CONTACT HIGH

Even though this posted in the wee small hours of the morning today, I know this will be my Facebook highlight for the whole week:

BCnU!

BACK TO THE BATCAVE III

I've talked about references to the Batcave on other TV shows before. (This link to the latest reference also includes a link to the first article.) And its notoriety has an international following.....

When George Sands told Annie that he was treating his severe case of "moping" by hunting vampires, the ghost argued: "I meant 'take a shower', not storm the Batcave!" (This occurred in the fourth season opener of the original 'Being Human'.)

It's not something I look forward to, but should the day come when Adam West passes away and some network decides to bring 'Batman' back as a live-action series, I think a splainin could be drafted in which both versions of the show exist in Earth Prime-Time. But so long as the actor lives and breathes, the original Bruce Wayne does as well. And that means any new version of the show must be relegated to an alternate TV dimension.

To consider any other option would be... diabolical.

BCnU!

CONAN THE BIT-PARTIER

Here in the real world, talk show host and "cousin"* Conan O'Brien won a walk-on role on 'How I Met Your Mother' at an auction. The producers offered to beef up the role for him, but Conan turned it down. I think he thought it would be funnier to just do the microscopic cameo without any fanfare.

So in his blink-and-you'll-miss-him moment in 'HIMYM', here's Conan.....

I'm going to count this as an appearance by Conan O'Brien as a member of the League of Themselves. Apparently, Coco came back to New York City and decided to hang out with some old friends at MacLaren's, which must have been one of his favorite watering holes while he lived in the Big Apple.

In a world where the televersions of celebrities can find themselves in the middle of nowhere for the flimsiest of reasons in other sitcoms, this was at least feasible.

As such, his walk-on now connects 'How I Met Your Mother' to the following shows:

'Lateline'

'Eaglehart'

'Arli$$'

'Web Therapy'

'Sesame Street'

'The Office'

'30 Rock'

'Veronica's Closet'

"The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch"

'Primetime Glick'

and

"Elmopalooza!"

And that's just in Earth Prime-Time!

His appearance in an episode of 'DAG' takes place in the same TV dimension in which you'd find 'Karen', 'Hail To The Chief', 'Mr. President', 'Cory In The House' and the upcoming 'Veep' on HBO.  In Skitlandia, he can be found in an episode of 'The Martin Short Show' and 'Mr. Show with Bob & David'.  (I think his opening routine when he hosted the Emmy Awards - in which he woke up late and found himself in various TV shows - should also be included here.)

Over in the Tooniverse, Conan's cartoon counterpart could be seen in 'The Simpsons', 'Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist', and his live-action doppleganger was beamed into the Tooniverse in an episode of 'Space Ghost, Coast To Coast'.  (So that should count as half a credit for him in his tally for the main Toobworld.

And nearly one thousand years in the future, his head will be cloned so that he can work the Catskills circuit in a Christmas episode of 'Futurama'.

Just another example of life during prime time......

BCnU!

* All O'Briens are related.  It's the law.

AMERICAN EXPORTS

The TV landscape in America is full of remakes of previous shows - '87th Precinct', 'The New Addams Family', 'The Fugitive' - and most of them have to be relegated to alternate TV dimensions. Exceptions would include the remake of 'The Prisoner' with Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellan, which was a continuation of the original scenario - but the shadowy powers running "the Village" had regrouped and set up shop elsewhere.

Sometimes it's the original - or in the case of Sherlock Holmes, the original and several remakes - that gets transferred. This happened with a one-shot drama called "The Strange World of Horace Ford", which was an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'. That version (starring Pat Hingle) is better known and seen more often than its predecessor which starred Art Carney. Therefore, it stays in Earth Prime-Time. As for the Great Detective, Jeremy Brett is the accepted portrayal of Holmes even though Ronald Howard, Douglas Wilmer, Peter Cushing and others came before him.

But when a show is remade in other countries, then the foreign versions get to share the same tele-planet. What helps of course is that even though they might share the same plotlines (especially those in the 'Law & Order' franchise), the characters have been changed enough to make them different from the originals... starting with their names.

(One exception - the American version of 'Being Human'. Even though it was now set in Boston rather than Bristol and the characters had different names - Sally instead of Annie, for example - it was still about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost all living together. The ghost was still the female, the vampire still had the same kind of occupation, etc. It was too specifically similar to the original - and superior - British version, so it had to go.)

But no matter how many variations on 'The Office' and 'Ugly Betty' spring up around the world, they're all different enough, or their situations and character types are all so generic, that Earth Prime-Time can survive having them share the same global stage.

None of that is anything new for long-time visitors to this blog.  It's been brought up several times in the past here at Inner Toob, but it never hurts to have refreshers for those just joining the program already in progress. And since those two shows are the most often cited, I thought it might be nice if you got to see some other examples.

And thanks to this list you can:

"Ten Foreign Remakes Of TV Shows Very Different From The Original"

Enjoy! (And yeah, I know at least one of the video links has already expired. Sorry about that, Chief.)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: THE GODFATHER

DON VITO CORLEONE
aka

"THE GODFATHER"

AS SEEN ON:

'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:

John Belushi

CREATED BY:

Mario Puzo

TV DIMENSION:

Skitlandia

STATUS:

Deceased Multiversal Recastaway

From Wikipedia:

Vito Andolini Corleone is a fictional character and the main character in Mario Puzo's novel "The Godfather", as well as Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" trilogy, where he was portrayed by Marlon Brando in "The Godfather" and by Robert De Niro in "The Godfather Part II". Premiere Magazine listed Vito Corleone as the greatest movie character in history. He was also selected as the 10th greatest movie character by Empire Magazine.

