Comic Jan Murray has died at his Beverly Hills home. He was 89.
Murray successfully made the transition from night club work to the then-new medium of television.
Murray's quick wit entertained a generation of Americans through a long string of television game shows, including "Songs For Sale," "Dollar a Second" and "Treasure Hunt." He also guest-hosted 'The Tonight Show' about ten times.
Jan Murray was part of a comic rat-pack that included Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Shecky Greene, and Jerry Lewis. His son said he'd been in deteriorating health for several months, suffering from emphysema, heart problems and pneumonia.
Jan Murray was the creator and producer of his most popular show, "Treasure Hunt," which ran from 1956 to 1959. The game show was canceled in the wake of the scandals that centered on "Twenty One" and "The $64,000 Question." Afterwards, Mr. Murray began a new show, "Charge Account," of which he was host from 1960 to 1962.
GAME SHOWS & TALK SHOWS
"The New Treasure Hunt" (1973) TV Series (creator)
"The Tonight Show" (1962).... Guest Host
"Chain Letter" (1966) TV Series .... Host
"Charge Account" (1960) TV Series .... Host (1960-1962)
... aka The Jan Murray Show
"Treasure Hunt" (1956) TV Series .... Host (1956-1959)"Jan Murray Time" (1955) TV Series .... Host
"Dollar a Second" (1953) TV Series .... Host
"Meet Your Match" (1952) TV Series .... Host
"Go Lucky" (1951) TV Series .... Host
"Songs for Sale" (1950) TV Series .... Host (July 1950-February 1951)
"Sing It Again" (1950) TV Series .... Host
"Blind Date" (1949) TV Series .... Host (1953)
"This Is Your Life"
- Don Rickles (1972) TV Episode .... Himself
"This Is Your Life"
- Milton Berle (1956) TV Episode .... Himself
"It Takes Two"
- Episode dated 23 February 1970 (1970) TV Episode .... Himself
He also made appearances on several variety shows, such as Jackie Gleason's, Dean Martin's, Ed Sullivan's, and 'The Hollywood Palace'.
TV GUEST APPEARANCES
"My Two Dads"
- You Love Me, Right (1989) TV Episode .... Uncle Raymond
"It's a Living"
- The Dickie Doodle Show (1987) TV Episode .... Dickie Doodle
"Hunter"
- Killer in the Halloween Mask (1985) TV Episode .... Bay Fetner
"Hardcastle and McCormick"
- What's So Funny? (1985) TV Episode .... Leo Dikeman
"Legmen"
- Episode #1.6 (1984) TV Episode .... Johnny Booth
"Fantasy Island"
- Forget Me Not/The Quiz Masters (1982) TV Episode .... Ron
"Ellery Queen"
- The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep (1976) TV Episode .... Ralph Caesar
"Kolchak: The Night Stalker"
- The Vampire (1974) TV Episode .... Ichabod Grace
"Mannix"
- Shadow Play (1971) TV Episode .... Tony Sargent
"Love, American Style"
- Love and the Happy Couple/Love and the Understanding (1970) TV Episode .... (segment "Love and the Happy Couple")
"The Name of the Game"
- Battle at Gannon's Bridge (1970) TV Episode .... Doc Haller
"Cowboy in Africa"
- African Rodeo: Part 2 (1968) TV Episode .... Trevor Wellington
- African Rodeo: Part 1 (1968) TV Episode .... Trevor Wellington
"The Man from U.N.C.L.E."
- The Hula Doll Affair (1967) TV Episode .... Simon Sweet
"The Lucy Show"
- Lucy and the Soap Opera (1966) TV Episode .... Soap Opera Head Writer
"Burke's Law"
- Who Killed Mother Goose? (1965) TV Episode .... Dr. Abernathy
"Dr. Kildare"
- A Million Dollar Property (1961) TV Episode .... Kenny Hallerton
"Zane Grey Theater"
- The Empty Shell (1961) TV Episode .... Cletis Madden
"On Trial"
- The Jameson Case (1956) TV Episode .... Lindsey
THE LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES
Because he appeared as himself in fictional settings in the following four shows, both sitcoms and dramas (as well as for all of his game show work), Jan Murray will become a member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame in the League of Themselves division:
"The Fall Guy"
- Scavenger Hunt (1982) TV Episode .... Himself
"The Joey Bishop Show"
- In This Corner, Jan Murray (1964) TV Episode .... Himself
"The Defenders"
- Die Laughing (1964) TV Episode .... Himself
"Car 54, Where Are You?"
- Boom, Boom, Boom (1962) TV Episode .... Himself
TV MOVIES
The Dream Merchants (1980) (TV) .... Murray Tucker
Banjo Hackett: Roamin' Free (1976) (TV) .... Jethro Swain
Roll, Freddy, Roll! (1974) (TV) .... Big Sid Kane
TV SPECIALS
But Seriously, Folks (1986) (TV)
Joys (1976) (TV) .... Jan Murray
... aka Bob Hope Special: Bob Hope in 'Joys'
This special is located in the alternate TV dimension of Earth Not Ready For Prime Time aka Skitlandia, which is just as well since all of the major comedians on the special were "killed off" during the course of it, leaving only the mysterious (but ultimately obvious) murderer to regain control of his own show....
