MISSING HIM BY SO MUCH
I've pulled out my files from the old Tubeworld Dynamic website for April of 2002, when Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 were both inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, and I will be reprinting some of the articles around the middle of this coming week.
In the meantime, let this list of his contributions to Toobworld stand in tribute to a force of niceness.
TV SERIES
"Get Smart" (1995) TV Series .... Maxwell Smart
"Check It Out" (1985) TV Series .... Howard Bannister
"Don Adams' Screen Test" (1975) TV Series .... Host
"The Partners" (1971) TV Series .... Det. Lennie Crooke
"The Hollywood Palace" (1964) TV Series .... Guest Host (1969)
"Get Smart" (1965) TV Series .... Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 (1965-1970)
"The Bill Dana Show" (1963) TV Series .... Byron Glick
THE TOONIVERSE
Inspector Gadget: Gadget's Greatest Gadgets (1999) (V) .... Inspector Gadget
"Gadget Boy's Adventures In History" (1998) TV Series (voice) .... Gadget Boy
"Pepper Ann" (1997) TV Series (voice) .... Principal Hickey
"Inspector Gadget's Field Trips" (1996) TV Series (voice) .... Inspector Gadget
"Gadget Boy and Heather" (1995) TV Series (voice) .... Gadget Boy
Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (1992) (TV) (voice) .... Inspector Gadget
"Inspector Gadget" (1983) TV Series (voice) .... Inspector Gadget
"Underdog" (1964) TV Series (voice) .... Tennessee Tuxedo
"Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales" (1963) TV Series (voice) .... Tennessee Tuxedo
TV MOVIES
Get Smart, Again! (1989) (TV) .... Maxwell Smart
Murder Can Hurt You (1980) (TV) (voice) .... Narrator
The Love Boat (1976) (TV) .... Donald Richardson
TV RELATED THEATRICAL MOVIES
Inspector Gadget (1999) (voice) .... Brain
The Nude Bomb (1980) .... Maxwell Smart
TV SPECIALS
Joys (1976) (TV) .... Don Adams
Saga of Sonora (1973) (TV)
"Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" in episode: "Murder at N.B.C." (episode # 4.5) 19 October 1966
"Startime" playing "Himself" in episode: "Soldiers in Greasepaint" (episode # 1.29) 26 April 1960
TV GUEST APPEARANCES
"Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher" playing "Principal" in episode: "Gargoyle Guys" (episode # 1.13) 8 January 1997
"Empty Nest" playing "Himself" in episode: "Charley's Millions" (episode # 6.20) 8 March 1994
"The Fall Guy" playing "Sheriff" in episode: "Losers Weepers: Part 1" (episode # 4.1) 19 September 1984
"The Love Boat"
in episode: "Rose Is Not a Rose, A/Novelties/Too Rich and Too Thin" (episode # 7.24) 17 March 1984
in episode: "Zinging Valentine/The Very Temporary Secretary/The Final Score" (episode # 6.20) 12 February 1983
playing "Sidney Williams" in episode: "Doc Take the Fifth/Safety Last/A Business Affair" (episode # 5.13) 2 January 1982
"Bill Robinson" in episode: "April's Love/Happy Ending/We Three" (episode # 3.17) 12 January 1980
playing "Lenny Camen" in episode: "Isaac's Double Standard/One More Time/Chimpanzeeshines" (episode # 1.14) 14 January 1978
"Fantasy Island" playing "Cornelius Wieselfarber" in episode: "The Red Baron/Young at Heart" (episode # 3.6) 27 October 1979
"The New Scooby-Doo Movies" playing "Himself" (voice) in episode: "The Exterminator" (episode # 2.5) 6 October 1973
"Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" playing "Himself" (voice) in episode: "Don for the Defense" 1973
"It's Happening" playing "Himself" (episode # 1.1) 15 July 1968
"The Danny Thomas Hour" playing "Harry" in episode: "Instant Money" (episode # 1.1) 18 September 1967
MAXWELL SMART
"Get Smart" (1995) TV Series .... Maxwell Smart
"Get Smart" (1965) TV Series .... Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 (1965-1970)
Get Smart, Again! (1989) (TV) .... Maxwell Smart
"The Fall Guy" playing "Sheriff" in episode: "Losers Weepers: Part 1" (episode # 4.1) 19 September 1984
Perhaps Sheriff Maxwell Smart? After the fiasco working for PITS, Smart might have taken a job in law enforcement on a local level, until he was accepted back into the folds of CONTROL.
The Nude Bomb (1980) .... Maxwell Smart
Joys (1976) (TV) .... Don Adams
I remember seeing this, but as to whether or not he was appearing as himself or as Maxwell Smart..... I think my brain mercifully wiped the slate clean.
"The Bill Dana Show" (1963) TV Series .... Byron Glick
It's always been my contention that Byron and Maxwell were cousins, identical cousin.
INSPECTOR GADGET
Inspector Gadget (1999) (voice) .... Brain
These were two different Inspector Gadgets. There was the one from the Tooniverse, and then the live-action figure in the Cineverse, which had no connection other than as an alternative version.
Inspector Gadget: Gadget's Greatest Gadgets (1999) (V) .... Inspector Gadget
"Gadget Boy's Adventures In History" (1998) TV Series (voice) .... Gadget Boy
"Inspector Gadget's Field Trips" (1996) TV Series (voice) .... Inspector Gadget
"Gadget Boy and Heather" (1995) TV Series (voice) .... Gadget Boy
Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (1992) (TV) (voice) .... Inspector Gadget
"Inspector Gadget" (1983) TV Series (voice) .... Inspector Gadget
PRINCIPAL HICKEY
"Pepper Ann" (1997) TV Series (voice) .... Principal Hickey
"Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher" playing "Principal" in episode: "Gargoyle Guys" (episode # 1.13) 8 January 1997
These two school principals are the same man, but in two different TV dimensions.
THE LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES
"Empty Nest" playing "Himself" in episode: "Charley's Millions" (episode # 6.20) 8 March 1994
"The New Scooby-Doo Movies" playing "Himself" (voice) in episode: "The Exterminator" (episode # 2.5) 6 October 1973
"Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" playing "Himself" (voice) in episode: "Don for the Defense" 1973
Along the same lines as with Principal Hickey, there is the tele-version of Don Adams in the main Toobworld, who also hosted 'Screen Test', and then there's the pen-and-ink version from the Tooniverse.
BCnU.....
Tele-Toby
Saturday, October 8, 2005
HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE THRESHOLD
A MISSING LINKS REPORT
I just finished watching the October 7th episode of 'Threshold'....
When it was decided that Baltimore Police Detective Rossi had to be brought in on what was happening at the Threshold project, J.T. Baylock warned her of the consequences should she decide to "gossip".
"There is too much at stake for this to become gossip at the cop bar."
And where might that cop bar be? I'm staking the claim that the Waterfront, previously owned by Tim Bayliss, Meldrick Lewis, and John Munch, and which was right across from their old precinct house, would be the ideal candidate to serve as the official cop bar in Baltimore.
