TVXOHOF PREAMBLE RAMBLE

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the TV Crossover Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to honor those TV characters (as well as locations and objects) which unify the TV Universe. This includes real-life people who have fictionalized tele-versions of themselves, as well as the Creators who make the crossovers possible.

The original requirements have become easier to achieve in recent years (appearances in three different TV shows, TV movies, cartoons or commercials). But that's mostly due to the fact that those who make the TV shows nowadays grew up watching TV and love the self-referential nature of the medium. But it has reached the point where some might argue that just about anybody can get into the Hall of Fame.

And this year, that's just about true....

In 2005, I reach the half century mark; in just a few days, in fact. Like fellow bloggers Brent McKee and Tony Figueroa, I am a child of Television. And every year on my birthday, I celebrate in my blog (or the old Tubeworld Dynamic website before this) by announcing a Birthday Honors List; inducting someone special into the ranks of the Hall of Fame who might have just missed the requirements but who is nonetheless deserving of recognition for their contributions to the TV Universe.

My mantra for the choices made on my birthday is: "What I say, goes."

The first such honoree was Suzy MacNamara, Ann Sothern's character in 'Private Secretary'. She was honored because she was involved in the first TV crossover, on the premiere episode of 'The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour'.

This year, as I turn fifty, I'm applying that dictum of "What I Say, Goes" every month. Let's run down those who have been inducted so far this year:

JANUARY - Lt. Columbo
FEBRUARY - Barney Collier aka Mr. Peters
MARCH - John Drake/Number "6"
APRIL - Ted Baxter
MAY - Detective Kay "Katy" Howard
JUNE - Arnold Ziffel
JULY - Hec Ramsey aka Paladin

I've been running the TV Crossover Hall of Fame since 1999, and one day I will devote the time necessary to create a permanent home for it on the web.

If you're interested in seeing the full list (There are over 100 members so far!), then drop me a note at:

Tubeworld@aol.com

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

AN ARMY OF ONE (AND ONE FOR ARMY)

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Army Archerd, noted for his interviews with stars arriving at the Academy Awards, announced Thursday he was giving up the column he has written in the Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety for 52 years, although he plans to continue reporting on the entertainment industry.

Archerd, 83, said he will "still be fully employed" and expects to continue covering major events. He also plans to keep covering the Oscars and to work on his memoirs. "I just won't have the pressure of deadlines," he said.

Archerd's column had been required reading for producers, agents, actors, directors, publicists and others in the film and television industries.

And he has been a great source of connections within the TV Universe thanks to his lengthy membership in the "League of Themselves", those celebrities who appear as themselves in fictional TV productions.

Here's a list of Archerd's appearances in which he played himself. (He had quite a few other series in which he played actual characters, such as the White House Press Secretary in an episode of 'Amos Burke, Secret Agent', but we're mostly interested in seeing the credit "Army Archerd as Himself".)

"77 Sunset Strip" playing "Himself" in episode: "Six Superior Skirts" (episode # 2.3) 16 October 1959

"Burke's Law" playing "Himself" in episode: "Who Killed Marty Kelso?" (episode # 1.22) 28 February 1964

"Burke's Law" playing "Himself" in episode: "Who Killed the Richest Man in the World?" (episode # 2.9) 11 November 1964

"Here's Lucy" playing "Himself" in episode: "Lucy Meets the Burtons" (episode # 3.1) 14 September 1970

'Columbo': "Forgotten Lady" (1975) Himself

More Than Friends (1978) (TV) .... Himself

The Users (1978) (TV) .... Himself

The Star Maker (1981) (TV) .... Himself

"Matt Houston" playing "Himself" in episode: "Who Would Kill Ramona?" (episode # 1.6) 31 October 1982

"Hotel" playing "Himself" in episode: "Choices" (episode # 1.2) 5 October 1983

The Ratings Game (1984) (TV) .... Himself

"Burke's Law" playing "Himself" in episode: "Who Killed the Soap Star?" (episode # 1.7) 11 March 1994

"Murphy Brown" playing "Himself" in episode: "Dick and Dottie" (episode # 8.11) 27 November 1995

"Ellen" playing "Himself" in episode: "Emma" (episode # 5.8) 19 November 1997

"Diagnosis Murder" playing "Himself" in episode: "Talked to Death" (episode # 5.18) 26 February 1998

What a fantastic collection of crossovers!

Game shows, news programs, and documentaries can be included in the mix, but there's not much sport in using them for links. Archerd hardly needs such programs to qualify for eventual inclusion in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, but there are two I'd like to point out.