But for the main Toobworld and most of its other alternate versions, we now have lost a very funny man forever......
BCnU...
Tele-Toby
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
MARS BARRED
'The 4400' probably takes place in more than one of the alternate TV dimensions, but with variations, as was the case for the 'Star Trek' corner of Toobworld. As such, one of those alternate timelines would house the Bradbury Mars stories as told in episodes of 'Ray Bradbury Theater'.
In one ("The Long Years"), we see a Mars tombstone with the date "2007" inscribed on it. As the main character John Hathaway had been abandoned on the Red Planet for many years, and one of the crew members knew Hathaway's son in college twenty years before, it seems likely that in this variant of Maia's reformed timeline Mars was colonized even earlier than in 'The Martian Chronicles'.
And how could that have happened without interference by the faction from the future and the 4400?
Of course, as with 'The Martian Chronicles', it's a timeline that was wiped out in its own dimension once the 4400 children were removed from the past and returned to the present.
But at least we in the Real World know it did take place.
It once was and never will be. It's "neverwas".
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
In one ("The Long Years"), we see a Mars tombstone with the date "2007" inscribed on it. As the main character John Hathaway had been abandoned on the Red Planet for many years, and one of the crew members knew Hathaway's son in college twenty years before, it seems likely that in this variant of Maia's reformed timeline Mars was colonized even earlier than in 'The Martian Chronicles'.
And how could that have happened without interference by the faction from the future and the 4400?
Of course, as with 'The Martian Chronicles', it's a timeline that was wiped out in its own dimension once the 4400 children were removed from the past and returned to the present.
But at least we in the Real World know it did take place.
It once was and never will be. It's "neverwas".
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
LAY LINES
Ken Lay passed away today in Colorado, robbing his victims from the Enron scandal once again. Now they won't have the satisfaction of seeing him sentenced and spending a considerable amount of time behind bars.
In Toobworld, Lay was portrayed by Mike Farrell of 'M*A*S*H' fame in "The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron" back in 2003.
I would imagine he was also portrayed several times over in Skitlandia, aka Earth Not Ready For Prime Time, which is the alternate TV dimension based upon comedy sketches from variety shows.
Come the Fall, 'Saturday Night Live' should have Chris Parnell play Ken Lay in a sketch set in Hell, with a cameo guest appearance by Jon Lovitz as the Devil.
It'll be small comfort to those who lost their life savings due to his piggish greed, but every little bit helps.
Don't drop the soap in the Ninth Circle of Hell, Ken!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
"We're the bad guy. We're the criminals.
And don't think it's just this company.
There's hundreds of Enrons out there, a thousand!
Cooking the books, inflating the earnings,
Hiding the debt, buying off the watchdogs."
Mr. Blue
"The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron"
Tuesday, July 4, 2006
UNSTUCK IN PRIME TIME
Since it's been on the air, I've always maintained that 'The 4400' was one of Toobworld's necessities; one of those shows that is integral to the overall concept of the Television Universe. This "honor" was due to the basic premise that these 4400 people were taken and not seen again until they were returned together at Mt. Rainier.
There's no way, no matter how long the show runs, that they'd be able to introduce us to all 4400 returnees. So that means we can use this group as an umbrella splainin to cover the mysterious disappearances of TV characters in the past: Chuck Cunningham of 'Happy Days', Henry Finnerty of 'Grounded For Life', Seven Bundy of 'Married... With Children', and Charlene 'Matlock', as examples.
But with the second half of the two-part episode "Gone", 'The 4400' gave the Toobworld concept so much to work with, and with no more than a few throwaway lines of dialogue.
Let's take a look at the episode's storyline first. A dedicated "good" faction from the future were dismayed to realize that the "catastrophe" that would affect that future was still on track to occur, even though the 4400 had been genetically altered and returned to the present time in order to prevent that catastrophe from happening.
But since the project was panning out to be unsuccessful, the "good" future faction chose to abduct several of the 4400 children again and re-seed them even farther back in the timeline. They sent Maia back to 1832, where she lived to the age of 25, dying of smallpox on the Oregon Trail in 1847.
With the rest of the other children, however, the project yielded better results. Tyler Downing invented a synthetic fuel which must have significantly altered the history and political structure/influence of the Middle East. And Lindsay Hammond created the composite materials that were so instrumental in establishing the lunar colonies.
Who knows what the other relocated children accomplished? That must have been an incredible timeline!
But it didn't last long, at least within the perspective of the present day. The children were taken back out of their new timelines and returned to their previous lives in the present. This wiped out all the advancements of that alternate history; so to have agreed to do it, the future faction had to have been offered a better deal. And they got it by demanding that NTAC agent Tom Baldwin should kill the 4400 "baby", Isabell.
Even though that Toobworld timeline has been wiped out, it still existed for a while. And as such, it offers Toobworld the perfect place to store all those TV shows (including individual episodes of anthology series) which envisioned the 1990s and the early years of the 21st Century as some kind of outer space utopia.
