A CENTENNIAL TVXOHOF - MR. GILES FRENCH

I found out too late that on July 6, Sebastian Cabot would have turned 100 years old.  Earlier this year I began looking through the Toobworld-related births of 2018 as I had done with last year's group in order to find those who were hitting the centenary mark.  But I only got halfway through the list and never did get back to a follow-up.

But it's never too late!  Cake and ice cream for everybody!

Officially, Giles French was always 2/3rd of the way to membership.  There was his participation in 'Family Affair' of course, but he and the Davis twins were also seen in Italy during an episode of 'To Rome, With Love'.

'Family Affair'1966-1971 

130 episodes

From the IMDb:
Bill Davis is a highly paid and successful engineer living in a large apartment in New York with his valet, Mr. Giles French . His life is suddenly changed when his niece, Buffy shows up. In the midst of deciding what to do, Buffy's twin brother, Jody shows up, and Bill has to leave for Peru. Once he leaves, Buffy and Jody's older sister, Cissy shows up. Bill and French's life is suddenly changed as they become surrogate parents for the 3 children.

'To Rome with Love' - "Roman Affair" (1970) 

From TV Guide:
The Endicotts meet the regulars from "Family Affair." Endicott: John Forsythe. French: Sebastian Cabot. Buffy: Anissa Jones. Jody: Johnnie Whitaker. Grandpa: Walter Brennan. Penny: Susan Neher. Alison: Joyce Menges.

Editor's note: This picture shows Mr. French and the Davis Twins in Spain.
It was the best I could find.....

From Ultimate 70s:

October 6, 1970: Roman Affair
Season 2, episode 4
With Sebastian Cabot (Giles French), Anissa Jones (Buffy Davis), Johnny Whitaker (Jody Davis).
Mike Endicott comes to the rescue of Mr. French, who is detained at the airport by Interpol as a suspected jewel thief. 

'My Three Sons' was also produced by Don Fedderson's production company and several of its cast members also appeared on 'To Rome, With Love'.  Unfortunately, there were no crossovers between 'My Three Sons' and 'Family Affair'.  (O'Bservation: I'm afraid this was due to both shows already being healthy in the ratings and so they didn't need the boost.)

But getting back to Mr. French, we have to play fast and loose in order to get his third qualification for membership.  Ordinarily, I think the usually hide-bound Mr. French would protest such a dissipation of tradition, but I think I can pull off a convincing argument for his inclusion.

All he needs is verification of his existence in Toobworld found in other TV shows.  

So let's see what we have....

Out of all the references to Mr. French that I could find, only one has a slight suggestion that he was a real person:

'The Nanny'

"Danny's Dead and Who's Got the Will?" (1997) 

Fran Fine, the nanny of this sitcom, appraises the outfit worn by Niles the Butler that day.

"Come on, what's going on? 

You don't usually haul out
the Mr. French collection
unless something is up."

It's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble (because nothing is impossible in a sitcom!), that Giles French eventually designed his own line of gentlemen's gentleman's wear.

But why would anybody care about the name of Giles French on a designer label, and why would it be lodged in Miss Fine's noggin?

I think it's because Mr. French and the family he worked for - Bill Davis and his nieces and nephew - had a TV show produced which was based on their lives.

This could play out in two different ways.  One would be along the lines of the Loud Family here in the Real World - a documentary series about a normal American family.  As you'll see from the quotes about 'Family Affair' to follow, they may be funny but they don't suggest that the show was a sitcom.

The other possibility is that some producer just thought the details of the Davis family structure had the makings for a TV show back then.

[But not necessarily now.  O'Bservation: I just mentioned 'Family Affair' to my own housekeepers on their bi-weekly visit, and I got blank stares.  Long before they were born, I'm afraid.]

For those of you who don't remember the show, it was about a gruff man's man named Bill Davis, who was a globe-trotting engineer who built dams and bridges all around the world.  Suddenly, tragically, his brother and sister-in-law died (in a crash, I think) and Bill had been named as the guardian for their three children - teenage Cissy, and the little fraternal twins Buffy and Jody.  But at least "Uncle Bill" had the services of his valet, Giles French, to help out - even if the thought of being a male nanny seemed like an affront to the tradition-upholding butler at first.

