GETTING USED TO THE NEW TOOB

I'm not sure if I'll leave this post in. I just wanted to make sure my pic was added into the system so that I could then place it in the profile field.

That's right, folks. That's my ugly mug above. A good reason why I write about the TV Universe and don't appear in it!

21st CENTURY TOOB

On Wednesday, I had my new Dell computer set up here at Toobworld Central. The tech guy said that I have more capability with this baby than many small businesses! And today, I finally made the upgrade to broadband from dial-up via my cable company.

I'm broadband, baby!

At the same time, I also upgraded my cable service so now I can DVR programs. Tested it out today by recording the "Boom Town" episode of 'Doctor Who on Sci-Fi while I watched the tape of last night's episode of 'Mad Men'. A few digital screw-ups which I think were from the company, but it worked great.

I've already programmed it to grab first-runs of 'Doctor Who', 'Psych', 'Monk', 'Mad Men', 'Rescue Me', 'Burn Notice', 'The 4400', 'Entourage', and anything of 'Maverick' (just in case). Still have to add in 'The Dead Zone', 'Damages', 'The Closer', 'My Boys', 'Eureka', 'The Bronx Is Burning', and we'll see what else comes to mind!

And then I came back into the office and watched the "Mac Is A Serial Killer" episode of 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia' on MySpace.com, a month before it airs!

As they once said on David Letterman's show in hopes that it would catch on as a catch-phrase:

I'm moist!

BCnU!
Toby OB

ALWAYS MORE "PSYCH" ZONKS

Speaking of the latest episode of 'Psych' ("And Down The Stretch It's Murder").....

There were plenty of Zonks throughout the show, those nasty references to other TV shows as TV shows when they should all be sharing the same TV universe. There were Zonks relating to 'CHiPs', 'Miami Vice' (and its stars Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas), 'The Land Of The Lost' and to Mr. Furley of 'Three's Company'.

Most of these could be defused, but the rationales could be a bit flimsy.

Let's start with 'CHiPs' - Shaun revealed that as a kid he raced home after school every day in order to watch the reruns on TV. And one particular day he definitely had to be home in time because it was going to be about the big truck crash on the highway. (But as Gus pointed out, that happened in just about every episode!)

This could work and still keep the idea that 'Psych' and 'CHiPs' share the same dimension viable. 'CHiPs' stands for "California Highway Patrols" and so even as an acronym it's somewhat generic. The 'CHiPs' watched by Shaun and Gus might not be the same show we watched back in the mid-1970s. It could have been a reality show like 'Wildest Police Chases' or a precursor to 'Cops'.

Gus and Shaun never mentioned Ponch and Jon, so we can assume their 'CHiPs' had nothing to do with those two officers who would be real people in their world.

'Miami Vice' - This one was a lot tougher, as not only was the show cited, but the pictures of Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as Crockett and Tubbs were displayed. Added to that was the fact that Gus wanted to be Philip Michael Thomas when he was a kid. (At least according to Shaun, but Gus didn't dispute that.)

I watched the episode twice last Friday night (missed most of the first broadcast due to packing - vacation was ending), but I can't verify now that the name of the show was ever cited. And I'm fairly certain that the characters were ever named as Crockett and Tubbs; it was always Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas. So it could be that those two actors were appearing in an entirely different show that captured the imaginations of the boys back in the 1980s.

Maybe......

'The Land Of The Lost' - This one gets a little easier, even if Shaun did point out that his mention of "Chaka" was a reference to 'Land Of The Lost'.

I think by 2007, the story behind that family being trapped in that alternate dimension would have been known by everybody. And it could have been helped along by a TV dramatization with the same title. In fact, the remake that appeared on our TV screens in the 1990s can be seen either as a segment that makes up the TV dimension for remakes, or as the dramatization of the original story for the benefit of those living on Earth Prime-Time. Or it could be both!

'Three's Company' - The sitcom was never mentioned. Instead it was a reference to Mr. Furley and the clothing styles that might be found lurking in his closet. So it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that the Spencer family knew Ralph Furley in Santa Barbara before he moved to Santa Monica to manage the apartment complex for his brother. And if so, Shaun might have been exposed to the horrors that lay within Furley's closet.

Clothing-wise, that is. Perv.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

ECCE PROMO! (PINEAPPLE FLAVORED)

I can't believe it's taken me this long to figure out that a pineapple figures in just about every episode of 'Psych'. It was the hideous Hawaiian shirt in the horse-racing episode which had a pineapple in its design and the pineapple upside-down cake in the episode about the other fake psych which finally clued me in to the gimmick. And then I remembered how Shaun gave a pineapple to the judge in a case from an earlier episode.

