For years, the end credits for ‘Masterpiece Mystery’ has contained word puzzles – a series of random letters are colored red and when lined up they spell out a word or three which have some relevance to the episode just seen. (There have been times when they served as a little preview clue to the upcoming episode.) I don’t know why, but I’ve always enjoyed most the ones to be found in episodes of ‘Endeavour’ and ‘Sherlock’. Let’s take a look at the word puzzle from the most recent episode (in the US, that is) of ‘Endeavour’ – “Pylon” (S06E01). I also apologize for the quality of my screen shots. For some reason, the red letters tended to wash out, so I circled them.
“ANNA SEWELL” At one point, a little girl in the episode was seen reading Ms. Sewell’s claim to literary fame – “Black Beauty”.
So – in keeping with my belief that television should be teaching tool, let’s take a look at the authoress. From Wikipedia: While living in Old Catton, Sewell wrote the manuscript of “Black Beauty” – in the period between 1871 and 1877. During this time her health was declining; she was often so weak that she was confined to her bed. Writing was a challenge. She dictated the text to her mother and from 1876 began to write on slips of paper which her mother then transcribed.
Although the book is now considered a children's classic, Sewell originally wrote it for those who worked with horses. She said "a special aim was to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses". In many respects the book can be read as a guide to horse husbandry, stable management and humane training practices for colts. It is considered to have had an effect on reducing cruelty to horses; for example, the use of bearing reins, which are particularly painful for a horse, was one of the practices highlighted in the novel, and in the years after the book's release the reins became less popular and fell out of favour. Sewell sold the novel to Norwich publisher Jarroldson 24 November 1877, when she was 57 years old. She received a single payment of ₤40 (£3,456 or US $4,630 in 2017) and the book was published the same year.
After the publication of her only novel, Sewell fell seriously ill. Sewell was in extreme pain and completely bedridden for the following months, and she died on 25 April 1878 of hepatitis or tuberculosis, only five months after the publication of “Black Beauty”. Be seeing you!
So far, our July Friday Hall of Famers, we’ve inducted a defense lawyer, a British detective from the beginning to the end of his career, and a hard-nosed American cop. For our last Law & Order inductee into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame for this month, we’re going to look at the prosecutorial side of a court case. This week our inductee is Paul Ryan. Not not that Cheesehead who was the Speaker of the House. I’m talking about the assistant district attorney for Los Angeles County from the late sixties to the early seventies – at least as far as what we could see on the TV. (Life goes on in Toobworld after cancellation.)
PAUL RYAN
From Wikipedia:
'The D.A.' is an American half-hour legal drama that aired Fridays at 8:00-8:30 pm on NBC for the 1971-72 season. It ran from September 17, 1971 to January 7, 1972 and was replaced by the more successful 'Sanford and Son' the following week. The show was packaged by Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television and is not to be confused with a show Webb produced in 1959 with a similar name, 'The D.A.'s Man’, which starred John Compton in the lead role.
'The D.A.' starred Robert Conrad as Deputy District Attorney Paul Ryan, a tough-minded, hard-hitting prosecutor in Los Angeles County who was assisted by criminal investigator Bob Ramirez (Ned Romero). He prosecuted all types of cases under the watchful eye of his supervisor, Chief Deputy District Attorney H. M. "Staff" Stafford (Harry Morgan, who directed at least one episode himself). His opponent was usually Public Defender Katherine Benson (Julie Cobb).
During the courtroom segments Ryan also provided a voice-over narration (like 'Dragnet'), which brought the audience in on legal jargon and court procedures and allowed there to be less exposition in the dialogue, which was necessary due to the program's brevity, as most legal dramas have episodes twice the length of that of 'The D.A.'. Robert Forward produced the show, which was spun off from two TV-movies produced by Webb's production company, Mark VII Ltd., "Murder One" from 1969 and "Conspiracy to Kill" from 1971, both of which fictionalized cases prosecuted by Vincent Bugliosi, world-famous as the prosecutor of Charles Manson. Bugliosi served as technical advisor on both of the pilot films. In his account of the Manson prosecution, "Helter Skelter", Bugliosi stated that Conrad modeled the Ryan character on Bugliosi.
A two-part cross-over episode began on another Webb show, 'Adam-12', in which officers Malloy (Martin Milner) and Reed (Kent McCord) made an arrest. In the follow-up episode from 'The D.A.', Ryan handled the eventual prosecution. Co-star Morgan also accompanied Webb's Joe Friday character on the 1967-70 version of 'Dragnet' as Officer Bill Gannon.
