A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE (AND PAST)

Well, everybody else has already shared this preview; I might as well jump on the bandwagon.....

In case you didn't notice - that was Ben Browder from 'Farscape' and 'Stargate SG-1' in there, continuing to add to his sci-fi credits.

Does anyone know if the town of Mercy ever showed up in a TV Western before?

Thanks!

A LIFE IN BRUINS

Don't confuse this sitcom with 'Bear In The House'!

My thanks to my nephew, Ian O'Brien, for finding this!

BCnU!

"FUTURAMA" & "MST3K"

My thanks to Barry Ward for finding this crossover in the Tooniverse:

Since this takes place at some point after the year 3000 AD, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot sure have some long-lasting batteries!

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! "GAME OF THRONES" S2-E2

Coming up for the second episode of the second season....

Sunday night on HBO at 9 PM EST!

AS SEEN ON TV: SER LORIS TYRELL

SER LORIS TYRELL

CREATED BY:

George R.R. Martin

PORTRAYED BY:

Finn Jones

AS SEEN IN:

'Game Of Thrones'

LOCATION:

King's Landing, Westeros, the planet of Mondas

From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":

Loras Tyrell is a recurring character in Game of Thrones. He is played by guest star Finn Jones and débuts in the fifth episode of the first season. Ser Loras Tyrell is a popular tourney knight. He is the lover of Renly Baratheon and has promised to support Renly's claim on the throne in the War of the Four Kings.

Ser Loras Tyrell is the third son of Lord Mace Tyrell, the Lord of Highgarden, and head of House Tyrell. House Tyrell is the ruling house of the Reach and one of the most powerful lords in all of Westeros. Loras is a skilled knight famed for his many tourney victories and his dazzling good looks, which make him popular with the smallfolk and with young women in particular. He is commonly known as the 'Knight of Flowers'. Loras is the former squire of Lord Renly Baratheon and remains Renly's close friend and lover. Loras is in King's Landing to compete in tourneys and attend court.

Today is the birthday of my very dear friend, Michael Cleary. And I couldn't think of a better character from 'Game Of Thrones' to mark the occasion. I hope he'll find somebody to blow out his candle today......

BCnU!

TELE-MUNDO KANE

When I mentioned the four Harry Mortons of the Burns and Allen TV show, it put me in mind of another TV character from the early days of TV who was recast three times so that four actors played the role in the space of only five years.

Martin Kane was TV's first private eye, and if I'm not mistaken, the first TV character to cross over into the four-color world of comic books. (Kane was a true multiversalist. He was also in the radio universe during the whole TV run, having debuted on radio only three weeks before his TV premiere.)

'Martin Kane, Private Eye' ran from September 1949 to June 1954, and was fully sponsored by the United States Tobacco Company. They made sure that most of the storyline took place at the local smoke shop so that its commercials could be integrated into the program. (I wrote about that aspect of the show once before.)

William Gargan was the first Martin Kane, playing the role for two years. This makes him the official version for Toobworld. He was followed by Lloyd Nolan, Lee Tracy, and finally Mark Stevens.

Like I said, Gargan was THE Martin Kane of Earth Prime-Time. But recastaways Nolan, Tracy, and Stevens were not quantum leapers, nor was Martin subjected to plastic surgery, "wish-craft", or impersonations by aliens or androids. And I don't think the "Arthur Dales" splainin from 'The X-Files' about siblings with the same name would be logical in this situation.

Instead, I'm calling on a simpler splainin for a far simpler time - Nolan, Tracy, and Stevens were the Martin Kanes from other Toobworlds.

Because he was the first replacement, Lloyd Nolan could be the Martin Kane from the Land of Remakes, for example.

As he once played the former President of the United States in the movie version of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man", I like the idea that Lee Tracy was the Martin Kane in the same TV dimension that housed 'The West Wing'. Perhaps he was also the Martin Kane from the dimensions for '24', 'Commander-In-Chief', 'Mr. President' & 'Hail To The Chief', and for the Movie Of The Week' TV dimension (which had a slew of alternate presidents.)

