TRANSFORMING TELEVISION

Michael Bay's "Transformers" sequel, "Revenge Of The Fallen", looks to be one of the big blockbusters this summer.

That's the "Cineverse" ( a term coined by Craig Shaw Gardner).

'The Transformers' previously had life in the Tooniverse back in the 1980's. This led to a theatrically released feature which included Orson Welles in its voice cast. And thanks to 'Robot Chicken', the Transformers also have a place in that weird little claymation/action figure TV dimension.

Earth Prime-Time can now legitimately lay claim to having its own version of 'The Transformers', thanks to a merchandising tie-in blipvert from Burger King.

I say Earth Prime-Time can now "legitimately" claim its own version because it is the Toobworld contention that the Transformers have long lived in the TV Universe. They've just never been identified as such.

We've seen them mostly in commercials. Whenever you've had talking appliances or singing toilets, those were Transformers in all likelihood. (Those singing toilets were probably serving a prison sentence; and like most chain gangs, they sang to ease their burden.)

Remember Milton the Toaster, whose voice sounded suspiciously like William Schallert's?

A Transformer.

We usually equate Transformers with automobiles, but the three most famous sentient cars had other origins.

'My Mother The Car' - was the reincarnation of Gladys Crabtree.

'Knight Rider' Two Thousand (aka KITT) - was an artificial intelligence designed at Knight Industries using Cylon technology. (Popular theory adopted by Toobworld Central)

'The Twilight Zone' had a car owned by Oliver Pope in "You Drive" that literally drove him to confess to a hit-and-run. That car was possessed. That new Quizno's ad in which the talking oven begs Scott to "put it in" - that's a Transformer. And one with a twisted relationship with a human....

And with a recent ESPN promo, we get a crossover between 'The Transformers' and 'The Terminator':



I'm thinking that's an alliance that's not long for this Toobworld....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: AVA GARDNER

AVA GARDNER

AS SEEN IN:
"Sinatra"

AS PLAYED BY:
Marcia Gay Harden

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: MICHAEL JACKSON

After posting the picture of Michael Jackson in the Tooniverse, I was asked by a friend of mine if I was going to give the self-proclaimed King of Pop a proper "Hat Squad" tribute.

Quite frankly, I wasn't planning on it. Between the allegations against him, the massive plastic surgery, and the situation with his own children, "Wacko Jacko" always creeped me out. And that's saying something when I get creeped out by something.....

But I've thought it over, and there is something that should be recognized in his career which had quite an impact on Toobworld.

From Wikipedia:

Following the successful chart performances of "Thriller" and "The Girl Is Mine", "Billie Jean" was released on January 2, 1983, as the album's second single. "Billie Jean" was a worldwide commercial and critical success; it became one of the best-selling singles of 1983, and topped both the US and UK charts simultaneously. Considered one of the most revolutionary songs in history, "Billie Jean" was certified platinum in 1989.

Honoured numerous times—including two Grammy Awards, one American Music Award and an induction into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame—the song and corresponding music video propelled Thriller into the best-selling album of all time. The song was promoted with a short film that broke down MTV's racial barrier as the first video by a black artist to be aired by the channel, and an Emmy-nominated performance on "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever", in which Jackson premiered "the moonwalk." The song was also promoted through Jackson's Pepsi commercials; during the filming of one commercial, Jackson's scalp was severely burned.

The short film for Jackson's "Billie Jean" is considered the video that brought MTV, a relatively unknown music channel, into mainstream attention. It was the first video by a black artist to be aired by the channel, as they felt black music wasn't "rock" enough.

Directed by Steve Barron, the video shows a paparazzo following Jackson. The paparazzo never catches the singer, and when photographed Jackson fails to materialise on the developed picture. Dancing his way to Billie Jean's hotel room, Jackson walks along a sidewalk, each tile lighting up at his touch. Performing a quick spin, Jackson jumps and lands, freeze framed, on his toes. Upon arriving at the hotel, Jackson climbs the staircase to Billie Jean's room. Each step lights up as he touches it and a burnt out "Hotel" sign illuminates as he passes.