I should have realized there was a reason for Shaun and Gus to be holding pineapples in the promos.

What I'd like to do now is find a list somewhere online of all the pineapple references that have appeared on the show. So far all I've found is a "pineapple club" in some 'Psych' forum, but they don't have a complete list. And as is the case with a lot of bbs, you have to join 'em to talk to 'em. Forget that!

(No offense to the Pineapple Clubbers, but the closest I get to being a joiner is playing Snug in "A Midsummer's Night's Dream".)

So if anybody out there knows where I might find a comprehensive list of the 'Psych' pineapple references, let me know. I may have to order the first season via Netflix to check out each episode and compile my own list.

Not that I'm complaining; it should be fun. Kind of like looking for Hitchcock's cameo in his movies, or the bunny on the Playboy covers, or the Nina's in the sketches by Al Hirschfeld.

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE LUPO ADDENDUM

During this week's episode of 'Eureka', we learned that Sheriff's Deputy Josephina Lupo came from a family in which she had a lot of brothers. The dream that she generated, very Zorro-esque with Fargo as her masked man(!), was all in captioned Spanish, which could mean that she may have had an Hispanic background.

None of this negates my theory earlier this week that she is the sister of MJ Bowers from an episode of 'Dead Like Me'. First off, we don't know how many siblings were in that branch of the Bowers family; at the family reunion we only "met" him. And as for the Hispanic heritage, that would still work even with a last name of Bowers - their mother might have been Hispanic.

And it's not like you could tell if MJ Bowers also showed any Latino flavor, certainly not after getting his face rearranged by that canoe!

But it could also mean she was adopted, or a half-sister.

So for the time being, my theory that we can link 'Dead Like Me' to 'Eureka' through Jo's family tree is staying put.

And I think it's also high time that Erica Cerra was bumped up to series regular in the opening credits!

BCnU!
Toby OB

TVXOHOF: DOG DAZE OF AUGUST, 2007

One problem with starting my vacation at the beginning of August, with a self-imposed caveat not to post to "Inner Toob" during that time (and I broke it only once!), is that I totally forgot about the latest inductions to the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

And yes, that's a plurality as there are two inductees for August, both in keeping with our mini-salute to the Gallifreyan Time Lord known only as The Doctor from 'Doctor Who', and in a way also in keeping with the "dog days of August":

K-9 & THE TARDIS

As much as the tin dog has been reviled by some fans, K-9 has been one of the most popular of recurring characters on the show, and one of the longest-lasting companions for the Doctor. He's proven to be so popular, he's been spun off for his own adventures at least once so far, with the promise of an animated series soon to materialize.

But even though he is closely identified with the Doctor, it's K-9's association with Sarah Jane Smith that has helped to bring him into the "glory" of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. After the Doctor had to leave Sarah Jane behind before returning to Gallfirey, he sent along K-9 to keep her company and to help her out of any future difficulties. Being a Time Lord, he may have already known what was to come for her; but he also knew that once you've gallivanted across the galaxy, it's hard to go back to a normal, uneventful life. So having K-9 along for protection certainly made more sense than a sonic lipstick.....

For more on K-9, see his entry at the TARDIS Wiki.

As for the TARDIS, the show would have been inconceivable without it! The Time And Relative Dimension In Space device has been revealed to be not just a machine, a conveyance, but a living creature, in much the same way Moya was a living spaceship on 'Farscape'.

Its distinctive shape in the form of a blue police box (caused by a malfunctioning and probably fused chameleon circuit) was instrumental in getting the Doctor himself into the Hall of Fame, as its appearance in shows like 'Red Dwarf' and 'Chelmsford 123' sell the assumption that if the TARDIS was there, the Doctor had to be as well. So it would be criminal not to recognize the TARDIS for its contributions.

Check out the page for the TARDIS at the TARDIS Wiki.

