danny (1958)

"The Joey Bishop Show" 
    - This Is Your Life (1961) 

Commercials for Post Cereals

Danny Thomas Reunion Special (1965) 

"The Danny Thomas Hour" 
    - Make More Room for Daddy (1967)

"Make Room for Granddaddy" (1971)
24 episodes

As mentioned above, Danny and Kathy appeared in several blipverts for the show's sponsor, Post Cereals.  In at least one Uncle Tonoose also appeared and there was one which featured only Rusty and Linda.  So those would be added to their tallies for entry.  (Uncle Tonoose got in earlier this year on the occasion of his centenary and Rusty was inducted several years earlier.  Someday Linda will join the family and maybe Terry will as well.  We'll see, considering her character's history behind the scenes.)

Here are some of those blipverts:

It wasn't just that Danny and Kathy made crossovers on their own, but they invited other members of the Hall of Fame into their home - Buddy Sorrell, Jack Carter, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, and of course Lucy & Ricky Ricardo. 

And a couple of times they met up with other Hall of Famers on the road - Jack Benny in Las Vegas and on a different vacation, they introduced the world to Sheriff Andy Taylor and his son Opie in the first view of Mayberry.  

(There were some alterations to the look of the jailhouse as well as to some of the townfolk, but that can be laid at the feet of a woman who will be inducted into the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame during the 20th anniversary year of 2019.

And so we make room for Danny and Kathy Williams to the Hall of Fame.  Welcome!

BCnU!

THURSDAY'S THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - THE ROUSSEL TWINS

'THE TWILIGHT ZONE'
"THE SIXTEEN MILLIMETER SHRINE"

'THE ADVENTURES OF ELLERY QUEEN'

"MURDER TO MUSIC"

Jerry Hearndan was a movie star in the 1930s who appeared in several movies with Barbara Jean Trenton.  Barbara Jean's career had faded as she wallowed in the memories of the past.  So her agent Danny Weeks thought it might spark her vitality to reunite her with one of her former co-stars.  She was excited for the chance to meet Jerry Hearndan again, but she was expecting to have a reunion with the matinee idol of yore, not with the elderly man who showed up to her door.

Barbara Jean Trenton & Jerry Hearndan

in their early Hollywood glory

"Jerry Hearndan" was not his birth name, but a name he had taken upon advice from the studio where he made his movies.  (To keep Toobworld tidy, I'm going to say it was Mammoth Studios who produced those pictures.) 

He was born Thierry Roussel to French immigrants.  He had a brother who also had an artistic streak - Anton Roussel, who made a name for himself as a symphony conductor.  Roussel was the mentor of Alex Benedict, and had been the conductor of the Southern Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles (which had been Lizzy Fielding's "baby") before he retired.  (There had been rumours that he had once been the lover of Mrs. Fielding and that he might even have been the father of her daughter Janice Benedict.  You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment.)

Jerry Hearndan wasn't like Barbara Jean Trenton.  He had accepted the advance of age and even though he could have continued as an actor in character roles on television, instead he had retired and was now the manager of a chain of grocery stores.  

I don't know if Hearndan and Roussel were identical twins or just closely resembling each other.

Also cited in this post:

'Columbo' - "Etude In Black"

BCnU!

WHO DOESN'T LOVE A FRENCH CROISSANT? I MEAN, FRENCH COSSOVER......

Now I'm hungry.......

Rob Buckley, the major domo behind Great Britain's 4th most popular TV blog, "The Medium Is Not Enough" (You'll find the link to the left), brought this to my attention.....

From Thierry Attard's Double Feature:

Following the success of a previous crossover last year, 'Mongeville' and 'Commissaire Magellan', two of the star sleuths of French pubcaster France 3, will reunite again.

"MAGELLAN ET MONGEVILLE"

(France 3):

The crossover is a "rare bird" in the History of French television fiction: the sitcoms produced for TF1 by AB Productions in the 1990s, an encounter between crime drama PJ (1997-2009) and legal drama Avocats et Associés (1998-2010) on France 2 in 2007, and then nothing until now.

Created by Laurent Mondy, 'Commissaire Magellan' started on France 3 in 2009. Produced by JLA Productions and set in the fictional town of Saignac (in the north of France), it stars Jacques Spiesser as Commissaire Simon Magellan.

