AS SEEN ON TV 2012 - THE END

So we're wrapping up the literary edition of the ASOTV showcase today........

It's been a lot of fun and I hope you enjoyed it. It certainly turned out to be a lot easier than I expected!

This was a project that I had in mind for a few years now.......

DEEP SIX: ALL LIT UP

When I started this version of the ASOTV showcase back in January, I thought it would be rough going in finding at least 365 characters (more because of the "Two For Tuesday" policy!)  As it turned out, I never did have enough time to get to all the characters I wanted to feature - characters from "The Hogfather", "The Colour Of Magic", "The Virginian", other charactes from 'Gulliver's Travels', plus Irene Adler, Professor Moriarty, and other incarnations of Sherlock Holmes.  I wanted to cover "Earthsea" and why Ursula K. LeGuin hated the casting.  And even though I spent the month of August on James Michener's 'Centennial', there were still plenty of characters from that book I could have featured.

Oh well.  What the hell.*

Next year we're revising the "As Seen On TV" feature once again.  This time the focus will be on the League of Themselves - those people who play their own televersions.  This showcase begins tomorrow and since New Year's Day is also the fourth(?) annual "Who's On First" marathon (maybe the third.....) AND it's a Tuesday we'll have a "Two For Tuesday" showcase from 'Doctor Who'!

BCnU and Happy New Year!

*I think Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" should be adapted for a long-range project on one of the premium networks......

AS SEEN ON TV: JIM CARTER

Here it is - the last literary edition of the As Seen On TV showcase for 2012!

JIM CARTER

AS SEEN IN:
"The Ruby In The Smoke"

CREATED BY:
Philip Pullman

PORTRAYED BY:
Matt Smith

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOOKWORLD AND TOOBWORLD:
In the book, Jim Carter is thirteen years old.

From BBC Drama:
Jim's the dogsbody [someone who does drudge work] at the Lockhart and Selby shipping firm. 

He's lively, intelligent, and above all a true and loyal friend. Jim's a great amateur detective, which makes him an absolutely indispensible help for Sally as she attempts to piece together the mystery surrounding the Ruby of Agrapur.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

GERONIMO!

AS SEEN ON TV: REVEREND GIBSON

REVEREND GIBSON

AS SEEN IN:
'He Knew He Was Right'

CREATED BY:
Anthony Trollope

PORTRAYED BY:
David Tennant

[The Tenth Doctor]

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:
"He Knew He Was Right" is an 1869 novel written by Anthony Trollope which describes the failure of a marriage caused by the unreasonable jealousy of a husband exacerbated by the stubbornness of a willful wife. As is common with Trollope's works, there are also several substantial subplots. Trollope makes constant allusions to Shakespeare's "Othello" throughout the novel. Trollope considered this work to be a failure; he viewed the main character as unsympathetic, and the secondary characters and plots much more lively and interesting. It was adapted for BBC One in 2004 by Andrew Davies as 'He Knew He Was Right'.

Aunt Stanbury tries to promote a marriage between her niece and a favoured clergyman, Mr Gibson. This causes much resentment with Arabella and Camilla French, two sisters who had considered him a future husband for one of them (though which was still a matter of much debate). However, this plan is derailed.

Aunt Stanbury had always intended to bequeath her wealth back to the Burgess family, rather than to her Stanbury relations. She had chosen as her heir Brooke Burgess, the nephew of her former fiancé. When he visits her for the first time as an adult, everyone is charmed by his warm, lively personality, especially Dorothy. When Gibson finally proposes to her, she cannot avoid unfavourably comparing him to Brooke and declines. Her aunt is at first much put out by Dorothy's obstinacy. Eventually however, she places the blame on the clergyman, which results in a serious breach between them.

The feud with his former patron leaves Gibson so distracted that he finds himself engaged to a domineering Camilla French. After a while, he comes to regret his choice. Finally, finding Camilla's overpowering personality unbearable, he extricates himself by agreeing to marry the milder Arabella instead. Camilla is driven to extravagant threats and is finally sent to stay with her stern uncle in the period leading up to the wedding.

BCnU!

TOOBMUSIC: ONE DIRECTION

My eight year old nephew supposedly likes these guys, but that could be due to influence from his peers. But I will admit that I found the song to be catchy.....

TVXOHOF - THE EDISON

Jack Benny mentions my place of employ, a recent Birthday Honors List inductee into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.  It comes up at the 3:07 mark.....

BCnU!

FIZZIES THE CLOWN

Time to pay the bills.....

It's a different type of Fizzies that will be needed on Tuesday morning by all those end-of-the-year revelers!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: POD CLOCK

One last 'Doctor Who'-connected entry in the ASOTV showcase which has a Christmas flavor*.....