Arriving at the scene, the paparazzo watches as Jackson disappears under the covers of Billie Jean's bed. Trailed by the police, the paparazzo is then arrested for spying on the couple.

Jackson sported a new look for the video; Jheri curled hair and a surgically sculpted nose. Jackson's look, a black leather suit with a pink shirt and bow tie, was copied by children around the US. Imitation became so severe that despite pupil protests Bound Brook High School banned students from wearing a single white glove like Jackson had on "Motown 25".

Walter Yetnikoff, the president of Jackson's record label, CBS, approached MTV to play the "Billie Jean" video. Yetnikoff became enraged when MTV refused to play the video, and threatened to go public with MTV's stance on black musicians:

"I said to MTV, ‘I’m pulling everything we have off the air, all our product. I’m not going to give you any more videos. And I’m going to go public and fucking tell them about the fact you don’t want to play music by a black guy.’"

MTV relented and played the "Billie Jean" video in heavy rotation. With the airing of the video, "Thriller" went on to sell an additional 10 million copies. The short film earned Jackson the Billboard Video Award for Best Overall Video and he was inducted into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame in 1992.

In a 2005 poll, the music video was ranked as the fifth greatest music video ever. The poll was of 31 pop stars, video directors, agents and journalists, including Natasha Bedingfield, Björk, Fatboy Slim, Avril Lavigne and Amy Winehouse. Thriller ranked at number two, behind Johnny Cash's "Hurt". The video was also ranked as the 35th greatest music video in a list compiled by MTV and TV Guide at the millennium.

When reports of Jackson's death came on June 25, 2009, MTV interrupted its programming and played the video in tribute to him.

Wikipedia has more about the "Billie Jean" music video.....

Otherwise, in the grand scheme of Toobworld, there's not much else to relate about Michael Jackson. Sure, he appeared in lots of variety shows and reunited with his brothers to present their own variety program in 1976. But many musicians do the same, and that doesn't rate them a tip o' the Toob topper.....

As already mentioned, he was represented in the Tooniverse by 'The Jackson 5ive', as well as in that claymation/action figure TV dimension of 'Robot Chicken'. The TV dimension full of those behind-the-scenes docu-dramas about TV shows would probably be the home for the TV movie "The Jacksons: An American Dream". In that, Jackson was portrayed by Wylie Draper, who passed away himself a year after the TV movie aired.

And so it goes....

BCnU....

MERLIN & MOLINA

Thinking about how this new series about 'Merlin', previously shown on the BBC and now on NBC over here, led me to wonder what TV dimension should be its home. It certainly can't reside in Earth Prime-Time; I think that tele-version of the wizard should hue closely to the legends.

So I thought that at least it should keep company with another adaptation - this time a one-shot TV movie - which also took great liberties with the original source material.

And that would be the adaptation of Agatha Christie's most famous novel, "Murder On The Orient Express", with Alfred Molina as Hercule Poirot. In that production, characters were cut out; liberties were taken with the plot; and oddest of all, Poirot had an active sex life!

So this story about the boy Merlin being of the same age as Arthur, and with the possibility that the future Guinevere might be interracial*, would fit comfortably in such a TV Land as would accept Molina's Poirot.

BCnU!

*Although I'm not altogether sure Gwen will turn out to be Guinevere.....

AS SEEN ON TV: ED, FARRAH, AND MICHAEL

Due to the events of the last three days, today's "As Seen On TV" is a triple feature...

We've lost three major entertainers in the past three days:

Ed McMahon, the ultimate late-night sidekick and pitchman,

Farrah Fawcett, the sex symbol of the 1970's,

Michael Jackson, the self-proclaimed King of Pop

For all that they contributed to the world of show business, each of them shared at least one factor in common - they all had cartoon versions of themselves appear in the TV dimension known as the Tooniverse.

ED McMAHON

Ed McMahon played a virtual reality version of himself in an episode of 'Duck Dodgers'. It was part of the testing Duck Dodgers had to go through in order to be re-certified as an agent of the Protectorate.