K-9
'Doctor Who'
'Dimensions In Time'
'K-9 & Company'
'The Sarah Jane Adventures'
coming soon: 'K-9'

The TARDIS
'Doctor Who'
'Dimensions In Time'
'Red Dwarf'
'Chelmsford 123'

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE CLASS OF 2007:
January - Johnny Carson `
February - Florence Johnston
March - Lou Grant
April - The Doctor
May - Sarah Jane Smith
June - Charlie Pace & Oceanic Airways
B'Day - Brigadier Alister Lethbridge-Stewart
July - Bret Maverick
August - K9 & TARDIS

THE HAT SQUAD: OUT OF THE BALLPARK

If the flags are not flying half-staffed at the Money Store, they should be, for Phil Rizzuto, their long-time pitchman on Television, has passed away at the age of 89.

Rizzuto was a Baseball Hall of Famer shortstop for the Yankees, winning the League's MVP award in 1950 and quite a collection of world championship rings to call his own. A few years after he left the field, Rizzuto entered the broadcast booth for the team and was as much a fixture of the games as were those still playing on the field.

He was best known for two catch-phrases, "Holy Cow!" and calling a particular dunder-head a "Huckleberry". His Brooklyn/Bronx folksiness flavored all of his commentaries during the broadcasts, which inspired a collection of his unusual ramblings as poetry.

And he always made sure that he was out of the booth by the end of the sixth inning so he could cross the Bridge to get home to Jersey before the mass exodus began. Nobody else would be allowed to get away with that today!

His work for the Money Store and his appearances in connection with his Yankee heritage would be enough to establish the presence of his televersion. After all, he was so well-known for his work on the Yankee broadcasts that Jim Steinman and Meatloaf enlisted him to do the "play by play" for the song "Paradise By The Dashboard Light", and now how many other sportscasters can claim a platinum record among their trophies?

But there were a few other instances in which Phil Rizzuto solidified the presence of his televersion.
When sports agent Michael Arliss wanted to help his idol, down-and-out Hall of Famer Rocky Framaggio, Phil Rizzuto was on hand for the 'Arli$$' episode "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" in 1996.

A special keychain was made to celebrate Phil Rizzuto's entry into the Hall of Fame back in 1994. When you squeezed Phil's head, it would say "Holy Cow!". Unfortunately, George Steinbrenner dropped his copy at a construction site and it was paved over.

Back in the 1950s, Phil was known as Phil "Calhoun" Rizzuto in order to lure a Southern pitching wunderkind to sign with those "damned Yankees" - not that the term could be used back then! Phil wasn't alone in making the pitch to Hank Lumpkin (played by Dick Van Dyke) on that 'Bilko' episode "Hillbilly Whiz". Along for the ride were also Yogi "Ashley" Berra, Whitey "Stonewall" Ford, Gilbert "Beauregard" MacDougald, and Red Barber.

Phil Rizzuto was also the very first "mystery guest" on 'What's My Line?', one of the most popular panel game shows ever. And along with all the blipverts he did for the Money Store, he was also schilling for Yoo Hoo.

The timingof his passing is especially sad and ironic in that the 30th anniversary of the Yankee resurgence is being celebrated in Toobworld with a great mini-series, 'The Bronx Is Burning' on ESPN. I haven't noticed if his on-air commentary has been used during the recreations and actual replays of 1977 games, but I'm fairly certain we haven't seen him portrayed by an actor yet, as we have with Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and the Yankee roster.

Even for this Red Sox fan living in enemy territory, Phil Rizzuto was a beloved figure and Joe DiMaggio had it pegged when he said that the people loved him for the way he played baseball; but Scooter, they just loved.

Rest in Peace, Phil.

BCnU!
Toby OB

GEORGE:
"I tell you this.
If the real Phil Rizzuto was down there, this wouldn't be happening!"
JERRY:
"Hard to say."
'Seinfeld'

THE TOP SIX: SITCOMEDIA DEL' ARTE

Just putting this out there.....

My top six favorite sitcoms currently in (various stages of) production are:

'30 Rock'
'How I Met Your Mother'
'My Boys'
'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia'
'Entourage'
'Two And A Half Men'

With the round-up of the usual suspects afterwards for those who need a Top Ten: 'My Name Is Earl', 'The Office', 'The Simpsons', and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'.

If you didn't see your favorite on here, the ship's probably already sailed on that one making me smile...... (I'm talking 'bout you, 'Scrubs'!)

I know there are a lot of fans and great critical acclaim for 'Flight Of The Conchords'. But even though I tape it, I find myself on Monday mornings hitting the fast forward button to get on to 'The 4400'. I realize and accept that it's me and not the show, but I just can't get into what I've seen before hitting the button.

And there are two shows that might be considered dramas, but which I find to be immensely funny as well: 'Psych' and 'Burn Notice'.