POD CLOCK

AS SEEN IN:
"The Borrowers" (2010)

CREATED BY:
Mary Norris

PORTRAYED BY:
Christopher Eccleston

TV STATUS:
Recastaway

TV DIMENSION:
The 'West Wing' Dimension
(Why not?)

Christopher Eccleston on playing the role:

From Wikipedia:
"The Borrowers" is a children's fantasy novel by the English author Mary Norton, published by Dent in 1952. It features a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of an English house and "borrow" from the big people in order to survive. Alternatively, The "Borrowers" is the series of five novels including four sequels that feature the same family after they leave "their" house.

Pod Clock is Arrietty's father and, according to his wife Homily, the most talented Borrower.

From SHMOOP.COM:
Oh Pod. He's really a good guy, but sometimes his parenting leaves a bit to be desired. He loves Arrietty, and he's a good husband to Homily, sure. But he's also more than a little overprotective. So he spends much of the book trying to walk the line between loving dad and total control freak.

And what a fine line it is. See, in Pod's mind, he faces the dangers of borrowing upstairs to ensure a life of safety for his family. As the narrator tells us, "His wife and child led more sheltered lives in homelike apartments under the kitchen, far removed from the risks and dangers of the dreaded house above".

But because only Pod knows how to open the many gates that create a barrier between their home and the outside world, he winds up controlling how much freedom his family has, which is not the fairest thing in the world.

BCnU!

*Only this version is set in the weeks leading up to Christmas.....

AS SEEN ON TV: CAPTAIN BUSH

CAPTAIN WILLIAM BUSH, RN

AS SEEN IN:
'Horatio Hornblower'

CREATED BY:
C.S. Forrester

PORTRAYED BY:
Paul McGann
(The Eighth Doctor)

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:
Captain William Bush RN is a fictional character in C.S. Forester's "Horatio Hornblower series". He is Hornblower's best friend, and serves with Hornblower in the Royal Navy prior to the Peace of Amiens and again during the Napoleonic Wars.

In the Hornblower TV series, Bush was played by Paul McGann. Few changes were made to the character, although some aspects of his role in Lieutenant Hornblower were transferred to Lt. "Archie" Kennedy, who does not appear in the novel.

Bush's role in the novels is that of Hornblower's best friend and second-in-command. He is characterized chiefly by his loyalty, his patience, good nature, and stolid matter-of-fact outlook. Although Hornblower genuinely cares for Bush, he often frustrates and hurts him through harsh criticism. Hornblower, although a brilliant strategist, is a painfully self-conscious and hyperactively introspective man who tries desperately to conceal from the world what he perceives as "weaknesses". However, Bush sees Hornblower as he is:

Bush could be fond of [Hornblower] even while he laughed at him, and
could respect him even while he knew of his weaknesses.
Bush's loyalty to Hornblower is in fact strengthened by Hornblower's
limitations and his attempts to conceal them.

As the Hornblower novels progress, Bush often worries that Hornblower is depriving himself not only of food and rest, but also of human contact. Although Bush is an excellent judge of character, he is not a diplomat; and he must often keep his concern for his sensitive friend to himself. The friendship survives because of Bush's perseverance.

Little of the private life of William Bush is revealed in the Hornblower novels. A significant personal detail about Bush is that he has a mother and four sisters who live in a cottage in Chichester and depend upon Bush for their support. His sisters "devoted all their attention to him whenever it was possible," and he is as devoted to them as he gives them half of his pay. Forester does not reveal whether Bush grew up in Chichester, or at what age he left home. He was "brought up in a harsh school," an experience which taught him caution and perhaps contributed to his natural stolidity.

Forester did not give a date of birth for Bush: indeed, Bush's age changes over the course of the novels. Bush is first described as being a few years older than Hornblower (similar to an older brother), but is later described as ten years older. Nevertheless, Forester does portray Bush consistently as a character who is wistfully protective of his younger friend.

In July 1796 Bush received his commission as lieutenant while serving on the HMS Superb, and thus took the first significant step in his career as a naval officer. Bush recalls that he relied more on "seamanship and not navigation" to pass the requisite examination.

Bush served on board HMS Conqueror just prior to his assignment to Renown. However, Hornblower "biographer" C. Northcote Parkinson remarks that "Bush's last ship had been the HMS Dolphin sloop".

BCnU!

FROM TELEVERSION CITY: MY COUSIN, THE BLOGGER MOM

In one of my very first postings about the TV Universe, back in the olden days of The Tubeworld Dynamic, I wrote about how everybody here in the "Trueniverse" has a counterpart in Toobworld.  And with reality programming, news reports, crowd shots at televized sports events, prank shows like 'Candid Camera' and home video programs, eventually we'll all show up on TV.