Launched in 2013, 'Mongeville' is a production from Son & Lumière created by Jacques Santamaria and starring Francis Perrin as Antoine Mongeville. Mongeville is an ex-"juge d'instruction" who regularly assists police captain Valentine Duteil (played by Gaëlle Bona) in Bordeaux. 

'Magellan' and 'Mongeville' are part of the popular French detective/crime drama line-up of France 3. They are very well done, like this most pleasant crossover where Magellan investigates a deadly hit-and-run whose suspect happens to be a former protégé of Mongeville.

Antoine Mongeville is a law school pal of Simon Magellan but they lost touch a long time ago. Mongeville and Valentine, on their way to London, are not far from Saignac and they team up with Simon. Never mind the far-fetched solution, this "reunion" is brought smartly, the characters have a good chemistry and great fun together. The actors look like they enjoyed the experience. Written by Céline Guyot & Martin Guyot. Directed by Étienne Dhaene.

- Thierry Attard

From Wikipedia:
'Commissioner Magellan' is a French crime television series created by Laurent Mondy and broadcast since November 28, 2009 on France 3 .

The series features the investigations of a Province Commissioner in the imaginary city of Saignac. Assisted by his assistant, Commissioner Magellan will have to scratch under the varnish of a provincial society too often in love with appearances.

From Wikipedia:
'Mongeville' is a French crime series produced by the production company Son & Lumière , created by Jacques Santamaria , and broadcast since April 13 , 2013 on France 3.

A retired investigating judge but a thoroughgoing bloodhound, Antoine Mongeville interferes with the mysterious investigations of his young protégé, Valentine Duteil, captain of the judicial police of Bordeaux. 

Here's a look at the first crossover....

From Wikipedia:

Episode crossover: 

"Magellan and Mongeville"

Director: Étienne Dhaene
Scenario: Céline Guyvot and Martin Guyvot
Date of first airing: November 19, 2016
Synopsis:

Magellan investigates the murder of Sabine, a young woman killed by a driver while she went out with a friend (Laurène). The alleged driver calls on Mongeville, a judge who has long taken care of him and incidentally is a former comrade of Magellan at the law school of Lille . The investigation will show that the links between the wise Laurène and the festive Sabine are narrower than they seem.

This crossover between 'Mongeville' and 'Commissioner Magellan', two police series of the same channel, brings together Francis Perrin and Jacques Spiesser , who had not played together since the film "The Slap" (1974) and "Simple As Pleasure" (1975).

I don't know if I can track down those crossovers, but I'd actually like to watch both series (subtitles included, of course!)  I've always enjoyed foreign detective shows and when MHz was free over the air, I watched a lot of them.  

And Toobworld gains another location on the map - Saignac in the north of France.  Perhaps the televersions of my friends Gene and Ivy visited there during several vacations.  When my friend Rachel was living in Paris, perhaps her televersion traveled there as well.

I just may have to track down these series on DVD.  I'd love to subscribe to MHz (and Acorn as well), but I have reached my limit on premium channels.

Thank you, Rob!  And thank you, Thierry for the information.

BCnU
 

DE-ZONKED: "CIRCUS BOY" & "BANACEK"

"The last I looked, there was a farm report and a rerun of 'Circus Boy'."

Brooke Collins

'BANACEK'
"FLY ME... IF YOU CAN FIND ME" 

Miss Collins was talking about Hangston, Nevada's TV programming.  And a farm report and the televersion of an actual TV show were offered as proof that the local TV schedule was indeed a vast landscape.

The mention of 'Circus Boy', which was a real TV show in our world, is not a Zonk. 

From Wikipedia:
Circus Boy is an American action/adventure/drama series that aired in prime time on NBC, and then on ABC, from 1956 to 1958. It was then rerun by NBC on Saturday mornings, from 1958 to 1960.

Set in the late 1890s, the title of the series refers to a boy named Corky. After his parents, "The Flying Falcons," were killed in a trapeze accident, young Corky (Micky Dolenz – billed at the time as Mickey Braddock) was adopted by Joey the Clown (Noah Beery, Jr.), and the whole Burke and Walsh Circus family.

