HARLAN WANTS TO BOLDLY GO... AGAIN

Recently, legendary (and cantankerous) author Harlan Ellison expressed an interest in working with JJ Abrams on the next 'Star Trek' movie - even after his 40 year battles with Gene Roddenberry and Paramount over his last collaboration with them on 'Trek':

"I would jump at the chance to work with the inordinately-talented J.J. Abrams on a new STAR TREK film. Yes, I would likely try to steer him toward the original film idea I was asked to pitch, by the late Gene Roddenberry and a production exec whose name I have blissfully flensed from memory (but he had been, if I recall, a hairdresser or clothing designer or ex-boyfriend of someone or other, and he kept trying to press me to include the Mayan Calendar).

If the very smart Abrams didn’t want to go that way, I would be wide-open to rethinking such a film from the git-go."

Before he made that announcement, a friend of mine noted:

No Guardian in 'Star Trek' -- in other words, Harlan Ellison said, "$Give$ $me$ $money$!" and the producers said, "Frell that, we'll just make our own time travel device with blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget time travel."

Gotta love dem 'Futurama' references.....

BCnU!

ON LOCATION: ST. ELIGIUS HOSPITAL

After sending along those pictures of St. Eligius which were featured in the "As Seen On TV" spot December 1st, my Iddiot buddy Brian-El also sent some pictures he took of the building that subbed for St. Eligius Hospital in Boston:

Wicked! Thanks, Bri!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: WOLF BLITZER

WOLF BLITZER

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Jason Sudeikis

From CNN:
Wolf Blitzer is the anchor of CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer", CNN's innovative, fast-paced political news program which airs in a three-hour block every weekday and in an hour-long format on Saturday evenings. Blitzer also serves as the network's lead political anchor. BCnU!

PS:
That's not my cat Sand in the second picture.....

NUMBERS RUNNING: "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS"

Team jerseys are an excellent source for finding the mystical sequence of "The Numbers" from 'Lost'. And there's no better place to find some of those numbers than in 'Friday Night Lights':

Number 42 (in the background)

My thanks to Alan Sepinwall for posting this pic in his blog, "What's Alan Watching?", the link for which can be found to your left.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BAT MASTERSON

BAT MASTERSON

AS SEEN IN:
'Bat Masterson'
'The Guns Of Paradise'
'Gambler 4: Luck Of The Draw'

AS PLAYED BY:
Gene Barry

William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a figure of the American Old West known as a buffalo hunter, U.S. Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, U.S. Marshal, and sports editor and columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph.

'Bat Masterson' is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961.

Back when the West was very young
There lived a man named Masterson
He wore a cane and derby hat
They called him Bat
Bat Masterson!

A man of steel, the story says
But women's eyes all glanced his way.
A gambler's game he always won
His name was Bat
Bat Masterson!

Refrain

The trail that he blazed is still there
No one has come since to replace his name
and those with too ready a trigger,
forgot to figure on his lightning cane.

Now in the legend of the West
One name stands out above the rest
The man who had the fastest gun,
His name was Bat
Bat Masterson!

(All from Wikipedia)

Gene Barry went on to star in 'Burke's Law', 'Amos Burke, Secret Agent', 'The Name Of The Game', 'The Adventurer' and once again in 'Burke's Law'. Earlier he was in the final season of 'Our Miss Brooks'. And he was nominated for the Tony Award for his performance in the hit 1980s Broadway musical "La Cage aux Folles".

Mr. Barry died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at Sunrise Assisted Living in Woodland Hills, according to his son, Michael.

In 2002, the year of duos for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, Gene Barry's portrayal of Bat Masterson was inducted, along with Wyatt Earp - as played by Hugh O'Brian.

A tip of the derby to you, Sir.

BCnU.....

For an excellent fan site dedicated to Gene Barry, visit here. My thanks to them for the pictures I nicked. (I did a favor for them once, so I hope they'll forgive me....)

NEW 2 VIEW AT TOOB HQ

I did all of my Christmas shopping online Cyber-Monday, which wasn't hard since basically I was just getting stuff for my 5 year old nephew and a couple of friends of mine. (My two older nephews - 21 and 18 - you know they're impossible to shop for so they're getting the Almighty Dollar.)

But I couldn't resist and did a bit of shopping for myself - DVDs to add to the Toobworld Central library:

"CHILDREN OF THE STONES" - "Spooky turns to sinister as science and the supernatural collide." I've heard of this British thriller from various sources and thought I'd check it out.

"SHAKESPEARE'S AN AGE OF KINGS" - The old UConn drama student rose up and demanded this. But it's also a great way to integrate the History plays into Toobworld. And it should provide plenty of fodder for the "As Seen On TV" feature in the Inner Toob blog.

"BLAZING SADDLES" - I already had this, but this is the anniversary edition, so there should be plenty of new extras to check out. There better be....!

'MAUDE' - The First Season. I feel so Michael. And those who know Michael will understand.

"CHRISTMAS CAROL" - The Alistair Sim version, for me the very best one there ever was. This comes with the original version and the "turnerized" - i.e., the color - version. I'd never play that one unless it was requested by someone who didn't know any better.....

"ROME" - The complete series (2 seasons). Amazon was offering this in a one day only deal for less than fifty bucks so I figured I might as well go for it. Just checked the site now and each individual season is a bit over thirty bucks, and the complete package over $70, so I guess I made the right choice. Now I'll be able to make up for missing it the first time around. (Plus I can look for locations that were also used as Pompeii in that 'Doctor Who' episode....)