You have to admit, it's a more compelling idea for a sitcom than two families being blended together when the parents marry each other.  (Three boys, three girls, the youngest one in curls.)  And yet we know that happened, based on so many Zonkish references to 'The Brady Bunch' in other shows.

All of the other quotes I found from other TV sources seem to refer to Mr. French as a TV character.  Even when there is no mention of the 'Family Affair' title, just the mention of his name seems to trigger recognition from those other people in the scene.  At the very least, they don't respond "Mr. French?  Who dat?"

Most of the following information comes from the IMDb:

'Caroline in the City'
"Caroline and El Niño" (1999) 

Because of (yet another) hair she discovers on her chin, Annie says she's turning into Mr. French.

'Fargo'
"Rhinoceros" (2015)
["Family Affair" is] mentioned by Simone Gerhardt.

(O'Bservation: I did a fast check of the transcript using every key word I could think of, but I found no reference to 'Family Affair'.  'Ozzie & Harriet', yeah.)

'Full House'
"Our Very First Promo" (1987)

While making a very fictionalized movie about the family, Danny addressed Jesse as the housekeeper by the name "Mr. French".  Jesse knew what he was referencing, because then he called Danny "Uncle Bill".

He then went to the two girls and called them "Buffy" and "Jody".
 
'The Nanny'
"Material Fran" (1994) Fran meets an old high school friend....

Kathy:

Ah, what about Mr. French over there? 

Fran:

Oh, Niles.  You can trust him. 

He's like Shultz. 

Niles:

I know nothing, nothing.

'Over the Top
'The Bee Story' 
[Mr. Hamstead] refers to [Simon Ferguson] as Mr. French. 
 To me, this is funny, but probably only in hindsight.  'Over The Top' was from 1997 and although there was no physical resemblance, it's easy to see why Jon Polito's character used that nickname on Tim Curry's character - because of his accent.  But five years later, Tim Curry would be playing Mr French in a remake sitcom.  

As far as my Toobworld splainin goes, had it not been for the position of their broadcast dates, I could have used the new 'Family Affair' as the show which the citizens of the main Toobworld knew.  However there was one last 'Nanny' fixation on Mr. French which puts the kibosh on that as a splainin:

'The Nanny':
"Franny and the Professor" (1995)

Mr. Sheffield:

So, did you have a nice evening? 

Fran Fine:

Oh, I'll tell you. 

It was a beautiful wedding. 

Val and I cried our eyes out. 

She made some gorgeous bride, 

that Dr. Quinn. 

Brighton Sheffield:

Fran, where's our TV guide? 

Fran Fine:

Right here. Give me your best shot. 

Brighton Sheffield:

Alrighty. Channel 29. 

What follows the Ghost and Mrs. Muir? 

Fran Fine:

That would be Family Affair -
the episode where Mr. French accidentally drops Ms. Beasley off the terrace,
followed by the Munsters
with Marilyn Number Two,
followed by Bewitched with Darrin Number One,
but Mrs. Kravitz Number Two. 

Mr. Sheffield:

Bravo, Miss Fine. 

You seem to know more about sixties television 

than most people your age have forgotten.

Boy, was that loaded with Zonks!

Because of that, the 'Family Affair' remake occupies the TV dimension of Toobworld2 with so many other remakes.  (And Johnny Whitaker and Kathy Garver had roles in that world but not as Cissy and Jody, O'Bviously.)

So 'Family Affair' is recognized as a 1960s TV show, meaning that it was produced in Toobworld around the same time as the "real-life" inspirations lived their lives.

This has happened plenty of times in the past and that's the splainin I've used those times as well.

So, if there was a Toobworld version of 'Family Affair', a televersion, then who would have been the Toobworld character who could have played Mr. French?

Who else but the televersion of Sebastian Cabot?

'The Governor & J.J.' 

- "A Day in the Life" (1970)
... Sebastian Cabot (voice, uncredited)

J.J. tried to convince a young film-maker to make a documentary about her father, the Governor.  (Doris Day was also heard during the episode.  Either they both had recorded dialogue for the documentary or they were on speaker phone.)

