TODAY'S TWD: NO ANGELS THIS TIME

From the Associated Press:

ARAPAHO, Okla. (April 18) - Authorities have charged a western Oklahoma sheriff with coercing and bribing female inmates so he could use them in a sex-slave operation run out of his jail.

Custer County Sheriff Mike Burgess resigned Wednesday just as state prosecutors filed 35 felony charges against him, including 14 counts of second-degree rape, seven counts of forcible oral sodomy and five counts of bribery by a public official.

Burgess, the top officer in the county of 26,000 since 1994, appeared in court Wednesday was released after posting $50,000 bail.

"We are stunned," Undersheriff Kenneth Tidwell said Thursday.

Among other things, Burgess is accused of having sex with a female drug court participant who was in his custody. The crimes are to have occurred between October 2005 and April 2007.

A federal lawsuit filed in October claims Burgess told one drug court participant he would have her sent to prison if she didn't comply with his sexual demands.

The lawsuit, filed by 12 former inmates, alleges the sheriff's employees had them engage in wet T-shirt contests and offered cigarettes to those who would flash their breasts.

One prisoner alleged she became a jail trusty with more freedom after agreeing to perform a sex act on Burgess, but lost that status when she later refused.

Burgess also faces two counts each of sexual battery, rape by instrumentation and subornation of perjury, and one count each of engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, indecent exposure and kidnapping.

He could be sentenced to 467 years in prison if convicted on all counts, special prosecutor James Boring said, though a lesser sentence would be more likely.

Life imitates Toobworld.
On October 20th, 1976, ABC aired the infamous 'Charlie's Angels' episode "Angels In Chains", in which the Angels went undercover as petty criminals to go undercover at the Pine Parrish County Prison. (To get into the prison, Kelly and Sabrina were supposedly on probation when they picked up Jill as a hitch-hiker - thus giving Sheriff Clint an excuse to take them in as prisoners.)

While searching for a missing inmate (who turned out to be murdered), Jill, Kelly, and Sabrina were hosed down by the dreaded "evil lesbian guards" and were destined to be auctioned off by the female warden who pimped her prisoners out to local businessmen. But what really made the episode infamous was the legend of the exposed nipple on the part of Farrah Fawcett as Jill, which supposedly could be seen as they slogged their way through a bog to escape from the prison.

Among the guest stars were:

Neva Patterson as Warden Sorenson

Lauren Tewes as Christine Hunter

Kim Basinger as Linda Oliver

Mary Woronov as Maxine

(I can't think of anybody more perfect to play that role back then!)

and
David Huddleston as Sheriff Clint

It's a shame the timing is all off - Sheriff Burgess would have been a great role for the late Graham Jarvis!

BCnU!
Toby OB

PS:
One interesting side note to the similarities between the two cases - here in the real world, Sheriff Burgess is being represented by attorney Steve Huddleston. In "Angels In Chains", the dastardly Sheriff Clint is played by David Huddleston.

CROSSING AT 11th....

They waited until the season finale of 'New Amsterdam' (which may also be the series finale), but the producers threw a bone to ol' Toobworld by providing a link to another series.

Although they might not have realized it.

Near the end of the episode "Love Hurts", Detective John Amsterdam stormed out of the stormed out of New York's 11th Precinct where he worked. He was closely followed out by a suspect, Inga Skolls.

There must be something about the place that draws in those cops with a touch of the supernatural about them, because that's also the same precinct where Detective Sara Pezzini worked, as seen in the series premiere of 'Witchblade'.

John Amsterdam joined the force soon after 9/11/2001, which was established in the episode "Reclassified". The last episode of 'Witchblade' aired in August of 2002. So there's a possibility that their paths have crossed at the 11th, but they may have been on different shifts. And "Pezz" may have left the NYPD before then. (I never did stay with the series until its end....)

Still, it does give the fanfic folks something to work with. (I know, I know, I shouldn't be encouraging them, but they look so cute when you give them scraps.)

