GAME OF THE NAME - TYGAR, TYGAR, BEING CITED*

A lot of actors appeared in multiple roles on 'Barney Miller'.  Occasionally one of those characters would click and that actor would continue returning in that role - like Ralph Manza.  Best known as Leon Roth, the often-beleaguered blind vendor, Manza started out playing Anthony Barelli and Eddie Blake.  Alex Henteloff began as ambulance-chasing lawyer Arnold Ripner and then was seen as artistic signature forger Harold Polanski before the Powers That Be realized Ripner was a much stronger character.  He came back to play the shyster five more times and was key to a story arc for Detective Harris.

On a lesser scale was Kenneth Tigar.  A great character actor, he appeared in as many episodes of 'Barney Miller' as Henteloff, Manza, Phil Leeds, Philip Sterling, and Peggy Pope and quite a few others.  But out of his six episodes, it was only with Stefan Kopeckne that Tigar reprised a character.

- Possession (1981) ... Stefan Koepeknie
- The Psychic (1981) ... Philip Pollock
- The Photographer (1979) ... Jesus Christ
- The Ghost (1978) ... Elliot Porter
- Werewolf (1976) ... Stefan Koepeknie
- Massage Parlor (1976) ... Fletcher

From the Otto Files:
My guess, however, would be that he’s probably best remembered for one of his BARNEY MILLER episodes in which he appeared as Stefan Kopeckne, a man who believes he is a werewolf. For BARNEY MILLER aficionados, this episode entitled “The Werewolf” is probably the most remembered story next to “Hash” which is an episode where the boys eat some brownies laced with drugs. I asked Tigar why the “Werewolf” episode is so prized after all these years. His astutely simple reply was, “Because it was funny!”

I've been on a 'Barney Miller' kick for the last few months, having never been able to watch it when it first came out due to work schedules.  And I'm keeping track of a lot of the trivia in the run of the series.  One of the things I picked up is that the detectives of the 12th Precinct don't always remember the returning victims and/or criminals.  They actually admitted it in one of the episodes.  This helps splain away why they never noticed when some characters looked like other past visitors to the station.

The first time Stefan Kopeckne showed up at the station, he believed he had been bitten by a werewolf and that he was beginning to transform into one himself.  When he came back five years later, Wojo vaguely remembered the last time he was there.  (As it turned out, having a werewolf in the cage was... a hell* of a lot better than Kopeckne's problem in 1981 - he was now possessed by a demon.)

But it actually hadn't been five years since Wojo had last seen him.  It had been only 2½ years.

From the IMDb:

"The Photographer"

[September 20, 1979]

Kenneth Tigar ("Werewolf") makes the fourth of his six memorable appearances, this time as Jesus Christ, or at least a man who claims to be. He smiles the entire time he's being booked for assault and disorderly conduct, scolding pimps for "debasing the harlots!"

"Jesus Christ" never gave his name when he was picked up, and Wojo couldn't find out who he was by searching all sorts of records and missing persons reports.  But he was still sent over to Bellevue for observation.  

And despite how shook up Wojo was by the experience, feeling like Judas, nearly three years later he didn't recognize "Jesus" when he returned to the precinct.  Once again he was Stefan Kopeckne, and probably because of his time spent thinking he was the Christ returned, Kopeckne proved to be a tempting host for the demon.  (Yes, I believe he really was possessed.)

So for the IMDb, this is how those three appearances by Kenneth Tigar on 'Barney Miller' are listed:

- Possession (1981)  ... Stefan Koepekne

- The Photographer (1979) ... Jesus Christ
- Werewolf (1976) ... Stefan Koepekne

But for Toobworld Central, it should read like this:

- Possession (1981)  ... Stefan Koepekne

- The Photographer (1979) ... Stefan Koepekne AKA Jesus Christ

- Werewolf (1976) ... Stefan Koepekne

One day I'm going to go through Kenneth Tigar's resume and see if there are any viable NYC characters he played who could be Stefan Koepeckne using an alias.....

BCnU!

* Sorry about that, Chief.....

THE LIFE AND CONTINUED LIFE OF MARY RICHARDS

One of the rules that govern my custodial duties as Toobworld's Handyman is that unless otherwise stipulated, the age of a TV character is the same as that of the actor playing the role.  This rule applies to even those characters to be found in the distant Past (Westerns, Roman epics) as well as in the far Future (just about every sci-fi show.)  Of course the dates of their birth would then have to be adjusted to make this correlation be totally faithful to the actor.