Everybody has a televersion, including you and me.  So since Sebastian Cabot is verified as being in Toobworld, then I see no Zonk in him playing that version of Mr. French as well.

As long as the theory that Toobworld's version of 'Family Affair' is based on the real Bill Davis and Mr. French of Earth Prime-Time, then I think Giles French qualifies as an honorary member. 

Welcome to the Hall, Mr. French.  Apologies for the delay......

ECCE PROMO! BEANO ON THE MONDAY MENU

Usually we shunt the videos off to the weekend in order to give me a break from writing, but today we have something special - the teaser for the new season of 'Doctor Who'!

This debuted on the BBC right after the World Cup on Sunday and I've already shared a nice breakdown of the teaser yesterday evening from a 'Doctor Who' YouTuber who calls himself Ace Creeper.  (You should check him out; perhaps even subscribe as I did.  He always has some interesting stuff to vlog about.)

I'm not going to get any deeper into it than to say that at first I was underwhelmed.  And I wasn't sure what was going on - it was moving at 'Flash'-like speed.

But I didn't go boogatz about it; it was supposed to be a teaser.  I'm assuming there will be something more to share once Comic-Con is over next weekend.

But there is something televisiological about the teaser which I totally missed - my thanks to Ace Creeper for pointing out.

Near the end, Bradley Walsh's character has his newspaper switched by the Doctor to an issue of Beano magazine.

For the benefit of many of my American readers....

From Wikipedia:

The Beano is the longest running British children's comic magazine, published by DC Thomson. The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. In September 2009, The Beano's 3,500th issue was published. One of the best selling comics in British popular culture, along with The Dandy, the weekly circulation of The Beano in April 1950 was 1,974,072. The Beano is currently edited by John Anderson. Each issue is published on a Wednesday, with the issue date being that of the following Saturday. This means Beano will strike 4000 in the summer of 2019.

It wasn't just a random choice to use that magazine, certainly not that issue.  It's shown up in the Whoniverse before.

As the Radio Times pointed out today:

BBC journalist Lizo Mzimba pointed out on Twitter, that issue of the Beano cropped up in 2013 episode "The Rings of Akhaten", when Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor went back in time to the 1980s to spy on the parents of then-companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) and used the comic to hide behind.

Last summer, when we got the teaser announcing that Jodie Whittaker would be the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor, people wondered if it could be considered canon.

Here it is again:

Since then, we've seen what costume she'll be wearing on a regular basis and it sure isn't this outfit!  In fact, I'm not the only one who was hoping that this would be the new costume for the Doctor.

But I think this still can be considered canon.  

At the end of the Christmas special, the new incarnation of the Doctor was ejected from the TARDIS and was last seen plummeting to the Earth.  We don't know how long they'll be separated - indeed, we don't even know how she'll survive that fall!  And we don't know where she's going to get her new duds - from the TARDIS wardrobe room, or from scrounging like she seems to have done in making a new sonic screwdriver.

But one thing I always wondered with the series - why does the Doctor wear the same outfit all the time?  Sure, eventually one of the incarnations will change the basics - Fourth, Sixth, (apparently) Eighth, Eleventh, and Twelfth.  And others clearly had variations in their regular outfit - like the Third and the Tenth.  Let's face it, surely they all had to change their shirts, socks, and underwear. 

But for the most part, they stayed in the same outer garments day in, day out.  I think there must be days unseen by us when they wear something totally different.

So at some point in the run of Jodie's tenure as the Thirteenth Incarnation, she could be wearing this hooded cloak in the woods. 

(As for the key materializing in her hand?  Perhaps that's a new trick she's picked up, like when he learned how to snap his fingers to get the TARDIS door open.)

Anyway, let's get back to Beano and making sure it's canon.

So we know the Eleventh Incarnation had that magazine; it was probably still inside the TARDIS.

But when is this teaser taking place?  Has she already met her three new companions and was just punking them by taking their food (newspaper) and/or replacing it?  Or was this before she met any of them?  And is she wearing that new outfit?

It looks like she is in the new outfit based on the quick flashes.  And that's why we have to assume she is reunited with the TARDIS and this is after she has met the new Companions.  Otherwise she is zipping around under her own power as if she was Barry Allen or the other speedsters in the various TV dimensions.

