Saturday, January 29, 2005

A FEW QUICK HITS

With Topher Grace leaving and Ashton Kutcher going part-time on 'That '70s Show' next fall, co-star Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Fez, will be getting a higher profile next season. Does this mean Valderrama might be getting a spin-off as a result?

"There's been talk," he says. So would he be interested? Valderrama says maybe -- if the stars align. He certainly isn't dismissing the notion.
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ABC has ordered a pilot of an updated Night Stalker series from former The X-Files executive producer Frank Spotnitz, Variety reported. The show will rework the classic 1970s ABC show Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which detailed a hard-boiled journalist's investigations into freakish occurrences, the trade paper reported.

Ironically, The X-Files creator Chris Carter has said he was inspired in part by the original Night Stalker series, which starred Darren McGavin.

This new series would have to be relegated to the alternate TV dimension of Earth Prime-Time Delayed, as the one true Kolchak already made his mark in Toobworld back in the 1970s.
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League of Themselves alert:
Scott Reeves (ex-Ryan, 'The Young and the Restless') will play himself when his hit country band Blue County appears on 'As the World Turns' Feb. 14 in scenes with Craig and Jennifer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By JOHN PAIN, AP Business Writer
MIAMI - When Burger King decided to try a new promotion to cash in on the reality TV craze, the No. 2 fast-food chain turned to the master of the pitch — Donald Trump.

Burger King put a twist on product placement into the premiere of the third season of Donald Trump's NBC hit "The Apprentice." The two teams in the latest incarnation of the cutthroat reality TV show each had to help design a new Burger King product along with the chain's head chef, Calvin Harris. They then had to sell it while running two busy stores in midtown Manhattan during lunchtime. The team with the most sales won.

The winning team, Networth, hawked a Western Angus steak burger, loaded with onion rings, cheese, barbecue sauce, lettuce and tomatoes That burger was being debuted in 7,800 restaurants nationwide Friday.

"It will feel like a product has come from the boardroom into the restaurant in 24 hours," Klein said, even though the episode was taped months ago. Burger King is planning to run a 30-second commercial featuring Trump on NBC until the end of January, Klein said. The burger should be in stores until Feb. 4.

"It's a short, quick, targeted campaign ... It's driven more by the association with The Apprentice and Trump than it is with this particular burger."

Toobworld addendum:
It also ratchets up Trump's numbers when it comes to the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. He's appeared as himself on 'The Drew Carey Show', 'Suddenly, Susan', and 'The Job', plus commercials for Visa, Pizza Hut, and - quel horrors! - MacDonald's!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby


MECHANICAL CONNECTION

I was watching an old Western on the GoodLife Network and I decided to look up the actor John Dennis in the IMDb.com as he looked very familiar.

Here were three entries that jumped out at me:

"Taxi" playing "Maintenance Man" in episode: "The Reluctant Fighter" (episode # 2.5) 9 October 1979

"Incredible Hulk, The" playing "Mechanic" in episode: "The Hulk Breaks Las Vegas" (episode # 1.6) 21 April 1978

"Kolchak: The Night Stalker" playing "Second Maintenance Engineer" in episode: "The Devil's Platform" (episode # 1.7) 15 November 1974

Here's how I think it played out:

The Maintenance Man/Mechanic played by John Dennis decided that cold and windy Chicago was no longer the life he was meant for. So in 1975 he moved to Las Vegas. (He probably heard Carl Kolchak mention it.)

But a liking for the dice proved to be his undoing and so a year later, he decided to move again. This time he headed East, to NYC, to begin again.

What he probably noticed was that he'd still be close to Atlantic City should the fever ever come upon him again.......

(My only fear is that his mechanic in the 'Kolchak' episode might have been killed by the monster of the week! And dat would be da name of dat tune!)

John Dennis also helps give credence to the idea that certain characters are not only reincarnated, but that they come back to do exactly the same thing they did in the previous life:

"Man from Atlantis, The" playing "Bartender" in episode: "Giant" (episode # 1.8) 25 October 1977

"Barbary Coast" playing "Bartender" in episode: "Irish Luck" (episode # 1.6) 13 October 1975

BCnU!
Tele-Toby


ATTENTION, JUNIOR TOOBWORLDERS!

While searching the web in hopes of finding a justification as to why I like the new sitcom 'Committed so much, I came across this intriguing item in one of the show's bulletin boards:

by - misfitdoll67 4 days ago (Sat Jan 8 2005 11:04:58 )
Whenever they show an establishing shot of the apartment building where Marni lives I get deja vu. I know it's from another sitcom. Anybody recognize it? "Mad About You", "Seinfeld", "Friends"??

by - dsera-1 1 day ago (Mon Jan 10 2005 20:54:12 )
I think it's Seinfeld. I immediately thought that when I saw it.
Cristina
~Get LOST~
http://www.lost-tv.com/

Could it be? Is it possible that I might make the claim that 'Committed' is taking place in the same building in which the TV Jerry Seinfeld lives?

If you've been watching the show, - and better yet, have been taping it so that you could go back and check out those establishing shots, - let me know what you think!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby


Tuesday, January 25, 2005

THE GREAT CARSONI

"And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it.'"
- Johnny Carson
'The Tonight Show'

Who else could lay claim to the power of their impact that they not only caused a toilet paper shortage in America, but that they were also a plot point in an episode of 'Columbo'?*

The butler played by Maurice Evans in the episode "Forgotten Lady" told the Lieutenant that he and his wife had been watching Carson on the 'Tonight Show' until 1 am at which time he had gone to check on the master of the house.

It not only provided Columbo with a time frame for the death, but it also serves as an historical record for the audience. It wasn't until 1980 (approx.) that the 'Tonight' show was cut back to just one hour.

For the thirty years he hosted 'The Tonight Show' alone, Johnny deserves accolades and honors as a true TV Giant. But there were all those other shows in which he honed his craft before getting that gig - 'Carson's Cellar', 'The Johnny Carson Show', 'Do You Trust Your Wife?'/'Who Do You Trust?'.....

Carson also appeared as himself, on other variety programs, game shows, retrospective specials, or even the many movies that made use of 'Tonight' archival footage.

Here are the main reasons Johnny is going to be eventually inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame in a combination of "Classic TV" and "The League of Themselves":

"The Simpsons" playing "Himself" (voice) in episode: "Krusty Gets Kancelled" (episode # 4.22) 13 May 1993
"Cheers" playing "Himself" in episode: "Heeeeeere's... Cliffy!" (episode # 10.24) 7 May 1992
"Newhart" playing "Himself" in episode: "Malling in Love Again" (episode # 7.22) 22 May 1989
"Night Court" playing "Himself" in episode: "Russkie Business" (episode # 5.18) 25 March 1988
"Mary Tyler Moore" playing "Himself" (voice) in episode: "Mary's Big Party" (episode # 7.22) 5 March 1977
"Here's Lucy" playing "Himself" in episode: "Lucy and Johnny Carson" (episode # 2.11) 1 December 1969

As the man for whom Carson once wrote jokes would say, "Good night and may God bless."

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

*If I also covered movies on a regular basis in this blog, of course I would have mentioned Jack Nicholson's blood-curdling version of the classic introduction: "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!"