By the way, the picture above of Lee Tracy is probably from some other production, or just a generic publicity shot.....

And let me make this perfectly clear - I have nothing against Mark Stevens. I think he made a great private eye over in the Cineverse in a fun little noir called "The Dark Corner". But even the "Evil Mirror Universe" needs its own Martin Kane. (FYI: By the time Stevens took the role, the series underwent a name change to just 'Martin Kane, Detective'.)

So the detective show did a multidimensional tour of the TV Universe, starting out with Martin Kane on Earth Prime-Time and ending up in the evil dimension first introduced (or at least made popular) in 'Star Trek'.

Three years later, however, we revisited the private eye as played by William Gargan in 1957's 'The New Adventures Of Martin Kane'. So we were brought back full circle to the main Toobworld with this British production.

BCnU!

"GAME OF THRONES" - TOOBWORLD VS. BOOKWORLD

"GAME OF THRONES" SPOILERS AHEAD!

In today's ASOTV showcase about the 'Game Of Thrones' whore Ros, I reprinted the story behind her story - how she isn't really a character in the book. (Author George R.R. Martin only mentioned a red-headed whore in the first book. Series producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss fleshed that out to create Ros, who makes for a very fetching expositional character.

Apparently there will be a lot of changes to the book's story and characters before they reach the screen. And because of my Toob-centric tendencies, I actually encourage this. It helps to delineate the division between the fictional universes of Toobworld and BookWorld*.

With the second series premiere, several fans of the novel noted another major difference:

From SLB:

I can't believed they killed Dani's Silver!!!! Just finished the last book and that horse is still alive. Not only was it her first gift from Drogo, but it made her an official "horse lord". Now she's a Khaleesi without a horse. Not sure what the reasoning for that was.

From BronnJeremy:

haven't gotten through the third book, yet, so I don't know what kind of action would have been in store for Silver...but HBO decided to discontinue the horse-racing series "Luck", due to an unfortunate streak of horses dying on-set.

Being that Silver is distinctly all-white, maybe producers thought it easier to forgo the Silver storyline to avoid having to spend their FX budget on replacement horses, should something happen, in the future?

(I have no idea, really. I'm totally just guessing.)

I'm sure this won't be the last time we something like this happen.

BCnU!

* "BookWorld" is a term that I'm borrowing from another source, as I did with the "Cineverse" which came from a trilogy by Craig Shaw Gardner. "BookWorld" is from Jasper Fforde's series of novels starring Thursday Next, which takes place in a universe where the printed word becomes real. Like Toobworld and the Cineverse, BookWorld as a term is simple yet conveys so much.

AS SEEN ON TV: ROS

ROS

CREATED BY:

George R.R. Martin

&

David Benioff and D. B. Weiss

(Apparently, Martin only mentioned a red-headed whore in the first book. Benioff and Weiss took that and fleshed her out to become Ros.)

PLAYED BY:

Esme Bianco

AS SEEN IN:

'Game Of Thrones'

LOCATION:

Winterfell & King's Landing, Westeros, on the planet Mondas

(Mondas as the planet is strictly a Toobworld conceit.)

From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":

Ros is a recurring character in 'Game of Thrones'. She is played by guest star Esme Bianco and débuts in the first episode of the first season. Ros is a prostitute and renowned beauty in a brothel in Winterfell's outlying town. She has drawn the attention of the young nobles of Winterfell including Theon Greyjoy and Jon Snow. Theon is a regular customer while Jon is not.

Arriving in King's Landing, Ros finds employment at a brothel owned by Littlefinger. He tutors her in the art of seduction. Besides Theon Greyjoy, among her other high-profile clients are Tyrion Lannister (while in Winterfell) and Grand Maester Pycelle (in King's Landing.)