An interesting side note: Nestor Serrano had roles on both series. In 'Witchblade', he was Captain Dante, at odds with Detective Pezzini. (Perhaps with a bloodline connection to the supernatural doings at 'Dante's Cove'?) And he was the legendary ex-cop Eddie Marquez, estranged father of Amsterdam's partner, Eva Marquez.

So if that's the series' legacy, not a bad way to end all in all.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

"Common sense has never been a reliable guide
To understanding the universe."
Kenneth Irons
'Witchblade'

TODAY'S TWD: BILL BUCKNER

On Opening Day at Fenway this year, former Red Sox player Bill Buckner threw out the first ball. It was an emotional moment, seeing how well-received the old Number Six was as he walked out to the mound; especially so considering how reviled he was after he flubbed that Mookie Wilson grounder during Game Six that pretty much led to the Mets winning the 1986 World Series.

Those Beantown Idiots have won two World Series since then - in 2004 and 2007. So maybe that's why the fans were willing to cite "Bygones", a la Richard Fish of 'Ally McBeal'. But I would hope they would have been just as forgiving and welcoming if the drought had continued. After all, 20/20 hindsight shows that it was a managerial error at the base of it - MacNamara should have pulled him out of the game earlier since he was so visibly hurting.

I know I would have been more forgiving even without the two championships, and I was a guy who was merciless on him back then. That play left me in a fetal position on my friend Robin's floor that night. It would have been fun to do that anyway, but for a more... interesting reason. But if you can't let something like that go by the next season, you're the one with a problem.

Of course, don't get me started about New York's channel 5 yanking 'Forever Fernwood' off the schedule back in 1978 in favor of 'Hogan's Heroes' reruns! But that's different.....

All of that venom from the fans took its toll on Buckner and he almost turned down this opportunity to come back to the Red Sox Nation.

"Yes, it was the World Series, and yes, it was a dramatic moment, but one play shouldn't define the legacy of a man who was a great player and a great hitter," said Ron Cey, a friend since they joined the Dogdgers together back in 1968. "Billy was a gritty player, a determined player and an emotional player, and this comes from someone who was his teammate in the Minor Leagues, with the Dodgers and then with the Chicago Cubs."

Here's why Bill Buckner should never be known only for that one play. In his 20 years of Major League Baseball from '70 to '90:

2,715 career hits

54th on the all-time list

more hits than Ted Williams, Billy Williams, and Steve Garvey

.289 batting average

1,208 RBIs

1,077 scored runs

498 doubles

174 home runs

450 walks and only 453 strike-outs

.991 in career fielding

So here's to you, Bill Buckner. Thanks for being patient with us as we finally came around.

BCnU!

Toby OB

AMSTERMULDER

During the 400 years of his life, John Amsterdam (under all of his aliases) had 63 children. So we could make the claim that he's related to a lot of previously established TV characters. And unlike the protagonist Cormac O'Connor in Pete Hamill's novel "Forever" which had a similar theme, John could leave Manhattan. So these children could be spread all over Toobworld.

And they don't have to be directly father and son or daughter either. We could suggest that somewhere farther back in the family tree, John sowed the seed that would eventually lead to the TV character in question.

And I have the perfect first candidate for this:

I wouldn't stretch the genealogical distance between John Amsterdam and Fox Mulder too far. I think we'd be safe in making the claim that John was Fox's great grandfather, perhaps even his grandfather on his mother's side.

But the resemblance is close enough there to make the claim that they're related; much better in fact than in some established cases in TV - like Jerry Stiller and Leah Remini!

[The picture of Nicolaj Coster-Waldau is one of the basic photos for 'New Amsterdam' publicity shots. So I knew just where to look to get a similar shot for David Duchovny - the "Leonard Betts" episode of 'The X-Files'!]

BCnU!
Toby OB

MORPHIN' FREEMAN

As part of his week-long celebration of his 26th birthday, my friend Michael (uncle to my god-daughter Rhiannon) showed me the 1990s version of 'Gypsy' which starred Bette Midler as Mama Rose. As big a fan of Stephen Sondheim as I am, I had never seen the show before. (If I'm going to get Sondheim, I want words AND music!) And although it wasn't really to my taste, there were some really great moments and the song "Rose's Turn" was really powerful.

