TVXOHOF - HELLO, DOLLY! (THE MAY QUEEN OF 2026)

Here it, the last day of May and it just occurred to me that I never posted the 2026 May Queen of The Television Crossover Hall of Fame!

I need some new interns to keep me on my toes.  My two cats just aren't cutting it!

Well, "Better Late Than Never."  Interestingly enough, that's the title of a Country-Western song, a genre of music which plays a major role in the life of this month's honoree.  Only thing is, Tanya Tucker sings that song, while our inductee into the Hall is....

DOLLY PARTON

From Wikipedia:
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman. After achieving success as a songwriter for other artists, Parton's debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly, was released in 1967, commencing a career spanning 60 years and 50 studio albums. Referred to as the "Queen of Country", Parton is one of the most-honored female country performers in history and has received various accolades, including eleven Grammy Awards and three Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards including a humanitarian honorary Oscar win in 2025, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.

Here is a list of shows in which Ms. Parton was involved as a member of the League of Themselves.  And as you'll see, she covered the gamut of genres....

THE 49TH ANNUAL MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE (1975)
O'Bservation: She was on the Tom Turkey float.

THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES (1976)

CAPTAIN KANGAROO (1976)
O'Bservation: The Captain would appear in an episode of her variety series the following year.

DOLLY (1976-1977)
O'Bservation: This was her own variety series.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (1989)
O'Bservation: She only hosted this one time and only had two demands - she wouldn't use "cuss words," and she didn't want fun poked at Jesus.

DESIGNING WOMEN
THE FIRST DAY OF THE LAST DECADE OF THE ENTIRE TWENTIETH CENTURY, PARTS 1&2 (1990) 

BABES
HELLO, DOLLY (1991)

BIG DREAMS, BROKEN HEARTS: THE DOTTIE WEST STORY (TV Movie 1995)
O'Bservation: She was one of several Country stars who appeared as "talking heads" to add background and/or memories.

JACKIE'S BACK! (TV Movie 1999)

BETTE
HALLOWEEN (2000)

HANNAH MONTANA
1] GOOD GOLLY, MISS DOLLY (2006)
2] I WILL ALWAYS LOATHE YOU (2007)
3] KISS IT ALL GOODBYE (2010)

THE MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE (2007)

THE YEAR DOLLY PARTON WAS MY MOM (2011 TV Movie)

A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS STORY (2013 TV Movie)
From the IMDb: A young Appalachian mountain girl pursues her dream of becoming a country star against the wishes of her mother. Her journey to the stage at Dollywood with a singing competition hosted by Dolly Parton reunites her with her musician father and uncovers the musical legacy of African-Americans in the world of country music.

AMERICAN PICKERS
MAD AS A PICKER (2014)
O'Bservation: The main reason I included this is because 'American Pickers' has a televersion which played a key role in an episode of 'NCIS'.

SPROUT HOUSE
A DAY WITH DOLLY (2017)

CALL ME KAT (2023)
Where the Soul Never Dies
Written by Wayne Raney
Performed by Dolly Parton
[Acapella rendition at the beginning of the memorial segment]
I Will Always Love You
Written by Dolly Parton
Performed by Dolly Parton
[Acapella at the end of the memorial segment]
Where the Soul Never Dies
Written by Wayne Raney
Performed by Leslie Jordan and Dolly Parton
[Ending montage]
O'Bservation: Dolly appeared at the end of the episode to pay tribute to her friend Leslie Jordan, who had passed away two months earlier. 

ALTERNATE TOOBWORLD

THE ORVILLE

MIDNIGHT BLUE (2022)

O'Bservation: This has to be an alternate Earth because it is set during the same basic timeline as 'Star Trek', which takes precedence.

THE TOONIVERSE

ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS 

URBAN CHIPMUNK (1983)

THE SIMPSONS
SUNDAY, CRUDDY SUNDAY (1999)

A Case of Serendipiteevee?  As I write this, it was the same day when I realized I never posted the induction.  It may have been a sign....  It's May 30th.  And on May 30th, 1966, Dolly Parton wed Carl Dean.  Sixty years ago today. 