Four episodes of the series were combined into a feature-length TV-movie called "Confessions of the DA Man". "The People vs. Saydo" was used as the basic plot, and, while Ryan is attempting to get a friend of the defendant to testify, describes previous cases to try to illustrate the importance of testifying. The cases he recounts are "The People vs. Slovik" because the witness's idealism reminds Ryan of the attorney he faced in that case, "The People vs. Fowler" to illustrate the importance of testifying even when it's difficult (as in the case of the rape victim), and "The People vs. Walsh" to illustrate the dangers faced by police in their daily jobs. The film first aired January 20, 1978 as a 'CBS Late Movie'.
Here are Ryan’s qualifications for membership: D.A.: Murder One (1969 TV Movie) D.A.: Conspiracy to Kill (1971 TV Movie) The D.A. (1971-1972) 15 episodes Adam-12 - The Radical (1971) Confessions of the D.A. Man (1978 TV Movie) O’Bservation – As stated above, this is basically a retread of one of Ryan’s cases which featured his flashback memories of three other cases. So it should be combined as such.
This marks Conrad’s second character in the TVXOHOF as a character, James T. West being the other. There may be two more who are eligible, with one being saved until his death, which I hope is a long way off…..
What gets me more than their protest against Netflix instead of Amazon Prime was their opposition to the Voice of God being supplied by Frances MacDormand. I should think God would be honored to have a two-time Oscar-winning actress portray the Supreme Being. But this group of Holier Than Thous sees it as a sin that God should be voiced by a woman.
Has God ever spoken to them? Personally I doubt it. And if he did, it was only after they stopped taking their meds. I also think it’s a sign of their lack of faith that they O’Bviously don’t believe that God is omnipotent. If God can do anything, then assuming a feminine voice should be a simple party trick. And you don't think God could pull that off?
Bunch of heathens….
One last point - these types of protests never work. They're only going to entice people to watch the show now. It was the same situation when efforts were made to ban "Lady Chatterly's Lover" and James Branch Cabell's "Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice"; the attempts only made them extremely popular.
When I was a kid, there was this Catholic newspaper called the Catholic Transcript. And they had this regular column called "Condemned Movies". You know kids in seventh grade in those days were going to try to see those flicks!
And I welcome those vain attempts to ban Mark Twain's masterpiece "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". I figure that's the best way to get a kid interested in reading it.
So protest all you want against "Good Omens". And make sure you stage demonstrations outside your local Blockbuster (Tee-Hee) when it comes out on DVD.
There were five children’s books about horses seen and/or mentioned in this episode, only of which was real. That was “Black Beauty” and we’ll have more on that for Wednesday.
These were the four fictional books:
“Caring For Your Pony”
“Ride Like The Wind”
“Blue Ribbon for Binky”
“Gypsy Wins Through”
Now here's the thing:
Russell Lewis has filled previous episodes with so many "Easter Egg" references and crossovers from other sources - not just from other TV series, but from movies, songs, literature, plays, etc - that I would not be surprised to find out that these titles had a life in some other fictional venue. But so far I haven't found any attributio
With our June entries into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, we look for an applicant who’s either a puppet, a duo, a cartoon character, or just plain weird. This month we’ve got “weird” pretty much covered every week; we inducted a puppet last week; so let’s go for a cartoon duo for the penultimate Friday Hall of Famer!
From Wikipedia: “Phineas and Ferb” is an American animated musical comedy television series. Originally broadcast as a one-episode preview on August 17, 2007 and again previewed on September 28, 2007, the series officially premiered on February 1, 2008 on Disney Channel, running until June 12, 2015. The program follows Phineas Flynn and his stepbrother Ferb Fletcher on summer vacation.
Every day, the boys embark on some grand new project; these are usually unrealistic given the protagonists' ages (and are sometimes downright physically impossible), which annoys their controlling sister, Candace, who frequently tries to reveal their shenanigans to her and Phineas' mother, Linda Flynn-Fletcher, and less frequently to Ferb's father, Lawrence Fletcher.
The series follows a standard plot system; running gags occur every episode, and the b-plot almost always features Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus Perry the Platypus working as a spy (named "Agent P") for OWCA (the Organization Without a Cool Acronym), to defeat the latest scheme of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, a mad scientist driven largely by a need to assert his evilness (although he is not especially evil and has a good heart in some situations.) The two plots intersect at the end to erase all traces of the boys' project just before Candace can show it to their mother. This usually leaves Candace very frustrated.