One is a game show:
"The Movie Game" (1969) TV Series .... Himself/Assistant

And the other was a series that utilized home movies to show Hollywood stars at play:
"Guest Shot" (1962) TV Series .... Himself

There are also a few shows in which he went unnamed. But because he was appearing as either a reporter or a TV commentator, then I feel it's safe to assume he was appearing as himself in his chosen profession.

"Burke's Law" playing "1st Reporter" in episode: "Who Killed Wimbledon Hastings?" (episode # 2.20) 3 February 1965

"Honey West" playing "Announcer" in episode: "Come to Me, My Litigation Baby" (episode # 1.23) 18 February 1966

"Adam-12" playing "Reporter" in episode: "Foothill Division: Mac's Boots" (episode # 6.3) 26 September 1973

Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls (1981) (TV) .... TV Commentator

And then there was a character he played in the wild, wild West:

"The Big Valley" playing "Bank Clerk" in episode: "A Time to Kill" (episode # 1.18) 19 January 1966

"The Big Valley" playing "Stage Depot Clerk" in episode: "Devil's Masquerade" (episode # 3.24) 4 March 1968

It's my thinking that both clerks were one and the same man. In the space of two years, either he had taken on a new job or he was moonlighting at the stage depot. And I'm thinking it's possible that this clerk from Stockton, California, might have been an ancestor for the tele-version of Army Archerd.

Of course, in the episode "A Time To Kill", it doesn't sound very promising for a bank clerk to live another two years.....

Army Archerd says he's not retiring, just that he won't be held to any more deadlines. So here's hoping that he can still continue to make appearances in Toobworld as himself and thus link even more shows through his presence. Show business series in which he still might make a difference include 'Entourage' and 'The Comeback', both on HBO. (It's a shame he never got the chance to appear on 'I'm With Her'; that show could have used such a link.)

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

HIGH DEFINITIVES ON TV

Because Showtime launched 'Weeds' this weekend, which is about a suburban widow who makes ends meet by selling pot, Entertainment Weekly ran a list of the best drug moments in Toobworld.

'Dragnet' - "The LSD Story" & "The Big High". The first episode had the classic character of Blue Boy: "There I am! I'm over there!"

'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In' - Dick Martin told EW that the pilot episode contained seven pot jokes, but the network censors ''didn't get one of them.''

"Go Ask Alice" (1973) This movie-of-the-week was adapted from a best-selling novel about a teenage girl who experiments with various drugs, becomes a prostitute, and dies. With William Shatner, Andy Griffith, and Mackenzie Phillips.

'Good Times' - "J.J.'s Fiancée'' J.J. learned that she was a heroin addict in desperate need of a fix.

"Angel Dusted" (1981) A made-for-TV movie that was later edited down into an Afterschool Special, Helen Hunt jumps through a plate-glass second-story window, then shouts, ''It doesn't hurt!'' When she hosted 'Saturday Night Live' many years later, they showed this scene during her monologue for big laughs.

'Diff'rent Strokes' - "The Reporter" This was the start of the "very special episode" fad in sitcoms, and First Lady Nancy Reagan showed up.

Family Ties - ''Speed Trap'' Alex Keaton is trying to keep up with his school work, so he persuades Mallory to score diet pills for him.

Partnership for a Drug-Free America ad (1987) ''This is your brain'' says the voice-over and then an egg is cracked into a skillet, where it sizzles. ''This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?''

'That '70s Show' - Just about every episode!

'Six Feet Under' - ''You Never Know,'' Ruth and Bettina help Ruth's sister, Sarah kick Vicodin.

Readers wrote in to the EW.com website and complained about some noteworthy shows that were missing, including "brownie" episodes for 'Barney Miller' and 'Sanford & Son' and the classic PSA in which the kid yells at his Dad, "From you! I learned it from you!"

I've got one to add to the list as well. The episode of 'Dream On' in which Martin found his son Jeremy's hidden joint and then proceeded to smoke it with his buddy Eddie - after giving Jeremy a stern lecture about the perils of drugs. (The best bit was their attempt to order Chinese food, and then they couldn't figure out how they got so many orders of Beef with Broccoli.)

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

"You can see my name, if you look hard enough."

