CELEBRATING THE ORIGINAL DVD

"Trip over the ottoman!
Dick Van Dyke that ass!"
Emerson Cod
'Pushing Daisies'

It was probably serendipiteevee, but it was nice to hear that line in the week leading up to Dick Van Dyke's birthday. (The private eye was suggesting to The Piemaker that he should touch an undead character a second time, thus making him dead again - but making it look like an accident.)

Dick Van Dyke was born December 13, 1925. Wikipedia has a concise rundown of his career, but there are plenty of sites around that celebrate one of the most talented men in Television. And his classic trip over the ottoman in the opening credits of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' is one of the most enduring images of Toobworld.
One of my blogmates, Classic Television Show Biz (link to the left, Twiloites!) has unearthed a sweet video of Mr. Van Dyke when he appeared on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' to promote his Broadway show, "Bye Bye Birdie".

As Dr. Mark Sloan, the main character of 'Diagnosis Murder', Dick Van Dyke was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame in March of 2003. Eventually Rob Petrie will join him as well, most likely paired with his wife, Laura Petrie. (A good choice for a June/Gemini entry!)

Here are my recommendations for what to see in the Van Dyke ouvre:

'The Dick Van Dyke Show' - ALL of it!
'The New Dick Van Dyke Show' - available online
'Mary Poppins'
'Columbo' - "Negative Reaction"
'Diagnosis Murder' - but mostly for the crossover episodes
"The Morning After"
"Cold Turkey" - I can't believe this isn't out on DVD!
"Bye Bye Birdie"
"The Art Of Love" - Dick Van Dyke and James Garner: what a great team-up!
"Night At The Museum" - and a sequel is on the way!
And appearances in episodes of:
'Jake And The Fatman' - introducing Dr. Mark Sloan
'Matlock' - in which he was the villain (Later he would team up with Matlock on 'Diagnosis Murder')
'Becker'
'Scrubs'
'Airwolf'
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'
'Bilko' ('You'll Never Get Rich')
'Supertrain' - the only episode that was worth watching
'Coach' - it's a blink and you'll miss him moment, but a great in-joke!
(Feel free to chime in with your choices. I'll probably agree with them!)

When I was a kid, I really believed that Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore were married in real life. I still think they should have been. LOL!

I don't know what else to say about the man, truly one of my TV favorites.

Happy birthday, Sir.
BCnU!
Toby O'B

TODAY'S TWD: WARREN G. HARDING

Will:
Harding … was an abnormal?

Helen:
You don't think a normal person would choose a job that impossible?
'Sanctuary'

Dr. Will Zuckerman had to find some way to pass the time while cooped up in a 'Sanctuary' submarine during a search of the Bermuda Triangle in the episode "Requiem". So he pestered his boss, Dr. Helen Magnus, for the scoop on all the famous people she knew over her unnaturally extended long life. Magnus knew HG Wells, Jules Verne, both Presidents Roosevelts (But Teddy was the fun one!), Louis Pasteur was her godfather; and she claimed that President Warren G. Harding had been an abnormal. In fact, she claimed that Harding lost his life while in office because he was trying too hard to hold onto his human form.

Here's the basic 4-1-1 on Warren Gamaliel Harding, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the twenty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death from a heart attack, aged 57, in 1923. A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate (1899–1903) and later as Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (1903–1905) and as a U.S. Senator (1915–1921).

His political leanings were conservative, which enabled him to become the compromise choice at the 1920 Republican National Convention. During his presidential campaign, held in the aftermath of World War I, he promised a return to "normalcy"; and, in the 1920 election, he defeated his Democratic opponent, fellow Ohioan James M. Cox, in the largest presidential popular vote landslide in American history since the popular vote tally began to be recorded in 1824: 60.36% to 34.19%.

Harding headed a cabinet of notable men such as Charles Evans Hughes, Andrew Mellon, Herbert Hoover and Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, who was jailed for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal. In foreign affairs, Harding signed peace treaties that built on the Treaty of Versailles (which formally ended World War I). He also led the way to world Naval disarmament at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22. Harding has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the worst U.S. Presidents.

Harding was, to me, at least, one of the creepiest looking Presidents. But that's not what would have sold me on him being alien. It's that middle name of Gamaliel!

Of all the Presidents to pick as a possible abnormal on 'Sanctuary' (at least within the personal timeline for Dr. Magnus), Harding is probably the best choice. That's because his termination two years into his term of office was so mysterious.....