"Given the chance, what young girl wouldn't happily exchange a plain face for a lovely one? What girl could refuse the opportunity to be beautiful? For want of a better estimate, let's call it the year 2000. At any rate, imagine a time in the future when science has developed a means of giving everyone the face and body he dreams of. It may not happen tomorrow--but it happens now in the Twilight Zone."
- Rod Serling
'The Twilight Zone'
"Number Twelve Looks Just Like You", an episode of 'The Twilight Zone', is a perfect example. By choosing the date of 2000, Rod Serling was proposing that this was the future for Earth Prime Time. Once the year 2000 passed, the episode had to be relegated to an alternate dimension.
But now we can assign the Age of the Transformation to the main Toobworld, in a timeline created and then wiped us by the future faction's manipulation of the 4400 children.
Here are some other examples:
'The Martian Chronicles'
Earth sends its first manned probe to Mars in 1999, and a jealous Martian murders the two astronauts when his wife has erotic dreams of meeting them. Members of a subsequent expedition are hypnotized into believing that they have landed in the childhood community of their leader and have been reunited with deceased family and friends, and they are poisoned by the Martians. Col. John Wilder leads a third expedition and learns that a chicken pox virus brought to Mars by the first two expeditions has almost eradicated the Martian population. A member of Wilder's team becomes obsessed with protecting Mars from Earthman and murders some of the others in Wilder's party, before Wilder kills him. Colonists arrive on Mars to settle, among them priests seeking God, and a lone Martian masquerades as the most desired persons of various settlers. Global war on Earth reduces man's natal planet to radioactive waste, and most of the settlers returned there prior to the holocaust. Wilder struggles to assemble the remaining humans on Mars, who cope with their loneliness in different ways and will not leave their piece of Mars, before Wilder meets a Martian of past or future who tells him the secret of simple Martian life and convinces him to abandon the Earth lifestyle.
[Summary by Kevin McCorry for the IMDb.com]
'Science Fiction Theater'
"PROJECT 44" A Space physician selects eight young scientists for training which proves man can survive in outer space.
"THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON" Astronomer Larry Kerston, with his revolutionary telescope-camera, takes a strange picture of the moon -- and finds men from other worlds at work on its dark side establishing a nuclear waste dump.
This can tie in to 'Space: 1999' in that the Earth's governments were able to take control of that nuclear waste dump and then established their own lunar colonies.
But even with the lunar colonies, 'Space: 1999' couldn't exist as is in this new timeline for 'The 4400'. The Moon should have been ripped out of its orbit seven years previously, which would have caused untold devastation back on Earth. But we saw no evidence of that, and besides, Marco spoke of the lunar colonies in "Gone, Part Two" as if they were still around.
I'll stick with my original theory about 'Space: 1999' (posited in a Tubeworld Dynamic essay called "Moon Boom") - after the waste dump explosion caused by Orlando Jones when he used a laser to carve the 7-Up logo into the Moon's surface back in 1999, Commander John Koenig survived, but in a coma. And in that coma, he created a dream world for himself in which he kept his friends alive by fantasizing that the Moon broke free of its orbit. (The same situation, a variation of it, occurred to the astronauts on board the "Death-Ship" in an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'.)
But again, the whole thing becomes moot once the original Toobworld timeline was reestablished with the return of the children.
I would still keep the CONTROL Moonbase of 'Get Smart' as is in the main Toobworld, because that was a very small, "low-key" top-secret Government installment.
Similarly, the Jupiter 2, with the Space Family Robinson on board, still blasted off for Alpha Centauri in 1997. Again, it was a top-secret project whose details the general public didn't need to know about. ('Lost In Space')
We met about five of the children re-abducted by the future faction but only learned the fates of three of them when they were re-seeded farther back into the past.
But 'Tales Of Tomorrow' may have introduced us to one of these characters as far back as April 4, 1952, over fifty years before 'The 4400' was first broadcast.....
"And a Little Child" The little daughter of plain mountain people can read minds. Her powers are called upon when a famous scientist suffers a paralytic stroke.
She may have been adopted by those mountain folk, once she was sent back by the future faction.
'Seaquest DSV' is set in the year 2019, and 'Rocky Jones, Space Ranger' is set later for this century. Both may seem unlikely to happen now to the reasoning mind, but for the time being I would leave them in place as having taken place in the main Toobworld to come. When 2019 comes and we still don't have underwater colonies (aside from those of lost Atlanteans), we can always explore our options then. ('Sealab 2020' and 'Sealab 2021' take place around the same time. But they're over in the Tooniverse and they can look out for themselves.)
As for 'Rocky Jones', the only downside is that the style of clothing is so 1950s, but we can chalk that up to a fashion revival. Otherwise, it can be set so far ahead in the 21st Century that none of us are going to be around to worry about .......
I've got plenty more topics to mine from this two-part episode of 'The 4400', so bear with me.
Or go surf elsewhere for the next few days.....
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
There's no way, no matter how long the show runs, that they'd be able to introduce us to all 4400 returnees. So that means we can use this group as an umbrella splainin to cover the mysterious disappearances of TV characters in the past: Chuck Cunningham of 'Happy Days', Henry Finnerty of 'Grounded For Life', Seven Bundy of 'Married... With Children', and Charlene 'Matlock', as examples.
