MAKING "DOCTOR WHO" -

As usual, I don't want to leave you without a properly off-beat video for 'Doctor Who', so here's the comparison between the storyboard and the actual scene from the final moments of last week's episode - "Day Of The Moon":

BCnU!

"THE CURSE OF THE BLACK SPOT" - THE PREQUEL

Here's the prequel to tonight's episode of 'Doctor Who' ("Curse Of The Black Spot"):

ARRRGH!

THE HAT SQUAD: SADA THOMPSON

Actress Sada Thompson was better known for her theater work Off-Broadway than on Broadway, let alone her work in television. But she made her mark in Toobworld as the matriarch of 'Family' from 1976 - 1980. She was nominated as Best Actress for the role and won the Emmy award once.

She passed away on Wednesday at the age of 83.

Here are three inter-related clips from the early period in the history of 'Family', showcasing Sada Thompson's incredible talent, with able support from James Broderick, Elaine Heilveil, Kristy McNichol, and John Rubinstein.

Now, I didn't even realize that the role of Nancy was ever played by anyone else but Meredith Baxter-Birney. And now having seen just a sampling of Ms. Heilveil in the role, I think it's likely she was replaced in order to "goose" the ratings with "a hot blonde". Because Elaine Heilveil is good in the role, and she looks more like she was the daughter of Broderick and Thompson.

Anyhoo, here's Meredith Baxter-Birney in the role of Nancy, having no choice but to be outshined by Sada Thompson:

I always believed that Sada Thompson would have been the perfect embodiment of 'Mrs. Columbo'.

Good night and may God bless Jackie Cooper, Marian Mercer, and Sada Thompson.

BCnU........

THE HAT SQUAD: MARIAN MERCER

I was first introduced to the actress Marian Mercer when I was in college and she appeared in the soap opera-sitcom 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman' as Wanda Jeter (nee Rittenhouse). As with several other women living in Fernwood, Ohio, I developed a crush on her. Ms. Mercer brought a charming sophistication to the role.

And you might not agree, but I think it's evident even in this scene:




Sadly, Marian Mercer passed away at the age of 75, around the same time as Jackie Cooper. She was also known in Toobworld for her roles in 'It's A Living' and 'The Wacky World Of Jonathan Winters'.

BCnU......

THE HAT SQUAD: JACKIE COOPER ON "WHAT'S MY LINE?"

Jackie Cooper was just as comfortable being himself in front of the camera as he was playing his various characters. (Although it could be said that he was playing a character when he appeared on 'What's My Line'.....)

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: JACKIE COOPER, "THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE"

Most of Jackie Cooper's obituaries this week led off with the fact that the public at large would probably remember him best as Perry White in the 'Superman' franchise when Christopher Reeve was playing the role. But he also had a career as a child actor (winning an Oscar nomination at the age of nine and starring in "Our Gang" movies), as a director, and as a network executive.

But he also had two TV series of his own - 'Hennessey' and 'The People's Choice'. Cooper was upstaged in 'The People's Choice' by his bassett hound Cleo - who could speak serlinguistically to the audience viewing at home.

If Cooper was upset about being upstaged by Cleo, I don't think he ever let it show....

Here's the first part of an episode of 'The People's Choice', which should give you the option to continue watching the rest of the program.....

 
BCnU......

THE HAT SQUAD: JACKIE COOPER IN "COLUMBO"

With the death of Jackie Cooper this week at the age of 88, my first thought of his career went to his portrayal of Senatorial candidate Nelson Hayward, the "Candidate For Crime" in an episode of 'Columbo'.

Here are two video excerpts from that episode the provide a great showcase for Cooper. But a word of warning - if you haven't seen the episode yet, that second video is the solution to the murder!

From the best damned 'Columbo' website online:
Columbo alludes to Candidate For Crime in both of the episodes that immediately followed it in the original broadcast schedule.

In Double Exposure, Columbo says that he has been "working late on the Hayward case." There can be little doubt that Columbo means Nelson Hayward, the politician who murders his campaign manager in "Candidate For Crime," because "Double Exposure" was the next episode after "Candidate For Crime". This is an unusual acknowledgement that Columbo must handle multiple cases at the same time.

Then in the next episode, Publish Or Perish, Columbo tells killer Riley Greenleaf (Jack Cassidy) that he wants to write a book about his experiences as a policeman. As an example of his potential book material, Columbo describes the plot of "Candidate For Crime". Greenleaf responds, "Lieutenant, very frankly, I don't give a damn about your Senator or your story."

BCnU.....

AS SEEN ON TV: KING WILHELM I OF PRUSSIA

WILHELM I

AS SEEN IN:
'Edward The King'

AS PLAYED BY:
Geoffrey Wincott

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:
William I, also known as Wilhelm I (full name: William Frederick Louis, German: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig) (22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888), of the House of Hohenzollern was the King of Prussia (2 January 1861 – 9 March 1888) and the first German Emperor (18 January 1871 – 9 March 1888).

