Wednesday, December 25, 2013

2013 TOOBITS AWARDS 2 - THE CROSSOVERS


2013 TOOBITS AWARDS

It's that time of year again, when we all make lists and think back over the past year, in whatever field of interest concerns us, and chronicle the high points and the lows.  For the past few years I've been presenting this compilation as an awards show, the Toobits, which of course celebrates my two bits about Toobworld.

As it is with any such list you'll find in TV columns across the country these last few weeks, these are my opinions.  You're welcome to your own and I hope you'll share them, but I'm sticking to my weapons of choice.  (It could be you won't see something that was a favorite of yours because I just never got around to seeing it.  There's only so much time in the world - even for a do-nothing-else-anyway sort like me! - and I've only got the two eyes, even if they do operate independantly of each other at times.)

Unlike the Emmy Awards which will just keep handing out trophies to some shows forever, only shows, characters and what-not that debuted in 2013 can be considered.  (And by "debuted", I mean that which I first came in contact with in 2013.  It could be a few years old, but if it's my first time seeing it, it's new.)

This one-time-only rule includes characters who have been recast; those are still the same characters who already exist in Toobworld.  (But there were a few notable appearances that deserved honorable mention, and they get it.)

So without further ado, let's have at it:

It's time to honor the crossovers, the bread and butter of the TV Universe.....


BEST CROSSOVER

OVERALL, GRAND PRIZE
"ITV - Where Drama Lives"


I splained it here (as far as the Toobworld mythos goes) but suffice to say, this belongs in the Promoverse.

Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham - Downton Abbey), Paddy Considine (Mr Whicher  -The Suspicions of Mr Whicher), Katherine Kelly  (Lady Mae Loxley- Mr Selfridge), Martin Clunes (Dr Martin Ellingham- Doc Martin), Jeremy Piven (Mr Selfridge), Anna Maxwell Martin (Susan Gray  - The Bletchley Circle), Jim Carter (Carson - Downton Abbey), Shaun Evans (Detective Constable Endeavour Morse - Endeavour), Rupert Penry-Jones (DI Chandler -Whitechapel), Phil Davis (DS Miles - Whitechapel) Brenda Blethyn (DCI Vera Stanhope - Vera), David Leon  (DS Joe Ashworth - Vera) Aisling Loftus ( Agnes Towler - Mr Selfridge) and Joanne Froggatt (Anna Bates -Downton Abbey) were filmed for these specially shot scenes for the new Where Drama Lives trail.



They are joined by Inspector Morse (John Thaw - Morse), DCI Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren – Prime Suspect), Sebastian Flyte (Anthony Andrews  - Brideshead Revisited) and Hercule Poirot (David Suchet - Poirot) who were added through post production techniques, representing some of the channel’s defining, iconic characters. Viewers will also see Sebastian’s teddy bear, Aloysius.

EARTH PRIME-TIME
'Cougar Town' - Both Grayson and Andy appeared in Alanis Morissette videos
 


SKITLANDIA
 'Saturday Night Live' - Jesse of 'Breaking Bad' talks health care with President Obama

BEST CROSSOVER PLOTLINE
The anomalies of 'Primeval: New World'
This showed that the phenomena of dinosaurs escaping into the present day was a world-wide problem and not just limited to the United Kingdom.....

BEST HISTORICAL CROSSOVER
'Law & Order: SVU' - "Wonderland Story" (with 'Homicide: Life On The Street')


There was no fanfare with the departure of Detective John Munch, the Crossover King, from the airwaves on a regular basis for the first time since the early 1990s.  Just a sweet closing scene of him at his desk in the SVU squad room as he takes one last call, with a flashback to a similar situation from when he was a detective in Baltimore.....

BEST HOLIDAY CROSSOVER

Target & ABC: 'The Middle' & 'Back In The Game' & 'Modern Family'







BEST TRIVIAL CROSSOVER
The doctors of 'Scrubs' were apparently working in their own medical group in Gulf Haven, Florida, as seen in 'Cougar Town'


BEST INTER-DIMENSIONAL CROSSOVER
'Scooby Doo, Where Are You?' & 'Twin Peaks'


BEST INTER-DIMENSIONAL COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER
'Psych' & 'Defiance' promo


FIRST CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR
'Cougar Town' in a Target Commercial


LAST CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR
'Good Luck, Charlie' & 'Jessie'

FIRST THEORETICAL CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR
'Downton Abbey' with 'Have Gun, Will Travel'
Click on the link above to read more about the connection......

BEST THEORETICAL CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR
'Foyle's War' & 'Doctor Who'


BEST COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER
Geico & Pillsbury


BEST COMMERCIAL/SERIES CROSSOVER
EARTH PRIME-TIME

'Target' & 'Cougar Town'

SKITLANDIA
State Farm - Da Bears Fans from SNL

THE TOONIVERSE
State Farm - 'Scooby Doo'


BEST CROSSOVER WITH A DIFFERENT MEDIUM
'Marvel Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' & the Marvel movie franchise
They belong in the alternate TV dimension of Marvel Toobworld, however.....

BEST THEORETICAL CROSSOVER WITH A DIFFERENT MEDIUM

'Doctor Who' - "The Crimson Horror" with "The Adventure Of The Golden Pince-Nez" by Arthur Conan Doyle

Here's the relevant excerpt from that story:
A third case worthy of note is that of Isadora Persano, the well-known journalist and duellist, who was found stark staring mad with a match box in front of him which contained a remarkable worm said to be unknown to science. 
     From "The Problem of Thor Bridge" (Doubleday p. 1055)


It is not mentioned in the TV adaptation - in fact, Dr. Watson doesn't even appear in that episode because Edward Hardwicke was filming a movie.  (So Mycroft Holmes filled in.)  But as Dr. Watson's collection of written accounts about Holmes' cases are validated in Toobworld, then "the repulsive story of the red leech" must be accepted as Toobworld canon.

BEST COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER WITH A DIFFERENT MEDIUM

Hardee's/Carl's Jr. & "Superman: Man of Steel"

BEST COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER IN A DIFFERENT FORMAT

Progressive Car Insurance & "Despicable Me" in a magazine ad


BEST REALITY PROGRAMMING CROSSOVER
"Deadliest Catch Crabtastic Special"
'Mythbusters' with 'The Deadliest Catch'

BEST TOONIVERSE CROSSOVER

'Futurama' & 'Speed Buggy' (maybe Speed Racer)


BEST ONLINE SPIN-OFF
'Tamwar Tales', a spin-off from 'EastEnders'

There's more to come!

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