Bayliss might not be a partner anymore, as he's probably serving time in prison. And Munch might be just a silent partner since he's now working in New York City on the Special Victims Unit. So Meldrick would be the main, visible presence at the Waterfront.
But even if Rossi went in there and told everybody her story, they probably wouldn't believe her. Besides, she never really did get the truth - Threshold offered up Al Quaeda as the easy catch-all villain for what was happening.
Who was going to believe Charm City nearly suffered an alien invasion?
Well, yeah... Munch would have.......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
"Thin blue line between us and the terrorist invasion of Baltimore."
Beau Felton
'Homicide: Life On The Street'
Beau Felton
'Homicide: Life On The Street'
Friday, October 7, 2005
SLASHING "BONES"
Hi.
My name is Toby.
And I'm a fanfic enabler.
"Fanfic" refers to stories written by devotees of certain books, movies, and TV shows, who feel a need to continue the adventures of their favorite characters. These aren't professional stories (although I've heard that some professional writers got their start by writing fanfic), and by copyright laws, they're not legal either.
In the old days, such fans would mimeograph their stories and just pass them out to friends and like-minded disciples of the original. Even when these groups of fanboys began organizing, charging dues, publishing small magazines, it still was pretty low-tech.
And then the Internet opened the floodgates.
You can find fanfic online for just about every show that has ever been broadcast. Well... I don't know if there's anything out there for 'Far Out Space Nuts', but I have seen fanfic for Bob Denver's best-known series, 'Gilligan's Island'. (And with characters like Ginger and Mary Ann, you can get a sense of which direction those stories took!)
(Sorry if you already knew all of that. If I'm not mistaken, the term "fanfic" has already been accepted into the
dictionary. It's just that I never know if a complete neophyte has stumbled across Toobworld, or if I'm preaching to the choir, those who understand the concept and my wacked-out ideas.)
Some of the companies who own the rights to the original material have embraced the fanfic writers. Paramount's publishing arm even bought up a lot of it to publish as part of their massive line of tie-ins. Still others have sicced the Man on fanfic, threatening legal action if their sites were not shut down.
Over at Lee Goldberg's blog, he's in the vanguard for the crusade against fanfic, and he takes a lot of flak from the more fanatical adherents to the form. Now, me.... I've got nothing against the basics of fanfic, but I don't go searching for it either. (A caveat: I do list Martin Ross' 'Columbo' fanfic site to the left, as well as a more general site as well.)
It's just that I want to steer clear of other people's ideas in their stories, so as not to taint the theories I come up with for keeping the TV Universe cohesive. And I don't want to influence the splainins I dream up for discrepancies.
I used to read a ton of the official 'Star Trek' tie-ins, and never had a problem in keeping those separate from what was actually broadcast. (It's practically impossible, but ideally I would like to keep the Toobworld theories limited to what was shown on TV.)
But then I read Barbara Hambly's "Ishmael", a tale in which Spock found himself back in the Seattle territories of the 1870s... among the actual characters from 'Here Come The Brides'. And although they remained un-named, he also met other characters from classic TV Westerns.
I think the book has since been disowned by the parent company (who may have themselves neglected to address the rights of others whose works were invoked for it). But don't quote me on that.....
Anyway, I liked it a lot, but now I can't get my noggin past the idea that Spock's human mother, Amanda Grayson, was - will be! - descended from Aaron Stemple and Biddie Cloomb. (Which means that Spock has a Mark Lenard character on both sides of his family.)
I suppose what I do could be considered fanfic. I devise some pretty outlandish theories to link TV shows together. In a way, those could be regarded as stories. But I look at my work as more of a technical guidebook in much the same way as those who dabble in the Wold Newton concept do. Sometimes the Toobworld Dyamic can be looked upon as more of a philosophical tract.
But when it comes to playing in someone else's sandbox, I'm not really using their action figures; I'm just pointing out why they were left in a particular pile of sand.
Still, I guess some of the stuff I've come up with can inspire "fanficcers". And in a past blog entry I even suggested that they should look for old photos which featured the same actors; in that way they might find inspiration for new directions to take in their stories.
(The best example I used was a scene from 'The Racket', in which Ray Collins as a crooked judge was on the phone while an equally crooked cop played by William Conrad stood in the background. Freeze that shot and it could be claimed that instead it featured Lt. Arthur Tragg and Frank Cannon when he was still in the L.A. Police Department. That way, you could then launch into a crossover story between 'Perry Mason' and 'Cannon'.)
If you could find a screen capture in there of those two actors plus William Tallman (who went on to play Hamilton Burger on 'Perry Mason'), even better!
But while I was watching 'Bones' last week, I realized that my suggestion to use frame grabs was woefully behind the times. Why use a still photo when you can illustrate your fanfic with a quick video clip?
In that episode of 'Bones', Zack Addy - an assistant at the Jeffersonian Institute, - walked up to FBI Agent Seely Booth and said, "I need to have a conversation with you about sexual positions." Booth then informed the twink that if Zack ever tried that, Booth would shoot him right between the eyes.
Okay, I apologize. I shouldn't have called Zack a "twink". But you should see Eric Millegan, the kid who's playing the role! And not that I give credence to everything I read in the IMDb.com, but they did say in Millegan's bio that he was named "Hottest Up and Coming Openly Gay Actor of 2003" by OUT Magazine.
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
But drop Millegan's Zack into the middle of 'Prison Break' and he'd be holding onto T-Bag's pocket lining by the commercial break!
Oops - I probably just gave some fanficcer an idea. See what I mean about me being an enabler?
That type of fanfic is called "slash", and I do have problems with it. Stories that continue the type of adventures that were seen in the original programs, fine. Even crossovers with characters from other shows would be acceptable so long as they remained believable or at least splainable. (I did see a story once that combined characters from 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' with those from 'Bonanza'. Needless to say, it was quite a stretch!)
But writing up stories that change a character's personality or sexual preference, or just veer off in directions that have no established basis in the original TV shows? Nah, that's just wrong.
And yet it's probably the most popular form of fanfic out there. Kirk and Spock, Solo and Kuryakin, James West and Artemus Gordon? Characters who were only ever seen romancing the ladies on their shows now falling into the arms of their partners and co-workers of the same sex?
Don't get me wrong. I'll pull the Seinfeldian defense that there's nothing wrong with the basic situation. My complaint is towards who is involved. You want to have Robin slide down the "Batpole", fine. I think you could make a case for that. (Although I'd like to think Dick Grayson would be the ancestor to Amanda Grayson!)
But 'The X-Files' ended with Fox Mulder finally "shipped" with Dana Scully. So why would anybody want to write a story in which he creates the Beast With Two Backs with Deputy Director Skinner?
The Truth is not outed!
Still and all, I can see how easy it would be to start thinking in that direction. While I was mulling this essay over in my head, I was watching a 'Doctor Who' story from the Pertwee era, "Inferno". (The Third Doctor found himself in the evil mirror universe with variants of the friends he left behind in the main TV dimension.)
