LEHMAN BROTHERS - A TELEVISION REVISION

Well, this is an interesting development.....

The concept of Toobworld is always in flux, constantly evolving, constantly being rewritten. For the most part, the blame (as such) falls on me - sometimes I'll make statements that have to be retracted because I wasn't so thorough in my research. Other times it's due to revisions or new additions to the established canon of a series. So in that way, the Toobworld Dynamic is like the medium it studies.

Two examples of both from the same show:
1) I claimed in a blog post that the new version of 'Human Target' could exist in the same TV dimension as the original, which starred Rick Springfield. (It's existenc as a comic book doesn't enter the equation.) I had the splainins and everything! But then they had to do an episode with a totally different Royal Family of Great Britain, which tossed them into an alternate TV dimension from Toobworld and the Trueniverse.

2) Because of that, I added the new 'Human Target' to a Super-Six List of TV shows that could be set in the 'West Wing' universe. But as one of Team Toobworld pointed out, I could have held on to that claim if it was just Queen Elizabeth who had been mentioned on 'The West Wing'. (We saw a totally different Queen Elizabeth in the 'Human Target world, and she was kind of hot in an older woman sort of way. And it will probably turn out she's younger than me, but still.... Hot!)

But as the Team Toobworld member pointed out, 'The West Wing' mentioned other members of the true Royal Family (either Prince Edward or Prince Andrew) who were specific to those found in Toobworld as well as the real world.

This is why I'm thankful that I have Team Toobworld - I really depend on them!

So that's all meandering blather to lead up to the latest revision......

In promoting the HBO movie about the 2008 financial collapse, I ran a series of As Seen On TV features for each of the main characters, all drawn from real life. And for all of them, I stated that they were to be found in Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld.

(With Timothy Geithner, I used him for the "Two For Tuesday" edition, as he had also been portrayed on 'Saturday Night Live', placing that portrayal in Skitlandia. And for Warren Buffett, who played himself in at least one other Earth Prime-Time series ['All My Children'], I claimed that the version played by Ed Asner was a quantum leaper.)

A basic tenet for Earth Prime-Time inclusion is that old "First Come, First Served" rule. Whichever version of a project is broadcast first, that has the right to remain in the main Toobworld. The next would go to the "Land of Remakes" then on to other dimensional choices like "the evil mirror universe", but falling short of the Tooniverse or Skitlandia (unless it's animated or a comedy sketch, respectively.)

There are exceptions to every rule, of course. The most famous one for this situation is that of Sherlock Holmes. There were two earlier TV series about the great detective that I know of - one with Ronald Howard, the other with Peter Cushing. But it's the series with Jeremy Brett as Holmes whom I've decided should be the permanent tenant of Earth Prime-Time, because his series had the most adaptations of the original stories written by Dr. Watson and edited by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

(I may yet keep the Ronald Howard version in Earth Prime-Time, if I can successfully make the argument that his Holmes was an imposter. Peter Cushing's portrayal, just based on the five remaining episodes in existence, all from the canon, should go to the Land of Remakes. Not only because it was the remake, but also because they were that good.)

Again I'm blathering.

So anyhoo, I was doing some research on James Bolam for a theory of relateeveety connected to the Friday Mug-Shot feature when I discovered that he had been in a TV movie about the 2008 financial collapse made by the BBC in 2009, well over a year before HBO's "Too Big To Fail".

"The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers" has most of the same real world players as "Too Big To Fail" (played by a few ex-pat Americans for the most part), but with some exceptions.

Bolam's character of Ken Lewis, for example - he appears in "Too Big To Fail", but not in big enough a capacity to merit a name actor with star power for the role. Warren Buffett? Not even listed among the "dramatis personae" to be found at the IMDb.com. If he's not even in the movie, then there's no need for that 'Quantum Leap' splainin, at least in Earth Prime-Time......

As for Jim Wilkinson, played by Topher Grace in "Too Big To Fail", he could have been changed to a character named Zack played by Michael Landes in the Brit version. I'd have to see it to be sure.

So because it aired first, "The Last Days of Lehman Brothers" will now be considered the official record of those events in Earth Prime-Time. And "Too Big To Fail" will be packed off to the Land of Remakes. (I really do need to come up with a catchy name for that world.....)

All this week, we'll be running a new batch of As Seen On TV showcases for the main players, starting with the man who started the ball rolling - James Bolam's portrayal of Ken Lewis.

BCnU!