"SWING OUT, SWEET LAND" - A John Wayne NBC TV special celebrating America from 1970, sponsored by Budweiser and starring an incredible amount of the TV stars of the day. It may sound corny, but it proved to be quite moving in its own way; and who doesn't want to revisit old friends like Red Skelton, Jack Benny, and Dean Martin. Like "An Age Of Kings", this will provide plenty of material for "As Seen On TV".

"1001 CLASSIC COMMERCIALS" - Definitely something to take along when I go on vacation next year in April, just in case of a rainy day!

A new friend of mine also gave me a copy of the book "Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul", so there's a special area in the stacks for books of that nature. Hopefully there are some useful pointers in there that will come in handy for any future projects. (I'm afraid I'm locked into the way the Toobworld novel is constructed, for better or more likely, for worse.)

So that's the latest haul for Toobworld.....

BCnU!

COLLARED BY THE LEDGER

With the mid-season break for the holidays, 'White Collar' officially joined the TV Universe in the last episode, "Free Fall". Neal Caffrey was on the run and a very bad mug-shot was plastered on the front page of the New York Ledger.

Most TV fans know that the New York Ledger is probably the ultimate bit of TV trivia from Dick Wolf's corner of the TV Universe. It frequently shows up as the paper of record in episodes of 'Law & Order', 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit', and 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'. I think it also appeared in at least one episode of 'Law & Order: Trial By Jury'. And then there was another off-shoot series which had the Ledger as its focal setting, 'Deadline'.

According to Wikipedia, the Ledger has shown up on 'CSI: NY', which would make sense since even though they're different production companies and different networks, it's still one big tele-NYC.

And now we find a copy of the Ledger in 'White Collar', bringing this USA Network show into the Westphallian fold. (Its inclusion in the Toobworld version of the TV Universe was a given. All are "well come".)

Which is no surprise considering USA Network is a subsidiary to the NBC parent company (which was GE, but now looks to be Comcast)..... BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: TIGER & ELIN WOODS

It was O'Bvious that 'Saturday Night Live' would have to tackle the story.....

TIGER & ELIN WOODS

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Kenan Thompson as Tiger
Blake Lively (host) as Elin

From Yahoo TV News:
'Saturday Night Live' is making headlines for featuring a skit over the weekend, which parodied domestic violence.

On Saturday night's episode, the NBC sketch comedy show made light of Tiger Woods' scandalous week, satirizing reports - denied by the golfer - that his wife, Elin Nordegren, attacked him prior to his early-morning car accident on November 27 with a sketch featuring Keenan Thomson and host Blake Lively.

However, the show's musical guest was Rihanna - a victim of domestic violence earlier this year from then-boyfriend Chris Brown -- prompting concerns from several media outlets that the show's humor was insensitive from some corners. From the New York Times:

In the comedy sketch, Tiger Woods (played by the “S.N.L.” performer Kenan Thompson) gives a series of press conferences attempting to apologize for acts of infidelity. In each appearance, the fictional Woods appears with more bruises and injuries, evidently sustained at the hands of Elin (played in the skit by Ms. Lively).
Wherever you stand on the subject, once broadcast, it has become a fixture in Skitlandia.....

You can see the sketch at either nbc.com or at hulu.com...

BCnU!

FROSTY THE INAPPROPRIATE SNOWMAN

To bring adult eyes to their upcoming rebroadcast of the two classic Frosty the Snowman specials, the Eye Network - CBS - has created a couple of mash-ups of scenes from 'Frosty The Snowman' and 'Frosty Returns' using audio clips from 'How I Met Your Mother' and 'Two And A Half Men'.

Of course, FOX News jumped on the story and is practically calling for somebody to burn at the stake. But I thought it was funny. And for Toobworld Central, very timely - as you'll see next week.....






Ho Ho Ho, Bro!

DEEP SIX: MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

CBS recently had a trifecta with its week-long crossover of its 'CSI' series, and the characters from the 'NCIS' mothership have been crossing over into the next hour's Los Angeles spin-off. Before the season is over, 'Lie To Me' and 'Bones' will also be crossing over.

But for all the O'Bvious ones, there are other crossover opportunities which slip away. For this Deep Six, here are a few ideas I had that probably never could have happened due to the rights to the characters. But so what? This is Toobworld, Television sans frontieres!

1] 'Extras' & 'The Larry Sanders Show'
Andy Millman tries to establish himself in America and only succeeds in embarrassing himself further.

2] 'The Adventures Of Brisco County, Jr.' in 'The Wild, Wild West'
I still contend that a guest appearance by Robert Conrad as James West for the finale could have gained the series a second season.

3] 'Criminal Minds' and 'Close To Home'
CBS really missed the ball on this one. The BAU is always flying in to suburban crime scenes and the setting for 'Close To Home' would have been a natural as they worked with the local justice system.

4] 'Chuck' vs. 'Jake 2.0'
Theoretically, this could still happen. Christopher Gorham could appear in an episode without ever actually saying that he's Jake Foley. It would be like one of those classic Marvel Team-Ups: the two heroes battle each other at first under mistaken circumstances and then work together to defeat the real enemy.

5] 'Torchwood' teams up with 'The X-Files' or 'Special Unit 2'
Similarly to #4, Gillian Anderson is already over there in Great Britain, she could make a guest appearance as Dana Scully. However, she's rumored to be the Rani in the new adventures of the Eleventh Doctor and having her also appear as Scully might muddy the waters. (And to be realistic - not that I've ever been hampered by that! - nobody's going to waste the effort to revive 'Special Unit 2' for this.)

But here's a thought I'll bring up again - Torchwood is going to need new team members. Why not also bring in a different perspective by adding demon fighter John 'Strange', as played by Richard Coyle?

6] 'The Librarian' visits 'Warehouse 13'
Not likely to happen since they are for different properties, but it would be nice to establish a rivalry between the two groups in securing some of these mystical items....

BCnU!