One of those exceptions is/was Mary Richards.  'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' will always be one of my top six favorite TV shows; I often said it was my guide to life.  As many of Team Toobworld should be aware, it has come back to our notice sadly with blob posts and retro network "Marythons" due to the death of Mary Tyler Moore.

I still can't get my head around the fact that she was 80 years old.  But she was in ill-health for several years and she was nearly blind when she played her final role in a reunion of the actresses from the show in an episode of 'Hot In Cleveland' a few years back.  For me, she will always be in her thirties.  (When it comes to Laura Petrie, she will always be in her twenties in my mind, reunion movie be damned!)

But Mary Richards is not 80 years old as well.  She would be 77 years old in Toobworld.  This is established in the episode "The Sexagenarian" in which Mayr dated Murray's Dad Doug Booth (played by the impishly wonderful Lew Ayres.)

We found out that Mary Richards was born in April of 1939, whereas Mary Tyler Moore's birthdate is December 29, 1936.  

It's usually a given that I consider a character to have died around the same time as the actor who played them, most especially with the iconic roles (like Archie Bunker and Lucy Ricardo.  And in connection with this series, Ted Baxter.)  But in Mary's case?  I'm of the opinion that I should consider Mary Richards Cronin still alive out there somewhere in Toobworld, probably TV-NYC, and will continue to be well into her nineties.  Why not?  Mary Richards did not suffer from Type 1 Diabetes as Ms. Moore did.  She was always presented on the show as being in excellent health (for the most part - there was that episode in which she got sick and nothing went right just before the Teddy Awards.)

And it's not like anybody will really dare to take over the role as a Recastaway - she came from a series named after the star, for whom the character was specifically created after all.  Unlike characters like Hawkeye Pierce, Perry Mason, and Lt. Columbo, there will always be just one Mary Richards.

It will be interesting to note any future references to the character or to the show from this point on.  I'm hoping nobody ever tries to suggest that she died.  

After all, Mary Richards died once already in a TV dimension - in Skitlandia, thanks to a sketch on 'Saturday Night Live'.  

Murray Slaughter: 

[ touches Mary's shoulder ] 

I don't think Mary's depressed, Ted. I think she's dead! 

Ted Baxter: 

Come on, Murray, she can't be dead - she's busy. Dead people are never busy.

Murray Slaughter: 

Oh, God, Ted! How could this have happened? 

Ted Baxter: 

I don't know, Murray. I mean, she was fine this morning when I put that Drano in her coffee for a joke! 

Murray Slaughter: 

Drano?! You put Drano in her coffee?! 
Ted Baxter: 

Well, she was hoarse, and I thought it'd help clean out her pipes! [ chuckles ] Get it?

Murray Slaughter: 

That stuff's poison! Don't you read the label! 

Ted Baxter: 

Yeah, but it got boring. 

Murray Slaughter: 

Mary's dead, you killed her! Why couldn't it have been the other way around?

So I ask you: Hasn't she suffered enough?

For the full sketch, click here.

BCnU.....

MULTI-VERSATILITY - MIKE HAMMER

Preston Giles:

You're what?

Dexter Baxendale:

A private investigator. 

My name is Dexter Baxendale.

Grady Fletcher:

You're kidding!

Dexter Baxendale:

Not everyone in my profession sports 

a broken nose and dirty fingernails, my pubescent friend. 

When Society seeks confidential assistance, 

they do not necessarily hire Mike Hammer.

'MURDER, SHE WROTE'

This conversation took place in late summer, 1984, at the estate of "Captain" Caleb McCallum in New Holvang, New York.  Based on standard practices here at Toobworld Central, without any accreditation to the name, we accept that Baxendale was speaking of Mike Hammer as a real person.

Mike Hammer is a Multi-dimensional.  He began "life" in the 1947 paperback "I, The Jury" by Mickey Spillane and in a dozen other novels and four short stories.  (There are at least nine more novels mostly written by Max Allen Collins but Spillane gets top billing in the byline.)

From there he moved on to five feature films and five TV movies, with four TV series and one unsold pilot for another show.  (Coincidentally, that pilot, directed by Blake Edwards, starred Brian Keith as Hammer.  Keith was one of the major guest stars in the 'Murder, She Wrote' pilot from which the above quote comes.)