During the big fight scene near the end between Rose and her daughter Louise (now known professionally as "Gypsy Rose Lee"), it suddenly occurred to me that if there was ever a reason for the late Kathleen Freeman to be portrayed in a TV show or movie, then Bette Midler would be perfect in the role.

But then again, I just re-upped on my meds for my knee, so maybe I'm the only one who sees it.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

LOST ON MARS

In the first season of 'Life On Mars', Sam Tyler visited the flat in which he grew up (one of them, anyway) back in 1973. He didn't actually see his younger, 4 year old self as he was upstairs with the mumps (or maybe chicken pox or measles, can't remember).

But what was interesting was that even in this strange new world in which Sam found himself (so as not to spoil it for anybody!), even here "The Numbers" from 'Lost' held sway!

BCnU!
Toby OB

[My thanks to NYMarkie for the screen captures!]

ADAMS: WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

If the HBO mini-series 'John Adams' had been produced over thirty years ago, I would have nominated the late Ed Flanders to play the role of the country's second President. I think he definitely looks the part....

Just a bit of "wish-craft" as I continue to clean out the Augean stables of my hard drive.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

STANFORD... YET AGAIN!

In this truncated TV season, we're still racking up TV connections for Stanford University.

Already we've had mentions in:

'Chuck'
'Journeyman'
'Reaper'
'Knight Rider'
'Boston Legal'

And that's just the '07-'08 season.

The latest mention comes from "The Jerusalem Duality", this week's episode of 'The Big Bang Theory'. It turns out that Dennis Kim, a fifteen year old who was considering CalTech as the place where he could work on his doctorate, had just the year before graduated from Stanford as their valedictorian.

So tough noogies there, whoever you are who was the valedictorian at Stanford in 2007 here in the real world! Over in Toobworld, Dennis Kim has snatched that honor away from you!

BCnU!
Toby OB

TATTOOED ON THE CHEKOV LIST....

On the left is a picture of Walter Koenig as Leo in the 'Ironside' episode "The Summer Soldier". On the right is Herve Villechaize as Tattoo in 'Fantasy Island'.

I'd say they could be brothers in Toobworld. Or is it just the meds talking?

It's not like we learned that much about the life of Tattoo during the run of the series. We barely got to learn anything about Mr. Roarke - only that he was over 300 years old and had supernatural connections with mermaids and Satan. (With the added information... information... information from the remake, Toobworld Central stands by its theory that Mr. Roarke was a Gallifreyan Time Lord.)

An added benefit to this "Theory of Relateeveety" is that we never learned the last names of either Leo or Tattoo.......

BCnU!
Toby OB

FLASHES BEFORE YOUR EYES

A few weeks ago, 'Guiding Light' changed the way they tape the soap opera, and in doing so, changed its very look. There's an immediacy to the scenes and some kind of video verite in effect because of the use of hand-held cameras and more location shooting (mostly in Peapak, New Jersey).

As a result, a lot of die-hard fans of 'Guiding Light' have been complaining about the new look, and the ratings haven't yet displayed the upwards bump the producers were hoping the experiment would create.
Not that it matters to Toobworld, of course. No matter what type of image ultimately ends up on the screen, it's still a broadcast from that alternate dimension; it is NOT a new TV world. The same holds true for colorization of old TV shows (as seen with this test frame from an 'I Love Lucy' episode) - it's a given that Toobworld should have always been in color, we just never had the chance to see it. Otherwise we'd have to say that once 'The Andy Griffith Show' began broadcasting in color, it had to be an alternate version from some other dimension.

(When it comes to the Turnerizer of 'Hi Honey, I'm Home'... okay, well, that's an alternate TV dimension!)

When are these pain pills going to take effect, anyway......?

BCnU!
Toby OB