Ros does not appear in the books and is the first character created specifically for the show. However, some fans have speculated that her role is based on the 'red-headed whore' who appears very briefly in the first novel. This is strengthened by the fact that Bianco was originally announced as playing 'red-headed whore' and that the character was given a name at George R.R. Martin's suggestion. Martin has stated that he intends to work the character into later books in the series, probably as a throwaway cameo just to tie her presence into both the series and books.

BCnU!

LOST IN ALCATRAZ

Now that the first (only?) season of 'Alcatraz' is over, a fellow member of the FB Crossovers Forum had an interesting theory about a connection between that JJ Abrams show and 'Lost'......

James Bojaciuk:

Jorge Garcia--who played Hurley on 'Lost'--also plays Doc Soto on 'Alcatraz'. What's interesting about Doc Soto is in the offical biography he places on the back of all the books he writes. It notes that he holds the North American high score in "Galaga". Galaga was also the name of the submarine owned by the Dharma Initiative. 

That's probably a crossover, though the link between the submarine and the game is a bit hazy. We have two possibilities: 1) the Dharma Initiative also created the game Galaga to further their goals or 2) (my favorite) whoever named the ship was a huge fan of the game.

http://comicbook.com/blog/2012/01/17/lost-reference-on-alcatraz/

I think James' second theory best meets the tenet of Occam's Razor, so I'm going to agree with that as the most viable suggestion.

Thanks, James!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BRAN STARK

BRAN STARK

CREATED BY:

George R.R. Martin

PORTRAYED BY:

Isaac Hempstead-Wright

AS SEEN IN:

'Game Of Thrones'

TV LOCATION:

Winterfell, on the continent of Westeros, planet of Mondas

From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":

Brandon Stark, commonly called 'Bran', is a major character in Game of Thrones. He is played by starring cast member Isaac Hempstead-Wright and débuts in the first episode of the first season. Bran Stark is a noble boy living with his family in Winterfell. His life is changed irrevocably when he suffers a crippling injury. He has adopted the direwolf Summer and they have forged a strong connection. He relies on the servant Hodor to aid his mobility. He has had prophetic dreams.

Bran is the son of Eddard and Catelyn Stark. He has an older brother, Robb, and a younger, Rickon, and well as two older sisters, Sansa and Arya. He also has a bastard half-brother, Jon Snow.

BCnU!

QUANTUM LEAPING IN MAYBERRY

I've often used "quantum leaping" as a splainin for recasting certain characters in Toobworld. The technology will continue beyond the life of Dr. Sam Beckett to the point where some private enterprise in the Future would set up 'Quantum Leap' vacation getaways for the Rich. (This splains the four different Harry Mortons in 'The George Burns And Gracie Allen Show' - at least three of them were willing to pay the price in order to be up close and personal with comedy legends.)

But before that, further testing had to be done on Dr. Beckett's research to work out the kinks and ensure the safety of the leaper and of the timeline. The first problem to be solved was the random nature of the leaps. Those future researchers were able to pinpoint the location, the time period, and the designated "leapee". But to do so they had to set up controlled areas in which to experiment. Test locations were chosen all over America in which quantum leapers could choose a leapee and then learn more about life "back then". Towns like Woodbridge, Henderson, Somerset, Rosehill, Monticello, Port Charles, Llanview, Corinth, Bay City, Salem, Oakdale, Pine Valley, and Genoa City were chose to be those "Petrie dishes" in which to conduct the experiments. (And yes, I know I spelled it wrong. I spelled it toobishly!)

Sometimes citizens in those towns were targeted to be replaced by leapers several times over, up to nine times in one instance! (And this would splain away so many recastaways in soap operas. And when most future scientists were able to expand the reach back into the Past, we can assume recastaways and "double vision" characters in wild wild West towns like North Fork, New Mexico, were also quantum leapers.

So that's my long-way-round introduction to the following video....