The young boy quickly found a role with the circus as water boy to Bimbo, a baby elephant whom Corky would come to consider his pet. Riding Bimbo's back, Corky dealt with adolescent problems, and helped the show's adults including Joey, owner/promoter Big Tim Champion (Robert Lowery). and head canvasman Pete (Guinn Williams), keep the circus successful as the traveling show moved from town to town each week.

Corky and Joey the Clown and all the other members of the Burke and Walsh Circus were all historical figures whose lives were given the small screen. treatment.  So the TV show 'Circus Boy' was about the real life of Corky.  What we see however, is the real-life story of the Burke and Walsh Circus.  But what people in Toobworld would see if they watched 'Circus Boy' on TV would be totally different in look, perhaps even in style, from what we've seen.

Everybody knows who starred in that televersion of 'Circus Boy', right?  Corky was played by Mickey Braddock.  But he gained worldwide popularity as a member of the Monkees under the name of Mickey Dolenz.  And this was true even in Toobworld, where Mickey Dolenz has a televersion.  And who confirmed that in Toobworld?  Mickey Dolenz again.

'THE MONKEES'
"MONKEES AT THE CIRCUS"

'Hey, I haven't been to a circus since I was a kid, man."
Mickey Dolenz

And that circus was the fictional one which was put together for the TV show in which he starred.

So in case I got you confused - it's not you, it's me - let me sum up:

People in Toobworld watch a recreation of the events surrounding Corky the Circus boy's life.

People in the Real World watch that actual life.

BCnU!

JUST A MEGHAN MARKLE MONDAY

From NBC News:
LONDON — One of the world’s most eligible bachelors is officially off the market.

Britain’s Prince Harry is engaged to American actress Meghan Markle, royal officials announced Monday.

The wedding will take place in the spring. The venue was not immediately revealed but a statement said more details would be announced "in due course."by RACHEL ELBAUM

This bit of social puffery about an anitquated monarchy is still news of some impact for Earth Prime-Time.  Meghan Markle has inabited Toobworld with quite a few characters in her relatively short career.*

In the fictional realms created by the gestalt of Mankind's imagination, we probably haven't seen anything like this since the 1950s, when newsreel footage of Grace Kelly as she became the Princess of Monaco shared the Cineverse with the characters she played in the movies like Margo Wendice ("Dial M For Murder"), Lisa Carol Fremont ("Rear Window"), Tracy Lord ("High Society"), Frances Stevens ("To Catch A Thief"), and her Oscar-winning turn as Georgie Elgin in "The Country Girl".  (Of course in the Cineverse, Amy Fowler Kane of "High Noon" died many decades before.)  And Miss Kelly also contributed many Toobworld characters as well with roles in quite a few anthology series of the 1950s.

The characters played by Ms. Markle are distributed throughout the greater TV Universe, with one of them in the "near future". (It could be that her character of Natasha in 'Century City' isn't even born yet!)  Her various TV movies could be found in Earth Prime-Time, but sometimes it's better to just send such one-offs to Motwan Toobworld, the TV Terra of the "Movies Of The Week.

With her guest star role in an episode of 'Castle', Ms. Markle has representation in the 'West Wing' dimension.  However, I'm not sure still that the Royal Family is the same one as in the Real World and in Toobworld.  Their Queen Elizabeth might be the same regent to be found in an episode of the second incarnation of 'The Human Target'.

The one character played by Ms. Markle who will have the biggest impact of all the Toobworld women who look like the future wife of Prince Harry will be Rachel Zane of 'Suits'.  With 103 episodes to her credit, Rachel Zane will be the character most likely to cause confusion in the post-cancellation "after-llife" of Toobworld should be mistaken for the future Royal.  (That is if she survived the series; I don't follow 'Suits'.  Her character may perish by the time it's run its course.  So you might think that; I couldn't possibly comment.....