But with the second half of the two-part episode "Gone", 'The 4400' gave the Toobworld concept so much to work with, and with no more than a few throwaway lines of dialogue.
Let's take a look at the episode's storyline first. A dedicated "good" faction from the future were dismayed to realize that the "catastrophe" that would affect that future was still on track to occur, even though the 4400 had been genetically altered and returned to the present time in order to prevent that catastrophe from happening.
But since the project was panning out to be unsuccessful, the "good" future faction chose to abduct several of the 4400 children again and re-seed them even farther back in the timeline. They sent Maia back to 1832, where she lived to the age of 25, dying of smallpox on the Oregon Trail in 1847.
With the rest of the other children, however, the project yielded better results. Tyler Downing invented a synthetic fuel which must have significantly altered the history and political structure/influence of the Middle East. And Lindsay Hammond created the composite materials that were so instrumental in establishing the lunar colonies.
Who knows what the other relocated children accomplished? That must have been an incredible timeline!
But it didn't last long, at least within the perspective of the present day. The children were taken back out of their new timelines and returned to their previous lives in the present. This wiped out all the advancements of that alternate history; so to have agreed to do it, the future faction had to have been offered a better deal. And they got it by demanding that NTAC agent Tom Baldwin should kill the 4400 "baby", Isabell.
Even though that Toobworld timeline has been wiped out, it still existed for a while. And as such, it offers Toobworld the perfect place to store all those TV shows (including individual episodes of anthology series) which envisioned the 1990s and the early years of the 21st Century as some kind of outer space utopia.
"Given the chance, what young girl wouldn't happily exchange a plain face for a lovely one? What girl could refuse the opportunity to be beautiful? For want of a better estimate, let's call it the year 2000. At any rate, imagine a time in the future when science has developed a means of giving everyone the face and body he dreams of. It may not happen tomorrow--but it happens now in the Twilight Zone."
- Rod Serling
'The Twilight Zone'
"Number Twelve Looks Just Like You", an episode of 'The Twilight Zone', is a perfect example. By choosing the date of 2000, Rod Serling was proposing that this was the future for Earth Prime Time. Once the year 2000 passed, the episode had to be relegated to an alternate dimension.
But now we can assign the Age of the Transformation to the main Toobworld, in a timeline created and then wiped us by the future faction's manipulation of the 4400 children.
Here are some other examples:
'The Martian Chronicles'
Earth sends its first manned probe to Mars in 1999, and a jealous Martian murders the two astronauts when his wife has erotic dreams of meeting them. Members of a subsequent expedition are hypnotized into believing that they have landed in the childhood community of their leader and have been reunited with deceased family and friends, and they are poisoned by the Martians. Col. John Wilder leads a third expedition and learns that a chicken pox virus brought to Mars by the first two expeditions has almost eradicated the Martian population. A member of Wilder's team becomes obsessed with protecting Mars from Earthman and murders some of the others in Wilder's party, before Wilder kills him. Colonists arrive on Mars to settle, among them priests seeking God, and a lone Martian masquerades as the most desired persons of various settlers. Global war on Earth reduces man's natal planet to radioactive waste, and most of the settlers returned there prior to the holocaust. Wilder struggles to assemble the remaining humans on Mars, who cope with their loneliness in different ways and will not leave their piece of Mars, before Wilder meets a Martian of past or future who tells him the secret of simple Martian life and convinces him to abandon the Earth lifestyle.
[Summary by Kevin McCorry for the IMDb.com]
'Science Fiction Theater'
"PROJECT 44" A Space physician selects eight young scientists for training which proves man can survive in outer space.
"THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON" Astronomer Larry Kerston, with his revolutionary telescope-camera, takes a strange picture of the moon -- and finds men from other worlds at work on its dark side establishing a nuclear waste dump.
This can tie in to 'Space: 1999' in that the Earth's governments were able to take control of that nuclear waste dump and then established their own lunar colonies.
But even with the lunar colonies, 'Space: 1999' couldn't exist as is in this new timeline for 'The 4400'. The Moon should have been ripped out of its orbit seven years previously, which would have caused untold devastation back on Earth. But we saw no evidence of that, and besides, Marco spoke of the lunar colonies in "Gone, Part Two" as if they were still around.
I'll stick with my original theory about 'Space: 1999' (posited in a Tubeworld Dynamic essay called "Moon Boom") - after the waste dump explosion caused by Orlando Jones when he used a laser to carve the 7-Up logo into the Moon's surface back in 1999, Commander John Koenig survived, but in a coma. And in that coma, he created a dream world for himself in which he kept his friends alive by fantasizing that the Moon broke free of its orbit. (The same situation, a variation of it, occurred to the astronauts on board the "Death-Ship" in an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'.)
But again, the whole thing becomes moot once the original Toobworld timeline was reestablished with the return of the children.
I would still keep the CONTROL Moonbase of 'Get Smart' as is in the main Toobworld, because that was a very small, "low-key" top-secret Government installment.
Similarly, the Jupiter 2, with the Space Family Robinson on board, still blasted off for Alpha Centauri in 1997. Again, it was a top-secret project whose details the general public didn't need to know about. ('Lost In Space')
We met about five of the children re-abducted by the future faction but only learned the fates of three of them when they were re-seeded farther back into the past.