The only downside to the 'Quantum Leap' splainin is that we'll probably never get to see it happen outside of a 'Quantum Leap' reunion movie or a sequel. (NO remakes!) When it comes to its "use" in other TV shows, we only see the recastaway after-effects.

But this could be the closest we ever get where it happened in the scene, just right off-screen. We got to see the before and after effects not only the same episode, but the same scene.

The fellow who uploaded this clip from 'The Andy Griffith Show' said it was more than just the two men having their hats on near the end; they were supposedly totally different actors playing the roles of the treasury agents when Opie walked in. And I have no reason to doubt him.

O'Bviously they didn't have a shift change in those moments ("Goodnight, Sam." "Goodnight, Ralph.") - there wasn't enough time, and besides, Barney would have said something to them during the change-over.

But he never would have noticed a 'Quantum Leap'!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: STANNIS BARATHEON

STANNIS BARATHEON

CREATED BY:

George R.R. Martin

PORTRAYED BY:

Stephen Dillane

AS SEEN IN:

'Game Of Thrones'

TV UNIVERSE LOCATION:

Westeros, on the planet Mondas

From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":

Stannis Baratheon is a major character in Game of Thrones. He is played by starring cast member Stephen Dillane and débuts in the second season. He is mentioned in the first season but did not appear. Stannis Baratheon is the Lord of Dragonstone and the oldest brother of the late King Robert Baratheon. Because of rumors that Robert's heir Joffrey is a bastard born out of an incestuous affair, he has claimed the Iron Throne and proclaimed himself the rightful King.

Stannis is the secondborn son of House Baratheon, the younger brother of the late King Robert Baratheon and older brother of Renly Baratheon. He served on his brother's small council as Master of Ships, and holds the title of Lord of Dragonstone. During the first season, he is at home for an extended stay.

The sigil of his household is the flaming red heart of the Lord of Light with the stag of Baratheon in the middle.

Although mentioned during the first season, he didn't show up in the series until the second season premiere.

BCnU!

PROGRAMMING NOTE

You know, I think I'm going to go for it. I think I will take a stab at running a character from 'Game Of Thrones' every day for the rest of this month as the daily ASOTV showcase. I'm sure you'll be sick of it long before April is over, but I love the show that much. And it certainly has enough characters to last!

I've also decided to use only reprints from the "Game Of Thrones Wiki" which focuses on the TV show, rather than also adding in information from "A Wiki Of Ice And Fire", which deals primarily with the books. That way I don't run the risk of ruining the experience of watching the series since I never read any of the novels. And so the same would be for visitors to the blog.

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! TUESDAYS ON TNT

I love it when other people do the work for me!

Rob Buckley of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (Link to your left, my Tooblings!), found this blipvert for the TNT lineup for Tuesday nights coming this June:

For this to work in the main Toobworld, Detective Jane Rizzoli and Dr. Maura Isles would have to be in Los Angeles, or attorneys Jared Franklin and Peter Bash had to be cruising for flim in Boston.

But in the Promoverse, that alternate TV sub-dimension which also houses commercial team-ups between 'Monk', 'The Dead Zone', 'Psych', and 'The 4400', this would fit right in.

Thanks, Rob!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: CERSEI & JAIME LANNISTER

Who better for the "Two For Tuesday" edition of the ASOTV showcase than the best incestuous twins in the main Toobworld since Buffy and Jody Davis*? (Oh, you never read the slash-fic, have you?)

CERSEI AND JAIME LANNISTER

CREATED BY:

George R.R. Martin

PLAYED BY:

Lena Headey

&

Nicolaj Coster-Waldau

CERSEI

From the 'Game Of Thrones' Wiki:

Cersei Lannister, rarely called Cersei Baratheon, is a major character in Game of Thrones. She is played by starring cast member Lena Headey and débuts in the first episode of the first season. Cersei is the Queen Dowager of the Seven Kingdoms. She has installed her son Joffrey Baratheon on the Iron Throne. She claims that he is a legitimate son from her marriage to the late King Robert Baratheon but he is actually the product of her incestuous relationship with her brother Jaime Lannister. She is embroiled in a rivalry with House Stark, fearing that they will expose the truth.