Just sayin', is all......

(Written up after watching yet another highly entertaining episode of 'My Boys'. Man, if ever there was a show in which I'd want to be a character....!)

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE TAPING OF THE SHREW

Michael Ausiello of TV Guide had the following exclusive today:

[Marin Hinkle], the Two and a Half Men actress (she plays John Cryer's uptight ex) has been cast as Courtney McCallister, the bitter former spouse of Rob Lowe's Sen. McCallister, on Brothers & Sisters. She'll appear in one episode this fall, but it's likely she'll be back for more. In the episode, Courtney goes on a Larry King Live-type talk show to discuss her estranged hubby's bid for the White House — further inflaming tensions between the two.

This announcement deepens the Toobworld theory that 'Brothers & Sisters' is an alternate dimensional version of 'Jack & Bobby', [Thanks, Anonymous!] the series from a few years ago. In that show, Bobby McCallister grew up to marry his deceased older brother's girlfriend Courtney before finally becoming President.

Certain details are different, of course, which means that these two series are not in mirror universes. For one, Rob Lowe's version of McCallister in 'B&S' is a Senator from California rather than from Missouri as in 'J&B'. And the chronology is very much skewed since Bobby McCallister in 'J&B' is only about fifteen years old at most by now, and it's been a while since the former Brat Packer saw the edge of fifteen.

Finally, Senator McCallister's brother is very much alive, a minister, and gay. But these are the details which create divergent dimensions.

BCnU!
Toby OB

FEVER? SEE THE CHEMIST

Once upon a time in TV Land, there was a hip cat named Johnny Caravella, who was best known to the viewing audience at home as Dr. Johnny Fever.

To know more about the man, I'm turning to Jerome Holst, cathode companero and the caretaker of "TV Acres" (link to the left, fellow babies) who has an excellent profile of Johnny available among the TV character biographies on his site:

FEVER, Johnny
(WKRP in Cincinnati)
555-WKRP
Suite 1412, Ninth Floor
Flimm Building
Cincinnati, OH

Johnny is a morning disk jockey at WKRP radio station 1530 on the AM dial. He is divorced, scruffy, spaced-out and likes to make ”special” brownies. His real name is Johnny Caravella. However, Johnny has also been known as Johnny Duke, Johnny Style, Johnny Midnight, Johnny Cool, Johnny Sunshine, Heavy Early, and Rip Tide.

Before his gig at WKRP, Johnny worked in Los Angeles, but he got fired for using a dirty word on the air. As Johnny recalled "I used the word 'booger' on the air. I was making about a hundred grand a year down there. Then one day I said "booger," a bunch of bozos called the station, and the next thing I know I'm in Amarillo hosting a garden show."

Johnny's first broadcast at WKRP began something like this:

“All right, Cincinnati, it's time for this town to get down! You've got Johnny - Doctor Johnny Fever, and I am burnin' up in here - Whoah! We all in critical condition, babies, but you can tell me where it hurts, cuz I got the healing prescription here from the big KRP musical medicine cabinet. Now I am talking about your 50,000 watts intensive care unit, babies! So just sit right back now, relax! Open your ears real wide and say, 'Give it to me straight, Doctor, I can take it!' Oh, I almost forgot, fellow babies... BOOGER!!!"

For a short time, Johnny left WKRP [where he earned $17,500 a year] for job in California, but got fired again and returned to WKRP to work the late-night graveyard shift. When the new morning guy got canned, Johnny returned to the morning drive slot. He opened his program thusly:

"All right, Cincinnati shape up cause it's time for your morning check up. The Doctor is on duty. I have just returned from personally supervising an extensive research project involving West Coast vegetable worship cults and the cure's here babies. That's right. Doctor Johnny Fever is back and I'm on call every morning on WKRP in Cincinnati!"

One night Johnny had a little too much to drink and he offered this verbose volley to his listening audience: "All right fellow babies, that was the Doors, and this is sort of Johnny Fever, kind of doctor. And after... nine drinks, Venus Flytrap is catatonic, and I, myself, have personally just seen a giant pig. He is currently painting the walls of our lobby."

When Johnny was not zonked out, he dispensed this kind of advice: "Strap yourselves down, babies, 'cause you got the Fever - Dr. Johnny Fever on the mighty 'KRP in Cincinnati, where it's 9:05 in the morning, so if you're not at work, don't go. You're late, and they'll just yell at you!"