But if that issue of Beano was still in the TARDIS, it had to be deeper inside than just in the console.  Because when the TARDIS disgorged her, a lot of papers got sucked out as well.  (There's a televisiological topic - what was on those papers?  Maybe the cure for cancer brought by aliens in that episode of 'The Twilight Zone', "The Gift".)  If that Beano was in the console room, kiss it goodbye unless it was in the jacket of the Twelfth Incarnation.  The TARDIS-like properties of the Doctor's pockets has already been chronicled; a magazine could easily fit in there.

Ha!  Usually I want the Monday blog post to be short & sweet - I usually call it "Minutiae Monday".  So I went on too long with this.  To make this short story long, let me wrap this up by saying the Beano magazine we see in the teaser is the exact same issue we see in the "Rings Of Akhaten" episode.

Just a programming note - make sure you visit this blog on New Year's Day, 2019 for at least 48 blog posts about 'Doctor Who' in my annual "Who's On First?" blogathon.

BCnU!

VIDEO SUNDAY - ACE CREEPER & THE NEW "WHO" TEASER

Just a quick entry today.  I was waiting until I got to see the new teaser for 'Doctor Who' and had time to digest its content.  Plus, while waiting, Ace Creeper came out with a YouTube video which shows his progression from his anticipation, to actually watching it, first reaction, and then coolly breaking it down after giving it some thought.  

So I thought that's what I would share with you today. 

Ace Creeper is a great resource for the latest in 'Doctor Who', so if you liked this I'd recommend subscribing to his channel on YouTube.

I'll be back tomorrow with the unadorned teaser video, with my thoughts on a salient point which Ace Creeper brought up and which I never would have noticed without his input....

BCnU!

VIDEO SATURDAY - JUKEBOX SPLAININ

I thought perhaps that this might be a case where Sweet the Demon had once again infiltrated the main TV dimension.  But although there are supernatural elements, I think this can be chalked up to a series of events in Ojai, California:

VISION WARRIORS' MEN CIRCLE
This New Age group is meeting in an Ojai high school classroom after school hours.

BECK REHEARSAL
Meanwhile...
Beck as himself is rehearsing with his band in that school's gymnasium after school hours.

THE SPIRIT OF MAYHEM
Mayhem has caused the high school football team to crash through the walls of that classroom meeting.  Sounds impozz'ble?  Not if the players are all hopped up on some experimental drug developed by an evil science teacher making designer drugs as a sideline.  Perhaps U4EA combined with NZT-48 and then irradiated with gamma rays.* (And if that school system doesn't have All-State, they could be picking up the charges themselves.)

TRANSFORMED WITCHES AND WARLOCKS
According to 'Bewitched', when a magicker reaches the point where their powers are no longer in their control due to age, then that witch or warlock should transform themselves into something that could still provide a use.  We saw this happen with a transformed chair and bedpan in different episodes.

So in this case, it turns out that appliances in the teachers' lounge - specifically the stove and the refrigerator - are transformed.

Also, as often seen in TV commercials, food can be alive.  And apparently randy....

THE WAR BETWEEN THE COSTUMED CHARACTERS AND THE MEN IN BLACK

I have this feeling that those aliens who leaped out of the globular spaceship may have interrupted an orgy in the making there in the woods.  They could have been a sub-group of fuzzy cosplayers looking to delve a little too deeply in their pastime.  Or those oddly garbed figures were gathered for a mascot auditon for the school's football team, ready to pitch their idea for what the team should be called.

But then again, it's weird enough for me to declare it belongs in the dimension code-named "Spinach."

As in: "I say it's Spinach and I say to hell with it!"

BCnU!

O'Bservations:
The gamma-irradiated combination of NZT-48 & U4EA would be links for Beck's video to 'Limitless', 'The Incredible Hulk', and '90210' (which it already has, thanks to Smeat!)

THE FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH TVXOHOF!

It was bound to happen sooner or later - we have a new member inductee on Friday the Thirteenth!

I didn't want to curse any new member with dire portents on what should be the happiest day of their Toobworld careers.  (Should be - but let's face it, it's just my little playground of the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.....)  