Take - oh, I don't know... say!  How about me?  Yes, take me for instance.  Thanks to 'The Hap Richards Show', 'Ranger Andy', "Late Show with David Letterman' and the TV movie "The Deadliest Season", my televersion grew up as a citizen of Joyville, visited the Ranger Station, was given a photocopy of Letterman's vacation picture by Dave himself, and went to a lot of hockey games.  (I'm not a hockey enthusiast, but I played one on TV.)

I'm fairly certain some of my friends would find that their televersions were aliens from other planets; some of them might even be clones; and I've got my suspicions that one of them is an android.  Two women I know would be witches, but the good type.  (Perhaps my goddaughter Rhiannon is a white witch in training......)

I'd also like to think that certain people in my life would still be alive in the TV Universe.....

A person's televersion doesn't even have to show up on TV to become a part of the Tele-Folks Directory......

For example:

In the penultimate episode of 'Leverage' ("The Toy Job"), the crew called on the services of a national network of "Blogger Moms" to help get their fake toy (Baby Joy-Rage or Baby Feels-A-Lot) some much needed hype.

I've got a second cousin who's a Blogger Mom.  And I'd like to think that even though the episode took place in Portland, Oregon, and she lives in Connecticut, Kelly was still called on to do her part in marketing the doll.

For those who might be interested in the musings of the Blogger Mom in my extended family, check out "The Teeny Tiny Mommy".  (The link can also be found to the left among those from other family members and friends.)

I'd love to hear about your televersions, either as seen on TV or what you'd like it to be.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MR. DOWLING

MR. DOWLING

AS SEEN IN:
'Tom Jones, A Foundling'

CREATED BY:
Henry Fielding

PORTRAYED BY:
Sylvester McCoy
(The Seventh Doctor)

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

From Ruth Nestvold:
The neatly constructed plot reflects a basic eighteenth century faith in the order of the world, which Fielding, despite skeptical overtones, displayed in this huge but far from sprawling novel. Samuel Taylor Coleridge saw the plot of "Tom Jones" as one of the three most perfectly planned plots in literature. Even seemingly random details have a place, and at the end of the tale the reader notices that elements which might have appeared superfluous are necessary to round off the story. 

The role of the lawyer Dowling is a case in point. In his original appearance he seems only to contribute to the busy atmosphere of the scene, but at the end he is revealed to have been instrumental to the development of events. The scene at the inn in Upton, exactly halfway through the novel, is a plot node of great complexity: here all of the major actors and plot threads come together, and actions and misunderstandings occur which will be crucial for the climax and denouement. Despite the involved construction and numerous plot twists, the author is at great pains to provide adequate motivation for these machinations, creating an appearance of causality usually lacking in the monumental prose romances popular in his day.

From the source:
Jones, who in the compliance of his disposition (though not in his prudence) a little resembled his lovely Sophia, was easily prevailed on to satisfy Mr. Dowling’s curiosity, by relating the history of his birth and education, which he did, like Othello.         

—Even from
his boyish years,
 To th’ very moment he was bad to tell:
the which to hear, 

Dowling, like Desdemona, did seriously incline;
    He swore ’t was strange, ’t was passing strange;
 ’T was pitiful, ’t was wonderous pitiful.
     
Mr. Dowling was indeed very greatly affected with this relation; for he had not divested himself of humanity by being an attorney. Indeed, nothing is more unjust than to carry our prejudices against a profession into private life, and to borrow our idea of a man from our opinion of his calling. Habit, it is true, lessens the horror of those actions which the profession makes necessary, and consequently habitual; but in all other instances, Nature works in men of all professions alike; nay, perhaps, even more strongly with those who give her, as it were, a holiday, when they are following their ordinary business. A butcher, I make no doubt, would feel compunction at the slaughter of a fine horse; and though a surgeon can feel no pain in cutting off a limb, I have known him compassionate a man in a fit of the gout. The common hangman, who hath stretched the necks of hundreds, is known to have trembled at his first operation on a head; and the very professors of human blood-shedding, who, in their trade of war, butcher thousands, not only of their fellow-professors, but often of women and children, without remorse; even these, I say, in times of peace, when drums and trumpets are laid aside, often lay aside all their ferocity, and become very gentle members of civil society. In the same manner an attorney may feel all the miseries and distresses of his fellow-creatures, provided he happens not to be concerned against them.

O'BSERVATIONS:
Mr. Dowling could be the "roots" of the family tree in Toobworld which would lead to Father Dowling.....

BCnU!