Under the leadership of William and his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the establishment of the German Empire.

Full title as German Emperor
His Imperial and Royal Majesty William the First, by the Grace of God, German Emperor and King of Prussia; Margrave of Brandenburg, Burgrave of Nuremberg, Count of Hohenzollern; sovereign and supreme Duke of Silesia and of the County of Glatz; Grand Duke of the Lower Rhine and of Posen; Duke of Saxony, of Westphalia, of Angria, of Pomerania, Lunenburg, Holstein and Schleswig, of Magdeburg, of Bremen, of Guelders, Cleves, Jülich and Berg, Duke of the Wends and the Kassubes, of Crossen, Lauenburg and Mecklenburg; Landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia; Prince of Orange; Prince of Rügen, of East Friesland, of Paderborn and Pyrmont, of Halberstadt, Münster, Minden, Osnabrück, Hildesheim, of Verden, Cammin, Fulda, Nassau and Moers; Princely Count of Henneberg; Count of Mark, of Ravensberg, of Hohenstein, Tecklenburg and Lingen, of Mansfeld, Sigmaringen and Veringen; Lord of Frankfurt.

BCnU!

TWIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES: "CHUCK" & OSAMA

'Chuck' - "Chuck vs. Agent X"

What should have been a throw-away gag poking fun at Colonel John Casey's take-no-prisoners approach to a "good time", Casey was planning on spending his time in Las Vegas for Chuck Bartowski's bachelor party at various gun ranges. And he brought along some of his favorite targets:

The episode aired Monday night. The bachelor party was to begin on Friday night for the whole weekend. Nobody said anything about Osama bin Laden having been killed already in Abbottabad, Pakistan*. And the episode should hew closely to the time it was broadcast.

Therefore, the Toobworld timeline for this episode begins on Friday, April 29th of this year, with Osama dead by Sunday night, the First of May.

BCnU!

* Yes, I know the episode was filmed weeks in advance. However, we deal with the "inner reality" of Toobworld here......

AS SEEN ON TV: GEORGE I OF GREECE

KING GEORGE I

AS SEEN IN:

'Edward The King'

AS PLAYED BY:

Paul Greenhalgh

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:

George I (24 December 1845 – 18 March 1913) was King of the Hellenes from 1863 to 1913. Originally a Danish prince, George was only 17 years old when he was elected king by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the former King Otto. His nomination was both suggested and supported by the Great Powers (the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire and the Russian Empire).

As the first monarch of the new Greek dynasty, his reign of almost 50 years (the longest in modern Greek history) was characterized by territorial gains as Greece established its place in pre-World War I Europe. Two weeks short of the fiftieth anniversary of his accession, and during the First Balkan War, he was assassinated. In sharp contrast to his own reign, the reigns of his successors would prove short and insecure.

During a trip to the Russian Empire to meet with his sister Dagmar, who had married into the Russian imperial family, he met Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia. Olga was just 16 when she married George on 27 October 1867 (Gregorian calendar), in Saint Petersburg. They had eight children.

When alone with his wife, George usually conversed in German. Their children were taught English by their nannies, and when talking with his children he therefore spoke mainly English. Intent on not letting his subjects know that he missed Denmark, he discreetly maintained a dairy at his palace at Tatoi, which was managed by native Danes and served as a bucolic reminder of his homeland.

Queen Olga was far less careful in hiding her nostalgia for her native Russia, often visiting Russian ships at Piraeus two or three times before they weighed anchor.

The king was related by marriage to the rulers of Great Britain, Russia and Prussia, maintaining a particularly strong attachment to the Prince and Princess of Wales, who visited Athens in 1869. Their visit occurred despite continued lawlessness which culminated in the murder of a party of British and Italian tourists.

The death of Britain's Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901 left King George as the second-longest-reigning monarch in Europe. His always cordial relations with his brother-in-law, the new King Edward VII, continued to tie Greece to Britain. This was abundantly important in Britain's support of the King's son George as Governor-General of Crete. Nevertheless, George resigned in 1906 after a leader in the Cretan Assembly, Eleftherios Venizelos, campaigned to have him removed.

The King went about Salonika without any meaningful protection force. While out on an afternoon walk near the White Tower of Thessaloniki on 18 March 1913, he was shot at close range in the back by Alexandros Schinas, who was "said to belong to a Socialist organisation" and "declared when arrested that he had killed the King because he refused to give him money".

The Greek government denied any political motive for the assassination, saying that Schinas was an alcoholic vagrant. Schinas was tortured in prison and six weeks later fell to his death from a police station window.

BCnU!