FARRAH FAWCETT

On an episode of 'Johnny Bravo', we learned that Farrah was the cousin of the little girl who lived next door to Johnny. And he attempted all sorts of schemes in order to get into the birthday party so that he could get a kiss from the only person who had hair as good as his own.

MICHAEL JACKSON

Of the three, he was the only one to have a regular presence in an animated series ('The Jackson 5ive'). However, Michael's voice was only heard in the songs. His speaking voice was provided by Donald Fullilove. (All of the Jacksons were played by voice actors due to their other commitments.)

May all three of them rest in peace.....

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: FARRAH

The poster to the right is how many of us will remember Farrah Fawcett: I think it's the way we should remember her, rather than as the frail, gentle lady who was wasting away this last year. Nor should her antics on Letterman's show back in 1997 serve to blot out the memory of Farrah as the pin-up dreamgirl for so many lads back in the mid-70's. Jill Munroe, one of the first of 'Charlie's Angels', will always come first to mind when we think of her roles in TV and the movies; but she also made important contributions to Toobworld - like the abused wife who stood up for herself in "The Burning Bed".

I liked that poster as well, not that I had it but I know it was hanging in several dorm rooms at T-House. But it was these two pictures of Farrah that I liked more:

It's something about that full-on gaze framed by that hair....

Like I said, she contributed plenty of characters to Toobworld besides Jill Munroe. I think the one that first put her into the public's mind was that of Sue Ingham on 'Harry O'. In this last decade, two of her recurring roles were of Mary Gressler on 'The Guardian' (and I'll frankly confess I never even heard of the show before today), and as Judge Claire Simmons in the alternate TV dimension for 'Spin City'.

And then there's her tele-version, that Farrah Fawcett of the League of Themselves who did things the real life Farrah never did.....

"So noTORIous"
- Plucky (Pilot) (2006)

"The Larry Sanders Show"
- Eight (1995)

"The Fall Guy"
- The Fall Guy (1981)

"The Brady Bunch Hour"
- Episode #1.1 (1977)

That last one is a variety show, but everybody else on the show was fictional, transplanted from an earlier sitcom. (The splainin for the one recastaway among the Brady Bunch is too lengthy to go into here. And this is a tribute to Farrah.....)

There was another TV credit among those in which she was supposedly playing an actual character.....

"Mayberry R.F.D.".... Show Girl #1
- Millie, the Model (1969)

In this episode, Millie goes to New York thinking that she's going to have a career as a model. Sam Jones finally went up to the Big Apple to check on her and find out why he hadn't heard from her in two weeks.....

Farrah played the first show girl; that's all we know the character as.

So I'm thinking.... everything else about the tele-version of Farrah Fawcett has been fictionalized; why not the early days of her career when she was just starting out and hoping to make her big break?

Why couldn't "Show Girl #1" actually be Farrah Fawcett as herself?

She even had a version of herself over in the Tooniverse. Like many other celebrities, her animated self was related to a fictional TV character. In Farrah's case, it was the little girl who lived next door to 'Johnny Bravo'.

And as a cartoon, Farrah Fawcett was still angelic.....

She really is with the angels now. As Red Skelton would say (and maybe Charlie Townsend as well):

"Good night, and may God bless....."

BCnU....

THE HAT SQUAD: ED-TV [PART TWO]

Here are some video tributes to Ed McMahon, mostly showcasing his talents as a pitchman....

First up, a classic from 'The Tonight Show' when they did live commercials, this time for Alpo:



And here was Ed's "bread and Budder" when it came to commercials: Budweiser.........









Ed did a couple of Budweiser commercials with Frank Sinatra:





Even with the Clydesdales, Ed McMahon ended up as the straight man:



Okay... this one is bawdy, not Budweiser. I'm guessing by this point in the day, Johnny Carson was getting a little tired of filming promotional spots. If you're easily offended, just don't click on it!



From the 'Dean Martin Roast' of Ed McMahon, Pat Buttram and Ed's "psychiatrist" give him a couple of shots.



