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Just a quick little note, so there'll be more than just 24 posts in today's celebration.....
Alan Sepinwall moved his "What's Alan Watching?" TV blog to Hitfix earlier this year. (The link is to the left, dear friends.) And as is the wont of TV columnists and critics at this time of year, he's been looking back over the year for the best shows to put into a Top Ten list.
But he's also done a column on the best episodes and then opened up the floor to his readership to add in their two quatloos.
Here's what I offered:Toby O'BI'm going with the two-part season finale for 'Doctor Who' - "The Pandorica Opens" and "The Big Bang". Silly, exciting, funny, moving, romantic, a roller coaster of a fairy tale......
I may throw in more of these little posts before I'm done......
BCnU!
Here it is! The second annual "Who's On First" celebration at Inner Toob, in which we spend the next 24 hours celebrating the amazing 'Doctor Who' on the first day of the year.
And to start things off, here's the picture from 'Robot Chicken' which inspired the theme: 
BCnU!
One of the major events in my life this past year was a sad one - the death of my Uncle Skippy, who was also my godfather. I consider him and my godmother, Auntie Ellie, to be major influences in my life - she with her "Auntie Mame" joie de vivre, and he with his puckish sense of humor, darting in and out with quick little quips.
Norman Smith, Senior, was one of the first ten licensed TV repairmen in the state of Connecticut, and he was quite proud of that fact. As far as I know, my cousins still have his original license certificate. For a time he was the president of TELSA, a local organization for electronics dealers. When he finally retired and sold his company in West Hartford - Tip Top TV, which also sold televisions - Uncle Skip showed excellent timing, as we became more of a disposable society and the need for TV repairmen was dramatically reduced.
I accompanied him a few times on his appointments and it was cool to sit on those rooftops with my cousin Norman while Uncle Skippy worked on the antennae. And on one call, I got to meet an actual local TV celebrity - Ralph Kanna, the host of a Connecticut kids' show, "Draw With Me", on the local NBC affiliate.
So in these last few minutes of 2010, I just wanted to take a personal moment to remember Norman "Skip" Smith. 
Like the Eleventh Incarnation of the Doctor, who'll be the focus of a deluge of posts beginning at midnight, Uncle Skippy made bowties cool.
BCnU......
While you're celebrating/recovering on New Year's Day, pry yourself away from the "Who's On First" celebration here at Inner Toob long enough to watch the return of 'Primeval' on BBC-America.......
And you can see five prequels to the new season at the BBC-America page for the show.BCnU!
A little something different for the last "As Seen On TV" showcase of the year.....In the opening credits for the sitcom 'Angel', its creator and head writer Jess Oppenheimer got his own animated avatar. Such acknowledgement of the writer is more common over in Great Britain I think, where their credits are often listed before the actors involved.
JESS OPPENHEIMER
'Angel'
AS PLAYED BY:
Not Applicable
From Wikipedia:
Jess Oppenheimer (November 11, 1913 – December 27, 1988) a radio and television writer, producer, and director, was producer and head writer of the landmark CBS sitcom I Love Lucy.
Lucille Ball called Oppenheimer "the brains" behind I Love Lucy. As series creator, producer, and head writer, "Jess was the creative force behind the 'Lucy' show," according to I Love Lucy director William Asher. "He was the field general. Jess presided over all the meetings, and ran the whole show. He was very sharp."
In December, 1950, when CBS agreed to produce a TV pilot starring Lucille Ball and her first husband, Desi Arnaz, Sr., Lucy insisted on Oppenheimer to head up the project. But with a completed pilot due in just a few weeks, nobody knew what the series should be about. "Why don't we do a show," Oppenheimer suggested, "about a middle-class working stiff who works very hard at his job as a bandleader, and likes nothing better than to come home at night and relax with his wife, who doesn't like staying home and is dying to get into show business herself?" He decided to call the show "I Love Lucy."
He remained as producer and head writer of the series for five of its six seasons, writing the pilot and 153 episodes with Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. (joined in the fall of 1955 by writers Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf). Oppenheimer appeared on the show in Episode #6 ("The Audition"), as one of the three unimpressed TV executives for whom Ricky performs at the Tropicana.
Oppenheimer left I Love Lucy in 1956 to take an executive post at NBC, where he produced a series of TV specials, including the "General Motors 50th Anniversary Show" (1957), "Ford Startime" (1959), "The Ten Commandments" (1959), and the "1959 Emmy Awards." Oppenheimer and Ball were reunited in 1962 when he produced "The Danny Kaye Show with Lucille Ball," which was nominated as "Program of the Year" by the TV Academy, and again in 1964, when he executive produced "The Lucille Ball Comedy Hour."
During the 1960s, Oppenheimer created and produced three short-lived sitcoms: Angel, starring Annie Fargé and Marshall Thompson), Glynis (fall of 1963) (starring Glynis Johns), and The Debbie Reynolds Show (1969-70). His other TV credits included writing "The United States Steel Hour," producing "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre," and writing, producing, and directing most of the 1967-68 season of "Get Smart," starring Don Adams. Oppenheimer received two Emmy Awards and five Emmy nominations, a Sylvania Award, and the Writers' Guild of America's Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Achievement.