But 'Tales Of Tomorrow' may have introduced us to one of these characters as far back as April 4, 1952, over fifty years before 'The 4400' was first broadcast.....
"And a Little Child" The little daughter of plain mountain people can read minds. Her powers are called upon when a famous scientist suffers a paralytic stroke.
She may have been adopted by those mountain folk, once she was sent back by the future faction.
'Seaquest DSV' is set in the year 2019, and 'Rocky Jones, Space Ranger' is set later for this century. Both may seem unlikely to happen now to the reasoning mind, but for the time being I would leave them in place as having taken place in the main Toobworld to come. When 2019 comes and we still don't have underwater colonies (aside from those of lost Atlanteans), we can always explore our options then. ('Sealab 2020' and 'Sealab 2021' take place around the same time. But they're over in the Tooniverse and they can look out for themselves.)
As for 'Rocky Jones', the only downside is that the style of clothing is so 1950s, but we can chalk that up to a fashion revival. Otherwise, it can be set so far ahead in the 21st Century that none of us are going to be around to worry about .......
I've got plenty more topics to mine from this two-part episode of 'The 4400', so bear with me.
Or go surf elsewhere for the next few days.....
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
LEO:
"My generation never got the future it was promised....
Thirty-five years later, cars, air travel's exactly the same.
We don't even have the Concorde anymore.
Technology stopped."
JOSH:
"The personal computer...."
LEO:
"Where's my jet pack, my colonies on the Moon?"
'The West Wing'
Monday, July 3, 2006
CASTING SUGGESTION
Just stumbled on the last half hour of the original 'Poseidon Adventure' on AMC. There's just this primal power to it, mostly in the acting, that keeps me watching even though I missed most of it, and even though I've got it pretty much memorized.
About an hour earlier, I watched my tape of last night's episode of 'Entourage'.....
Anyway, I had this bit of inspiration that I'll toss out there in hopes somehow it'll find its way to Wahlberg & Co.....
Get Red Buttons to appear as Eric's grandfather; maybe even as his great-grandfather. I think there is a strong tele-genetic resemblance between the two of them....
Just sayin' is all......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
About an hour earlier, I watched my tape of last night's episode of 'Entourage'.....
Anyway, I had this bit of inspiration that I'll toss out there in hopes somehow it'll find its way to Wahlberg & Co.....
Get Red Buttons to appear as Eric's grandfather; maybe even as his great-grandfather. I think there is a strong tele-genetic resemblance between the two of them....
Just sayin' is all......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK A
The second entry for the Crossover of the Week is based on one of the most durable props in Toobworld (even though I'm sure it always takes a beating from its owners.... ahem!): Playpen Magazine.
In the pilot episode of 'Kyle XY', the young son of the mysterious title character's new foster family sneaks into the house and heads straight to the bathroom where he locks himself in. Putting down the cover of the toiler, he drops his pants and then pulls out... a treasured copy of Playpen Magazine.
But before he could pull anything else out to make his introductions to Charlotte (aka Miss October), Kyle pokes his head out from behind the shower curtain. (He had been hiding out in the bathtub after a traumatic experience.)
The kid had no choice but to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. With a scream, he stumbled out of the bathroom. But because he was hobbled by his pants down around his ankles, he lost his balance and the magazine went flying over the railing... to land right in front of his Mom as she came up the stairs.
Welcome to the Family Viewing Hour on ABC Family!
Playpen is a member of the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame, inducted with other publications like the National Inquisitor, the NY Ledger, the LA Sun and the LA Tribune. But Playpen has the most appearances in other TV shows.
Millennium
X-Files
Homicide: Life On The Street
That Girl
Renegade
Medium
Grosse Pointe
3rd Rock from the Sun
Married with Children
Pacific Blue
That 70s Show
Here's how Playpen figures in some of those shows:
'Medium' - Back in the 1980s, copies of the magazine could be found in the rooms of a sperm bank in the Southwest.
'Ally McBeal' - Like on 'Medium', it was a source of inspiration. Ally smuggled a copy into prison so that a client could smuggle out a deposit to impregnate his wife.
'Renegade' - Reno had to protect the grande dame who owned the company.
'That Girl' - Ann Marie found her head superimposed on a nude centerfold's body.
'The X-Files' - Fox Mulder had a big collection of the magazine.
'Millennium' - A murder victim had an even bigger collection; he had a copy of every issue published up to the point of his death.
'CSI' - An issue was found during the execution of a search warrant following the death of a baby.
'Homicide: Life On The Street' - Meldrick claimed that he only read it for the articles. Uh-huh....
'Grosse Pointe' - Topless photos of one actress are sold to the magazine
'3rd Rock From The Sun' - Sally is excited when learning photographers from the mag are coming to town
'Married with Children' - Al reads it, of course!
And it even surfaced in the Tooniverse, on an episode of 'Family Guy'.
As for 'That 70s Show', I wouldn't be surprised if issues of the mag made the rounds of the Inner Circle who met in the Foreman basement. But I don't know how it played into an episode of 'Pacific Blue'. I would have thought that reading Playpen would have made it difficult to be a bike cop....
