NEW TO VIEW @ TOOBWORLD HQ

Just received the second season of 'Kingdom', the series about a solicitor named Peter Kingdom (Stephen Fry) in the quirky village of Market Shipborough, Norfolk, UK. This is going right into the DVD duffel for taking on vacation!

Oddly enough, the first season wasn't available at Amazon.com, but as I just finished watching it on WLIW-21, I'm good for now. But this is definitely one series I want in my collection - I'm a big fan of quirky small towns in TV! And of Stephen Fry as well.....

Also got the latest graphic novel for Alan Moore's "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" - "Century 1910". This can't wait for vacation; it's going with me to work tonight for reading on the subway!

BCnU!

SIX MILLION DOLLAR SOCK

When Ben needed protection for his fight against a demon during one of the last episodes of 'Reaper', Sock offered to make him a suit of armor out of the old Wrenchie Bench mascot costume.

"We shal rebuild it, Benjamin" said Sock. "We have all the technology right at our fingertips. We can make it better. We shall make it better than it was before - Faster, stronger, demon-proofier."

Now that's the kind of TV reference I like. The writer of this episode trusted the audience enough to understand Sock was mocking the classic Oscar Goldman line from the opening theme of 'The Six Million Dollar Man'. There was no need for him (or her?) to beat us over the head with explanations of where it came from, as is sadly too prevalent in TV references today.

But aside from trusting the audience, it also remained Zonk-free. With no other mention of Colonel Steve Austin and his 1970's TV show, we can look upon the quote as just being the type of thing Bert Wysocki would say within the reality of Toobworld.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BUFFALO BILL CODY

BUFFALO BILL CODY

AS SEEN IN:
'The Young Riders' AS PLAYED BY:
Stephen Baldwin

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 08/2009-A: A SURE BETTE

For the first week of August, as has been the custom this year, is a member of the League of Themselves - those real life people who appear as themselves in fictional settings on television.

And this month that "honoree" is the Divine Miss M: Bette Midler.
Not only does she have at least the required three appearances in different programs, but one of them was in the Tooniverse, when she appeared on 'The Simpsons' episode "Krusty Gets Cancelled". And like Jerry Seinfeld and Charles Farrell before her, Bette Midler starred in her own sitcom as a fictionalized version of herself.

However, in Toobworld, Bette's husband was a guy named Roy, whereas she was married to Martin von Haselberg of the weird act called "The Kipper Kids". They have a daughter named Sophie - but in Toobworld, their daughter is named Rose (a la the movie she made in the real world?)
It's her marriage in this short-lived sitcom (although it debuted to high ratings, it quickly lost favor and didn't last the season) that makes her an interesting member of the League of Themselves. Not only did she have a different family than she does in the Trueniverse, but her husband Roy became a recastaway: in the last episode, Kevin Dunn was replaced by Robert Hayes as Roy.

And ye old Caretaker of Toobworld has a splainin for that change in his appearance - alien abduction and replacement. Whether they were from the same race or not, the aliens had the 'Starman' step in to replace Roy. Even though we could see him as "Paul Forrester" the 'Starman', Bette saw him as her husband, the original Roy.

It was probably part of an ongoing experiment, as their daughter Rose was replaced as well. (In the pilot she was played by Lindsay Lohan; in the series by Marina Malota.)

Maybe the aliens were planning to eventually steal away Midler as well - their planet was probably dying for some high camp entertainment.....

If so, this is the type of thing their home world could expect:



We can also claim that Bette Midler has a spiritually numerical connection to 'Lost' as well. Just check out the jersey she wore in the 'Seinfeld' episode "The Understudy":
Speaking of which, here's a clip from that, in which Bette Midler appeared as herself:



We've also got a clip from "Jackie's Back" about Bette's recollections of her first meeting with Jackie:



And from that TV dimension in which Germany won World War II and so everybody in the world was forced to speak German thereafter, here's what happened when Bette Midler and Frau Fran Fine feuded during an auction.....



Here is the tally for Bette Midler's appearances as herself in a fictional context:
Bette" (18 episodes, 2000-2001)

Jackie's Back! (1999)

"The Nanny"
- You Bette Your Life (1997) "Seinfeld"
- The Understudy (1995)

THE TOONIVERSE
"The Simpsons"
- Krusty Gets Kancelled (1993)

As to why Bette Midler was chosen for August? After all, she could have qualified for the theme of May Queen as well.

It all comes down to a very poor joke on my part, referring to an anecdote about the time she worked with Ken Wahl on a movie, and the fact that this is August....

BCnU!

WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR OAT BOATS

Out of those last 'Reaper' episodes, we were also able to find a prop link to at least two other shows: Oaties cereal - the Toobworld cousin to Wheaties and part of a complete breakfast.

Although I haven't seen it myself personally, it's been reported that Oaties can also be found in '7th Heaven' and in 'Full House' (although Oat Boats seems to have been the cereal of choice in the Tanner household).

Still, trivial as it may seem, Oaties cereal would thus be eligible for inclusion in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame one day.....

Eat that, Raisin Poofs!

BCnU!

NEW @ TOOBWORD CENTRAL

Two new arrival for the Toobworld Library, and one of them is home-made!

Brian-El, a member of the Idiot's Delight Digest (and probably from Krypton), mailed me a burned copy of the 'Mary Tyler Moore Show' reunion that was held on Oprah's talk show. Oprah went all out with recreations of the WJM office and of Mary's first apartment in Minneapolis.

Thanks, Uncle Brian!

Amazon had a one-day deal - the four seasons of 'Futurama' altogether for under 50 bucks. I couldn't pass that one up!

BCnU!

REAPER SMOKES

I finally finished the last three episodes of 'Reaper' Saturday. And although it didn't really end on a cliff-hanger, the finale felt like the creative team expected to get another season for the show. That's not going to happen, but at least we were left with the feeling there was hope for Sam to not only get out of his deal with the Devil, but also to rescue Andi's soul as well.

That will be left up to the Fates in Toobworld... maybe to intrepid 'Reaper' fanficcers out there. In the meantime, there was at least one last definite link to the TV Universe for the show......

Mary Pat, a new greeter at the Work Bench, was a smoker. And her cancer sticks of choice? Morley's, the brand most TV characters ask for by name! Other shows that had the Morley brand:

'Beverly Hills, 90210'
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
'Cold Case'
'Criminal Minds'
'ER'
'Jake 2.0'
'Killer Instinct'
'The L Word'
'Malcolm in the Middle'
'Medium'
'Millennium'
'Mission: Impossible'
'Nash Bridges'
'New Amsterdam'
'Prison Break' (alternate universe)
'The Outer Limits'
'Space: Above and Beyond'
'Special Unit 2'
'Spy Game'
'That '70s Show'
'The Twilight Zone' (a big maybe......)
'The X-Files'

In much the same way as the Devil owns the souls of Sam and Andi, Toobworld owns 'Reaper' now......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JUDGE ROY BEAN

For this "Two For Tuesday" edition of the "As Seen On TV" showcase, during our annual summer celebration of the TV Western, we have one of the most colorful characters to be found west of the Pecos.....

JUDGE ROY BEAN

AS SEEN IN:
"The Streets Of Laredo"

AS PLAYED BY:
Ned Beatty

Eventually Judge Roy Bean will be inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame during the summer months. The reason he's not going in this year is because of the tenth anniversary of the Hall. With a new inductee going in every week, it might have diminished the over-sized legend of the man. And when he does go in, he'll go in looking like Edgar Buchanan. AS SEEN IN:
'Judge Roy Bean'

AS PLAYED BY:
Edgar Buchanan

But it's always nice to feature a Ned Beatty character here at Toobworld Central, so I'll take the opportunity when I can! BCnU!

GOOGLIN' DOWN THE ROAD

If you've got access to "Google Street View", you can use it to get inside the alternate dimension of Earth Prime-Time!

So far, you can't travel down the main street of Cicely, Alaska, looking for their moose; and you can't use it to check out the water tower in Hooterville in search of the Bradley girls. But the producers for one of Great Britain's most popular soap operas have allowed the Google Street View car to rumble along 'Coronation Street'. It's all in connection to the re-launch of the show's website, so I'm not sure how long the access will last.....

BCnU!

EUReKA! NO TAYLOR-MADE ZONK!

In the episode "It's Not Easy Being Green", Global Dynamics needed 'Eureka' sheriff Jack Carter to collect all the samples of globinium (a safe alternative to plutonium) in town. Tess Fontana teased him by saying that he could rely on his easy-going Andy Griffith charm to get those people to give up their samples.

No Zonk here to be deactivated! There's no mention of any of Griffith's TV shows, but we all know which one she meant. I mean, Carter's a small-town sheriff like Andy Taylor; I don't think he's going to be confused with a Southern lawyer or a private school's headmaster.

Luckily for the integrity of the Toobworld structure, we're in the Trueniverse; within the reality of Earth Prime-Time, Tess was just referring to Andy Griffith's charm as a comic story-teller - the guy known for such stories as "What It Was, Was Football".

BCnU!