Cersei is the only daughter of Lord Tywin Lannister, the twin sister of Ser Jaime Lannister and the elder sister of Tyrion Lannister. She is the wife of King Robert Baratheon, a political marriage Robert agreed to in thanks for her father's late switching of sides in the civil war which brought Robert to power. She has three children: Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen. She claims that they are Robert's although they are actually illegitimate and a result of her incestuous relationship with her brother Jaime, which is not common knowledge. She is noted for her great beauty.

JAIME

From the 'Game Of Thrones' Wiki:

Jaime Lannister is a major character in Game of Thrones. He is played by starring cast member Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and débuts in the first episode of the first season. Jaime Lannister is a knight of the Kingsguard and is in love with his twin sister Queen Cersei Lannister. Jaime pushed Bran Stark from a derelict tower when Bran saw him having sexual intercourse with Cersei. Bran survived his injuries but could not recall being pushed. Evidence emerged implicating House Lannister sparking a feud with House Stark. After King Robert Baratheon's death and the dismissal of Lord Commander Barristan Selmy, Jaime was promoted in absentia to commander of the Kingsguard. Jaime was in the Riverlands leading the siege of Riverrun when his son Joffrey assumed the Iron Throne. Jaime was captured by Robb Stark in the Battle of the Whispering Wood.

Ser Jaime Lannister is a knight of the Kingsguard, a position he has held for twenty years since a teenager. He first rose to the post under the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen. Jaime killed the Mad King at the conclusion of Robert's Rebellion when he threatened to torch the city of King's Landing. For this act he earned the epithet 'Kingslayer'. He was forgiven his breaking of his vows by King Robert Baratheon and permitted to remain in the Kingsguard, part of Robert's alliance with House Lannister (along with the marriage of Jaime's twin sister Cersei to Robert).

Jaime is the eldest son of Lord Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock, the head of House Lannister and the Lord paramount of the Westerlands. Due to his place in the Kingsguard Jaime cannot inherit his father's lands. He is the older brother of Tyrion and the twin brother of Cersei. In a secret known to only a few, he is also Cersei's lover and the biological father of her children, Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen, whom the world belives are Robert's. Jaime is infamous for his killing of the Mad King, but is also noted for his arrogance and martial skills.

BCnU!

* We're not counting the Wonder Twins from the Tooniverse.....

MISSUS FLATT & MISSUS SCRUGGS

With the death of banjo legend Earl Scruggs last week at the age of 88, we must assume that his televersion has passed away as well in Toobworld.

Scruggs was a member of the League of Themselves, having played himself in about seven episodes of 'The Beverly Hillbillies', the show for which he and partner Lester Flatt played the theme song.

Members of the League of Themselves are never the same person as exists in the Trueniverse. Just the fact that they're interacting with fictional characters guarantees them to be televersions and not just the people we might see in news reports or talk shows. (And I always felt talk shows were kind of fake anyway.)

Some of the more "out-there" examples - Dennis Rodman is an extra-terrestrial ('Third Rock From The Sun'); Kevin Sorbo is the real Hercules ('Hercules, The Legendary Journeys'); and Bo Derek is an evil spy ('Chuck').

The major difference for the televersions of Flatt & Scruggs was their past rivalry for the love of Pearl Bodine, Jethro's mother on the show. (Pearl was played by Bea Benaderet of 'Petticoat Junction' fame.) But to save their friendship, both men set aside their hearts' desire for Pearl and they ended up marrying other women. Both of them considered their choices as "settling".

Just as in the real world, Lester Flatt was married to a woman named Gladys who joined him in his first group, Charlie Monroe's The Kentucky Partners. Meanwhile, Earl Scruggs was married to Louise, who was the first woman to become a booking agent for artists in Nashville. (She was in charge of her husband's career for over fifty years.)