So I have chosen a new candidate who can probably withstand anything that comes its way.  After all, our new inductee is a multiversal which has faced zombies, alien invasions, vampires and two things that once upon a time actually scared people: the Y2K threat and the new millennium.  Oh.  And Ian Ziering.  

So if it could handle all that, then it can handle Friday the Thirteenth!

It's Smeat!  The canned processed meat that is supposed to suggest Spam but without getting into trouble with their finicky lawyers.  It's on a par with Morley Cigarettes or Heisler Beer for the go-to Toob substitues.

There's a great site out there with a collection of frame grabs from a good number of shows and I want to give them a shout-out.

SMEAT.net

http://www.smeat.net/

Without them, I'd have a deviled ham of a time trying to get enough pics for today's ceremony.  If you like what you see here, then go visit them.  They have even more examples from the Cineverse which don't apply to our multidimensional realm of the Toob.

But here are the examples I cribbed:

EARTH PRIME-TIME
'Millennium'

'Beverly Hills, 90210'

'Days Of Our Lives'

'Supernatural'

'Burn Notice'

'Threshold'

Beck music video: "Sexx Laws" 

There's a whole story behind the Toobworldian connections for that video, but we'll save that for tomorrow.  Today, we celebrate Smeat!

Finally (at least for Toobworld1.....)

Crystal Geyser Ad: "Cashier"  

TOOBWORLD2
Crystal Geyser Ad: "Cashier II"

 

Here is the basic premise of that same Crystal Geyser ad, but with a finale that places it into a different TV dimension.  (I could have claimed that it was still Earth Prime-Time but after everythng had been changed by Helen Cutter's alterations to the Toobworld timeline during the 'Primeval' period, but it seems even more trivial than Sgt. Wilson's name change on 'Columbo'.  So I'll stick with this happening in the Land O' Remakes, Toobworld2. 

ZOMBIE TOOBWORLD
'The Walking Dead'

That stuff will kill you, Carl.  Oh.  Never mind....

NOSFERATOOB
'Being Human' (USA)

Both versions of 'Being Human' - English and American - have been interred here.  Earth Prime-Time can have vampires, but not where they are that prevalent and so out in the open.  And as they are no longer in the main Toobworld, I'm not even worried about two remakes sharing the same dimension.  So there.

And there you have it.  Multiversal Smeat is now a member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.  It may be spread across several TV dimensions, but there are still more than enough examples from Earth Prime-Time for those who want it to qualify in one dimension only.

Welcome to the Hall, Smeat.  Now let's break out the Let's Potato Chips and the Heisler Beer and have ourselves a Friday the Thirteenth party!  

Smoke Morleys if you got 'em......

BCnU!

THURSDAY THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - THE BROTHERS BLAKE

1950s matinee idol Tab Hunter died earlier this week at the age of 86.  Toobworld Central has already marked his passing with a Hat Squad tribute on Tuesday, but his contributions to Earth Prime-Time have more to offer.....

Such as a theory of relateeveety....

BARNEY BLAKE
'BURKE'S LAW'

"WHO KILLED ANDY ZYGMUNT?"

From the IMDb:
Pop artist Andy Zygmunt is fatally impaled on the spikes of one of his creations. The discovery that he blackmailed people into buying his works provides a motive and five suspects: his last four customers and the possessor of a missing fifth work.

ARNOLD BLAKE
'THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN'
"CROSS COUNTRY KIDNAP"

From the IMDb:
OSI computer programmer Liza Leitman who also competes in Olympic horse racing, is under threat of being kidnapped. Though she refuses to have any of Oscar's 'dwarfs' shadowing her, Oscar sends Steve Austin to tail her anyway.

Barney (nickname of Barnard, perhaps?) and Arnold Blake were twin brothers.  Barney was a jet-setter and thrill-seeker implicated in the murder of Andy Zygmunt, while his brother Arnold was a mercenary.  Both of them were the sons of Barbara Blake, the soap heiress.

Barney filled his days with adventure - scuba diving at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean one day, continuous sky-diving the next.  He was in love with a young artist and mechanic named Gwenny Trent.  But she was in love with Andy Zygmunt who only had eyes for Diedre DeMara.  She in turn was in love with Barney Blake.