Besides playing rock and roll on the air, Johnny had to read public service announcements and ad spots from the station's sponsors. Ads like "Remember, Red Wigglers, the Cadillac of worms. Available in fine worm shops everywhere." When not making money for the station's sponsors, Johnny earned his own extra money by adopting the persona Rip Tide, the host of a TV disco dance show [whose sleazy personality almost took over Johnny’s own easy-going persona].

After Johnny received $24,000 in a legal settlement, instead of feeding his gambling habit, he invested in a condominium at “Gone With The Wind Estates.” The women in Johnny’s life included his old girlfriend Buffy from California; Paula, his first ex-wife; Johnny’s grown daughter Laurie Caravella; and Jennifer Marlowe, the gorgeous, sophisticated blonde receptionist at WKRP that Johnny found fascinating.

Johnny later moved to Greenwich Village in New York City to write a book on Rock and Roll. But, when Moss Steiger, the midnight to 6:00 A.M. disk jockey fell off the roof of the Flimm Building, Johnny returned to WKRP to fill the vacancy.

If you go looking for Johnny, he can probably be found sleeping on the floor behind a couch, or in a cubby hole somewhere at WKRP radio station. Johnny's philosophy on life: "When everybody's out to get you, paranoia is just good thinking."

Johnny Caravella has not been seen in Toobworld since 1993, when he appeared in an episode of 'The New WKRP In Cincinnatti' ("Fever In The Morning"). At least, he has not been seen as Dr. Johnny Fever since then. Considering the many aliases that he held over the years, there may have been sightings of him in other TV shows under other names.

(Although I will automatically rule out his appearance as the duplicitous racetrack announcer in the most recent episode of 'Psych' ["And Down The Stretch, It's Murder"]. Although the line of work would have suited Johnny, and it would have placed him back in California, the timeline doesn't jibe, as the announcer had been working the racetrack near Santa Barbara for about a quarter of a century.)

There has been a character, however, who could be Johnny Caravella and who could serve as a good splainin as to why we haven't seen him in so many years. He is known simply as "The Chemist" and showed up in the last two episodes of the off-beat and bizarre HBO series 'John From Cincinnatti' ("His Visit: Day Eight" & "His Visit: Day Nine").

We need only look to Johnny's philosophy on paranoia to understand why he's been lying low south of the border in Mexico. But it could be that he returned to California after his 1993 re-emergence in Cincinnatti and dabbled in a sideline that was highly profitable but hardly legal. This is how he came by the moniker of "The Chemist".

During that time in Mexico, however, Johnny had plenty of time to reflect and to contemplate his place in the universe, which put him in good stead to return to Imperial Beach, California, where events of a potentially cosmic nature were unfolding among those in the surfing community. The show has now been officially cancelled by HBO unfortunately, so we'll never know how "The Chemist" would have become further embroiled in the lives of the Yost family and that of the "prophet" John Monad, also from "Cincinatti". (Although it's pretty clear - if anything was about this show! - that their Cincinnattis were two wildly different places.)

"The Chemist" was also known as Erlemeyer, but that hardly negates the connection to Johnny Fever, considering how many other nom de toobs he held over the years. It might even play into another TV show, 'The X-Files', in which a pivotal episode early on in the show's run was entitled "The Ehrlenmeyer Flask". It could be that during that time when Johnny was "personally supervising an extensive research project involving West Coast vegetable worship cults", he stumbled upon knowledge of alien interference in our lives. (Perhaps he even worked that area of knowledge on the radio, a la Art Bell.)

And just maybe, my fellow babies, he decided to adopt the name connected to the alien fetus as his latest alias, corrupting it slightly in order to protect himself from closer scrutiny by 'Men In Black'.

As TV critic Alan Sepinwall of the Star-Ledger said, "it's not hard to connect the dots between Johnny Fever and Erlemeyer". especially after The Chemist said that he liked to remain "eligible" in reference to the old days when he dropped acid. And Johnny had that penchant for making "special" brownies".

But whether Erlemeyer the Chemist was actually Dr. Johnny Fever, we'll never know since HBO has sentenced the series to a one-season lifetime. But as far as Toobworld is concerned, the Chemist of 'John From Cincinnatti' was Johnny in Cincinnatti.....

[My thanks to JHolst of "TV Acres" for the Johnny Fever profile.]

BCnU!
Toby OB

"Believe me, I smoked more reefer
Than Carter made little liver pills."
Bill Jacks (?)
'John From Cincinnatti'

(awaiting verification)