One note of interest among her roles in Toobworld, Ms. Markle played a woman who was also named Meghan in a first-season episode of 'The League'.  No last name was given, so it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that she was actually playing her own televersion in that episode.  Perhaps one day I could use that in combination of any other appearances she makes as herself in TV sitcoms, dramas, or in prime time soaps as her future father-in-law did when he stepped into the Rover's Return Inn on the corner of 'Coronation Street' for a quaff.  (Her future mother-in-law got behind the bar to pull a pint, but that could have been just for publicity's sake and the televised footage on the news probably belongs in the "Behind The Scenes" TV dimension of Toobworld-Toobworld.)

At any rate, I wish them both well and I trust her acting career gave Ms. Markle some preparation for what she's about to go through.

BCnU!

O'Bservations:

Markle's first role as Jill in an episode of 'General Hospital' was in 2002, so she was acting on TV for fifteen years.  (Not sure yet if the IMDb is correct that an episode of 'Suits' in which she appeared will still be televised in 2018.)

THE VIDEO SUNDAY MYSTERY MOVIE

"MURDER ON FLIGHT 502"

BCnU!

TUBULAR KNELLS: REMEMBERING THE PARTRIDGES AND THEIR PLACE IN TOOBWORLD

THE REAL PARTRIDGE FAMILY

Back in the early 1970s, TV crossovers were not yet a common event.  Even so, it’s odd that ABC never considered having the cast of ‘The Partridge Family’ appear in other shows on their schedule between 1970 and 1974.  It wouldn’t have needed a suspension of disbelief for most of those shows – the Partridge Family was always on tour and could conceivably show up anywhere in the United States during that time.  And that would have also been one of the only limitations to a potential crossover – time.  TV Westerns were dying off, but still there were a few during those years, as well as a couple of other series set in the past which O’Bviously can’t be considered for a crossover with ‘The Partridge Family’.

• ‘The Young Rebels’
• ‘Alias Smith and Jones’
• ‘Kung Fu’ 
• ‘The Cowboys’
• ‘The Strauss Family’
• ‘Happy Days’

There were no futuristic sci-fi shows on ABC at the time, but a couple set during the “present day’:

• ‘The Immortal’
• ‘The Sixth Sense’
• ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’

But I can’t picture a full out crossover.  What ABC could have done to capitalize on the publicity of that sitcom would be to have Colonel Austin tell a pretty young thing that he had tickets to see the musical group… maybe even Jamie Sommers!  Of course Oscar Goldman would dash Steve’s plans with a fresh new assignment.  As for the other two shows?  A trivial reference in dialogue or a simple poster for the group would be all that was needed

Here are the other drama series – cop shows, medical and courtroom dramas, action/adventure hours – that were on ABC prime-time during those four years:

• ‘The F.B.I.’ 
• ‘The Young Lawyers’
• ‘The Silent Force’
• ‘The Mod Squad’
• ‘Marcus Welby, M.D.’ 
• ‘Dan August’
• ‘The Young Lawyers’
• ‘Matt Lincoln’
• ‘The Man and the City’
• ‘The Persuaders!’
• ‘Longstreet’
• ‘Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law’
• ‘The Rookies’ 
• ‘The Men: Assignment Vienna’ 
• ‘The Delphi Bureau’
• ‘Jigsaw’
• ‘The Streets of San Francisco’
• ‘Doc Elliot’
• ‘Toma’
• ‘Chopper One’
• ‘Firehouse’
• ‘Griff’

The idea of linking a sitcom with a drama wouldn’t really kick in until the decade was almost over, with the most famous example being ‘Lou Grant’ as a spin-off from ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’.  Another was a crossover between ‘The Associates’ and ‘The Paper Chase’ with John Houseman as Professor Kingsfield making an appearance on the law firm sitcom.

The Partridge Family could have made cameo appearances on most of those dramas listed above, perhaps even worked into a plot or two – performing in concert and the starring detectives have to work the crowd to track down a murderer, a thief, a kidnapper, someone out to kill one of the Partridge Family etc.  Or again, it could have been something as simple as a poster hanging in the background of a scene.    Or a framed picture of Keith Partridge or the whole family in the bedroom of a young girl being questioned by investigators.