In June 1923, Harding set out on a cross-country "Voyage of Understanding," planning to meet ordinary people and explain his policies. During this trip, he became the first president to visit Alaska. Rumors of corruption in his administration were beginning to circulate in Washington by this time, and Harding was profoundly shocked by a long message he received while in Alaska, apparently detailing illegal activities previously unknown to him.

At the end of July, while traveling south from Alaska through British Columbia, he developed what was thought to be a severe case of food poisoning. He gave the final speech of his life to a large crowd at the University of Washington Stadium (now Husky Stadium) at the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. A scheduled speech in Portland, Oregon, was canceled.

The President's train proceeded south to San Francisco. Arriving at the Palace Hotel, he developed pneumonia. Harding died of either a heart attack or a stroke at 7:35 p.m. on August 2, 1923. The formal announcement, printed in the New York Times of that day, stated that "A stroke of apoplexy was the cause of death." He had been ill exactly one week.

Naval physicians surmised that he had suffered a heart attack; however, this diagnosis was not made by Dr. Charles E. Sawyer, the Surgeon General, who was traveling with the presidential party. Mrs. Harding refused permission for an autopsy, which soon led to speculation that the President had been the victim of a plot, possibly carried out by his wife. Gaston B. Means, an amateur historian and gadfly, noted in his book "The Strange Death of President Harding" (1930) that the circumstances surrounding his death lent themselves to some suspecting he had been poisoned.

Several individuals attached to him, personally, and politically, would have welcomed Harding's death, as they would have been disgraced in association by Means' assertion of Harding's "imminent impeachment". Although Means was later discredited for publicly accusing Mrs. Harding of the murder, enough doubts surround the President's death to keep reputable scholars open to the possibility of murder.

How many of them are open to the possibility that he was an abnormal?

Warren G. Harding hasn't been over-exposed in Toobworld, not like Kennedy, Lincoln, Nixon, or even W. Aside from Ben Bradlee giving him voice in a documentary, his only portrayal on television has been by George Kennedy in the mini-series 'Backstairs At The White House'. So this sci-fi twist on his televersion can easily be incorporated into the Television Universe.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

FANFICCER'S FRIEND, 12/2008: WAITS AT THE END

One last Fanficcer's Friend for the year, and I think with this one I may be done with the monthly experiment. I may do one occasionally, if I find a movie picture or some photo of TV actors outside of the medium that serves to inspire me. (And actually, I do have one for my annual "Who's On First" salute!)

But I had fun with the project, unlike my experiences with the Hat Squad (of course!), even though I would often feel guilty for giving ideas to the writers of fan fiction. I always expected to be castigated by those who hate the story form.

I'm not writing the fanfic myself, just offering up a picture that could inspire someone to write their own story based on it. The pictures never come from TV - those are set in stone as to what they're about. But when actors from two different TV shows team up (or work against each other) in a movie, I like to get a frame grab of that moment and then claim that they're appearing as their TV character.

This month, with the air full of holiday cheer and song, I decided against using a movie picture and instead chose a picture of someone who symbolizes the song in our hearts at Christmas time.

Tom Waits.

Okay, maybe not.

But still, what a cool picture, right? (At least I'm pretty sure it's Tom Waits......)

Think of him appearing on TV in some show as himself, but his televersion is caught up in some kind of supernatural mumbo-jumbo.

And speaking of 'Supernatural', there's one possibility. Perhaps Dean and Sam Winchester have to come to the aid of Tom Waits when he's possessed by a vengeful spirit.

Or you could use the characters from the following shows, maybe even mix and match them!

'The X-Files'
'Reaper'
'Kolchak: The Night Stalker'
'Sanctuary'
'Fringe'
'Eleventh Hour' (Waits' dilemma could be more scientific than science fiction!)

Well, it's up to you. Use the picture in your horror/fantasy/sci-fi fanfic as you see fit.

Ho ho ho!

BCnU!
Toby O'B

ADVERTS REACTION: FRASIER & DR. PEPPER

We've had a few late entries for consideration in this year's Toobits Awards, which will be announced in a few weeks.

In the Blipvert category, Dr. Pepper has come out strong with a new ad that ties into 'Frasier'. Not only does it have Kelsey Grammar reprising his signature role as Dr. Frasier Crane (1999 inductee into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame), but there's also a surprise guest appearance of a future Hall of Famer!

You can see the commercial here.

