FRIDAY HALL OF FAMERS 10/11/19 - TONY VINCENZO

Beginning with the TV movie “The Night Stalker” and its follow-up, “The Night Strangler,” leading into the TV series ‘Kolchak: The Night Stalker’, Carl Kolchak rightfully took his place in the TVXOHOF last year. 

But while Darren McGavin did all of the heavy lifting as Kolchak, he wasn’t alone in the endeavor - Tony Vincenzo as played by Simon Oakland was right there with him through both TV movies and the one season of the series. 

From Wikipedia:

Tony Vincenzo - Kolchak's bellicose editor, and one of the only people willing to tolerate Kolchak's antics, despite their frequent arguments. Vincenzo has a grudging respect for Kolchak's reporting skills, but often finds himself caught between Kolchak's zeal and his own management responsibilities. Vincenzo's hot temper often affects his blood pressure and digestion and he sometimes laments that he did not go into his family's Venetian blinds business.

And so with this week’s Friday Hall of Famer in the Halloween-capped month of October, we’re inducting Tony Vincenzo into the Television Hall Of Fame.

Welcome aboard, Mr. Vincenzo!

DOUBLE VISION - WINIFRED GILLIS AND LILLIAN BAKERMAN

In the first decade of the 20th Century, twin sisters were born in Central City: Winifred and Lillian (their last name unknown.)  Little is known of their early life before both of them got married, save that they had a brother named Carlyle (who married a Communist whom he called "Big Red".)

Winnie married her childhood sweetheart, a WWII vet named Herbert T. Gillis.  He owned and operated his own grocery store in Central City (which by coincidence was not too far from the Twin Cities.)  Herbert and Winnie started a family there, having two sons, David and Dobie.  (If "Dobie" is some sort of abbreviation for a nickname, I have yet to find it out.  I've read the first story about Dobie by Max Schulman, which inspired the series, and he's only known as Dobie in that.  My personal opinion - based on real people named "Dobie" - is that "Dobie" is short for "W" in much the same way "Dub" and "Dubya" serve that same purpose.)

Meanwhile, Lillian married Earl Bakerman and moved with him back to his hometown, that toddlin' town of Chicago.  There she got a job at a supermarket to which she took the bus.  As a reference on her job application, Lillian put down Herbert's name, having worked for her brother-in-law at his grocery store back in Central City.  

By the time we met Mrs. Bakerman in 1972, she had been working at that supermarket as a checkout lady for 26 years, which means she had been there since 1946.  (And she never thought the job would last!)

At some point after we first met her, Mrs. Bakerman was rewarded for her years of service by being promoted to the express checkout register.  

In December of 1988, the two sisters decided to go on vacation to London so that they might experience a Dickens Christmas.  By that time, both Lillian and 

Winifred were widowed - Earl Bakerman had died at some point before 1972, while Herbert T. Gillis passed away in 1985.  After being apart for so long, Lillian and Winnie reconnected at Mr. Gillis' funeral and eventually Lillian moved back to Central City to be closer to her sister as they were getting on in years.

Unfortunately, neither of them lived long enough to see Christmas in London.  They never even got out of Great Britain alive.

From Wikipedia:

December 12 – The Clapham Junction rail crash in London kills 35 and injures 132.

On the morning of 12 December 1988, a crowded passenger train crashed into the rear of another train that had stopped at a signal, just south of Clapham Junction railway station in London, and subsequently sideswiped an empty train travelling in the opposite direction. A total of 35 people were killed in the collision, while 484 were injured.

The collision was the result of a signal failure caused by a wiring fault.

The sisters had been in Basingstoke as part of their tour of Great Britain.  It had been a whim on Winnie's part - after hearing it mentioned by a character in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta "Ruddigore" performed by the theater group of S. Peter Pryor Community College, she found the sound of the name magical intriguing.