When I saw Playpen "pop up" on 'Kyle XY', I was tempted to crown it the solo Crossover of the Week and let the USA Networks promo series slide until next week. After all, commercials are always being re-run and could have made had the solo spot all to themselves next Monday.
But that wouldn't have been fair to 'Psych', as the promos were geared to trumpet its debut this coming Friday night. So instead there's plenty of room for both in the winner's circle.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
In the pilot episode of 'Kyle XY', the young son of the mysterious title character's new foster family sneaks into the house and heads straight to the bathroom where he locks himself in. Putting down the cover of the toiler, he drops his pants and then pulls out... a treasured copy of Playpen Magazine.
But before he could pull anything else out to make his introductions to Charlotte (aka Miss October), Kyle pokes his head out from behind the shower curtain. (He had been hiding out in the bathtub after a traumatic experience.)
The kid had no choice but to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. With a scream, he stumbled out of the bathroom. But because he was hobbled by his pants down around his ankles, he lost his balance and the magazine went flying over the railing... to land right in front of his Mom as she came up the stairs.
Welcome to the Family Viewing Hour on ABC Family!
Playpen is a member of the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame, inducted with other publications like the National Inquisitor, the NY Ledger, the LA Sun and the LA Tribune. But Playpen has the most appearances in other TV shows.
Millennium
X-Files
Homicide: Life On The Street
That Girl
Renegade
Medium
Grosse Pointe
3rd Rock from the Sun
Married with Children
Pacific Blue
That 70s Show
Here's how Playpen figures in some of those shows:
'Medium' - Back in the 1980s, copies of the magazine could be found in the rooms of a sperm bank in the Southwest.
'Ally McBeal' - Like on 'Medium', it was a source of inspiration. Ally smuggled a copy into prison so that a client could smuggle out a deposit to impregnate his wife.
'Renegade' - Reno had to protect the grande dame who owned the company.
'That Girl' - Ann Marie found her head superimposed on a nude centerfold's body.
'The X-Files' - Fox Mulder had a big collection of the magazine.
'Millennium' - A murder victim had an even bigger collection; he had a copy of every issue published up to the point of his death.
'CSI' - An issue was found during the execution of a search warrant following the death of a baby.
'Homicide: Life On The Street' - Meldrick claimed that he only read it for the articles. Uh-huh....
'Grosse Pointe' - Topless photos of one actress are sold to the magazine
'3rd Rock From The Sun' - Sally is excited when learning photographers from the mag are coming to town
'Married with Children' - Al reads it, of course!
And it even surfaced in the Tooniverse, on an episode of 'Family Guy'.
As for 'That 70s Show', I wouldn't be surprised if issues of the mag made the rounds of the Inner Circle who met in the Foreman basement. But I don't know how it played into an episode of 'Pacific Blue'. I would have thought that reading Playpen would have made it difficult to be a bike cop....
When I saw Playpen "pop up" on 'Kyle XY', I was tempted to crown it the solo Crossover of the Week and let the USA Networks promo series slide until next week. After all, commercials are always being re-run and could have made had the solo spot all to themselves next Monday.
But that wouldn't have been fair to 'Psych', as the promos were geared to trumpet its debut this coming Friday night. So instead there's plenty of room for both in the winner's circle.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK 1
I take it as a sign of how much good TV is out there (even for the summer) that we have a tie for the Crossover Of The Week.
First up are the promo interstitials currently running for the three detective series on USA Network which feature the stars of 'The Dead Zone', 'Monk', and the new offering, 'Psych'.
USA Network had done this sort of thing in the past for 'Monk' and 'The Dead Zone', in which Johnny wanted to show Adrian how his powers worked, but Monk didn't want to be touched by the clairvoyant. But now they've added the main character of 'Psych' into the mix of encounters.
In one of the new ones, Adrian Monk and Johnny Smith of 'The Dead Zone' meet up once again; this time at some kind of convention function. Monk makes sure he gets the first cup of punch out of the bowl, but Johnny is able to prevent him from drinking it once he has a vision of one of the waiters drinking straight out of the punchbowl.
In another, Monk meets Shawn Spencer, the new guy from 'Psych', and they're arguing over which is better, "9" or "10". For Monk, ten would be better for him as it's an even number; it's two fives. Spencer counters with the fact that nine is the sum of three threes, and Monk grimaces over being matched in such stupid logic.
The whole point of that particular promo was to advertise the timeslots for each of their shows, but I'm not really sure which Monk would rather have. However, since they don't mention the behind the scenes technicalities of "Who's On First" and instead keep it limited to an abstract discussion of numbers, the illusion that they are appearing as their characters is not lost.
At any rate, 'Monk' is going to be on first at nine pm Friday nights starting this week to give 'Psych' a strong lead-in on a graveyard night.
But the best of these new interstitials has all three main characters appearing in it. The promo takes place in a diner, where Johnny and Shawn are arguing over who has it tougher when it comes to their respective powers. It would appear that Johnny finally accedes when Shawn pulls out the distant father card.
However, when they both notice Monk in another booth, giving the waitress grief over four extra kernels of corn, they both realize they've got it easier in life with their deductive styles when compared to him.