The Toobworld take on this blipvert crossover: even though it's currently airing on our TV sets, it takes place before 'Frasier' left Seattle behind in the final episode.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

"THE AMAZING LOLLIPOP MAN": A TOOBWORLD ESSENTIAL

Receptionist:
Hold on, don't I know you? You're Jon Pertwee!
Graham Capelli:
The difference between myself and Mr. Pertwee
Is that Jon, sadly, is dead.
'Doctors'

While hanging out with the M&M Boys for a Wednesday overnight, I finally got to see the October episode of 'Doctors' in which Sylvester McCoy guest-starred as an actor who once was known as "The Amazing Lollipop Man". (For my American readers, 'Doctors' is an afternoon soap opera on BBC1.)

McCoy, whose greatest claim to Toobworld fame is as the Seventh Doctor in 'Doctor Who', appeared as the reluctantly retired Graham Capelli, star of 'The Amazing Lollipop Man' on the Toobworld version of ITV back in the late 1980's. His character was a time-traveling school crossing guard who would help people by taking them back in Time. The show would have been something of a mixture of 'Doctor Who' and 'Touched By An Angel'. In fact, there was a similar series here in the real world a decade earlier: 'Time Express', which starred Vincent Price and his wife Coral Browne.

This episode of 'Doctors' becomes a Toobworld essential because of Graham Capelli. Now, should any other TV show create a Zonk by showing a clip from 'Doctor Who' with Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, we can say that it's the televersion of the program with Capelli in the role.

The Toobworld 'Doctor Who', as our splainin goes, was secretly sponsored by UNIT to throw off any audience suspicion that such a man actually existed. Graham Capelli was just one of the actors hired to play the role (as was David Tennant - seen as the Doctor on 'Extras' - but in the role of Rob Harker, a character he played in an episode of 'People Like Us'. (For more about Rob Harker, check out this Inner Toob post.)

Capelli never mentions his participation in 'Doctor Who', but that's an easy splainin - the role was never really his; he may not even have been in the show for very long. But 'The Amazing Lollipop Man' was totally his and no one else's.
At one point, Capelli does mention that he hopes to portray the next Davros (a classic villain from 'Doctor Who' and recently seen in the fourth season finale of the show's latest incarnation), as it would be a nice sitting role for his bad back. There's no harm in this - in the real world, Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor, earlier played a villain on 'Doctor Who'. And Tom Baker has expressed an interest in playing returning to the show - but as a villain, not as the Fourth Doctor.

Besides, the way Capelli pronounced the name, it sounded like "Davrosh", (played it twice to make sure), so we can always claim he was describing some other TV character.
By the end of this 'Doctors' episode, Graham Capelli finally came to grips with the realization the he shouldn't try to drum up interest in reviving the "Amazing Lollipop Man" series, and perhaps cheapen the memory.

It was only a one-shot appearance; no reason to assume there'll ever be a reason to bring back the character of Graham Capelli or the fictional TV show 'The Amazing Lollipop Man' on 'Doctors' or on any other TV program. But as we saw with Archibald Beechcroft from 'The Twilight Zone', who was the Birthday Honors inductee this year into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, once is enough to have an impact on Toobworld!

"People can come into your life for a moment,
And last a lifetime."
Judge Henry T. Bone
'Picket Fences'

BCnU!
Toby O'B

ONLINE TOOB: "CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL"

Since Toobworld is expanding more and more into online content, check out this minisode series from Rob Corddry, 'Children's Hospital'. Corddry stars in it (under an alias) as well as Jason Sudeikis, Megan Mulally, Lake Bell, and Corddry's brother Nate, among others.

It's not safe for work, and you shouldn't let your kids watch it.

And if you don't like clowns (Mark & Sean!), maybe you should avoid it as well.....

BCnU!
Toby O'B

TODAY'S TWD: THE FIRST CRUSADE (II)

December 12, 1098:

First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan - Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to cannibalism.

The First Crusade played an important role in establishing the background for 'Cadfael', a Welsh monk who served as a soldier and sailor before taking up the cowl.

Here's what Wikipedia offers up with regards to Cadfael's past in the First Crusade:

The Crusades form an important part of the backdrop to the books. There are Cadfael's own memories of his crusading life, which occur in virtually every one of the books, and the circumstances of Olivier's early life. [Toobworld note: Olivier was Cadfael's son by Mariam, a Muslim woman.]

In addition, most of Cadfael's knowledge of herbs and medicine was learned in the East, from more sophisticated sources than he would have found in England. (In the TV version of "Virgin in the Ice", when Cadfael is treating a gravely wounded brother, the best remedy another brother can suggest is bleeding, which Cadfael scorns).

Also, several of the books feature returning crusaders who have central roles in the plot, while in others there are characters who depart England on the way eastwards. All of these crusading characters are depicted as sterling, model knights, brave and chivalrous, and the crusading enterprise itself is invariably regarded by all characters as a most noble and worthy cause.