On that fateful morning of December 12, they boarded the 07:18 in Basingstoke, heading to London-Waterloo.  But at Clapham Junction, the signals crossed and the engineer got the red light warning of danger.  And at some point between 08:10 and 08:15, while the Basingstoke train was idling on the track waiting for the confusion to be sorted, the 06:30 from Bournemouth collided with it, causing the wreckage from both trains to then hit an empty train coming from the opposite direction.

Lillian Bakerman was killed instantly.  Winnie Gillis, however, escaped with minor, non-life threatening injuries.  Her sons cajoled their mother to come home to them in Central City for Christmas once she felt strong enough.  Nine days later, she did just that.

She would have lived to see Davy and Dobie again had she just taken any other flight.....

From Wikipedia:

December 21 -- Pan Am Flight 103 is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people. Those responsible are believed to be Libyans.

Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York. On 21 December 1988, N739PA, the aircraft operating the transatlantic leg of the route, was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew, in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing. Large sections of the aircraft crashed onto residential areas of Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 11 more people on the ground.  

And so, as the year 1988 drew to a close, Winifred Gillis and Lillian Bakerman, twin sisters from Central City, Minnesota, both passed away within days of each other in transportation disasters while in Great Britain.  

Coincidentally, a character actress named Florida Friebus (known only for a small role in a movie entitled "Jennifer") also passed away in the spring of that same year.  It was noted by Maynard G. Krebs, a friend of Dobie Gillis, that Ms. Friebus looked remarkably like Dobie's mother and his aunt.  (He had seen "Jennifer" on a double bill with his favorite horror movie, "The Monster That Devoured Cleveland," in the late 1970s.)

Good night and may God bless all three of those women......

O'BSERVATIONS:

1]  So far I have not found any pop culture, TV specifically, references to the rail crash at Clapham Junction.  However, 'Justified' did verify that the tragedy of the Lockerbie crash of Pan Am 103 did happen in Toobworld as well.

Raylan Givens: 

I once met a man who made model reconstructions of famous aviation disasters.  Tenerife. Sioux City. Lockerbie. Scaled down fuselages blackened and torn. Little engines and furrowed earth. I don't know. I figure people are entitled to their hobbies and I'm entitled to think those people are creepy.

2]  The TV movie "Bring Me The Head of Dobie Gillis" aired on CBS in February of 1988.  And in that film it was considered that both Herbert and Lillian Gillis were already deceased. 

As I established above with my theory, Mrs. Bakerman died on December 12, 1988 and Mrs. Gillis died nine days later.  I stand by that because of a real life fact: Florida Friebus, who played both women, died on May 27 of 1988.  So even she outlived the events of that TV reunion flick.  Had she actually appeared in the movie, I might have reconsidered my options.

To solve this quandary, the easiest splainin is that "Bring Me The Head of Dobie Gillis" did not take place on the Toobworld timeline at the same time as its broadcast.  The movie must be considered to be a revelation of future events, as with many sci-fi series.  On the timeline, we're putting the events of the movie exactly one year later, in February of 1989. 

3]  If it turns out that anyone in "Bring Me The Head Of Dobie Gillis" mentions the year as being 1988, then it was a case of them having misspoken.  It was early in the new year and they were probably also still dating their checks wrong as well.

4]  If the 1988 date shows up on screen at any point, that will also be discounted.  Onscreen graphics have no bearing on the "reality" of the events in the narrative.

5]  Also on board the Pan Am 103 flight was the televersion of puppeteer of Bill Mack.  Mr. Mack, both on Earth Prime as well as Earth Prime-Time, had been in the Drama Department of the University of Connecticut and had been a friend of Yours Truly (as well as of my televersion, a 2005 member of the Television Hall of Fame.)  Miss ya, Bill.....

6]  This biographical telemythos for Mrs. Bakerman and Mrs. Gillis is a celebration of actress Florida Friebus.  Today we are remembering her on the 110th anniversary of her birth.

From Wikipedia:

Florida Friebus (October 10, 1909 – May 27, 1988) was an American writer and actress of stage, film, and television. Friebus's best-known roles were Winifred "Winnie" Gillis, the sympathetic mother of Dwayne Hickman's character Dobie Gillis on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and as Mrs. Lillian Bakerman on 'The Bob Newhart Show'.