Finally, here's a handful of Ed McMahon tributes I found at YouTube:









BCnU.....

A VALIANT EFFORT

In the second episode of 'Merlin', the villain was a knight named "Valiant". Could it be that he was supposed to be a tele-version of the classic comic strip character Prince Valiant?

Prince Valiant does have a strong presence in the Tooniverse, as well as in the universe for movies (where he was played by Robert Wagner).
Save for the name, nothing about Will Mellor would suggest the Hal Foster character. But then again, nothing about this series is anything like the established views of Merlin and the man who would be king, Arthur.
And it is at least once removed from the main Toobworld, Earth Prime-Time, because of that deviation from the legend's norm.

So in the end, it doesn't matter. And therefore, why am I even bothering you with this?

BCnU!

ON THIN ICE WITH THIS THEORY....

'Primeval' may be canceled, but supposedly there are still plans underway to develop the story about "anomalies" which open gateways into the past - and lets all sorts of horrible little beasties out to play in the present - for a movie. And there's even been talk of a tele-version of the story for American broadcast.

And why not? After all, everything is already set in place as far as Toobworld is concerned. In fact, the anomalies are cropping up all across America even before the show is made, let alone televised!

And the Denver Museum is capitalizing on that fact by using this obviously pirated camera phone footage to drum up business........



At least that's going to be the Toobworld position on this blipvert's place in the Great Link.....

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD/AS SEEN ON TV: DR. JERRI NIELSEN

From the New York Times online:
BOSTON (AP) -- Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, who diagnosed and treated her own breast cancer before a dramatic rescue from the South Pole, has died. She was 57.

Her husband, Thomas FitzGerald, said she died Tuesday at their home in Southwick, Mass. Her cancer had been in remission until it returned in August 2005, he said Wednesday.

She was the only doctor among 41 staff at the National Science Foundation's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in winter 1999 when she discovered a lump in her breast. At first, she didn't tell anyone, but the burden became too much to bear.

''I got really sick,'' she told The Associated Press in a 2003 interview. ''I had great big lymph nodes under my arm. I thought I would die.''

Rescue was out of the question. Because of the extreme weather conditions, the station is closed to the outside world for the winter. She had no choice but to treat the disease herself, with help from colleagues she trained to care for her and U.S.-based doctors she stayed in touch with via satellite e-mail.

She performed a biopsy on herself with the help of staff.

A machinist helped her with her IV and test slides, and a welder helped with chemotherapy.
She treated herself with anti-cancer drugs delivered during a gripping mid-July airdrop by a U.S. Air Force plane in blackout, freezing conditions.

In a headline grabbing rescue, she was lifted by the Air National Guard in October, one of the earliest flights ever into the station when it became warm enough -- 58 degrees below zero -- to make the risky flight.

After multiple surgeries in the U.S., including a mastectomy, the cancer went into remission until 2005.

DR. JERRI NIELSEN

AS SEEN IN:

"Ice Bound"

AS PLAYED BY:
Susan Sarandon

BCnU.....

THE HAT SQUAD: ED-TV

Yes, there was 'Star Search', and that show about TV bloopers, the endless commercials for which he was the consummate pitchman, and of course, his years as Johnny Carson's sidekick on 'The Tonight Show'. But as a League of Themselves member, Ed McMahon did exemplary service for Toobworld with his connections to two dozen different TV shows. McMahon died just after midnight on Tuesday at the age of 86, after a series of health problems including a broken neck in 2007. And he had financial difficulties in his last years that cast a dark cloud over the public's memories of him.

But for Toobworld, we just want to remember the larger than life personality and good humor of Ed McMahon which could not be contained even by his hearty frame.

Here are those shows which can be considered linked together in Toobworld because of the participation of Ed McMahon:

"Scrubs"

- My Roommates (2005)

"Las Vegas"

- Degas Away with It (2004)

"ALF's Hit Talk Show"
- Drew Carey/Dennis Franz (2004)

"It's All Relative"

- Our Sauce, It Is a Beauty (2004)

"That '80s Show"

- Road Trip (2002)

"Popular"

- The Brain Game (2001)

"Just Shoot Me!"