These animated characters in the credit sequences for sitcoms - from 'Bilko' and 'Bewitched' to 'I Love Lucy' and 'The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis' - belong in the Tooniverse. So those characters have at least two counterparts in alternate TV dimensions. And Jess Oppenheimer can be counted among them, as the "Network Sponsor" he played in that 'I Love Lucy' episode may have been what his televersion turned out to be....
BCnU next year!
Since the year is almost over, we should have at least one more female historical figure in the spotlight for the "As Seen On TV" showcase. They were unforturnately under-represented this year in the "ASOTV" feature, but I think that reflects their overall numbers in TV productions. If I tried to focus more often on the women, I'd end up with an overload of "women in danger" true-life movies from Lifetime.....
MARGARET THATCHER
"Margaret"
AS PLAYED BY:
Lindsay Duncan
From Wikipedia:
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. Thatcher is the only woman to have held either post.
At the 1979 general election she became Britain's first female Prime Minister.
In her foreword to the 1979 Conservative manifesto, Thatcher wrote of "a feeling of helplessness, that a once great nation has somehow fallen behind." She entered 10 Downing Street determined to reverse what she perceived as a precipitate national decline. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation, particularly of the financial sector, flexible labour markets, and the selling off and closing down of state owned companies and withdrawing subsidy to others.
Amid a recession and high unemployment, Thatcher's popularity declined, though economic recovery and the 1982 Falklands War brought a resurgence of support and she was re-elected in 1983. She took a hard line against trade unions, survived the Brighton hotel bombing assassination attempt and opposed the Soviet Union (her tough-talking rhetoric gained her the nickname the "Iron Lady"); she was re-elected for an unprecedented third term in 1987. The following years would prove difficult, as her Poll tax plan was largely unpopular, and her views regarding the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet.
She resigned as Prime Minister in November 1990 after Michael Heseltine's challenge to her leadership of the Conservative Party.
BCnU!
PABLO CASALS
AS SEEN IN:
'Kennedy'
AS PLAYED BY:
Unknown
From Wikipedia:
Pau Casals i Defilló (December 29, 1876 – October 22, 1973), known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He made many recordings throughout his career, of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, also as conductor, but Casals is perhaps best remembered for the recording of the Bach Cello Suites he made from 1936 to 1939.
In 1961, he performed at the White House by invitation of President Kennedy. This performance was recorded and released as an album.BCnU!
William Demarest died on December 28, 1983 at the age of 91.
WILLIAM DEMAREST
AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'
AS PLAYED BY:
Dana Carvey
From Wikipedia:William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 28, 1983) was an American character actor. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles. His most famous TV role was in the ABC and then CBS sitcom 'My Three Sons' from 1965 to 1972, playing Uncle Charley. He replaced William Frawley, whose failing health had made procuring insurance impossible. William Demarest had worked with Fred MacMurray previously in the 1935 film "Hands Across the Table", the 1945 film "Pardon My Past" and the 1955 film "The Far Horizons". 
WILLIAM FRAWLEY
AS SEEN ON:
'MADTV'
AS PLAYED BY:
Matt Braunger
From Wikipedia:
William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American stage entertainer, screen and television actor. Although Frawley acted in over 100 films, he achieved his greatest fame playing landlord Fred Mertz for the situation comedy I Love Lucy (and as "Bub" O'Casey on 'My Three Sons').
Two for Tuesday!
BCnU!
With the Christmas Day announcement of the December inductee, the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame has concluded its membership drive for 2010.
Here's a rundown of those who joined the pantheon this year:
2010
JANUARY
Jay Leno
'Entourage'
'Just Shoot Me'
'Homicide: Life On The Street'
FEBRUARY
Dr. Raymond Langston
'CSI'
'CSI: Miami'
'CSI: NY'
MARCH
Howdy Doody
'Puppet Playhouse'
'Happy Days'
'Andy's Funhouse'
APRIL
Radar O'Reilly
'M*A*S*H'
'AfterMASH'
'W*A*L*T*E*R'
MAY
Marilyn Monroe
'Curb Your Enthusiasm'
'Dark Skies'
'Quantum Leap'
JUNE
Sgt. Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon
'Dragnet'
'The Simpsons'
"Dragnet" movies
several TV commercials
BIRTHDAY HONORS
The Master (John Simm version)
The Master became every single TV character living on Earth Prime-Time during the events of 'Doctor Who' - "The End Of Time"
JULY
Cochise
'Broken Arrow'
'Bonanza'
'High Chapparal'
AUGUST
Hoby Gilman
'Trackdown'
'Wanted: Dead Or Alive'
'I Spy'
Robert Culp
'The Chris Isaak Show'
'The Jack Benny Show'
'Law & Order'
SEPTEMBER
Anthony E. Zuiker & Madeline Briggs
'CSI'
'CSI: Miami'
'CSI: NY'
OCTOBER
Hellboy
Commercials with
'Chuck'
'American Gladiators'
'Backstage At The Actors' Studio'
NOVEMBER
Edwin Newman
'Murphy Brown'
'Wings'
'The Golden Girls'
Sparky Anderson
'The White Shadow'
'Arli$$'
'WKRP In Cincinnatti'
DECEMBER
The Spirit of Christmas
'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea'
"A Town Without Christmas"
'Eureka'
I'm not sure if there will be a set theme next year. There are so many League of Themselves members who are qualified. We shall see what we shall view.....
BCnU!
Just a quick little note, so there'll be more than just 24 posts in today's celebration.....