In Puzo's novel, Vito Corleone is the head of the Corleone crime family, the most powerful Mafia family in New York City. He is depicted as an ambitious Sicilian immigrant who moves to Hell's Kitchen and builds a Mafia empire, retaining (and strictly adhering to) his own personal code of honor. Upon his death at the end of the novel, his youngest son, Michael, becomes the Don of the Corleone family. Vito has two other sons, Santino ("Sonny") and Frederico ("Fredo"), as well as a daughter, Constanzia ("Connie"), all of whom play major roles in the story. He also informally adopts another son, Tom Hagen, who grows up to become the Family's consigliere.

NO MORE "GODFATHER" ON TV

Tom Hagen.....Bill Murray
Don Vito Corleone.....John Belushi

Tom Hagen: -- They did a lot of work on it, they spent a couple millon dollars. Now, it's true, they showed the bad side of the family. But you came off looking really well tonight.

Don Vito Corleone: I don't know. You know, if what they say is true, the camera really does put on ten pounds, you know? I don't like the way we were portrayed, you know? The movie's the one thing, but.. there's too much violence on television. Oh, it's a dirty business. I want no part of it. No more "Godfather" on television!

Tom Hagen: We'll try whatever we've got to do. The Nielsen ratings were awfully high. It's gonna be difficult to get them to cancel parts two, three and four. In fact, they have plans to do even more.

Don Vito Corleone: What plans?

Tom Hagen: Well, they've already started developing two new shows - "Godfather Knows Best", and another thing called "The Courtship of Eddie's Godfather."

Don Vito Corleone: How could NBC treat me with such disrespect?  All I've done for them. When they wanted Dean Martin to star in a series, who got him for them? I did. Ah, but let's face it - they never wanted my friendship. It's okay, I understand - but, now, this? How can they do this to me? We made a no contract.

Tom Hagen: They didn't have to have a contract. We have no legal recourse!

Don Vito Corleone: Ah, legal recourse. Legal recourse. We'll go to the mattresses!

Tom Hagen: What do you suggest we do, Godfather? Make them an offer they can't pass by?

Don Vito Corleone: Hmm.. Something like that. Let's see. We move hard, fast. Tom - you go to NBC in Hollywood, take Clemenza with you. I want Grizzly Adams to wake up with a bear's head on his pillow. That'll take care of it.

Tom Hagen: Okay. How about "Saturday Night Live"?

Don Vito Corleone: Noooo. No, my grandchildren love the show, it makes them laugh. And there's not enough good satire on TV these days. Besides.. I love it when they say, "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!"

A very big thanks to an indispensable site:

'Saturday Night Live' Transcripts

BCnU!

MARCH FORTH ON MARCH FOURTH!

The Doctor:

"You might almost say they’ve had a complete metal breakdown."

Jamie:

(groans)

The Doctor:

"I'm so sorry, Jamie."

'Doctor Who'

HAPPY PUN DAY!

BCnU......

THE OSCARS: BEHIND THE SCENES

Last Sunday was the Oscars telecast on ABC, but in Toobworld there was more to it than just what we saw during the awards show.....

BCnU!

TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY: SYLVIA & MILTON

Not everything can be connected in Toobworld just because certain characters look exactly alike in different TV shows. (Of course, outside the Toobworld reality, this is due to casting the same actor over and over again.)

Case in point: Milton and Sylvia of 'Coronation Street':

I've claimed in the past that the characters played by Robert Vaughn on 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', 'The Protectors', and 'Hustle' were all siblings. But that doesn't mean that every character Vaughn played in "modern times" has to be of the same family. How many Duggar-like families can there be in Toobworld?

But Milton could be somehow related to characters played by Vaughn in other TV series, especially the one-shots. A role he had in an episode of 'Law & Order' could convincingly be connected to this American millionaire - as an identical cousin perhaps.

And although I haven't written it up yet, Stephanie Cole's roles of Diana Trent and Aunt Joan in 'Waiting For God' and 'Doc Martin' respectively are of the same family tree, but not officially. (A lot of out of wedlock children were born in the Portwenn area due to summer flings with summer visitors.) I don't think it's necessary to throw Sylvia into that mix as well. I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities for linking 'Coronation Street' to Toobworld as a whole.

So let's just enjoy this Milton & Sylvia romance while we can - which apparently will be for only three weeks.

Here's the first 'Coronation Street' episode in which Robert Vaughn appeared as Milton.....

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! "GAME OF THRONES" (SEASON TWO)

Can you feel it?

We're getting closer to the second season premiere of 'Game Of Thrones'.

The HBO fantasy series (set on the planet Mondas as far as Toobworld Central is concerned) is only weeks away from returning. It was the winner of several Toobits Awards last year, including Best New Series, as well as a character award for Tyrion Lannister.

Here's a sneak peek taste....

BCnU!

REMEMBERING DAVY JONES, S'MORE

Here we are with the Sunday edition of the latest Video Weekend at Inner Toob, and we're still celebrating the life and memories of Davy Jones' televersion.

I have to thank my blogmate Lisa of "The Flaming Nose" (link to the left, my Monkee-heads) for first finding and posting these YouTube videos of Davy in action singing many of the songs associated with his career. When I used to watch 'The Monkees', the music segments were just chase scenes and excuses to goof around but set to catchy tunes. Aside from the biggest hits, I couldn't think of any other songs they did for yesterday's collection of videos.

Besides, this gives me an excuse to continue the memorial. Thanks, Lisa!

BCnU!