Hammer also appeared in comic books eventually which had been the forum in which former comic book writer Spillane originally planned to use for his hard-boiled detective (athough his name would have been Mike Danger.)

And in the aural universe, there was a radio series as well as audio-books about Hammer.

Hammer's heyday for Earth Prime-Time (but not the greater TV Universe) was in the 1950s.  But he was still alive by 1984 and his fame was probably heightened thanks to movies and books.  (He's the type of character whose source material would be referenced in TV shows, not just the character himself, as seen here.  In fact, his fame would secure in the future, as Constable Odo and Chief Miles O'Brien both were fans of the novels about him.)  So when Baxendale cited him, he assumed Giles and the others would know who Mike Hammer was.

Someday Mike Hammer will be inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame as a Multi-dimensional.  He may have been portrayed by Darren McGavin originally, but it will be Stacy Keach whose visage will grace the official portrait.  (Keach appeared in three different incarnations of a 'Mike Hammer' TV series as well as a handful of TV movies.)

McGavin died in 2006 and so I think we should consider Mike Hammer to have died around that time as well.  In the Land O' Remakes, Hammer is still alive, although getting pretty old.  But he will be immortal in BookWorld with each new reader of those books by Mickey Spillane.

BCnU!

TUESDAY NEWS DAY - ALOHA, MacGYVER!

The new versions of the CBS action shows 'Hawaii Five-0' and 'MacGyver' both take place in the Land O' Remakes since they're both reboots of long-gone series (from CBS and ABC respectively.)  So unlike the time 'Five-0' crossed over with 'NCIS: LA' back in 2012, there is no Zonk that needs splainin away when characters from 'Five-0' appear in the March 10th episode of 'MacGyver'.  And the fact that they share the same showrunner in Peter M. Lenkow makes the crossover seem pre-destined.

Here's the plot summary from TVLine:

In the 'MacGyver' episode, titled “Flashlight,” Mac and the team travel to the big Island of Hawaii to aid in earthquake-relief efforts. There, Mac and Jack team with Chin Ho and Kono to rescue a group of government scientists trapped in a building on the verge of collapse. But as they do so, a dangerous group using the erchaos as a distraction aim to steal some top-secret weaponry that the scientists were working on.

As I noted in that previous post, the version of 'NCIS: LA' which we see each week is rooted in the main Toobworld; there are just too many other TV series connected to it.  (And I'm not about to surrender such Earth Prime-Time shows like 'Scorpion', 'JAG', and the other two 'NCIS' series to the Land O' Remakes.)

But many shows do have their counterparts in alternate TV dimensions; in fact, the Land O' Remakes has nothing but counterparts to so many other shows - 'The New Addams Family', 'The Fugitive', '87th Precinct', maybe 'Gotham' if that's not berthed in the world of Comix Toobworld.  It's just that in the Land O' Remakes, their version of 'NCIS: LA' happens to showcase the original characters as they look in the main Toobworld instead of being Recastaways.

Since these two shows don't have any impact on Earth Prime-Time, I say: Have at it!

For the full news story, click here.

BCnU!

PS:

Thanks to Rob Buckley for pointing this story out.  It hadn't come up in my Facebook news feed yet.  (You'll find the link to Rob's great site "The Medium Is Not Enough" to the left in the blogroll, Team Toobworld!)

IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD TOOBWORLD

I was watching some of the New Year's Eve marathon of 'The Joey Bishop Show' and in the episode "My Buddy, My Buddy", the guest star was Buddy Hackett as himself (with Danny Thomas as a surprise guest cameo.) 

Buddy was going to be on Joey Barnes' talk show that night and during his introduction Joey talked about how Buddy had been busy the last few months making a movie: "Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". (Joey never said "It's A".)

So in my little fantasy realm of "Toobworld", the movie is acknowledged as actually existing. Of course, the televersion may have some differences from the real version.  Some other actors, perhaps, or a few different plot elements.

Here are some references from other TV shows:

Mad Men: The Good News 

(2010)
The movie is one of the ones that Don and Lane are contemplating seeing.

Cold Case: November 22 

(2009)
Sharon tells the police she was watching this movie when the usher announced that JFK had been shot.