In the sixth episode of the story, Petra Williams and Liz Shaw tried to re-activate a computer that might be their salvation, but when it failed, they shared a glance that lasted but for a split-second. And yet just from that, I could picture them tossing all their cares aside and stripping off all their clothes to indulge in their passions.
Hey! They were going to be consumed by lava at any moment; might as well go out with a bang!
And since it was an alternate universe in which their characters were markedly different, who's to say Petra and Liz weren't already in sweet, sapphic love? (Sounds like the title for a bodice-ripper!) Besides, who can say no to a bit o' girl-on-girl fun?
How do I type one of those Bob Hope growls......?
Anyway, if you are a reader of fanfic, and slash fic in particular, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know if you ever come across a story dealing with Zack and Booth of 'Bones'. I want to see if anybody really did find inspiration in that snippet of dialogue.
I get the feeling it won't be too long into the season before they start showing up online......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
My name is Toby.
And I'm a fanfic enabler.
"Fanfic" refers to stories written by devotees of certain books, movies, and TV shows, who feel a need to continue the adventures of their favorite characters. These aren't professional stories (although I've heard that some professional writers got their start by writing fanfic), and by copyright laws, they're not legal either.
In the old days, such fans would mimeograph their stories and just pass them out to friends and like-minded disciples of the original. Even when these groups of fanboys began organizing, charging dues, publishing small magazines, it still was pretty low-tech.
And then the Internet opened the floodgates.
You can find fanfic online for just about every show that has ever been broadcast. Well... I don't know if there's anything out there for 'Far Out Space Nuts', but I have seen fanfic for Bob Denver's best-known series, 'Gilligan's Island'. (And with characters like Ginger and Mary Ann, you can get a sense of which direction those stories took!)
(Sorry if you already knew all of that. If I'm not mistaken, the term "fanfic" has already been accepted into the
dictionary. It's just that I never know if a complete neophyte has stumbled across Toobworld, or if I'm preaching to the choir, those who understand the concept and my wacked-out ideas.)
Some of the companies who own the rights to the original material have embraced the fanfic writers. Paramount's publishing arm even bought up a lot of it to publish as part of their massive line of tie-ins. Still others have sicced the Man on fanfic, threatening legal action if their sites were not shut down.
Over at Lee Goldberg's blog, he's in the vanguard for the crusade against fanfic, and he takes a lot of flak from the more fanatical adherents to the form. Now, me.... I've got nothing against the basics of fanfic, but I don't go searching for it either. (A caveat: I do list Martin Ross' 'Columbo' fanfic site to the left, as well as a more general site as well.)
It's just that I want to steer clear of other people's ideas in their stories, so as not to taint the theories I come up with for keeping the TV Universe cohesive. And I don't want to influence the splainins I dream up for discrepancies.
I used to read a ton of the official 'Star Trek' tie-ins, and never had a problem in keeping those separate from what was actually broadcast. (It's practically impossible, but ideally I would like to keep the Toobworld theories limited to what was shown on TV.)
But then I read Barbara Hambly's "Ishmael", a tale in which Spock found himself back in the Seattle territories of the 1870s... among the actual characters from 'Here Come The Brides'. And although they remained un-named, he also met other characters from classic TV Westerns.
I think the book has since been disowned by the parent company (who may have themselves neglected to address the rights of others whose works were invoked for it). But don't quote me on that.....
Anyway, I liked it a lot, but now I can't get my noggin past the idea that Spock's human mother, Amanda Grayson, was - will be! - descended from Aaron Stemple and Biddie Cloomb. (Which means that Spock has a Mark Lenard character on both sides of his family.)
I suppose what I do could be considered fanfic. I devise some pretty outlandish theories to link TV shows together. In a way, those could be regarded as stories. But I look at my work as more of a technical guidebook in much the same way as those who dabble in the Wold Newton concept do. Sometimes the Toobworld Dyamic can be looked upon as more of a philosophical tract.
But when it comes to playing in someone else's sandbox, I'm not really using their action figures; I'm just pointing out why they were left in a particular pile of sand.
Still, I guess some of the stuff I've come up with can inspire "fanficcers". And in a past blog entry I even suggested that they should look for old photos which featured the same actors; in that way they might find inspiration for new directions to take in their stories.
(The best example I used was a scene from 'The Racket', in which Ray Collins as a crooked judge was on the phone while an equally crooked cop played by William Conrad stood in the background. Freeze that shot and it could be claimed that instead it featured Lt. Arthur Tragg and Frank Cannon when he was still in the L.A. Police Department. That way, you could then launch into a crossover story between 'Perry Mason' and 'Cannon'.)
If you could find a screen capture in there of those two actors plus William Tallman (who went on to play Hamilton Burger on 'Perry Mason'), even better!
But while I was watching 'Bones' last week, I realized that my suggestion to use frame grabs was woefully behind the times. Why use a still photo when you can illustrate your fanfic with a quick video clip?
In that episode of 'Bones', Zack Addy - an assistant at the Jeffersonian Institute, - walked up to FBI Agent Seely Booth and said, "I need to have a conversation with you about sexual positions." Booth then informed the twink that if Zack ever tried that, Booth would shoot him right between the eyes.
Okay, I apologize. I shouldn't have called Zack a "twink". But you should see Eric Millegan, the kid who's playing the role! And not that I give credence to everything I read in the IMDb.com, but they did say in Millegan's bio that he was named "Hottest Up and Coming Openly Gay Actor of 2003" by OUT Magazine.
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
But drop Millegan's Zack into the middle of 'Prison Break' and he'd be holding onto T-Bag's pocket lining by the commercial break!
Oops - I probably just gave some fanficcer an idea. See what I mean about me being an enabler?
That type of fanfic is called "slash", and I do have problems with it. Stories that continue the type of adventures that were seen in the original programs, fine. Even crossovers with characters from other shows would be acceptable so long as they remained believable or at least splainable. (I did see a story once that combined characters from 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' with those from 'Bonanza'. Needless to say, it was quite a stretch!)
But writing up stories that change a character's personality or sexual preference, or just veer off in directions that have no established basis in the original TV shows? Nah, that's just wrong.
And yet it's probably the most popular form of fanfic out there. Kirk and Spock, Solo and Kuryakin, James West and Artemus Gordon? Characters who were only ever seen romancing the ladies on their shows now falling into the arms of their partners and co-workers of the same sex?
Don't get me wrong. I'll pull the Seinfeldian defense that there's nothing wrong with the basic situation. My complaint is towards who is involved. You want to have Robin slide down the "Batpole", fine. I think you could make a case for that. (Although I'd like to think Dick Grayson would be the ancestor to Amanda Grayson!)
But 'The X-Files' ended with Fox Mulder finally "shipped" with Dana Scully. So why would anybody want to write a story in which he creates the Beast With Two Backs with Deputy Director Skinner?
The Truth is not outed!