7] Apparently, Ms. Friebus only had the one theatrical movie to her credit.  Much like Allan Melvin, most of her roles were in television.  The woman gave Winnie and Lillian plenty of identical cousins!

"Isn't that nice?"

Mrs. Bakerman

'The Bob Newhart Show"

BCnU....

FRIDAY HALL OF FAME, 10/04/19 - WITCHIEPOO

So if you’re inducting TV characters into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame and it’s October, who should you consider?

How about a witch?

To be specific:

WILHELMINA W. WITCHIEPOO

From Wikipedia:
[‘H.R. Pufnstuf’] centered on a shipwrecked boy named Jimmy, played by teenage actor Jack Wild. He is 11 years old when he arrives on the island and turns 12 in the episode called "The Birthday Party". Jimmy and a talking flute named Freddy take a ride on a mysterious boat, but the boat was actually owned by a wicked witch named Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo (played by Billie Hayes) who rode on a broomstick-vehicle called the Vroom Broom. She used the boat to lure Jimmy and Freddy to her castle on Living Island, where she was going to take Jimmy prisoner and steal Freddy for her own purposes.

The Mayor of Living Island was a friendly and helpful anthropomorphic dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf, performed by Roberto Gamonet and voiced by the show's writer Lennie Weinrib, who also voices many of the other characters.


The dragon rescued Jimmy and protects him from Witchiepoo, as his cave was the only place where her magic had no effect.

Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo (portrayed by Billie Hayes) – The primary antagonist of the series; a wicked but ineffective witch who has been targeting Freddy the Flute to use him in her own agendas. She rides a large rocket-powered broom with a steering wheel called the Vroom Broom.

She is mean to everyone around her, even her henchmen, whom she constantly whacks with her wand. Yet when faced with failure, she usually starts to pity herself, by asking "Why me?"

Here are Witchiepoo’s credits, including a movie which has been absorbed into the TV universe of Earth Prime-Time.

H.R. Pufnstuf
17 episodes

Pufnstuf
[1970 movie]

Bewitched
- Hansel and Gretel in Samanthaland (1971)
... Witch

O’Bservation: She looks different, but I think it’s still Witchiepoo.  She is probably wearing a glamour to hide her true looks in order to lure Hansel and Gretel into her clutches.

Lidsville
- Have I Got a Girl for Hoodoo (1971) .
.. Weenie the Genie & Witchiepoo

The citizens of Lidsville are in for double trouble when Hoodoo starts dating Witchipoo.

O’Bservation: Weenie the Genie is Billie Hayes’ regular role on this series.

The Bay City Rollers Show
- Episode #1.1 (1978)
... Witchiepoo / Weenie the Genie

O’Bservation: This should probably be in Skitlandia.

The Bay City Rollers Meet the Saturday Superstars
(TV Movie)

O’Bservation: From the Promoverse?  Skitlandia definitely. But it could be both.

Welcome to the Hall, Witchiepoo!

TVXOHOF, OCTOBER, 2019 - CONSTANTINE

We’re down to our last three monthly showcases for the Television Crossover Hall of Fame in this 20th anniversary year in which the overall theme has been superheroes and super-villains.  As this is October, who better to salute than….

JOHN CONSTANTINE

From Wikipedia:
John Constantine is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics and its alternative imprint Vertigo. The character first appeared in “The Saga of Swamp Thing #37” (June 1985), and was created by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Steve Bissette, John Totleben, Jamie Delano and John Ridgway. He serves as the lead character of the comic books “Hellblazer” (1988–2013), “Constantine” (2013–2015), “Constantine: The Hellblazer” (2015–2016), and “The Hellblazer” (2016–2018).

The titular Hellblazer, Constantine is a working class warlock, occult detective and con man stationed in London. He is known for his endless cynicism, deadpan snarking, ruthless cunning and constant chain smoking, but he's also a passionate humanitarian driven by a heartfelt desire to do some good in his life.