Benjy Blue Boy Carver

'Dragnet'

PETER JENNINGS

While he was the anchorman for ABC News, I wasn't very familiar with Peter Jennings' work. When it comes to network newscasts, I am a CBS viewer based on tradition (In those B.C. days, - before cable - it was the channel that came in best.) and loyalty (I've always enjoyed the work of the CBS reporters and the news bureau's legacy.) and familial dictates (Whenever I visit home, what Mom wants, Mom watches.).

But I have seen his work on several TV documentaries and specials, including "The Search For Jesus" and "The Century". Also I tuned in throughout the day and marveled as he maintained a marathon of 26 hours while anchoring ABC's coverage of the approaching "Millennium" on December 31st, 1999. (Technically, it was to happen the following year, but that chronological odometer rollover was hard to resist.)

The last time I saw him was in February of this year when he appeared on 'The Daily Show' as that night's guest with Jon Stewart. He was a conversationalist at ease with those surroundings and gave the impression that he would have been comfortable no matter the situation in which he found himself on the other side of an interview.

Desite that air of urbanity which he could project, Peter Jennings wasn't the stuffed shirt that epitomized the anchorman image put forward by such characters as Ted Baxter.

He was one of the trio of news anchors from that second generation of network anchormen; Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather being the others who once held sway over the nation's view of the news. And we won't see their like again, not in these days of 24 hour cable news networks.

I see Peter Jennings as being a combination of the best qualities reminiscent of Edward R. Murrow and Alistair Cooke - he loved doing the reporting himself on a global scale and he brought a bemused attitude as something of an outsider looking in on the stories from the United States.

I'm afraid my poor words aren't doing Mr. Jennings justice now that he has passed on. But for a more comprehensive look at his career, with quotes and reminiscences and photos illustrating his career, visit the TVNewser website:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/

A fellow named Brian has posted several excellent entries to this blog about Peter Jennings over the last few days.

BCnU......
Tele-Toby

TV THEME MALADIES

"Television seems to have great power over us."

Walter Cronkite

I don't remember where I found this story, but I would assume it was from the BBC Online........

"Patients are mimicking the illnesses they see in their favourite TV soaps, doctors have said. More than nine out of 10 GPs claimed to have seen patients reporting symptoms based on what they had seen on TV or read in newspapers and magazines.

Two-thirds of the 200 GPs surveyed by Norwich Union Healthcare said medical issues raised in this way were making their patients paranoid. Many said patients had already decided on their diagnosis before being seen."

Does this mean there are people out there who think they have Bendii Syndrome? Suffering from Mendakan pox? (Both from the 'Star Trek' franchise.) Or maybe they think they contracted Thripshaw's Disease. ('Monty Python's Flying Cicus')

God help them if they've got Gidget's Disease! ('Saturday Night Live')

The number one TV Land ailment is amnesia. So I guess those people who think they have that after seeing a show which featured it in a plotline wouldn't even know they had it!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

O'BSERVATIONS: "THE LONG GAME"

"Well, Doctor.... Still pursuing burglary, I take it."

The Master

'Doctor Who' : "Colony In Space"

The episode "The Long Game" proves that the Master knew what he was talking about. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to basically steal unlimited credit for Adam Mitchell so that he could do a bit of "shopping".