However, neither woman appeared on 'The Beverly Hillbillies' as themselves. Actresses were hired to play their parts - the stunning Joi Lansing was Gladys Flatt and Midge Ware portrayed Louise Scruggs.

Here's a picture of the real Louise Scruggs with her husband:

And this may be Gladys Flatt in the group photo:

But this is definitely her, appearing at a bluegrass festival celebrating her late husband:

And finally, here's a picture from an awards ceremony honoring Flatt & Scruggs, where Gladys Flatt (with Earl Scruggs) accepted in memory of her late husband.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: LORD EDDARD STARK

To celebrate the return of 'Game Of Thrones' for its second season, we'll be showcasing some of its characters all this week. (With the cast in this show, I could easily do this for a month!)

Last Friday, we featured Jon Snow as my tip of the hat to my brother on his birthday. (Jon is his favorite character.) And I was tempted to use Ned on Sunday, claiming that he would return for the full season as an April Fool's joke. But I liked my other choices better.

But we'll start off the week with him today....

EDDARD "NED" STARK

CREATED BY:

George R.R. Martin

PORTRAYED BY:

Sean Bean

AS SEEN IN:

'Game Of Thrones'

TV DIMENSION:

The Main TV Universe

(But on the planet Mondas)

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Eddard Stark, affectionately called "Ned" (and "the Ned" by members of the northern mountain clans), was head of House Stark, Lord of Winterfell, Lord Paramount of the North, and Warden of the North. He and Catelyn Tully have five children and he has a bastard son, Jon Snow. In the TV series, he is played by Sean Bean.

Eddard is in his mid-thirties. He has a long face, dark hair and grey eyes. His closely-trimmed beard is beginning to grey. He is neither as large nor as handsome as his brother Brandon was.

Eddard is known for his sense of honor and justice and his family finds him kind, although some consider his reserved personality a sign of coldness and disdain.

From the 'Game of Thrones' Wiki
Eddard Stark, also known by his friends as Ned, is a major character in Game of Thrones. He is played by starring cast member Sean Bean and debuts in the first episode of the first season. He only appears in the first season.

Eddard is the head of House Stark and Lord paramount of the North. He is a dedicated husband and father, a loyal friend and an honourable lord. He becomes Hand of the King to his lifelong friend Robert Baratheon when the previous hand dies in suspicious circumstances. He follows his predecessors footsteps and uncovers an incestuous relationship between Queen Cersei Lannister and her brother Jaime Lannister. Robert dies after being injured while hunting and Eddard challenges the legitimacy of his successor Joffrey Baratheon. Eddard is betrayed by his political allies and arrested for treason. He confesses to the crime to protect his family but is nevertheless executed. The conflict between House Stark and House Lannister sets the stage for the War of the Four Kings.

BCnU!

THE NEW "DOCTOR WHO" MOVIE!

David Yates, who directed several movies in the "Harry Potter" franchise, insists that he is still attached to direct a 'Doctor Who' movie, probably in 2015 - despite protests by Steven Moffat to the contrary.

I don't know why everyone has their knickers in a twist over this. After all, Tim Burton has already completed a 'Doctor Who' movie.....

BCnU!

TDVDS@50 - THE URL OF KENT

A lack of sleep could not only be dangerous to one's health, but it could also lead to bouts of tele-cognizance on the part of a TV character.

A recent example of that occurred in an episode of '30 Rock' ("Grandmentor"). The new page at NBC, Hazel Whassername, let TGS star Tracy Jordan stay awak as long as he wanted - even though he would go crazy if he didn't get his full 14 hours a day of sleep.

As if to prove this argument by former page Kenneth Parcell, Tracy Jordan suddenly shouted from his dressing room: "We're in a show within a show, and I'm Tracy Morgan!"