Originally a supporting character who played a pivotal role in the "American Gothic" Swamp Thing storyline, Constantine received his own comic in 1988. The musician Sting was visual inspiration for the character.

A live-action film was released in 2005, in which an Americanized version of the character was played by actor Keanu Reeves. Welsh actor Matt Ryan was cast in the role of Constantine for the 2014 NBC television series, a role he reprises on The CW series ‘Arrow’ and ‘Legends of Tomorrow’, and voicing the character in the animated film “Justice League Dark”, and again in the ‘Constantine: City of Demons’ series on CW Seed.

The “Hellblazer” series was the longest-running and most successful title of DC's Vertigo imprint. Empire ranked Constantine third in their 50 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time, while IGN ranked him No. 29 in their Top 100 Comic Book Heroes, and the character ranked No. 10 in Wizard's Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time.

A live-action ‘Constantine’ TV series was developed for NBC with Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer writing and executive producing the series. Welsh actor Matt Ryan was cast in the title role, for which he adopted Constantine's blond hair. The show, which lasted thirteen episodes before cancellation, followed John's journeys across America alongside his friend Chas and a young woman named Zed who is being hunted down by a demon. Along the way, he solves supernatural mysteries, vanquishes demons, and clashes with officious angels sent to watch over him.

Despite a positive reaction from fans, poor ratings led to the show not being renewed. A decision not to explore Constantine's bisexuality in the show caused some consternation with fans, although the character continued to be portrayed as bisexual in the comics.

Following the cancellation of ‘Constantine’, a crossover episode with The CW's TV series ‘Arrow’ aired, with Matt Ryan reprising his role as John Constantine in the episode "Haunted" as a guest star. In flashbacks, he first meets Oliver Queen on the island Lian Yu where he introduces Oliver to magic and gives him a tattoo for magical protection after Oliver saves his life. In the present-day narrative, set five years later, Oliver calls in a favor from John, who helps him restore the soul of his friend Sara Lance after she is resurrected by the Lazarus Pit. Constantine's off-screen adventures are subsequently referred to in the episodes "Taken" and "Genesis" including Oliver's announcement that Constantine is in Hell.

Matt Ryan reprises his role in the third season of ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ in a recurring capacity. Aboard the Waverider, John Constantine requests Sara Lance's help in performing an exorcism on a young girl possessed by what turns out to be Mallus, the Legends' current demonic adversary, and offers the Legends advice on how they might be able to overcome their enemy.

Constantine's bisexuality is acknowledged in the episode "Daddy Darhkest" when he flirts with Leo Snart / Captain Cold and sleeps with Sara Lance. The episode "Necromancing the Stone" sees Constantine spontaneously kiss Time Agent Gary Green. In season 4, Constantine joined the Legends with Ryan as a series regular.

As with several other superheroes in this year-long celebration, Constantine is a resident of an alternate Toobworld, not the main Earth Prime-Time.  Being a multiversal, he has looked different in various universes (and in the case of the Tooniverse, sounded differently.)  But so far, it’s possible to assume that he remains looking the same in various TV dimensions.

I like to consider his NBC incarnation is separate from his CW character.  Why should Earth Prime-Time be denied its own John Constantine?  Therefore we’re inducting Constantine as a multidimensional.

Welcome to the Hall, Mage….

TVXOHOF BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE - NANCY SOSHA

Ally McBeal
- Blowin' in the Wind (2002)
... Nancy Sosha

A wayward wind blows Ally's hat, causing it to land on a post with a "For Sale" sign. The house is in probate and the bank is anxious to sell it, so Ally buys it. 

A gust of wind blows Ally's hat off her head and onto a for sale sign. Seeing this beautiful, but neglected and lonely house, Ally buys it. Ally wants to fix it up herself and Richard wants to strip, or paint, or do things with his hands. 

Boston Legal
- Too Much Information (2006)
... Foreperson

Denise and Alan represent a young girl whose father killed her mother after finding her whereabouts on her HMO's website. Alan also has to defend Catherine Piper, who started robbing convenience stores. 