Remington Steele: Steele in the Chips 

(1985)
Steele remarks how their pursuit of cookies is similar to the pursuit for an object in this film.

Remington Steele: Steele Among the Living 

(1983)
Mentioned in the dialogue.

BCnU!

VIDEO SUNDAY - LUCY & THE POTUS

I'm still fixated on the turn of events in Washington.......  

So here's a short entry for this day of rest [AKA Video Sunday]:

BCnU!

SATURDAY'S COMICS - "THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW"

From Wikipedia:

'The Dick Van Dyke Show' is an American television sitcom that initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning over five seasons. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Larry Mathews, and Mary Tyler Moore. It centered on the work and home life of television comedy writer Rob Petrie (Van Dyke). The show was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff. The music for the show's theme song was written by Earle Hagen.

The series won 15 Emmy Awards. In 1997, the episodes "Coast-to-Coast Big Mouth" and "It May Look Like a Walnut" were ranked at 8 and 15 respectively on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. In 2002, it was ranked at 13 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time and in 2013, it was ranked at 20 on their list of the 60 Best Series.

I can boil that down to its essence [from my point of view]: 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' is the greatest sitcom of all time.

I wish I could find actual pages from these comic book versions of this "Camelot of Sitcoms", but these covers will have to do.

And for a really great story behind them, check out this article.

BCnU!

GAME OF THE NAME - MARSHALL, LEVINSON, RADCLIFFE, & COHEN

'BARNEY MILLER'
"INQUIRY"

Wojo's lawyer during a departmental procedure was David Fingler (seen here behind the lawyer representing the NYPD.)  Fingler was from the firm Marshall, Levinson, Radcliffe, and Cohen which represented the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.  There are several theories of relateeveety that could be promoted from most of those names, which might have connections to other TV lawyers.

MARSHALL - Two solid possibilities here, with Owen Marshall and Emerson Marshall.  The only downside for Owen Marshall would be his location - Owen worked in California, but he could have had a brother back East.  Emerson lived in Manhattan and is the better candidate.  His father might have founded the firm mentioned in 'Barney Miller' back at the turn of the Century, but he could have bolted to start his own practice with a lawyer named Bass (whose son may have been a Chicago doctor named Clifford.)

'OWEN MARSHALL, COUNSELOR AT LAW'

'THE ASSOCIATES'
'CHICAGO HOPE'

COHEN - Sandy Cohen was a lawyer in Orange County, California.  He would have been too young to have started up what must have been a prestigious firm in NYC back in the 70s.  (It was probably around since at least the 1950s.)  But Sandy may have had an uncle who was a top lawyer in the Big Apple and served as an influence for Sandy.

'THE O.C.'

LEVINSON - Although I have a lawyer in mind for a connection to this law firm, I'm more intrigued by the possible family tree for this Levinson.  What if the firm's partner had a grandfather who was Harold Levinson, the dry goods heir from Ohio?

But if not, Levinson could have been the father of Marya Levinson, a New York defense attorney who might have worked in the family firm.  Maybe the head of the firm was her father-in-law.  (She appeared in three episodes.)

'DOWNTON ABBEY'

'LAW & ORDER'

It's the name "Radcliff(e)" which didn't thrill me when it came to candidates for family members in other TV shows.  But that's okay; I don't want to look greedy.

BCnU!

TVXOHOF 02/2017 - MEADOWLARK!

From Wikipedia:

Meadow Lemon (April 25, 1932 – December 27, 2015) was an American basketball player, actor, and Christian minister (ordained in 1986). From 1994, he served Meadowlark Lemon Ministries in Scottsdale, Arizona. For 22 years, he was known as the "Clown Prince" of the touring Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. He played in more than 16,000 games for the Globetrotters and was a 2003 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. When basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain was asked his opinion on the best player of all time, he responded, "For me it would be Meadowlark Lemon." Fellow Wilmington great Michael Jordan called Lemon a "true national treasure" and a personal inspiration in Jordan's youth.

Athough he played a few fictional roles as himself, Meadowlark was best known for playing himself.  Like George Burns, Jack Benny, and others, everybody always saw the real man as the character.