Still and all, I can see how easy it would be to start thinking in that direction. While I was mulling this essay over in my head, I was watching a 'Doctor Who' story from the Pertwee era, "Inferno". (The Third Doctor found himself in the evil mirror universe with variants of the friends he left behind in the main TV dimension.)
In the sixth episode of the story, Petra Williams and Liz Shaw tried to re-activate a computer that might be their salvation, but when it failed, they shared a glance that lasted but for a split-second. And yet just from that, I could picture them tossing all their cares aside and stripping off all their clothes to indulge in their passions.
Hey! They were going to be consumed by lava at any moment; might as well go out with a bang!
And since it was an alternate universe in which their characters were markedly different, who's to say Petra and Liz weren't already in sweet, sapphic love? (Sounds like the title for a bodice-ripper!) Besides, who can say no to a bit o' girl-on-girl fun?
How do I type one of those Bob Hope growls......?
Anyway, if you are a reader of fanfic, and slash fic in particular, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know if you ever come across a story dealing with Zack and Booth of 'Bones'. I want to see if anybody really did find inspiration in that snippet of dialogue.
I get the feeling it won't be too long into the season before they start showing up online......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
REGRETS, I'VE HAD A FEW.....
Now that the new season is underway, let me take a moment to do something I should have addressed over the summer - my biggest disappointments from last season.
1] 'Enterprise' - 'Kevin Hill'
My one big missed opportunity for a inter-network crossover from last year will always be that what-might-have-been "wish-craft".
But think of the brass balls it would have proudly knocked together to play "Stormy Weather" if they were able to pull it off. Two such different series - one, a prequel to the entire 'Star Trek' franchise and set 150 years into the future; the other a present day law show with a heart as a hip ladies' man of a litigator finds his life derailed when he has to raise his cousin's young baby.
What could they possibly have had in common?
The way I dreamed it as a "wish-craft", the crew of the 'Enterprise' had to go back in time to Philadelphia of 2005 in order to save the life of that little girl whom 'Kevin Hill' was raising. Why? Because if she failed to fulfill her destiny, Ensign Travis Mayweather would never exist.
The combatants in the Temporal Cold War might have known the part Travis was to play even farther in the future, and so they would have tried to destroy his very existence before he even had a chance to come into being.
It would have been such a radical crossover that it would have garnered plenty of press for the direction in which both shows would have been boldly going. But now? The best I can do is offer up this suggestion here in the blog and hope there's some fanficcer out there who runs with it.
(Let me know if you do......)
2] 'Jack & Bobby'
This was hubris to the highest degree. The WB gets a show that would not only play to their usual audience of young demographics, but which would also appeal to the wonks who loved the political intrigue on 'The West Wing'. They even had an exec producer/director in Thomas Schlamme, who not only had been a driving force behind 'The West Wing' during the Aaron Sorkin years, but who was also married to this show's star, Christine Lahti.
You had to figure he'd not only make the political storylines as compelling as they were on 'The West Wing', but he'd take great care in the development of Lahti's character as the primal force behind her two sons 'Jack & Bobby'.
So what do they do? The show gets scheduled directly opposite 'The West Wing', thus forcing its target audience to make a choice between the two instead of giving them the chance to have a second chance to feed their need for political intrigue. And to make matters worse, Lahti's character completely dominated the storylines rather than the boys; which might not have been so bad except that she came off too shrill and shrewish.
Oh well. At least they had a chance to provide some kind of wrap-up for the series, but it had such great potential in the beginning. Go back and watch that first episode again. I still choke up as I watch it, as we learn what the future holds for these two boys.
Here's hoping the DVD boxed set arrives before the next presidential election......
3] 'Cold Case'/'American Bandstand'/'American Dreams'
Yeah, I know this was just a case of "wish-craft". These three shows were each on separate networks. So what? 'American Dreams' was on NBC, and 'American Bandstand' was a long-time staple of the ABC schedule. And yet the former was able to grow out of the memories and even some of the footage from the latter. (Yes, I know that the involvement of Dick Clark as the producer of both played a major role in that!)
Still, I think it would have been cool for 'Cold Case' to have re-opened a case that might have grown out of a plot-line in 'American Dreams'. A "Philly Threeway".
Failing that, there's still a chance Detective Lilly Rush could investigate some kind of case in Philadelphia that is connected to 'American Bandstand', since it has returned for a new season on Sunday nights.
I'm fairly optimistic that they might find a way to do so. The writers for that show have come up with some pretty fascinating flashback stories for their 'Cold Case' investigations.
4] 'Eyes': A Lack Of Vision
'Eyes' was killed too soon. ABC just wasn't happy with the numbers it got following both 'Lost' and 'Alias'. What they probably failed to take into account was that the fanatic audiences for both of those shows probably fled all TV programming afterwards in order to run to their computers and begin discussing the latest developments in the world of the Bad Robot.
I know I would abandon the TV right after 'Lost', not being an 'Alias' fan. But I was - and still am - a big fan of 'The West Wing', which at the time was following over on NBC in the 9 o'clock slot. Yet I was so pumped up by what I had just seen in any of the 'Lost' episodes, that I just had to get more by joining other fans online to discuss it.
So 'The West Wing' and 'Alias' have been moved to other nights and 'Lost' has taken its rightful place as the center of Wednesday nights. But 'Eyes' became the sacrificial lamb and slaughtered too soon rather than finding it a new home on the schedule.
So what took its place? 'Invasion'. It was deemed to be more in keeping with the mood established by 'Lost'.
But the same situation arose. Who wanted to hang around for a show that covered nearly the same topic as 'Threshold' on CBS and NBC's 'Surface'? (Both of which also did it better, by the way.)
At least 'Eyes' was always lively. Too many of the characters on 'Invasion' seem to have had the life sucked out of them and so the show ended up the same way.
'Eyes' is dead. I know that. I have to accept it. My only hope is that the producers will be able to get the DVD boxed set out soon enough so that people can see what they were missing.
But I get the feeling that the Powers That Be at ABC are afraid to let that happen. Getting your nose rubbed into a DVD boxed set's sales figures can cause nasty paper cuts.
5] 'Jake in Progress'
From Chris Rywalt at TeeVee.org:
But I can’t help thinking: In a world where William Shatner can star in not one, not two, not three, but four hit series despite displaying all the acting ability of a tube sock, can’t we find room for John Stamos and his second act?
He posted that before it was announced that 'Jake In Progress' would be returning. But it was a close call, and this show deserves the chance to develop and find its audience. Last spring, when it arrived for a short-run showcase near the end of the season, it provided a welcome relief for those who tired of the same old routine in the 8 o'clock hour on a Thursday - the abysmal 'Joey' on NBC, and the CBS cast of beenthere/donethatters on 'Survivor'.
So the show is coming back, and if the ratings for 'The Night Stalker' are any indication, we may see it come back pretty soon.
6] 'Lost'
Thank God 'Lost' opened its second season with huge numbers and has provided enough answers and more mysteries in its first three episodes to keep old fans and new happy.