In an essay a few months back, I also postulated that the Third Doctor might have used some of his time in exile on Earth in raiding the trophies to be found in the Batcave under stately Wayne Manor in Gotham City. Among the items he purloined would be shirts formerly owned by the Riddler, with question marks on their collar tabs. And he would have snatched a custom-made umbrella with a question mark for the handle; this was most likely a gift to the Penguin from the Riddler. (Or even vice versa.)
~~~~~~~~~~
I've long maintained that DNA in Toobworld is extremely strong and doesn't dilute very much despite new strains blended in over the generations. This is why one's grandfather could look like an older version of oneself. And this is why there were always two Simon brothers looking like their forebears down through the generations to at least the 1700s.

So even though nearly 200,000 years separate them, I'd like to imagine that the Editor on Satellite 5 is in fact a distant descendant of one Dave Nelson who served as the News Director at WNYX in New York City back in the 1990s. ('NewsRadio')

They are played by two different actors (Simon Pegg as the Editor, Dave Foley as Dave Nelson), but they are similar enough in appearance to make the idea plausible.

And though Toobworld tele-genetics may be strong....... Let's face it, by 200,000 AD, there should be SOME diffusion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's hoping we see Bruno Langley again as Adam Mitchell; I think he made for an interesting character. Perhaps he could even return as a villainous Adam in the year 2012, now that he has that Type 2 chip installed in his head.

And since 2012 was the prophesied year for the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar, maybe Adam could be at the root of that?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clive was right in the first episode for the Ninth Doctor when he said that wherever the Doctor goes, Death and Destruction follow in his wake. ("The Horror At Fang Rock" is a great example from the Fourth Doctor years.)

So it's a shame we lost Suki Cantrell in this episode. Throughout the series there have been these interesting women who unfortunately lose their lives after encountering either the Doctor or Rose.

Raffalo in "The End Of The World", Gwyneth in "The Unquiet Dead", and now Suki in "The Long Game".

And there's this bright spark of personality, an overall - sorry! - cuteness about each of them that I found similar. Enough so that I'm inclined to invoke Minbarin beliefs about reincarnation to think that it just might be that each of these women were incarnations of the same soul.

Just an idea, and not one I'm really comfortable enough in backing up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronologically speaking, the Face of Boe shows up for the first time in the series here (although we first saw him/her/it in the second episode "The End Of The World".

BadWolf TV is shown broadcasting a report that the Face of Boe is pregnant with a Boemina (or that might be a term for many Boe). There are rumors that the Face of Boe is immortal, which would explain how we see Boe again five billion years later. Or that Face of Boe could have been one of the Boemina, or even one of their descendants.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's no real indication that the Editor died at the end of this episode, unless he was smothered in Jagrafess blubber. So it would be possible for Simon Pegg to reappear in the role somewhere early in the chronology between "The Long Game" and "Bad Wolf".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The phrase "Bad Wolf"......

We're really getting a sense of looking for it by now. I think "Aliens Of London" really put it front and center.

"Rose": There are claims that it is roared by the Nestene Consciousness, but I've watched the scene several times and I don't hear it.
"The End Of The World": The Moxx of Balhoon mentions to the Face of Boe that their situation was similar to a "Bad Wolf" scenario.
"The Unquiet Dead": Gwyneth uses her Second Sight on Rose and foresees 'the big bad wolf'.
"Aliens Of London": A young boy paints the phrase as graffiti onto the TARDIS.
"World War Three": The Doctor makes the boy wipe it off before they leave, warning him that if he catches him doing that again, he'll 'ave him.
"Dalek": The code for Henry Van Statten's helicopter is 'Bad Wolf One'.

And now for "The Long Game", there is the BadWolf TV station. This is the genesis for the phrase in all other episodes, and the basis for my Crossover of the Week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are other allusions throughout the series to the Bad Wolf idea. Rose's red-hooded cloak, the pig transformed to look like an alien, etc.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK!

"Why do we hurtle ourselves through every inch of time and space?"
The Indigo Girls

'Doctor Who' is back on Earth!

Fifteen years after the last regular episode, six years after the one TV movie for the Eighth Doctor, we've had a full series of thirteen episodes featuring Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Incarnation.

The final episode for this year has aired, signaling the end of Eccleston's tenure and marking the debut of David Tennant in the role.

And so to celebrate, most of my essays and all of the Crossovers will be dedicated to the Doctor for the rest of the summer.

Be forewarned: In my essays during this summer salute to 'Doctor Who', there will be spoilers for each of the episodes, especially in regard to summaries.....

First off, here's a recap of the episode:

Location: Satellite 5
Date: 200,000 AD
Enemy: The Editor and The Jagrafess

The Doctor, Rose and Adam arrive in the year 200,000 on a broadcasting station that transmits programming to the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire on Earth.

They soon discover trouble is afoot when they learn that any worker promoted to a position on level 500 never returns.