It was a story that would seem to have come out of a Shakespearean musical.

As for his twin brother, according to the file compiled by Oscar Goldman, Arnold Blake had been an ex-Green Beret who had "gone sour".  He worked as a mercenary in Asia for several years as a hit man, enforcer....

He was hired by an OSI traitor to help in the kidnapping of Liza Leitner, a genius computer programmer who also wanted to compete in the Olympics as an equestrian.

But Arnold Blake didn't realize he had been set up as a show pony - a ruse to keep attention away from Ross Borden and his plot to steal the OSI computer codes with the help of Ms. Leitner (who thought the OSI had been under attack.)

And so in January of 1975, Arnold Blake engineered Ms. Leitner's kidnapping but then was gunned down in front of her by his former conspirators to make the plot look convincing.

I suppose Barney Blake went to the funeral for Arnold, if only to assure himself that his twin was dead.  (As he never mentioned Arnold when he met Detective Tillson, and Arnold's name never came up in connection to Barbara Blake, he probably was already on the outs with the family.  

Barney may have been married to Gwenny Trent by that time.  But if she had married him, more than likely she had already divorced him.  More than likely, Barbara Blake predeceased her son.

Barbara Blake's fortunes were inherited from her mother's side, the Ashby Family.  The family company was finally incorporated as Ashby Industries which counted Alarm! soap among their products.

Mrs. Blake's husband was a man of common means with whom she fell in love during college.  He had a younger brother named Henry, who would be the uncle to Barnard and Arnold.  Henry became a surgeon and died over the Sea of Japan during the Korean Conflict.  He had been near the front lines working in a mobile Army surgical hospital when he got his orders to head home.  But he never made it.

So that's my theory of relateeveety that connects 'Burke's Law' to 'The Six Million Dollar Man'.  Hey, the two guys looked exactly alike and had the same last names - personally I think that validates this as more than a theory!

SHOWS CITED:

• 'BURKE'S LAW'
• 'THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN'
• 'M*A*S*H'
• ENERGIZER COMMERCIAL

BCnU!

OUR WEEKLY "ENDEAVOUR" - "PASSENGER"

Now that the fifth season of 'Endeavour' has finally graced the American shores, it's time to look at the latest episode, the third of the season, "Passenger".

But first I'd like to tip my Toobworld cap to a web site that has brought added pleasure to watching this show - "Morse, Lewis, and Endeavour".  Chris Sullivan goes into incredible, exhausting detail about each episode, running down every word puzzle and hidden connection to other TV shows, books, and movies (which I'm most keen about) as well as cluing us in to the locations, actors, music, and yes, Colin Dexter sightings - even now, a year after he's passed!

I think it's safe to say that thanks to Russell Lewis and his work with 'Endeavour', this prequel to 'Morse' could be a rival to 'St. Elsewhere' as a major crossovers hub.

If "Morse, Lewis, and Endeavour" sounds like something that might be of interest to you, click on this link.

As it's a site that's full of information... information... information for televisiologists and TV crossoverists, I'll be adding it to the Inner Toob blogroll.

So.

'ENDEAVOUR'

"PASSENGER"

From the IMDb:
The railway takes center stage as Endeavour investigates the disappearance of a local woman - with initial fears linking it to the unsolved murder of a teenager, killed several years earlier.

Let's begin with the big crossover for the episode....

From the IMDb's trivia page:
In 2018, Endeavour: Passenger (2018) featured a certain "Crossroads Motel" in King's Oak, in a key scene. Set in the late 1960s, the series used a re-constructed version of the outdoor sign, reception and hotel room sets. This inclusion, of an ATV/Central TV programme that happens to be set in the same period and area, can plausibly imply that the original version of "Crossroads"/"King's Oak" and the later "Endeavour"/"Morse"/"Lewis" series exist within the same story universe.

From Wikipedia:
'Crossroads' is a British television soap opera that ran on ITV over two periods – the original 1964 to 1988 run, followed by a short revival from 2001 to 2003. Set in a fictional motel (hotel, in the revival) in the Midlands, 'Crossroads' became a byword for cheap production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. Despite this, the series regularly attracted huge audiences during this time, with ratings as high as 15 million viewers.

