AT THE 15TH

'The Unusuals' was on twice this week, giving it a test run on Tuesday to see if it fared better than 'Cupid' in that timeslot.

In that Tuesday night episode, "One Man Band", Detective Casey Schraeger had to do the favor run-around in order to get somebody released from jail. And the guy was being held at the 15th Precinct station-house.

The 15th is most famous for being the setting for 'NYPD Blue', but it also showed up in the "Tithonus" episode of 'The X-Files'.

As to why the establishing shot in 'The Unusuals' differed from the view we know from 'NYPD Blue', we were probably seeing a side entrance.....

BCnU!
Toby O'B

AS SEEN ON TV: NATALEE HOLLOWAY

This week, Lifetime presented "Natalee Holloway", a movie about Beth Holloway's search for the truth in the disappearance of her daughter down in Aruba.

From Wikipedia:

Natalee Ann Holloway (born October 21, 1986) disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. An American student from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Holloway graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005, shortly before the trip. Her disappearance caused a media sensation in the United States.

BCnU!

Toby O'B

GOT GAME

With tonight's episode, 'Better Off Ted' now has something in common with 'NewsRadio' and 'Cheers'.

Can you name what it is?

BCnU!
Toby O'B

THE BUDDY SYSTEM

Rob Buckley of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (link to the left!) has posted a meme question:

"If you could be any TV character, who would you be and why?"

I chose Buddy Sorrell, of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'. There was no need to think long and hard about it; I've wanted to be Buddy Sorrell since I was a kid.

Buddy gets paid to tell jokes.

He sleeps on the job.

He gets to make fun of a much taller bald guy.

Being Buddy was something to aspire to when I was younger.

Upon growing up, however, I've had to make a few adjustments. Oh, I still get to sleep on the job, but I'm not often paid for my jokes. Okay, I'm not paid at all for them; I just shell them out gratis. (I probably should be paying for telling them......)

And as for insulting the tall bald guy, I'd never do that to a fellow Iddiot.

But at least I do follow the Buddy Sorrell dress code at work: loosened tie, unbuttoned vest, rumpled white shirt.

Maybe I should have taken up the cello......

So, I'd like to know - which TV character would you like to be? Let me know in the comments.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

CALLOO! CALLAY!

When I finally upgraded to broadband back in September of 2007, I installed Site Meter on "Inner Toob". I was just curious to see if the blog had the same pull that the old Tubeworld Dynamic did from 1997 to 2002.

Well, this past week, I broke the 100,000 mark!

-- Site Summary ---

Visits
Total ...................... 100,472 Average per Day ................ 274 Average Visit Length .......... 1:27 This Week .................... 1,919

Page Views
Total ...................... 144,238 Average per Day ................ 418 Average per Visit .............. 1.5 This Week .................... 2,926

I began "Inner Toob" back in August of 2004, prompted by my Little Buddy Sean starting his own blog over in Taiwan. (Anything Shoe can do....) For over three years, visitors went uncounted. So I have to wonder just how many hits there truly are for this voice of Toobworld?

Since I use "Inner Toob" as the launch pad to visit so many of my favorite blogs and sites, I realize a lot of thoe clicks are my own. But still, I'm most humbled by the spread as to where y'all come from, and how often.

Thanks, one and all, for helping me reach this milestone.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

ON A LARK WITH THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER

I mentioned in that "Farmer's Daughter's Daughter" post that one reason I was led to consider that particular theory of "relateeveety" was due to looking at how old TV shows integrated the product - in this case, cigarettes - into the show itself. And that's what led me to this YouTube video from the closing credits of 'The Farmer's Daughter'......



BCnU!
Toby O'B

AS SEEN ON TV: SIR SYDNEY COCKERELL

Sydney Cockerell

As Seen In:
"The Best Of Friends"
Portrayed by:
Sir John Gielgud

From Wikipedia:
Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell (1867-1962) was a British museum curator, collector, and well-connected figure in the literary world.

He made his way initially as clerk in the coal business, until he met John Ruskin. According to John Ruskin by Tim Hilton (p.816) , around 1887 Cockerell sent Ruskin some sea shells, which he collected. At that time he had already met William Morris. Cockerell tried to patch up a quarrel between Ruskin and Octavia Hill (Hilton p. 832), who had been a friend of his late father Sydney John Cockerell, and godmother to his sister Olive.

From 1891 he gained a more solid entry to intellectual circles, working for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. The architect Detmar Blow was a friend (Hilton p.843). He acted as private secretary to William Morris, becoming a major collector of Kelmscott Press books; was secretary also to Wilfrid Scawen Blunt; and was Thomas Hardy's executor. He was on friendly terms with Charlotte Mew, Viola Meynell, and T. H. White.

From 1908 to 1937 he was Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

THE DOCTOR vs THE CAPED CRUSADER

Now that his stint on 'Doctor Who' is winding down, David Tennant has expressed a desire to join a different franchise - the man who played the Eleventh Doctor would like to play The Riddler in a "Batman" movie.

I'm sure he'd do a great job in the role, bring his own quirks to such an iconic figure in the Caped Crusader's gallery of rogues. But I'd rather see him take on a lesser-known villain who had only the one misadventure in the old 1960's show:

The Bookworm!
A villain who centered his crimes around books as the theme.

Wishful thinking on my part, but I always thought there was potential in the character. I think had there been less camp - and by that point in the show's history, it was too late for that! - and if McDowall had been available, the Bookworm could have been as serious a threat to Gotham City as the Big Four: the Riddler, the Joker, Catwoman, and the Penguin.

But this will prove to be just wishful thinking on my part.....