I don't know yet where 'Psych' is supposed to take place, but I get the feeling it could be somewhere near Los Angeles. And Johnny Smith calls Maine home, but he does travel around the country. So I'm thinking that this promo must occur in a San Francisco diner, and that for whatever reason (maybe a detective convention to tie in that other promo), Shawn and Johnny have come to the City by the Bay.
Because getting Adrian Monk to travel any distance from home is like pulling teeth... and after his encounter with a murderous dentist last season, that's not about to happen again soon!
So that's the first of the two top Crossovers of the Week....
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
First up are the promo interstitials currently running for the three detective series on USA Network which feature the stars of 'The Dead Zone', 'Monk', and the new offering, 'Psych'.
USA Network had done this sort of thing in the past for 'Monk' and 'The Dead Zone', in which Johnny wanted to show Adrian how his powers worked, but Monk didn't want to be touched by the clairvoyant. But now they've added the main character of 'Psych' into the mix of encounters.
In one of the new ones, Adrian Monk and Johnny Smith of 'The Dead Zone' meet up once again; this time at some kind of convention function. Monk makes sure he gets the first cup of punch out of the bowl, but Johnny is able to prevent him from drinking it once he has a vision of one of the waiters drinking straight out of the punchbowl.
In another, Monk meets Shawn Spencer, the new guy from 'Psych', and they're arguing over which is better, "9" or "10". For Monk, ten would be better for him as it's an even number; it's two fives. Spencer counters with the fact that nine is the sum of three threes, and Monk grimaces over being matched in such stupid logic.
The whole point of that particular promo was to advertise the timeslots for each of their shows, but I'm not really sure which Monk would rather have. However, since they don't mention the behind the scenes technicalities of "Who's On First" and instead keep it limited to an abstract discussion of numbers, the illusion that they are appearing as their characters is not lost.
At any rate, 'Monk' is going to be on first at nine pm Friday nights starting this week to give 'Psych' a strong lead-in on a graveyard night.
But the best of these new interstitials has all three main characters appearing in it. The promo takes place in a diner, where Johnny and Shawn are arguing over who has it tougher when it comes to their respective powers. It would appear that Johnny finally accedes when Shawn pulls out the distant father card.
However, when they both notice Monk in another booth, giving the waitress grief over four extra kernels of corn, they both realize they've got it easier in life with their deductive styles when compared to him.
I don't know yet where 'Psych' is supposed to take place, but I get the feeling it could be somewhere near Los Angeles. And Johnny Smith calls Maine home, but he does travel around the country. So I'm thinking that this promo must occur in a San Francisco diner, and that for whatever reason (maybe a detective convention to tie in that other promo), Shawn and Johnny have come to the City by the Bay.
Because getting Adrian Monk to travel any distance from home is like pulling teeth... and after his encounter with a murderous dentist last season, that's not about to happen again soon!
So that's the first of the two top Crossovers of the Week....
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Sunday, July 2, 2006
A BLUE AND ROWDY ZONK!
Going back to the 'Hustle' well one last time............
At one point during this past week's episode, Danny Blue was seen in the bathtub, playing with his rubber duckie and singing the theme song to 'Rawhide':
Movin', movin', movin',
Though they're disapprovin',
Keep them doggies movin'
Rawhide!
Don't try to understand 'em,
Just rope and throw and grab 'em,
Soon we'll be living high and wide!
There's not much of a chance that Danny Blue was ever going to cross paths with Rowdy Yates. (Just because he looks exactly like Elton Pope of the infamous "Love & Monsters" episode, that doesn't guarantee him a lift from the Time Lord on 'Doctor Who'.) Yet Danny and Rowdy inhabited the same TV Universe.
So how come Danny could sing the theme song from a TV show that should have been real life history to him?
Here's my splainin:
In Toobworld, the 'Rawhide' theme song is an actual folk song, of the prairie-"tumblin' tumbleweeds" variety; one that probably originated in honor of the trail drives on which Rowdy Yates participated.
That should keep the Zonks at bay.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
At one point during this past week's episode, Danny Blue was seen in the bathtub, playing with his rubber duckie and singing the theme song to 'Rawhide':
Movin', movin', movin',
Though they're disapprovin',
Keep them doggies movin'
Rawhide!
Don't try to understand 'em,
Just rope and throw and grab 'em,
Soon we'll be living high and wide!
There's not much of a chance that Danny Blue was ever going to cross paths with Rowdy Yates. (Just because he looks exactly like Elton Pope of the infamous "Love & Monsters" episode, that doesn't guarantee him a lift from the Time Lord on 'Doctor Who'.) Yet Danny and Rowdy inhabited the same TV Universe.
So how come Danny could sing the theme song from a TV show that should have been real life history to him?
Here's my splainin:
In Toobworld, the 'Rawhide' theme song is an actual folk song, of the prairie-"tumblin' tumbleweeds" variety; one that probably originated in honor of the trail drives on which Rowdy Yates participated.
That should keep the Zonks at bay.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
THE LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES: "HU$TLE"
This past week's episode of 'Hustle' roped in a few celebrities appearing as themselves to be unwitting accomplices.