UnitedHealthcare
'Health Entourage: Walk in the Park' (2019)

UnitedHealthcare says its Medicare Complete Plan users have a lot to take advantage of, including $0 copays on primary care and rewards for preventive care.

In 2002, Nancy Sosha was a real estate broker in Boston who sold an old house to lawyer Ally McBeal on the first day it was available while in probate.

Four years later, Ms. Sosha was called to jury duty where she was seated as the foreperson on a case being argued by Denise Bauer and Alan Shore.

And now in the summer of 2019, thirteen years since we last saw her, Nancy Sosha enjoys brisk walks in the park, protected by her team of medical specialists thanks to United Healthcare.

Nancy Sosha joins Eloise Martin, a nurse who may be her identical cousin, in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  Both characters were played by my “twin sister” Shirley Jordan.

But wait!  There's more!

The Deadliest Season (1977)
Hockey Fan

Gerry Miller, a professional hockey player, gives in to internal and outside pressures and adopts a more aggressive style on the ice. During one particularly violent game a player on an opposing team dies, and the authorities charge Miller with manslaughter.

As we are both members of the Toobworld Dynamic, and now both members of the TVXOHOF as well, our paths crossed in 1977 when we attended a hockey game.  We sat next to each other.  (Seated next to Nancy Sosha is Robin Douglas.  Like me, Robin is another member of the League of Themselves.)

Today is Shirley Jordan’s mumphle-mumphle birthday.  This induction of Nancy Sosha is her birthday present.

Happy birthday, Shirley.  Love you….

FRIDAY HALL 0F FAMERS, 09/26/19 - MOORE. ROGER MOORE.

For our last inductee in our salute to “the business”, we’re paying tribute again to the actor Roger Moore., who passed away over two years ago.

SIR ROGER MOORE

From Wikipedia:
Sir Roger George Moore KBE (14 October 1927 – 23 May 2017) was an English actor best known for playing British secret agent James Bond in seven feature films from 1973 to 1985, beginning with ‘Live and Let Die’.  

Prior to Bond, he played the main character, Simon Templar, in the British television series ‘The Saint’ from 1962 to 1969 and had significant roles in some American television shows and films in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including replacing James Garner and portraying Beau Maverick in the ‘Maverick’ series in 1960 to 61. Moore starred with Tony Curtis in “The Persuaders” television series in 1971 to 1972, and had roles in numerous theatrical films in the 1970s and 1980s.

Moore was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for services to charity. In 2007, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in television and film. In 2008, the French government appointed him a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

There are a lot of actors who play themselves in various TV shows, some of them even made a living from it, like George Burns and Milton Berle.  But I usually reserve them for inductions on special occasions, or during March when I’m trying to adhere to a regular theme of the League of Themselves.

But I thought Sir Roger worked for this theme since his presence as himself in Toobworld helps stave off any temptation on my part to bring the James Bond movies into the world of Toob.

There was one true Agent 007 in Toobworld and sorry, purists, he was an American who was addressed as “Jimmy Bond”.  (Barry Nelson in “Casino Royale”.)

As to all those incarnations on the Big Screen and how they could all still be the same man (as suggested in one of the later Daniel Craig movies?  Regeneration?  Multiverse?  Each of them just took on the name of “Bond.  James Bond” as an alias?  That’s some other dimensional devotee’s problem.

All I really had to do was concern myself with the appearances of those Bonds in various TV commercials.  (My take – Okay, each Bond seen in the movies are fictional and financed by the UNReel shadow ops.  This includes the commercials – and even Roger Moore’s appearance on a variety program nearly ten years before he assumed the role – which were all geared to duping the public into thinking that James Bond was fictional.  If James Bond is still active in Toobworld, he must be a new agent using the name as an alias and we have no clue what he must look like.

So Moore, Roger Moore, serves as the prime example that all the references to James Bond in other TV shows are to just the movies, not the man.