- Finch on Ice (2000)

"Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"
- Prelude to a Kiss (1999)

"Suddenly Susan"
- Ben Rubenstein, Meet Joe Black (1999)

Jerry Seinfeld: 'I'm Telling You for the Last Time' (1998) (TV)

"Muppets Tonight"

- Episode #2.5 (1997)

"Malcolm & Eddie"

- The Commercial (1997)

'Weird Al' Yankovic: (There's No) Going Home (1996)

"Roseanne"

- Halloween - The Final Chapter (1995)

"Living Single"

- Crappy Birthday (1993)

"The Larry Sanders Show"

- Hank's Wedding (1993)

"Who's the Boss?"

- A Well-Kept Housekeeper (1991)

"Full House"

- Star Search (1989)

"The Cosby Show"

- Can I Say Something, Please? (1989)

"ALF"

- Tonight, Tonight: Part 1 (1988)

- Tonight, Tonight: Part 2 (1988)

"Amazing Stories"

- Remote Control Man (1985)

"CHiPs"

- Roller Disco: Part 1 (1979)

- Roller Disco: Part 2 (1979)

"Here's Lucy"

- Lucy and Johnny Carson (1969)

Ed McMahon provided a series of fictional characters to the Toobworld registry as well. The one I remember best is Lamont Franklin in "The Adventure Of The Eccentric Engineer". (Not that he was around long in that episode of 'The Adventures Of Ellery Queen' - Franklin was the murder victim.) Probably his longest-running fictional character would have been Charlie Dickerson, a TV personality in St. Paul, as seen on Tom Arnold's series, 'The Tom Show'.

He even gave voice to characters in the Tooniverse, from 'The Angry Beavers' to 'Bruno The Kid', and even to a cartoon version of hmself in 'Duck Dodgers'.

THE TOONIVERSE

"Duck Dodgers"

- Queen Is Wild, The/Back to the Academy (2003)

"Family Guy"

- When You Wish Upon a Weinstein (2003)

"The Simpsons"

- Treehouse of Horror IX (1998)

"Pinky and the Brain"

- The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special (1998)

Ed was an old hand at being a pitchman, from the old school. And he had quite a line of products that benefitted from his endorsements. His appearance in most of these* should also be counted in his League of Themselves tally.

TV commercials:

Cheer laundry detergent

DirectTV (1998)

Conseco Direct Life (w/Alex Trebek) (1999)

Miller Automotive car dealer (Los Angeles area)

Mr. Mobility (2006)

Premier Bathrooms (2005)

American Family Publishers

Cash4Gold.com, 2009

Longtime commercial spokesman for Anheuser-Busch, makers of Budweiser, Michelob and other brands of beer.
*I'd exclude any blipvert in which he played some other character - like the Budweiser commercial with Frank Sinatra in which they were both members of the US Cavalry.

I'm thinking 2010 will be the Year of the League of Themselves for the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame. And for January, traditionally the month in which we celebrate Classic TV, who could be a better candidate than Ed McMahon?

I am correct, Sir!

Heyoooooo and Godspeed....

BCnU.....

THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY: BAIN'S BAIRN

I won't argue if anybody says that I think about Toobworld topics way too much. Here's one that actually came to me in a dream and woke me up.....
Barbara Bain was born in 1931, and her character of Cinnamon Carter on 'Mission Impossible' would have been the same age. 'Space: 1999' was set in "the future", and the birth date for her character of Dr. Helena Russell was established on the series as being 1957, which made her 42 at the time of the lunar explosion at the nuclear dump. Had Dr. Helena Russell been the same age as Ms. Bain, she would have been 44 in 1999 (like me).

Here's the Toobworld Central hypothesis - in 1957, Cold War femme fatale Cinnamon Carter gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock. The baby was named Helena, but we don't know what family name she was given. It may be that Cinnamon gave the child up for adoption because her life as a spy made it impossible for her to be a mother as well. But I think Helena was raised by her birth father, a prominent physician.