Tele-cognizance is a dangerous thing; too much of it could lead to the collapse of the TV Universe

We've seen this correlation between sleeplessness and tele-cognizance before - in 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'. (Bet you were wondering when we'd get around to that......)

As seen in a flashback, Rob Petrie had his first audition for 'The Alan Brady Show' after successfully completing a stint as a radio deejay on the air for 100 hours without sleeping. Naturally this led to complications when he met Alan Brady and Mel Cooley.

And it probably had long-term effects as well. Apparently, Rob Petrie developed serlinguism, the ability to talk to the people of the Trueniverse - our world.

At one point, 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' was sponsored by Kent Cigarettes; and like a lot of TV shows back in those days in connection to their own sponsors - 'The Farmer's Daughter', 'I Love Lucy', 'The Andy Griffith Show', 'The Adventures Of Superman', etc. - the cast was integrated into the commercials as their characters. So those blipverts have to be taken into consideration as part of the overall 'DVD Show' content.

Here's a compilation video of the commercials they made; I'm assuming this is all of them:

Two of those commercials we have to exclude from consideration as being part of the world of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'. Those would be the two which feature the cardboard display of Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore and all the boxes of Kent cigarette packs. In the first, Dick refers to the picture of Mary as "Mary" and then kisses his "wife". In the next one, they refer to each other as "Dick" and "Mary".

These two commercials should not part of the Earth Prime-Time, main Toobworld universe. They belong in that TV dimension which reflects the TV line-up of our world as TV shows; the world in which we in the Trueniverse get to see the behind-the-scenes machinations that go into the making of those TV shows. This is the alternate TV dimension in which we would find those "making of" docu-dramas about 'Three's Company', 'Mork & Mindy', 'Dynasty', 'Steptoe And Son', etc.

I said they should not be part of the main Toobworld, but I suppose the argument could be made that Rob was suffering a bout of tele-cognizance similar to Tracy Jordan's in '30 Rock'.  It could be that he was not only serlinguistic at this point but that he knew he was being played by Dick Van Dyke in another universe.  And he was forcing Laura to go along with his "madness" and pretend that she could see the home audience and that she was actually Mary Tyler Moore.

It would certainly splain why Laura appears so nervous in the commercial.  She probably was going to call Dr. Jacoby as soon as she could escape from the office.....

With those two ads removed, there are two others that might give us pause. The first one is easy enough to splain away - Rob can be seen sitting on the desk with Sally sitting behind it. He looks to be talking to the camera about the pleasures of smoking Kents while she surreptitiously steals his pack of cigs. But in fact, Rob is talking to an imaginary camera, acting out what Alan Brady might say to the home audience of his show when he eventually extols the qualities of Kents, which happen to be his sponsor.

But then there's the Christmas Kent commercial. Let's look at it again.....

This plays out like all the other Kent blipverts that have been integrated into 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'... until the very end. That's when Rob suddenly turns to the fourth wall and urges the audience to give Kent a try.

There is no imaginary camera this time. He's actually using serlinguistic skills to address the audience of the Trueniverse. As for Sally looking out that way as well, it's O'Bvious that she's looking for whatever/whomever Rob is addressing. But whatever is on that fourth wall from her perspective (probably a wall full of mementos and the entrance to the office bathroom), that's all that she's seeing. Her smile can then be interpreted as being a sickly one of fear that her boss is losing his marbles.

So this could be a symptom of the long-lasting effects from Rob staying awake for over 100 hours, even though that happened back in the 1950's.

Then again, it was the Christmas season, and TV characters do seem to become serlinguistic around that time.....

If such a premise doesn't jibe with your perception of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show', then remember on what day this Video Weekend entry is being posted. Simply think of it as an April Fool's joke....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: UNCLE CHARLIE

UNCLE CHARLIE

CREATED BY:

Jessica Baines Fletcher

PORTRAYED BY:

John Finnegan

AS SEEN IN:

"Goodbye, Charlie"

TV DIMENSION:

Literary TV World

(The same dimension where the 'Once Upon A Time' characters originated.)