Sarah Cox is a DJ for Radio 1 over in England. And for radio personalities to make the crossover into the TV Universe as themselves, she has to be a major player on the air.
Linford Christie is a multiple Olympic medalist who ran the 100 yard dash in under 10 seconds. He retired from athletic competition back in the late 1990s.
Both of them unknowingly took part in a long con which dealt with the world of rap and music promotion.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Sarah Cox is a DJ for Radio 1 over in England. And for radio personalities to make the crossover into the TV Universe as themselves, she has to be a major player on the air.
Linford Christie is a multiple Olympic medalist who ran the 100 yard dash in under 10 seconds. He retired from athletic competition back in the late 1990s.
Both of them unknowingly took part in a long con which dealt with the world of rap and music promotion.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
MISSING LINKS: "HU$TLE" & "VEGA$"
'Hustle' returned to the American airwaves for its third season this week, and the fact that it's been shifted to Wednesdays on AMC rather than the graveyard of Saturday nights speaks highly for it.
It's always great to see Mel Smith in anything and he was the perfect choice for playing the mark, Benny "The Boozer" Frazier. Bad enough that he was a thuggish lout (or if you prefer, a loutish thug) with a miserable family to match him, but he was a human trafficker to boot, so he deserved getting taken.
But even better for Toobworld was how 'Hustle' filled in the blanks between the seasons. With a flashback that splained why this gang of con artistes needed to rebuild their capital, they showed that even when we can't see them on the TV, the lives of Toobworld characters continue.
During the hiatus, Mickey and the gang weren't taking a break; they were simply over here in America and working new turf, specifically Las Vegas. And that's where Danny Blue screwed up and grabbed the wrong case during the switch.
The con went down in a hotel, o'bvious by the fact that Danny was wearing a bellboy uniform. So why can't we assume the hotel was the Montecito of 'Las Vegas'? If it's a question of any major differences in the style of uniform, that's an easy out: we just changed the bellboy uniforms at my place of employ. They've gone from looking like lawn jockeys to a Foreign Legion bowling team. (I liked it better when they looked like the Flying Monkeys of Oz.)
'Hustle' is usually free of heavy violence - they all did get beat up this past week, and Danny was shot in the first episode I ever saw. But it's unlikely we are going to be subjected to seeing them involved in any murder case.
But who knows what might have happened in Vegas? It stayed in Vegas, remember? So if there was a murder investigation connected to the con they pulled, it's possible Albert et al. might have had to deal with the characters we know from 'C.S.I.', at the very least with an investigation by Lt. Brass.
And even though the actor who played him has sadly passed away, I'd like to think that private investigator Dan Tanna is still working cases in Sin City. And maybe his snooping about gave the team reason to pack up and head back to Merrie Old England.
But I think the connection to 'Las Vegas' with the use of a Montecito hotel room would make the best bet for a connection.
So why did I suggest Robert Urich's show instead of James Caan's in the heading?
I would think the answer was o'bviou$.......
Hrmmmmm..... Maybe they attended a prize fight title bout while in Las Vegas where they could have bumped into 'Arli$$'......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
It's always great to see Mel Smith in anything and he was the perfect choice for playing the mark, Benny "The Boozer" Frazier. Bad enough that he was a thuggish lout (or if you prefer, a loutish thug) with a miserable family to match him, but he was a human trafficker to boot, so he deserved getting taken.
But even better for Toobworld was how 'Hustle' filled in the blanks between the seasons. With a flashback that splained why this gang of con artistes needed to rebuild their capital, they showed that even when we can't see them on the TV, the lives of Toobworld characters continue.
During the hiatus, Mickey and the gang weren't taking a break; they were simply over here in America and working new turf, specifically Las Vegas. And that's where Danny Blue screwed up and grabbed the wrong case during the switch.
The con went down in a hotel, o'bvious by the fact that Danny was wearing a bellboy uniform. So why can't we assume the hotel was the Montecito of 'Las Vegas'? If it's a question of any major differences in the style of uniform, that's an easy out: we just changed the bellboy uniforms at my place of employ. They've gone from looking like lawn jockeys to a Foreign Legion bowling team. (I liked it better when they looked like the Flying Monkeys of Oz.)
'Hustle' is usually free of heavy violence - they all did get beat up this past week, and Danny was shot in the first episode I ever saw. But it's unlikely we are going to be subjected to seeing them involved in any murder case.
But who knows what might have happened in Vegas? It stayed in Vegas, remember? So if there was a murder investigation connected to the con they pulled, it's possible Albert et al. might have had to deal with the characters we know from 'C.S.I.', at the very least with an investigation by Lt. Brass.
And even though the actor who played him has sadly passed away, I'd like to think that private investigator Dan Tanna is still working cases in Sin City. And maybe his snooping about gave the team reason to pack up and head back to Merrie Old England.
But I think the connection to 'Las Vegas' with the use of a Montecito hotel room would make the best bet for a connection.
So why did I suggest Robert Urich's show instead of James Caan's in the heading?
I would think the answer was o'bviou$.......
Hrmmmmm..... Maybe they attended a prize fight title bout while in Las Vegas where they could have bumped into 'Arli$$'......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
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