Here are the shows in which he touted his membership in the League of Themselves:

Diff'rent Strokes
- Feudin' and Fussin': Part 1 

(1979) 

At Arnold's suggestion, a TV producer gives Larry Alder an audition for a TV hosting job.  Part One of this crossover episode aired on 'Diff'rent Strokes' (1978) and Part Two aired on 'Hello, Larry' (1979). The 'Diff'rent Strokes' Season 2 DVD contains both episodes as a single, hour-long 'Diff'rent Strokes' episode, dropping the title and credit sequences from 'Hello, Larry'.

Hello, Larry 

(1979-80) 

Larry Alder is a 44-year-old divorcee in Portland, Oregon, raising his two teenage daughters and hosting a call-in psychology radio show.  Larry also hung out with legendary Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, who owned a Portland sporting goods store.

Crash Island 

(1981 TV Movie)
A plane full of children and young teens on the way to a swim meet, crashes into the ocean, leaving them and the crew stranded on an unknown island.

Here's Boomer
- Boomer and the Bucketeers 

(1981)

Boomer meets a young man who was a rising basketball player who is now bitter that he is confined to a wheelchair. Boomer then gets Meadowlark Lemon who is in town with his team the Bucketeers to help him.

Alice
- Tommy Fouls Out 

(1983)

Tommy gives up and quits the basketball team.

O'BSERVATION: What a coincidence that Meadowlark was in the area.  He was probably en route back to Portland from some gig.

There are a few other shows, like 'The Hollywood Squares' and 'The Merv Griffin Show', which don't carry much weight in being credits for his tally.  But they were incorporated into other TV shows so that it could be said that his fictional televersion was appearing on the fictional televersions of those TV shows.  So they do add flavor.

But when the rest of the Globetrotters flew out to help save the Gilligan's Island getaway retreat from a greedy billionaire (well, greedier than Mr. Howell), Meadowlark elected to stay behind in Portland.

Meanwhile, he does have a counterpart in the Tooniverse along with the rest of the Globetrotters.  They starred their own animated series and also crossed over with Scooby-Doo!

He also appeared as himself in plenty of blipverts, showing off his serlinguistic skills.  These would include: Footlocker, Burger King, Pepsi Cola, Dr. Pepper, Band-Aid, Safeway Food Stores, Boeing Aircraft, Revlon, Quencher Gum, the U.S. Postal Service and the Yellow Pages, Amoco, Delta, Ford Motor Credit, Gillette, Hydromatics, Pentair, Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Clubs, Sears, Teen Challenge, and Tropicana.  Best of all, he was also featured alongside Dick “Mr. Whipple” Wilson in Charmin’s famous “Please Don’t Squeeze The Charmin” Ads.

It's been over a year since Meadowlark Lemon passed away, but I held off so that I always have enough candidates in February to O'Bserve Black History Month.  Next year, per my brother's suggestion, I will induct Little Richard.  I'm just trusting it won't have to be a memorial tribute.

Welcome to yet another Hall of Fame, Meadowlark!

RECASTAWAYS - THE ANDERSONS OF SPRINGFIELD

Here's another one which Helen Cutter of 'Primeval' must answer for:  

According to the IMDb, "In the pilot [of 'Father Knows Best'], Ellen Drew played the mother (replaced in the series by Jane Wyatt) and Sally Fraser played the eldest daughter (played in the series by Elinor Donahue.)"

SALLY FRASER

as

BETTY ANDERSON

For those of you who never saw 'Primeval', Helen Cutter journeyed back in Time through an anomaly and altered the course of History so drastically that it many times changed the chromosomal make-up of other TV characters, or - in the case of William Talbot MacNeil (President of the United States in the early 1970s as seen on 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea') - wiped them out entirely.

ELLEN DREW

as

MARGARET ANDERSON

Margaret Anderson's DNA was altered but her life basically remained the same.  She still married Jim Anderson of Springfield and raised three children - Betty, Bud, and Kathy.  With Bud and Kathy the combination of DNA from both their parents remained the same.  However, with their first-born, Betty, there was just enough of a difference so that she no longer looked the same as she did in the original timeline.

We don't use this splainin for every recastaway.  For example, the difference in Rob Petrie et al from the 'Head Of The Family' pilot to 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' can be attributed to Alan Brady buying the rights to Rob's autobiography and adapting it to become a sitcom starring himself as Rob.  (As such, the 'Head Of The Family' pilot is the actual TV show within a TV show and takes place after 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' on the Toobworld Timeline even though it was filmed first.)

BCnU!