But ABC is lucky to have been able to keep that audience around in time for the sophomore season. The way they screwed up the repeat schedule this summer - dropping some episodes, playing a few out of order, - it was enough to even rile the fanatics who already knew every detail by heart.
To me, it's almost as if the network suits (May they be nibbled to death by ducks!) didn't give a bleep because they knew the hard-core audience would return no matter what and bring the water-cooler herd along with them.
They should have read the various online bulletin boards towards the end of the season and see how dicey a gamble that was.
7] Mark Valley
Mark Valley as 'Keen Eddie' was a fantastic character and his fish-out-of-water American cop in London series was hip and edgy. But, like far too many TV shows on FOX, it was never given the proper timeslot and so was yanked before it could find its audience.
I'm glad it came out on DVD - picked up my copy straightaway as soon as it hit the shelves.
Unfortunately, now Mark Valley is playing it safe and he took a job on 'Boston Legal', the spin-off of 'The Practice'. Here he plays one of the foils to James Spader's character of Alan Shore; playing the role as a stuffed-shirt, uptight lawyer in the same firm. All the fun has been taken out of him and given over to Shore.
With characters played by Rene Auberjenois and Candice Bergen, Shore has enough fencing partners at the firm. Mark Valley should be allowed to lighten up and be more of a comrade in arms; give him the chance to evoke that Keen Eddie charm. "Hi. My name is Eddie. What do you think of me so far?"
With the big slash in the roster of supporting players on 'Boston Legal', maybe we'll get the chance to see Valley kick out the jams and revamp this character from the tight-ass he currently is. Give us another shot to decide what we think of him so far.
So dat's de name of dat tune......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
1] 'Enterprise' - 'Kevin Hill'
My one big missed opportunity for a inter-network crossover from last year will always be that what-might-have-been "wish-craft".
But think of the brass balls it would have proudly knocked together to play "Stormy Weather" if they were able to pull it off. Two such different series - one, a prequel to the entire 'Star Trek' franchise and set 150 years into the future; the other a present day law show with a heart as a hip ladies' man of a litigator finds his life derailed when he has to raise his cousin's young baby.
What could they possibly have had in common?
The way I dreamed it as a "wish-craft", the crew of the 'Enterprise' had to go back in time to Philadelphia of 2005 in order to save the life of that little girl whom 'Kevin Hill' was raising. Why? Because if she failed to fulfill her destiny, Ensign Travis Mayweather would never exist.
The combatants in the Temporal Cold War might have known the part Travis was to play even farther in the future, and so they would have tried to destroy his very existence before he even had a chance to come into being.
It would have been such a radical crossover that it would have garnered plenty of press for the direction in which both shows would have been boldly going. But now? The best I can do is offer up this suggestion here in the blog and hope there's some fanficcer out there who runs with it.
(Let me know if you do......)
2] 'Jack & Bobby'
This was hubris to the highest degree. The WB gets a show that would not only play to their usual audience of young demographics, but which would also appeal to the wonks who loved the political intrigue on 'The West Wing'. They even had an exec producer/director in Thomas Schlamme, who not only had been a driving force behind 'The West Wing' during the Aaron Sorkin years, but who was also married to this show's star, Christine Lahti.
You had to figure he'd not only make the political storylines as compelling as they were on 'The West Wing', but he'd take great care in the development of Lahti's character as the primal force behind her two sons 'Jack & Bobby'.
So what do they do? The show gets scheduled directly opposite 'The West Wing', thus forcing its target audience to make a choice between the two instead of giving them the chance to have a second chance to feed their need for political intrigue. And to make matters worse, Lahti's character completely dominated the storylines rather than the boys; which might not have been so bad except that she came off too shrill and shrewish.
Oh well. At least they had a chance to provide some kind of wrap-up for the series, but it had such great potential in the beginning. Go back and watch that first episode again. I still choke up as I watch it, as we learn what the future holds for these two boys.
Here's hoping the DVD boxed set arrives before the next presidential election......
3] 'Cold Case'/'American Bandstand'/'American Dreams'
Yeah, I know this was just a case of "wish-craft". These three shows were each on separate networks. So what? 'American Dreams' was on NBC, and 'American Bandstand' was a long-time staple of the ABC schedule. And yet the former was able to grow out of the memories and even some of the footage from the latter. (Yes, I know that the involvement of Dick Clark as the producer of both played a major role in that!)
Still, I think it would have been cool for 'Cold Case' to have re-opened a case that might have grown out of a plot-line in 'American Dreams'. A "Philly Threeway".
Failing that, there's still a chance Detective Lilly Rush could investigate some kind of case in Philadelphia that is connected to 'American Bandstand', since it has returned for a new season on Sunday nights.
I'm fairly optimistic that they might find a way to do so. The writers for that show have come up with some pretty fascinating flashback stories for their 'Cold Case' investigations.
4] 'Eyes': A Lack Of Vision
'Eyes' was killed too soon. ABC just wasn't happy with the numbers it got following both 'Lost' and 'Alias'. What they probably failed to take into account was that the fanatic audiences for both of those shows probably fled all TV programming afterwards in order to run to their computers and begin discussing the latest developments in the world of the Bad Robot.
I know I would abandon the TV right after 'Lost', not being an 'Alias' fan. But I was - and still am - a big fan of 'The West Wing', which at the time was following over on NBC in the 9 o'clock slot. Yet I was so pumped up by what I had just seen in any of the 'Lost' episodes, that I just had to get more by joining other fans online to discuss it.
So 'The West Wing' and 'Alias' have been moved to other nights and 'Lost' has taken its rightful place as the center of Wednesday nights. But 'Eyes' became the sacrificial lamb and slaughtered too soon rather than finding it a new home on the schedule.
So what took its place? 'Invasion'. It was deemed to be more in keeping with the mood established by 'Lost'.
But the same situation arose. Who wanted to hang around for a show that covered nearly the same topic as 'Threshold' on CBS and NBC's 'Surface'? (Both of which also did it better, by the way.)
At least 'Eyes' was always lively. Too many of the characters on 'Invasion' seem to have had the life sucked out of them and so the show ended up the same way.
'Eyes' is dead. I know that. I have to accept it. My only hope is that the producers will be able to get the DVD boxed set out soon enough so that people can see what they were missing.
But I get the feeling that the Powers That Be at ABC are afraid to let that happen. Getting your nose rubbed into a DVD boxed set's sales figures can cause nasty paper cuts.
5] 'Jake in Progress'
From Chris Rywalt at TeeVee.org:
But I can’t help thinking: In a world where William Shatner can star in not one, not two, not three, but four hit series despite displaying all the acting ability of a tube sock, can’t we find room for John Stamos and his second act?
He posted that before it was announced that 'Jake In Progress' would be returning. But it was a close call, and this show deserves the chance to develop and find its audience. Last spring, when it arrived for a short-run showcase near the end of the season, it provided a welcome relief for those who tired of the same old routine in the 8 o'clock hour on a Thursday - the abysmal 'Joey' on NBC, and the CBS cast of beenthere/donethatters on 'Survivor'.