As the three travelers attempt to find out what is happening they discover they may have trouble escaping from the
ever watchful eye of the Editor.

CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK
'DOCTOR WHO' - "THE LONG GAME"
&
'MURPHY BROWN'

Yeah. You read that right. This episode of 'Doctor Who' can be tied into the Candice Bergen sitcom 'Murphy Brown'.

For those of you with short-term memories, Murphy worked as an anchorwoman for the tele-version of CBS on their news magazine 'FYI'. But when the network began taking her for granted, Murph decided to seriously entertain the efforts by the WOLF network to woo her away.

This happened in the 63rd episode, "Contractions", which was broadcast back in 1991.

It's my contention that by the year 200,000 AD, the WOLF network still existed. Although by that time there were a lot of corporate mergers along the way, in much the same way Time-Life mutated to become AOL-Time-Warner at one point.

But where did the "Bad" in "BadWolf TV" come from?

It's more than likely that it's an acronym for the other entities in the corporate structure of BadWolf TV. Keeping it close to home, it could also be something "archaic", like "British-American Digital".

Or it could be named after individuals in the news and entertainment field.

"B" for Bracken for example. John Bracken was the movie studio owner of the old TV series 'Bracken's World'.

(Being on vacation, I'm far too lazy and logy to go looking for examples for "A" and "D". And I'd much rather see what some of my readers might suggest.)

Since the Fourth Great And Bountiful Human Empire has spread out to other planets, (and our own world will have another four moons by then), it could be that "BAD" might stand for something off-world. A conglomerate of Television interests from the Bajorans, Andorans, and Deltans, perhaps? (All alien races to be found in various parts of the 'Star Trek' franchise.)

At any rate, at its heart, BadWolf TV evolved from the WOLF Television network. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

By the way, for those of you who are familiar with how this season of 'Doctor Who' is resolved might be ready to argue about the genesis of the term "Bad Wolf" itself. Let me just say in my defense that many stories revolving around Time being altered depend on the item being changed in the past to already exist in the present. This creates its own time loop.

That might not make much sense right now, but even though my 'Doctor Who' crossovers have been laden with spoilers, I don't want to jump the gun just yet on a full splainin.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A SPLAININ!

According to "Watch With Kristen" at E! Online, Tom Wellig has said that Aquaman will be making an appearance on 'Smallville' next season.

This season, on 'Entourage', Vince Chase has been trying to seal the deal on making a movie in which he would play the comic book hero Aquaman.

Discrepancy? Hardly.

'Entourage' takes place on Earth Prime-Time. 'Smallville' does not. Earth Prime-Time already had its Kal-El, its Clark Kent, its Superman, the strange visitor from another planet.

He protected the Earth from his home base in Metropolis back in the 1950s as seen on 'The Adventures Of Superman'. He died saving two Chicago hoods after they drove into an A-bomb test in the Nevada desert in the early 1960s.

(This can't be proven, of course. But two ordinary humans should never have survived that blast. Add to that the fact that we never saw George Reeves' portrayal of the Man of Steel after 1963 at best.

If Earth Prime-Time is in need of a super-hero now, they can call on just about anybody else... but they can forget about Supes - he's given up the space-ghost.

Should Aquaman ever make a live-action appearance in the main Toobworld, then we'll have to beg a few Vicodin off Dr. House and begin the contortions to splain away a discrepancy then!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

L'AIRBUS A TORONTO

BY BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A transatlantic commercial jet touching down yesterday in Toronto during a violent lightning storm skidded off a runway and burst into flames - but miraculously, all 309 people aboard survived, officials said.

Air France Flight 358 punctuated its journey from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport with a roller coaster-like ride, barreling into a wooded ravine just after 4 p.m.

Stunned passengers said the quick-thinking crew of the Airbus A340 jet flung open the doors and ordered people to jump down inflatable chutes just moments before the plane burst into a giant fireball.

For the rest of the story:

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/334001p-285373c.html

I'm no insider, but I'll bet anything there's a Suit in Hollywood scrambling to secure the rights to somebody's story connected to this crash. It has all the makings for a two-part TV movie.

And best of all, it happened in Toronto. For once, Canada won't have to disguise its filming locations to stand in for someplace else!

Technically, as soon as a news story is broadcast, it should be considered a part of Toobworld. But where's the sport in that? MUCH better to get a TV movie out of the situation and have famous actors personify the real people involved in the story.

And if a major network grabs the rights, you can pretty much count on the use of some of the established stars of their own shows to play the major roles.

I don't know if there was one, but let's say there was a red-headed member of the crew, or one of the passengers who helped the others evacuate safely in that two minutes after the crash.

If CBS snares the rights, then David Caruso of 'CSI: Miami' is offered the role.

If NBC nabs the project, then John C. McGinley from 'Scrubs' gets the chance.

If Comedy Central makes their own version on the cheap, I hear Carrot Top is available.....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

"PRESIDENT FORD"

I'm still pondering the television career of the late character actor Ford Rainey.