However, I think it’s probably best that ‘The Partridge Family’ crossed over only with other ABC sitcoms (looking at it from outside the box and not from the Toobworld perspective.)  And ABC had plenty of situation comedies on the air during those four years:

• ‘The Courtship of Eddie's Father’
• ‘Danny Thomas in Make Room for Granddaddy’
• ‘Room 222’
• ‘The Smith Family’
• ‘Love on a Rooftop’
• ‘Bewitched’
• ‘Barefoot in the Park’
• ‘The Odd Couple’
• ‘The Brady Bunch’
• ‘Nanny and the Professor’ 
• ‘That Girl’
• ‘Shirley's World’
• ‘Getting Together’
• ‘The Super’
• ‘The Corner Bar’
• ‘Temperatures Rising’
• ‘The Paul Lynde Show’
• ‘Thicker than Water’
• ‘Love Thy Neighbor’
• ‘Here We Go Again’
• ‘A Touch of Grace’
• ‘Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice’
• ‘Adam's Rib’

Many of those sitcoms really could have used a boost from a connection to ‘The Partridge Family’.  And as with the dramas, a simple reference, like a poster or a mention in dialogue, would be all that was needed.  But it certainly wouldn’t have hurt to see the band show up to exasperate Paul Simms in an episode of ‘The Paul Lynde Show’.

THE REAL PARTRIDGE FAMILY

 The actors performing as their characters on ABC variety shows like ‘This Is Tom Jones’ and ‘The Julie Andrews Hour’ could have been a ratings grabber during Sweeps week.  And that would have given those variety shows some “street cred” in the fictional world of the Toob.

[There’s one other show I’m going to divorce from consideration as it takes place in Skitlandia”: ‘Love, American Style’.]
 
And yet, ABC never took advantage of crossovers to first promote the series and then to use it to help promote other, struggling sitcoms.  It would have made it easier to consider them all for induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.

It would be many years before the references to ‘The Partridge Family’ began appearing in other shows and for the most part we can accept them as being Zonk-free since the Partridge Family would be well-known as celebrities in Toobworld who would make appearances on other TV shows, have their own reality series, could even have their music playing in the background of some of the sitcoms and dramas.

Here are some examples…….

'Family Matters'
"Jailhouse Blues" 
(1992)

CLARENCE:
(to the Winslow family)
Well if it ain't the Partridge family.
What's for dinner, milk and cookies?

Clarence was using the Partridges as a diss on the Winslows but he was probably more familiar with them in their TV shows, both a reality show and a sitcom based on their lives.  He didn’t seem the type to actually follow them as a stage groupie.

'You Can't Do That on Television'
"Families" 
(????)

ANNOUNCER:
"The Partridge Family Gets Shot" will not be seen at this time.
In its place we present the following 'Family Feud'.

This show was about fictional kids making their own sketch comedy show.  This was from one of the episodes which they produced.  The TV special was meant to be a fake; the kids had no clue that it would partially come true one day.

'Day by Day'
"A Very Brady Episode"
(1989)

ROSS HARPER:
I don't wanna be in this family anymore!
I wanna be in the Partridge family!

This was a dream sequence in which Ross found himself as part of the Brady family.  A television show was made about the actual family, but Ross was familiar enough with their true story to populate his dream with the real Bradys.  And it appears he was familiar with the musical group as well.
 'Married with Children'

"How Green Was My Apple" 

(1994)

PEGGY BUNDY:

Hey, are you sure you're not that little Partridge boy from 'The Partridge Family'?

SURVEYOR:
Yes, I'm sure. I've never been [more] sure of anything in my life.

RUEBEN KINKAID:

 Let's go! Come on, Danny!

 We have to be in Pittsburgh by midnight. Come on... get happy!

With this quick cameo appearance, we got an update on the life of Danny Partridge.  Apparently he had dropped out of the music business when the Partridge Family disbanded and became a property surveyor in the Chicago area.  But it looks as though he was making a comeback, with Rueben Kinkaid acting once again as his manager.

'Sex and the City'
"Three's a Crowd"
 (1998)

MIRANDA HOBBES:
So the four of us get in a cab, only they won't let me sit in the back with them. They make me ride up front with the driver who happens to be the original Chris from 'The Partridge Family'.

THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY
AS SEEN ON TV

This is more than confirmation that there was a TV show based on the life of the Partridge Family.  (The ‘Married With Children’ quote did that as well.)  This quote addresses the recastaway situation for Chris Partridge.  In the first season he was played by Jeremy Gelbwaks, but for the remainder of the series’ run, Brian Forster took over the role.