I'll admit, I never heard of 'Crossroads' before, but I find this connection exciting.  Someone more interested in following that trail might be able to find theories of "relateeveety" from those 'Crossroads' characters to other TV characters from other shows - not just the "Endeaverse" franchise, but to other TV shows in the UK and even over to the American TV output.  (And that's one reason why Russell Lewis is in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.)

Speaking of characters from 'Crossover',,,,
 

Again from the IMDb:
Morse goes to a hotel just outside Birmingham in Kings Oak called The Crossroads Motel. This was a soap series with one of the main characters being a cleaner Amy Turtle. The receptionist who shows Morse the room, that hadn't been cleaned, said she would have to have a word with "Mrs T".

Mrs. Turtle, as seen here on the right, would then have two credits to her name (even if one is theoretical, but it's a strongly valid theory) and would just need one more mention somewhere to qualify for membership in the TVXOHOF as well.

Here's another possible crossover:

From the IMDb Connections page:
The Brothers (1972) (TV Series)
The haulage firms is named Hammonds.

And from 'Morse, Lewis, and Endeavour':
I’m assuming that Hammond and Sons Hauliers is a reference to a British TV show of the 1970s called 'The Brothers'. Primarily the show is about Robert Hammond’s three sons Edward, Brian, and David who inherit the family trucking company and try to run it after Robert dies.

If there is a difference in the company name between the two series, there is also a time span of four years.  That's plenty of time for the corporation to reorganize with a new name.

Let's play train spotters for a moment and take a look at the train stations mentioned in the episode:

From the IMDb:
The station which features in this episode is Norborough. This is the name of the station in the April 1967 'Avengers' episode "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station" (1967).

Thanks to reader Lee Sylvester, 'Morse, Lewis, and Endeavour' provided more stations to be considered:

Chadwick Station
This is from a short story entitled "The Adventure Of The Lost Locomotive".  The details of that story live on in Jasper Fforde's BookWorld.  I can't speak for any of the characters - I'm not familiar with that 1951 story.  But both meta-fictional universes at least share that train station.

Pudham Station
Hamingwell Halt
Both of these are to be found in one of the St. Trinian's movies, "The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery".  As with Chadwick Station, these two stations thus share two meta-fictional universes - my own playground of Toobworld and Craig Shaw Gardner's creation of the Cineverse.  (But that would be the only connection to the St. Trinian's franchise, I'm afraid. So far, there have been no TV adaptations that I've been able to locate.)

And saving the best for last....

Whimperley Station
We have another TV link!  And even better, this train station is a multiversal - to be found in BookWorld and Toobworld.  Whimperley Station is from Dame Agatha Christie's story "Dead Man's Mirror" which featured her Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot.  It was adapted for the 'Poriot' series starring David Suchet, the official televersion of Poirot for Earth Prime-Time.  (All other TV portrayals of Poirot would be relegated to other TV dimensions, even if - as was the case with Martin Gabel's performance - on TV first.)

I hope my friends who research the Wold Newton Universe from all angles know about this!

Then there are crossovers which bind 'Endeavour' to either its progenitor, 'Morse' or to its fellow spin-off, 'Inspector Lewis'.

From the IMDb:
The song that plays in the Boutique when Morse and Thursday visit, is a song of the band Midnight Addiction, which the 'Inspector Lewis' Episode "Counter Culture Blues" (2009) is centred around.

From the Rocklopedia Fakebandica:
A progressive blues-rock group in the series Lewis (Inspector Lewis in some countries) episode "Counter Culture Blues", 2009.

Supposedly an adolescent favourite of Lewis himself (Kevin Whately), who has some of their albums, their manager claims they were the third biggest-selling progressive rock act of all time. Their signature song (which we never get to hear) was "Counter Culture Blues", apparently "the anthem of a generation". Among the intrigue is that the bassist apparently wrote the song but was so out of his head on Mandrax that he didn't even remember doing it and gave the publishing away to the lead guitarist as a result, and the mysterious "return from the dead" of lead singer Esme Ford (played by Joanna Lumley with an Irish accent that she can't quite manage to keep up for an entire sentence), whom everyone believed had thrown herself into the sea many years earlier. 