Here's an interesting conundrum.....

"Lost in Space" playing "The President" in episode: "The Reluctant Stowaway" (episode # 1.1) 15 September 1965
"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" playing "President" in episode: "Doomsday" (episode # 1.19) 18 January 1965
"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" playing "President McNeil" in episode: "Hail to the Chief" (episode # 1.16) 28 December 1964
"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" playing "U.S. President" in episode: "Hot Line" (episode # 1.9) 9 November 1964

Both series were productions by Irwin Allen, but there shouldn't be an implied connection between both shows. The Seaview sailed the seven seas in the "future" of the early '70s, while the Jupiter II blasted off in the "future" of 1997.

There's no way Ford Rainey's presidents could be the same man; not when term limits as delineated in the Real World hold for Toobworld as well.

And yet...... It's just possible - so far as Toobworld logic can twist it round, - that they were indeed the same man.

But first, the real problem is the fact that in his second appearance as the President in 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea', Ford Rainey was addressed as "President Henry Talbot McNeil".

Long-time Inner Tooblings know that it's my contention that the President of the United States in Earth Prime-Time must be the same man who holds the position on Earth Prime. In the early 70s then, the President during the voyages of the Seaview should be Nixon.

But I've also put forward the argument that an entire series doesn't have to be relegated to alternate dimensions to clear up "un-splainable" discrepancies. Individual episodes can be tossed over the side.

An example from the last season: "In A Mirror, Darkly" from 'Enterprise' which totally took place in the evil mirror universe of 'Star Trek'.

That was the official one. I also theorized that "Gov Luv", an episode of 'Law & Order' which put the whack into local Toobworld politics with a fictional Connecticut governor, had to be sent elsewhere. And not just because the fictional governor was a combination of Jim McGreevey of New Jersey and John Rowland of Connecticut - but also because I felt the Jack McCoy of this episode was not the man of Earth Prime Time.

And more recently, there were the episodes of the new 'Doctor Who' which dealt with the Slitheen Family of Raxicallicorafallapatorius* - "Aliens Of London", "World War Three", and "Boom Town". It's my belief that the TARDIS utilized its ability to travel to relative dimensions in space and it was an alternate Earth that was nearly destroyed by these baby doll-faced aliens.

So it just might be possible that "Hail To The Chief" could be the one episode of 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' which is not part of the established canon for the series set in the main Toobworld. The Seaview sails the ocean blue in many TV dimensions, and so we might have been watching one of those versions of the submarine instead.

And it might have been a dimension where Nixon was not the President, but a man named McNeil.

We know Kennedy was the POTUS during the early sixties in Jed Bartlet's TV dimension of 'The West Wing'. It could then be assumed that Johnson succeeded him. But I've yet to see any evidence outside a clip of Nixon during the pseudo-documentary in the episode "Access". That doesn't necessarily mean it was of him as President.

But just to be on the safe side, I'm putting Henry Talbot McNeil into any other alternate dimension, but one with plenty of sci-fi gadgetry available. You know, the usual stockpile: Quantum Leap technology, a Stargate arch or two, maybe a doorway into another dimension via a Slider remote.

So here's my wild idea - after recovering from the brain surgery on board the Seaview to repair his subdural hemotoma, President McNeil served out his term in office and then retired to pursue his private interests.

During his time of recovery, and having been appraised of the top-secret technology available to the government while he was POTUS, McNeil may have become curious as to what legacy he left behind in other dimensions as well.

So by calling in a few favors in order to use a combination of a Slider remote and Quantum Leaping, Henry Talbot McNeil must have slid/leapt across the dimensions from his own version of Toobworld to Earth Prime-Time.

In his dimension, both of those technologies had been refined. There were no accidental slides, no random leaps by chance. McNeil hit his designated target - he slid over to the main Toobworld and leapt into the body of the President.

Only he wasn't in the body of a President McNeil. He was in the body of President Nixon. And even after trying again at a different point in time, he found himself still as Nixon. And both those times, in the episodes "Doomsday" and "Hot Line", we in the audience saw him as McNeil, played by Ford Rainey, not as Nixon. It was the same situation as if it had been a Leap by Dr. Sam Beckett.

As for his leap into the body of President Bill Clinton during the 1997 launch of the Jupiter II, former President McNeil's curiousity got the better of him. He probably leapt forward in Time in a bid to see if somewhere down the line (within a reasonable period of time) he finally did become President of Toobworld.

However, having discovered there never was a President McNeil on Earth Prime-Time, he couldn't resist staying around long enough to officiate at the launch of the Jupiter II spaceship.

So there's my splainin as to how Ford Rainey could be three different Presidents in the same TV Universe.

And now, after all that convoluted reasoning, I think I'm limber enough to play a few rounds of Twister!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

*I typed out that name by memory. If I got it wrong, I'll find out as soon as I get online......

Raxacoricofallapatorius.

Okay. So I was wrong...... As Blon Slitheen would say, "Sue me."