There are distinct differences in the looks between Gelbwaks and Forster.  Jeremy Gelbwaks didn’t really look as though he was a genetic part of the family, unlike Brian Forster.  I didn’t want to look for some splainin for the drastic change in appearance as I would usually do in more outlandish scenarios – like alien impersonation, quantum leaping, etc.  But there is a splainin that will work, one which I first used with ‘The Lone Ranger’.  What we have with ‘The Partridge Family’ is two different shows. 

With ‘The Lone Ranger’, all of the episodes which featured Clayton Moore as the Masked Man were the actual historical figure.  But in the middle of the series’ run, Moore was replaced by John Hart; the producers were hoping to save a couple bucks, figuring the kids would never notice the difference behind the mask.  But they did and the ratings fell, so Clayton was brought back to the role.  For Toobworld, the episodes featuring Hart are the actual TV show within Toobworld.  So John Hart was John Hart playing the Lone Ranger.  Hart went on to be inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame as he played himself in the Lone Ranger garb in two other shows – ‘Happy Days’ and ‘The Fall Guy’.  (The actual Lone Ranger and his faithful Indian companion Tonto were inducted together a few years earlier.)

So that’s the position I’m taking here.  In this case, the first season of ‘The Partridge Family’ is a TV show seen in Toobworld.  All of the people we are seeing in those episodes are actors who bear an incredible resemblance to the actual Partridge family – except for the actor playing Chris Partridge.  By the second season of the show, it was now a reality documentary series which followed the real family.  And so now we saw the real Chris Partridge along with the real Shirley, Keith, Laurie, Danny, and Tracy.  This covers all Zonks that could come up with any other reference to the show which has not been already mentioned here.

I suppose you may have surmised by now that what spurred all of these O’Bservations about the Partridge Family had been triggered by the death of David Cassidy earlier this week at the far too young age of 67.  But I had been thinking about the ramifications of the Partridge Family on Toobworld in general for the last two years, since the death of Suzanne Clough at the age of 52. 

Even without the availability of crossovers for the Partridge Family, I think those references above prove that they do in fact link all those shows together even if they’re not actually seen.  And as back-up, I can claim they should be inducted as Multi-dimensionals as they also existed in Toobworld2, Skitlandia, Toobworld-Toobworld, the Tooniverse, and a few other nameless TV dimensions as well.

 So we know a little about Danny Partridge, decades after the band broke up.  I have to cite the standard rule of Toobworld Central that a character so identified with a particular actor would die around the same time as that actor.  I have no theories as to how Keith Partridge died, but I’m afraid we could assume that he died from complications of long-time abuse, just as David Cassidy did.

THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY
IN RECENT YEARS

 I never thought about how Tracy Partridge died, but in putting this together today, I gave it some consideration.  Unlike with Keith, there was no need to doom her immediately upon the death of Ms. Clough.  But I have come up with a condensed telemythography for her.  After the Partridge Family broke up as a band so that they could lead their own personal lives, Tracy may have married, had kids, and eventually considered returning to the music business.  She explored an interest in country music and was somewhat successful as a country songwriter.

As with Keith, she also died this year, and tied in with one of the most tragic events of 2017.  As regular television is wont to do, eventually somehow various TV shows will find a way to tie in to the Las Vegas massacre, just as shows have done with the collapse of the World Trade Center, the Titanic, and the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake.  Well, this will be the first.  Sadly, Tracy Partridge was in attendance at the open air concert in Las Vegas when that crazed gunman opened fire on the crowds below. 

That’s the way of the Toobworld……

But to honor the memory of the two ‘Partridge Family’ actors we have lost and before we lose any more, I want to induct them all into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.  (Just the family – Rueben Kinkaid has enough credits on his own to make it into the Hall and will make an appropriate entry someday for April.)

Good night and may God bless David Cassidy and Suzanne Clough.  And welcome to all the Partridges into the Hall.

BCnU!

O’BSERVATION:
My apologies for being late with this.  I was still writing it by 9:15 tonight.  But two days of Thanksgiving took a big bite out of the week for me.