So the show is coming back, and if the ratings for 'The Night Stalker' are any indication, we may see it come back pretty soon.
6] 'Lost'
Thank God 'Lost' opened its second season with huge numbers and has provided enough answers and more mysteries in its first three episodes to keep old fans and new happy.
But ABC is lucky to have been able to keep that audience around in time for the sophomore season. The way they screwed up the repeat schedule this summer - dropping some episodes, playing a few out of order, - it was enough to even rile the fanatics who already knew every detail by heart.
To me, it's almost as if the network suits (May they be nibbled to death by ducks!) didn't give a bleep because they knew the hard-core audience would return no matter what and bring the water-cooler herd along with them.
They should have read the various online bulletin boards towards the end of the season and see how dicey a gamble that was.
7] Mark Valley
Mark Valley as 'Keen Eddie' was a fantastic character and his fish-out-of-water American cop in London series was hip and edgy. But, like far too many TV shows on FOX, it was never given the proper timeslot and so was yanked before it could find its audience.
I'm glad it came out on DVD - picked up my copy straightaway as soon as it hit the shelves.
Unfortunately, now Mark Valley is playing it safe and he took a job on 'Boston Legal', the spin-off of 'The Practice'. Here he plays one of the foils to James Spader's character of Alan Shore; playing the role as a stuffed-shirt, uptight lawyer in the same firm. All the fun has been taken out of him and given over to Shore.
With characters played by Rene Auberjenois and Candice Bergen, Shore has enough fencing partners at the firm. Mark Valley should be allowed to lighten up and be more of a comrade in arms; give him the chance to evoke that Keen Eddie charm. "Hi. My name is Eddie. What do you think of me so far?"
With the big slash in the roster of supporting players on 'Boston Legal', maybe we'll get the chance to see Valley kick out the jams and revamp this character from the tight-ass he currently is. Give us another shot to decide what we think of him so far.
So dat's de name of dat tune......
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Thursday, October 6, 2005
LIFE OF BRIAN-EL
My Iddiot friend, Brian-El of Krypton, tried out once again for the game show, 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire', and he checked in with this report.....
I went to New York last week to take the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"test/audition for the third time. This time, they did things a little differently: the test actually started at the given time, as we were herded into a cramped auditorium across the street from the studio and had to take the test jammed together in seats with no clipboards--we just had to juggle the test & Scantron sheet. Then we were given an hour break before the show tapings.
This test seemed to be the hardest of the three I've taken--there were about seven questions I wasn't sure I'd gotten right, including "gravidity is a medical term for what?", "tequila is made from what plant?", "what color is an amethyst?", and "in geometry, what letter represents the slope of a line?" (answers below). I got all those right, but missed "how many articles are in the U.S. Constitution?", so I'm pretty sure I got 29 out of 30 correct.
The taping was uneventful. I guess the high point for me was right after Meredith Viera walked out--it had been raining on & off all day, and Meredith turned to our audience section and asked "how's the weather out--is it raining?" I gave her the "so-so" gesture, which she saw and repeated--"so-so, huh?" Well, at least I got to answer one question! One nice-but-bland guy won $25,000, and one woman bombed out early on a question I know the answer to all too well: "Angina pectoris is pain caused by a lack of blood flow to what organ?" She said "the stomach". I
wish!
So I passed the test and was interviewed by a guy named Mickey. I was very upbeat, told him it was my third time passing the test and I realllllly wanted to get into the hot seat, and said I thought I'd do pretty well on the show. All to no avail, as I got the "sorry" postcard yesterday. I wonder if maybe they want very few people who might do well,as it's rare to see anyone get past $25,000 these days.
The shows I watched are scheduled to be broadcast Nov. 29 & 30 (Tue./Wed.), although last time I did this, the shows were not on when they were supposed to be--in fact, I never saw them.
As they say in football, three and out. I won't bother auditioning again unless it's convenient for me. Guess I'll have to be content living as a hundredaire.
Happy Fall,
Brian
ANSWERS:
gravidity = pregnancy
tequila comes from the agave plant
amethysts are purple
m is the slope of a line
there are 7 articles in the Constitution (I said 13)
Um.... oh yeah. I knew all of those.......
Yeah, that's the ticket!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
I went to New York last week to take the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"test/audition for the third time. This time, they did things a little differently: the test actually started at the given time, as we were herded into a cramped auditorium across the street from the studio and had to take the test jammed together in seats with no clipboards--we just had to juggle the test & Scantron sheet. Then we were given an hour break before the show tapings.
This test seemed to be the hardest of the three I've taken--there were about seven questions I wasn't sure I'd gotten right, including "gravidity is a medical term for what?", "tequila is made from what plant?", "what color is an amethyst?", and "in geometry, what letter represents the slope of a line?" (answers below). I got all those right, but missed "how many articles are in the U.S. Constitution?", so I'm pretty sure I got 29 out of 30 correct.
The taping was uneventful. I guess the high point for me was right after Meredith Viera walked out--it had been raining on & off all day, and Meredith turned to our audience section and asked "how's the weather out--is it raining?" I gave her the "so-so" gesture, which she saw and repeated--"so-so, huh?" Well, at least I got to answer one question! One nice-but-bland guy won $25,000, and one woman bombed out early on a question I know the answer to all too well: "Angina pectoris is pain caused by a lack of blood flow to what organ?" She said "the stomach". I
wish!
So I passed the test and was interviewed by a guy named Mickey. I was very upbeat, told him it was my third time passing the test and I realllllly wanted to get into the hot seat, and said I thought I'd do pretty well on the show. All to no avail, as I got the "sorry" postcard yesterday. I wonder if maybe they want very few people who might do well,as it's rare to see anyone get past $25,000 these days.
The shows I watched are scheduled to be broadcast Nov. 29 & 30 (Tue./Wed.), although last time I did this, the shows were not on when they were supposed to be--in fact, I never saw them.
As they say in football, three and out. I won't bother auditioning again unless it's convenient for me. Guess I'll have to be content living as a hundredaire.
Happy Fall,
Brian
ANSWERS:
gravidity = pregnancy
tequila comes from the agave plant
amethysts are purple
m is the slope of a line
there are 7 articles in the Constitution (I said 13)
Um.... oh yeah. I knew all of those.......
Yeah, that's the ticket!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
LINKIN' CHASE
Apparently, as I was fixated upon theoretical crossovers for 'Doctor Who' all summer, I completely missed an actual crossover!
Granted, it was a crossover between two "reality" shows, but it involved two series that were broadcast on different networks (albeit both under the umbrella of the NBC mothership). And at least one of the two shows did make a crossover with a fictional series. (And even though it was 'Good Morning, Miami', it still counts!)
Oh, and the host of the second series not only appeared, but he serves as a swell-headed link to plenty of other fictional series.
Here are the details about this crossover:
In his brief time on the third season of 'The Apprentice', Danny Kastner distinguished himself by his guitar-playing, warm-fuzzy blather that really didn't mean anything and his really poor fashion sense.