Sadly, he passed away last year, so while she is the honoree for May, I'm dedicating this to his memory.

Welcome to the Hall, Ms. Parton!

TVXOHOF UPDATE - HANNA CALLED UP

 
April 21, 2026

Tonight, TVXOHOF member Sam Hanna adds another episode to his collection of appearances on the main show in the 'NCIS' franchise.  There will be another before the season ends and then he'll have another series to add to his tally in the Fall.

Here's TV Insider Matt Roush with a preview:

LL Cool J can’t get enough of the 'NCIS' universe, and the feeling is obviously mutual. The rapper-turned-actor, who played Sam Hanna on 'NCIS: Los Angeles' for 14 seasons and made guest appearances on the Hawaii spinoff and the original series, was recently tapped to star alongside 'Hawaii Five-0' alum Scott Caan in a New York spinoff to air in the fall. But before then, he’s back on the mothership for the first of two guest appearances.

Sam steps into the darkness to help Kasie (Diona Reasonover) and a skeleton crew when they’re stalked and bunted by an unknown intruder in an otherwise abandoned building, with the mainframe shut down for an overnight upgrade and the rest of the regular NCIS crew nowhere to be seen.

TVXOHOF, APRIL 2026 - MR. HANEY

 
With the month April, we usually induct a TV character (or one year, a future president) who represent the buffoonish quality of Mankind to an Nth degree.  But while our inductee has the foolish characteristics needed to qualify, he could also be seen as the bad guy in his corner of Toobworld.

In that respect, he does embody T.S. Elliot's maxim, "April is the cruelest month."

EUSTACE CHARLESTON HANEY

Here's information about this scalawag from the Beverly Hillbillies Wiki:

Mr. Haney (full name: Eustace Charleston Haney) is Hooterville's sneaky and notorious conman and one of its two and only major proprietors of goods alongside Sam Drucker, but unlike Sam, everything he sells is either overpriced, damaged or poorly made, with very few of his wares ever being of any decent quality. He is also the head of many self-owned (and crooked) businesses, such as an antique store, an airplane service, an animal rental, a taxi service, a home renovation service, an unemployment agency, several delivery services, and a chicken watching service, just to name a few and all of which he is the sole employee and manager of.

By the time of the events in "Return to Green Acres", Mr. Haney has not changed his conning ways at all after many years and now runs a popular hotel in Hooterville which mostly gets guests due to false advertising.

The character of Mr. Haney was regularly portrayed as an antagonist in 'Green Acres', as his character often swindled and took advantage of Oliver for his own gain, as well as the rest of Hooterville, and by the time of "Return to Green Acres", the character was portrayed as borderline villainous.

Here are the appearances which qualified Mr. Haney to join the TVXOHOF:

GREEN ACRES
147 Episodes (1965-1971)

PETTICOAT JUNCTION
3 Episodes (1966-1969)

RETURN TO GREEN ACRES (1990 TV movie)

O'Bservation:
I have yet to see the actual reunion movie and I have not been able to find any screencaps from it.  This was from a Nick at Night cast reunion talk show and he looks about the age he would have been in the movie.

Welcome to the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, Mr. Haney; try to behave yourself.

And a word of advice to the other members of the Hall....

If you shake hands with Mr. Haney to welcome him into the TVXOHOF, make sure you count your fingers afterwards.

TVXOHOF MONDAY MEMORIAL TRIBUTE - CHUCK NORRIS

 

From CNN:
Chuck Norris, veteran, martial arts world champion, action hero and early 2000s Internet meme inspiration, whose rugged demeanor was immortalized on hit show “Walker, Texas Ranger,” has died. He was 86.

“It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning,” read a message credited to the Norris family posted to Instagram and Facebook Friday morning. “While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace.”

Norris had an unidentified medical emergency in Hawaii on Thursday, according to news reports. The family thanked fans for their prayers during his hospitalization.

Hearing the news, I checked his credits, figuring that Texas Ranger Cordell Walker would easily be eligible for membership in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  But I was surprised to see that another role of his was also Hall-worthy....