A crossover between Phineas and Ferb and Marvel Entertainment aired in the summer of 2013, titled “Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel”. It features Marvel Comics superheroes Iron Man, Spider-Man, the Hulk and Thor and the villains the Red Skull, Whiplash, Venom and M.O.D.O.K.. It is the first major animated crossover between Marvel and Disney since the acquisition of Marvel Entertainment by Disney in 2009.
In July 2013, the producers announced a Phineas and Ferb/Star Wars crossover which was used as a sidebar to the events of “Episode IV: A New Hope”. The special aired on July 26, 2014.
Co-creator Dan Povenmire said that he would like to do a crossover with his and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh's follow-up show, “Milo Murphy's Law”, which takes place in the same universe as Phineas and Ferb. The episode premiered in January 2019. The entire cast [reprised] their roles with the exception of Ferb who was voiced by David Errigo, Jr.
Before the crossover aired, a character from “Phineas and Ferb”, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, cameoed at the end of the episode "Fungus Among Us"; following the crossover, the characters Doofenshmirtz, Perry the Platypus, Major Monogram and Carl joined the cast of “Milo Murphy's Law” in a recurring capacity.
Disney produced a live-action talk show where the two characters (as cartoons) interview celebrities, similarly to “Space Ghost Coast to Coast”, which began airing in December 2010 as a two-minute talk-show format, featuring real-life celebrities such as Tony Hawk, Randy Jackson, Neil Patrick Harris, Seth Rogen, Taylor Swift, Andy Samberg, Tom Bergeron, Emma Roberts, Jack Black, Regis Philbin, Howie Mandel, David Beckham and Guy Fieri. The show ended on November 25, 2011.
So think of all the crossovers are contained within those episodes of ‘Phineas and Ferb’ as well as ‘Take Two with Phineas and Ferb’:
Iron Man had several animated series of his own and guest-starred in shows about other Marvel superheroes.
Spiderman teamed up with several heroes over the years in animated adventures as well as having a couple of shows of his own.
The Hulk had his own series beginning in 1982 but also appeared in several guest spots.
And finally the Mighty Thor had his own series beginning in 1966.
Phineas and Ferb weren’t confined to their own shows for their crossovers as they also appeared in an episode of ‘Milo Murphy’s Law’ as mentioned above.
As for “Star Wars”? George Lucas is going to hate this, but the boys are now connected to the animated portions of the dreaded “Star Wars Holiday Special”!
And any member of the League of Themselves who appeared on ‘Take Two’ and who also appeared as their fictional televersions in other TV series also provide the connections to those live-action series for this animated show. That’s not something many many characters can lay claim to.Welcome to the Hall, Phineas and Ferb!
Years ago I posited a "Born To Rerun" theory that Dr. Bob Hartley of 'The Bob Newhart Show' was the reincarnation of Emperor Claudius from 'I, Claudius'.
And now it appears another TV character has the makings of a reincarnation for another alumnus of the 'I, Claudius' cast.
President Donald Trump is a TV character. Puttiing 'The Apprentice' and acting portrayals aside, he has a fictional televersion as part of the League of Themselves. The tele-Trump has appeared in 'The Job', 'The Nanny', 'Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air' and 'The Drew Carey Show' among others. (He was inducted in the 10th anniversary of the TVXOHOF as one of the April Fool entries.)
So Trump is open to being a candidate for reincarnation in the TV Universe. And which 'I, Claudius' alumnus do I think could be one of the past lives of Trump's televersion?
The Little Boot, Caligula.
It's purely subjective, based on my perspective. But based on his own words, Trump would like to be a dictator just as Caligula was. And there are times when we might question his sanity, and we know Caligula was batbleep crazy.
So what triggered this idea in my head? It was this headline that came out today from Trump's favorite network:
And that's what reminded me of 'I, Claudius'.
From Wikipedia:
Tiberius Julius Caesar Nero Gemellus, known as Tiberius Gemellus (10 October AD 19–37/38) was the son of Drusus and Livilla, the grandson of the Emperor Tiberius, and the second cousin of the Emperor Caligula. Gemellus is a nickname meaning "the twin". His twin brother, Tiberius Claudius Caesar Germanicus II Gemellus, died while still an infant in 23. His father and older cousins died, and are suspected by contemporary sources as having been systematically eliminated by the powerful praetorian prefect Sejanus. Their removal allowed Gemellus and Caligula to be named joint-heirs by Tiberius in 35, a decision that ultimately resulted in Caligula assuming power and having Gemellus killed, or by forcing him to kill himself, in late 37 or early 38. Following an illness by Caligula, Gemellus was put to death in late 37 or early 38. Suetonius says that Gemellus took medicine for a chronic cough and that the smell was detected, leading to accusations of taking an antidote for poison. He was ordered by Caligula to commit suicide for which soldiers gave him a sword, and had to help him because he is said to have not known how to kill himself with it.