Helena's last name of Russell was her married name - she had been married to Lee Russell, an astronaut who was missing and presumed dead on the Astro 7 mission to Jupiter.

As to the identity of Helena's father, the lover of Cinnamon Carter? In the script for the episode "Bringers Of Wonder [Part One]", we learned that Helena's father died of a massive coronary while she was a first year intern. As she remembered it, she "was there in the house when happened. I haven't lost many patients, but the first one had to be my father."

(I suppose the temptation would have been to suggest that Cinnamon's IMF partner Rollin Hand could have been the father. But Rollin didn't join the team until shortly before we met him on 'Mission Impossible' in 1966, and before that he wasn't even known as Rollin Hand. Two years before, in April of 1964, he defected to the United States to offer his services to the government. His name was Major Ivan Kochenko and the story of his defection can be found in the 'Twilight Zone' episode "The Jeopardy Room". At least, that's the premise Toobworld Central supports.) My only regret is that Cinnamon Carter's return to the small screen on 'Diagnosis Murder' took place in 1997. She seemed somewhat frail and careworn in the episode "Discards"; and had it taken place in 1999 we might have suggested that her condition was due to the death of her daughter Helena in the lunar explosion.

(In case you didn't know, the lunar explosion of the nuclear waste dumps which kicks off the series 'Space: 1999' was the only thing that actually happened on that show. Everything else - the Moon breaking free of its orbit and the adventures of Moonbase Alpha while hurtling thorugh space - was part of the coma dream playing out in the mind of Commander Koenig, who barely survived the blast. Sadly, Dr. Russell was not one of those who survived.

Incidentally, her character has been described as dour and humourless in the first season of 'Space: 1999', but she became more playful in the second season. I think the change can be ascribed to the type of medications given to Koenig while he was comatose; it altered the landscape of his dream world.)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: IT'S FRANKIEEEEEE!

I'm never surprised by the many things I can find through the Internet; I'm more shocked by those things I CAN'T find!

After writing up the story of how Mia Farrow allegedly threw herself at "Mini-Gene" (at least according to the lead singer in the band Mini-KISS), I went looking for pics of either Patsy Kensit as the actress in "Love & Betrayal" (about the scandal of her relationship with Woody Allen), or Nina Siemaszko, who played the role in the TV bio-pic "Sinatra".

It was impossible. (Although there may be somebody out there who can prove me wrong.)

So instead, today's "As Seen On TV" showcase is of Mia Farrow's first husband, Ol' Blue Eyes himself.....

FRANK SINATRA

AS SEEN IN:
"Sinatra"

AS PLAYED BY:
Philip Casnoff

BCnU!

FRANK STALLONE AGAIN, NATURALLY

Thanks to Frank Stallone poking fun at his own image on 'Z Rock' (which was reminiscent of how celebs play themselves in the series 'Extras'), Toobworld Central can now link 'Z Rock' to 'Movie Stars'.

In 'Movie Stars', Todd Hardin was stuck in the shadows of his brother Reese's celebrity, and he found a chance to vent about it at his weekly poker game. The other players at the table were Don Swayze, Joey Travolta, and Frank - all of whom knew what it was like to have a more famous brother.... BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: H.G. WELLS, TIMES TWO

Something a little bit different for Two For Tuesday in the "As Seen On TV" department: two portrayals of H. G. Wells, but from the same series....

H.G. WELLS

AS SEEN IN:
'Lois & Clark'

AS PLAYED BY:
Terry Kiser
Hamilton Camp

Since these were appearances in which time travel was involved, and it was a science fiction series, this recastaway is easy to splain away.

When Hamilton Camp began appearing as Wells, Lois Lane and Clark Kent were meeting the H.G. Wells of another TV dimension who had travelled forward not only in Time but in the "relative dimensions" of Space as well.

BCnU!

MAMA MIA!

In this week's episode of 'Z Rock', the boys opened for Mini-KISS. Afterwards at the backstage party, Mini Gene (far left) told Paulie about his encounter with Mia Farrow, who really wanted to have her way with him. He turned it down and a day had not gone by when he didn't regret it.