Charlie was the uncle of Frank Albertson and he used to sponge off his nephew and Frank's wife Sunny.  But then he disappeared.  When Frank and Sunny learned that Charlie had inherited a vast fortune, they tried to have him declared dead so that they could get the money.  But since that would take another six plus years, they instead tried to claim an unidentified corpse, mangled from getting hit by a train and now unrecognizable, to be that of Uncle Charlie.

Unfortunately, there were two other claims to the body - one saying it was that of Mort Bascomb, and the other saying it was Roper Bailey......

From the source:

With Charlie on his way to Las Vegas with Doreen, and Mort Bascomb disinterred, and Roper Bailey back to drinking Mexican beer.....

from the afterworld by J.B. Fletcher

Normally I do two "ASOTV" showcases on Tuesdays ("Two For Tuesdays"), but since I chose to put the spotlight on Charlie's nephew Frank Albertson today, I couldn't let the opportunity pass without paying tribute to a character played by John Finnegan.

Mr. Finnegan is best known - to me, anyway - for his many characters whom he portrayed in episodes of 'Columbo'. (The best one is Lt. Duffy in "A Friend In Deed".) But he also worked with Peter Falk in the Cassavetes movie "A Woman Under The Influence".

I met Mr. Finnegan through my job, and I had to tell him how much it meant for me to get that opportunity. Over the course of his stays there, he told me a couple of behind-the-scenes stories about working on 'Columbo'.

The best one involved Forrest Tucker, who played the victim in the first season episode "Blueprint for Murder". It was the episode Falk finally got to direct (after much haranguing of the producers - they figured to "punish" him by giving him the episode that had a lot of outdoor scenes.) and Mr. Finnegan played a foreman at a construction site.

Apparently, Tucker was acting a big too big for his britches (and not in the way for which he's gained a certain notorious reputation - as one of the great Hollywood "swordsmen".  If you know what I mean, nudge, nudge, wink, wink!) So after one particular bout of obstinance, in which Tucker called Falk and Finnegan - both much smaller (in height, let's be clear) than him - a couple of leprechauns or munchkins, something like that, Finnegan turned to Falk and said, "You take one knee and I'll take the other; let's bring him down!"

I guess I helped Mr. Finnegan a bit during his time there, because as a thank you, he got Falk to autograph a copy of his autobiography and then he sent it to me. It's a prized possession in the Toobworld Central library.

Anyway, not your typical "As Seen On TV" showcase, but I wanted to tip my hat to a favorite character actor while I had the chance.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: FRANK ALBERTSON

FRANK ALBERTSON

CREATED BY:

Jessica Baines Fletcher

AS SEEN IN:

"Goodbye, Charlie"

AS PLAYED BY:

Bill Maher

TV DIMENSION:

Literary TV world

(The same dimension where 'Once Upon A Time' characters began.)

PLOT DESCRIPTION:

From Hal Erickson of Rovi:

Frank Albertson (a pre-'Politically Incorrect' Bill Maher) is a down-on-his-luck private eye, dealing mostly with surveillance camera jobs of guys cheating on their wives. After years of sponging off Frank and his wife Sunny (Faith Ford), Frank's uncle Charlie (John Finnegan) suddenly inherits a fortune--and just as suddenly disappears. Later on, a mangled corpse is found on a local railroad track, whereupon Frank attempts to claim the body as that of Uncle Charlie.. However, there seems to be several other people interested in claiming the corpse--and the aforementioned inheritance--themselves.

From the source:

Our hero - Well now let me see, is hero the right word for Frank Albertson? Maybe not. I promise you, he's not very heroic. Actually he's a lost soul looking for one good shot at the brass ring. 

The story opens on a spring day in sunny Hollywood, land of orange groves, movie stars, and private detectives......

(from the foreword to "Goodbye, Charlie" by JB Fletcher)

BCnU!