Gemellus is played by Douglas Melbourne in the episode "Zeus, by Jove!" of the 1976 BBC TV series 'I, Claudius'.
It was in that miniseries that Caligula had Gemullus' head cut off in order to "cure" that cough. So the President's Chief of Staff Mulvaney probably got off lightly by being forced out of the room by Trump.
Hmmmm.... Now that I think of it, Caligula made his horse a senator. And Trump has suggested Sarah Sanders should become governor.
And both have expressed an interest in women in their families.
June inductees into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame have included Muppets and other puppets over the years.
Seems like a tradition that should be continued….
From the Muppet Wiki: Link Hogthrob is the blonde, cleft-chinned pig with a high opinion of himself on ‘The Muppet Show’. He debuted in the second season as the not-so-fearless captain of the Swinetrek, where his unbridled machismo was often a source of conflict with his co-star, First Mate Piggy.
Unlike Dr. Julius Strangepork, whose role on ‘The Muppet Show’ would be primarily relegated to the “Pigs in Space” sketches, Link would feature regularly both in the show's on stage acts and backstage mayhem. When numbers were consisted of assorted pigs, Link was usually with them.
His singing talents were first featured in his second appearance, where he sang "I Talk to the Trees." Other musical numbers included solos ("Sonny Boy"), duets with Miss Piggy ("La Ci Darem La Mano"), and group numbers ("Sea Chantey," "The Rhyming Song").
Link's bravado was often challenged by various scenarios. For example, in episode 524 it is revealed that he wears a toupee and a girdle to bolster his vanity. Other times, he would drop his composure and call out to his mommy while sucking his thumb, such as in episode 103.
Starting in the show's third season, Link was also featured as the police chief in the recurring "Bear on Patrol" sketches, where his dim-wittedness was often the source of physical trauma to Patrol Bear.
Link was later one of the few classic ‘Muppet Show’ characters to be used in the Muppet Central control room on ‘The Jim Henson Hour’. His most notable appearance was in the episode "Fitness" where he believes that he has a disease called Canadian Snout Fever after reading a book of silly diseases and by coincidentally encountering a number of things related to the book's symptoms.
Other notable appearances include "First Show" (where he tested the Response-O-Matic, a device used to change television programs based on what the viewers want), and "Food" (in which he appeared in a sketch as a food critic at a restaurant).
If I'm not mistaken, that's him in the back, center
For a time after Jim Henson's death, Link was largely retired, appearing in occasional silent cameos such as in “The Muppet Christmas Carol” and “Muppet Treasure Island”. His few speaking roles included the video games Muppet Race Mania and Muppets Party Cruise, as voiced by Steve Whitmire.
Whitmire continued to perform Link in his return to puppet form in ‘The Muppets’ (where he sang "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as a member of the Muppets Barbershop Quartet), and “Muppets Most Wanted” (singing a verse in "Something So Right," and conversing with Usher at the wedding).
Link also appeared during the Muppets' appearance on QVC. Link also appeared in The Muppets Take the Bowl concert, taking part in the live Pigs in Space sketch "The Suits Awaken," where he was performed by Peter Linz.
LINK HOGTHROB'S QUALIFICATIONS:
The Muppet Show
John Denver & the Muppets: A Christmas Together
The Muppets Go to the Movies (as Gummo in The Three Musketeers)
Back in December of last year, the Facebook group “Columbo TV” held a competition to write a 200 word ‘Columbo’ story. I submitted a few – one in which the Lieutenant gathered all of the surviving Vito Scotti characters together (one of them had been murdered.) It was my first attempt and had there been no word limit, I could have had a cool resolution – also at that meeting was the lawyer played by Don Ameche in “Suitable For Framing.” It would have turned out that he wasn’t there to advise Columbo, but that he proved to be Columbo’s suspect.
But O’Bviously there was no way I could have fit all of that into 200 words. I should have dropped the character of Frank Simpson and made it a self-contained story in which one of the other Vito Scotti characters was the killer. Probably Thomas Dolan since he had the best line to close out the story – “Perhaps I should consult my solicitor….”
Maybe I’ll give it another go one day.