CHUCK NORRIS

From Wikipedia:
Carlos Ray Norris (March 10, 1940 – March 19, 2026) was an American martial artist, actor, screenwriter, and author. He held black belts in karate, taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, he won numerous martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do. Norris began working in Hollywood as a martial arts instructor for celebrities before making his screen debut with a minor role in "The Wrecking Crew" (1968).

Friend and fellow martial artist Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in "The Way of the Dragon" (1972). While Norris continued acting, friend and student Steve McQueen suggested he take it seriously. Norris took the starring role in the action film "Breaker! Breaker!" (1977), which turned a profit. His second lead, "Good Guys Wear Black" (1978), became a hit, and he soon became a popular action film star.

Here are most of his appearances which qualified him for membership in the TVXOHOF.  As you will see, his fictional televersion is joined by several of his appearances on talk shows (and one game show.)  Either he is seen with another Hall member who is a part of the League Themselves, or the show itself is in the TVXOHOF (or will be, one day....)

ROOM 222
DREAMS OF GLORY (1970)
Larry Ellison, a diminutive student of Pete Dixon's, lacks confidence in himself because of his size, and especially because he is taunted mercilessly by much larger fellow student Vic Martin. Pete suggests that Larry take up karate to build his self-esteem, and Larry begins to study under a karate master (real-life martial arts champion Chuck Norris, playing himself). Larry's efforts eventually begin to pay off, but Pete starts to have second thoughts when Larry becomes determined to use his new skills not just in self-defense, but also to settle his score with Vic Martin.

THE MERV GRIFFIN SHOW (1971)

O'Bservation:
Eva Gabor was the substitute host that day.  And she does not look happy.

THE LATE SHOW with JOHNNY CARSON (1973)

TO TELL THE TRUTH (1974)

THE DAVID LETTERMAN SHOW (1980)

LATE NIGHT with CONAN O'BRIEN (1995)

THE LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN (1996)

YES, DEAR
JIMMY & CHUCK (2003)
Chuck Norris plays himself as an actor preparing for a security guard role in a movie. Jimmy shows him the ropes for being a security guard at the studio.

MOUNTAIN DEW (2007)

O'Bservation:
This blipvert also lampooned a cultural phenomenon which could be unique to Chuck Norris and Keith Richards - meme themes.

In Chuck's case, it's the flood of memes about how powerful he is.  (As for Keith Richards, his meme stock-in-trade would be about how old he is.)

ADDENDUM:

I don't know what talk show this was or who the host was. (The video has a link imbedded for YIKERS.com.  No clue.)  But he had Chuck Norris read a Top Ten List of meme captions about the omnipotence of Chuck Norris.  These two were my favorites.

LARRY KING LIVE (2008)

TOTAL GYM INFOMERCIALS (2009 + 2010)

THE GOLDBERGS
BOY BARRY (2015)
Erica convinces Barry he's lost Lainey to Boy George.

O'Bservations:
While it was broadcast in 2015, this episode took place in October, 1980-something.

And those captions from the letter were actually read by Chuck Norris, because that's who Barry thought had sent the letter.  (But it was his brother Adam who had faked it.)

UNITED HEALTH CARE
LUNCH VS. CHUCK NORRIS (2017)

TOYOTA TACOMA (2018)

Here's a look at a couple of those commercials:

A popular trend in AI-generated videos show casts of TV shows and movies, "Then" & "Now".  Sometimes the video chooses a group of actors with something in common and then has the actor surrounded by 3 or 4 of their best-known characters.

For one reel whose theme is the greatest martial arts actors (in no particular order), this is what they had for Chuck Norris....

I'm sorry for the circumstances which spurred this induction and I also apologize that I never thought of it sooner.

For those who are wondering, Texas Ranger Cordell Walker will be saved for next year; he'll be the traditional Western inductee in August 2027.  (I couldn't bump him up to be the inductee this August, as this year is a milestone year for a historical figure and I will be saluting his many multi-dimensional portrayals.

There is another character he played on an alternate Toobworld who only got 2/3 of the way to becoming eligible for Hall membership.  But he will make for an interesting blog post in my infrequent Thursday Theory of Relateeveety... and at least that will be seen, come this August.

Welcome to the Hall, Mr. Norris.