It's that last bit, probably, that landed him on a makeover show.
In the latest example of rampant reality-TV cross-pollination, Kastner was the subject of Bravo's 'Queer Eye' Tuesday (Aug. 16). The Fab Five corralled Kastner's scraggly hair and explained that leisure suits weren't a fit for today's corporate culture.
Kastner's would-be boss, Donald Trump, made an appearance on the show made a bet with the 'Queer Eye' team -- who showed up on "The Apprentice" during its first season -- about the occasionally unfocused Kastner's ability to pull off a charity event.
If the Fab Five were able to help him do it, Trump was going to give Kastner another audience in his Trump Tower boardroom -- the real one.
[adapted from Zap2It's news story]
Unfortunately, I have no idea if Kastner pulled it off or not; but I can't shake this image of Trump leading Jai around the conference table as though he was Patrick McGoohan in "Braveheart" and leading the lad over to the big windows......
"And how do your culture tips prepare you for something like this......?"
CRASH!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Granted, it was a crossover between two "reality" shows, but it involved two series that were broadcast on different networks (albeit both under the umbrella of the NBC mothership). And at least one of the two shows did make a crossover with a fictional series. (And even though it was 'Good Morning, Miami', it still counts!)
Oh, and the host of the second series not only appeared, but he serves as a swell-headed link to plenty of other fictional series.
Here are the details about this crossover:
In his brief time on the third season of 'The Apprentice', Danny Kastner distinguished himself by his guitar-playing, warm-fuzzy blather that really didn't mean anything and his really poor fashion sense.
It's that last bit, probably, that landed him on a makeover show.
In the latest example of rampant reality-TV cross-pollination, Kastner was the subject of Bravo's 'Queer Eye' Tuesday (Aug. 16). The Fab Five corralled Kastner's scraggly hair and explained that leisure suits weren't a fit for today's corporate culture.
Kastner's would-be boss, Donald Trump, made an appearance on the show made a bet with the 'Queer Eye' team -- who showed up on "The Apprentice" during its first season -- about the occasionally unfocused Kastner's ability to pull off a charity event.
If the Fab Five were able to help him do it, Trump was going to give Kastner another audience in his Trump Tower boardroom -- the real one.
[adapted from Zap2It's news story]
Unfortunately, I have no idea if Kastner pulled it off or not; but I can't shake this image of Trump leading Jai around the conference table as though he was Patrick McGoohan in "Braveheart" and leading the lad over to the big windows......
"And how do your culture tips prepare you for something like this......?"
CRASH!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
WISH-CRAFT: BRIERS & BARKER
Richard Briers starred in the 1975 series 'The Good Life' (known in America as 'The Good Neighbors'). It was about a man who decided to chuck it all on his 40th birthday and become totally self-sufficient, a man of the land.... while still living in his suburban home.
I'm in the process of watching the complete series on DVD. Back in the late 70s, it served as my introduction to Felicity Kendal and I've been a big fan of hers ever since.
Over at the BBC Online, Briers paid tribute to his old friend Ronnie Barker, who passed away on Monday:
"What a marvellous friend Ronnie was. Everyone liked Ronnie - there was nothing about him to dislike - he was a generous man, a very nice man and a great family man too.
We worked together on Tom Stoppard's 'The Real Inspector Hound' at the Criterion Theatre 1968.
But I knew him before then as my wife, Ann, had worked with him at the Royal Court theatre. We became good friends. "
As I said, I'm still working my way through Briers' series of 'The Good Life', so for alls I know, Ronnie Barker might have made an appearance on the show.
But I couldn't help dreaming in Toobworld. I would have loved for a scene in which Tom Good (Briers) tried to barter with Mr. Arkwright (Barker) at his 'Open All Hours' shop in Doncaster.
Or as a sly nod to 'The Two Ronnies', perhaps Tom could make his own candles only to find out that his prospective client wasn't looking for four candles, but for fork 'andles!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
I'm in the process of watching the complete series on DVD. Back in the late 70s, it served as my introduction to Felicity Kendal and I've been a big fan of hers ever since.
Over at the BBC Online, Briers paid tribute to his old friend Ronnie Barker, who passed away on Monday:
"What a marvellous friend Ronnie was. Everyone liked Ronnie - there was nothing about him to dislike - he was a generous man, a very nice man and a great family man too.
We worked together on Tom Stoppard's 'The Real Inspector Hound' at the Criterion Theatre 1968.
But I knew him before then as my wife, Ann, had worked with him at the Royal Court theatre. We became good friends. "
As I said, I'm still working my way through Briers' series of 'The Good Life', so for alls I know, Ronnie Barker might have made an appearance on the show.
But I couldn't help dreaming in Toobworld. I would have loved for a scene in which Tom Good (Briers) tried to barter with Mr. Arkwright (Barker) at his 'Open All Hours' shop in Doncaster.
Or as a sly nod to 'The Two Ronnies', perhaps Tom could make his own candles only to find out that his prospective client wasn't looking for four candles, but for fork 'andles!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
TALK AMONGST YOURSELVES
Lee Goldberg is a producer and writer who is (in my opinion) one of the top televisiologists in the country; right up there with David Bianculli. (Not that I always agree with either one of them.)
Goldberg has noted on his blog today a recent addition to those TV cliches that may be annoying to some, but which form the basis of the Television Mythology.
http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/
[THE INVISIBLE CHARACTERS]
There you'll find his observations on the recent glut of shows, like 'The Ghost Whisperer', 'Medium', 'Monk', and 'Nip/Tuck', in which characters talk to people who aren't really there. This formula has really gained popularity since 'Six Feet Under' first aired, but shows have been doing it for years.
'Rescue Me' is another current biggie for this new TV cliche.
Some others I can think of - Bess Armstrong as Maxwell's dead wife on 'The Nanny', Elliot Axelrod appeared to Fiscus (at least in dreams) on 'St. Elsewhere', and Gary visited Michael for a few episodes after his death on 'thirtySOMETHING'.
But I don't know if I'd include 'Ghost Whisperer' or 'Medium' in this category, as those really are supposed to be ghosts and not just figments of the imagination, as all the others are. ('Shades of L.A.' had a similar kind of premise about ten years ago. Probably plenty of others.)
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Goldberg has noted on his blog today a recent addition to those TV cliches that may be annoying to some, but which form the basis of the Television Mythology.
http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/
[THE INVISIBLE CHARACTERS]
There you'll find his observations on the recent glut of shows, like 'The Ghost Whisperer', 'Medium', 'Monk', and 'Nip/Tuck', in which characters talk to people who aren't really there. This formula has really gained popularity since 'Six Feet Under' first aired, but shows have been doing it for years.
'Rescue Me' is another current biggie for this new TV cliche.
Some others I can think of - Bess Armstrong as Maxwell's dead wife on 'The Nanny', Elliot Axelrod appeared to Fiscus (at least in dreams) on 'St. Elsewhere', and Gary visited Michael for a few episodes after his death on 'thirtySOMETHING'.