There is occasional mention of acts of cruelty committed in the course of the Crusades. In conversation with a fellow crusader, Cadfael remarks, "After the killing that was done in Jerusalem, of so many who held by the Prophet, I say they deserved better luck against us than they had." In adding that his companion was never accused of brutality, he implicitly passes judgment on the Crusades as a whole ("The Leper of Saint Giles"). While on various occasions Cadfael makes remarks showing him not pleased with such brutalities, the references are rarely specific. Cadfael (as all other characters) never casts any doubt on the morality of carving out a Christian kingdom in the Muslim East and maintaining it by force; indeed, it would have been anachronistic to have him express such doubts.

However, his experience of the Crusades didn't lead to bigotry. Cadfael remembers Mariam, a Muslim woman as "well worth the loving," and had many other profitable friendships with Arabs and Muslims. His companion from "The Leper of Saint Giles", who spent many years as a captive of the Fatimid Egyptians, agrees, saying he always found his hosts "chivalrous and courteous," who gave him medical help and supported him in his convalescence.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

PS:
I covered the First Crusade in the daily Tiddlywinkydinks back in January of this year.........

WRITE ON!

As TV is a visual medium which still fostered some brilliant writers, here are two links about TV writing which you may find of interest.

First a salute to the top 100 TV lines of dialogue.

And here's a New York Post article on the death of the TV catch phrase. (Please forgive their headline. After all, it is the Post.....)

BCnU!
Toby O'B

TODAY'S TWD: WHAT'S-A ANTI-MATTER YOU?

My buddy Mark sent me a link to a New York Times science story by Dennis Overbye that begins:

"Is this the dark side speaking?

A concatenation of puzzling results from an alphabet soup of satellites and experiments has led a growing number of astronomers and physicists to suspect that they are getting signals from a shadow universe of dark matter that makes up a quarter of creation but has eluded direct detection until now."

Mark then provided more information... information... information on the subject.

But everybody who watches TV on a regular basis, especially science fiction programs, already knows about the anti-matter universe. As described at Memory Alpha, a wiki for 'Star Trek':

The antimatter universe is the anti-matter opposite of the familiar "positive matter" universe, where black stars shine in a white void where time flows backwards. It is the home of anti-Lazarus, a man whose civilization created a negative magnetic corridor to connect the two universes. (TOS: "The Alternative Factor")

Anti-Lazarus isn't the only resident in the anti-matter universe. Back in 10,000,000 BC, an engineer from Gallifrey caused a super-nova to supply the power needed for time travel technology on his homeworld. The resultant explosion appeared to have killed him, but instead he was pulled into the anti-matter universe where he remained a prisoner for millions of years (taking the name "Omega").

Omega sought revenge against his fellow Gallifreyans whom he thought had abandoned him there in the anti-matter universe. But the Time Lord known as the Doctor advised two later incarnations of himself in order to defeat the renegade.

Thanks, Mark!

BCnU!

Toby O'B

TVXOHOF: THE 2008 HONOREES

Now that we've inducted the final member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame for the year, here's a rundown of the 2008 roster:

January - Rusty Williams
'Make Room For Daddy'
'The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour'
'The Joey Bishop Show'
'Make Room For Grand-Daddy'

February - Grady Wilson
'Sanford And Son'
'Grady'
'The Sanford Arms'

March - Betty White
'Ugly Betty'
'The John Larroquette Show'
'The Naked Truth'
'The Odd Couple'

April - Jose Jimenez
'The Bill Dana Show'
'Make Room For Daddy'
'Batman'

May - Emily Hartley
'The Bob Newhart Show'
'Saturday Night Live'
'The Bob Newhart Show 19th Anniversary Reunion Special'

June - Topo Gigio
'The Ed Sullivan Show'
Italian TV
German TV
Spanish TV

Birthday Honors - Archibald Beechcroft
'The Twilight Zone'... and every single current TV series that aired on or before May 12th, 1961!

July - Kwai Chang Caine
'Kung Fu'
'Kung Fu: The Legend Continues'
'The Gambler IV: Luck Of The Draw'

August - Doc Holliday
'Lawman'
'The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'
'Maverick'

September - Jamie Tarses

October - Grandpa & Lily Munster
'The Munsters'
'Munsters Go Home'
'The Munsters' Revenge'

November - George W. Bush
'Whoopi'
'That's My Bush'
'NCIS'
'JAG'

December - Mrs. Claus
See the previous blog entry.....

BCnU!
Toby O'B