I also wrote a few others – one in which we got to see the Lieutenant buy that umbrella in London atGrace Brothers; another with Columbo meeting up with Peter Falk at the soundstage for ‘The Larry Sanders Show’; and then of course for this unabashed Whovian, the Doctor got Columbo to go back in Time to check on the status of Amy and Rory, trapped in 1938.
But enough about me. There were plenty of other stories that really impressed me and it’s a good thing I wasn’t a judge because I probably could never have been able to make a choice.
As this is a Thursday Theory of Relateeveety, there was one story which really impressed me for making a connection I never would have come up with. And I would like to share it with you here.
The author is Terry Waters and the story combines two ‘Columbo’ episodes:
“Requiem For A Falling Star”
“Ashes To Ashes”
I hope you like it as much as I did….
Columbo: Fallen Star
‘Chandler, you have a visitor.’
Nora looked up to see her sister standing outside her cell. They hadn’t spoken for years and now was the worst time she could pick to reconcile. Although, it was probably some kind of game; her sister was good at playing games, especially when it meant dishing up some dirt to sell a news story - true or not.
‘Well, well….’ said her sister, a smile as broad as her hat spread across her face. ‘You have been a bad girl. Would you care to put your side across so my readers can make an informed decision on what really happened between you and Al?’
‘We both know there would be no informed decisions here. Now I remember why we have spent so many years apart.’
‘Nora, didn’t Daddy always tell you to play nicely?’
‘Our father let you get away with murder.’
‘Well, you sure didn’t. I can see I’m not going to get anything here. I’ll have to try and find the truth on my own.’
‘You should be careful about the way you handle your version of the truth, Verity…one day it might just get you killed!’
From Wikipedia: Dobie Gillis is set in Central City, a
fictitious city in the Midwestern United States (the original short stories are
explicitly set in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area).
Central City, the same setting for the 1990s televersion of ‘The Flash’, seems
like it was a gentle small town of the early 1960s. So it doesn’t seem likely that it could be
possible that at least five young ladies, perhaps even six, could be so
identical in appearance.
From the IMDb:
YVONNE CRAIG The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
- Pilot (1959) ... Girl #1 (uncredited) - The Flying Millicans (1960) ... Aphrodite
Millican
- Dobie's Navy Blues (1960) ... Myrna Lomax
- Like Mother, Like Daughter, Like Wow (1961) ... Hazel Grimes - The Sweet Success of Smell (1962) ... Elspeth Hummaker
- Flow Gently, Sweet Money (1962) ... Linda Sue Faversham
I’m thinking Craig’s first character, the unnamed girl in the pilot episode,
could be either one of the other five girls or yet another girl in Central
City. And then there’s still another
theory – because it was such a Zonk-filled introduction to the series that
seemed to be populated with several tele-cognizants and more than just the
expected serlinguist. It could be
that “Girl #1” was imaginary in one of Dobie’s dreams, only based on one of
those other girls.
When I learned that she played those half dozen girls in Dobie’s life, I was
eager to finally use a splainin I’ve been holding for a while – that they were
all the same character, but that she had multiple personalities. And being a small town, Central City citizens
all knew about her condition and politely ignored it.
One day I’ll get to use that theory, but it is not today. As it turns out, family members of each of
those girls appeared in their episodes.
I was then tempted to suggest that perhaps they were all the daughters
of Dobie’s father – after all, he had once been enamored of Hazel Grimes’
mother. She may have been pregnant with
his child when she and her husband left town.
But of course, that becomes creepy – if it turned out all those girls
were his daughters, why didn’t he finally admit to his son why he shouldn’t be
dating them.
However, I think a likely candidate for the father of all of those “identical
cousins” could be Professor Millican.
That epitome of physical fitness and acrobatic prowess – good for
climbing out of bedroom windows – might have been quite a Lothario among lonely
wives of Central City.
And carrying that idea further, it could be the Millicans visited other
locations in Toobworld around the late 1930s, early 1940s and foisted more of
these identical cousins on their citizenry.
(Especially with shows like ‘Sam Benedict’ and especially ’77 Sunset
Strip’.)
And who knows? Maybe even to Gotham City as well....
As the Trickster once said, "Reality is boring, that's why I change it whenever I can."
I'm just "The Man Who Viewed Too Much", and "Inner Toob" is a blog exploring and celebrating the 'reality' of an alternate universe in which everything that ever happened on TV actually takes place.
Most of my theories about the TV Universe come from thinking inside the box and thus can't be proven. But I've never been one to shy away from a tall tale.....
Remember: "The more you watch, the more you've seen!"