BCnU!
Toby O'B

"AQR" - "ASTRO-QUEST" REMEMBERED

'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'
"A Space Oddity" Now, THIS should have been the 200th episode! Last week, 'CSI' attended a sci-fi/comic book convention in Las Vegas, the Whatifitcon, and of course, somebody was killed. Jonathan Danson was the driving force behind 'AQR', otherwise known as 'Astro-Quest Redux'. 'AQR' was going to be a major "re-imagining" of the original 'Astro-Quest' series, to be grittier, more political, and it would abandon all the trappings that fans held dear about the original version of the show. It sounds like what happened here in the real world with Ron Moore's version of 'Battlestar Galactica', which just recently concluded to much acclaim. Danson wasn't as lucky with his version of 'Astro-Quest', however: somebody caused his nose bones to get shoved back into his brain....... The 'Astro-Quest Redux' situation may have been similar to the early stages of 'Battlestar Galactica' here in the real world, but the original 'Astro-Quest' series was pure homage to 'Star Trek'. The costumes were similar to those worn by the Enterprise crew; the aliens could almost be mistaken for the races guest-starring in 'Trek' episodes; and women were seen in the same light as those who acted on the original show (either as exotic alien playthings or as dead-end job yeomen who would never break the glass ceiling in space).

Just from this one episode, we learned more about a fictional TV show than we may have from any since the 6 O'Clock News at WJM-TV12 on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'.

'Astro-Quest' ran for at least four seasons during the 1960s on Thursday nights. Three of the characters on the show were:
Commander Artemus Bishop (great name!)
Corpsman Scully
Yeoman Malloy There was a special alien fighting technique called the "Cephalon Submission Claw" (similar in effect to the Vulcan Neck-Pinch).

The main alien race seems to have been the Vellikans, which had its own language. Although the name sounds similar to "Vulcan", I think the Vellikans were meant to be more like the Klingons.

There was a Vulcan-like alien on board the starship's bridge; only his ears had long droopy earlobes with holes through them, rather than being pointy-tipped.

"A guy in a red shirt dies at the beginning of most 'Astro-Quest' episodes." - Hodges

'Astro-Quest' props include Trajillion Ale with Vellikan skull worms (the outer space equivalent of tequila), similar in effect to Saurian Brandy, I imagine. And then there's the Compliance Yoke from the episode "Slavers Of Serenidon", which looks to be almost too similar to the 'Star Trek' episode "Gamesters Of Triskellion".

In fact, within Toobworld's reality, 'Astro-Quest' appears to be a complete rip-off of 'Star Trek', which (unfortunately for Toobworld) does exist as a 20th Century TV show as well as a 24th Century reality.

"The Slavers Of Serenidon" - "Gamesters Of Triskellion"

"Dollop Of Apocalypse" - "A Piece Of The Action" (Amphibians who worshipped the book "Peyton Place" as a sacred text vs. humanoids who emulated the lifestyle depicted in the book "Chicago Mobs Of The Twenties") Agillian concubines (feral, carnal, voracious) - Orion slave girls

In Season 4, there was a three-part story, "Yesterday's Tomorrow", which may have been similar to the 'Trek' episode "All Our Yesterdays". In the episode, we see Ron Moore, who is the real world equivalent to the murder victim Jonathan Danson, lead the protest against 'AQR'. As it was just a nameless cameo, we can assume he was appearing as himself, which he's now done in two different TV dimensions in as many months. Also in the crowd was Grace Park, who played both Boomer and Athena in the newer version of 'Battlestar Galactica'. I suppose it could be that she was playing herself, but I'd rather think there must be some other TV character she has created in Toobworld who could be an ardent sci-fi fan and who would have gone to the fourth annual Whatifitcon in Vegas.

If you're interested in seeing 'CSI' - "Space Oddity", head over to cbs.com; they've got the episode up on the site.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER'S DAUGHTER?

A lot of times, when imagining the "life" in the TV Universe for characters from TV shows that have been cancelled, I sometimes take it years down the road, and sometimes even to the next generation. My latest rumination along these lines came about while looking at how old TV shows integrated the commercial into the actual show (especially after seeing an episode of 'Martin Kane, Private Eye' last week!), combined with my enjoyment of actress Megyn Price. (She's on 'Rules of Engagement' now, which I don't watch, but I loved her in 'Lateline' and 'Grounded For Life'.) A few months back I wrote an appreciation of the late actress Inger Stevens, and it occurred to me that Megyn Price could pass muster as the genetic daughter of Ms. Stevens' Katy Holstrum Morley and her husband Glenn Morley from 'The Farmer's Daughter'.

'The Farmer's Daughter' ended its run in 1965; Inger Stevens died in 1970; and Megyn Price was born in 1971. Only that last date would matter, as it is Toobworld policy to consider the actor's real age to be the same for the character they play (unless specifically noted otherwise). As for the other two real world dates, they don't apply to Toobworld: like I said, "life" continues for the characters, and those characters can outlive the actors who portrayed them. When 'The Farmer's Daughter' ended its four season run, Katy and the Congressman (whose family may have made its money from Toobworld's own brand of cigarettes) were now married, and she adopted his two sons. But perhaps, five years down the road from when the series left the air, Katy gave birth to a daughter.

I'm not saying any such child has to be a character that Megyn Price has already played on television - last names and mentions of family relations would play hob with that idea, especially with her character on 'Rules of Engagement'. (And we met her father on 'Grounded For Life'.) I'd have to watch my copy of 'Lateline' again, but it would be neat to imagine her character in that (Gale Ingersoll) as being the Morleys' daughter.

As for that particualar name change? A former marriage perhaps?

However, it's much simpler to just imagine that the character exists, that she looks like Megyn Price, and that we never got the chance to actually see her on TV.

And if her mother did die young and was thus unable to provide the governance needed for a proper upbringing, it might explain the wild behavior of her later years as an "adult"...... BCnU!
Toby O'B