Now THAT is guilt by association for a League of Themselves member!

BCnU!

"HOUSE" CALLED OUT

In a comment to my post "Royal Splains", in which I theorized how 'McGyver' could be so well-known that TV characters who share his world could still make references to him, my blog buddy Mercurie mentioned that the same thing could apply to Dr. Gregory 'House'.

And Merc's right. Even with all of the false starts, House is still the most amazing of diagnosticians currently in practice in Toobworld. But I think his fame at that hospital in Princeton is augmented by another factor: I think there has been a "reality show" about him on Toobworld television.

This would help splain away those references to 'House' as a TV show. And as to why we don't see the cameras following him and his staff around, the Toobworld series ended before the real world series began.

Here are a few examples collected from the IMDb.com:

"Arrested Development: Motherboy XXX (#2.13)" (2005)
- Tobias appears with a "DR HOUSE" license plate, a reference to an acting job he'd hoped for but never got.

I've got a good reason why Tobias never got that part - because it was a reality TV show. Let's face it, Tobias was a bit of a dim bulb on that show. He might not have been able to tell the difference.

"Joey: Joey and the Big Break: Part 1 (#2.1)" (2005)
- "Oh, when the dude on Dr. House does it, it's fine."

Speaking of dim bulbs.....

"Scrubs: My New Suit (#5.18)" (2006)
- Dr. Kelso to Dr. Cox: You're so edgy and cantankerous. You're like House without the limp.

"Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Driven (#4.11)" (2006)
- when Jeanne says, "Cytology tests take seventy-two hours. But Doctor House gets the results back in ten minutes. It's ridiculous."

It's called "editing". Another TV character who doesn't realize the "televersion" show about Dr. House is something of a documentary series....

"Torchwood: End of Days (#1.13)" (2007)
- Owen says "Well done, House, that's what you're up against." after discovering the people were infected with the "Black Death"

"Psych: Game, Set... Muuurder? (#1.13)" (2007)
- Shawn: I want a hard target search for every outhouse, hen house, cat house, Waffle House, House, M.D.!"

Los Serrano: La mano amiga (#6.23)" (2007)
- The show is mentioned during this episode.

I have no clue what the reference was on that show. Even if I heard it, I would never understand it....

Le está viendo!

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

With "The Glory That Was", an episode of 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', we learned that Caroline Walters (the murder victim) had won the Olympic equestrian bronze medal in 1992, and the gold in 1996. Mrs. Walters rode for Belgium in both of those years.

It was easy enough to look up the Olympic medal winners for both 1992 and 1996 to see who did win the medals in those years. And just to reassure you, I'm not so deluded about the reality of Toobworld - yet - to think that I would actually find a Caroline listed there. (Walters was her married name.) But I was curious to see how closely the facts of this case had been ripped from the headlines; I thought it might be possible that Belgium might have placed among the winners in both years. A situation like this, in which real world history deviates from what is established in the fictional world of TV Land, is easier to accept once enough time has passed. It's a lot easier to now squeeze in Jeremy Thorpe as the British Prime Minister back in 1974 than it had been when the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Green Death" first aired.

(Maybe I'm showing my provincialism in that, being an American - I can accept alterations to the tele-British leadership, but I'm dead set against any tampering with the line of succession when it comes to the American presidency in Toobworld.)

It's easy enough to ignore the existence of Robert "Pruneface" Morgenthau as the District Attorney in New York City on 'Law & Order'; it's not like he's exactly the kind of person to be seen or even referenced in other TV shows. It gets harder with the Empire State's governorship on the same show when you go from the Spitzer scandal to David Paterson, a legally blind black man who was thrust into the job. Both of them have been mentioned in the dialogue of other shows. Perhaps the passage of Time will allow us to find a way to squeeze the fictional Donald Shalvoy into the office.....
At any rate, the records for the Olympics now stand as an example of the difference between the TV Universe and the "Trueniverse"....

BCnU!