Another such inner crossover would be via the character of DS Patrick Dawson from the robbery squad.  Here he was played by Thomas Coombes, but he was first seen, much older, in the 'Morse' episode "Second Time Around'.  There he was played by Kenneth Colley.  (I think because of Colley's participation, that episode is one that has really stuck with me.)

Team Toobworld probably knows that 'Doctor Who' finally usurped 'The Prisoner' as my Number One favorite show after forty years.  So I'm always on the lookout for anything that might link a show to the Time Lord.

And in this case, I found one in the IMDb's Goofs section:
In the house-warming party the Rolling Stones track, "Can You Hear Me Knocking", is playing as Morse goes through the house. The events of this episode take place in 1968 but this song was on the "Sticky Fingers" album, which came out in 1971.

This situation happened in 'Downton Abbey' once when they played a record on the gramophone that would not be pressed until the next year.  My splainin?  It's a record that was either left behind by the Doctor somehow or the Doctor was actually at that party at Joan's new flat and had taken over the deejay duties. 

The gramophone in the TARDIS

Why would the Doctor have left behind records in the 1920s and the1960s?  It has been often stated that he never carries money.  Perhaps he used these as barter for whatever he (or she) and the Companions needed in the TARDIS.

Over in his review for "Passengers", Chris of 'Morse, Lewis, and Endeavour' made this observation:

Finally, (thank heavens I hear you say) how can Joan afford that flat in the middle of Oxford on a part time wage? I know she is flat sharing but it would need to be ten people sharing to make it affordable on a part time wage.

Perhaps, using Gallifreyan technology, the flat was bigger on the inside like the TARDIS.  A Time Lord who called himself Professor Chronotis had a similar apartment at St. Cedd's College of Cambridge University.  Perhaps this was his as well, either using another alias for a life at Oxford or he was sub-letting it at a reasonable rate to Joan Thursday.  (He would have liked her surname... so timely!)  Using that splainin, the Rolling Stones album could then have been part of his own collection, without direct connection to the Doctor.

By the way, anybody who would complain that Chris was droning on just doesn't get the work of a televisiologist.  We're the "televersion" of train spotters! 

As for any other Zonks, there is mention by Win Thursday of "the minstrels".  I've never seen any footage from this, but I've read so much about it - she's referring to 'The Black and White Minstrel Show' which ran for two decades on British telly.  Yeah - from 1958 to 78.  White performers in blackface.  And over here, we thought 'Amos and Andy' was bad.

But the fact that she and Fred watch that show is not a Zonk.  It's a variety program and those don't affect Toobworld if they watch them over there as we would have.  I don't even see any reason to splain it away unless we're dealing with specifics - like introducing a guest star and mentioning them as the star of a show which should be sharing the same TV dimension as the characters watching the variety show.

Here's one final entry from the IMDb which I would like to address:
There are references to famous films by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in this segment. Not only does the murder victim have a pair of red shoes, but the stolen whiskey featured in this story has the brand-name "Killoran" - the name of the fictitious Hebridean island where most of "I Know Where I'm Going" (1945) takes place.

These are in-jokes, along the lines of the character Don Mercer who is allegedly a counterpart to Don Draper of 'Mad Men'.  Both men work in advertising and mercers and drapers both deal in fabrics.  But as he's NOT Don Draper, there is no connection to that show.

In this case, both references are to movies made by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, but neither one is strong enough a reference to justify absorbing those movies out of the Cineverse and into the greater Toobworld Dynamic, especially that red shoes nod.  However, I see no reason not to consider Killoran as a Scottish island in the Toobworld atlas and the place where Killoran whiskey (established by this episode) is produced.

Not a bad collection of definite crossovers this week:

• 'Crossovers'
• 'The Brothers'
• 'Poirot'
• 'The Avengers'

Plus the inner crossovers to 'Morse' and 'Inspector Lewis'.

And there were several theoretical connections:

• 'Doctor Who'
• 'Downton Abbey'

And so there we have it, this week's look at an 'Endeavour' episode and the connections it forged with the greater TV Universe.  I hope you enjoyed it.

My thanks to Chris Sullivan, Lee Sylvester, and the IMDb contributors for all the work they had done in making the trivial epic.

BCnU!