Here are the appearances which qualify Roger Moore to be inducted into the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame. 
:
77 Sunset Strip
- Tiger by the Tail (1961)

O’Bservation:   "On October 12, 1960, weeks before the election, Vice President Richard Nixon stopped by the studio to film some campaign spots. He popped in to the filming of '77 Sunset Strip', where he met with Byrnes, Zimbalist… and guest star Roger Moore (far right)."
[Thanks to ME-TV]

Mainly Millicent
- Episode dated 17 July 1964

O'Bservation: I could have included a lot of talk shows and variety shows, but those aren't strong enough to count for inclusion.  I have included three however because they do tie in to my reality for Toobworld.  The next two are O'Bvious but in this one (as mentioned elsewhere), Moore is seen playing James Bond in a sketch, almost a decade before he actually played the role.  With this sketch, he established himself for UNReel consideration to be their next choice to play 007 in the movies in order to maintain the false premise that Bond is fictional in Toobworld.

The Muppet Show
- Roger Moore (1980)

O'Bservation: Why this should be included is O'Bvious - In Toobworld, puppets are alive.

The Dame Edna Experience
- The Dame Edna Christmas Experience! (1987}

O'Bservation:  Like the Muppets, Dame Edna is a fictional character who doesn't really exist in the real world.  This verifies our inductee to be a "televersion", not the real Roger.

Tatort
- Schatten (2002)
... Celebrity actor

O’Bservation: Moore is only listed as “Celebrity Actor” in this episode, but who else could he be?

The Carer (2016)
Roger Moore

O’Bservation: I don’t see why this movie can’t be absorbed into the TV Universe since nothing about it really wouldn’t conflict with the overall reality of Toobworld.

Welcome to the Hall, Sir Roger!

FRIDAY HALL OF FAMERS, 09/20/19 - KATIE COURIC

In continuing our September theme of looking at those behind the scenes, both fictional and true, who expand the TV Universe in some way, this week we’re looking at the televersion of newswoman Katie Couric.

KATIE COURIC

From Wikipedia:
Katherine Anne Couric (born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and author. She recently served as Yahoo's Global News Anchor. Couric has been a television host on all Big Three television networks in the United States, and in her early career was an Assignment Editor for CNN. She worked for NBC News from 1989 to 2006, CBS News from 2006 to 2011, and ABC News from 2011 to 2014.

In addition to her television news roles, she hosted Katie, a syndicated daytime talk show produced by Disney–ABC Domestic Television from September 10, 2012, to June 9, 2014.

Some of her most important notable roles include co-host of Today, anchor of the CBS Evening News, and correspondent for 60 Minutes. She also reported for nearly every television news broadcast across ABC, CBS and NBC. Couric's 2011 book, The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives, was a New York Times best-seller. In 2004, Couric earned induction into the Television Hall of Fame.

For more on Katie Couric, click here.

Here are the roles which guaranteed her a place in the Television Crossover Universe:

Murphy Brown
- A Chance of Showers (1992)

Sesame Street

- Telly Builds a Tower with Two Monster Girls (1996)

- The Cave Monster Who Wanted a Pet (1998)

- Episode #31.1 (2000)

Will & Grace
- Marry Me a Little (2002)
- Marry Me a Little More (2002)

Glee
- The Sue Sylvester Shuffle (2011)

Nashville
- We Live in Two Different Worlds (2012)
- When You're Tired of Breaking Other Hearts (2013)

The Colbert Report

- Katie Couric (2007)

- Amy Farrell (2011)
- Alexis Ohanian (2013)
- Same to You, Pal (2014)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
- Criminal Stories (2014)

Notorious
- Pilot (2016)

This Is Us
- Jack Pearson's Son (2017)

Murphy Brown
- A Lifetime of Achievement (2018) .

One Day at a Time
- What Happened (2018)

(O’Bservation: This was archival footage from 9/11/2001 when she was reporting on ‘Today’ about the attack on the Twin Towers.  We didn’t get to see her; we only heard her voice.  This will be one of the qualifiers to get the ‘Today’ show into the Hall.)

Welcome to the Hall, Ms. Couric!