But I don't know if I'd include 'Ghost Whisperer' or 'Medium' in this category, as those really are supposed to be ghosts and not just figments of the imagination, as all the others are. ('Shades of L.A.' had a similar kind of premise about ten years ago. Probably plenty of others.)
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
THE LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES (9/25-10/8/05)
The League Of Themselves is one of the components which separates Toobworld from other sites that explore TV crossovers. The members of the League are those people, usually famous, who appear as themselves in episodes of fictional TV shows.
Other sites reject their inclusion as possible links because they exist in the Real World unlike the other characters. But it's my contention that we ALL exist in Toobworld; some of us just haven't seen our tele-versions pop up on TV yet. But thanks to the widespread use of amateur video in and to shows like 'America's Funniest Home Videos', more and more of us are becoming members of the League Of Themselves.
As a matter of fact, I expect to see one of my brothers on 'Cops' every week......
I don't see why Real People appearing as themselves on dramas and sitcoms should be excluded from consideration. They're in fictional settings, doing fictional things, saying fictional dialogue. These aren't the same people as they are in the real world, so why can't we consider Pauly Shore in episodes of 'Entourage' be just as much of a TV character as Paulie Walnuts on 'The Sopranos'?
For the first two weeks of the new Fall TV season, there was quite a burst of activity for the League Of Themselves as each show (mostly the returning series) made a bid to gain attention. And two of those series, both on HBO, deal in the world of show business, so they an always be counted on to provide new members to the roster. (HBO had two other series doing the same thing over the summer - 'The Comeback' and the aforementioned 'Entourage'.)
So here's a quick rundown of the latest membership rolls and wherever possible we'll include a few of the other links created by these appearances. (The fictional ones only.)
MY NAME IS EARL
Carson Daly
'Undergrads' (the Tooniverse)
'Movie Stars'
'Sabrina The Teenage Witch'
Trace Adkins
BERNIE MAC
Charles Barkley
'Arli$$'
'Martin'
'V.I.P.'
'Hangin' With Mr. Cooper'
Adam Carolla
'Fired Up'
'Son Of The Beach'
'Dawson's Creek'
'Two Guys, A Girl, And A Pizza Place'
EXTRAS
Kate Winslet
Ben Stiller
'The Larry Sanders Show'
'Curb Your Enthusiasm'
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
Richard Lewis
'The Larry Sanders Show'
'Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist' (Tooniverse)
Ted Danson
'Diagnosis Murder'
'Ellen'
Rosie O'Donnell
'The Nanny'
'Spin City'
'Suddenly, Susan'
'Beverly Hills, 90210'
Wanda Sykes
'Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist' (Tooniverse)
GEORGE LOPEZ
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
CUTS
The Ying Yang Twins
ACCORDING TO JIM
Hugh Hefner
'Entourage'
'Just Shoot Me!'
'Roseanne'
'Sex And The City'
'Buddy Faro'
'Blossom'
'V.I.P.'
'The Fresh Prince Of Bel Aire'
'The Larry Sanders Show'
'The Simpsons' (Tooniverse)
'Laverne And Shirley'
'The Odd Couple'
'Burke's Law'
Whew!
And those were just the guests from the first two weeks! I think we'll see quite an expansion of the TV Universe over the coming season....
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
Other sites reject their inclusion as possible links because they exist in the Real World unlike the other characters. But it's my contention that we ALL exist in Toobworld; some of us just haven't seen our tele-versions pop up on TV yet. But thanks to the widespread use of amateur video in and to shows like 'America's Funniest Home Videos', more and more of us are becoming members of the League Of Themselves.
As a matter of fact, I expect to see one of my brothers on 'Cops' every week......
I don't see why Real People appearing as themselves on dramas and sitcoms should be excluded from consideration. They're in fictional settings, doing fictional things, saying fictional dialogue. These aren't the same people as they are in the real world, so why can't we consider Pauly Shore in episodes of 'Entourage' be just as much of a TV character as Paulie Walnuts on 'The Sopranos'?
For the first two weeks of the new Fall TV season, there was quite a burst of activity for the League Of Themselves as each show (mostly the returning series) made a bid to gain attention. And two of those series, both on HBO, deal in the world of show business, so they an always be counted on to provide new members to the roster. (HBO had two other series doing the same thing over the summer - 'The Comeback' and the aforementioned 'Entourage'.)
So here's a quick rundown of the latest membership rolls and wherever possible we'll include a few of the other links created by these appearances. (The fictional ones only.)
MY NAME IS EARL
Carson Daly
'Undergrads' (the Tooniverse)
'Movie Stars'
'Sabrina The Teenage Witch'
Trace Adkins
BERNIE MAC
Charles Barkley
'Arli$$'
'Martin'
'V.I.P.'
'Hangin' With Mr. Cooper'
Adam Carolla
'Fired Up'
'Son Of The Beach'
'Dawson's Creek'
'Two Guys, A Girl, And A Pizza Place'
EXTRAS
Kate Winslet
Ben Stiller
'The Larry Sanders Show'
'Curb Your Enthusiasm'
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
Richard Lewis
'The Larry Sanders Show'
'Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist' (Tooniverse)
Ted Danson
'Diagnosis Murder'
'Ellen'
Rosie O'Donnell
'The Nanny'
'Spin City'
'Suddenly, Susan'
'Beverly Hills, 90210'
Wanda Sykes
'Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist' (Tooniverse)
GEORGE LOPEZ
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
CUTS
The Ying Yang Twins
ACCORDING TO JIM
Hugh Hefner
'Entourage'
'Just Shoot Me!'
'Roseanne'
'Sex And The City'
'Buddy Faro'
'Blossom'
'V.I.P.'
'The Fresh Prince Of Bel Aire'
'The Larry Sanders Show'
'The Simpsons' (Tooniverse)
'Laverne And Shirley'
'The Odd Couple'
'Burke's Law'
Whew!
And those were just the guests from the first two weeks! I think we'll see quite an expansion of the TV Universe over the coming season....
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT ZONK!s
"That'll be perfect.
You'll live right across the hall.
Just like Ross and Rachel."
Holly Tyler
'What I Like About You'
You'll live right across the hall.
Just like Ross and Rachel."
Holly Tyler
'What I Like About You'
When I saw that quoted in TVGal's column at Zap2It.com, I didn't panic. I just reached for the "Complete Directory To Prime Time Network And Cable Shows" and looked up this series for where it's located.
What a surprise! Manhattan!
At some point in her sitcom life, Val Tyler (Holly's older sister) must have met Rachel Greene or Ross Geller, both of whom also lived in New York City.
I'm betting on it being Rachel, perhaps in connection to Val's public relations career and Rachel working in the fashion biz. Through Val, Holly would have come to know Rachel - they might have invited her and Ross to a party at their Upper West Side apartment, or they both went down to the Village and saw where they were living.
So not only can we save this from being a Zonk!, but we can turn it around to get a Missing Link!
Another satisfying day fulfilled. I think I'll go take a nap.
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
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